I arrived back in Cornwall on Saturday and met up with a few mates who were fishing the Garbolino festival at White Acres, nice to see the old boys! We had arranged a practice match for them on Sunday at Trewaters and we were spread out over two lakes so good weights were on the cards. I cannot remember who pulled my peg out for me but it was 41 on the bottom lake, a good area so I arrived in a confident mood. Mind, I would have to fish well if I was to do any good as Andy Partridge had drawn the end peg 54 and Harry Billing was also in my section on peg 50.
Tackle for the day was a couple of .6 gram SPRO Midwater floats for the 5m line a .2 version for the edge line. My last pole rigs were J13 floats as I fancied catching up in the water. I also set up a ‘thod’ but never got to use it, I really must cast it in anger one day at Trewaters as it works!
Teflon hooks
On the whistle I potted in some garlic micro pellets on my 5m line and went straight out with a 4mm expander on the hook, my old mate Russell Shipton at the next peg went on the thod so I was interested to see if it worked for him. After a few seconds I was into fish so I was concentrating on my own swim. I started with a few small F1’s followed by some crucians before small Rudd moved in and started intercepting the bait on the drop they were a bit of a pain. I had to move all my shot nearer the hook in an attempt to get the bait quickly to the stamp fish. I still was getting the odd one but now I was getting some better F1’s. All seemed to be going well until I started foul hooking and losing good fish which I suspected were skimmers, I must have lost around 10 it was really infuriating. I was playing around with my depth and shot trying to sort it out but I’m not sure I did!
Fortunately I managed to find some F1’s shallow and had a good spell before they backed off, I reckon I had around 20lb of F1’s some caught very shallow. It was a shame there was no breeze on the water as I am sure there was a lot more to be caught. I finished the match down the edge to my right fishing corn on the slope in around 2’ of water catching a few F1’s and some better skimmers. It was an enjoyable match but I really felt I should have had a few more fish and this proved to be the case as Andy Partridge won the lake with 69lb followed Harry Billing who had around 67lb my 60lb it left me thinking I had a great match but I must try harder!
Overall Calvin Lawson won the match with 86lb from peg 26 on the top lake he was followed by some impressive weights; it’s looking good for the festival I just hope Calvin hasn’t peeked too early.
Big match!
I was looking forward to Mawgan Porth on Tuesday and although the match wasn’t going to be huge, there were around 8 booked in with a possibility of some more turning up on the day so a good match was in prospect. I actually surprised Janet by turning up early for once, she wondered if it was a bad omen as the car park was empty! After the official draw time had gone there were just three of us waiting for a dip! Unbelievably Janet had not had one call from an angler cancelling their bookings; I wish anglers would have a little more courtesy; it doesn’t cost much to pick the phone up.
Wayne’s world!
It was too late to go elsewhere so we decided to have a knock up between ourselves and I have to say it was a good days fishing, those stay aways really missing out on some great sport. I took the last number left which was my old favourite, peg 38. Wayne Jones a visiting angler drew 6 and our very own Wayne Wrong Lake drew 41. It is coming up to 12 months since he was christened Wrong Lake and I must say it has had a remarkable effect on him, as far as I know he has managed to fish the right lake ever since, despite fishing some multiple lake venues!
As we were all in sight of each other it made it quite a good match with some friendly banter flying around, it was really quite relaxed affair. My match went well starting at 3.5m in front of me I had around 35 fish in the first hour. I had to move out in the second hour to keep in touch with them. I was well ahead in the fish count but I could see the size of fish that the two Wayne’s were catching, I figured that there was not much in it weight wise. I felt the only way to pull ahead was to gamble and fish up in the water at 6m next to the weed. So that’s what I did until the end of the match. The swim just got stronger as time went on and I finished up with around 140 fish which went 179lb 4oz followed by Wayne Jones with 138lb 2oz and Wayne on 108lb 8oz. I enjoyed the company and the fishing so the day turned out to be a good one.
Last of the Summer Wine!
There were 16 booked in for the following day so I decided to have another go, this time 14 ended up fishing, again no phone cancellations but at least it was a match today. I again managed to get to the lake early and was sorting some gear out in the van when I heard the unmistakable voice of ‘Rock Steady Eddie’ Brown and his muckers Charlie Hobbs and Bill Dobson from deepest Lancashire, in a nice sort of way they remind me of Compo and his crew from last of the summer wine! Even though Compo comes from the right side of the Pennines they have that resemblance, they do make me laugh. All three of them are keen as mustard and put some a quarter of their age to shame they were in the middle nine match spell all one after the other!
Would you believe that Rock Steady was still muttering on about the War of the Roses match we had last May at Mawgan Porth. Only the four of us turned up that day and we had a winner take all. I managed to take the coin and Steady Eddie had not forgotten, where money is concerned those Lancastrians have memories like elephants! No chance of a winner take all today but the old boy was up for it.
I was really pleased with my peg 6 draw and fancied it for a good weight. Alarm bells started to ring though as I sat on my peg. There was the sound of some amorous carp splashing around in the reeds on the opposite bank and also some shy carp who were engrossed in their spawning under the long platform on peg 41, it must have sounded strange for Bill who was on that peg hearing all the shenanigans going on beneath him.
Record start
The match started well enough for me as I had a four pounder within seconds of the start followed by another stamp fish I had five in record time before the bites just stopped! Looking around and it was obvious it wasn’t going to be a big weight day as I couldn’t see anyone catching with any sort of frequency.
