5 THINGS THAT WON THE DIV 1 NATIONAL
Ed Warren won the 2017 event on the Shropshire Union Canal with 9kilos of bream. Here’s how he did it
CASHING IN ON BOATS
MY PEG on the Palethorpes water was incredibly shallow and the only depth I had was in front of a bush on my left. I caught a skimmer and a big roach immediately before a speeding boat ploughed through, hitting the bush! After that I never had another bite here and needed to rethink. A new line went in at 11m down to my right in some slightly deeper water, and I think that won me the match. I’d never have fished here otherwise, and I doubt I’d have caught what I did.
MINCED WORMS
IN PRACTICE, we’d found that feeding finely minced worms, almost like a soup, to be better for catching skimmers than bigger pieces. Added to this were a few casters, dead pinkies and dead maggots, but not too many. Our theory was that almost every peg on the canal held a skimmer, so you were fishing for one big fish and only needed to feed enough for one bite.
NO SWIM RESTS
FEEDING again took place once the bites or indications stopped – it was a case of fishing each lot of bait out and catching as much as I could before adding more.
A golfball-sized nugget went in, and rather than giving it time to rest, I found that fishing straight on top of it got me a skimmer or a bite immediately, almost as if the fish were homing in on the feed within seconds. Resting the swim didn’t seem to offer many benefits.
TARGETING THE VENUE’S SKIMMERS
NORMALLY, the longer you can leave a big-fish line, the better, but on the ‘Shroppy’ it was obvious that the first half-hour of the match was your best chance of catching one.
That’s why I was devastated about the boat running into that bush so early in the match, because it was obviously the best place to fish in the peg. Although I did catch one skimmer there, I knew more of them would be about, but felt my chance had gone!
FISHING WITH DEAD MAGGOTS
I’VE always caught more skimmers on the canal with dead red maggots on the hook. Worm tended to get unhittable bites from tiny wasp perch, and casters were just too selective. I fished two maggots 3ins overdepth on a size 18 hook, proper sit and wait stuff. You did know when a fish was about, though, as a few bubbles came up and I’d get indications on the float.