28 July 2013, Top Lake (Willinghurst)

Today was the first match in the Guildford Angling Centre summer league 2013, a series of 6 matches to be held throughout July, August and September across Willinghurst (2), Bury Hill (1) and Gold Valley (3). Each match is a 20 peg affair with the anglers split into 4 sections of 5 – league positions are based upon section points, with a total weight count-back used to differentiate those anglers tied on the same number of points. (Each competitor’s best 5 scores from 6 form that person’s final score.)

An aerial view of the Top Lake at Willinghurst from Google Earth

This first match was held on the Top Lake at Willinghurst. This is a strangely shaped venue that has a main bowl with 19 pegs (anglers on both long banks), another 18/20m wide strip known as the back spit with 7 swims (pegs on one side only) and a small circular section with 3 pegs (known as the Bung Hole) all interconnected (so in theory the fish are free to move between the three).

 

The stocking is mainly proper carp in the 3 to 6lb bracket with the usual smattering of nuisance (in the summer at least) roach, rudd and perch.

Looking onto the main bowl from the back of peg 2

YouTube video of the view from my peg

Well, what can I say? My first visit to Willinghurst in about 10 years and I’ve only gone and drawn the “best peg in Surrey”!!! My draw (peg 2) was one of two in the Bung Hole today, at the point where the Bung Hole  joins the main lake and opposite the entrance to the back spit. The whole Bung Hole is amazingly shallow – probably no more than two and half feet down the middle – but absolutely stuffed with fish!!!

Before the start I identified four likely looking spots – under the tree to my left tight to the bank at top kit plus one; along the right margin at TK+2; across to the far bank at 13m and the method feeder to the far bank to the right next to the entrance to the back spit.

 

However I only set-up two rigs to start with – one for the far bank, the other for the right margin – both with the same components: black Hydro top kits, 0.17 Guru N-Gauge mainline to 15cm 0.15 hooklengths tied to size 16 eyed Kamasan B911s. Floats were SconeZoneV6s in 0.2g. (These are awesome bits of kit – super strong with a line through the body design and short stems suitable for fishing down the edge in shallow water.)

Looking across to my far bank and Dave Carter on the back spit

On the whistle (today’s match was a long one, starting at 1030 and finishing at 1700) I fed a little corn and a few 6mm pellets to the far bank and dropped-in with a single grain of corn – after a few false indications I was soon into a fish and I was off to a flying start with an 8lb carp safely in the net! However this was a false dawn as half an hour later I’d only added another small (1lb) carp and a few silvers to show for my efforts.

 

Time for plan B – I quickly mixed-up some Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait and fed a cup on the right margin swim sited at top kit plus 2. Not having fished this lake before I wasn’t sure that the carp were going to respond to this approach, but as I was in the process of shipping-out pot number 2 I could already see evidence of carp ripping-up the bottom! The following 90 minutes (1100 -1230) saw a good run of fish from this line on single worm hookbaits, and regular  re-feeding of big pots of groundbait seemed to be keeping the fish interested rather nicely.

The bridge over the entrance to the back spit

However the spell between 1230 and 1400 can only be described as a complete disaster – despite hooking eight fish only one actually made it into the net! The single fish that I did manage to land came via the method feeder to the far bank slightly to the right (next to the bridge), and I managed to lose four from the right margin, two from the far bank 13m pole swim and another on the method feeder!!!

 

Following this sequence of lost fish I actually stopped fishing for ten minutes or so to regain my composure, prepare some more bait, re-tie my existing pole rigs and set-up two new ones in anticipation of a good last couple of hours – the new rigs were a heavy version for the right margin and one for the left under the tree, both consisting of 0.21 Reflo Power straight through to a size 12 Guru MWG, again with 0.2g SconeZone V6s but this time with red Hydro top kits.

Close quarter carping under the tree to my left

I’d purposely not fed the right margin for a good 30 minutes but by 1415 it was time to try and restart it, so in went 4 full pots of groundbait, soaked micros and dead maggots. This certainly did the trick as another golden 90 minute spell followed with lots of big fish falling to the heavy rigs from both the left and right margin swims with either 2 whole dendrabenas or 8 dead red maggots on the hook!

 

By this point (1545) I’d clicked to 45lb in each of my 2 nets, so as 60lb limits apply at Willinghurst I decided to put in a third – as is often the case this led to a slowing of my catch rate and I only managed 3 more fish in the final 75 minutes!!!

The final reckoning

In the end my three nets went 108-0-0 – just enough for a section and match win as second and third overall in the match (and my section) weighed 105-11-0 and 101-0-0 respectively!!!

Today’s overall top 4:

1. Phil Morris, peg 2, 108-0-0
2. Mike Keeper, peg 20, 105-11-0
3. Giovanni Barbato, peg 1, 101-0-0
4. Pete Franklin, peg 18, 100-7-0

Today’s section winners:

• Phil Morris, peg 2, 108-0-0
• Mike Seymour, peg 4, 97-12-0
• Dan Cooper, peg 26, 92-14-0
• Pete Franklin, peg 18, 100-7-0

League standing after round 1:

1. Phil Morris, 1 point, 108-0-0
2. Pete Franklin, 1 point, 100-7-0
3. Mike Seymour, 1 point, 97-12-0
4. Dan Cooper, 1 point, 92-14-0
5. Mike Keeper, 2 points, 105-11-0
6. Martin Johnson, 2 points, 59-11-0

Guildford AC legend Giovanni Barbato on peg 1

Conclusions: in this part of each blog I like to sum-up the day and summarise what I’ve learned for next time, so here is today’s thought for the day – it’s better to be lucky than good!!!

