Match fishing in winter

[The Flying Tench]

I've never fished a match, but I think I at least partly understand the appeal. One part of it for me would be learning from other anglers.

But one thing I don't understand is match fishing canals or rivers in winter. I admit this is a bit theoretical by me, but as I understand it the fish shoal up so you can have long stretches where there are no fish! This is pain enough for a 'pleasure angler' like me, but at least when I blank I can say 'I won't go there again.' And I can move and try out different bits of river or canal during a session. But in most matches you are stuck where there may be no fish!

So what goes on in match anglers heads to take part in this type of fishing?

[Martin56]

When I was a young fella, I used to fish Winter League matches on our Yorkshire rivers, Nidd, Swale, Wharfe & the Ouse.

We were made of stronger stuff then, not to mention more foolhardy but I have to say it makes little or no appeal for me these days.

[chesters1]

Same here i frequented open matches in kent mostly on the medway but i couldnt do it now ,i have got soft and not so stupid as i was in the 60's ,in reality i just made the winnings bigger for the locals who knew how to fish the sections ,just fishing the stretch every couple of months you didnt get much insight unlike those that fished it regularly .

Opens were a way of fishing places you couldnt normally  as most were run by clubs ,i found i didnt enjoy them not so much the fishing but getting there and back on trains or worse buses ! Southern clubs zeemed (went all yokel then!) not to operate like northern ones you rarely used coaches for days out i can only remember a couple of outings ,one to a maggot farm and a weekend fishing some god forsaken bream swanp in ireland when it was in its heyday ,couldnt get the smell out of my hair for days ,mud and slime it was like listening to Arthur Haynes " up to me neck in muck and bullets" thats about all i bought the angling times for the open match fixtures even then it was just pages of adverts and little else!

Edited December 14, 2021 by chesters1

[Blackbird]

River match anglers are a dying breed, most matches are on F1 packed venues in the winter, especially.

On my local river Arrow the last match was won with a weight of 15lb of Chub mainly, and runners up weighed either nothing or just a few ounces, which supports the shoaled up theory.

On the cold rivers a pleasure angler can do worse than using cheese paste and rove. 

One part cheddar, one part blue cheese grated together, with half part shortbread pastry or fine crumb, add margarine or Philadelphia to make a moist mix. It gets better with age use with at least a size 6 hook, no need to loose feed, Chub love the stuff. 

[The Flying Tench]

So Blackbird found the shoaling up theory applied. Martin and Chesters, did you find the same - most people more or less blanking but one or two getting a decent weight?

[chesters1]

In the past yes they shoaled up but I think it was in advantageous positions due to the conditions at the time ,in entrances to gulleys or in deep areas on corners etc,if your not feeding as much as in summer you dont want to be burning off your fat fighting the current so anywhere the water is slacker is a good place to be ,these places will be finite so rather fish deliberately shoaling i think mere numbers of fish frequenting them will give the impression its a deliberate act of shoaling up ,if you think about it its not a good idea to be in a shoal the fish at the head of it will get all the food i think its just a case of getting out of the current more than partying with your fish mates.

This river i now fish doesnt have shoals theres few fish the trout havnt driven off ,its a case of walking upstream and trying every bend or tree roots and hope theres a few fish in it ,mid stream all there is is poxy trout ,there are a few fish here and there but in my slower stretches the water is much deeper and slower theres little the cormerants have missed 

[BoldBear]

Back in the 90s I used to Captain our club team in our winter (and summer) matches on the Grand Union Canal just north of Watford and in freezing cold winter weather some of the matches were won with just a few ounces; with lots of dry nets; especially when a match was being held on a featureless stretch not known for its larger fish.

I won several of these winter matches and in some matches when the temperatures we’re particularly cold I used to scale right down to 8oz hooklengths and size 22 and 24 hooks with a single squatt on the hook that on the previous night had been prepared by washing in very dilute washing up liquid to remove any grease and brick dust that had been on them, and then after rinsing and drying them well they were then put into the bait box with a slice of bread soaked in milk, and then put into the fridge overnight.

In the morning of the match they were nice and plump and a bit more lively and they sank well too, and the bread was full of holes were the squatt had been having a go at the milk soaked bread.

I also caught quite a few on small pieces of bread punch or small pinkes on a size 20 hook.

