And Another Thing!

It’s not often I turn up at an open match and get berated by one of the other competitors, but that’s what happened to me on Sunday when I turned up for the Gwinear open, the reason for my scolding?   My blog is not up to date! There was plenty of finger wagging from North East visitor Dave Cain. Oh man, I’m sorry it’s just that I have had loads on the last couple of weeks and I have just not found the time to pen a few words!   A quick zoom through the last few outings is in order to bring this bang up to speed, hopefully before Dave travels back home.

Mawgan Porth and a case of Déjà vu

I found myself at Mawgan Porth for a Wednesday open and just could not believe my luck when I pulled peg 6 from the bag of dreams, now as I have mentioned before it’s a brilliant peg but at the moment the main head of carp are just not down that end of the lake so I was a little disappointed, never mind mustn’t grumble!  When I was on it the peg the previous week it was full of small Rudd and Skimmers, which is not what you want when trying to get a net full of Carp!  I had a plan which I hoped was going to work and it centred around the feed, it was 6mm pellets only, lots of them! Hopefully the little monkeys wouldn’t have them or at least leave some for the carp.

It worked to an extent as I managed to get a few Carp but I just could not keep them coming, the small fish were a nuisance again but the larger pellet stopped me getting so many of them, it was fits and starts, once again I could not get anything to feed up in the water other than ‘my mates’ the Skimmers and of course those pesky ducks! I really shouldn’t be too disappointed as I finished the match with 95lb which is a good days fishing in anybody’s books, it was good enough for third place. That naughty Cornish Piskey otherwise known as Tourettes Taylor was back on his normal peg 47 and won the match with 137lb having a pound or two to spare. Unfortunately the Mawgan Porth website is down at the moment, I normally rely on this to get the full results but on this occasion it’s not there, sorry to all the others that fished!

Not following my own advice!

Going back to the previous week at Mawgan Porth, Wrong Lake disappeared immediately after the match to get to Gwinear to fish their inaugural 3 hour evening match; I gave him some stick saying it is too much in a day to fish two matches especially bagging matches! I later found that it was a fantastic match with a few hundred pound bags, topped by Andy Dares 159lb I just couldn’t get this out of my mind. So with tongue in cheek, I was soon legging it the 15 miles or so to Gwinear to fish my second match of the day. I can still hear Wrong Lake’s comments when I arrived at the lake!

I found that my peg had been drawn as I was last to arrive, it was peg 36 the peg that has proved to be my nemesis a few times over the last 12 months. I was really pleased to be finally on the peg but secretly I wished it was for a full five hours as there are so many options. I decided I wasn’t going to confuse things this evening and set up to fish very positively down both my margins, I was not going to change my plan. I had pellets for bait and around 1 ½ kilos of Bloodworm ground bait which I was going to feed loose to my left, the right margin was going to receive some micros and 6mm pellet, hook bait was 8mm pellet and I also had some worms with me.

I was soon getting amongst the carp on pellet from my right margin; however they just would not keep coming. I wished I had set up a 5m line as some of the others were catching well on that line! Persevering down the edge worked to some extent as I started putting a run of fish together. I heard a shout from Pete ‘Stato’ Thomas my next peg neighbour; he was wondering if I had killed something as my left margin had turned blood red! Those carp had found my groundbait and what a signal it was!

I finished the match with 62lb which was second on phase Two; I was pleased to find I had a section win as the lake winner had 80lb and framed. He caught well at 5m; no doubt I will not be quite so positive next week! Arthur ‘the hat’ Turner was this week’s winner with 108lb from peg 12 on phase 1 followed by Chris Hancock from phase 3 with 90lb. I have to say my advice to Wrong Lake was spot on; it’s definitely too much fishing two in a day, unless of course you are 25 years younger, its one match for me next Wednesday and that’s Gwinear!

What was really made the night was how most anglers stayed on for a coffee and a chat in the cabin, Charlie and Chris putting on some free supper,  which is a really nice touch and a very enjoyable end to the evening. It was just about perfect, what could be better after a match than a free Cornish pasty! No doubt from now on Wednesday evening will be known as ‘The Pasty Match’, propur Cornish!

A round trip on the M5

Saturday saw me at Maver Larford for an open on the match lake with 35 fishing, I was looking forward to wetting a line for the first time on this lake. I was one of the first to book on as I had arrived early. When it came to draw time I hung around at the back as I fancied a late dip in the bag of dreams, that really  back fired as I was called up to draw third.  Oh man, the best laid plans and all that, never mind peg 78 stuck to my hand. I was told it was normally an end peg but today it wasn’t, some told me it was good, some told me it wasn’t! I wandered around to the peg and bumped into Wayne Mellings, he said it was a good area and that I would get plenty of bites which cheered me up. I had fellow qualifier Andy Leathers to my right on ‘my’ end peg.

I have to say I really enjoyed this match and caught on a variety of methods which included on the deck and shallow at 13m, and on the deck at 5m all on fishery pellet. I had some carp down the edge to my right including some good fish to around 8 pound. I finished with 112lb which was good enough to finish second behind the brilliant Des Ship who had 136lb Stu Ballard came third with 110lb My next peg neighbour Andy Leather was fourth with 102lb, we had quite a tussle and I thought the 8 pounder he netted after the whistle was going to be enough. It was great experience and nice to catch a few fish I just wish I could have worked out how to keep those F1’s coming shallow, I managed to catch two or three before they backed off, any ideas?

