Time is just passing me by at the moment; I have just not found enough of the precious commodity to
10 BC
I was 24th reserve for the White Acres Fishomania but was quietly confident of getting a place as there had been a few no shows at some of the other events. I was in some good company waiting to see if we could fish including Grant Albutt , Dave Brittain and Andy Dare. We stood watching the ticket holders enter the marquee to draw and it was interesting watching faces as they came out clutching that all important peg! The early talk was about Des Ship who had drawn peg 1 on Trelawney, if the fish were at that end of the lake we all were fishing for second!
The draw completed and Clint announced that there were 16 no shows but he had to wait a little longer to allow for any late comers. I sneaked in to have a word with Kirsty and discovered that I had moved up to 15th reserve I could also see that some people on the list were not waiting outside.. The draw restarted and we were called in individually, I had my dip and came out clutching peg 10 on Jenny’s. I was happy with the lake but could not remember if it was in open water, in my opinion that is what is needed on this lake. I grabbed my rods and walked up to the peg. I was a little disappointed to see that I was opposite the start of the island with only a 25 yard cast to the island.
As I looked at my peg I saw a vortex at about 16 metres and hoped that the carp had moved up into the narrows! I knew that I had to attack the peg and initially I was going to take to my peg 4 pints of pellets and some hemp and corn. I had a change of mind and swopped the corn for meat as I thought I would start on the meat feeder to see if I could make that work. It didn’t take long to set up as all I assembled was the feeder and two up in the water rigs plus the obligatory edge rig. I have to say that this peg has a sexy looking edge. The plan was simple start on the feeder and ping 6 mm pellets onto the 16 metre line with a view to catching up in the water.
In we go
The match started and out went the feeder and the tip instantly went round! A small tench was the culprit. Re bait and out again the tip just wouldn’t stay still and I had a bite a chuck but they were roach! Loads of them I was forced to abandon that and go on the pole after about 20 minutes.
It was roach city with a bite every drop! Looking down the lake I could see elastic coming out of poles and rods bending, initial thoughts confirmed, wrong end of the section. Never mind mustn’t grumble, too much! I started to get the odd Cornish F1 but could only get them in little bursts 2 or 3 and then the roach moved back. Halfway through the match I decided to change the feeder to a straight lead and have another look at the island with pellet. This resulted in a half dozen small carp before that dried up. The rest of the match was spent between the long pole and lead picking of the odd fish. I had a couple of looks down the edge but all I could find there were yet more roach! Shame it was not silvers only. I ended up with 40 odd pound and all thoughts of an appearance in the final over for another year.
To the victor, the spoils.
Paul Haines was the angler going through to the final with a weight of 139lb from Twin Oaks peg 18 well done to you! I know that Paul is a regular visitor to White Acres. I am also told that Paul was on the reserve listed that started on Saturday morning and he actually had the last peg in the bag. If that is the case it was in there when I drew and there were only about six tickets left then!
Steve Cooke was the bridesmaid with 122lb from peg 23 on Pollawyn, third place went to fellow SPRO backed angler Perry Stone who was on peg 5 in my section he finished with 104 lb. At least I could draw some satisfaction from giving him a run down on his peg.
10 BC
On Sunday I went for the first time to Oakside fishery near Newquay for the Mike Yates organised Real Cornwall Summer League match. I have been travelling to Cornwall for years before I actually took the plunge and moved here, and in all that time I have heard mention of this place but never visited it. All I can say is what a fool! This is a very nice idyllic looking lake that is on my doorstep, I really wish I had driven in through the gates on the numerous times I have passed it on the way to White Acres.
Loads of pressure
There was talk of a couple of flyers and 19 was mentioned a few times by various anglers so this was in my thoughts, I was just about to have a dip and Gordon Maeres hand went in before me and he came out with 19! Man, I couldn’t believe it when I pulled out peg 18, next to the flyer that would do for me. I wandered around to my peg and had a chat with Gordon, he had the end of the island and an empty peg to his left, we could see why it was a potential winner. Everybody seemed to heap the pressure on him as they passed telling him that it was a great peg! He can take it as he is an old stager with loads of experience.
I was not sure of the depths, so I tried a rig that I use for silvers on the high bank at White Acres and it was perfect for the 8’ deep swim at 12.5 metres. The rig was a .75 gram Cralusso Capri, I put an 18 hook on a .12 hook length. I was unsure what I was going to catch but was told it was a mixed fishery with bream, tench and roach as the target species. There are some carp but they are not n abundance and apparently they are very big. I also set up a Carpa caster to fish up in the water. This was on .12 line direct to an 18 hook. I wanted to see if I could catch shallow at 6 metres.
Loads of Bait
My bait table had two pints of casters, a kilo of worms and some corn, maggots and micro pellets I also had a few expanders as I was unsure of what the fish would want! I mixed a bag of MOJO ground bait and this was going in on the longer line. At the whistle I cupped in 5 big balls of GB containing a lot of chopped worm, casters and corn. I put some dampened micro pellets and a few casters in at 6 metres. Baiting with a small bit of dendra I was immediately into fish at 12 metres. I had a skimmer and some reasonable roach. This lasted for about 30minutes and it started slowing down also the fish were getting smaller, plus I was getting small Rudd on the drop. Some more bait was needed and this resulted in a flurry of fish. But I got the feeling it wasn’t enough. The bigger fish were not playing ball.
Next door Gordon was sitting it out for big fish, I could see his corn hook bait as he lowered his rig in the water. He was only getting the odd skimmer. It was time to change tactics. I had a look deep at 6 metres and had a few small roach on the caster. A look shallow on this line produced a few better roach but I could not get them to settle. I decided that I was going all out shallow on the long line hoping that any skimmers would respond by coming up to meet the casters!
I had an enjoyable match catching roach and the odd skimmer shallow, the wind came up making presentation a little difficult, but the fish didn’t mind. I was however starting to run out of casters. I chopped up some more worms and added them to my casters, hoping that I at I could also catch on a worm head. I’m not sure that this was successful but did get a few on it. I eventually had to feed maggots and the fished loved them! Wish I had done that earlier. The whistle went as I was landing a nice roach, a great end to a good match.
Mike arrived with the scales saying that 15lb was winning so far. I put 23lb plus on the scales to take the lead. I followed the scales around for a few pegs to Harry who nudged me close with 21lb of roach. The word was that Roy Booth had over 25lb on peg 31. I had to go back to get my gear and when I reached the car park I was told that he had weighed slightly over 25lb for victory, well done Roy, still I was pleased finishing second on my first trip to the water. I really did enjoy fishing this match, it made a nice change it actually had me reminiscing of days gone by, and the venue really is 10 BC that’s 10 years Before Commercials!
It was nice to see 12 year old Steven Ragg fish his first match, he actually finished in 17th place out of 27 anglers, well done young un keep it up. Steven had 1lb 10oz beating several others including the organiser! I understand that another youngster is coming on the next match things are looking up!
