Deja Vu At White Acres

There was a feeling of Déjà Vu on the Wednesday match at White Acres as I pulled out peg 25, the same peg where I managed 44lb shallow from the previous week. I wasn’t the only one with the feeling, as Harry Billing pulled out the same peg that he fished last week as well! As you can imagine I keen to get down to the lake and get started! As soon as I got to the high bank I could see it wasn’t going to be the same, it was much colder and the fish were not showing themselves, but you just have to fancy the peg!

Experiment

I had wanted to try some of Yorkshire Baits Yellow Toffee ground bait for some time now and I had decided this was the day; it had to be tried under match conditions as I knew it would work in a pleasure fishing session and didn’t want to experiment in one of the league matches. I quickly knocked up a couple of bags and was straight into getting the tackle ready. Two J10c shallow rigs were the first as I was still hopeful of a repeat performance, but deep down knew the day was not right for it. As this peg is in deepest part of the High Bank I chose a .75gram Cralusso Capri to fish on the deck at 13m and his smaller .5gram brother to fish in the slightly shallower water at 5m. The last rigs were a 4 x 14 and a 4 x 10 J1 to tackle the edge and a swim a top kit out from the edge. I like a heavier float than is really needed for this job, just so that I can get the bait down and through some small roach that are usually present on this line.

Roach nursery

The match started and fed one ball of ground bait containing some worms and casters on the 5m line and four balls on the longer line. I started at 5m with maggot on the hook and immediately had a few nice roach. I had been loose feeding casters long and was desperate for a look shallow, I had a go and within a second caught a roach that was around ½ ounce, and it was solid with them! I tried my .75 gram rig and I just could not get through them, the float was practically held out of the water as roach intercepted the bait anywhere from the surface to I guess half depth at around 5’ I was back on the closer line before too much time was wasted. I could catch some nice roach on this line as well as some bonus Perch.

Piling on the pressure

Further down the lake I could see that Harry was not having the problem with smaller fish as lots of elastic was coming out of his pole and it seemed to be constant, or at least every time I glanced left he was netting a fish! Clint was moaning that he couldn’t catch, but I could see him also landing some fish two down from Harry. I think there was a bit of gamesmanship going on down that end of the lake!

It was another nice match with plenty of bites to be had, for me fishing long was just wasting time as my long line had turned into the nursery, so I continued with caster on the shorter lines. I managed a couple of bream, some nice skimmers roach and a few VIP’s for a very enjoyable 35lb which actually came third! Harry heaving a very impressive 58lb of skimmers to win the match followed by ‘I can’t catch Elliott’ with 50lb. What a an incredible days silver fishing. To say that we were looking forward to the silver round match of the winter league on Sunday was an understatement!

Sunday, a day of rest?

The weekend came around and I decided to just fish on the Sunday as I had a few bits and pieces to do. The weather had turned cold and I wanted to get a few rigs ready for the individual league. We were greeted on Sunday morning with the hardest frost I have seen this winter, it took ages to defrost the van. But it was eventually done and I was on my way. Halfway there and the phone rang with the bad news that the match was cancelled due to frozen lakes, Oh dear never mind, or similar words were shouted as I put the phone down and turned around for home.

No more Ice

The Wednesday silver match has now turned into an all fish count match due to request from some anglers and that’s fine by me, it’s great fishing whatever the species! I had my dip in the bag of dreams and peg 20 stuck to my hands. It was not the peg I would have chosen, mainly as carp had not shown on this peg for a long time, I had a bit of a moan about the peg, as you do! I actually remember when it was one of the best pegs in Cornwall for Carp, but that was before White Acres put the rope across the island to hold the aerator in place, these days I’m sure the carp think they are not allowed the other side of the line in the water!

Harry asked me to draw for him as he was holding the bag; I was having none of that just in case I drew him a flyer! Whistling Billy Arch did the honours and he pulled him out peg 19 next to me! We had a quick chat and both convinced ourselves that skimmers wouldn’t show in the shallower side of the lake, especially as it had just thawed.

