Met at the Greens football car park and the Vince and Mike were there.
Mike Conway building his trolley for the trip
Neil Powell Mike Conway John Kilby
SENSAS Tank ready for battle
Greens peg looking good
Good peg
Then onto the Deeps ....probably one of the better ones
Evasive weed is a problem here ......peg completely covered
Another better peg
Peg covered .........keep nets tough to place
Peg before the fence looks good but is this peg in for the match ?
Only 3-4 pegs looked okay-ish to use
Then onto the 1860 stretch
Some of the pegs need a little work but nothing too bad
This dam evasive weed is everywhere
A better peg here ?
Needs weed cutting
Peg completely overgrown
Last two pegs are over the footbridge (best pegs )
Why go over the footbridge and set up 2 new pegs on this part of the bank (picture from the footbridge)
Brinks and Top Ponds fields were occupied by a horse show so we did not bother going thro' but Stu and helpers have done a great job with the pegs
Last of the day was the Abbey.........peg 1 , option to fish on the platform 3 ' of the water or stand on the gravel.
Peg 1
Peg 1 .......the killing ground !
Peg 1
Peg 2......excellent with either sit on pallet or stand to the right of it on gravels......excellent stick float peg.
Peg 2 wire was easy to get over
John spotting thousands of small fish
Peg 3 .........excellent for small waggler , stick and long pole
Peg 4 ......excellent for any method
Peg 4 killing ground
peg 5
Peg 5 ......weedy in front but hiding many large fish
Peg 5
Peg 6 .......excellent to stand in on gravels
Peg 6
Peg 7 also a stand up peg on gravels and excellent for stick float
Peg 8 .....narrow but good long trot
Peg 9 is after the fence ......watch the barb wire on the fence but it is the shortest walk from parking the car.
Back to the Greens and Lee could not keep away !
Lee trying the trusty sword 984 of Team-MAS
Quorn AC Bailiff was down to collect our tickets for the two saturday's times 7 anglers.
Mike in action on the worm
Lee ........i think i will have a 984 !
SUMMARY :
Saturday the 10th October myself , Neil Powell and John Kilby decided to tour the Winter League sections , well at least as many as possible in a day. We met at the Greens section where MAS rods Vince Callaghan and Mike Conway were practising.
From there we continued over to the 'Deeps' and we noticed the repair work to the cobbles is at least 100 yards long and not sure when that work will be complete ? . Past the repair work there appeared to be no pegs cleared and the evasive floating weed covered many of them . There was probably 3 pegs you could fish on with some bank-stick thrashing. Also note that the car park field is almost taken over by the EA for their materials so getting past it to park means driving the car through softer ground.
Back to the Greens ; Pegs from left to right , first two are okay however the middle three need bank work and also the last four on the right will require some work to stabilize your box on.
(one of our anglers slipped in the other week on practice)
Later the Quorn AC bailiff appeared and we paid for 7 tickets that we had used for the two saturdays practice . He did say however that it is council land and he believes that any digging work will not be allowed. I would say that its in the councils best interest to have secure , safer permanent pegs !?
Then we visited the 1860 and that also needs some form of work on its pegs and whether or not new pegs positions could be gained ? Shame you cannot gain extra pegs so not to cross the footbridge to the last 2 pegs ? Again the work is purely rake and cut .
From there we took breakfast at the cafe in Mountsorrell then visited Stu Timpson of Bennets tackle shop. After getting directions for Top Ponds and Brinks of Stu we visited these sections however there was a horse show going on so it would have been not appropriate to enter the field . It is well known that Stu and his helpers have made 40 good pegs and the sections are ready for the WL.
We then took the trip to the 'Osiers' . The walk was reasonable even when you go over the footbridge however getting to the first few pegs is a little bit tough and there are many slippery slopes that need steps to make them safe. The pegs below the railway bridge need a lot of work to make them safe . Neil Powell who is a national fishing coach remarked that safety would have to be paramount to fish there . The fishing is superb but it just needs steps going in as it will be dangerous .
Last of the day was a visit to the ABBEY ........Awesome job by Brian Hull and helpers as pegs that had my doubt for safety have been truly well secured. There may be a little going under or over barb wire on pegs 1 ,2 , 7 and possibly 9 if 9 is used and other pegs defined in the field. In most cases you will need boots to knee level if you take an option to stand on gravels.
I reckon the Abbey and the Osiers has a potential to provide a few 25-35lb weights with chub and big perch being the target.........What an advertisement for Leicestershire angling !
Kegworth apparently is in great condition , Normanton i have heard nothing about the condition of the pegs ?
ADVICE :
With all the sections being a little varied then you have to take quite a lot of kit but essentially the pole is the lead weapon and you may need various tops to combat the varied fish sizes in flowing water that may arise. The problem is also that if on some sections you travel light you will no doubt leave kit in the car so cover it up !
THOUGHTS:
NONE OF US ARE YOUNG ANY MORE SO TO KEEP THE HIGH PROFILE OF THE LEICS ANGLING THEN LETS COLLECTIVELY TOGETHER SUPPORT THE LOUGHBRO' AND QUORN AND OTHER CLUBS BY CONTINUOUS ALL YEAR ROUND MAINTENANCE ON THE PEGS ...... WE ALL DO A BIT THEN THE JOB GETS DONE.
ITS OBVIOUS SUTTON HAS HAD A BAD SEASON AND THAT IS LIKE MANY RIVERS IN THE COUNTRY WITH SUCH A LOW LEVEL OF RAIN. HOWEVER SUTTON CAN ONLY BE FISHED NOW WHEN THE RIVER IS IN FLOOD OR IT SHOWS FORM CLOSER TO THE END OF THE YEAR. THIS WILL BE DETERMINED BY JOFF AND BRIAN FOR THOSE REASONS PLUS THE SAFETY OF ALL TAKING PART.
