Last Cast Members Page - Match Tactics, Bait, Venues, Tackle.

This info has been passed on by someone off the TF site and is doing the rounds.  Dont know if it is good, bad or indifferent, but though I would pass it on.

Jonsey and I did go for a chuck and had about 5 to 6lb.  couple of pound on squatt short and then 4 lb odd on worm long.  may or may not work in match conditions, hard to say.  We are going to fish the open on Saturday if anyone is interested.

Lloydy

info as follows from Alan, whos runing the open.

Chesterfield Canal (Sorry Not My Strong Point But Will Tell You What I Know)   This canal is about 11-13M Wide generally and a max of 4″ deep  

Line 1   How i have approached it in the past is a squat line at about 8M c at the bottom of the far shelf. Rigs want to be as light and fine as you can get away with, we would have used 4 x 8 or 4 x 10 wire stem floats with cane bristle, something like a drennan joker Line to be 0.08 to a 0.06 hook length with a 26 fine wire hook. The lighter rig wants to be for fishing on the drop so a strung out pattern would be best and for the 4 x 10 a strung bulk about a 1″ from the hook with droppers. I would feed 2 hard balls of groundbait at the start with 1 soft to give off a cloud, loose feed squat to your bites obviously the more bites the more feed. Expect to catch tiny fish from this line roach, gonks, skimmers and perch.

Line 2   This wants to be fished tight across for the chub. Rig size wants to be again 4 x 8 or 4 x 10 i would use a dibber on this line, line size 0.14 with a 16 B611. elastics want to be tight as the chub have a tendancy of finding any snag they can in your swim. i would start the match on this line without even feeding coz i have seen many a time people go straight out and catch these fish befor i have even potted in my first ball off groundbait!!! For feeding this line i would pot in caster and hemp (not keen on loose feeding with a katty coz if you have a feature and you start to have over spray the chub are reluctant to come away from it). Dont spend long periods on this line coz it will be a waste of time!!! If the fish want your bait they will take it within a minute of your rig going in. The chub range from ounces upto 3-4lb.

Line 3   This would be fished at about 6M down your peg in the deep water. I would feed chopped worm and caster down here and your target species are tench, perch, eels, bream and chub. this is a get out of jail line hoping that 1 of these bonus fish make an appearance. the rig i would use would be a 0.4 float 0.14 line to a 14 B611 with a 12 elastic.   As i said earlier i havent fished the chesterfield canal for a few years now but that was how we approached it then.   Foss Dyke Canal   This canal can range from 11 - 20M wide (generally 13-16M) and from 5 - 7″ deep 

Line 1   Fish this line tight to your near side tins either side at about 3 - 4M and i mean tight in! Feed chopped lobby or dendra on this line. you are targeting the hords of perch on this line that can grow to over 4lb. I fish a 0.4 robust float to 0.20 with a size 12 ANIMAL on this rig. yes i know it sound like a drayton carp rig (and i am over aggressive) but when these perch have a go it doesnt matter what you fish! also the canal is full of weed after the floods and i can only see the weed growth getting worse so you dont want to lose one of these big perch. Your laccie doesnt need to be excessive i use a tight Green Maver 6-8 hollo. There should be a lot of small perch on this line to target and you dont need to spend to much time on it, you will get a bite straight away if they are there. You dont need to feed a lot down here and it is a good line to drop onto when 1 of the many boats has been down a destroyed your other lines. Also dont forget to keep that worm moving!!!!!!  

Line 2   Fish this at about 6M at the bottom of the near shelf. Rigs want to be 4 x 10 to 0.5, line 0.08 to a 0.06 hook length with a 26 or 24 fine wire hook. you may have to playu about with shotting paterns as one day they want it straight down to them and others a strung out patern works best. i would feed 2 hard balls of GB and 1 soft the same as the chesterfield, my groundbait mix would be Sensas Formula Supreme and Sensas Surface. I would feed the squat quite heavy on here so as to keep the fish feeding. Fluro pinkie is my prefered hook bait on this rig and i would flick the odd 1 or 2 in whilst fishing this line. This line should produce a lot of bite early in the match until the boat traffic really kicks in. The target species are skimmers, roach perch and bleak but they may be very small. The fish can have a tendency of backing off this so adding a section or flicking the rig past your feed can sometimes result in some extra fish.

Line 3   Fish this coming up the shelf at about 13M i would feed a couple of pots off chopped worm and caster here. The rig i would use would be a 0.4 - 0.6 float with 0.12 - 0.14 line straight through with 16 B611 laccy preference is Maver 10 coloured latex. Keep alternating your baits on this line from double red to double caster, worm and single caster. you could catch anything on this line from eels to bream, tench, big perch, roach, hybrids you get the picture. fish your bites out on this line before re-feeding. This line is what will be the difference between good and shite section points as each fish from this line is worth 10 or more squatt fish and i would expect most people to get a a few bites from this line. I used to fish a squatt line here before but the stamp of fish are just far to small in the summer on the canal.

Line 4   16M. You can either fish the inside worm line over here alternativly i prefer a hemp line. rig wants to be 4 x 10 line 0.10 with a 20 B511. Loose feed hemp at this all match and it could result in some decent roach to boost you up your section late in the match. Flyers on the Foss Back of west common golf course there are many pegs here capable of producing a weigth of tench or bream but i would say that the 3 pegs on the 2 BIG BLACK Barges would be most likely. The bend below the River Till mouth heading towards Lincoln is always full of skimmers and bream as it is a bit wider here. The bason above the River Till mouth heading towards Saxilby, there are 2 pegs on this and they hold loads of bream (so many even i caught from this peg lol) !!!! If there is a lot of boat traffic on the day it will make these pegs fish even better. Any End Peg is capable of throwing good weigths up! 

P.S. dont leave your bait still for to long in this canal as these fish like a moving bait.