Until next time …

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27 July 2013, Syndicate Lake (Gold Valley)

Today was the first part of a rare fishing double-header – an 18 peg open match at Gold Valley. As ever there was the usual mix of angling superstars and venue experts in attendance today – I’m not sure I have much chance fishing against the likes of Tommy Hiller (Daiwa Dorking legend), Mark Goddard (2013 Maver Match This finalist), Terry Harrison (another Daiwa Dorking legend) and Perry Stone (2013 Fish’O’Mania finalist)!!!

Gold Valley schematic

Today’s match was on the far bank of Syndicate Lake – as it is all pretty uniform I was hoping for an end peg or a bit of room, so I obviously end-up right in the middle of the bank on peg 129 sandwiched between Mark Goddard and venue export Malcolm Bond!!! (This is only my third visit to Gold Valley in 2013 and I’ve now drawn next to Mark twice – regular readers will remember that last time was a close run thing with Mark just sneaking past my 51-0-0 with a match winning 131-0-0!!!)

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YouTube video of the view from my peg 

Expecting the end pegs to dominate, and given the fact that the pay-outs at Gold Valley are good (in fact I think they are still waiving the pegging fee on Saturday opens) but limited to a few anglers, my strategy today was to try and pick-up the odd big fish here and there (as opposed to putting gall of my eggs into one basket).

As a result, prior to the start I set-up the following rods/rigs:

• Preston Innovations 10’ Mini Carp tip rod, 8lb Daiwa Sensor mainline, 1/3 ounce Guru square bomb free running to a 30cm hooklength of 0.19 N-Gauge with a size 14 QM1 and a hair-rigged pellet band
• As above but with a small 24g Guru method feeder and 10cm hooklengths of 0.19 to a size 14 QM1 (for an 8mm pellet or a Ringers Banded Allsort) or a 16 (for a 6mm pellet)
• Preston Innovations 11’ Mini Carp pellet waggler rod, 6lb Daiwa Sensor mainline, 6g Preston Innovations Dura pellet waggler (with disk) to a 25cm hooklength of 0.19 N-Gauge to a size 16 Guru Pellet Waggler hook with a hair-rigged band
• Red Hydro top kit, 0.19 Reflo Power direct to a size 12 MWG, the float being a 0.3g SconeZone V6 shotted with a bulk of 5 number 9 stotz 20cm from the hook

An early look down the edge

Normally I like to start long and move closer to my own bank as the match progresses – however in order to try and sneak an early bonus I fed 2 pots of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait tight to the bank to my left at top kit plus 1 on the whistle. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and after five minutes I’d had absolutely no interest in my double-dendrabena hookbait.

Next up was a quick go on the method at 5m, over which I’d fed about two thirds of a pint of 6mm pellets in order to make some noise and hopefully draw a fish into the area. Again after five minutes I’d had no indications so it was rapidly time for plan C!

 

Looking left from peg 129

Whilst fishing the method I’d been blasting 8mm pellets to 25m and as it was nice and sunny with only a light breeze it was time for the pellet waggler. My constant pinging of pellets had by now pulled 8 or 10 ducks into my peg and after about 15 minutes of feeding and casting the inevitable happened and I managed to hook one!!!

I’d not had any indications on the pellet waggler (not from a fish anyway) in this period so it was time to try the method feeder cast tight to the central rope. Unfortunately this only led to a fairly chunky roach and a small skimmer (hookbait was a 6mm pellet and the feeder mix was a combination of 2mm pellets and groundbait), and when the bomb with an 8mm pellet at 25m only yielded another small skimmer I started to fear the worst!

 

Looking across to the far bank

Luckily a switch back to the method feeder to the rope with yellow Ringers Banded Allsort led to a carp out of the blue on the hour mark – however almost immediately after landing it I managed to bounce my Guru method mould into the lake, never to be seen again!!! (Why don’t they make them buoyant?)

As I don’t carry a spare this mishap forced a switch to a small 30g Preston Innovations method feeder (their moulds do float), and after another slow spell the peg came to life between 1230 and 1330 with a carp, 2 crucians and 6 better skimmers hitting the net. Sadly the following 30 minutes only saw one more carp in the net, and by 1400 it was time to give the 25m line that I’d been feeding for 3 hours a proper go. Sorry to say half an hour later all I’d managed was one carp on the method from this line – though some really bad angling had seen another smash my 0.19 hooklength!!!

 

0.3g SconeZone V6 for the edge

The method feeder to the rope yielded another carp between 1430 and 1445, but entering the final quarter of the match I was now heavily reliant on my margin swim producing to make any impression whatsoever on the match.

 

Unfortunately I stubbornly stuck with this line (which was fed heavily with Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait and dead maggots) even though it didn’t really take off – of the 2 carp that I did hook one fell-off for no reason after being on for 2 minutes and the other snapped my 0.19 line on its way to the centre of the lake!!!

