Our new blogger Ben Sharp reports back from Castle Ashby AT Winter League that was held on the 27th February. My name is Ben Sharp, I am 23 and I have been match fishing for over 10 years, mainly at club level and local open matches. However, over the last four years I have pushed myself further into fishing bigger matches and qualifiers, qualifying for last year’s Maver Mega Match This Final being my biggest achievement to date.
About a year ago, after seeing a small advert in Match Fishing magazine from a team called Preston Innovations Black Horse entitled “Calling out for young anglers,” I contacted the captain, Dan Webb, about joining.
Five-times world champion Alan Scotthorne looks at targeting quality fish in the cold and explains why a plummet is your best friend!
At this time of year on commercial fisheries the target fish should be firmly on the bottom, so all that slapping and shallow fishing has almost gone out of the window! This is when the trusty plummet becomes your best friend, so here are a few tips that should help you get the best out of this simple device.
Feed little and often - the fish will often still respond to the noise of bait hitting the water.
Understanding the contours of the bottom of the swim you have drawn is of the utmost importance. I’ve watched anglers plumb their swims in a matter of seconds and this is possibly one of the biggest mistakes made in fishing.
David Haynes continues his conversation with the genial big guy, Des Shipp.
DH: You’ve been a regular in the England setup for how long now?
DS: About 13 years, I think it is.
DH: How did that come about?
DS: I was fishing for Dorking and those people that fish for England basically come through Starlets, Barnsley and Dorking – they’re the three teams from which the England team normally gets chosen.
I had good success with Dorking, then I started fishing the Sensas Challenge matches, which are really important with Mark Downes there, the England captain, and I did well in some of them.
If you want to qualify for big-money matches there’s no point in finishing second. Dan Hull shares his big-bait, big-weight tactics, designed for winners!
The Bomb & Pellet Waggler is the best way to get the most from a one-line approach covering all depths. Brad Parkes visits Cudmore Fisheries to show just how effective it can be.
Guest blogger, Dale Calvert, recollects a recent practice session at his local Wrightington Fisheries.
A lovely clear but frosty, cold morning up here in the North West. A much desired session in cold water for skimmers has been on the cards for a few weeks so I decided to pack the van up full of my gear and head off the Wrightington to give the canals a work out.
Upon arriving I can see ice has formed on some of pegs.
This week Joe has been back to Tunnel Barn where things haven’t quite gone as planned!The third round of the Tunnel Barn Winter League has come and gone and I can only say we are all very disappointed with our result! But more of that later. The league is really picking up pace now and with the very best anglers at this type of fishing attending, you sure get punished for a bad performance!In the first two rounds we have had relatively good draws and done the business from them however for some reason, despite turning up 20 minutes before the official draw time, we were still nearly last to draw! This is not normally a problem but the rival teams at the top of the league had drawn very well and there were very few favourable pegs left in the bag. My draw saw me going to Peg 5 on the Top pool. This is a lake that I know little about but knew that a simple pellet approach would probably be a safe bet.
Well this is my first year entering the Daiwa Pole Fishing Masters, which saw 112 anglers take to the prolific Tunnel Barn Farm Fisheries to compete over 3 days to become the UK pole champion. Anyone wanting to compete with the very best in angling then look no further than this event, its run by Pole Fishing and heavily backed by Daiwa and is certainly one of the hardest yet most exciting events to be involved with.
I had been waiting months for it to come around and couldn’t wait to get started, I had been given some info from lads who had fished the Inter Services national only days before and it was very clear that no one method was working hard and fast so I opted on the side of caution by taking several baits with me, but the main being Casters, Worm and Meat.
Day 1 saw me draw a nightmare peg which I have had the pleasure of quite a few times Peg 17 on Extension Pool, I say it’s a nightmare as it’s only around 7-8m to the island in front, even by fishing in line with the platform to my right I only managed 11m tight to the island; I chose to do this to give me as much room as possible just in case I needed to start other swims throughout the match, I also targeted the platform to my left into the bay for the big carp that can often be caught down there, and finally a topkit and 1 feeding micro’s and soft pellet on the hook for anything that swims.
I haven’t read all of this month’s Match Fishing magazine yet but the bits I have read really got me thinking. The subject of team fishing is put through the ringer this week by both Lee Kerry and Alex Bones, I also found Milo Colombo extremely thought provoking. I personally gave up team fishing because I got fed up of fishing terrible venues with long walks and no fish. The cost was never a factor in my decision, I just wanted to catch more fish.
Grant Albutt reckons that actively targeting silver fish will see you winning more matches this winter as they are easy to catch and great weight builders.
Its been an eventful winter for Myles Levy, but one that has seen him have a great deal of success at Tunnel Barn Farm! When I was asked by Team Guru to fish the Tunnel Barn winter league this year I was honoured and I jumped at the chance! The team consisted of Pemb Wrighting, Paul Holland and the one and only Steve Ringer. These three anglers are up there with the best in the country and I couldn't fail to learn from them. The Tunnel Barn league is something I've always wanted to fish as it attracts a very high standard of angler, Des Shipp, Jamie Hughes, Joe Carass and the undisputed venue king Stu Palsar to name but a few. For Pemb, Paul and I it was our first year at Tunnel so we didn't really know what to expect, none of us had much experience on the venue.
Its been an eventful winter for Myles Levy, but one that has seen him have a great deal of success at Tunnel Barn Farm! When I was asked by Team Guru to fish the Tunnel Barn winter league this year I was honoured and I jumped at the chance! The team consisted of Pemb Wrighting, Paul Holland and the one and only Steve Ringer. These three anglers are up there with the best in the country and I couldn't fail to learn from them. The Tunnel Barn league is something I've always wanted to fish as it attracts a very high standard of angler, Des Shipp, Jamie Hughes, Joe Carass and the undisputed venue king Stu Palsar to name but a few. For Pemb, Paul and I it was our first year at Tunnel so we didn't really know what to expect, none of us had much experience on the venue.
Guest blogger, Craig Butterfield, reckons it's only a matter of time before the traditional Full English is replaced by protein shakes. . . Reading Jon Arthur’s latest blog on Pole Fishing's website has really got me thinking about big-money matches and their impact on our sport.
