Ivan's Angle: Sunday 15th April - Gloucester Canal Spring League Practice

Earlier in the week I was pleased to see that Andy Jane of Sensas Lobbys was running a practice match on the Castle Section which is to be used for Round 2 of the League next week. The Castle Section is between the Pilot Inn and Saul Junction. I made Chris, Sam and Leigh aware but none of them could make it so it was just myself. I don't mind as I know a lot of the anglers in the Gloucester area now anyway.
The draw was in McDonalds at Hardwick which is easy for me as its just off the Motorway Junction.

I got there nice an early around 07:25 and paid up. 26 fishing today partically due to the start of the Kennet and Avon Spring League (27 Teams of 4 I believe). Andy said it was just as well due to parking issues down at access point.
Before the draw there was much debate about how to overcome the parking problem and I have to say fair play to Andy for coming up with a solution. Everyone to drive to the bridge which goes over the canal unload their kit and then drive back up to the A38 park up and a couple of others would ferry them back, in turn using the few spaces that were available. He did give people the option of having their money back but they all went for the plan.
I was about a third down the due and pulled out 441.
I followed Alan Jones of Diawa Gordon down to the Canal as I wasn't 100% sure where I was going and parked up before the bridge but had to move on as a home owner wasn't happy. I did get parked back up the road alongside Tim Frampton which meant a longer walk but saved on the shuttling.

I was soon on the tow path and heading down towards Saul Junction, it was a hell of a walk and discovered I was end peg! It still did not mean anything to me as I have never fished this Section. Gary Townsend was next to me on 440 and said the peg I was on can throw up a few bream as do the pegs below me towards a sunken barge. Happy days I thought.

I set up the same as last week with the exception of only one Feeder Rod not two. I took my time checking the depth on the far shelf and it was quite shallow. In the end I opted for approx 2 metres out from the far bank tins where I had around 4' to 5' of water.
Down the track at just over 13 metres it was just shy of a full match top 5, I love fishing in this depth of water. The same 2 gram float as last week with 0.10 fluro hook length to an 18 completed the rig.
I set up another rig (1.5 gram) for the edge of the near shelf at 8 metres same hook length and hook as down the track rig.
Fishing today was 11:00 - 16:00 and I was ready with time to spare.

As it was a practice match I decided on a different approach on the ''all in'' cupping in 5 balls of Black Lake mixed with Leam and Soil laced with red squat, dead pinkie and caster. 3 balls of the same went in on the 8 metre line.

I think Gary next door to me fed his Feeder Line first with Liquidised Bread before cupping in. He is a good angler and knows the Canal really well.

I started off on the Bread Feeder with a 6mm double punch on a wide gape 16. I re-cast about every 5 minutes at the start and then after about 20 decided to leave in a bit longer. This paid off and a solid pull around soon had me playing a bream, not a big one but at around 1lb 8oz very welcome. Another 2 followed on the bread before bites appeared to dry up about an hour and a quarter in. I decided to stay on the bread for a further 15 minutes and added a couple of roach before picking up the pole for down the track.

Just like last week first put in on the long pole I had a small skimmer shortly after the float settled. Within the next 30 minutes I added a few roach, one quite chunky around 8 ozs. After 30 minutes and no more bites I had a look at 8 metres adding one blade roach. Gary next to me was getting a few small fish on the pole but they did not appear to be very big. Looking down the match length I could not see a lot of action.

Picking up the Feeder Rod again I cast out with a mix of dark fishmeal and chopped worm plus a few dead pinkies. Half a worm tipped with a pinkie saw me connect with another small bream after 15 minutes. I started to get liners but even with casting short had no more positive bites. I did latch onto a skimmer about a pound but it came off just before the net.

The long pole was tried again and I added some more roach, small skimmers and a perch on a bit of a worm. I did see Mark Treasure net a fish a few pegs down but couldn't see what it was. The good thing about this match was there was no bank walkers so you just had to keep your head down a plan on.

On the start of the last hour I decided to give the bread another go and managed to nick another couple of roach. After 30 minutes I stopped using bread and went back on the fish meal with plenty of chopped worm. A few more liners but no proper bites. With 10 minutes to go I went out with just neat fish meal and double dead red on the hook and with 5 minutes to go the bait had barely hit the bottom when the tip flew round and bream on. A nice one at around 3lbs.

Shane Williams and Charlie Vallender came up with the scales and board. Shane thought it was between Mark Treasure and myself for the Section at least. I asked how many bream Mark had and he said 5 ...hmmm same as me.

Charlie done the weigh and call out 16lb 13oz for me.

Happy with that

I carried on packing up and headed back catching up with Mark who told me he had 15lb 14oz, I think he caught mainly in the last 90 minutes across.

The only other weight in our Section was Craig Fletcher who had 9lb 14oz.

When I got back to the bridge over the canal it appeared I had done enough. Those roach etch on the pole had done it for me. The best weight the other side was Rob McKenzie (also on an end peg) with a level 12lb.

Overall paying out top 2 plus the top 2 in Section (by default) .....

1st Ivan Currie Sensas Nomads 16lb 13oz

2nd Mark Treasure Diawa Gordon League 15lb 14oz

A Section

1st Craig Fletcher 9lb 14oz

2nd Gary Townsend 3lb 12oz

B Section

1st Rob McKenzie Mix and Match 12lb

2nd Neil Richards Diawa Gordon league 4lb 11oz

Weigh boards below.....