The last time I fished Gwinear Specimen Lake for silvers was back in January and it was brilliant! Then you needed 40lb plus to do any good. I was really looking forward to giving it another go especially as the water had warmed up a little. Saturday saw a few anglers turn up to fish the Kernow Match Group sweepstake, all hoping to get amongst Gwinears specimen skimmers and roach.
It’s a game of two halves!
I had an island in front of me at about 13 metres and the bottom of the shelf was at 6 metres and 11 metres and it was here that I was going to target. The worrying signs were the amount of silvers at the end if the island to my right which were spawning. There were a few fish topping so hopefully we would catch a few.
My tackle consisted of two 0.6 gram series 4 Tamas Walter floats that were shotted identically with an olivette about 2’ from the hook and a few number 11 droppers. On one rig I had a size 16 hook and an 18 on the other. The depth was just over 7 feet. I also set up three up in the water rigs of varying depths these were Carpa Caster floats.
At the start on both lines I fed 3 balls of Green Swimstim Ground Bait containing some chopped worm and caster. Starting on the six metre line I expected fish from the off and after five minutes I was still waiting for my first bite! It was early to change but I switched to the 11 metre line with double red maggot on the hook. I was pleased to see the float go under and a 2 oz roach was the first fish in the net.
Within 30 minutes bites were tailing off, Martyn was really struggling and so was the Pirate! I picked up a 2’ deep shallow rig and dropped in on the longer line. The reward was a couple of 6oz roach and then nothing. Change depth another couple of fish and so it went on. The problem was the amount of time between bites was getting longer and longer! I just knew it wasn’t going to happen. I actually had a walk around the lake to see who was catching. By the time I got back to my peg I knew that there was not going to be a catch up as Harry was admitting to 15lb and so was Clive Hancock Ben Field had about 10lb. Martyn gave me the news that he hadn’t had a bite whilst I was gone! Not what I wanted to hear. It was certainly a match of two halves of the lake that is…
Well our half of the lake didn’t improve and I actually finished with 8lb odd, Martyn put back and Jim had 5lb plus. The lake fished better at the other end but did not show its true potential. Individually Harry won the match with 24lb but he didn’t have it all his own way. Billy Arch was second with 20lb and was left rueing his decision to target skimmers. Talking with him after the event he felt that if he had fished for roach he would have had a better result. His thinking was that he would probably have caught a few good skimmers amongst the roach, but he lost out by fishing bigger baits. Oh well, at least he had a few quid in his pocket!
Milemead
We arrived early and hungry! The draw was to be at 9am and it was now just gone 8, the problem was we hadn’t found anywhere for breakfast. Walking around the lake I met up with Steve Prouse who was telling me he had found a cafe that was going to deliver his breakie to the lake! And what’s more he said I could have one of the sausage sarnies that he had ordered. The day was looking up, deep joy. I have to tell you it was probably the biggest and best sausage sandwich that I have ever had! These Devonians certainly know how to look after you, what with fish and chips at your peg at Stafford Moor and now this.
Draw time
I managed to get to the front of the queue and had first dip in the bag, out came 24 which didn’t mean too much to me. I had a quick word with John Hetherington who knows the water inside out. He told me that it was a reasonable peg that was very shallow and that I only needed the pole. He went on to tell me that I had an island and a good margin to my right. He warned me to fish heavy to the margins as the carp were very powerful and knew exactly where the snags were.
The Lion’s Den
I wandered round to my peg and it looked really good. I had an island in front of me that was at its closest point 14 ½ metes and to the point of the island about 16 ½ metres. The margin to my right was very fishy looking but, also frightening! It was a bay full of stick ups and reeds.
I quickly grabbed a rig out of my box and had a plumb around in front of me and found that it was very shallow. There was about 2’ just of the island and it was slightly deeper just off the stick ups in ‘the den’. I decided that it was going to be a carp attack centred on the island and the margin. I did set up one rig for silvers, but knew as I set it up that I would in all probability not use it. My rigs were as simple as you can get. For the island I put up two SPRO 10mm blobs straight through on .18 line to a size 16 PR 28 hook. And for the margin I set up one blob straight through on .22 line to a size 11 B711 hook. I also set up two .2 gram Cralusso Capri on the .22 line with the same hook. This was for fishing the paste I put no shot down the line. Incidentally this is the first time I had used these hooks and the reason was that I had unbelievably run out of my normal pattern! A quick dash to the onsite shop resulted in me buying these.
The match started and I went straight out onto the point of the island with an 8 mm banded pellet on the hook and started ping pellets at the float. I was getting the odd indication but was not sure whether they were liners or small fish. No immediate bites which surprised me. Meanwhile 17 year old star of the future Ben Wright, who is sponsored by the Tackle Barn on peg 22 to my right had switched from the pellet waggler to the straight lead and was starting to fly. He had about 5 carp quite quickly.
After about 40 minutes I eventually had a bite and soon had a turbo charged common in the net, these carp do put up a scrap. I couldn’t believe that it was a solitary fish and was amazed that no more followed, especially as Ben was catching down the other side of the same island. Ben sportingly told me that most fish usually come from my margin. I had been feeding some pellet in there so decided it was time to go inside the Lion’s Den.
I put a firm bit of paste on the hook and went in again. I had three in fairly quick succession before one made it to the reeds and the commotion unsettled the fish for awhile. Back on the pellet on the long pole whilst that swims had a rest. No bites on the pellet. It was then that the penny dropped. If they like paste down the edge, why not fish it against the island? A quick change of one of the rigs and the first put in was met with a 2 ½ pounder! Why had I not thought of this sooner I will never know? I went out again and lost one that was foul hooked.
Moral dilemmas
The reeds were knocking in my margin so I thought I would give it another go. I waited a few minutes for a bite and then within the blink of an eye I was playing a fish that was deep into the reeds. I was pulling really hard to try and get the fish out. The inevitable happened and the line snapped. Now this was 10lb plus line in old money, and it had snapped. I sat on the box and thought that this was all wrong. I never have been a win at all cost type of angler, and I made the decision that I would not be going down that edge again. I was going to concentrate on the island where I could fish with sensible balanced tackle for the duration of the match even though there was a good 90 minutes left.
Well I had a few more against the island and thought that I was about even with young Ben but he had just had a good run of fish on corn down the edge, so it was going to be close. The scales came around and there were only about 4 or 5 left to weigh. Ben put 36lb 10oz on the scales to take second place. I weighed next and put on 36lb 8oz! Done by 2 oz. Well done young un, you fished a good match in far from ideal conditions.
Double Header
Harry won his second match of the weekend with 45lb! For yet another career double header. I must admit that I reminded him all the way home, not to lose his drawing ability for when it really matters next week in the White Acres round of the Angling Times Maver Pairs!
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Tom