Slow Mo

I was having one of them days when nothing seemed to be happening; I actually thought I was living life in the slow lane. I was the last person down to the lake and everything seemed to be taking me ages to do, to cap it all I had forgotten my tip rods. With 10 minutes to the all in I had to walk back to the van to get the missing kit. When I returned to my swim the all in had been called and everybody had fed their swims and was fishing! I hadn’t even finished knocking up my ground bait mix! I put it down to my love of cricket and the sleep deprivation watching my beloved  England toil in the one day matches in Australia, still only one more cricket match to go then I can get back to normal!

Starting at last

I put a T bag on my tip rod and baited with an 8mm pellet and cast a metre or so off the island, I then finished off my groundbait, secretly hoping that the tip would pull round, but that never happened. After 10 minutes or so I was ready to feed my pole lines. Harry by now was off the tip but couldn’t get a bite on the pole. Because he wasn’t getting bites I actually fed a little less than I normally would. That job done I was back on the tip, hoping! Around 30 minutes later I noticed Harry net a good roach followed by a big skimmer and then another roach. I felt I had to come off the tip and have a look, the last thing I needed was to get too far behind the maestro.

Solid!

First drop in on my 13m line and the float buried with a small roach and the bites kept coming but my fish seemed smaller than Harry’s, but we were catching and both were enjoying it. The pegs we were on are quite close together, but on different angles so we were having a bit off banter as well as catching a few fish. There was the odd carp coming out from the High Bank but neither of us had a touch when we fished the lead, so it was pole or bust for us. I did manage a couple of better skimmers that closed the gap with Harry but he went and spoilt that by catching a 3lb carp on his pole line. I had been feeding casters on my 5m line and decided to re feed my long line and have a look closer in. Unbelievably I had around 6 bream quickly from this line before it died. I fed some ground bait on the 5m line and went back long, the skimmers were back there. It was brilliant fishing, I knew I was getting my head in front of Harry and just needed to keep the pressure up. But it went quiet on me for awhile, I then hooked a carp of around 2 ½ pound, maybe that was the culprit causing the skimmers to go missing. Feeding some more after landing that carp brought them back.

Out with the Bream, In with the F1’s

Towards the back end of the match the bream were replaced by F1’s and I probably had a dozen of them to around the pound mark, plus a few more fish from the 5m line. Both my lines were exactly the same depth and I actually used just one rig all day which was a .5 gram Cralusso Capri. I did set quite a few more rigs up though, but on this occasion did not need them. The fishing was really one of those red letter days, the only bad part about it was the rain that started with 90 minutes to go and never stopped until 90 minutes after the match, it was heavy rain as well – a shame really as I had my camera with me but it was far too wet to start taking photographs.

The match ended and the scales came round, Harry weighed first and recorded 40lb, I had a couple weighs and the fish were totalled together at 57lb which I am pleased to say was enough to win the match from ‘8mm Lazell’ who had 47lb of carp from peg 25 all taken on the tip and not surprisingly an 8mm pellet. It was a really satisfying match, especially as it all started so slowly! What made it all the more satisfying for me was beating Harry of the next peg; he is an angler I deeply respect. Mind you I expect to feel his wrath on another occasion!

Sunday Winter League

After Wednesdays match there was definitely a buzz in the air from the 35 anglers eagerly awaiting the draw for the silver fish round. When it was my turn to have my dip, Clint moved the bag away and started making some chanting noises that sounded strangely like a Witch Doctor performing some voodoo ritual. I had to have a laugh with him and asked what the hell was happening? He told me he was putting a hex on me so that I didn’t draw a good peg! It’s obviously too tight for comfort on the leader board at the moment. I had my dip, and looked at the number and walked away shouting yes, peg 20, the look on Clint’s face was priceless, it was a shame it was actually peg 13 on Python!

