II edition of Polonia Carp Team Winter League 2015-2016 has
begun. 8 anglers, 8 sessions and 8 pegs with rotating schedule were everyone
fishes every peg. Last Sunday it was the first session and we met at 6:30 am for
first peg draw. It is funny how hard it is sometimes for me to get up, but if I
have to be up early for fishing, I never have a problem. Woke up at 3:30 am, got
my morning coffee, car packed and leaving the house to head north at 4:15 am. It
takes me about hour and 50 minutes to get to Winter League assembly point. When
I got there, I already started to kick my ass about signing up for this
tournament because I just hate cold weathers. I hate cold weathers but I like a
good competition so I think competition factor won again. Oh well…
By design we draw at first session peg numbers and before
following sessions just one number, telling us by how many pegs we will move.
For example, if you draw a peg 1 this is where you will be on first session,
but next time we draw number 2, that means for session 2 you are on peg 3. I drew peg number 1, so this was my home for
this session.
It was one of mine favorite pegs from a year before and the
peg where I landed big fish last winter, which helped me to finish Winter
League I at second place. Knowing the spot, I knew what I need to be doing and
where the fish historically been caught. It is an interesting peg, end peg
right next to the bridge. Historically, all the fish I have caught were from a
spots between bumper buoy and the shore, either on one side or the other side
of the canal. Knowing that these spots worked for me in the past, they were my
primary target this time. Packbait which I have chosen for this session was a
combination of panko and oats soaked in cream corn. I have also decided to go
with sweeter flavors and K-1 Baits fruity peach was my choice.
Weather conditions were as typical in Winter. Temperature
about 14°F in the morning to 24°F in the afternoon, wind picked up to about
14 mph by the end of day and snow was about 3-4 inches. Water temperature was
about 48°F which is lower than usual.
Lines in the water and I wait. And I wait and wait and
nothing. Being a colder weather and colder water temperature, for my hook bait
I have chosen smaller sizes, dipped corn imitation, 14 mm bottom boilies and
12 mm pop-ups. Three different rigs, three different presentations and three
different flavors. It was a slow start with not much of activities, so I have
decided to play a bit with flavors and recast about every 30 to 45 minutes. I
have decided to play with flavors just because I wanted to find out what the
fish was after that day, but to my surprise nothing worked.
I have decided to keep two lines in the area that worked
well in the past and I have set one line deeper in the canal, because in this weather
fish might have go to deeper spots. Around 10:30 am I had a first run and
beautiful 11-07 lbs. common landed on the mat. Fish was caught from a deeper
part of the canal; I guess my theory worked. After that, I have put to rods in
the deeper side and kept only one closer to the shore.
Around 1:00 pm wind picked up a bit and it felt as it got
colder and colder. About 3:00 pm I had a second run and another small 8 lb carp
was caught. Both fish from deeper side of the canal made me truly rethink my
plan for this year’s Winter League. Also, only one type of bait and packbait
presentation worked so I will definitely use that in the future sessions.
I have completed this first session with 2 fish which placed
me second with a total weight of 19-07, with a distance of 24 lbs from first
place. I know that this is a first session out of 8 so everything can change, but
I was truly disappointed at my performance. We will see what will happen in
session number two, which is about two weeks away.
Disappointed but motivated more than ever, I will continue
to hunt my nemesis – he is still at large.
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