I set up two wagglers both taking just over two swan shot in capacity

A six-hour match on the Severn at Shrewsbury saw me pull out peg 99 at the bottom end of the match length and I had a really interesting and rewarding match. Peg 99 is a swim with around thirteen feet of water directly in front of you shallowing up dramatically as you go down the swim. In fact twenty or so yards down the swim it’s only around six feet deep so I had to give some careful thought to my float and shotting approaches. I set up two wagglers both taking just over two swan shot in capacity. On the first rig I put five number fours and two number sixes down the line, similar to a stick float shotting pattern. This rig was set at around eight to nine feet to enable me to drag bottom for most of the swim. On my second rig I put four number eight shots down the line and set the depth at five to six feet. Main line was two and a half pound Maxima with a 0.10mm MAP Matchtek hooklength onto which I attached a size eighteen Mustad Wide Gape Power Barbless hook. This was the same on both rigs. Hookbait and loosefeed for the day was bronze maggot and I started the match feeding around twenty maggots every cast. I was surprised to get very few bites early on as the swim looked really fishy but it took around an hour to start getting a few small roach and dace. Then I struck into something much bigger. A few minutes later I was netting a chub of around three and a half pounds. More roach followed before another big chub took a liking to my double maggot hookbait. The lighter rig definitely worked the best on the day, as I was able to cover a long run of the swim without the float dragging under as the bait tripped the bottom. By the end of the match I’d fed around two and a half-pints of maggots. I landed five chub for eleven pounds and eleven pounds odd of roach and small dace for a 22.14.0 total and first place. Fourteen pounds was second and it had been a memorable last day of the river season for me. It’s going to be hell now as I’ve got to look out of my window at a river I can’t fish until June 16th! I told you my thoughts on the close season rulings last week. I feel even more frustrated now!

Next week I’ll tell you about some of the new tackle I’ve been involved in the design of, which is available in the tackle shops now. I’ve been field testing a new pole which is brilliant and I’ve also designed some new pole float patterns which will help you to put more fish in the net as the temperature warms up and the commercial waters start to produce the big match weights again.