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 3rd 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:
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
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