The final reckoning …

To make matters worse Mark Goddard landed some nice carp in the lat hour on the tip and pellet waggler to beat me with 55-0-0 to my 50-8-0!!! This put me in a disappointing fourteenth place (out of 18) and a lowly next to last in section – ‘the only way is up’ as they say!!!

Overall top 4:

1. J Attwood, peg 121, 108-0-0
2. H Marsh, peg 132, 106-2-0
3. C Dalton, peg 126, 101-0-0
4. P Stone, peg 124, 93-8-0

The view to the right



Conclusions: whilst my final position in the match was less than I’d hoped for it was a small victory of sorts as I was only one half decent carp behind Mark Goddard on the next peg, and only one proper fish behind 3 others in my section. (I could point out again that I lost a carp on the feeder and two proper jobs on the pole, but I’m the first to say that talk of lost fish in the car park after the match counts for nothing …) Other than that it seems that the method feeder to the central rope is still the banker approach on many pegs at Gold Valley, and arguably I’d have been better-off just setting-up this one rod!

Until next time …

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07 July 2013, Pond 2 (MBK Coloured Ponds)

Secret teams of 4 events featuring anglers from Godalming and Woking at MBK Coloured Ponds are like London buses – nothing for ages then two come along at once! In a similar fashion to the match I wrote about back in May, today’s match saw 32 anglers (16 from each club) randomly assigned to one of eight teams, with one angler from each team on each of the 4 lakes. (Each angler draws their own peg as per a conventional match, but each peg is pre-allocated to a team by the match organiser.)

Summer finally arrives in the UK!

The obvious difference with this match was the weather – it had been very hot and sunny in the previous days and today was forecast to be a real scorcher with no wind. (Not normally ideal for catching fish, but given the some of the weather we’ve faced so far in 2013 who’s complaining?)

Sir Ken Cardwell and some of the Woking chaps prepare for the draw

YouTube video of the view from my peg

As ever I was hoping for a corner peg on Pond 4 – so of course I ended-up in the middle of Pond 2!!! Having said that peg 5 was a nice looking swim with plenty of open water to attack – plus the pegging on the day meant that I had two spare pegs to my left and one to the right, with the platforms of pegs 4 and 6 both reachable with 10m of pole. The only area of concern was the presence of lily pads and Canadian pond weed – both of which can lead to lost fish and broken pole sections!!!

Simple bait requirements for the straight lead

In terms of bait I’d split the frugal 2 pint pellet limit equally between 8mm hard pellets for the straight lead and the same of 6s for the pole (and straight lead at a push). I’d also brought some corn, a pint of red maggots, a bag of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait and a tub of worms left-over from White Acres – ideally to be used down the edge. A Tub of mixed Ringers pop-up boilies/Banded Allsorts and two tubes of Kiana Goo rounded things off on the bait front.

Looking across the lake to Perry Gray on another corner draw!

As ever there were loads of cruising fish visible in the upper layers so before the start I decided to set-up a dumpy 6g Preston Innovations pellet waggler (the type that are loaded with an optional disk to stop them diving too deeply) on 6lb Daiwa Sensor mainline with a 25cm hooklength of 0.19 Reflo Power to a size 16 Guru Pellet Waggler hook and a hair-rigged pellet band. I also set-up a straight lead rod with 8lb mainline, a one third of an once Guru square bomb and a 30cm hooklength consisting of 0.19 Guru N-Gauge to a size 14 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band.

(It’s worth noting that MBK rules dictate that the shallowest you can set a float for open water is 2 feet deep and that hooklengths for legering must be a minimum of 30cm – effectively ruling-out the method feeder.)

On the “all-in” I cast my bomb to about 25m with a bright orange Ringers Banded Allsort and started feeding 8mm pellets via a catapult – given the weather I was expecting a tough match and a slow start so I was very pleased to bag 3 small (1 to 2lb) carp in the first 3 casts, ultimately putting 10 in the net in the first hour. (These were either caught on a 8mm pellet or a bright orange Ringers Banded Allsort – for some reason I couldn’t get a bite on a yellow one!)

PVA bags with some added Tutti Frutti Goo reignited the peg

Towards the end of the first hour things had started to slow so at about 11 o’clock change was in order – I replaced the 1/3 ounce bomb with a heavier 2/3 ounce version and attached a small PVA bag of 6mm pellets with some Tutti Frutti Goo squirted on the outside. This approach yielded 3 further fish over the next half hour – bites were fairly slow to develop but the stamp of fish was twice that of those caught in the first hour.

MBK Leisures

After a good start the period between eleven thirty and one o’clock can only be described as ‘desperate’ – I spent 90 minutes chasing shadows and didn’t put a single thing in the net! The straight lead line had dried-up and I thought it was too early for the margins so I decided to try and copy Andy Rogers on peg 3 who had been successfully spraying maggots and mugging cruising carp with a light waggler set-up – big mistake!!! (If I’m always the first to tell people who ask that they should play to their strengths in a match then why did I waste an hour and a half mucking about on a method I’m clearly no good at?!?)

