The Bank Holiday weekend saw me book in for three open matches at Gwinear, it was going to be run as a mini late summer festival so all three results would count. Most people arrived early and congregated around Charlie’s new asset ‘The posh shed’ which is situated on a hillock overlooking the lakes, at the fishery. The venue has come a long way The Posh Shed since the old days and the pavilion...
I have to confess, I failed miserably in my attempt to have a month off from fishing. I did manage just over two weeks though but the urge was just too strong. The final push came when Wayne ‘Wrong Lake’ and ‘Tourettes’ Taylor kept calling me on the phone asking if I was going to the Mawgan Porth Wednesday open, in the end I just couldn’t resist! For some reason not many had booked in but...
I had a colourful conversation on Tuesday afternoon with my old mate Nigel ‘Tourettes’ Taylor who had decided that a day’s bagging was in order at Mawgan Porth, he wanted to know the score and grilled me for a couple of seconds on baits and methods. The conversation was going well until I told him that he needed three pints of pinkies. Man, I had to put the handset down for a couple of minutes...
I seem to spend most of my time travelling to Mawgan Porth to fish matches these days but the fishing has been terrific and I just cannot leave the place alone! The good thing about it is that the fishing is different on most occasions, the fish are obviously the same but the approach has to vary depending on the conditions or amount of anglers on the lake. The fish do not just jump into you keepnets...
Many years ago I had a love hate relationship with the Gloucester canal. The fishing on most occasions was really hard but I kept making the long journey from my then home just outside London to the canal hoping to find it in a good mood, or hopefully and more to the point draw one of those flyers on the famous bend. Fast forward twenty years and I find myself in another love hate relationship, this...
I really enjoyed fishing the inaugural Preston Pairs festival at White Acres in 2009 and literally couldn’t wait until the next one but I never expected it to come around so quickly, time is literally racing at the moment! There were 14 pairs booked on for this year’s event and once again it was to be competed at Trewaters and the consistent Twin Oaks. There were some very good anglers competing...
Can someone please tell me where the time goes as soon as the days get longer? I seem to be cramming in as much as I can during the daylight hours and consequently have fallen well behind in my weekly blog, so I am going to race through a few matches until I get up to speed. There has been plenty going on at the productive Mawgan Porth and one of my other favourite lakes Trewaters, which at the moment...
I arrived back in Cornwall on Saturday and met up with a few mates who were fishing the Garbolino festival at White Acres, nice to see the old boys! We had arranged a practice match for them on Sunday at Trewaters and we were spread out over two lakes so good weights were on the cards. I cannot remember who pulled my peg out for me but it was 41 on the bottom lake, a good area so I arrived in a confident...
I racked up the miles last week with a trip to Yorkshire and a festival at the fishtastic Garbolino Lindholme complex, it was a brilliant weeks fishing with some great company. I was treated to some good northern hospitality, the like I have never experienced before from venue owners Neil and Beverley Grantham, their motto seems to be ‘Nothing, is too much trouble’ As I write I still find it hard...
What a fantastic weeks fishing I have just had! This game always has some highs and lows and the week was no exception. As we were visiting family over the bank holiday weekend the first time I managed to wet a line was on Wednesday at Mawgan Porth. The day actually turned into a coaching day as well, Glen one of our local anglers asked if he could join me at my peg to see if he could see how I approached...
It was inevitable that there was a low turn out for the match at Trewaters Farm on the Saturday following the Milo Festival. Like myself, I guess most people thought it would be hard. It had after all just hosted five matches on the spin with some of the best match anglers in the country taking part. How wrong could we be? Very, very wrong is the answer to that question! We had generous pegging and...
Making the correct decisions is key to success in match fishing and this week I only managed to get it right in one match out of three! Talking to some other anglers at various venues, I find that I am not alone in making the wrong decisions. I can assure you there has been much discussion with my old mate Mr Hindsight, who as we all appreciate is the best angler in the world. I have had three nice...
