Saturday 28 October 2017

28 October 2017, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Yet another meltdown on peg 87 on the Middle Lake at Gold Valley again today - last time I was on this peg I came next to last in section with 22lb, this time I've managed to come last in section with 9-8-0!!! To say that I do not want to draw this peg ever again is a massive understatement!!!
   
   

Sunday 22 October 2017

22 October 2017, Gold Lake (Gold Valley)

Something of a match to forget really!!! I had hoped for a nice draw on the near bank of Syndicate but ended-up on Gold Lake – which I didn’t even know was included today! The plan of attack was to batter the 25m line with big pellets and bag-up on the bomb or waggler, but as it happened the wind scuppered this plan as the pellets were going everywhere and fishing the waggler was simply impossible. All three bites came on a 32g medium hybrid feeder (which is actually quite big) cast to the central rope (I had to set-up the 12’ feeder rod to get there) fished with a cut-down orange wafter. No liners, just pulls out of the blue.
  
Unfortunately that island wasn't in my peg
  
As it happened I seemed to have suffered yet another bad draw as Stefan Gent to my right only weighed 10lb and Darren Millis to his right only caught 3 skimmers. I was battered by Luke Gasson on 49, but he could cast to the island so had a nice feature to focus on. Further to Luke’s left the middle of the lake fished really well with 3 one hundred plus pound weights.
  
My personal net minder

Friday 13 October 2017

13 October 2017, Porth Reservoir (White Acres)

Preston Innovations day 5. Obviously I'm writing this after the fact so I now know that a section win would've seen me finish 8th overall and I only needed to score 6 points today to get into the £25k final. As it was I could only muster 4 points from Porth 78 (the peg that Andy Power came last in section from yesterday), a combination of pike and not really knowing what I was doing (mainly the latter) seeing me return a poor 3lb something.
  
The mighty Porth Reservoir
  
In reality I was never going to do any good from Porth (in my previous three visits I've scored 1, 3 and 3 points), so scoring just 3 points from Bolingey on Monday has turned-out to be fatal. Regardless, managing 2 lake seconds and a section win in three days is more than I could ever have hoped for, and I'll be dining-out on beating Andy Bennett at Trewaters for years to come!!! In the end I finished with 29 points dropping 3 for 46th overall, ahead of the likes of Alan Scotthorne, Neil McKinnon, Jamie Wilde, James Dent, Harry Billing and Darren Cox to name just a few ...
   
There's that seatbox again!
   

Thursday 12 October 2017

12 October 2017, Trewaters (White Acres)

Preston Innovations festival day 4. Trewaters 51 was my home for the day, a nice peg that comes with your own oak tree that proceeded to bomb me with acorns all day. Anyway the fishing was good as I somehow managed to beat Simon Fry and Andy Bennett to come second in section with 81-5-0, one fish behind the winner who had 84lb. That gives me 3, 8, 9 and 8 points (29th overall) - 7 more for a place in the big money final and 9 for a top 10 finish ... #squeakybumtime
   
Nice flask
   

Wednesday 11 October 2017

11 October 2017, Trelawney (White Acres)

Preston Innovations festival day 3 and my home for the day was a nice end peg in the form of peg 21 on Trelawney. With 2 hours to go I probably only had 10 pounds in the net but luckily I managed to snare a few carp and some massive F1s from in front of peg 20's platform to finish with a section winning 64-13-0, a result that moves me onto 20 points and into 44th place overall.
   
Muddy!
   

Tuesday 10 October 2017

10 October 2017, Pollawyn (White Acres)

Preston Innovations festival day 2 today and I drew a flyer in the form of Pollawyn 27, a cracking peg on the High Bank opposite the end of the central island. The weather was wet and windy but I managed to catch a couple of carp on the hybrid feeder to the island and 8 or 9 on the bomb into open water to finish with 55-11-0, good enough for second in section and second on the lake, a mere 70lb behind the truly awesome Andy Bennett who caught more than the rest of us put together! 11 points now, 82nd overall ...
   
Count the superstars!
   

Monday 9 October 2017

09 October 2017, Bolingey (White Acres)

Preston Innovations festival day 1 and I'm off to my usual bad start I'm afraid! Peg 22 on Bolingey was my home for the day - this is in a shady area on the main lake at the rear of the complex and I think it is a peg known as "the coldest peg in Cornwall" (if it isn't then it isn't far from it). Anyway I didn't do myself any favours by making some tactical errors but I should've done better than 5 carp and an solitary F1 for 29-5-0 (easily my lowest weight at Bolingey ever) for 3 points and a stunning 130th overall!!!
   
If only that island was a meter closer