The idea behind this approach is that you pull a number of fish into your peg with loose-fed maggots and when a suitable specimen comes into view (and range) you cast your hookbait just in front of it’s nose.(There are always loads of visible fish in the upper layers during the summer at MBK Coloured Ponds.) Andy has this approach down to a tee but frankly I’ll be sticking to the method feeder in the future!!!

With hindsight my problems were threefold – firstly I was spraying too many maggots over too wide an area; secondly I was far too impatient and simply kept casting without being able to see a fish in the peg; and finally my waggler was too light for the 11’ pellet waggler rod and 6lb line I was using, so when I could see a big fish I couldn’t cast to it accurately. (But apart from that I was doing it perfectly!!!)

Lily pads and a spare peg to the left

Over recent weeks I’ve been trying to leave any margin lines as late as I can – feeding and fishing a margin line too early seems to lead to an odd fish or two but then the line dies, whereas leaving it later seems to mean more fish stay in the peg for longer. (Of course there is a trade-off as leaving a margin line too late means you’ve limited the amount of time you have before the “all out” to actually catch ‘em!)

However given the previous 90 minutes I was in serious catch-up mode so I decided to feed my left margin (which was at about 10m to the vacant platform 6) I decided to feed a small amount of corn and 6mm pellet at 1300. I was in two minds as to giving the straight lead another go whilst this swim settled but for some reason I decided to go straight in with a single grain of corn – it was a good job I did as this move lead to 3 decent carp in the net in double-quick time!!!

(The tackle for this line was my ‘light’ margin set-up – 0.17 Guru N-Gauge mainline to a hooklength of 0.15 with a size 16 eyed B911. The float was a 4x10 Preston Innovations Durafloat 10 and the elastic black Hydro.)

Unbelievably a dabble on the straight lead following a re-feed on the margin saw two more carp added to the total, and altogether the spell between one o’clock and two fifteen produced about 10 carp for roughly 30lb – which added to the 20lb from the first 90 minutes meant I was in a good position with approximately 50lb in the bag going into the vital final stage of the match.

My right margin – peg 4’s platform

As today’s match was a 6 hour affair starting at 10 o’clock the final phase of the match (the bit where everybody prays for some Billy Bunters to turn-up in their margin) was slightly longer than normal and would go on until 1600. As my left margin was starting to slow and as I had a second accessible platform to my right I decided to gamble a little a drop three large pots of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait in front of peg 4’s platform – whilst this has worked well on other venues I’ve never been able to make this tactic work here before (hence the “gamble”).

Well I needn’t have worried as shortly after potting in the final load of groundbait there were visible tail patterns and clearly fish on the bait immediately!!! First drop in with half a worm lead to an immediate bite and an angry carp screaming out of the peg at a hundred miles an hour – happy days!!! This set the pattern for the rest of the match and after plundering the right margin for a few initial fish I converted the left margin to the same groundbait and worm approach with the same positive impact – having two productive margin swims was a great bonus and I was simply able to switch from left to right, re-feeding and picking-off the odd fish until the end of the match.

The all important scores on the doors

It was soon my turn to weigh-in and my two nets went a pleasing 86-7-0 – a new personal best for the venue and enough for a lake/section win as I’d just done enough to sneak past D Smith’s creditable 79-2-0 from corner peg 18.

Overall the venue fished very well with 2 ton plus weights, a 90, two 80s and numerous 50s, 60s and 70s. Lake/section winners:

• J Brownlie, 66-12-0, Pond 1 peg 4
• P Morris, 86-7-0, Pond 2 peg 5
• D Steer, 119-6-0, Pond 3 peg 7
• M Cook, 115-6-0, Pond 4 peg 3

On the team front my quartet crashed to a disappointing seventh (from eight), but at the top the first 3 were separated by only 2 points. Team result:

1. Team C (C Kampa, S Smith, K Cardwell, R Fiander), 23 points
2. Team H (F Bevan, A Rogers, S Kendall, C Salmon), 22 points
3. Team B (J Brownlie, C Underwood, A N Other, M Cook), 21 points

It was hot in the car park!

Conclusions: whilst in the end I got out of jail I can’t help but reflect that the 90 fishless minutes that formed the second quarter of my match could have been disastrous – this isn’t the first time I’ve wasted a large portion of a match on an untested long-shot and in future I’ll be sticking to the plan and leaving such experimenting for pleasure sessions!!! On the plus side the scaled-down margin gear was very effective on the day – perhaps the reason I’d failed to catch down the edge in previous visits to the MBK Coloured Ponds was my unnecessarily over the top use of 0.19 mainline straight through to a size 12 hook with a giant hookbait?

Until next time …

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28 June 2013, Bolingey (White Acres)

Following yesterday’s final match of the Olde English Cider festival it was eventually time for the last match of our 2013 White Acres odyssey – and what better way to finish than with another Friday residents match at bagging water Bolingey?

Welcome to Bolingey!!!

My draw today saw me on the lake furthest from the car park – peg 40 to be precise. This is apparently a pretty average peg with the only obvious feature being the aerator (not switched on) moored in front of overgrown peg 39 to the right. In fact fishery owner Andy Dare described the peg as being ‘disappointing’ and set me an ambitious target weight of just 80lb!!!

