Saturday morning saw plenty of new arrivals at White Acres for the Dynamites Bait Festival; lodge 28 was soon turned into Cornwall’s latest youth club when the future of Northern match angling descended at our social centre. The average age in the lodge was in the region of 25 years which is very young when you take into account that Paul Gorman and I add 98 years to the equation! To say the lads were buzzing would be an understatement; they were going to take the place apart starting tonight in Newquay! I am sure some of the younger contributors to the site will mention their exploits!
Down the Farm
I had drawn C section and looking at the board it was another tough section with plenty of seasoned match anglers and some of those young guns to contend with. It was Trewater’s for me on Monday and I was pleased to be starting there. The draw bag dictated that I was on peg 45 for the day I was not unhappy with it but ideally would have liked to have been further around to my right. The weather was already better than last week with warmer SW winds, it was overcast and the water temperature was 10C, colder than the last time I was there two weeks ago!
It was to be a pole based attack for me with three rigs assembled to fish at 6m and 13m all were 0.4 gram Spro mid water floats to a 0.8 Xedion hook length and a small hook. I also set a rig to fish half way down the slope. I would have liked to fish this closer to me in shallower water but the water looked to be on the clear side so I settled on a line midway down the slope. At the start I fed my 6m lines and went straight down the edge but I could not buy a bite there I could see Neil Mckinion catching really quickly on a top two plus one also Nick Speed two to my right was also off and running, I was forced onto my 6m line to look for my first fish which was the smallest tench I have ever caught! A few better samples followed but I just could not settle the fish. I could see Dave Swain catching along with Steve Cooke and I am afraid that the writing was on the wall as I just couldn’t make any headway against those four finishing the match with 25lb Neil winning the section with 44lb and the other three had around 30lb Nick coming in second place with 34lb.
Porth time
Day two saw me up for a re match with Steve Ringer I had drawn on peg 20 and he 19, Steve mentioned to me in the car park that he had his waggler rod with him today should he need it. I thought that both peg 19 and 20 were very snaggy so I didn’t want to fish the feeder and decided on a pole and waggler based attack. I was going to have a 6m line looking for some perch and a longer 12m line looking for skimmers, whilst fishing the pole I would catapult casters beyond the pole line hoping to draw some roach and skimmers up in the water.
At just gone 10.30 Steve realised that he had picked up a spare feeder rod instead of his waggler rod, as a few fish had been coming to the float in the meadow he didn’t want to be under gunned so had no alternative but to go back to the caravan to pick it up. I could see that his football training was certainly paying dividends as he started jogging back to his car. He was back at his peg within 30 minutes, ready to start his own version of the triathlon, which is running, driving and fishing!
The match started and I had a small roach and a perch on my shorter line followed by a skimmer on my long pole. It was very slow. Steve was not faring much better with a few small skimmers on the feeder plus he had found the snag! After 40 minutes I went on the waggler and was disappointed when it didn’t go under immediately, eventually it did but it’s no good when you have to wait so long for bites. The first two hours were very slow but eventually bites started to materialise, pike were a real nuisance and three of us in a row were having real problems with them. I even landed a 5 pounder that took a good roach I caught on the waggler, it was a very spectacular take by the pike as it practically leapt out of the water as I was about to swing the fish, it certainly made me jump and didn’t do a lot for the roach either!
For some reason or another I was having problems with hitting bites on the long pole, some of them looked unmissable but miss them I did! I was changing depths and the shotting pattern but nothing seemed to work, I could go on a run and catch three followed by six missed bites! Steve was also on the pole but he managed to sort it out and hit more than I did but he too was having problems. I finished with 8lb which I was disappointed with. Steve landed a small roach on the whistle to give him a 12lb 13oz total not only winning our re match but unbelievably tying for the section win with Andy Power on peg 17.
Home Draw
Day three saw me at Bolingey and Paul Gorman and I were at the back of the queue, Paul plucked peg 42 from the near empty bag it is a peg that I really fancied to do well in the section. I had peg 11 which is also in a good area. I was now in a dilemma about what bait to take to my peg. Would the pellet method feeder work? Would it be meat? What about the pellet waggler? In the end I settled for 2 units of micros for the method and a unit each of 6mm and 8mm, two units of caster and the same of meat.
Starting on the method with a white boilie on the hook I had a carp first put in, followed by one second cast, I was pleased with the start as was the first time I had fished the method. Third cast saw me find an underwater snag and I lost the lot! Quickly tackling up I was out again but it would just not go round. After an hour or so I was on the pellet waggler and I really couldn’t wait to have a cast with the new Cralusso Pellet wagglers they are fantastic! They cast like a dream and I was putting them on the button every time but it would not go under! I had fed my 5m line with meat from the off and was again disappointed with no indications on that line.
