Southwest Super League Rd 1, River Huntspill.

The return of the Super league and back to a total change from the commercials & rigs I've been used to of late' With Team mate and traveling partner Don Sutherland picking me up we decided on the safe bet of a hilltops breakfast rather than take the chance of the breakfast on offer at the draw venue Laburnham  House, Not that its not nice its the fact the coffee is not included and costs nearly as much as your breakfast!" Arriving with plenty of time before the draw things were already against us as one of are team had told captain Chris Hook he wasn't going to fish on Friday meaning we had to find a stand in for the first match, As well as being very annoying when this happens the stand in anglers tend to fish there own tactics rather than asking what ideas others have to try and catch a few fish, All good if things pay off but we would have to wait and see?, As anybody fishing these matches will know it's not cheap as you tend to need a bit of everything, maggots, casters, worms, squatts , ground-bait then the cost of breakfast as well as your pool's entry on top' I did a quick add up of how much the day was going to cost me and I didn't have much change out of £75" all very well if you are prepared to fish as a team who want to do well.

After Chris did the draw I found myself pegged below woolavington peg 89 with Don drawing the section above, Arriving at my peg I found myself the end peg of are section just before the dug out with the next section starting the other side of it, It didn't look as if anybody had fished the swim since the start of the season which can make the fishing hard until the fish get used to seeing a bit of bait since last year". Quite simple again today, To feeder rods set up, one to fish right over towards the far side on my Maver 13ft multi system rod as well as setting up the 11ft model to fish just past the middle of the river should the case arise.

Two pole rigs, a 0.4 PB2 on 0.13-0.10 with an 20 B520 hook to fish at 12mts on the deck in the open water were I had around 5ft of water, and a lighter 0.3g rig on 0.11-0.09 with the same size hook to fish on the same line but to use for silver's off the bottom by a few inches. I decided to wait and see what the Angler next to me would do with regards to feeding before I made my mind out how to approach my peg and when the all-in sounded & he proceeded to catapult balls of ground-bait into his peg on the feeder line I made my mind up to kick start my swim by feeding it just through the feeder with chopped worm & squatt added, 15 minutes later I had landed 16 feeder full's about 15ft from the far bank and after feeding some casters and white maggot onto my pole line it was time to attach a hook-length and get going. Starting with a bunch of red squatt on the hook I had a pull round 1st chuck resulting in a 1lb skimmer safely in the net which was a good start and got me all excited' it was short lived though as despite trying various hook baits all I added in the opening 90mins was a 4oz skimmer on dead red maggot. I had been loose feeding the pole line with the catty whilst on the tip and after seeing the anglers further down my section taking a couple of eels on there pole lines it was time to give it a try.

Starting with double white maggot on the hook 10mins later I was just about to switch back to the feeder when the float slowly slid away, convinced it was an eel bite I let it develop before giving it a firm strike to set the hook but was surprized to find out it was another 1lb skimmer!. Nothing else followed so I switched back to the feeder line as from what I could see not that much was being caught. 15mins later and another 1lb plus skimmer was added taken on red maggot but bites were hard to come by and it just wasn't happening so I re-fed the swim with another 6 feeder full's laced with squat's and rested it again. Back on the pole it took me another 10mins to get a bite but this time it was an eel' and a bloody big un" I got it off the bottom only for it to come to the surface and flip over on my hook-length snapping it in the process estimated to be over 2lb" Bummer..!

With a new one added I kept switching between the pole line & the feeder but wasn't going anywhere, I decided to switch to the lighter rig set just tripping the bottom with a single white maggot on the hook but cut back on the feed I was putting in with the catty feeding just a few casters & maggots over the top, This did make a difference for a while as I added 3 smaller eels in a 20minute period before the wind picked up making it harder to present it properly. Now with a nice ripple on the water I felt going into the last hour I had the chance of a few more skimmers on the tip. I gave it 15mins with no signs so back to the pole line with the heavier rig this time with a caster & maggot on the hook, 5mins later I had a proper 1lb plus eel but noticed Paul Purchase 2 pegs down had landed a big skimmer on the tip so went back across again with double dead maggot on the hook. With 25mins left I gave it a little twitch and soon after the tip slowly pulled around, Bingo' a 2lb plus skimmer was safely added which really got my hopes up of more in the last 20mins but it wasn't to be, from what I could see it was going to be a close section as far as the points went, One thing I did notice though, the chap next to me who decided to ball in ground-bait on his feeder line at the start really struggled today adding just a few eels despite staying on it all day. I was first to weigh and was pleased to put 8lb 13oz on the scales with my four skimmers & eels , further down the section there was a couple of close weights before Blackmore Vales Simon Hebditch put 11lb odd scales to take the top weight in the section, My weight ended up enough for 2nd picking up £50 for my effort but more to the point good 6 out of a possible 7 points for the team. Back at the results and some sections proved hard which it obvious due to the lack of bait going in for the first match of the year, So what frustrating as far as the team result go's finishing 6th out of 7 on the day as yet again some of the team seemed to go all out for glory instead of scratching for another point or two which makes all the difference in a small league like this. Having fished in the past for teams on the top level I know how hard you have to work at it to get results and although sometimes it doesn't work in your favour if at least you try different things you can at least get a clearer picture of what to expect rather than just hoping things will happen" Don & myself are back for the open match next week before the second round so expecting things to improve. Team wise Daiwa Gordon League won the day with a good 43pts and top individual went to lee green also from Gordon league with 50lb of bream from peg 99 below woolavington taken on the feeder. 

Teams on the day - 

 

Section Results -