Looking left towards the famous Bridge swim

YouTube video of the view from my peg

As ever the first thing I do when I get to my peg is sit on my box and come-up with a pre-match plan. Today’s intended approach was very simple – spend the first part of the match (anything up to 4 hours) catching on the straight lead towards the aerator (feeding and fishing 8mm pellets) and on the pole at top kit plus two on the deck (with 6 and 8mm pellets), then empty it down the edge in the last hour with worm over groundbait!!!

Looking across to Chris Haywood on peg 36

The first hour of today’s match started fairly slowly with only 2 medium sized F1s falling to the bomb and pellet towards the aerator – however a change to the pole on the deck at 5m with hard 8mm pellets saw two proper carp in the net in quick succession.

Unfortunately these were to be the only fish that fell to this line all match and the second and third hours were even more disappointing as I could only manage three further carp and an F1 on the bomb – despite the constant pinging of pellets and experiments with PVA bags and Goo! (To make matters worse two additional carp that were hooked on the straight lead fell-off for no good reason – not what you need when bites are hard to come by!)

Familiar gear for the edge

Fortunately things started to pick-up in the fourth hour with three commons and my first ever grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) falling to the tip. (When I first caught sight of the grass carp I actually thought it was some kind of weird looking chub – however on closer inspection the torpedo shaped body, huge mouth and beady little eyes clearly marked it out as a grass carp.)

As ever I’d been holding back on feeding or fishing my margin line for as long as possible, but with an hour an a quarter to go it was time for four full cups of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait to be deposited at top kit plus two tight to the wall of foliage overhanging my left margin. (As there was a small bush tight to the left of my platform I had to stand-up to be able to access this swim – however I actually quite like doing this as it seems to improve reaction times when striking at bites.)

This final spell resulted in four good (8 to 10lb) fish on double dendrabena – though as ever I managed to foul-hook and lose two further carp! (This is even more annoying than normal as each missed opportunity at Bolingey can see double-figures making its way out of the swim never to be seen again.)

Some were more interested in Bagger’s weight than others!!!

As a little experiment I’d kept the straight lead and margin fish in separate nets – those from the first 3 and three quarter hours went 42lb and those from the final hour and a quarter tallied 35lb, once again highlighting the importance of those final hour edge fish.

This gave me a total of 77-4-0 – not quite the 80lb target I’d been set but incredibly this was exactly the same weight as the 2012 Olde English Cider festival champion Chris Haywood who had been fishing on the peg directly opposite!!! Ultimately, as a result of two 80lb plus weights, this left us joint third overall.

Nice to finish on a high!



All-in-all this was a great way to finish-off an amazing fortnight in Cornwall – I think I’d struggle to fish five times a week all year ‘round, but personally I can’t think of a better way to spend two weeks holiday. In total I fished 9 matches, picked-up money in 7, finished eighth in a festival, broke the 100lb barrier for only the second time at White Acres, framed in a 100 peg match and won at Trewaters – but most importantly I only managed to lose one pellet feeder in the far bank bushes all holiday!!!

Until next year …

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27 June 2013, Trewaters (White Acres)

Our visits to White Acres seem to follow the same pattern – you spend all year looking forward to them and then before you know it they are nearly over!!! This year’s Olde English Cider festival was no different and in the blink of an eye it was onto the fourth and final day …

All set for the final day

As noted yesterday there were 8 anglers queuing for the decisive match of the festival with a realistic chance of winning – 3 (Danny Edwards, Jon Cook and Mo Brown) on maximum points and 5 just a single point behind.

The current top three were all bound for Python whilst my group (A section) were off to a venue where I’d actually won on each of my three most recent visits – Trewaters.

Trewaters top lake

Today’s bait allowance was made-up of the following:

• 2mm pellets (2 pints)
• 6mm pellets (2 pints)
• 8mm pellets (1 pint)
• Corn (1 pint)
• Red maggots (live, but bagged so dormant) (1 pint)
• Worms (approx. 0.5kg)
• Sonubaits Supercrush Green groundbait (2kg)
• Boilies (tub)

This is a very similar allocation to the combination that I took to Twin Oaks on Monday and reflects the three main tactics I’d normally consider at Trewaters – pellet feeder tight to the central island, long pole shallow and down the edge later on.

Sub-section pegging

YouTube video of the view from my peg

Many of the pegs at Trewaters are very similar as both lakes are essentially ovals with platforms situated all the way around the banks – however I was lucky enough to draw one of the more unique swims today. Peg 25 (on the top lake) is unusual as it is on the long bank opposite the narrow point at the end of the island – as there is no platform directly opposite this point peg 25 has a lovely long margin to the corner of the lake to the right.

This near margin offers two cracking options – the pole at 13m right into the corner and a nice feeder chuck to the bank opposite the point of the island. (Plus of course there is the usual option of casting to the margin of the central island.)

The end of the island and far margin to the right

Prior to the start of the match I set-up two rigs – a 20g small Preston Innovations pellet feeder on one of my trusty 10’ Mini Carp tip rods and a 4x12 Durafloat 10 on 0.17 Guru N-Gauge with a 15cm hooklength of 0.15 to an eyed Kamasan B911 size 16 on a top kit fitted with black Hydro. (I could get away with only one tip rod today as the length of line clipped on the reel for casting to the island straight in front just happened to be the same distance as the near margin opposite the point of the island at an angle of 45 degrees.)

