Winners!

Joe Carass looks back on the recent success of the Match Fishing Drawbags!




It has been a few weeks since my last blog but a load of stuff, good and bad has happened. First of all though I must tell you about the last two rounds of the Tunnel Barn Winter League.



As you may know with two rounds to go we had overtook Barston and claimed top spot. Points were hard fought though and even though we had opened up a bit of a lead we could take nothing for granted.


Round Nine saw Jon’s drawing arm take a severe dip in form! He pulled himself a shocking Peg 5 on Extension, Paul Bick the OK New 33, myself on Club 7, which is less than inspiring leaving Steve Ringer with our only great peg in Club 13.


This set of pegs could be the downfall of us was our initial reaction but we all had a job to do and were focused on the task. When I got to my peg I couldn’t believe how cold it was! The air was filled with fine sleet and rain and just sitting in the stuff was going to be hard graft. My peg didn’t help matters. The peg is in the middle of the narrow bank of Club and although there can be a few stocky’s there, it can also be barren.


I decided to fish pellets down the middle with a maggot line fed long to my right down the middle and then reserve the far bank for a spot of dobbing for maybe an odd carp.


It is usual practice to start dobbing on this lake but I had a hunch that this could drive fish out of my peg so decided to start short on pellets. It was a slow start but after a while I started to get the odd bite. The lads who started dobbing were not catching so I felt my decision was justified. It was hard work though and after an hour I only had a handful of F1s.


With things going slowly I decided on a little dob. There was an inviting looking reed bed to my left so I started there. My float never moved and I was soon looking elsewhere. There was one tiny reed bed that didn’t look like much but I decided to have a look anyway. Imagine my surprise when the float buried and a 1lb mirror was being unhooked! Next chuck and its bigger brother took a liking to my bait. Just as it looked as though I had found a few that was the end of the action.


The next two hours were spent watching Steve empty it on Peg 13 and watching my largely motionless float. I was getting the odd bite but it was really slow and I was starting to fear the worst. With 45 minutes to go I decided on a look on my maggot line and all of a sudden things were looking up. There were F1s there but getting my hook bait through the roach was proving difficult. Eventually though things came good and the last 15 minutes was really quite good.


I ended the day with 30lb, which was good enough for eighth in the section, which was far from the disaster that it could have been.


Steve unsurprisingly did the damage from his draw and won the match with a fantastic 118lb! Paul had done well with a fifth in section; his catch was largely made up of silvers so it had been a great performance off an average peg. Jon had the predicted tough day and struggled for any bites whatsoever. Luckily though our score was a few points better than Barston’s, which meant we increased our lead at the top.


The final round came and I must admit to being very excited. This is a tough league to win with so many fantastic F1 anglers fishing the match. We still had a lot of work to do and our 25-point lead could easily be eradicated if we had a poor draw!


Jon got to the drawbag nice and early though and four great pegs were just what we needed. Jon drew himself on Club 15, Steve on New 22, Paul on Club 1 while I was left with Extension 27, which I was really happy with.


When I got to my peg I couldn’t believe there was a skin of ice on the lakes. I set about clearing a few channels but knew that it would be gone in an hour or so but didn’t try cutting anything too special. My opening attack would be with bread in 3ft of water and after an hour I would then have a look down the track with pellets before hopefully finishing my match on maggots across.


My match started off like a dream and after an hour I had 7 F1s in the net. Paul Caswell to my right was still waiting for his first bite and the lad to my left had caught just one. The ice had all but disappeared now which gave me more scope to dob but it came clear that I needed to make the switch.


First job was to have a look at six metres with pellets in the deep water. A brief five-minute wait ensued before the float slid away and a decent F1 came to my net. Sadly it was a loner though and I was soon trying my maggot line in 4ft of water. This too was devoid and it was looking like an early look across was in order.


The fish were definitely across in 3ft of water and after some careful feeding I had them queuing up. They were not big fish but they were still 1lb F1s and it was becoming clear that I was doing well.


I had a simple match until the last hour when bites dried up. I tried starting new lines but nothing worked until with 20 minutes to go I decided on a quick look in the deeper water. Bingo, that’s where they had moved to! My 37lb was enough for 4th in the section with Des Shipp taking the lake win with 70lb of bread caught F1s on Peg 13.


But how had the rest got on? Well Steve had a solid performance with a 5th on his lake. Paul had done the business with a 2nd on his and Jon had a great 3rd! This meant that we won the day with 62 points and also meant that we topped the league!


We were all over the moon to win the league. We have had some great draws along the way and this has undoubtedly helped our cause but we have also had some great performances. This was clarified by the fact all our anglers were in the top 12 of the individual league that runs alongside the main league.


I must say well done to individual winner Stu Palser! His consistency at the venue is unbelievable and I have learnt a stack of real gems this year from him.


A big thanks must go to the staff at Tunnel who organise this great event. The league is almost a sell out again for next year but for anyone looking for 10 great winter matches then you must check this league out!


Follow Joe on Twitter: @carassjoe


Or email him: [email protected]


X