Candy White

There was no let up in the wind on Tuesday but that didn’t stop a better than normal turnout at Gwinear. As a result phases two and three were chosen for today’s match and that in effect made it two matches as the payout was to be 1st and 2nd on each lake. I had my dip and out came 26 on phase three; I was really pleased with the peg as it is situated at the end of the lake that I frequently seem to be watching other anglers catch fish!  I walked round to the peg and found I had joint lake owner Chris Hancock for company, he has had a good run here lately so I wasn’t going to have it all my own way. I have noticed that the last couple of times I have fished near Chris that he seems to have the habit of forgetting to set up his landing net before the start! There is then this mad scramble for it when he hooks his first carp!

The wind was blowing into my corner and it was a cool one as well but it didn’t look too bad with smallish waves on the lake, that is until you put 13m of carbon out in front of you, then you found the full force! There was no way I was even contemplating trying reach the bar at 16m today. I would brave that 13m line and set up another line at 6m but round to my right in around 5’ of water and apart from a GB feeder that was it for me. I planned to feed a few micros and 4mm pellets on both my lines and start the match on the feeder with hair rigged corn, I expected fish immediately.

The match started and after feeding I couldn’t help but ask the question of Chris ‘Have you remembered to set up net your net today mate’ Oh man or words to that effect was heard and he was up the bank rummaging in his holdall! Perhaps I should have left ‘No net Hancock’ in ignorance until he hooked his first carp and watched the fun and games!

As I waited for my tip to pull round I could see the other anglers in the 30’s catching carp on the pole! I was convinced that an early attack on the tip would work but when I was around four carp behind and I was waiting for my second I felt I had no option but to go on the pole. Shipping out to 13m and holding on for dear life I was pleased to see the float dip and carp number two was on its way to the net.

Rob Hitchin’s from Yorkshire Baits had sent me some of his new pellets called ‘Candy White’ as the name indicates they are white and have a sweet smell, he had be raving about them in a recent phone call, they have done a lot of damage at some matches up north so it was time to give them a go. I was really pleased when a bite followed the pellet hitting the deck. I raced to around 10 fish but it was getting harder and harder trying to combat the wind but as the fish kept coming I stuck with it.

It was noticeable that the smaller carp were feeding today but I was not complaining about size. Trying the 6m line resulted in some carp as well, slightly bigger samples as well but I had to wait longer for bites. To be honest my arms needed the rest so I spent longer than I normally would on this line!  That said I did alternate between the two lines throughout the match until the last hour when I surprisingly struggled for fish.

The last 40 minutes I spent back on the feeder and it resulted in around five more carp taken on the corn. I finished with 30 carp for 52lb 9oz which was good enough for a lake win from Chris Morris who had 43lb the other weights on my lake were all around the 40lb mark so it was a close and enjoyable match. On Phase Two it was also close with Harry Billing taking the verdict with 57lb beating Mike O’Gorman by 9 ounces! Again the others were close and anybody could have won on the day the last weight on that lake was a shade less than 50lb.

Saturday – a nice round trip.

There was nothing on locally on Saturday so I was pleased when Andy Dare sent me text on Friday saying that there was a match at Gwinear in the morning. I turned up for the draw at 9.30 to see Andy and Chris in the car park, everybody had cried off and the match was cancelled! Andy had received a succession of telephones calls with a host of excuses like the dogs not well, I’ve just cleaned my tackle and I don’t want it to get wet! What a bunch of lightweights! Mind the weather was pretty bad with strong winds and rain. I ended up staying in the car park chatting with Andy and Chris putting the world right until gone 11am.

Sunday at White Acres

Sunday was round three of the White Acres individual league and I needed a result as I had missed the previous Sunday’s event and finished third in the opener. Today was a silver fish only round which would be great practice for the Mosella Garbolino winter festival in a couple of weeks time. There was a new rule in place today which made the match float only. The idea is to stop someone bagging up on F1’s on the feeder; some pegs really dominate so the rule is designed to even up the contest. F1’s are allowed at White Acres in silver matches, mainly because there are so many of them on the complex.