There was no rest and it was straight onto White Acres for the Bait Tech spring festival, I’m not sure this year if spring is the correct terminology, the festival was competed in winter conditions and in my eyes could better be described as an aquatic game of snakes and ladders! The draw bag is the dice and the pegs deciding whether you climb up the leader board or go sliding down those slippery...
Last autumn Stafford Moor supremo Andy Seery told me that he was holding a silver fish festival in March and I immediately jumped at the chance to fish. I had been really looking forward to the event since that day, the lakes are full of fantastic silvers with numerous weights to a ton recorded in the warmer months. With the winter that we are still experiencing weights would be much lower but...
Who said the weather was slowly improving! Since I wrote that we have had a frost every day and some have been wicked! It would be great to have some nice settled weather before the spring festivals get under way. I am having a change this year I am setting off in the morning for a four day silver fish festival at Stafford Moor followed by a week at White Acres in the Bait Tech festival. For the first...
The weather is slowly improving and the fish are finally showing some signs of waking from their winter slumber and spreading around our local waters. But we are still getting the odd hard frost which is spoiling our expectations. Good examples of our hopes being knocked were the two midweek opens I was fortunate enough to fish! I drew peg 38 on the Tuesday open at Gwinear which is the closest I...
It’s a funny old game this fishing lark, I spend hours getting ready for matches turning casters and making rigs and at the moment seem to be continually drawing the wrong end of the section! I for one will be really pleased when this winter is over and the fish start to spread out a bit, hopefully the draw bag will then not play such an important part of the proceedings. Mind you I did get a little...
Sunday couldn’t come quick enough for me as I was really looking forward to the Individual league at White Acres; I seemed to have a van full of gear as all fish were included. I had to carry my full compliment of carp gear as well as tackle for silvers just in case those carp didn’t want to know. However, it was the bait that was giving me the real headache; the weather had been mild for a few...
I’m having one of those runs at the moment when the ‘Bag of Dreams’ is not being very kind to me, it’s definitely the bags fault you understand nothing to do with my fishing ability! Well, we all say that don’t we? Before the ice age I was having a nice little run, drawing well, catching a few and putting the odd brown envelope in the trouser pocket but since the big melt it has all gone...
It was great to be back on the bank again after the ‘Cornish Ice Age’ and what a difference a week makes! Last week we had 6’of ice everywhere and not a match in the region and this week it was a spring like 9 degrees, unbelievable. The only match this weekend was the individual league at White Acres and following the big melt the place was fishing its socks off. I was champing at the bit to...
I managed to sneak out for the last chance open at Gwinear on New Years Eve and it was an absolute belter to end the decade with. We had enjoyed a mild spell for around a week so I thought we might have a chance of a good days fishing however, it was much better than any of us expected. We were fishing on phase Two and Three with anglers spread around the lakes. I had my dip and pulled out peg 40 on...
There I was thinking that I was well ahead of my self when I knocked a cup of tea over my lap top! Oh man I was not impressed especially as I had just penned a couple of thousand words about my last few matches, I was hoping that it was repairable but have just found out it is terminal, that was an expensive cuppa! Never mind, mustn’t grumble (There were plenty of grumbles I assure you) here is an...
I made a commitment to myself a few years ago that writing about fishing would never get in the way of actually going fishing. As a consequence my blogs are occasional rather than regular, so apologies for that. This Year 2009 has been a reasonable year for me. On the team front we have had some success. In the Division 1 National my team, Last Cast, finished fourth. This was a great performance, coming...
The Mosella Garbolino Winter festival at White Acres is the one that I enjoy the most out of all the festivals that I fish. It is much smaller with around 60 anglers taking part but I find it a friendly and enjoyable competition. It is silver fish only but this year saw the return of F1’s allowed primarily as the WA complex has such a head of them, it was also float only for the first time. Normally...
Saturday was the start of a very busy period on the fishing front for me with the prospect of nine back to back matches to attend! I was looking forward to all of them but I have been praying to the fishing gods for a break in the weather as I am now officially fed up with the wind and the rain, we seem to have had both for an eternity, please Lord Pisces let me have a peg out of the wind! We arrived...
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Stewart
