Articles

Rob decides to go back to the venue known as roach heaven!

After my last visit I was really looking forward to this match on the Welland in Spalding town centre - I had won the last match with 35lb, my best all roach catch from a natural venue. My mood was soon dampened though as Tim, my partner for the day, handed me my peg, the areas leading out of the town centre hadn’t been competing with the rest of the match length in previous weeks and after a week of frosts, snow and then a big thaw it was likely that the fish would be shoaling up even tighter. I reckoned that a draw between pegs 10 and 25 would probably give a good days sport as this area is around a couple of bridges where as my home for the day,  peg 34, was on a straight almost as far away from a bridge as possible on this stretch! 

There was no way I could go to my peg downhearted though - me and Tim are right up there in the pairs league and with Tim drawn in a favourable area I would need to do my best just to keep us ticking over in a league that is decided overall on weight. On arriving to my peg my spirits lifted a little, I had a lot of room to my left, probably around 60 yards until the next angler (Westy), I’m told this area had been left out as it’s much shallower than the rest of the stretch and as a result not very productive, nevertheless any extra room has got to be worth a few fish. Setting up here is pretty simple- two punch rigs are set up and duplicated in case of tangles,. an eel rig is also set up just in case the roach aren’t present, I’ve not caught an eel here yet by design but there’s got to be a first time. 

Bread feed is prepared the night before and stored in a zipped topped bag this not only keeps it fresh but it also stops Chris Jenkinson from having a rumage and finding out the recipe for my ‘special’ bread. The all in sounds and a ball of the feed is placed straight down the middle of the drain at six metress, first drop in and the float doesn’t settle, this is usually the cue to strike and a couple of feet of elastic shots from the pole tip signaling the first roach of the day. Several more roach follow and at the half hour mark I’d reached twenty five fish - almost a fish a minute for the early part of the match is how I started last time I was here and my mind is starting to wander to how I’m going to spend the winnings. 

Worryingly the anglers to my right were struggling to catch anything at all and with everyone fishing breadpunch which is such an instant bait no fish in the first half an hour is a bad sign. Fish number 30 was the signal to re-feed, it was smaller than the rest and the last five fish had all taken a little more effort to trick. Another ball of bread is dropped in at six metres but this time the response isn’t good, the fish are disappearing and fast and despite re-feeding and several rig changes I’d only managed to reach 47 fish by the half way stage of the match the fish were of a reasonable stamp though and I reckon that I’ve put 7lb in the net - nowhere near enough to trouble the pegs in the town but this match is split in two (A match an B match) and I reckon on being in the top five or six in B match at this point. Westy hadn’t stopped catching all day and looked to be odds on for the section win but what could I do to get more from my peg? 

Three and a half hours in and it was obvious that the fish didn’t want to be in my area, all the anglers to my left were now either packed up and on the way home or in the process of packing up. A re-think was in order, how could I get to the fish ? I’d not brought a rod with me, or had I? A quick check in the rod bag revealed a 12 foot Aerocast feeder that was far too overgunned for the situation, I knew that I’d got my reels in the van a short walk away so I made a phone call and I was soon walking up to My mate Sam to borrow a ten footer before making the trip to the van to collect a reel. 

The time lost wasn’t a problem as I’d not had a bite for the past hour, the funny looks however from anglers as they watched me threading up a feeder rod on a venue no more than 13 metres wide told me I could be in for some stick back at the pub if it didn’t work. The makeshift rod rest was to be my landing net head resting on my bait tray and I’m sure it didn’t look pretty. First cast with a small bread feeder and bread on the hook was about twenty yards down the peg -no response so I added another two yards to the next cast- again no response, by now professional bank walker Graham Barry was sitting behind me offering words of wisdom so I knew that if the rod didn’t work he would make sure everyone knew. 

Next cast I added another two yards and bingo! The feeder only just settles before the tips rattles with a fish on- I’d found them and for the next forty minutes I continued to put several more chunky roach in the net before they dropped too far down the peg. I was to end on sixty five fish after a biteless last half an hour despite trying the ever unreliable eel line. I reckoned on weighing between ten and twelve pounds so was pleased with 13-2-0, the best weight to my right was just over a pound so you can see where the fish wanted to be. Westy weighed 17lb for a convincing section win and when the other lads around the bridge all put weights under double figures on the scales I was confirmed as second in the 'B’ match. 

A nice result from a day that could have been far worse, Tim had also weighed thirteen pounds which on a day where there was so many blanks meant that we are still near the top of the pairs leaderboard. To show just how good this venue is Michael Buchwalder drew bunghole and weighed thirty two pounds to win his second fifty pegger in as many weeks.

Follow Rob on Twitter @woottonrob