Not Even Close to A Cigar – Dynamite, No I wasn’t !!

A week in Spain prior to the Dynamite Baits Festival at Whiteacres was all very nice but if there is one thing you need to be at these festivals it is prepared and ready for action. If I am brutally honest I was not properly prepared and my fishing suffered. What also didn’t help was on the last night in Spain I got food poisoning so when I got back to the U.K. on Friday all I wanted to do was sleep. Normally I travel to Whiteacres very early on Saturday and get in the swing and have a good look round the lakes. I didn’t leave London till after lunchtime on Saturday and therefore lost a day looking around which can be of great help. Our lodge this year was my Trabucco South East team mates Calvin Lawson and Dave Ellis and Paul Taylor known to all as Tippy.

My draw put me on Twin Oaks/ Trelawney first day and although the section wasn’t loaded with stars there were a few I would rather avoid such as Keiron Rich and Richie Hull to name a couple. Bait decisions are always important as this is the first pellet festival but as the weather had been cooler I wasn’t going to rely on them and had corn, meat and hemp in reserve with a kilo or worms ready for chopping if it all went belly up for me.

Day One – Trelawney/ Twin Oaks

The draw was as usual at 9.30am in the clubhouse and everyone is looking for a good first day draw. In the bag and I pulled out Trelawney peg 6. Fortunately I’d sat with Tom and Ian Frost on Sunday who’d fished pegs 6 and 7 respectively. Well I say Tom fished but he was in a bit of a state after a night in Newquay and leveling his box proved a bit difficult and I wouldn’t have trusted him to drive. Anyway I wasn’t too upset with 6 and even though I knew I’d struggled against the end pegs in my section it was a peg where I could fish the waggler which is probably what I’m best at. I also had a line at 6 metres as I knew Tom had a few lumps there. I also set up to fish down the edge either side. I started off on the pellet and was into fish straight away. They weren’t big but no one around was catching so I carried on pinging a few 8mm pellets and fishing the same on a hair rigged band. Whilst I was doing this I threw meat at my 6m line hoping to line up some lumps for later on. Getting right in tight with the waggler was key to catching and I continued catching until I had to have a look on the 6m line after three hours as the waggler line was getting weaker. I had four lumps on the 6 metre line and ended up with 59lb which put me 2nd in section. Jon Davies on peg 16 had 92lb on the tip to win the section but I was pretty happy with the way I fished as either side of me both struggled for 20lb. Paul ‘Tippy’ Taylor from our lodge won Gwinear off peg 24 with 77lb so it was a good start to the week for us.

Day Two – Gwinear

My first mistake on day two was standing next to me mate Colin Mercer. He went up and pulled out 42 and I went in next and pulled out 43. We were both not very happy as they pegs hadn’t fished at all on Monday. I know 43 won the section on Wednesday and Thursday but I couldn’t get a bite long, short or in between. I did lob all my bait in at 5 metres with half an hour to go and snaffled a carp and had one earlier in the bomb at around 25 metres but this was not my greatest match and hence I will end it there with 6lb odd for last in section. I did mention that that end of the lake would make a great car park extension but I don’t think that went down too well with the owner. Oh well !

Day Three – Porth

Last year was the first time I had ever drawn the near side of Porth so I was fully expecting a return to the 70’s and 80’s. Wrong ! Peg 33 in my mitt and with Simon Colclough next to me, and a few other Porth experts the section I knew I was going to have my work cut out. I do not profess to being a silver fish angler but over the years I have adapted to Porth and last year was ounced for section so I am getting there. My groundbait mix was 50/50 Sensas lake and Crazy Bait Gold mixed wet. I had dead maggots and pinkies and 3 pints of casters. I started on the tip at 25 turns fishing dead red maggot and pinkie and went off like a train catching skimmers on the drop on the feeder. Even Simon was getting a sore neck watching me netting every bung. Then it went DEAD. Then a black thing surfaced in my swim. A cormorant had decided to get in on the action and I went from bite a chuck to zero. In hindsight I should have persevered on the tip and tried to settle the fish again but I came in on the pole and pinged caster over the top at 14.5 metres. I weighed 6lb 8oz which was not bad but Simon had 8lb 5oz to win the section, Pemb Wrighting had 8lb 4oz and there were two 8lb dead weights leaving me wallowing in fifth in section. I should have stayed on the feeder and not competed with Simon for the pole line but hindsight wins you bugger all at Whiteacres. Col Mercer fished a blinder to win the lake with 9lb 11oz off peg 89.

Day Four – Bolingey

In to the draw bag and peg 17 seemed like a half decent draw at the time but when I got there the wind was rattling straight at me so fishing a wag to the island as I had planned was scuppered. I could get a 6 swan wag there, just, but feeding it was a nightmare and in the end I gave it up. In the end I decided to fish 6 metres and down both edges. I couldn’t get the short line to work properly but with two hours to go started to catch proper ones down to my left on meat over meat and hemp. Then with and hour to go they just upped and left and I couldn’t get a bite there . I finished with 64lb for last in section. Dave Lewis on peg 16 fished down the edge to his right and the wind had them queuing up for him. He had 145lb. Say no more ! Oh did I say I finished last in section but my excuse this time is it was Thursday and by now I was going for it. Not very well I agree but I was trying.

Day Five – Pollywyn

As usual I drew in the first section. I was on peg 12 which is not bad in a rubbish section but if the form book was anything to go by I would finish third behind peg 13 with my mate Chris from Bury on and Peg 2 which had the ‘sheek kebab king’ Kieron Rich on. I started with a few on the waggler but then they just drifted off. I should have fished for skimmers more but tried to force them to have the pellet waggler which they did again eventually. The problem was there was only half an hour left in the match and I finished with 36lb for third in section. Chris fished pellet on the bomb for 50lb and Kieron had four lumps which turned into six when he pulled his net out and a load of skimmers to win the section with just over 80lb.

So that was my festival and in the end I managed to avoid finishing in the 100’s and finished 98th which if I’m honest was not good enough. I wasn’t prepared properly and I fished like a t**t on a couple of days.
So what did I get out of the festival. As usual I met a load of really nice blokes, drank a few beers , and had a great laugh. One of the other things I must mention is what a load of brilliant young anglers this country is producing. I wish I could get some in my team.

Anyway there’s always next year. Now its Summer League time and I’ve got to get picking the team for that next Sunday so I’ll keep you posted on the team front which gets going from now on. I’ll report all the highs and lows here. Let’s hope for Highs.