Round 3 – Match Fishing Magazine Drennan Knockout - River Trent - Radcliffe Viaduct
Again due to work commitments I was unable to get to practice, but with Cameron Hughes able to spend some time there he let me know everything that was working and methods on certain pegs. The length was shallow in the early pegs then in the middle 21-23 were very deep at 12 feet plus, then it was a steady depth to the end pegs. Small fish at 13/14m would be the main target over balled in ground bait on the pole and a waggler to fish later on as the fish tended to drop down your peg. A chopped worm line short at 6m with a flat float and bait dropping chopped worm, fishing worm over the top for perch and eels, feeder would also be set up just in case.
At the draw I managed to pull out peg 21 which put me in the deepest peg in the match, not really what I wanted, and after speaking to a few people nobody had filled me with any enthusiasm although more big fish had been showing as more people had been practicing. Cam drew peg 46 which wasn't very good as it was hard to get out very far so you were fishing in very shallow water. I got to my peg and after setting my box up got a rig out to find out what depths were in the peg; the depth dropped rapidly at 5m to 12ft, then was steady until it started to come up at 16m, not ideal to catch the small dace on the long pole! Still I decided to stick to my original plan so I set up 5 rigs for the long pole line, 1g, 2g and 3g round bodied Garbolino DS24 floats with olivettes on 0.12mm Garbo Line to 0.07mm hook length. On this line I would ball in 8 balls or Super Canal Black and Gross Gardon and loose feed hemp and maggots over the top; I also set up two slim bodied floats in 0.6g and 0.8g with strung out shot with the same line but a B511 hook to fish hemp and tares. Elastic for these rigs was solid Garbolino CLX in 0.09mm. Next I set up two flat float rigs with 10g and 12g craluso torpedo floats on. These were set up on 0.22mm Garbo Line and 0.18mm hook length to a Kamasan wide gape power and orange Garbolino Bazookarp elastic, this would be fished at 6m. I also set up a feeder but hopefully this wouldn't be required.
At the all in a balled in my groundbait at 14m then put in 4 droppers full of chopped worm and casters at 6m. The first hour was steady with small dace and odd roach but after 60 minutes it started to die off. I decided to cup in a ball of groundbait full of maggots and hemp and rest it while I fished short. In the next 30 minutes on this line I had 6 perch for 2lb then it went quite so another 2 droppers full went out and it was rested. Back out to 14m and again I had a steady run of small dace and odd roach although it wasn't solid at all. At the half way point I reckon I had around 5lb which was building nicely. I cupped in another ball at 14m and went short again catching two eels and a couple of perch in 40 minutes for 4lb. Again I fed my short line with two droppers full of chopped worms and rested it. The 14m line now was nearly finished as I was just catching very odd fish, but it looked like everyone was the same. I then fed 3 balls at 14m to try and make something happen and while that settled dropped back on the 6m line. First drop and float sailed under and I soon had a perch close to 3lb!! The last 30 mins of the match were pretty much a non event as I couldn't catch anything at all. At the all out I was pleased with what I had caught, the scales arrived and I ended up with 12lb 10oz enough to win the section and 2nd overall. Unfortunately Cam didn't get through, but fellow Garbolino anglers Lee Edwards and Jason (Trent end peg specialist) Lebosquet had got through, well done to Dan Varney on winning the match with 14lb 7oz of roach.
Next round is at lake john fisheries in Essex, again I'm not sure if I can practice but fingers crossed.
