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 get at them silvers in this latest round. Now I could have drawn one of the flyers on the match lake but I didn’t, I could have drawn a nice peg on Jennies but again I didn’t, I only went and pulled peg 10 on Python out of the hat! I just knew that no matter how much I moaned on this occasion it just was not going to do any good as I’m afraid it was just a couple of pegs away from the epicentre which is the middle of the wides.
Bad light
I felt my only chance was to set up the waggler and hope that the Cornish F1’s would migrate from the wides into the start of the narrower bit. Unfortunately for me I drew next to Clint who also set up a waggler to tackle his peg 12 it was going to make it very difficult for me to draw the fish past him. My choice for the waggler was a 2gram Cralusso Rocket light with a .12 Xedion hook length and a size 18’s T213 hook. I also set up a rig to fish the pole at 13m on the deck where I hoped to find some of those big skimmers that frequent Python. I plumbed around and found that the swim had a very even depth; the main problem was the light it was a nightmare tying to see the float due to the mirror like surface, all I could see in front of me was a forest! I felt didn’t want to fish much closer as the lake was very clear and I felt the fish would be more settled away from the near bank. That was the only tackle I set up as it was a float only round.
At the start I fed three big balls of ground bait on my pole line and immediately went out on the waggler and for a few minutes found myself winning the section as hungry Rudd attacked my double red hook maggot bait. But after 15 minutes Steve Bass spoiled my fun by catching F1’s on the pole. This prompted Clint on to the pole line and before long he was also catching. I persevered on the waggler for another 10 minutes hoping some fish would settle over my GB. When I went on it was as dead as the proverbial Dodo! I had one hybrid after 10 minutes yet Clint and Bassy were still catching. That’s how the match went for me, watching them catch!
Bassy Baiting
I did spend quite a lot of time on the waggler and to be honest I found it quite enjoyable firing balls of GB at my float. Well sometimes at the float and sometimes into the reeds much to Clint’s amusement! It is a great feeling though when you drop a few balls close to your float tip, I’m a bit out of practice at that kind of fishing but certainly better now I have had a good go at it! I managed a couple of F1’s on the waggler and some skimmers on the pole.
I tried a bit of Bassy baiting as he is a Spurs fan and with the Mighty Whites marching down to White Heart Lane next weekend it seemed the correct thing to do. I actually felt I was in a win win situation because if we win it will be brilliant, and if we lose, well we are a 1st division side after all up against the might of the premiership!
Brilliant fishing
I finished with 11lb odd which was only good enough for 4th place behind Clint with 26lb and Bassy with 25lb. But what a days fishing it was nice to be out in the sun and the hole complex was on song! Jennies was won with 30lb plus with loads of good backing weights and the Match lake was won by Harry ‘Can’t stop winning’ Billing with 44lb again there was loads of good weights, role on Saturday when we have the winter league there.
Windswept Gwinear
I ventured to the Tuesday open a Gwinear and to be honest I was in two minds as the wind was horrendous. It had certainly put some off as it was a low turnout. Somehow I parted with my money as we were chatting over a cuppa so I was suddenly committed! I had my dip and out came peg 40 it amazes me how often I can draw the same peg and just wish I could do it with flyers! But to be fair last time I was on the peg I had over 50lb so I expected a good day. It was also in my mind that I also struggled in the last couple of hours so this time I had my trusty waggler rod with me so hopefully could catch a few throughout the match.
I setup a 4 x 12 to fish on the bar to my left and a .5 Capri to fish in the deeper water in front of me at 12.5m I duplicated the rigs so that I could fish maggot and pellet as alternative bait. At the start I fed a few micros and maggots on both lines and started in the deeper water. I had two quick skimmers which were welcome but not what I wanted. Looking on the bar I managed two small carp before the bites stopped so it was not going to be similar to my last match on this peg. Tyrone Hull was really struggling next to me and was dry an hour into the match. We were both up against it as Andy Dare was catching on peg 36 and the word was Harry was emptying it on peg 27 on the other lake.
On the Wag
I had been pinging pellets out to the middle and when Tyrone had a fish on the waggler it was my turn to fire the rocket towards the middle of the lake. It took awhile but before long I started getting a few fish on that line. I even had quite a good spell and thought for a moment I was catching venue owner Andy. It was clear to me that there were more fish up his end of the lake as he was constantly striking! That’s my excuse anyhow. I was enjoying myself fishing the wag, it makes a nice change to wielding the long stick all the time.
The moment of truth arrived and I weighed 30lb which was 10lb behind the winner Andy Dare. Unfortunately for me Harry had 35lb for second he had a brilliant start but his peg dried up after an hour. Mark Lazell had 34lbs to take third spot. Once again it was a very close match with a few extra fish changing things around for every one! I could be here again on Sunday in the individual league so felt it was a useful match to fish. There is a possibility though that the match could be split with White Acres, so that will be an interesting dip in the bag of dreams.
Waggler Haven at the Barns
I enjoyed he waggler so much so that I booked into the Barns match on Thursday it was to be on Neil’s lake and it is well suited to a running line approach. Again there were a few that didn’t turn up making it another small match. I was looking forward to seeing my old mate Manchester Mick Heacock but he was one that failed to appear. I couldn’t help but think he hadn’t turned up because I was fishing, not that he was worried about the fishing aspect you understand. More like he hasn’t seen me in the flesh since Leeds triumphant return to Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t realise the result effected him that much, never mind mate you will eventually get over it!
I drew peg 4 which I was more than happy with as it slightly narrower making it very easy to feed the far bank. I only set up a 2g Cralusso rocket light waggler and a small method feeder just in case. The waggler had a .12 Xedion hook length to a Middy 7313 size 16’s hook. I had two pints of maggots some ground bait and a few micros with me in case I needed to fish the method.
A fish a bung
I set the float at around 3½’ deep and on the whistle fired a few maggots over and cast about 4’short of the bank. I had a Rudd first chuck and that’s how the match went for the first hour with a fish every cast! Fantastic fishing there were some nice samples amongst them as well. The second hour was similar but I also managed a couple of very small carp and a nice sized perch as well as the Rudd. In the third hour the wind started getting up with some rain thrown in for good measure! I had a few chucks on the thod’ but only managed some more Rudd so it was back to the waggler.
HMS Brolly
Everything was going really well until with an hour to go a huge gust of wind got under my brolly and sent it flying into the middle of the lake! It landed and sailed perfectly down the lake like the good ship brolly until it reached peg 16 and became moored in the corner! I was in two minds as to what to do as I was playing a nice sized Rudd at the time! I really had no choice but to go and rescue it so wandered down the bank apologising to all the other anglers
Getting back to my swim and everything had changed! I was now struggling for bites and when I did get a bite it was a carp which I managed to lose in fact I lost three of them for no apparent reason! Never mind it was a nice days fishing even if it did finish on a low. I guessed I had over a 100 fish that averaged 4oz each so expected around 24lb, when the scales arrived I weighed 23lb 12oz so not a bad guess! It was just enough to shade the match from fishery owner Kevin ‘The Hat Man’ Harmer who had 17lb odd practically all carp on the method.
Well this weekend I have a couple more matches at White Acres and Gwinear plus I may try the midweek matches again, so until next time, keep those strings tight!
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great tu be back at it stewart ,up here in frozen leeds my local kippax pond is still frozen hope to be on it this week but the weather is goin back to the ice age so who knows keep bloggin mate great read
oh Stu you missed a golden opportunity for the pun of
The Good Ship Brolly Pop!!!
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jason
