Enfield Winter League, Round 2

Very late doing this update, thankfully after what turned out to be a great Summer I'm back working again.
Bit all over the place as a result and way behind on some things so here goes.
Sunday 17th of October saw us all meeting in the usual car park at 09.30 for the draw for round 2 of the 2010
Enfield Winter league.
13 hardy souls or more commonly known as big eejits handed over their entry money and dipped into the lucky box for a peg on a section I'd never fished before, Kilmore. The usual josstling for position ensued but with no sign of Pat Bartley nobody was actually trying to skip !! As Karl Woodhouse is drawing just in front of me a mobile rings and it's Pat, he's late, is on the way and will someone draw for him. I'm next and draw peg 4, then I draw for Pat and yep peg 3. This time I'm taking advantage of it and keeping an eye on him and what he does.

A very bleak and featureless peg 4 on the Kilmore stretch was ready to go with 15 mins before the all in
so time for a few snaps and a quick coffee. Nipped in to Pats swim with a riddle for him and sure enough
as we're having a quick chat someone yells all in.
I'd put three set ups together to fish four lines, fairly standard stuff really. A 4x10 Garbo DC17 was used for my far bank and inside line swims. These were fed with choppies and caster and both left alone till the last hour.
The two other lines were fished at 10 and 2 o clock in visible clear spots between what is still a very weedy stretch. Both were set up using Trabucco 4x12 pencil floats which I've become very fond of. The only change from the last time was the use of a tiny shot between float tip and pole end. This was done to sink the line and so aid presentation, it definitely helps to keep things still. It was my good mate from the Carlow Mafia that reminded me to do that when we met during round 1. One thing I have learned is that when a good angler gives you a tip, use it.
The line at 10 o clock was halfway across and was started with a golf ball size of Sensas Black Lake with a few dead red mags in it. I went for an 18 hook with a single red mag or a couple of pinkies. Just kept chopping and changing to try and tempt something but not a thing came off this line in 4 hours.
The line at 2 o clock was further across and was started off with a nothing but hemp a half full 50ml pole cup
was dropped in to it. A smaller hook on this rig i.e. a size 20 and fished it with pinkies only. Changes were brought about by using different coloured ones,nothing in particular stood out other than that all 8 yes all 8
fish that I did have came off this line. The two choppy  lines were tried on and off over the last hour having been fed with small amounts of chopped worm and caster every 30 mins but they never looked like throwing up a fish at any stage and didn't.

Featurelss Peg 4, on Kilmore Stretch.

 One thing I do try to do is keep a close eye on anglers pegged next to me and when one of them is an
Irish International and an absolute master on these venues, I'd be mad not to. Again this time he had swung
two fish to hand before I had really started fishing and being honest it was soul destroying. What the hell is
he doing so differently, or what the hell am I doing so wrong. Over the course of the day I noticed him cupping in what looked like powder. It was just groundbait either very loosley squeezed or not squeezed at all. Noticing that gave me a clue or two as to his tactics and a chat afterwards confirmed them to me.
Roll on the next day and we'll see if I can use the same tactics to my advantage.
I finished the day having been rightly thumped by the man to my left who had a decent winter canal weight on what turned out to be a half decent venue, with lots of fish caught. The scrore sheet below shows the weights on the day.

Weights for round 2 Enfield Winter League 2010/11