Homeward bound

That night I stayed with my son and daughter in law who live nearby, but I was up at the crack of dawn to travel back to Cornwall to fish a match at Bake Lakes, only 250 mile dash , I really must be going crackers but at least I was travelling in the right direction!

I pulled peg 22 from the bag of dreams, which is on Treasure Island, I nearly got the peg I had been thinking about which was peg 20. I had the corner of the island which was 14.5m away to my right, that formed the basis of my main plan of attack, shipping was slightly difficult as it was on an the wrong angle,  plus I had to break down twice because of a high bank behind me but I wasn’t grumbling! I really fancied having a go at this peg.

I had a J2 4 x 10 float for fishing by the island which was also perfect for my edge swim to my right. A SPRO blob was assembled for fishing shallow against the island. A J8 4 x 12 for fishing out in front of me in the open water completed my setup. I had plenty of pellets plus some maggots and groundbait with me.

A quick start in the open water looking for an early fish didn’t produce anything so I was out to the point of the island and was soon into small lively carp. Before long I had six in the net so at least I was doing better than last time. From what I could see and hear our lake wasn’t responding as normal and most were struggling. I had a run of foul hooked fish which was very frustrating; I was even fouling the odd fish very shallow on the blob. I tried cutting back on feed, dumping some and loads of depth changes but nothing seemed to work. Resting the swim allowed me to have a look around at my other options but nothing was happening. It seemed to me that I needed to change things around on the island swim, so I went back on that line but this time with maggots. What a difference that made! I suddenly had a run of fish that ‘had mouths in the right place’. I was catching quite well on this method feeding maggots via toss pot with a pinch of groundbait to stop them falling out as I shipped and added sections. It was just a shame that I didn’t come onto this method earlier, personally I blame motorway jet lag!

The scales of truth arrived shortly after the match and I was pleased to weigh 72lb which was good enough to win the lake from the ever consistent Jay Chapman who had 47lb. However our match on Treasure was overshadowed by the exploits of the other match on Flamingo Lake where Ellis Trinder went about emptying the lake, finishing with 169lb carp caught on paste over groundbait from the margins. Ivan Wheton finishing second with 85lb followed by Tourettes Taylor who was remarkably quiet after finishing with 69lb, I bet he wasn’t quiet as he saw Ellis catching fish after fish.

Back at Mawgan

The Tuesday open  at Mawgan Porth only attracted around 10 anglers, it’s a shame there are not so many turning up this year, visitors to the Duchy as well as locals are really missing out on some good fishing. It was great to see Wayne Panting and his crew as they turned up for a day’s sport. They are down on their annual holidays and really looking forward to getting stuck into the matches at their favourite Cornish venue. So was I, even more so as Janet had taken peg 6 out of the bag of dreams today , so I was assured of fishing a different peg! Peg 16 stuck to my hand, it is one that I have done well from before so was happy enough to give it a go.

The swim is a little deeper than the majority and one that I never thought of when getting my kit ready, consequently I found myself making a couple of rigs up on the bank, it doesn’t take long and I had a good 45 minutes before the match started. Two shallow rigs, two edge rigs and a couple of depth rigs completed my setup and I was ready with plenty of time to spare. The match started and I was into fish immediately, caught on the bottom straight out in front of me on my top kit plus one section. It really was a good start and when they came shallow with 45 minutes I really thought I was in for a very big weight.

After the first hour I had around 50 in the net but it slowed drastically! I was left moving around a few swims trying to keep the fish coming but could not find a pattern. I would get two or three before the fish backed off, the edge to my right looked very inviting but the only residents that I could tempt were skimmers. I actually found myself wishing I had a feeder rod with me as I was sure I would have caught beyond pole range out to the weed bed.

Wayne made it a brilliant return to Mawgan Porth by winning the match from peg 41 with 137lb, incidentally if memory serves me correctly he won the last match he fished before leaving the Duchy last July, he really has the place sorted. I finished with 105lb for third place beaten by the chap on peg 47 who had around 112lb, I really must try harder!

Cornish Wetlands

We really are well and truly into the Cornish rainy season at the moment, which seems to run annually July through to August! It was not a very nice evening as I turned up for the ‘Pasty match’ at Gwinear, there were 15 fishing which was a good turnout to say it was so wet. I drew peg 38 on Phase Two, I was happy with the draw as there were plenty of fish there the previous week. A 5m rig as well as margin gear was assembled for this evenings fishing. I was soon into fish on the deck at 5m caught on 6mm pellet. Everywhere I looked anglers were catching, Gwinear really is fishing well at the moment.

I had a really enjoyable three hours in the rain catching steady, even managing a run of fish shallow at 5m which is a great way to put a weight together. I finished with around 60lb which was good enough to win the lake by a pound or so, it really was very close and to be truthful everybody felt they had a chance and was ruing the odd lost fish that would have won the section for them. Phase Three was won by Chris Hancock with 61lb and I believe Arthur ‘The Hat’ triumphed again from Phase One with around 80lb. The sun came out as we packed up at 9pm just a shame it didn’t manage to arrive a few hours previously! It was great to have a coffee and pasty after the match and have a chat with the other anglers, it really is a good opportunity to find out how they approached their match and pick up a few ideas!

That’s me nearly at the point where all this started this week with Dave wagging his finger at me, so until next time keep those strings tight!