36 attended which was great considering the weather which was showing no let up, more wind and more rain. I fancied a nice draw on the match lake and as I looked at the peg in my hand I thought I had drawn the same peg as a couple of weeks ago, I really fancied that peg but looking again I saw the words Trelawney under the number 12 and my smile disappeared quickly. I was told that last week the lake fished really hard and 4lb came off my peg by someone fishing for silvers it was not what I wanted. But at least the wind was off my back well over my left shoulder so it should be comfortable fishing.

The water temperature was cold

My platform was under about an inch of water due to all the rain we have had recently and as I was putting my box down I made a mental note to be careful as it was very slippy, I could see me doing a backward flip into about 4’ of water! Within seconds I completely disregarded my advice and promptly slipped into the edge! Fortunately it was just one leg up to the knee and I was out in seconds but the water found its way into the boot, and it was cold which reminds me it’s about time I remembered where I put my thermometer!

I was going to fish three lines today and with the fairly even depths on this lake I could get away with minimal tackle as my 6 and 13m lines would be the same rig. I was using a Tamas Walter .5gram Roach float which is pencil shaped. It had a .8 Xedion hook length to an 18’s Milo T213 hook. I also had a 4 x 10 float for fishing down the edge in about 2 ½’ of water this rig was also going to double as my shallow rig should the roach want to feed near the surface. The last thing I set up was a waggler which was a 1.5grm Rocket light to fish over towards the far bank just in case it was a real scratching match and a few extra fish were needed.

For bait I had 2 pints of casters, some maggots and pinkies and the obligatory worms. I mixed some Green Betaine ground bait with some Euro Cup as I wanted a darker GB; I also wanted a sweeter mix as there are very few skimmers in this lake. Also the carp were very active crashing all over the place and I didn’t want them feeding in my peg today!

How did I miss that?

At the start I fed two large balls on each of my two lines there were some chopped worm and caster in that initial offering. I started on the 13m line and it was a slow start. I immediately wished I had fed this line at 11m as the wind was swinging around slightly to my right and gusting, it was very hard holding the pole still. Why does it always do that at the start of the match? I could see John Rennie to my right catching small roach at 5m but these were not coming very quickly. I missed a couple of bites on my long line which had me thinking how on earth did I miss that? Maybe they were liners as carp moved through my peg I don’t know but they looked like good bites to me. Eventually after a good 20 minutes or so I connected with one and I was pleased to see a stamp roach come to the net, at around 6oz it was very welcome.

Fish started to come on a regular basis, I never felt like it was solid but good roach were having a go and it was starting to become an enjoyable match despite having to wrestle with the pole. Trying my 6m line didn’t result in much at all, a few roach but of a smaller stamp and not any quicker so I was left with the longer line. I was feeding caster on this line and expected them to come up to intercept the feed but trying for them left me fishless.

Another line

I felt like I needed another line so that I could feed one and rest it whilst I fished elsewhere so I introduced another to my right, this time at a more comfortable 11m! This worked for me and I started catching from both lines. At the end of the match I finished with around 75 fish including 4 small F1’s and a nice sized perch which I figured would give me around 15lb guessing that the average was around 5 to the pound. I was really surprised when they went 19lb 8oz which was good enough to win the section. Jon Shirley was second with 14lb 12oz and John Rennie had 13lb 4oz for third. Considering the weather conditions this really was top roach fishing and I just know that if the conditions had been more favourable the weights would have been much better.

With hindsight I may have benefitted from feeding the 6m line more aggressively trying to force some action as I really had nothing to lose as it was a very slow line. That said I needed another 16lb to win the match which was a big ask.

Congratulations Steve

Elsewhere Jenny’s fished well considering  the anglers suffered  very badly from the wind  Harry Billing winning a section there with 18lb and Andy Partridge the other section with 13lb. Tyrone Hull won the other side of Trelawney with 20lb from Skip McCabe with 18lb. I think there were several 20lb plus weights from the match lake. Congratulations to Steve Maynard who won the match overall  from Python with 36lb of mainly F1’s This was Steve’s first match win since making a comeback after a 15 year break  I predict it will be the first of a many more if he can get out a little more often. I travelled home with Steve and as I left him at his gate the grin on his face was still from ear to ear very well done mate!Candy White