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Tuesday 7 January 2014

AAF GP2 Kennet & Avon Canal Bishops Cannings 16th October 2013




Its been a while since I updated by blog and now 2014 is upon us I will endeavour to keep it updated from

This was the first match of the Army Angling Federation Group 2 for the 2013-2014 season and saw us fishing the Kennet & Avon Canal down at Bishops Cannings. Having had plenty of rain over the previous night and with it still raining on route down to the canal I sort of gathered that it could be a difficult day for some.

Having had breakfast and getting the draw out of the way it was a quick chat with the other 2 lads within the team before setting off to our respected pegs.
I had managed to draw near enough mid section on peg 9 out of 15 peg section but still felt if I could get my head down and work at it I should be able to pull a few fish in.

Having made my way down the muddy towpath to my peg I noticed the wind was getting up and it was still raining (nothing worse than setting up in the rain) Having looked at the peg it was just over 13 meters wide with a tree just off to the right of me with a boat to my left and right. With the wind picking up and dropping off the plan of attack was to go short fishing punch on a match kit plus 1. With the water quite clear this is where I intended on catching from the off until I had fished it out then moving down the track. My other options were to fish bottom of the far shelf and also far shelf towards the cover of the tree and have this as a bonus fish line as I would be able to fish it all day with the wind.

For my punch lines I set up the following rigs
Short line consisted of a Tubertini Stix 4x14 on 0.08mm Browning Cenex line to a 0.06mm 4 inch hook length finished off with a size 22 B511 hook. Elastic choice was a size 3 solid Browning Cenex elastic. Approx depth was 4 ½ ft deep. Shooting arrangement saw one rig set up strung out and another with a bulk with 2 droppers. If I have time I will always set 2 rigs up that way I can see how the fish like to take the punch. One rig gives a nice slow fall whilst the other one is more positive getting the bait down quickly. Both rigs were set 4 inch of the bottom and this is where I always start then adjust accordingly depending on bites.

Down the track rig consisted of a Tubertini Concord 4x14 using again 0.08mm mainline to a 4inch 0.06mm hook length finished off with a B511 size 22 hook. This was a positive rig with a bulk and a couple of droppers to get the bait down due to having just over 6ft of water. This line would be used once the fish had backed off or the short line became dry. Punch would be the way forward again on this line with a bit of fine gravel mixed in to get the bait down due to the flow but still slow enough to create a cloud on the way down.

Bottom of the far shelf consisted of a Richard Lattimer Squatt float 5x12 same line and hook length but this time on a no 2 solid Browning Cenex elastic. The plan was to use this as a Ground Bait and squatt line should it become hard and I started to struggle. A reversed tapered shotting pattern to help ease with the bait dropping slower, starting 3 inch off the bottom.

 For my bonus fish line tight across I managed to find 2ft of water which was ideal and what I was looking for. For this line I chose a Richard Lattimer Squatt float again this time 4x12. Reason being is with the light conditions it has a very visible tip which can be seen easily. Main line was 0.14mm with a 6inch 0.12mm hook length. Size 7 solid elastic, heavier than the rest of the rigs but should I hit a decent perch I didn’t want to lose it. Hook was a B983 size 16. This line would be fed with worm and caster and with a fat lobby on the hook.

Having sorted my peg out the all in was called, far bank line was fed with worm and caster and left to settle, Squatt line was fed and left with the line being fed by a catapult and 5-6 squatt every 5 minutes.
I began on the short line and cupped in a golf ball size of punch onto the short line.  
Straight away the float went under and it wasn’t long before I settled into a rhythm of catching short and feeding my squatt line. With the fish taking the bait positively I soon moved from my strung out rig to my bulk rig where I was able to catch slightly quicker. After the 2 hours I had managed to catch at a steady rate with the odd top up and a smaller ball of punch added to the swim. With next to no boat traffic all was going well until I had a walker behind me with approx 6 dogs. With the dogs causing a hell of a lot of noise and with the wind picking up the fish seem to move on, don’t know if it was the wind or the noise which unsettled them but the short line had dried up and the fish had moved.
Straight onto my down the track line saw me yet again catch steady for about another hour before that then went dead due to boat traffic. I came short again to see if the fish had turned up again to no avail so it was now over to my squatt line after re-feeding my bonus line.
This brought a steady run of fish to the net but nowhere near the stamp I was catching on the punch, but looking to my left and right it was better than nothing and it looked like some anglers were struggling to get a run of fish together.

With the wind starting to pick up I made the call to get over to my bonus line and see what was there should I not be able to fish it later on. With the float settled it wasn’t long before it went under and small perch was in the net. This continued at a steady pace but nothing of a decent stamp which the canal holds, still fish in the net so I couldn’t complain. With this line starting to get slower with and hour to go I decided to start back on the short line and split the last hour down moving around the swims to see if any fish were still willing to feed. A slow last hour with a few more fish from each swim saw me finish with 119 fish as the all out was called.

Looking at the angler to my left and right I knew I had done well but was interested to see how the end of the sections faired. Had they run away with it or would it be tight at the top for a section placing ?
Moving around with scales it was evident it was going to be close with just under 100grams separating the top 3.
Once everyone had weighed in I learned that I had managed to come 3rd in my section 10grams of 2nd and 70grams of 1st. A result I was happy with considering 1st and 2nd had come nearer the end of the sections but a few more fish would have seen me take the section.

Results Top 3
1st 3.050 kg Danny Jones
2nd 2.930 kg Ben Bentley
3rd 2.920 kg Chris Glover

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