Alan's story....

Day One
Peg A23 saw me in a good
section, I caught an odd
skimmer and grass carp on
both slider and pole along
with several cat fish and a
few tiny fish gave me a
5.65 kilo total and a
comfortable section win.

Hook bait was bunches of
bloodworms - anything
from three to ten - and
another one of the keys
was resting each swim
giving it twenty minutes
or so before coming back
to it after feeding.

I could sense when
I needed to change swims
and spent the last thirty
minutes on the pole
because the swim was full
of fish. There was six
minutes to go - it's
important to keep looking
at your watch in these
three hour contests - when
it finally plunged under and
I caught a grass carp.  That
fish won me the section and
I followed it up with
a skimmer.

Light pole rig

Pole: Adapted 14.5 metre Shimano Super Ultegra
with smooth sections

Elastic: Vespe No5
through three sections set fairly slack.

Main line: 0.1mm Shimano Ultegra
Hook Length: 0.09 mm Mustad Thor.
Float: 1.25 gm and 4x18
Trabucco Ultimate 1.
Rig Length: five sections
Hook: size 16
Mustad Long Point
Round Bend Match.

Comments: This was the starting rig for small fish.

Day Two
This was much more
difficult.  I drew the next
peg to where Will Raison
had done well the previous
day.  He'd caught a lot of
bleak so perhaps I was
going to have to fish for
them today but I didn't
want to.  The same process
at the start with the feeding
except this time I went out
onto the slider early
because I thought I might
get an early bonus there.
Fortunately I did in the
form of a 0.56 kg nase. I'd
got about a kilo by now
and a kilo of bleak would
have been very difficult.

Again, feeding very little
joker at the start ment that
I could top up quickly for
the bonus fish and I was
feeding my swims after
fifteen minutes.  After that I
fed and fished both swims
at intervals catching a grass
carp and a skimmer on the
pole and a skimmer on the
slider, but I didn't think I'd
done enough to win my
section. I did and I just
couldn't believe it.

Heavy pole rig

Pole: Adapted 14.5 metre Shimano Super Ultegra
with smooth sections

Elastic: Vespe No 7
through three sections set fairly slack.

Main line: 0.16 mm Mustad Thor
direct from pole to hook
Float: 1.25 gm
Britannia Milano.
Rig Length: five sections
Hook: size 16
Mustad Long Point
Wide Gape Power.

Comments  Alan used this rig most of the time on the pole, fishing up to a floats length over depth to keep the tackle still. Depth around 4.2 m.