Picked Up In The Pole Champs
Five matches to catch up on. Saturday I paid Tunnel Barn a visit before the forthcoming Pole Champs as I’d not been proper F1 fishing for a while and needed to bed in a load of freshly elasticated top kits for my shiny XTR700!
Drew House 16, which is a peg I quite like fishing, although you’re normally sat watching all the guys over the bridge bagging up. Had a nice start on pellets all over the peg, then finally caught a few on maggot shallow, but they soon fizzled out. Last two hours I really messed things up trying a few things and ended up with 64lb with 67lb winning the section. The opposite end of the lake threw up three tons, so they clearly wanted to be in shallower water on the day. More importantly I was fairly happy with my day and was back in tune with how it was fishing. Tactics already felt a bit more wintery than I expected…
Sunday was Round 1 of the Solihull Silvers at Packington, which I’ve not entered before but with around 40 anglers it should be a good league. I drew peg 1 on Gearys and knew it would fish hard as there was a silvers match on it the day before and it rarely fishes well the next day. However I didn’t realise quite how hard!
High pressure, flat calm, foggy and tucked in a corner I had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t see many skimmers. First fish was a non-counting carp. First counting fish took over 90 minutes and was a gudgeon! Two hours in I added a 10oz perch. Both fish down the edge. Not a bite out in front. Eventually caught four big roach and just a few little skimmers very very late.
Carp were clearly in the area as when the fog lifted I could see a ball of them 20-25m out, sucking on the leaves and big bubbles popping up. Maybe the silvers didn’t want to be anywhere near them? Or more likely I was just totally rubbish on the day! Either way it was a disastrous opening round for me. 3lb and last in section and only 6lb winning the section on a mega tough day. Well done Stretch! So that’ll be my dropper then!
So my confidence had taken a bit of a bashing going into Day 1 of the Winter Pole Champs at Tunnel Barn. A star-studded festival with 120 fishing. I was much happier when I pulled out peg 48 on High Pool, though, as it’s a great peg in a great area of the lake. Fished a full 16m most of the day to the island, hard pellets to begin with and later expanders then maggots with a bit of Sonubaits Match Method Mix. Caught F1s, a few nice carp and seven or eight really plump carassio. Think High is the only lake with proper carassio in if anyone’s wondering.
Tried shallow and short several times but only had a handful of fish on these lines. That’s ultimately cost me as I’ve weighed 91lb for 2nd in section and 2nd on the lake. Kieran Marsden next door on peg 50 really clattered them short on maggots and put 96lb on the scales. No disgrace coming 2nd to Kieran as he’s brilliant at this game. Still a decent day’s fishing to kick the festival off.
Day 2 I was mega happy drawing High 15. A great peg. Only been on it once before but it’s always favourite to win the section. Well after two hours I’m sat there scratching my head wondering what’s going on and struggling to string any bites together! Everyone I could see was struggling too, though, and the fish were being extra moody with the still conditions and high pressure.
It’s only when I’ve gone 16m to the right-hand island tapping in micros that I’ve finally strung some bites together, although one big carp wallowed all the way back and shed the hook at the net. Also had one crazy carp jump clean out the water as I played it!
Thankfully I also had a decent run of fish on the short pole with maggots. That helped me to 73lb, a section win and another 2nd on the lake. Thought I’d only got 55lb, so my clicking was way out.
Apparently there was another seven lakes on the festival, but I never saw them as I was back on High for Day 3! This time peg 2 in the hardest section on the lake. Happy with my peg and a good chance of a first or second off it. I knew my biggest threat would be Phil Moore on 14 and he’s won the section with 45lb, doing well to get several big carp out. I’ve managed a 2nd in section with just 34lb. To say it fished hard would be an understatement.
Fresh-aired loads of bites; some were definitely micro roach as this area’s heaving with them, but I’m sure some of them were F1s too that wouldn’t commit to feed. Again caught best at 16m to the aerator. Couldn’t really fish anywhere else in front of the island with all the sunken grasses and brambles poking out.
Managed a handful of F1s short on maggots late on, and finally caught a carp and two F1s very late down the edge on maggots and Match Method Mix. Still amazed how hard it was. Felt like a proper winter grueller with all the lakes suffering from high pressure.
Overall, three anglers had 3 points, four had 4 points and four of us had 5 points, so I’d thankfully made the top 14 money prizes in 11th spot. High was one of the harder lakes all week, so I knew my total weight would cost me a few places. No complaints as I’ve had three decent pegs and three decent results. Perhaps could’ve won my section on Day 1, but Kieran ultimately proved his class by winning the whole festival, so very well done that man and all the other framers.
Fishing 16m and waiting for extra finicky bites each day was vital and a great test for the XTR700. So many people wanted a proper look and I’ve never seen such a buzz about a pole before! I used standard 2.5m kits with 10-12 Slik the first two days and short fishing, dropping to 8-10 Slik in a 2m kit on the final day for long. Think these shorter ‘in-between’ kits will play a big part in my snake-lake fishing.
Used Matrix F1 Slims and Finesse Slims in 0.2g to 0.5g, 0.16 main lines and 0.11 and 0.12 bottoms. The super stiff 3.5m Ethos XR Carp handle was also vital as with all the lakes being so low you are sat quite high off the water and need a little more reach. Combined with the small Carp Latex net it’s the perfect combo for Tunnel Barn.
Really nice to be back to Tunnel and catching a few fish. This place always keeps you thinking!