Caster shallow was my next ploy but an hour on that and all I had to show for it was some good roach! A couple of fish down the edge boosted my total but it was very slow. The only two that were catching in the section were Andy Geldart on peg 9 and Andy May on peg 13 both unfancied pegs but they were walking the section! Were the fish just there or was it a matter of two class anglers on those pegs doing the business?
Getting on for 3pm and the lad on peg 10 was still blanking but started to catch shallow on meat at 16m he was getting a few as well. I followed him fishing shallow but had to use pellet as I was by now short of meat! I managed just one carp on this. With 15 minutes to go I picked up the waggler in desperation more than anything else and put it next to the island, it unbelievably went under I was so surprised I forgot to strike! No mistake next cast and a five pounder christened my new float I had another next cast but alas time was called, shame it was now solid! Perhaps I should have gone there and hour earlier but I had tried it throughout the match with no joy plus Chris Whitehead on peg 12 had tried the wag without any result.
I was feeling a little down at the end of this match as I had now been on three of my favourite venues and failed on all of them! Paul Gorman won the match from peg 42 with a 106lb total that he caught fishing long up in the water. At least someone in the lodge was doing well!
Wrong end
I really found it hard to get any motivation on Thursday as I had drawn peg 32 on the match lake. It really is a poor peg in a very good section and last was on the cards! After having a bit of gnashing of teeth and throwing the teddy around the van I decided to see what I could get out of it. I had wanted to try some of Yorkshire Baits Yellow Toffee Ground bait but never had the opportunity to practise with it so decided to day was the day! I was going to fish the method tight to the island for an hour as I had to give myself a chance should there be any carp in the area.
At the start I fed very aggressively on the 12m line with several balls of GB containing meat and caster and then sat back on the method. The problem with doing this is that I like to have the rod over my left knee and all I could see was the lads on the high bank bagging up and most of them are in my section! An hour or so resulted in no bites and as the skimmers were blowing on my bait I half heartedly fished for them. I ended up with 21lb and I think I beat two others for some more low points! However, I can take something away from the match as I was very impressed with the GB and more importantly the skimmers seemed to love it as well.
Come on Twin Oaks!
I was up early on Friday morning tying hooks for the method and the pellet waggler as I was sure I was going to draw a flyer on Twin Oaks, I was well prepared for a bagging session. However I should have used reverse psychology and tied up pole rigs for the small F1’s on Canal as that is where I ended up! Peg 2 was to be my final home for the day. I had Martyn Mcquade for company on peg 4 and he was the only other angler that I could see. This really is a nice lake to fish as it is in a secluded location on the White Acres site; I always get the feeling that I am miles from anywhere when I fish this lake.
The match started and I had a run of F1’s taken on my top kit plus one but they backed off after a short while, I think the water clarity would not allow the fish to settle so close to the near side. I followed them out and eventually was catching towards the middle. I decided to try some chopped worm and caster and put this in down my swim to the right in the middle of the lake. I had some really good skimmers on this line and was starting to enjoy the match. Eventually I could feel the swim dying so started priming my next line with 4mm pellets which was at 16m tight to the far bank.
Cast on a rise, get a surprise
Shipping out to 16m I started working the pellet against the far bank lifting and dropping and was rewarded with three F1’s but it was slow. I had noticed during the match that there was a large shoal of last year’s fry to my left at about 14m which erupted on the surface every time my pole was raised but on one occasion whilst I was shipping out to the far bank a better fished swirled amongst the fry, I dropped my pellet on the disturbance and the float disappeared! A small F1 about 6oz was the culprit, I had another dozen in as many drops before the final hooter went! Oh man, the penny dropped I should have fished shallow most of the day and I think I could have taken the section! Never mind you live and learn, I had 30lb for third and really enjoyed the days fishing.
As far as White Acres Festivals go I have certainly had better results than I have in the last two weeks but overall I have enjoyed the experience. I have had some good pegs and some not so good but feel that I should have done better, next time I must try harder! It was great meeting some new people and having a laugh with some old and come to think of it not so old mates! It’s good to see so many young faces from around the country attending White Acres and what’s more they can fish a bit! As for staying with the young guns again, I am not too sure about that as I find the energy that they have a bit too stressful except when it comes to them doing anything around the lodge that is!
Congratulations to Dean Smith on winning the festival it is a great achievement coming out on top of all those class anglers.
It’s fantastic that Dynamite Baits once again sponsored the festival all 180 anglers receiving a goody bag of their excellent products. As always Clint and his team did a great job on running the festival, thanks must also be said to all the staff at White Acres it was another great week, thank you.
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Thanks for all the info on White Acres, off there for my second visit at the start of May with the missus, who can’t wait to go back after learning to fish there last summer.
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Stewart