To find the odd feeding fish I used to search all the obvious places where there was slightly less flow like under tree branches on the far bank on or near the far shelf and where any boat traffic would not cause too much disturbance and make them move out of the way too much as in the depths of a cold winter when temperatures are close to freezing I don’t think they move very far or are willing to follow their food as it flows past them as much.

They did appear to shoal up much tighter than they would in milder conditions for ‘safety in numbers’ reasons however the Perch and Chublets would be a bit more willing to move around and actually look for their food a bit more.

I did occasionally have a blank but our team did usually win the winter series of matches overall, and even if I won with an individual weight of just a few ounces I actually enjoyed it as I knew it was because I had payed attention to minor things that made a difference while a lot of the others just sat there moaning about there being no fish in their swims.

I think I used to fare better in these harder conditions than I did when it was a bit milder.

If the temperatures had been steady for a couple of days or had been slowly rising for a couple of days it often fished well even if the temperature was still only a couple of degrees above freezing, but if it had started to fall over the last couple of days then fishing could be dire.

I couldn’t fish in these freezing conditions these days though, I’m getting a bit too old now and I like my comforts far too much. 

Keith

Edited December 15, 2021 by BoldBear

[The Flying Tench]

So Chesters doesn't believe the shoaling up theory except in a modified way, and I think Keith may be implying the same. The fact that he got a few ounces when that wasn't a key shoaling up point shows there were at least some fish there, and the reason others blanked may have been cos they didn't fish fine enough etc rather than there not being any fish there. I fished somewhere a bit like that today. My plan was to trot along 2-300 yds of bank, moving my chair along from time to time, till I got a bite. On the basis of the shoaling up theory that should have meant I had hit a shoal and it should enable me to bag up either today or in the future. But fairly soon I got a couple of bites, at least the maggots were chewed, so I stayed put. Part of the problem was my eyesight wasn't sharp enough to detect the bites, but it could well be if I'd fished finer or done something different it would have made the difference. Though it was quite mild, not very cold as Keith was remembering. 

[The Flying Tench]

13 hours ago, Blackbird said:

River match anglers are a dying breed, most matches are on F1 packed venues in the winter, especially.

On my local river Arrow the last match was won with a weight of 15lb of Chub mainly, and runners up weighed either nothing or just a few ounces, which supports the shoaled up theory.

On the cold rivers a pleasure angler can do worse than using cheese paste and rove. 

One part cheddar, one part blue cheese grated together, with half part shortbread pastry or fine crumb, add margarine or Philadelphia to make a moist mix. It gets better with age use with at least a size 6 hook, no need to loose feed, Chub love the stuff. 

So this suggests the shoaling up theory applies to chub, not just roach. In fact, where were the roach? Presumably shoaled up somewhere where no-one had a peg? So I'm not sure what I think. In a case like the one I described in my last post today on the Thames, should I go back with finer tackle to the place where got a couple of bites, or keep searching for the shoal?

Blackbird, I'm interested that you are into cheese paste. A couple of people have recommended this recently. I've got the paste. Feebly I bought it just for the first time and to see the texture. But when I cast into the middle of the river with no feeder I find I can't believe a fish will find it! Maybe I should use a light maggot feeder to give me confidence if nothing else? Do you use link ledger or straight lead?

[Martin56]

4 hours ago, The Flying Tench said:

So this suggests the shoaling up theory applies to chub, not just roach. In fact, where were the roach? Presumably shoaled up somewhere where no-one had a peg? So I'm not sure what I think. In a case like the one I described in my last post today on the Thames, should I go back with finer tackle to the place where got a couple of bites, or keep searching for the shoal?

Blackbird, I'm interested that you are into cheese paste. A couple of people have recommended this recently. I've got the paste. Feebly I bought it just for the first time and to see the texture. But when I cast into the middle of the river with no feeder I find I can't believe a fish will find it! Maybe I should use a light maggot feeder to give me confidence if nothing else? Do you use link ledger or straight lead?

Cheese paste is deadly for Chub & Barbel, but you only need the Processed Kraft cheese slices - roll them all into a ball & pinch a large piece onto a size 6 or 8 hook, so it's like an Arsley Bomb shape. Link or straight lead is all the same when they're having it, but agree the older & smellier the better.