The first three and a half hours of today’s match were spent rotating pellet feeder swims between the island directly in front and the one at 45 degrees to the near margin, picking-up the odd carp and F1 at a reasonable rate. On previous visits to Trewaters I’ve relied purely on the pellets loaded into the feeder to fed the swim – however this time I fed the line I wasn’t fishing with 6mm pellets via a catapult. This seemed to work well and often a bite came first cast after switching back to the swim that had been rested.

The long margin to my right

With 90 minutes to go I felt I was in touch with, but behind Ian Carley who was sat two pegs to my left. As a result it was time to switch to the 13m margin line and in went 4 full cups of groundbait tight to the bank to my right. This tactic ultimately led to 5 nice carp (including a near double figure fish) and five or six decent (2lb) skimmers on half a worm.

Steve was soon ‘round with the scales and two weighs later I was sitting pretty with my third sub-section win of the week – my 60-10-0 being enough to take the sub-section from Ian Carley’s 45-6-0, and also good enough for second overall behind Rich Britton’s seventy pounds plus return.

The final overall top 3: Jon Cook (centre), Will Sweeney (right) and Brendan Turner (left)



After a quick drive back to the White Acres complex it was time for a quick shower and the main event of the week – the final presentation! The daily pay-outs in the bar of the club house are well attended affairs, with the majority of competitors attending and saving their loudest applause for those that enjoy the ‘social’ aspects of the festival (and hence don’t pick-up as often as they might)!!! However I’d be surprised if any of the 80 anglers fishing the festival didn’t attend tonight’s event, which included prizes for the top 8 overall, a pay-out for the biggest individual weight and two £50 mystery weight prizes!

Final overall top 10:

1. Jon Cook, 20 points, 203-9-0
2. Will Sweeney, 19 points, 299-3-0
3. Brendan Turner, 19 points, 169-10-0
4. Ian Carley, 18 points, 273-0-0
5. Maurice Brown, 18 points, 189-6-0
6. Bradley Hancock, 17 points, 246-9-0
7. Danny Edwards, 17 points, 204-13-0
8. Phil Morris, 17 points, 197-12-0
9. Ricky Dennis, 17 points, 174-2-0
10. Nigel Lale, 17 points, 159-4-0

Huge congratulations must go to the top three, but especially to Jon Cook, a well liked and much respected festival regular – once again the only angler to manage a perfect score with 4 hard earned sub-section wins from 4!

Everybody was keen to check their final placing

As ever the final reckoning was incredibly tight, with every angler (except Jon Cook) left thinking what a difference an extra point here and there would’ve made! On a personal note my final day sub-section win left me on 17 points, with Lady Luck seeing fit to allow me to take the 8th and final overall festival placing – my prize was a nice feeder rod and a few beer tokens to spend on a night out in Newquay! (I can’t help but note that an extra 10 pounds on Canal on Tuesday would’ve seen me third – I really must try harder next year!!!)

Once again a big ‘thank you’ must go to the White Acres fisheries team for laying-on another great festival – talking with Clint after the presentation it seems that 90% of the field have already booked-up for next year’s event, a fact that pretty much speaks for itself!!!

Until next time …

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26 June 2013, Python (White Acres)

In golf the third day of a major is often referred to as ‘moving day’ as traditionally it is when the likely victor moves-up the leader board. I’m not sure if the same applies to fishing festivals, but there is often a change in approach from many of the anglers – those that have had disappointing opening days will be looking to fish out-and-out for a lake win and a brown envelope to make-up for a lowly overall placing. Those that are doing well in the league will be looking for sub-section wins – in short, everybody is looking for a good draw!!!

The all important day 3 draw

Day 3 of the 2013 Olde English Cider festival saw my section (A section) rotate onto one of the older lakes on the White Acres complex today – Python.

Python is a strangely shaped lake – half of it (the part known as the ‘Narrows’) is a standard snake lake with the far bank margin generally accessible with 14.5m of pole. However the other half is significantly wider and at the far end from the tackle shop there is a large bulge known as the ‘Wides’, with the far bank reeds probably 30m from the platforms.

Part of the Python bait mountain

Python is much more of a mixed fishery than most of the lakes at White Acres – there are very few proper carp and other species such as F1s, tench, skimmers and perch tend to form the bulk of catches. As a result today’s bait allowance was made-up of the following:

• 2mm pellets (2 pints)
• 6mm pellets (2 pints)
• 4mm expander pellets (0.5 pint)
• 6mm Marukyu JPz pellets (0.5 pint)
• Corn (1 pint)
• Red maggots (live) (1 pint)
• Worms (approx. 0.5kg)
• Sonubaits Supercrush Green groundbait (2kg)
• Boilies (tub)

Such a combination would enable me to fish approaches such as the pellet feeder and long pole shallow for F1s if I drew on the Wides, but also much more refined pole-based tactics for silver fish if I drew on the Narrows.

