North West regional Where to Fish columnist Ian Chapman clocks up thousands of miles every year visiting fisheries countrywide with top-notch anglers. This week the professional photographer visits a popular commercial complex not far from his new home.
HAVING recently moved to Clayton-le-Woods, near Chorley, in Lancashire, I've got a few different fisheries to check out.
About 20 minutes away lies The Cunneries complex, near Eccleston. The matches here are run by Ian Burley, a talented ‘old skool’ angler whom I used to bump into years ago on the once thriving North West canal circuit. A circuit that, of course, produced a World Champion, in the form of the mighty Kevin Ashurst.
Ian and Big Kev hail from Leigh, and they grew up together fishing the tough North West canals.
Ian holds the match record, at just under 309 lb, at The Cunneries, so is more than qualified to offer me an insight into how to get the best from this popular commercial, which regularly attracts around 40 anglers to its well-run matches.
Natural venue experience
On my travels I have noticed that, by and large, the match anglers who win consistently on modern commercials normally have a winning pedigree dating back a long time to what are loosely termed these days as ‘natural venues’. Ian Burley definitely fits that bill!
He had the best part of 40 wins last year at The Cunneries. His knowledge, or ‘watercraft’, built up from untold hours on the likes of the Bridgewater Canal, now stands him in great stead on the 47-peg S-Canal, which he was fishing on this session.
This story is from the March 14,2017 edition of Angler's Mail.
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This story is from the March 14,2017 edition of Angler's Mail.
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