Division 1 practice week

It is that time of year again and the Angling Trust Division 1 national was calling, I am in a lucky position in that I get a weeks’ worth of practice partially funded by the Army Angling Federation and also through Fosters of Birmingham.  The team met up on the Sunday night looking forward to the week ahead, it was decided that I would be practicing the float on day 1 and that we were off to Newark Dyke so I was quite happy.

After a late first night we arrived at the venue, I was given permanent peg 9, this saw me in an area opposite the weir so I actually had some flow unlike some of the others.  I fancied it as a waggler peg so this was the first rod out of the bag, I set up a 3AA straight wag to run through just off bottom at about 14-16m out. I thought that I had better set it up quite positive to see if the fish were line shy so I used a 0.10mm bottom to a size 18 and had several number 8 shot down the line as it was only about 9ft deep and a steady flow.

Second rod was a big stick and that is the last time I shall mention that, I also had to start on the feeder so that was set up with a 0.20mm bottom to a size 14 Carbon feeder hook, I decided to fish a maggot feeder so a variety were placed on my side tray to cover all flow eventualities.  Finally I set up a 3m whip for bleak down the inside if it was really hard, this was terminated in a 0.07mm bottom to a 20 Colmic 957 and had a MB special whip float on it, the plan was to feed Browning Friture little and often and then drop a pinkie through it from time to time.

The all in was called and out went the maggot feeder, it took a little while to get going but at the end of the first hour I had managed a couple of dace and perch to my name but I was itching to get over the waggler line. This as it transpired however was not to be a good day for the waggler and it seemed as though every small fish in the Trent was in the top couple of feet, I varied feeding and rigs and eventually settled on a small 2aa insert waggler on a shorter rod and a closed face reel for the speed. This would see me getting a bite every chuck the knack was hitting them and landing them as a lot were falling off or resulting in missed bites as the fish were so small.  I tried to feed them into whip distance but that did not work and although I caught a lot of fish they weighed next to FA, in fact at the weigh in I had the lowest weight of the day with 2lb 5oz, not the best of starts.

Day 2 saw us off to North Clifton and I was to fish the feeder, I was lucky in that as I was setting up I got some guidance from a local expert and he suggested fishing at around 54 turns of my Ultegra XTC 5500 so at around 55 meters! This wasn’t a problem as I had the right rods for the job and a light and heavy rod were both set up on Trent loops the differences being length of hooklengths and weights of feeders.

Nearly straight after the all-in I was getting fish and by chopping and changing weight of feeder, hookbait and length of tail I was able to keep fish coming through all states of the tide.

I didn’t manage anything massive but I put a respectable 6 1/2lb ish onto the scales, I wasn’t last this time and had had a really pleasant day, although due to a sunken island in front of me at 30yds covered in weed I did lose a few fish including a couple of better ones in the last 10 minutes. I used a Kamasan Black cap feeder with a hole cut in the bottom so that I could stuff it with particles and cap it with groundbait, these retrieved smoother that open ended feeders in the flow and cast very well for their size. I also used window feeders when the flow was not too bad and these cast like bullets!!! REALLY GOOD.

Day 3 and it was back to the non-tidal for a day’s feeder fishing, I was placed on peg 1 at Holme Marsh and this was an interesting swim with streamer weed extending out 30yards before a large gravel bar and then another weedbed 10 yards later, it is also just upstream of a weir so you can cast right onto the sill of the weir. Again advice was to fish on the gravel about 10yds upstream of the sill, so I rodded this off to start and fished a little further upstream, the first hour saw me catch a gudgeon and a small perch so I bowed to the local advice and started casting closer to the sill.

Third cast on the new spot saw Bream number 1 on its way to the net, this was closely followed by number 2 about 10 minutes late and then the swim went quiet.  I thought that I had spooked the fish but the truth was a little different and after an hour of recasting I decided to go for a quick walk to see what was happening. The main consensus was not a lot and everyone bar Scott on peg 7 was struggling, Scott had managed 6 when I saw him and was still getting the odd indication, photos taken it was back to fishing.

I cast out with 3 maggots on a size 12 Carbon feeder hook to a 0.20mm hooklength and before I knew it I was catching the rod butt before it hit me in the face, The hooklength parted and I was left dumbstruck, so I had a spare already tied so out it went this time with 2 small bits of worm to try and get a skimmer. Three casts later and the rod lurched violently and barbel number 2 smashed me up in an instant, I was not a happy chappy now so I geared up and out went a 0.24mm hooklength to a size 10 Choddy hook. This was baited with 2 grains of corn and I started the wait again, I had company in the form of Mark now and we were having a chat about the best way to get them out when the rod went over again, this time I lost the fish as I was clipped up.  I unclipped, used a small stop knot on the line as a distance marker and proceeded to build the swim again, sticking with the heavy gear, however, this didn’t feel right and going into the last 35 minutes I decided to scale down again to try and get a bite, 0.20 and a size 12 was quickly destroyed by another fish so I tried 0.24mm to a 12 Carbon feeder, this worked in that I hit the bite and the fish started running for the far bank, I had it on for 10 seconds before the hook pulled out of the knot as the line was too thick for the diameter of the metal.

