England Ladies International Julie Abbots recently fished the Frank Butler memorial and landed 105 fish in total to win the match.

“Although it doesn’t attract the numbers it used to, I managed to win with 9lb 8oz of roach, along with a few perch and tiny skimmers. I drew a good peg, so I knew I was in with a chance, but it was not one that has dominated every time so far this winter.

“I managed to catch at 6m on pinkie, using a 4 elastic, an 18 Fine Match hook under her favourite Drennan Roach float (still can’t believe you stopped making these!) I also had an alternative line at 13m to rest my main line and a perch line at 14.5m.

“The canal was still to start, but really started towing a couple of hours into the match and carried on doing so for at least 90 minutes. In the past, I’ve used a small flat float in these conditions but this time I used a 4×16 float and kept running and holding it back to induce a bite and I caught really well in this period.”