2014 - SEPTEMBER 28TH on the Sutton Bonnington playing field length

               After the 6 qualifiers plus the final last week on the SOAR MASTERS , i still feel it compulsive to come and fish here , its if something is calling me to continue fishing the Soar ! My Soar days existed in the 70/80/90's at Rothley/Cossington/Sileby and central Leicester plus the upper Soar into Narborough .  However since my return from Sweden after 13 years in January i feel this urge to fish the river which has rewarded me so much in the past.
                I am so excited about the Soar especially the waters controlled by the Loughborough Soar AC as i see this transformation of good fishing returning to the once former glory river .  I see Gudgeon , roach , ruffe , Perch , minnows ! , odd Rudd , Tench , Eels to 5LB - WTF ! , Carp , Bream , Skimmers , Hybrids etc…. but most of all so exciting is why is the river saturated in chublettes !? . Every peg this year has seen more chublettes than Bleak ! Can you imagine next year , they will be 2-4oz the year after 8-10 oz , fishing could be transformed , we could see waggler and stick float making an entry into the proceedings .

 Playing fields car park ….its just the next 400 yards which is the hardest

I started to walk over the field next to the cricket pitch and onto the centre line of the football pitch when i realised i had not brought my Loughboro AC Membership card . Back i trundled to the car and walked back to my lonesome gear on the Centre line where a couple approached me and stated  : I normally see anglers leave their gear after a bad day after the match , not before , i laughed and explained why i returned to the car.

 Peg 96 and a still clear Soar ……great when its HARD !

 Black pearls - hemp - slop
Pinks - Maggs - hand wash

Maurazio Schiepatti floats on full display .

 Small 2-5oz Roach on the Black Pearl were in abundance

 Maurazio's Blu Pencils were in evidence …awesome float ….exclusive through Midlands Angling supplies ltd and Bennets of Mountsorrel , Stu Timpson

CHUBLETTES , thousands of them and where are their parents ? Imagine the Soar next year , and the year after , could we see big bags of chub on the waggler and pole ? Hope so !!!!

 Boats did not alter the feeding pattern all day , think the fish are used to them .

End of the day and a 5 hour stint which realised some 10lb of good sized Perch plus at least 7LB of silvers plus maybe 2LB of Bleak , Tommys , small stripeys , see thro Skimmers and small Chublettes

Great day when you pleasure fish however totally different when you match-it !

Cannot wait for the Soar cup next week and the following Winter league …..BRING IT ON !!

2014 Sunday 21st September SOAR MASTERS FINAL

         A sunny clear day greeted the competitors after the regular draw at the Anchor Inn . For my troubles i plucked peg 46 and immediately thought okay its just to try and not finish last in an area where to get over 5lb in a match is a rarity . However the sections were a little bigger due to the amount in the final plus you always had a spare peg either side of you but it did draw in other noted pegs so to compete would be hard.
        The peg was the last part of the read beds , it was a wide area with boats opposite but its not the best of pegs but you never know an odd Tench and Big Stripey might pass my way  :)

         I set up 2 feeder rods for a 3/4 chuck. Also 3 pole rigs , one at depth , another just off depth and another to play around with up in the water plus a Perch rig using a Maurizio Reglo 1.25gr to Sensas match line 0.14 with a 14 Sensas hook

                                                                                                MARS Blu at 1.25 gr , 0.75 gr and 0.5 gr.

Also set up 2 whip rigs using SENSAS ALBORELLA 150 RECORD 4.5 and 5.5m

Darren (bloke from Derbyshire) and Joff passing with big smiles on their faces - reckon they have drawn ok ?

Steve in a plumb session

Sam Merry with his 'special' black pearls for those roach-moments.

Bloke from Derbyshire studying his plumbing techniques.

Sean who ?

Tony Marshall to my left

2 large Perch boosted his weight to 7LB

Joff Perch-miester with a specimen , are using a MEPPS on your hook mate ?

Large Perch down on that bottom section

Peter with a fine brace

Starlets bloke from Derbyshire who's name escapes me with a 2nd place on the day

Good friend Tom with a section winning net

Jeez that was tough ! but i kept 7 Pike happy at my feeding station    :(

Mark Eustace of Bennet of Mountsorrel team with a winning 15lb weight

Sam , 4th in match and a potential winner with a reported loss of a very big bream plus boat trouble.

Derby bloke can fish a bit !

Live bait for his big perch    :)

 Team members Bennets of Mountsorrel (organiser and winner)

 Top rods

Great experience to be amongst so many fine anglers ……next is the Soar cup followed by the Winter league with some 90 people fishing ……come and join the call to return on the natural venues .

The River Soar is again changing as we see the river covered by thousands of small fish like Gudgeon , Bleak , Roach , Perch , Ruffe , Rudd , skimmers , hybrids , Bream ,Tench , Eels , Carp , Chublettes by the thousands ! In  a few years the catches could be Chub to a 1lb on sticky-mag / waggler , could also see catches of 5-9lb of gudgeon like the old days on the Normanton and Zangari lengths . Could also see 10lb catches of Bleak . The river if left untouched by pollution could realise some staggering weights , that is why i am so excited at the return of so many anglers to the 'Natural-side' . The methods of fishing could see whips to 9m and wagglers and stick floats ……it is so dam exciting , BRING IT ON !!