I was really looking forward to this WBAS match on another stretch of Leam within the piscatorial portfolio mainly because I was looking forward to see what would turn up on the day. 6 anglers for this one so the whole river would be covered and broken up into roving sections.
It was a nippy one again but not as cold as last time where I managed to win with 3 chub caught from a pool swim. There is so much to go at here as a roving angler and I've barely scratched the surface hence why I was hoping some gems might turn up during the duration of the 4 hour match.
A light quivertip rod would be my approach as it was last time. Chub would be key again as they usually are on these small rivers and I'd have bread, worms, maggots and some cheesepaste with me for bait. Groundbait would be liquidised bread and also some pungent black roach as well.
Cheesepaste did it for me last time but it was clear from the last match the fish were very localised and it wasn't so much the bait, but was there any fish in-front of you. At least with a roving match you have a few swims you can try, rather than being anchored to the spot, which to be honest, is not for me anyway.
George provided the maps again and I drew area 3 with Eric just downstream of me and then Ian was in the big deep pool. George, Jacub and Sean were at the top of the stretch.
What I didn't expect was a hard frost and it being crisp underfoot but I'm sure the odd fish would be up for biting despite the cold weather. A quick temp check it was 6.2 degrees so not too bad. Anyway with around 40 minutes to get sorted the match was from 8.30am till - 12.30pm, better get fishing hadn't we !!
Now I had by far the longest stretch to rover and I would feed some swims with mashed bread and would drop in to those swims in the duration of the 4 hour match.
A quick wander there was more than enough to go at and I probably fed 6 or 7 swims to try and get any fish in the area interested before I dropped in with the bait.
There was a large open swim which I decided to fish first and a feel of the cheesepaste down to the bottom it was probably 6 or 7 foot or so. A feature like this is often a haven for chub especially when the water is likely to be a tad warmer.
The last match the swim was very much like this and the fact that the fish have room to escape if they wanted to means that they are not always found tight to snags. Odd I know but the more I fish these small rivers they can often defy convention.
3 or 4 swims later though I was biteless do I decided to go back to the pool swim scale down a nadger and try worm instead.
The bait was only out for ten minutes or so when Whammmmm a proper decent bite that I missed, damn it !!
It wasn't a big chub bite it was a chublet bite or a roach bite and what I didn't expect was a bite within seconds of the bait going back out again. As soon as it felt the hook it went on a mad run however after a spirited bite it was soon in the net.
A pristine fish and probably a pound or so in weight but not exactly the size I was after but at least it was a fish and I'd not blanked.
The four hours went quicker than I thought and I did quite a lot of toing and froing between the swims with nothing doing whatsoever. I scaled down as well and swapped between cheesepaste, bread and worms but the fish were suspicious in their absence for me and that was my lot.
With the match over I met up with Ian and Eric for the weigh in, Eric had caught quite early on and had a couple of crackers in the net. One went 3lb's and 4 ounces on the scales and the two in total weighed 5lb's and 2 ounces. He missed quite a few bites too and thinking they were small fish tried trotting maggots and also tried maggots on the feeder but oddly a change of tactic didn't work whatsoever.
Ian had blanked in the pool and my fish weighed 1lb and 1oz !! The others met us back at the car where George was the only anglers to bag a fish, his chub weighed 1lb and 4oz 😀 So the results !!!
1st Eric with 5lb 2oz 🏆💸🤑💰
2nd George with 1lb 4oz💸🤑
3rd Me with 1lb 1oz
Sean, Jacub, Ian DNW
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