Steve Ringer reveals the winning tactics from the World Pairs in Ireland.
In this match, even with good draws, hindsight is a luxury you can’t afford
I’M just back from another fantastic week in Ireland on the annual Lakeland and Inland Waterways World Angling Pairs.
The fishing was trickier this year, but certainly very interesting!
What I love about Ireland is that it’s a real challenge, against the fish and against the elements! Fishing on massive waters such as Lough Erne is a real adrenaline rush – one minute it can be flat calm and the next the waves can be hitting you in the face.
The World Pairs runs over five days – you draw for rotation on the Sunday night and then fish a different venue each day from Monday to Friday. The pair with the highest overall weight wins.
I like the weight format – it means you can come back from the dead to win with one big weight, so it keeps everyone interested right up to the final whistle. Here’s how it went for me and partner, brother Phil.
DAY ONE
We headed off to Brackley and Bunerky and I found myself on the latter. My peg 4 wasn’t a favoured draw but I really fancied it. Bream were to be the target species, although I did set a pole up just in case. Luckily for me I didn’t need the pole, as after putting 12 big feederfuls of bait in at the start I caught my first big skimmer after 90 minutes, finishing with 30 skimmers and a few small fish for 25-200 and a match win.
Phil chipped in with 3kg-plus after a tough day, and we were up and running. I caught all my fish on a big piece of worm fished on a size 10 Tubertini Series 18 hook, starting on a large cage feeder before making the switch to a big Window to try and get more chopped worm into the swim.
DAY TWO
I came back down to earth with a bang after drawing peg 4 on Garadice Church Shore. I have caught well here in the past but with all the rain they’d had in Ireland I felt it might be too deep.
Suffice to say I really struggled all match, and with the benefit of hindsight I made a mistake not setting a pole up. I’m sure that would have been worth a few fish late on when the wind dropped.
When I arrived at the swim it was blowing a gale but with an hour to go the wind abated and I could have fished the pole. Lesson learned… the hard way. Anyway, I finished with a disappointing 5-800 of mainly skimmers. Phil managed 9 kilos off Connollys shore so it ended up a 15-kilo day.
DAY THREE
This was our first visit of the week to Lough Erne, and I found myself on peg 9 at Innish Fovar. Ideally I needed to be 10 or above