2015 - SENSAS CANAL MASTERS ROUND 3

First big match since Christmas saw 70 plus anglers assemble on a very cold morning . Our hearts and stomachs were rewarded with hearty breakfasts dished out by the breakfast team at the Carillion Sports club home of our headquarters of all the Master matches.

 Team Breakfast working hard

 The breakfasts were flying out

 Team Midlands Angling Supplies rod John Kilby stoking his boiler ready for the mornings cold.

 Masters at work …..Joff and Brian always working hard to provide the very best in match fishing organisation.

Draw time and ………..

 Fantastic cold winters morning in the sun and the view to my left

 Todays activity centre

 View to my right

 Sunday lunch for the fish expectants

Todays rigs were: 

SENSAS Jeff 2 0.2gr 0.9/0.7 SENSAS feeling 22 hook 

SENSAS Lombadier 0.3gr  1.0/0.8 SENSAS feeling 22 hook

and A SENSAS CCX2 4x8. 0.14/16 hook

After clearing as much ice as possible the match started with the ice holes closing up again so it was a case of fish and clear the ice on occasions with the pole cup and landing net. SENSAS legend Joe Roberts to my right was soon of the mark with a quick succession of 2 perch and a roach and other either side of me also gained a few bits , where are mine ? At that point i had my first fish a perch on double bloodworm and followed that by loosing another as i played the line past the ice .

In the first hour Joe lost a big Perch through the ice and Dean Guess and Tony Marshall battled the ice flow to gain a reasonable return of small fish.

It was not till the first boat went though pushing the ice everywhere that i gained my first decent fish , a Perch of about 14oz just of the keepnet ! About an hour later i was fishing the stern of a barge close in when i hit a beast and after 20 second play trying to pull it out i lost it to the ice ! , i was livid !

About 20 minutes later i got my consolation price a brute of about 2.5 LB , thoughts of winning the section were now a reality however after only catching 3 more smallish Perch but losing another 2 small ones for the remainder of the match i was thinking i would by at least 0.5 kilos behind most , i was.

 Lee Wright on peg 90 with 2.050

Mark Perkins , section winner 2.300 peg 97

 4th in section with 1750 on peg 100

 Joe Roberts also lost fish like me and potentially could have won the section on peg 102

 Drennan rod Dean Guess with a kilo on peg 103

Tony Marshall peg 103 DNW

Another great day be it a very cold one but pleasant in the direct sun light. Bring on round 4 and another chance to qualify !

2015 - Wigston Canal Blaby

I decided to take a membership card out with the Wigston AC at the beginning of the year and thought since i had some time of i would try after a 30 year gap since last fishing the venue.
Since i resided in Blaby then i plumbed for fishing as local as possible and a 4 minute car journey took me to the canal at Newbridge road between Glen Parva and Blaby.

http://www.wigstonanglingsociety.co.uk/where%20to%20fish/default.html

There i came a cross an angler who was one of the senior members of the Wigston AC ,  Chairman Steven Pratt

We had a good conversation and talked about the many aspects of the Wigston AC waters and talked of our commonality in Leicestershire local angling.

View to my left . What a fabulous area this is with brand new houses and apartments either side . Must be great for walks into Leicester from here.

Based on his advice i decided to fish below the lock to the left of the Whetstone Bridge close to the overflow outlet.

 My target area for catching (i hope)

I plumbed up and found a very nice 4'6'' to 5' boat road with a good 3' shelf . I decided to rig up three tops :
1 - EXNER prototype 0.15gr to 0.9/0.6/24's  …...  for the far shelf
2 - SENSAS CCX2 4 x 10 0.14/16  …… for some Stripey action.
3 - SENSAS Jeff2 0.3gr to 0.9/0.7/22's …… middle and far track.

 The day was hampered by a gusty wind which played havoc with presentation but in-between the gusts presentation allowed the float to go down at regular intervals and my net of small Roach and perch was nice even though it was not a huge weight it was still having bites that cheers you up .
Approx 25-30 bits. (sorry about the focus)