Kernow Winter League

Well the festivals are over and it was straight into the winter league for me. The first round was at Mawgan Porth. This series of matches is different from the norm in as much as it is teams of three and you don’t pick your team!

The idea is that a regular open match angler is nominated as captain and he is allowed to choose another however, he cannot choose a sponsored angler or one that is considered a full time open match angler. The third angler is drawn for you and is an angler that is just starting out in match fishing or a club angler. The thinking behind this idea is that it will bring anglers on, sharing information and ideas. There are a couple of other twists to keep the interest up. Anglers can be promoted or relegated from their comfort zones for next year! The lowest scoring captain for argument sake will be relegated to a number two, the top scoring number two promoted and so on. Not sure what happens to the lowest scoring number three, perhaps he will be ordered to walk the plank!

My team Cralusso consists of Mick Heacock and Nigel Taylor and we are all looking forward to learning off each other throughout the winter and having some enjoyable matches.

I drew for the team and pulled out peg 17 for Mick not a bad area but he had Harry Billing in his section. Peg 47 went to Nigel Taylor and he had venue experts Andy Partridge and Simon Poynter in his section! I drew peg 32. I had a word with Harry and Andy about the peg and they both curled their noses up at it , which didn’t exactly inspire me with confidence. The plus side for me was that normally if Andy Partridge tells me it’s a good peg I struggle and if he tells me it’s hard I catch, so I was looking for a good day!

The weather was very sunny at least on my side of the lake; I was in shirt sleeves and felt kinda sorry for those on the opposite bank in their hoodies! The water was fairly clear, I have just started taking the water temperature thanks to Tom giving me a thermometer! So it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the winter. Today’s reading was 13.5 which at the moment does not mean anything to me!

I decided to fish longer than normal and actually plumbed up to 11 metres. I found three lines that I could fish with the same rig which was a .3 Cralusso Capri. The hook length was 0.12 Xedion to a size 18 hook. My chosen lines were 3, 6 and 11 metres. I also set up a shallow rig and an edge rig just in case. Bait wise I had some fishery pellets micros and 4mm plus some 4mm garlic soft hookers and three pints of maggots and a pint of casters. I was going to put my faith in maggots at the start,

At the whistle I fed by using a Preston drip feeder pot so I could regulate the amount of maggots going in. I find them really useful. I didn’t get bites immediately but Trev Conroy to my right was soon into fish and so was Simon Poynter opposite. I just plugged away dripping maggots onto my short line and eventually I was in the game. I may not have been getting the number of fish but they were of a good stamp so it was important to keep putting fish in the net and I didn’t feel I was falling too far behind.

Interestingly enough I could see both my teammates and knew they were catching, Nigel was always going to be up against it having Andy and Simon in his section but he was plugging away and working his swim. Mick was having a few but I could not see the remainder of his section to see how he was faring however, he has a good record on the water so I knew he would be giving it his all.

My swim wasn’t going berserk but I was catching and getting indications. A few skimmers were around and making a pest of themselves. Unlike normal matches at MP they counted today but we had to put them in a separate net, at least you felt like you were getting something if you hooked one.

Firing Squad!

About half way through Trev started catching really well and I felt that he was pulling in front of yours truly. I had to remind him that if a member of Kernow Match Group beat the group’s Presidente of the next peg it was the firing squad! Like a good lad he slowed down and let me get my nose in front again!

I had to switch around my lines to keep the bites coming, I was really enjoying this match. Going into the last hour I was back on the short line of three metres and the peg was getting very strong, It was a bite a chuck on the maggot, I wish they had turned up like this earlier but never mind they were there now. All too soon the match ended and we waited for the moment of truth.

Trev weighed 61lb next to me and I was pleased to see that he heeded my advice and allowed me to beat him I recorded 92lb which was good enough to finish third overall and win the section. But it was close as Pete Thomas recorded 79lb a little further down the lake on peg 38. Mick Heacock had 56lb which gave him 4 points and Nigel had 74lb for 6 points in a very close section, a further few pounds would have seen him rocket up the section.

Individually Andy Partridge was the victor with 149lb followed by the ever consistent Harry Billing with 114lb. It was Harry’s team Mossella Garbolino that won the team match on the day. They will be hard to beat but as we were joint second with Andy Partridge’s Spro team we are on their heels. It is Oakside in a couple of weeks so that will be interesting as I have not fished this venue in the colder months.