Grand Union Canal - Sunday 16th Dec

Well with all the recent rain and my local rivers being flooded it was a simple choice for me and the Grand Union Canal it was to be. It was a full three weeks since I had last wet a line and I was looking forward to this as I really do love canal fishing.
I set off at 7.30am  and arrived at the canal about an hour later only to find that parts of it were still frozen over so obviously the water was going to be cold, it would be interesting to see what effect this had on the fish. I was travelling light today as it was a good 20 minutes walk from the car to the area I planned to fish and by the time I arrived at my peg a was pretty hot to say the least.

11.5m to the bush and 2' 6" of water ideal

Sunday 11th November -River Nene Oundle

Its been a while since I have written anything for you and although I have been fishing most weekends I have struggled to find the time to tell you about it, so its time to get back to it.
Sunday saw myself and my fishing friend Graham heading for the river Nene at Oundle, we had had some rain in the week and as expected the river was nicely coloured but the overnight temperature had been pretty low.

Nice colour and flow on the Nene at Oundle

A couple of early morning session on the Welland

Monday 20th:

Well it has been a struggle to find the time to fish so far this season but I have been out a couple of times just lately to the river Welland. On Monday I decided I would have an early start and get  a few hours on the Deeping section near where the cut comes into the river, I arrived just as it was getting light and the river was alive with small fish topping everywhere.

Not a Good Opening To My Season

Well I have eventually got my season started and as seems to be normal these days it has been a bit of an anti climax to say the least. Having missed the start of the season due to work commitments I was really looking forward to getting out by the water, I had a look at the Nene but it was pushing through quite hard with all the rain we keep getting so I decided to have a look at the Middle Level Drain. When I arrived it was quite windy blowing down the drain but at least it was dry, I set up a feeder and proceeded to have a a few cast to find my range before clipping up and starting to put some feed in. A few cast later and I baited up and had my first cast of the new season and with the feeder only just hitting the bottom before the tip started showing the first indication which turned out to be a 2oz Perch. A few more casts and a couple of missed bites later and the heavens opened and the wind gusted strongly, it was all I could do to hang onto my umbrella.

This was after 20 minute and it had eased up considerably

The Sun Sets On Another Season

Well that it for another river season, I have had a busy last few days although I haven't had much to show for my efforts. I had taken time off work as normal for the last days of the season and planned to fish Sunday to Wednesday to make the most of the time left and the following is a brief account of how it went.

The Sun sets on the River Nene at Wansford for another season

Ravely Drain, Round 6 Deeping Individual League

This Sunday saw the final round of the individual league fished on Ravely drain and it also included the second leg of the Newman Trophy which is an inter club match fished against yaxley.
After my win last week I was happy to be heading the league going into the final round although I still thought that it was going to be a tall order having not seen the venue for many years.
I started my match preparation by popping over to the venue midweek and having a look and a walk along the match length along with reading any recent match reports. One of these was written by Bob Nudd from a recent match where he came second with 549 fish, now this was ok but it left me with as many questions as it did answers so I emailed him to see what else I could learn. Now I wasn't sure I would even get a reply but towards the end of the week he sent me a reply giving me some useful info that left me feeling a little more confident in the plan I had put together.

A view looking towards the sluice

Individual League round 5

Well this weekend saw a long awaited return to action after the last 2 weeks had been wiped out by the weather and the matches cancelled. This week was the re arranged Several Fisheries Trophy match,  it also incorporated round 5 of the individual league and was to be fished on the clubs section of the river Welland through Deeping St James. There were 14 anglers at the draw and the venue had been pegged to try and put everyone on fish as the river was low, Gin clear and lacking any real flow with certain areas completely devoid of any fish. I had however visited the river on the Friday afternoon to have a couple of hours and I had managed 2 1/2lb of fish from a swim 2' 6" deep and as clear as tap water so I was reasonably hopeful. 

High Locks at Deeping St James

Stretton Lakes, Round 4 Deeping Individual League

Due to the fact that most of our local river venues are very poor at the moment the decision was made to switch round 4 of the individual league to a commercial fishery. I for one was not looking forward to this at all as I don't really fish this type of venue very often and had never even seen the chosen venue before. Anyway Stretton Lakes it was then and after a quick look on the internet and asking a few local anglers I was still none the wiser and so I resigned myself to going in blind.

In the week before the match I made myself up a few rigs to cover both Carp and Silver fish, I also sorted out a couple of power kits with suitable elastic in the shape of a No9 hollow and a No12 solid for Carp and for the silver fish I would use a match kit and a No 6 elastic. Bait wise I planned to use Maggot, Casters, Pellets and a little groundbait with a few Pinkies in it but as for a plan I thought I would make it up when I arrived at my peg.

Match day arrived and after the 35 minute drive from my home in Peterborough  I arrived at the venue to find quite a few anglers had braved the cold, 16 in all so not a bad show at all. The weather was overcast and 3 degrees centigrade with hardly any breeze on the water but there were small fish topping all over the lake which by the way was a long strip with islands all down the middle at around 13m. The club had done the sensible thing and missed out every other peg so everybody had a full island feature to fish to. After the normal pre match banter that we all know and love it was time for the draw although at this point I couldn't really see any advantage in any peg as they were all very similar. I drew peg 11 which was mid point along the bank and suited me fine as it was right behind the parking area.


Peg 11 showing the 4 lines I fished



Two weekends and not a single Bite!

Well what can I say, that's 2 weekends, 3 sessions and not a single bite so mildly disappointing to say the least. Sunday last week I had planned a trip to the river Glen with my son as he hadn't been for a while and I thought we could get a few bites on this narrow Fenland river. But it all went wrong when the Deeping St James AC changed venues at the 11th hour from the town Welland to the Glen. They put their match on the West Pinchbeck section and although there were other sections of the river available we didn't see any fish top other than on the match length and so we didn't bother fishing.
On the Monday I decided to have a look at the river Nene at Wansford but after a few really cold days the water temperature was down to 3.5 deg and I tackled up almost with an acceptance that I wouldn't get a bite. This turned out to be the case and after 3 bite less hours I called it a day, I did have a chat to a couple of other anglers before I left and they were doing no better at all with neither of them having a single bite. I was booked into a match this weekend just gone but withdrew myself as I just knew it was going to be hard, this turned out to be the case with only 4 of the 15 anglers catching. The winner had 5oz followed by 2oz and joint 3rd with 1/2oz with most of the catches made up of Minnows.
Anyway I had decided that a trip to Ten Mile Bank on the Great Ouse would be a better option but after 3 hours on the pole and an hour on the feeder I called it a day and made the trip home wondering where my next fish was going to come from.
The forecast for the coming week doesn't look great and the planned league match is up in the air with the club leaving it as late a s possible to choose a venue but we live in hope.

A bad day on the river is always still better than a good day in the office though!

Cheers Mark

River Glen, Round 3 Deeping Individual League.

 Well this Sunday saw me on the river Glen for the first time this season in round 3 of the Deeping St James Individual league, the club had fished it the week before and although I couldn't fish I had been told it was a good match.

We all met up at the Fisherman's Arms pub at Pode Hole  at 08.00 for pre match breakfast and banter before driving the mile or so to the river for the draw, I was 4th into the draw bag and pulled out peg 9 which was about the middle of the stretch



The River Glen at West Pinchbeck