Anglers look like snowmen as pollen plays havoc

Already some fisheries are noticing a drop in water levels which, it goes without saying, bring their own specific problems for fisheries.

Less vital in a fisheries sense but nevertheless important in an angling sense is the abundance of pollen which is covering many waters, making getting a line in the water difficult, if not in some cases impossible.

The open match fished on the Pilkington’s stretch of the South Yorkshire Navigation was adversely affected by the stuff.

While for the first 30 minutes the water was clear, it soon became covered in floating pollen, making feeder fishing impossible and pole fishing difficult too.

Paul Cannon did his best to master the difficulties at peg 2, landing a few bream and skimmers – when he could get a bait in the water – to finish with a winning weight of 13lbs 8ozs.

Darren Taylor fished similarly finishing with a good last hour to take second place with 11lbs 7ozs.

The Riverside Lake at Lowfield Lakes was another venue affected when at one point in the day the pollen was blowing in so much so that it looked as if it was snowing. The water appeared as though covered in ice and some of the anglers looked like snowmen.

And while many anglers struggled, some did manage to catch, with the leading snowman Chris ‘Favva’ Roberts landing a winning 48lbs 5ozs from peg 20.

Jamie Lovitt at peg 4 was second with 45lbs with Ben Fox finishing third with 37lbs 9ozs.

Finding fish, not pollen, was the problem at Elsecar Reservoir, which continues to fish well below its potential despite being stocked with around 1 tonne of prime roach and skimmers not long ago.

The poor form is not affecting the turn-out and the venue’s dependables fished a VE competition last Thursday won by the in-form club boss Ian Hodgson. He fished the method feeder to find three bream for a winning total of 8lbs 7ozs. Stephen

Taylor also fished the method for three bream to narrowly miss out with 8lbs 5ozs.

Last Wednesday saw Round 2 of the NuFish FeederKing Qualifiers fished at Southfield Reservoir where two anglers tied for the top place and only odd ounces separated their rivals in the quest for a ticket to the £10k final being fished later in the year.

Sean Taylor and Brian Searle were the two joint winners, both securing a place in the big event and they were joined by Fabian Arpad and Dean Cardwell.

The overall result was both Sean Taylor and Brian Searle weighing 11lbs 3ozs. Fabian Arpad was third with 11lbs 2ozs and Dean Cardwell fourth with 10lbs 14ozs.

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