PB.

[John Ellison]

I fished a little match today with a few mates on our local canal. Now I can hardly claim to grab any headlines in the press but I achieved a little personal milestone today. I caught 100 roach in 5 hours on punch. That they were three to the ounce matters not to me. Why I am quite pleased with myself is that I caught 22 in the first hour/17 in the second/20 in the third/20 in the fourth and 21 in the last. The adopted feeding pattern got me a fish the first put-in to a fish in the last. They weighed 1 lb 12 ozs. Just out of the money.

[coarsefish-torbay]

Result! Hope you keep plugging away at it and making every fish count. As for my match today; 35lb of small carp with 15lb second, so I'm well chuffed as well.

Which canal do you fish?

Steve

[Howard 13]

Hi John,

 

I'm not being funny here, but how do you keep count of the fish you catch when in a match?

 

It makes me laugh when I see a keepnet full of small silverfish in the weeklies with the headline - '367 roach in 3 hours'

 

If thats all I had to think about whilst fishing, I think I'd pack it in.

 

Happy hunting.

HB.

[Nugg]

I think thats great, and that your canal should hold such a head of fish is fantastic, lets hope they grow up to breed.

Well done

[phonebush]

Howard,

Different strokes for different folks. We have guys here in the US that spend half a day getting ready to catch 6 inch trout on a flyrod while 40 lb salmon and carp spin just feet from the bank!

Seems alright to me?

Phone

[John Ellison]

The canal was the start of the Calder & Hebble, not that it matters. It's 20 metres wide, 7 feet deep and totally featureless. We were on here because the river was up.

How or why you keep count is to keep you focussed. A few years ago I was in a canal match and found myself on a few gudgeon which I estimated weighed 50 to the pound. I caught 268 plus a 3 oz perch. At any time throughout the match I was able to guess what weight I'd got.

When the chap at the next peg asked what I thought I'd got I said 5 lbs 9 ozs. I weighed 5 - 8 1/2. That's why you count! You only generally bother when it's little fish and 20 in the first hour and 17 in the next is a disaster, you tell yourself and you must be more careful with the feeding. With 79 fish in the first 4 hours and a magic ton a real possibility, who do you think was the most focussed angler on the bank? I was!

When I saw that picture of Lynn with that barbel I was in awe. But I don't live there, I live here. In this canal in t' shadow o dark satanic mills wi' rain pouring down t' slag heaps

you can target proper roach on caster and when you catch it's lovely. I did that a week last wednesday and never had a bite for three hours.

One alternative is Punch. It costs nowt, calls for oh so delicate presentation and you catch instantly if roach are present. When it's my day off I want to go fishing and catch. Yesterday I did. I love it! :cool: :cool: :cool:

[Howard 13]

Phone, It's not the catching of small fish I was getting at, it was how do you keep count of them all.

 

I know I'd never be able to stay focused enough to keep count for 5 hours.

 

Anyway, well done John!

 

HB.

[confused]

We recently had a match on the trent, although it ws only won with about 6lb noone had a fish over about 2oz great fun allday, mostly gudgeon which makes a change but it was better than sticking out for the big one.

[davidP]

I've seen guys catching gudgeon & bleak in matches using small push-button counters like they use at some events to count people. Never quite saw the point myself, but then perhaps that's why they always caught more than I did!