On Sunday 14th April I fished the first round of the K & A Spring League run by Simon Hebditch. 23 Teams of 4 this year from as far away as West Sussex. Dorking also had a side of very able bodied canal anglers. Sections for this first round were....Kings Arms, Whaddon, Seend and Pyle.
Our Senses Nomads Team was...
Me (c) oh the responsibilty
Rich Whitmarsh
Mike Withey
Geraint Powell
We decided to only enter one team this year as one match clashes with the Glossy League and quite a few of our guys are away in Holland for the second round.
The draw for this first round was at Spencers Club in Melksham and the car park and adjacent road just about coped. Directions to sections were great with maps and postcodes circulated in advance plus additional info was displayed at the draw. This makes all the difference to anglers who are not familiar with the area.
So onto the draw and I didn't do the team any favours. Mike was in the best section at Pyle but the end peg at the wrong end well away from the epee centre. I was at Seend apparent in an area that was silted up and Rich and Geraint at Whaddon and Kings Arms on very mediocre pegs.
We knew it would be hard anyway and our plan was to ease our way into the match feeding very little at first but regular with pinkie on the hook.
I got to my section and parked up without any trouble and after a 10 minute walk was at my peg. My peg was in an area known as the wides and I was informed ''it used to be good'' great, I was also told there was no depth across. I had Andrew Chatterley (Devizes) to my left and Mick Gale (Matrix Talisman) to my right. I suppose the canal here was a good 16 metres wide but no depth as advised beyond 12 metres. I found the bottom of the far slope at 12 metres where it was about 2 foot deep, down the boat channel it was about a foot deeper and inside shelf was nothing until you went out 5 metres at around 2 foot.
Rig for across was a 4x14 to 0.11 with a 0.08 hook length to a 22, same rig for down the track but with a 20 hook and 5 metres out another 4x14 but with a 0.10 hook length and a 15 hook for perch.
The rigs were this heavy due to the very strong tow the canal was also full of crap so you needed to get the bait down through it. Boat traffic was expected to be a bit of a pain due to being the start of the Good Friday week. Just before the all in a holiday boat came up and got stuck in the silt between Mick Gale and I.
I think his intentions were good as he wanted to stay away from us but did not realise how shallow it was right over. Suitable words of advice was given.....i.e. stay down the middle.
I fed my worm line first with a pot of choppy and a few dead reds in leam to anchor them to the bottom before putting a golf ball sized lake and a little leam mix with dead pinkie and squat over on my far line, I left the middle.
The first 40 minutes or so was spent looking for that first bite and anglers were looking up and down the tow path to see if anyone was catching..... no one was. I put a soft pot on and started drip feeding squat in ground bait across with 3 squats on the hook and this brought me my first bite but I didn't connect. The tow was pulling hard so I put on an extra few inches on the depth. A few micro roach and small skimmers were caught over the following hour but nothing to write home about. Mick to my right was fishing right across and had a couple of blades. Andrew started to catch the odd small fish as well.
I had been topping up my worm line, you had to as I am sure most of it go washed upstream or downstream due to the tow but a few looks on it now and then and not a sausage.
The middle was so full of crap I abandoned it.
About the halfway mark I was holding back across when the float slide away and I hit something solid, thought it was a branch at first until it started nodding, seemed like a bream and I started shipping back very carefully. I had to ship back parallel due to the towpath behind me which makes things awkward. The 3 elastic was doing its job but when i got to the 4th section the feckin hook pulled out, I knew it would cost me ...ffs.
A couple of net skimmers followed and I had a 10oz perch as well but bumped another big fish (think it was a perch) despite going up to a 20 hook.
Andrew to my left had a few fish right across towards the end and I thought we were more or less even but I knew Mick had struggled.
The section points were based on sections of 8 and 7. My 2lb 10oz got me 4 points from 8. The section was won with 4lb 9oz, Andrew had 4lb 6oz for 2nd in section. Those lost fish definitely cost me.
Andrew 2nd in section (I didn't take the pic)
On the Team front Rich and Geraint both had 6 points, Mike had 1 and with my 4 put us in 13 position out of 23.
Here are the full Team results........
1
| DEVIZES BLACK |
2
| GARBOLINO BV MARINE |
3
| PI THATCHERS SONUBAITS |
4
| DRENNAN BORDON BLUE |
5
| GARBOLINO BV GOLD |
6
| DAIWA DORKING |
7
| DRENNAN OXFORD |
8
| WYVERN ANGLING GOLD |
9
| DEVIZES WHITE |
10
| MATRIX TALISMEN YELLOW |
11
| SENSAS A4 BLACK |
12
| SENSAS A4 |
13
| SENSAS NOMADS |
14
| RIVE HOMESTORES |
15
| SENSAS A4 GREEN |
16
| MATRIX TALISMEN PURPLE |
17
| BORDON ANGLING |
18
| SENSAS WEST SUSSEX |
19
| PI THATCHERS |
20
| DRENNAN BORDON PINK |
21
| GARBOLINO BV GREEN |
22
| ANDOVER |
23
| RIVE HOMESTORES RED |
Individuals as follows...
1st Liam Bradell 23-12
2nd Steve Pawson 14-9
3rd Dave Docherty 13-15
4th Matt Herbert 13-10
5th James Carty 12-9
6th Brett Cooper 12-3
Due to clashes with the Glossy League and a holiday I am only available for the last round.
Glossy League Round 2 on 28th April.
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