Inter Corps Coarse Angling Championships, Stainforth and Keadby Canal

 I had been selected to represent the Royal Signals in the Inter Corps championships again this year, and it was being held at the famous Thorne stretch of the Stainey.

It consisted of 2 team practice days and then the competition, Day one saw the team draw E section that was in and around the Staniland Marina and it looked good for a few bites, we had a rough plan and I fished to that managing a respectable 4Kg+ net of roach that I was very happy with, especially since most of them came on bread as I was struggling to fish long in the wind.

Day 2 we moved to the other side of the lock, in A section, it had fished hard the day before and the constant rain during this session made it challenging for everyone, I managed about 2.5Kg that was ‘mid section’ but had figured a few things out along the way in the form of a throwaway perch line and a second long bread line that gave me a run of fish close to the end.

 

So to the match day, I was drawn peg B3, not far from where I had been sat the day before and in an area that had apparently fished hard both days, the plan was to fish bread short, caster long, an in the lily’s perch line left and right and finally a waggler set up to rest the swims and maybe get some bonus rudd from the far bank weed.

 

I was ready well before time as the prep of the previous 2 days had everything to hand and ready to go so Kev, Adi and myself went to annoy Martin the team captain for a bit before returning to our pegs for the all-in.

 

At the whistle I fed a ball of bread on my short line, followed by a palmful of caster on my 14.5m line and a small amount of worm and caster on both of my perch lines before baiting up with a 5mm punch and going onto my short line.  Bites were pretty much immediate with a small roach on the second cast, and it was just as well as Lee on the peg to my right had a 1lb skimmer first cast and another smaller sample soon after, but I needn’t have worried as I was soon catching chunky small roach one a put and continued to do so for the next 40  minutes, it wasn’t as prolific as on the other days so I was a little concerned and tried an early look on my caster line. 

 

This gave me a small perch and a couple of iffy bites so I topped up and went back on the bread, and so the pattern continued although the fishing was getting better as the day was going on.  I was getting the odd skimmer and better roach on both the bread and caster lines but at about the halfway stage I decided to rest them and have a quick look on my worm lines for a bonus fish.  The left hand swim gave me a little wasp so I switched to my right hand swim, now I fish substantial gear and big hooks so when I am worm fishing I strike positively, but as the float slipped away and I counted to 5, the strike saw my number 5 section give up and snap about a third of the way down.  I grabbed the carbon and landed the 1oz perch but mu match was now over as the sections would not telescope and I could fish no further than a top kit plus 2 sections on the pole.

I had a moment to regain my thoughts and set a 6m whip up to fish on the the short bread line and then re plumbed the waggler to use it over my caster line, but I would be struggling for presentation and my nice tight feeding was out of the window.

The last 2 hours were a struggle but I still managed 10-15 small fish from across both lines but I was gutted as I had been starting to catch well. I have to say thanks to Ian the bank runner for not taking the piss to much, I may have cried.

I was happy to finish as the weather matched my mood for the last hour and pissed it down so it was now just waiting on the scales, it turned out to be more than I thought as I weighed 3.150Kg, this was enough for third in section and I was just over a kilo behind the section winning weight so it was in reach if I hadn’t of shattered my pole.

 

On the teams front the AGC won with 12 points, RLC had 14 points and despite a good practice we fell short with a few bonus fish being caught around us and finished 3^rd with 19 points. So well done the winners.

 

Well you are all in trouble because despite breaking my pole and getting soaked through for 2 days the match fishing bug is back….

 

Watch this space.

What would I do different:

NOT BREAK MY POLE

The plan was sound and working for me that’s all I can say really.

Rigs used:

Whip: Cadence 9.5m at 6m
Line: 0.13mm Powerline to 0.10mm Stream
Hook: 18 Colmic B957
Float: 1.5g DH 23

 
Pole Bread:
Elastic: 5 Preston Slip
Line: 0.13mm Powerline to 0.10mm Stream
Hook: 20 or 18 drennan polemaster (some of my last ones)
Float: 0.6g Drennan SF 2

Pole Caster:
Elastic: 5 Preston Slip
Line: 0.13mm Powerline to 0.10mm Stream
Hook: 20 or 18 drennan polemaster (some of my last ones)
Float: 1g Drennan G-Tip 2
 
Pole Worm:
Elastic: Preston 13H through 1 section
Line: 0.19mm Powerline to 0.15mm Colmic Stream
Hook: 15 B711
Float: 0.8g Drennan Carp 2