I managed to tie another hooklength but the all-out was called soon after, Scott had managed 10 bream for 31lb, my 2 skimmers went 5 1/2lb (with a smattering of bits on the whip), along the stretch there were tales of woe with lost barbel and bream but the weights were in the ounces for 3 of the guys and Launce had only managed a solitary skimmer and a few bits for a couple of pounds.  We were all quite disappointed as we had hoped that the stretch would have fished better, but there was always the next day….

Day 4 and it was our turn for float fishing the tidal at Laugherton, I was sat on peg 39 and had decided on concentrating on the pole would be the way ahead, I set my box up quite low down the bank (more of that later), mixed my groundbait and proceeded to pull some sections out of my rod bag. Except there was a problem, it transpired that I had left all my No.4’s and 5’s at home and that I would have struggle with just 1 number 4 for the day.

As I deemed it a problem I set up a 1.5g float for the long line, a 5g flatty for the inside and a 2.5m whip for next to my keepnet if it was rock hard, a few of the guys had a laugh at my stupidity and before we knew it the all-in was called.  I fed 6 balls of groundbait through the cup and within 10 minutes the tide had turned and it was running the other way, so I re fed 2 balls and proceed to scratch a few small dace and perch out of the long line, I concentrated on the long line as the tide came in as it was fishing quite well then at the top,( having moved my box up a step and taken the rigs out of the bottom tray so that the water lapping at it would not ruin them) I fed the worm line with 2 medium droppers of grub.

Back long and the fishing was harder but by working hard I was able to keep a few fish coming right through the tide even with a woefully inadequate float on, I had the odd look on the flatty for a couple of small indications but with an hour to go I decided to push the peg and try for a barbel on the flatty. 3 droppers of hemp, caster and pellet were put in and I took another couple of small fish long before concentrating on the flatty.  I managed a bite off an 8oz skimmer and a missed indication before the all-out and learnt a fair bit about the river.

I think that I managed 5lb odd and this was a good result on the day, I should have had a 3-4g float set up for the long line so that will be getting sorted before the national. Rikki managed to land the first proper barbel of the week in the shape of a little 3lber and Gaz from the peg to my left managed double figures on the tip, well there had been fish rolling in front of me all day so I was miffed to be on the float really.

The last day was the Combined Services Challenge, 20 odd teams over A and B section so it would be a good indication for the national next week in those areas.  Gaz drew me C16 and this turned out to be close to where I had fished the national a few years ago, so I had half an idea what to expect.  I was getting settled in having abused the RAF and Old lags to my left when I noticed who had pitched up on the peg to my right, Alan Scotthorne, again.  Ah well all I had to do was keep up with him and I would be having a good day.

Honest that's Alan Scotthorne

After the battering I took there a few years ago my plan was simple, start on the feeder and try for a bream or two then switch to the pole and a waggler line to keep putting something into the net for the rest of the match, first job was the groundbait. The base mix was a bag each of Sensas Lake and Browning No.1, this was then split down dry in half, to the feeder bucket I added a pint of brown crumb and half a bag of Browning Betain feeder and to the pole bucket I added some black dye and roughly 3 pints of soil to add weight to the mix and reduce the food content.  Both mixes were then drilled and wetted before being left to stand until 30 minutes before the all in when I finished them off.

I set the rods and top kit up and decided on just one as I still didn’t have spare number 4’s and it had a 1g rig on as there was 8ft at a sensible pace at 11.5m, the all in sounded and I cupped in  4 balls of groundbait onto the pole line before casting the feeder 2/3 of the way over the river. The first hour was a non-event for both myself and Mr Scotthorne on the next peg, we both had a few roach to show for on the tip, so bang on the hour mark I ran a single maggot over the groundbait line and was rewarded with the first of many flurries of roach. All the time up until now I had been feeding a waggler line but as the fish were close I decided to bin it, this may have been a mistake but at the time I was trying to concentrate the fish on one line, and I had started loose feeding hemp over the top.

Every time the line faded I would feed a couple of small balls laced with caster and hemp and I found that caster was getting better roach almost one a run down, I had heard the guys to my left talking about all the bream and skimmers that were coming in and Alan had switched to a waggler down from me and was catching steadily.

I felt as though I was doing all right and tried a grain of hemp with just under 2 hours left, I did not look back with a bite most runs through on hemp and the odd fish on tares, the biggest was about 8oz and they were of a good stamp, but then disaster, I had a hook pull with 30 minutes to go and instead of putting on a duplicate rig I tried a light 0.3g hemp rig. It was a big mistake and even though I was still getting the odd bite they were taking longer and the stamp of fish reduced as I was struggling to control the bait with the flow and wind.

The all out was called and I thought that it may have been close between Alan and myself, I thought I had 12-15lb of roach and from what I had seen he would not be far away, well how wrong was I?

The first three pegs struggled to beat double figures, then Alan had 24lb of roach!!  My net went 14lb 15oz then there were the bream weights to my left that included a 30lb + weight, another 20lb and a few high doubles. Further up the fishing got worst with most struggling for mid singles so it transpired that I had managed to get 6^th in section, so not too bad.

It turned out that the guy with 30lb won the match and that Mr Scotthorne had 2^nd overall as well, we didn’t find out where the team finished, said our farewells and then departed on our journeys home until the national next week.