Sub-section pegging

YouTube video of the view from my peg 

Following yesterday’s disappointment I needed a good draw to get my festival back on track – luckily I managed one when the bag of dreams yielded peg 14. This is in the middle of the Wides (generally the best area on the lake) and is probably the widest peg on the lake – it is impossible to get tight to the central island as the far bank reeds protrude several metres into the lake, but peg 14 still gives a good 30m chuck on the feeder.

The width of the pegs in this area normally see good numbers of F1s gathering and lend themselves to the long pole shallow – peg 14 also features overhanging marginal bushes left and right (likely looking homes for perch). As a result my pre-match plan was to start on the pellet feeder tight to the rushes before moving onto the long pole shallow and finally cleaning-up down the edge at the end – simples!!!

Python, White Acres

The first hour of today’s match is best described as ‘mixed’ – whilst I got off to a good start with an early carp and an F1 on the pellet feeder, the second carp I hooked became tangled in some discarded line attached to the far bank and eventually fell-off. This seemed to kill that line, but some nice perch on the pole from my left margin on worm over chopped worms and maggots kept me in contention.

(Tackle for the tip was my usual 20g small Preston Innovations pellet feeder with a 10cm hooklength of 0.19 Guru N-Gauge to a size 16 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band. Feed was simply soaked 2mm pellets with a hard 6mm pellet on the hook. My margin rig consisted of a 4x12 Durafloat 10 on 0.15 mainline to an 0.13 hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan B911 – elastic was blue Hydro.)

Looking right from peg 14

The second and third hours saw a switch to the pole shallow at 13m – tackle was the same as yesterday (a self-cocking KC Carp Slap on 0.15 mainline to a 15cm 0.13 hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan B911 with a hair-rigged pellet band) but with lighter blue Hydro.

Sport was hardly hectic, but 15 or so 1lb F1s was enough to move me towards the top of the sub-section with 2 hours to go. (Once again feed and hookbaits were hard 6mm pellets and slapping the rig on the surface of the water seemed to make a big difference.)

The inviting left margin

The start of the fourth hour coincided with the shallow line fading so it was time for another look at the margins. I’ve always believed that every peg on Python is worth 5lb of perch from the margins – these fish are relatively easy to catch and can make a huge difference when 20lb is a good final weight!!! I’d already caught some of the perch in the first hour from my left margin and the fourth hour yielded some more – this swim also produced a massive bonus in the form of a 5lb koi carp too!!!

The presence of that koi carp led me to feed some groundbait on my right margin – this was a good move as in the final hour I caught a big (2lb) perch, a similarly sized skimmer and another bright orange 5lb koi carp from this line!!!

Bagger in the money again!!!

We had the honour of White Acres head honcho Clint Elliott weighing-in our section today – I can’t be sure if this brought me any luck or not, but fortunately my pleasing 32-6-0 was enough to clinch the sub-section from second placed John Smith’s 20-12-0. This was also good enough for fourth on the lake, just 2 ounces behind Bagger’s third placed 32-8-0 (a result that a surprisingly large number of people took great pleasure in reminding me of – my argument that it’s ‘all about section points’ falling on deaf ears).

Day 3 A section, sub-section winners:

• Ian Carley, Python peg 9, 38-13-0
• Phil Morris, Python peg 14, 32-6-0
• Ian Turner, Python peg 27, 19-10-0
• Mick Hudson, Python peg 37, 35-3-0

Overall top 10 after day 3:

1. Danny Edwards, 15 points, 189-3-0
2. Jon Cook, 15 points, 166-2-0
3. Maurice Brown, 15 points, 159-4-0
4. Ian Carley, 14 points, 227-10-0
5. Will Sweeney, 14 points, 181-7-0
6. Brendan Turner, 14 points, 120-4-0
7. Ian Turner, 14 points, 119-8-0
8. Rick Broadway, 14 points, 115-1-0
9. Mick Hudson, 13 points, 153-1-0
10. Nigel Lale, 13 points, 123-1-0

Going into the final day we’re down to three anglers on the 15 point maximum – once again Danny, Jon and Mo managed to draw in different sub-sections and we have the unique position of 3 anglers from the same section topping the table. Recent festivals have all been won with perfect 4 sub-section wins from 4, but the five anglers on 14 points will all fancy their chances if those above them slip-up (especially Ian Carley who has a significant weight advantage).

Today’s sub-section win has moved me back up the table from 24th to 12th, though I’ll still need a final day sub-section win and a great deal of luck tomorrow to claim one of the overall prizes paid-out to the top 8.

Until day 4 (Trewaters) …

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25 June 2013, Canal (White Acres)

Following yesterday’s fortunate sub-section win on Twin Oaks it was soon time for the all important day 2 draw – especially significant today as A section would be split across two very different lakes in Acorn and Canal!!!

Day 2 pre-draw nerves effected many!!!

Whilst I have fished Canal a dozen times previously and had some decent results I’ve also had some real shockers – a last in section 2-1-0 in the 2008 edition of this festival certainly springs to mind!!! (This result was doubly disappointing as it was the first day in my first White Acres festival.)

So whilst I was prepared for a draw on Canal my preference was certainly for Acorn – I’d fished there twice in the previous week and the successful methods (feeder tight to the central island and down the edge later on) suit my style of fishing.

