Saturday 26 May 2018

26 May 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well it was back to Gold Valley today for the charity fundraiser for the England ladies team - I think that over £2k was raised so well done to all involved, especially Sam Sim and the team at Gold. With 104 taking part the pegging was always going to be tight, and with Middle Lake our of sorts, like most I was hoping for a bit of room on a big fish lake so of course I drew 70 on Middle!
   
Roll-up, roll-up!
   
With half of the match gone I was convinced I was going to blank, so to end with 2 perch and the 5 smallest F1s in the lake for 3-6-0 was actually a relief! (In the end it was the wind the really impacted the weights, personally I struggled to hold 5m of pole so getting out to the required 14.5/16m was impossible.) Anyway it was a nice day out and we won a bottle of wine in the raffle so can’t complain!!!
   
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Friday 18 May 2018

18 May 2018, Trelawney (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 5 todday, another distinctly average peg in Trelawney 29 being my home for the day. I started by nicking a nice carp from in front of peg 30’s platform in the first five minutes then after a quick dabble on the short pole and feeder it was time to start spraying casters and fishing the long pole shallow for those pesky F1s.
 
Nice and sunny to the left
 
I gave it a good go for two hours and whilst I caught quite a few I knew I was lagging behind Tony Evans and Craig Meadows to my right and both of the anglers to my left so I decided to sack it off and focus on fishing to the vacant platform in the hope of catching some proper carp. This worked well for 90 minutes though another poor last hour left me on a slightly frustrating 65-9-0 for 6 points, miles behind Steve Clark but tantalisingly close to Phil Canning and Bryan Travis who weighed 75 and 76 pounds from the two end pegs.
   
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Thursday 17 May 2018

17 May 2018, Trewaters (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 4 today. Finding myself on another non-flyer in the form of Trewaters 23 and with the wind blasting into 25/27 I settled on a positive pre-match plan involving catching 20lb an hour for the first 4 hours by pinging pellets to the island and fishing a mini hybrid feeder over the top then winning the match by catching 40lb down the edge in the final hour. As things turned-out I had just 6 small fish for 15lb at 15:30 so I was down the edge earlier than expected!
 
There's that bucket again!
 
By 4 o’clock I actually thought I could get back in the race as I’d landed 4 fish for 30lb in half an hour, but the wheels came off in that last hour as I never had a bite on either the pole or feeder!!! As a result I ended-up with 46lb, only beating the person that didn’t turn-up and one other. So was the plan flawed? I should’ve swapped to the long pole after an hour but ultimately it was that last hour that cost me as another 4 or 5 for 30lb would’ve got me second in section ...
   
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Wednesday 16 May 2018

16 May 2018, Pollawyn (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 3 today and I found myself on Pollawyn number 2, a reasonable peg in what can be a very tricky section centred on the arm nearest the cafe. The first hour or so was good with some nice perch and the odd brand new carp from my right margin but the rest of the match has been hard with jut the odd skimmer at 13m, no bites at all in the shallow water at 16m.
 
All the gear
 
In the end I’ve weighed 18-9-0, miles behind Chris Kitchen and Tony Evans who’ve both snared big carp on the opposite side of the island but enough for 6 points, just behind Scott Russell who has weighed 20lb next door on peg 1.
   
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Tuesday 15 May 2018

15 May 2018, Bolingey (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day two today and with the weather being much colder than of late I was rather surprised to drop in on Bolingey peg 1 to find spawning carp doing their stuff along the long margin to the right! Having said that I got off to a flying start and after half an hour I already had 30lb on the clicker (5 nice fish on the short pole with meat) - unfortunately the next three and a half hours where very frustrating as virtually every bite I managed to induce led to a lost fish with very little going in the net!
   
A nice end peg for a change
   
With spawning activities complete I was eventually able to fish the long margin to the right in the final hour, a further 40lb going in the net as a result. This gave me a total of 79-11-0 which only beat two - as ever things were tight and just 30lb more would’ve put me second in section, so those lost fish and that terrible middle part of the match really cost me as there is no margin for error in these festivals.
   
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Monday 14 May 2018

14 May 2018, Porth Reservoir (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 1 today and it was off to the mighty Porth Reservoir, peg 33 on the car park side of the lake being my home for the day.
 
Click, click, click
 
Usually I blow-out on day 1 and I usually blow-out on Porth so I was pleased to catch 126 small fish on the short (top kit plus 3) and long (13m) pole with maggots over groundbait for 9-3-0 and third in section.
   
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Saturday 12 May 2018

12 May 2018, Campbell Lake (Viaduct Fishery)

Viaduct today for the Golden Reel qualifier and with 83 on it a good draw was the order of the day, so 123 on Campbell seemed pretty decent! I spent the first hour on the long pole shallow without a bite, so by noon I’d committed myself to fishing at 13m along the margin to the left to give myself any chance of qualifying or to even win a section that included the likes of Andy Power.
 
Pre-match excitement
 
Well it wasn’t to be and come 4 o’clock I was tipping back two carp and three skimmers for a big fat DNW! In fairness the lake has fished hard (post-spawning, mid-spawning, pre-spawning no doubt), with sections being won with forty and fifty pounds! Anyway well done to Paul Morris who I watched all day bashing-out 180lb from 121 (or more precisely from in front of empty platform 120) to easily win the match.
   
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