Telling's Times: North Wessex Winter League 27/11/10 Final Round

Sunday, 28 November 2010

North Wessex Winter League 27/11/10 Final Round

Horton

3rd in my 14 peg section
4lb 6oz.
Team won on the day
Team was 1st overall and the another team was 3rd in the league

I was 2nd overall in the individual league.

Canal was frozen, but odd clear patch

This was a match which I wasn't really looking forward to, as the weather has been very cold and we have had four hard frosts prior to the match. So I ensured that I put my ice breaker in the van the night before, as this was going to be the most important part of kit. This match was always going to be hard, and E section at Horton is where you wanted to be, as this is where the sport was going to be more consistent due to boating area and the fish do shoal up there by the pub, it is solid. So I draw A section, Peg 4 and therefore couldn't be much further away from the place where I wanted to be!

Allington hasn't been used before in this league, so was a little unknown. I was told it was a long walk to get to the canal. So on arrival I grab my rods and ice breaker and I was off, I would get the rest of my kit later. I discovered that I would have essentially four end pegs in my section, as Peg 1 (Gary Etheridge) was the beginning of the match, Peg 14 (Mark Saunders) and then the middle of section pegs 7 and 8. I broke the ice to the far bank, which was only 10 meters, so a easy throw. Also I broke a lot of ice to my right, so I could fish chop worm down the peg out of the way. I also left a triangle on the far bank, so I could fish two bread lines either side and the ice gave me some important cover. This took me a good thirty minutes to clear, but I felt it would be well worth it. Also I was the first to broke ice, which would give my fish more time to settle, something that learnt the hard way! It's very traumatic for the fish, these fish haven't been fished for all year, and then I come with a 4kg weight and chain and make the most noise ever know to them....

I was only going to fish bread and chop worm. I was going to fish chopworm at seven meters down the peg in the deepest part of the peg, and lined up with some dead vegetation on the far bank, so if a boat come through, then I would still know where to fish, as Kevin Rowles said that there would be some boats!! I fished bread five meters in front of me, which was just out of the deepest part of the water. Then fished 8 meters, which was a 45 degree angle. I didn't want the two bread lines to conflict with each other, but felt that I would have to rotate the two lines to keep fish coming, as today was going to be very tough! The chop line MUST be far away, because it does attract pike and you don't want pike near your bread line, also a two pound perch will eat little roach and this canal is full of BIG BILLES! So you don't want these fis near your small fish lines. When I walked back, I saw that a lot of anglers only broke a very small section, which isn't good for two reasons, if you fish chop worm, you don't give a lot of room to play your fish and it's too close to bread line (small fish) and it does have issues.