First time out fishing since Christmas Eve where the weather
was absolutely awful, by Boxing Day afternoon I was in bed with Tonsillitis and
a Chest infection. Two weeks on Antibiotics followed. Just about right today
for the start of the Coffin Dodgers Silvers League being fished this year at
Windmill Fishery. If it was windy and
raining again I would have second thoughts. However, after a night of heavy
rain followed by clear skies and temperature below freezing I decided to go.
But first I had to de-ice the car finding it hard to pull the car doors open.
Firstly it was breakfast in the Beefeater 5 minutes from the
fishery.
The league is in safe hands with Ray Beazley running it, limiting
the entrants to 20 with 4 sections of 5 anglers paying two in each section with
no overall payout on the day.
I thought the icy wind was to be from the NW but arriving at
the fishery it was coming from the SW. So a draw on the far bank with the sun
in the face and wind off my back would be good. I wasn’t disappointed pulling
peg 2. I found myself wedged between Dave Wride (peg 1) and Paul Barnfield (peg
3).
I decided to target the Ronnie’s because the margin on this
peg is 4 foot deep. So I set up the Ronnie rig to fish maggot over GB laced
with a few Pinkies. The other rig was a 4x18 Jolly to fish top-set plus one
which took me to the bottom of the inside shelf.
Having set up and with plenty of time before the all in I
went for a walk and took the pictured below looking down the Match Lake
I fed micro at top-set plus one and GB into the margin. I
started after the Ronnie’s and although I was getting indications I wasn’t
catching as quickly as I needed to. So I tried the semi-hards over the micro
with the float towing gently to the right but not producing bites. Both Dave
and Paul were catching small Skimmers at 11.5 metres. I kept feeding GB on the
Ronnie line and trying maggot which only resulted in a few tiny fish plus a 6oz
Perch. I added another section and re-fed micro at top-set plus two. With Paul
landing five decent Skimmers in as many put-ins and Dave Wride catch a couple
of bonus fish - the penny dropped. The sun was so bright that the fish had backed
well away from our bank. So back on the semi-hards at top-set plus two and I
was soon playing what I thought was a decent Skimmers alas not – a 3lb Carp was
landed and returned. I added another section taking me to top-set plus three
where I had fed some more micro. This brought me four more Carp one more
landed, two broke me and I pulled put of a foul hooker. It wasn’t until the
last hour that I started to settled down catching small Skimmers to 3oz on
semi-hards. It was all too late to catch up with my neighbours. Another lesson
learnt should have known better to fish short on a bright cold day.
I ended third in the section and eighth overall with 4lb
9oz. Nonetheless very enjoyable day.
Paul Barnfield (pictured right) won the match with 8lb 15oz
from peg 3. Paul fished at 11.5 metres using 6mm JZP jelly pellets on the hook
over micro feed. Paul also caught on maggot over the same line.
Section Winners:
Section A – Paul Barnfield 8-15-0 peg 3
Section B – John Barker 6-06-0 peg 9
Section C – Des Shipp 7-06-0 peg 23
Section D – Mike Jones 5-12-0 peg 25
Weigh Sheet:
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