 
Feeder:
Rod: 3.3m Matrix horizon xs with 1 oz tip
Reel: TDM 3012 loaded with 8lb sensor
Rig: Helicopter 0.11mm hook length to 16 B560
Feeder: 20g Modified tiny cage
 
Waggler:
Rod: Cadence CS10 11ft number 1
Reel: Daiwa TDR 2508 loaded with 3lb maxima
Float: Dave Harrell 2AA sensitip wag
Hook length: 0.10mm to a size 20 or 18 B560

AAF Group 2 Match 1 Dorset Stour, Colber

 Firstly, I am sorry that it has been a while but I have been very busy so these blog pieces will be kept a lot shorter than in the past. The story for this match goes that a while ago I was chatting to Greg and decided to start fishing some of the group matches again, probably concentrating on the natural venues but with an eye on the R.Sigs champs next year as they will be on a local venue to me.

 

This first group match was being held on the prolific Colber stretch of the Dorset Stour so it would have been rude to miss it. I booked in a week before and was soon being tapped up by Tree to join his team, if only for the natural venues, well why not. The draw was conducted the night before via Zoom as there was no suitable venue to hold a draw for 18 people and I was given C2 as a swim, now this meant absolutely nothing as I had never been to the stretch so it would be a surprise come the morning.

 

The swim was on the outside of a bend and I was sat on the top of a high bank with about 14m to the far side, as you can see from the photo there was a tree on my bank downstream and a bunch of reeds opposite it so they were earmarked for lines.

So my plan was to feed a few balls of feed rich groundbait on a pole line at about 11m, then feed worm down by the tree and loose feed maggot for a waggler line towards the reeds. My groundbait was ½ Bag River, ½ Bag canal and lake and ½ a bag of roach black all from the dynamite baits stable, simply because I had them spare in the garage.

I set up a rig for the pole, a heavy rig for down by the tree, a waggler, a light feeder and a 6m whip in case the pole line was good. I was ready in plenty of time so went and annoyed a few people and had a cup of tea.

At the all in I cupped in 6 balls of groundbait with 250ml of hemp, caster and deadened pinkie followed up with a palmful of caster and about 20 chopped worms on the perch line.  I shipped out the pole rig and started to catch small fish straight away, the first run lasted about 25 minutes before they petered off and a look down the worm line saw the fist of a few small perch come in.  The day was pretty simple, try to coax a few bites on the pole, then refeed a small ball and try something else for 10 minutes, the stamp of fish was small and I never really had them lined up, although I did give the whip a go for 10 minutes or so, but it was still nice getting a few bites, especially when I hooked a fish that pulled elastic out on the worm line, ok as I was swinging the 6oz perch granted.

The 5 hours ended and had actually enjoyed working hard to get the bites, I was on boards so we got the carbon put away and then started from the bottom of the stretch, it turned out that Glynne had charmed a 4lb tench out on his light maggot rig and that saw him weigh 3.375Kg, there were a couple of 2Kilo weights and then I weighed 3Kg dead for second in section.

 

I just needed a bonus fish as the match had been won from 2 pegs to my left by Greg with 3.55Kg and that included 2 small tench!  I was forth overall so in all a good day, on the team front I was top scorer, we will leave it at that.

What would I do different:

I think a second groundbait line further over or a worm line further down the river in the main channel may have been worth a few more bites in the quiet spells, and I would have fed my waggler line more accurately rather that trying to fish as far down the river as possible.

Rigs used:

Whip: Cadence 9.5m

Line: 0.13mm Powerline to 0.10mm Stream
Hook: 18 Colmic B957
Float: 1.5g DH 23
 
Pole light long:
Elastic: 1.2mm Drennan Power Pull
Line: 0.13mm Powerline to 0.10mm Stream
Hook: 18 Colmic B957
Float: 2g DH 23
 
Pole Worm:
Elastic: Preston 13H through 1 section
Line: 0.19mm Powerline to 0.15mm Colmic Stream
Hook: 33 B711
Float: 1.5g Drennan AS6
 
Feeder:
Rod: 3.3m Matrix horizon xs with 1 oz tip
Reel: TDM 3012 loaded with 8lb sensor
Rig: Helicopter 0.11mm hook length to 16 B560
Feeder: 20g Guru commercial open end (The smaller one)
 
Waggler:
Rod: Cadence CS10 13ft number 1
Reel: Daiwa TDR 2508 loaded with 3lb maxima
Float: Dave Harrell 2AA sensitip wag
Hook length: 0.10mm to a size 18 B560