Pazza On Fire - Steve Parry

Steve Parry, one of our northern Gurus, has been in touch to tell us about an exceptional run of form that he’s been enjoying recently.

“In recent months I’ve had some fantastic results, I’ve fished 11 matches and chalked up six wins and four second places.

The run started with a midweek match at Firswood Fisheries. It was one of four qualifiers, with the final at the end of the month. I set three rigs up with different methods to keep my options open. Shallow, bottom and in the edge were my preferred methods. The setup couldn’t be any simpler, comprising 0.15mm N Gauge to 0.13mm N Gauge, attached to a size 16 LWG. The majority of the fish came from my shallow area later in the day. I continued feeding the area through the day and it was clear that was my more productive line. I weighed 64lb for 2nd place, narrowly missing out on 1st place. However, I qualified, which was the most important task on the day.

My next match was the following day at Firswood for the Wednesday open, which would allow me to get some essential practice in for the final. I drew peg 25, facing the island, which was a good place to start. I just set two rigs up, one for the island and one for the edge. Both were on the same setup as the previous session. The island was solid with fish and I had a nice steady match, predominately catching F1s and good number of carp. My total match-winning weight was 117lb and a new venue record.

My next outing was the following Sunday on Blundells Fishery. It’s predominately a shallow venue, so I set up two shallow rigs and one deep one. The two shallow rigs were on 0.19mm N Gauge to 0.13mm N Gauge tied to a size-16 eyed LWG with a band for 6mm pellet as a hook bait. This setup seems heavy for F1s, but big weights are the norm on this particular venue. The lake fished pretty slowly through the day and I managed to scrape a 90lb victory on the lake and second in the overall match.

Wednesday saw me back at Firswood. I drew Peg 23, which hasn’t got a very good track record, however being the golden peg I knew had to attack it! I set up four rigs. Caster shallow, worm on deck and two edge rigs. The match was slow until the last hour, when my edge came live. I weighed 88lb, which was enough to win match and golden peg.

Moving on, the next venue was one I fished a lot in the past, Mecar. It was an evening match and I drew a corner peg, so this restricted my options with regards to methods. I only had two rigs, both for in the edge on 0.17mm N Gauge to 0.15mm and 0.13mm N Gauge hook length attached to a size-16 LWG and size-16 extra strong hooks. I had a steady match catching small carp but weighed 81lb for 2nd place.


Next came the final on Firswood, the following Tuesday. I drew Peg 3, which is a productive area, so I knew I had a good chance. I set up four rigs with worm on deck, caster shallow and paste short. Again, all were made with my ever-faithful 0.15mm N Gauge and 0.13mm hook lengths, with my favorite size-16 and 18 LWGs.
I had a terrible first three hours, only catching 30lb of ide on my caster shallow line. My fortune totally changed in the last two hours. The key was keeping the bait going in and working my swim. I caught my winning bag down the edge and it certainly did the business. The total weight was 121lb. Not only was it the final winning weight, it turned out to be another fishery record.

Hopefully my luck will continue, until next time, be lucky.”

Pazza