I booked myself and team mate Chris Hook into this match last Monday. It was £25 a ticket to be paid up front and an optional £5 Super Pool on the day. Bloodworm and Joker was permitted and I was asked if I wanted any. A match pack via Gloucester Angling Centre was £18.
At this point in time it was unknown as to what Sections would be used so we declined the BW & J. Our plan was to draw a bream peg lol .... but seriously were does the cost end? With fuel prices and the cost of tackle now it is getting too expensive.
Chris and I met in our usual haunt for breakfast, McDonalds at Hardwick.
We then headed for the draw at Widden Old Boys Rugby Club in Gloucester.
50 anglers had booked in and paid. We soon discovered that the match was pegged from the Woods plus above and below Hempstead Bridge, plus a section at Simms. The famous ''bend'' either side of the Swing bridge was not in.
Had we know this then we would have probably got some BW & J as Hempstead Straight can be a very tough gig.
The payout was very good .........
The draw got underway at 08:00 and it was announced that Zander count and fishing was 10:30 - 15:30.
Chris and I were about 2/3rd's the way down the queue. When it was our turn I pulled out 24 and Chris 32, both of us on Hempstead Straight so not great.
After parking up and unloading I headed down the tow path.
Welsh International / Colmic Superstar / all round nice guy Nige Evans (you can pay me later Nige) was on peg 1 immediately below Hempstead Bridge. He was smiling at this point and asked were I was heading. Peg 24 I said. Just before the Car Wash then Nige said, you'll get plenty of bites on all lines there!
The angler above me on 23 was the first one past the Rowing Club and had lots of tree's opposite. It's a great peg for bream later in the Spring. I had one bush right over to my left so that would be the area I would concentrate on for the tip.
I only set up two pole rigs ....1 at 14 metres where it was top 5 deep with a 2 gram float to help combat any tow. My other rig was a 1.5 gram at 7 metres.
Both pole rigs had 0.09 hook lengths to 20 hooks.
Ground bait was Sensas leam and black lake.
I took a positive approach and cupped in 2 big balls on each line with dead pinkie, minced worm and I mean minced plus a few caster.
Starting off on the tip (20 gram cage feeder) with liqqy bread and a 7mm punch on a 16 hook I had a little knock second cast which was encouraging. The next few casts ..... nothing. 30 minutes in a proper wrap round and nothing on the other end when I struck. I thought it may have been a liner.
10 minutes later I had a proper roach to get me off the mark.
The angler on 23 was now on the pole and had a couple of small fish using BW & J.
I had another couple of knocks on the bread but nothing positive so decided to switch to fishmeal ground bait and dead red / pinkie. I put in 4 cage fulls before going on my long pole line.
I was expecting a bite straight away but it didn't happen. I did stick to it for about 30 minutes before putting another small ball in. I came in on the 7 metre line and had a small perch.
Peg 23 was having a run of small fish long, they looked like small perch so not a good sign.
We were about 2 hours in now, the fish on 23 seemed to have dried up and I took a look with the ground bait feeder with a dead red and a dead pinkie on the hook. A very small knock on the tip after 5 minutes didn't connect and I brought back the bait all smashed. Small fish were topping occasionally right across so I guessed it was them having a go. I put a small worm on trying to find something bigger but no joy.
Back out on the long line and a lovely sail away bite produced a hand sized skimmer plus a roach, encouraging but that was it.
I did keep feeding the long and the short line regularly but the 7 metre line was the best. I caught an eel just as Nige came down for a walk. A big boat had come through and as he was on a narrow part of the canal it messed up his peg so he re-fed and left it to settle.
I had another eel, a couple of perch a roach and ..... a small zander !!!
I weighed 3lb 7oz. Gary Townsend below me had 4lb odd of perch mainly caught short and peg 23 had 3lb. Chris had 3lb 9oz but our section had a couple of 6lbs so no coin today.
A lot of anglers struggled today.
Young Andrew Cranston won the match of peg 10 with 13lb plus. A lovely bag of fish on Blood Worm and Joker, he's a great angler.
Next up is Round 2 of Ivan Currie v Leigh Wakefield on the Bristol Feeder Canal this Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment