Having missed the opening round of this Winter league on the Orchard pool at Tirley I was keen to do well, having the 1st round now as my dropper match, So every match now counts. The only problem this week was the ice and storm Isha forecasted to arrive later in the day.

Fishing this pool is different in the winter months to the venues I normally would fish, as there are no silvers or F1’s in the pool, its all carp. So in the depths of winter it can be hard if the carp aren’t willing to feed. The 1st round that I missed had been a tough one for the anglers fishing and for this round the pool had been frozen over during the week and only today had the temperatures been rising. So I was faced with melting ice which had been blowing up to my end of the pool. So I didn’t fancy my peg today with all that ice melting and the cold water going in. The weather was on the change with Storm Isha coming in and fishing a long pole was pretty much ruled out from the start of the match. The wind was only going to get worse as the day progressed and I just hoped I was home before the rain that was forecasted arrived.

I planned very straight forward match. With the temperature now over 10 degrees and no silvers or F1’s to fish for, maggots where out the window and it would be a corn and pellet attack on my short pole lines. With dobbing bread against the left edge an option and a feeder rod set up on an ICM system so I could fish bomb and bread or a very small method out into the middle of the pool. Pole rigs were my summer rigs set up on 0.19mm and 0.17mm mainlines as the carp in the pool can be big. To combat the wind and tow and to nail my hook bait in the bottom I fished a 4×16 float today at top 2 x 3 and I was planning to fish for only a handful of bites today. If I hooked one I didn’t want to loose it so elastic’s were 17 Dura slip.

So not a lot to write up on this match!

It was a sit and waiting game for the odd few carp bites I was going to get. My flask of hot coffee was gona get a right hammering from the all in and I fished the different methods I’d set up just so the boredom didn’t set in. The feeder rod proved biteless as did the dobbing bread along the left hand bank.

This was proper winter fishing but I knew if I could land several carp from this peg I was always in with a shout of doing OK in the match. Even from this end peg where all the cold ice had been blown up to. I hooked a total of 4 carp fishing corn , landing 3 of them which weighed in at 18lb 8oz and to my surprise was enough for 3rd place overall in the match and a double default section win as 1st came from the other end peg at the bottom of the pool and 2nd also came from my bank. So an OK start for me in the league.

I don’t normally fish leagues these days as I don’t like the commitment, preferring to pick and choose the matches I fish and if the weather forecast isn’t good I simply don’t go now. But this individual league appealed to me as Tirley Court has two fantastic pools to fish. I want to fish these more in the summer months and this was a good way of getting to know the lads fishing regularly at Tirley Court. So when I saw the weather forecast and storm Isha coming in I thought why the hell have I signed up for this league. Although the day wasn’t easy to fish and it was a very blustery day I was able to get the match done and my kit back home in the garage before the worst of storm Isha hit. Lets hope it warms up a bit for the next round in a few weeks time and the carp start feeding. 

Best Rig of the day

Although its January I fished a 4×16 Preston inline diamond pole float to combat the wind and tow on the water. This had 0.19mm mainline with a bulk 18 inch from the hook with 1 no.8 dropper shot above a 6 inch Preston size 16 (0.15mm) XSH Ready rig. set up on 17 yellow Dura slip elastic. (It seems crazy but you’ll only going to hook Carp on the Orchard pool. There is no point fishing light at any time of the year.