Winter fishing
Posted: January 5th, 2015, 5:22 pm
Yesterday i headed towards the fens for the second round of the winter pairs run by wayne Swinscoe and his helpers . Now i can pick and choose where i go without worrying about the Team side of fishing i really was looking forward to this competition especially after last years . Although the journey there is straightforward the first two rounds have been the coldest i've fished with freezing fog ,black ice and snow . Sometimes it makes you wonder about fishing and traveling in these conditions but thats soon forgot when you arrive to a full English breakfast . The pairs league is run over two rivers the Town Welland and the River Glen both rivers are full of roach skimmers and big Perch at this time of year . The league is on weight so anything can happen and with winter fishing we all know how fish shoal up especially on the Welland . My partner in crime for the competition is Joe Roberts ,Joe has fished everywhere and done everything so there's no pressure . AS long as you choose which venue you want to fish before the draw you can fish either Joe and myself were going to take it in turns . After the first round Joe had finished 3rd on the Welland with 18lb and because it fished hard you really had to draw well. I decided that Joe's drawing arm is a lot better than mine so in round two i opted for the Glen again which seemed to be a smart move as Joe drew spot on . The Glen is a lot fairer as you are in a straight line and you can see most pegs so you know what you need to do . End pegs will always be favourable and even more so when they are taken up by Mark pollard and Rob Hewison 
Polly was on the end peg this way
Rob Hewison was one below the road bridge this way
On these photo's the weather looks brilliant but i can tell you it was freezing your pole joints were freezing up if you laid them on the bank . Saying that as we arrived we could see fish topping on the whole length so the signs looked good .
I setup 1.5 float to a top 5 as it was pushing hard plus a gram and 0.6 just in case it slowed up . my plan was to run down the middle over G/B and pinkies while loose feeding casters under my feet where from time to time you can catch some massive Perch . when the match started i cupped 5 balls in the chap below me balled it which got me thinking but as it was my first real look at the place i feed safe . I had a cracking start as did most roach after roach with a few Dace and big Bleak mixed in . perhaps i should've balled it as it wasn't long before i was topping up this helped the peg every time . I notice the chap below me was catching but anything they looked a smaller stamp to mine . Half way through i thought my peg was starting to slow up so i plumbed up the bottom of the far shelf which turned out to be two inches shallower . so before my line died completely i fed 4 balls over there out the way and intended to leave them to settle . looking left and right everyone was catching yet the stamp seemed small than at the start . Time to try the caster under my feet
well i missed my first two bites thinking they tinyfish next thing i know 6oz roach then another then a 8oz roach although you had to wait the stamp was a different class . then disaster i hooked a branch right where i was catching and got it out needless to say i had to start the line up again . Still i had the far line and again i started with better fish but as the weather closed in it turned bitter cold with freezing fog . Spotting my float was hard enough so it was time to try the caster i put three more roach in the net before the final whistle went . It was dark and foggy so unfourtantly no catch shots but i have the weigh sheets for both venues . i ended up with 10lb 8oz which i thought i might have a little more but it was good enough for a section . mean while Joe had put together another weight of roach 16lb odd for 2nd place but more importantly we had put 27lb on to our total and a few quid shared 
RIVER GLEN
TOWN WELLAND
Polly was on the end peg this way
Rob Hewison was one below the road bridge this way
On these photo's the weather looks brilliant but i can tell you it was freezing your pole joints were freezing up if you laid them on the bank . Saying that as we arrived we could see fish topping on the whole length so the signs looked good .
I setup 1.5 float to a top 5 as it was pushing hard plus a gram and 0.6 just in case it slowed up . my plan was to run down the middle over G/B and pinkies while loose feeding casters under my feet where from time to time you can catch some massive Perch . when the match started i cupped 5 balls in the chap below me balled it which got me thinking but as it was my first real look at the place i feed safe . I had a cracking start as did most roach after roach with a few Dace and big Bleak mixed in . perhaps i should've balled it as it wasn't long before i was topping up this helped the peg every time . I notice the chap below me was catching but anything they looked a smaller stamp to mine . Half way through i thought my peg was starting to slow up so i plumbed up the bottom of the far shelf which turned out to be two inches shallower . so before my line died completely i fed 4 balls over there out the way and intended to leave them to settle . looking left and right everyone was catching yet the stamp seemed small than at the start . Time to try the caster under my feet
well i missed my first two bites thinking they tinyfish next thing i know 6oz roach then another then a 8oz roach although you had to wait the stamp was a different class . then disaster i hooked a branch right where i was catching and got it out needless to say i had to start the line up again . Still i had the far line and again i started with better fish but as the weather closed in it turned bitter cold with freezing fog . Spotting my float was hard enough so it was time to try the caster i put three more roach in the net before the final whistle went . It was dark and foggy so unfourtantly no catch shots but i have the weigh sheets for both venues . i ended up with 10lb 8oz which i thought i might have a little more but it was good enough for a section . mean while Joe had put together another weight of roach 16lb odd for 2nd place but more importantly we had put 27lb on to our total and a few quid shared RIVER GLEN
TOWN WELLAND