The weather was very windy and as a result the rule on feeder fishing was relaxed, which was handy as it was definitely a pole breaking wind! I actually fancied my peg as I have had some good weights on this lake in the past on both the pole and feeder so I arrived on the bank feeling very confident. The way the venue was fishing made me feel that it was better to fish the swim in a positive fashion and having the feeder option allowed me to do this. I did feel a little guilty setting up the feeder as Python is shielded from the wind and was actually flat calm!

The plan

My pole lines were going to be at 14.5m the rig was a J8 4 x 16 with a .9 bottom to a size 18’s T213 hook. I had a similar rig also set up with an 18 PR36 hook and micro band which would enable me to fish with a hard pellet. I also had a similar rig for the 4m line with a t213 hook. I just couldn’t resist setting up a J10C 4 x 12 set at 18’’ deep for a shallow option. I had a tip rod which was the Milo Helios multi feeder made up at 10’ with a 1oz tip. I was going to fish a normal cage feeder with a 12” hook length of .12 line and a size 18’s Milo 252 hook.

The plan was to feed four large balls of Groundbait containing some chopped worm and caster at 14.5m at an angle to my right and some micros, a few 4mm and some corn the same distance on my left. Feed one ball of ground bait on my 4mm line and then loose feed casters over this line. Start on the feeder with double red maggot just short of the rushes and catch a load of Cornish F1’s to kick start the match! That’s exactly what happened with one major exception, I could not buy a bite on the feeder! Mr Kipling was to my left and he also started on the feeder his tip went round 3 times on the spin resulting in two F1’s and a Gold fish, I think secretly that Neil was getting excited about this as his next cast was in the rushes resulting a lost feeder! Mustn’t grumble at least he had a start. I think most in the section caught at least one F1 on the tip but it wasn’t prolific and one by one the poles came out. I was pleased about that as I thought I would bottle them all up in my swim. Again I was wrong, as all I had to show after an hour was two small roach and a sucked maggot!

Pole time

Meanwhile Neil was catching on the pole at 4m and so were the others, again it wasn’t prolific but I was really falling behind and I made the decision to fish the pole. A few small skimmers came from over the ground bait line as well as a 12oz Tinca, but it was slow. The close line resulted in a nice Perch and a few roach but I could not line them up. No bites on the corn or pellet and at the halfway stage I was scratching my head wondering what to do! Another spell on the feeder resulted in no bites and I picked the shallow rig up and fished at 13m straight in front of me. I had a nice spell catching some Rudd that were between 2  – 4oz but really wished they were Roach as they settle better in my opinion than Rudd.

As I suspected the Rudd backed off and I managed to find a few more going longer to 14.5m before they tailed off on that line as well. Neil was putting a few fish in the net but claiming he wasn’t catching! I knew what he meant though, we all expect more from this venue. It was close between all eight of us now but I felt all to my left were in front. With 15 minutes to go I just could not buy a bite on any of my pole lines and picked the feeder rod  up in desperation. The fish were there and I had 3 Cornish F1’s and a Fantail in the last 10 minutes which left me thinking I should have gone back to it earlier, never mind we mustn’t grumble!

The moment of truth arrived with the scales and I was pleased to weigh 16lb 15oz which put me second in the section but way down in 23^rd place individually in the match. Nigel Sanders was a worthy winner of our section with 20lb plus. What was nice to see on Python was the return of the Tench, there were a few caught around the 12oz – pound mark. I remember when this lake was prolific with them a few years back but they seemed to have all but disappeared. I hope they come back strongly as they are a fantastic species.

Overall young Joe Bray won the match with an impressive 42lb from peg 30 on the High Bank he had some Perch and a few Bream, the match lake producing the top four weights in our match with Harry Billing taking top weight of 32lb from Jennies.

Top six on the day

Joe BRAY White Acres 42lb 0oz

Dave Hillier White Acres 40lb 8oz

Paul Dench White Acres 38lb 6oz

Mark Lazell White Acres 32lb 15oz

Harry Billing Mosella Garbolino 32lb 4oz

Mick Kearns White Acres 29lb 0oz

League top 15