PCT Winter League - Session 2 of 8

Session two of Polonia Carp Team Winter League 2015-2016 has just ended and what a session it was. Weather conditions during this session were so different with comparison to session one and this also resulted in a better fishing day for all the anglers.

Fishing Time: 7:30am – 3:30pm

Temperature: 31°F - 43°F

Wind: 4mph SSW – 3mph SW

Pressure: 30.35in – 30.24in

I was monitoring the weather conditions for few days prior to Sunday in order to help me to put together tactic for this session. The most interesting and most advantages aspect of this analysis was a fact that air pressure peeked in early hours of Saturday and was falling down for the next two days. It is always challenging to fish during high pressure days and fishing during falling air pressure or low pressure is always more fruitful.

During high pressure days, the only way I was ever successful to lend a fish was while using zig rigs, because I believe that fish hangs in mid water level and only periodically drops to the bottom to get food. On the other hand, when pressure drops or is low, it is more comfortable for carp to feed at the bottom and stay at the bottom for longer time. Knowing that the pressure was dropping and will be dropping for next few days, my tactic was to fish straight at the bottom.

I was set with my game plan and 6:30am came on Sunday and time to draw a number. Second session and every session after, we only draw one number, that number will tell us by how many pegs we will move. So, I was at peg number 1 in the first session and this time number five was pulled which moved me for session two to peg number six. Peg number six is a very good peg if not the best peg in this tournament, but I was a bit disappointed because in this weather conditions I was hoping for a different number. It is what it is, time to fish.

Peg number six, although very good, it has its challenges. Rig placement has to be very precise because of number of snags in the water. Last year in the first PCT Winter League from this peg I have pulled over 224lbs. of fish in combined weight, but the conditions where totally different. This year we no longer have hot water discharge into the canal, due to switch from coal to gas by the power plant. This poses a challenge in itself because if the winter will be hard these season, there is a potential that parts of the canal will freeze.

When I got to my spot I have noticed that water a front of me was not moving at all, no current what so ever and water temperature, on top of that was very cold. Now, what should I do. This peg being the end peg allows me to fish to the left of me as far as I want, per tournament regulations. With that in mind, I have noticed that second water discharge from the power plant was pushing some water into the canal. I have decided to go for that spot.

Fishing all three rods in a 90-degree angle is difficult but fishing that way on a distance over hundred yards is just crazy. This was probably my most promising scenario and I have decided to take that chance. I have never fished that far out to the left from this spot before, so to haul my rigs that far, back and forth, out and drop them in the water took a lot of time. Time away from my rods. Fishing 90-degree angle requires concentration and observation of the rod tips because at this angle you will first see the tips bending before your swinger or alarm moves. On top of that, with that far distance out and lines almost on top of each other, you cannot avoid tangles. Those tangles were a challenge for a whole day and flipping rods was just fun.

First fish I have landed a bit after 9:00am with a weight of a little over 9lbs. and second fish about 30min later, over 20lbs. My plan has worked very well and so early in a day I already had fish in my swim. Throughout the day I have been pulling fish from that spot in about 30-45min intervals, resulting in 8 fish by the end of the day. 

9-10, 20-04, 10-02, 5-12, 10-10, 10-00, 6-04, 15-00, with a combined weight over 87lbs. To be honest, I thought I will do a lot better but I know I did my best under the circumstances and weather conditions. I remember checking my Garmin VivoFit, which measures number of steps I do in a day, it showed over 14,000 step by the end of the fishing session. WOW.

It was a lot of work and a lot of walking but I did my best. All fish landed were hooked either on the K-1 Baits Concept boilie topped with STB corn and imitation corn. Rigs choice for this session consisted of two setups, KD Rig and Blowback Rig on very short hooklink material between 3-4 inches. Packbait was used with all three setups and rigs pushed into the pack. I have lost three fish in a snags which I was just unable to pull out.

Overall it was a very good Sunday and hard work and preparation paid off. After the session two, in combined scoring I have the first place. There are six more sessions a front of me and I know that all the guys will do their best to knock me down, but I will also give what I got to remain on top. Time will tell. Next session in two weeks and I will continue to be on top of my game.