Sub-section pegging

YouTube video of the view from my peg 

Of course having expressed a preference for Acorn the bag of dreams duly presented me with the chance to spend the day on Canal – peg 14 to be precise!

Canal is a unique lake as the anglers cross a spit to reach a central island and basically fish from the inside out – I tend to think of it as a 16m wide strip bent into a circle. The stocking has changed over the years but currently the lake is full of decent sized F1s with the odd rogue proper carp. Despite normally having the far bank within 16m pole range I’ve had most of my recent successes fishing up in the water at 10 or 11.5m, and as the weather today was pretty warm and sunny that approach formed the basis of my pre-match tactical thinking.

Canal, White Acres

Prior to the draw I’d prepared two very different sets of bait (one for Acorn, another for Canal), but having drawn Canal today’s bait allowance was made-up of the following:

• 2mm pellets (1 pint)
• 4mm pellets (2 pints)
• 6mm pellets (2 pints)
• Corn (1 pint)
• Red maggots (live, but bagged so dormant) (1 pint)
• Worms (approx. 0.5kg)
• Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait (2kg)
• Boilies (tub)

The weighting towards 4 and 6mm pellets reflected my intention to fish the long pole shallow – the other bait was only really there if I had to fish the near or far margin as a plan B.

All the gear …

Prior to the start I set myself a target of 50 fish – normally enough for 50-60lb and good section points. Simple – all I had to do know was catch 10 F1s an hour for 5 hours …

The first hour went well and I actually managed to put 11 nice F1s in the net, all taken on the pole shallow at 11.5m at a slight angle to the left – the rig was a very simple combination of a self-cocking KC Carp Slap on 0.15 mainline to a 15cm 0.13 hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan B911 with a hair-rigged pellet band. (Elastic was white Hydro.) The float was generally set at a depth of 18” and there was also an 18” lash – I’ve found this to be the ideal length of line between the pole tip and float when fishing the very fashionable slapping method!

Looking right from peg 14

Despite being within my target of 10 fish an hour at the start of the second hour I could already sense the anglers to my left (Paul Hardman and the legendary Colin Ellaway) pulling ahead of me. At this point I should’ve kept my head down and stuck to feeding 4/6mm pellets and regularly slapping my float onto the surface of the water, but instead I switched to a rig with a spade end hook (for a section of worm) and started feeding a mixture of sloppy groundbait and Perfect Peach Goo at 11.5m slightly to the right.

Now whilst this did have an immediate effect of sorts (on feeding my second drop of bait from my pole pot 2 F1s stuck their heads out of the water right in the middle of the cloud) I basically had only a solitary foul-hooked F1 as a return for 30 minutes fishing!!!

When I finally returned to my senses and started fishing the original line and rig again I managed 13 more F1s in the next 90 minutes, leaving me on 25 after 3 hours (5 behind my pre-match target).

Components of the edge rig

I’d love to be able to say that in the final 2 hours I stuck to my guns, made-up my shortfall and ended-up with exactly 50 fish and a close section win – however it is my duty to report that once again I lost my head and only managed a total of 36 fish!!!

Ultimately my undoing was trying to catch the fish that I could clearly see moving over the groundbait I fed down the edge. Not for the first time I suffered badly with foul-hooked fished and lost a lot of fish in the Canadian pond weed that has started to grown in certain areas of the lake – however the longer I fished down the edge the longer I had to fish down the edge as the stamp there was much better than those I was catching shallow – and was the only was I could pull back a decent section placing.

Unfortunately the scales could only confirm my worst fears – my 41-0-0 only being enough for fourth in sub-section behind Ian Carley’s whopping 102-13-0, Colin Ellaway’s 51-13-0 and Paul Hardman’s 50-0-0. (If I could’ve stuck to my original approach and target I would probably have had enough for second.)

Well and truly battered!!!

Day 2 A section, sub-section winners:

• Reg Barras, Acorn peg 8, 53-13-0
• Ian Turner, Acorn peg 15, 59-4-0
• Rob Frost, Canal peg 10, 59-6-0
• Ian Carley, Canal peg 20, 102-13-0

Overall top 10 after day 2:

1. Danny Edwards, 10 points, 124-7-0
2. Jon Cook, 10 points, 123-2-0
3. Will Sweeney, 10 points, 121-11-0
4. Maurice Brown, 10 points, 105-12-0
5. Bradley Hancock, 10 points, 104-14-0
6. Rick Broadway, 10 points, 56-11-0
7. Ian Carley, 9 points, 188-13-0
8. Robert Judson, 9 points, 123-8-0
9. Rob Frost, 9 points, 119-8-0
10. Ian Turner, 9 points, 99-14-0

So after 2 rounds we are left with only six anglers on perfect scores and less than three pounds separating the top 3’s total weight! How many will be able to maintain their perfect record tomorrow? (Interestingly 3 of the top 4 (Jon, Danny and Mo) are all in the same section but have managed to avoid being in the same sub-section so far – will that pattern continue?)

On a personal note I’ve dropped like a stone from 8th to 24th place with 7 points – my only hope now is that I can finish with 2 section wins and 17 points for an outside chance of the eighth and final overall prize.

Until day 3 (Python) …

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