There was only one thing for it at that was to start searching around my swim to try to locate a few fish to keep and them coming. The obvious place was around 6m next to the weed and from the moment I dropped some pellets there I managed around 10 smaller carp before it got hard again. At least I was getting a few, poor old Bill Dobson from the Compo crew was still carpless! He seemed to be in skimmer town though as he had loads of them. The trouble is they don’t count and have to be put back, oh dear, mustn’t grumble.
Plodding on
The match went on and I was fortunate enough to pick the odd fish up from a few swims I had on the go. Going into the last half hour I managed to find a few fish down my left edge where finally they had turned up in numbers. Fifteen minutes to go and as I netted a carp I was aware of a noise behind me, looking round I saw a couple of people climbing over my pole roller and they didn’t have the quietest of feet! The damage had been done and I just could not get another bite, they had gone. It is really annoying when this happens. I saw the same thing happen to Wayne Jones in the previous match when he was skylined by some bank walkers on the same peg. Oh man I just wish people would be more considerate when a match is taking place, it is obvious to me that these bank walkers are so called anglers. One of those things you may say, and I would agree if we were fishing a public water, or maybe a commercial fishery with a campsite attached but this is a private fishery. Janet actually has signs on the gates that these walkers have to open saying ‘No entry match in progress’
The verdict
The scales came around and my net of 67 carp went 93lb 11oz, I managed to hold onto the lead until we arrived at peg 14 where Steady Eddie was sitting and when he heard that under a ton was leading he had a wry smile on his face. His net went 95lb 9oz to take the match and the coin back with him up north. Well that was a close one, at least I won’t have to hear from Eddie when he next visits that I had all his coin! Hope you had a safe journey back home lads, I’m looking forward to the next episode of Last of the Summer Whine!
Sunday
It was a high attendance match for these parts on Sunday at Gwinear with 40 fishing so a good draw was paramount. I was having a chat before the draw with Skip McCabe and I do remember saying to him ‘What am I going to do if I draw between 2 and 5 on phase one’? We went onto to discuss skimmers and how they fed in the last match. I put all thoughts of those pegs out of my mind that is until I stuck my hand in the bag of dreams and came out with peg 4! Oh man why didn’t I say what am I going to do if I draw peg 36 or one of the other flyers!
Setting up on the peg and venue expert Chris Hancock walked past and said ‘Fish worms, those skimmers will love them, a big weight is on the cards’ That just confirmed what I thought and I set up pole tackle to fish at around 5m. I also set up a straight lead and one up in the water rig as they were a few carp cruising; I planned on feeding some chopped worm and micros and going immediately up in the water hopefully mugging a carp or two early before they spooked.
Perfect plan?
I love it when a plan comes together and I was soon playing a carp first put in on the long pole shallow! Ten more minutes and no more bites and I was happily going on the 5m line looking for those big old skimmers. Well, I was getting a fish every put in literally one a bung as soon as the bait hit the bottom in 5’ of water. I felt like I was back at Mawgan Porth sacking! The problem was they were all very small Perch and Tench, those skimmers were noticeably their absence apart from a few being caught by Liam on peg 3 who was using expander over micros.
Fish them out
I kept at them thinking that they would soon disappear and the skimmers would find them lovely worms but I’m afraid it never happened. I boosted my weight up to 15lb with a couple of small carp on the straight lead. Liam had around 20lb and there was a 10lb weight to my left. Mark Lazell taking a very good match win with 79lb from peg 39 on phase two.
Well next week s a little different as White Acres are running four open matches at Trewaters, nothing unusual about that? Well there is next week as they are to be held over two days I am really looking forward to that it will be a little different!
Finally I have a plea for contact numbers? I picked up my phone the other day to make a call and unbelievably all my contact numbers had been accidentally deleted! If you read this and you have my mobile number please text me so that I can add you to my list, but please add your name!
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whats a thod?
It’s a method feeder.
ahhh right you southerners are weird…
hello stewart can you give any advise reference to the river huntspill near bridgewater M5 we have our water industry match in september any help would be grest john plymouth
John,
See Colin’s Blog on this website – The Battle of Sedgemoor (Ie The Pentax Div 1 National) – it covers his Div 1 National on the Huntspill
hi stewart i fished with you and harry last august at mawgan porth you had 300lb so did harry i had 175 the tips and advice you both gave me helped me win our club 3day festival with 3 section wins and a top weight of 196 the best fishing i have ever had thank you both. anyway i was down at the end of april and the lake was crystal clear and weights were low avg 35lb i know we had a cold winter but looking at janets results page only you and harry are catching at mawgan porth are the rumours about otters true i believe janet when she says she hasent lost many fish but the rumours are getting stronger can you help truthfully thanks
In answer to John, Phil and Ben. Ben, Thanks for the answer for John – I have to admit I have not fished the Huntspill so could not comment. I have not been on the site for a few days so only just seen the question. Phil, Thanks for the comments I remember that match it was a cracker! Well done yourself you have had some great weights at MP. Like many fisheries throughout the UK MP has had some predation with otters but in my opinion the fishery is well stocked and has not suffered that much from them. There are still plenty of fish there to catch. The last two winters have been very cold, the coldest on record, especially down here! No doubt that has helped to keep the water clearer for longer into the year, not that I am an expert but I am sure it has kept the algae growth down and therefore the water clearer. Add to this the change in the way that the fishery run water through the lakes, it is now run through on a constant basis rather than flooded every few days. As a result I think the water is generally cooler than previous years. No doubt in my mind that this will keep those regular massive spring weights down which is probably not a bad thing. Now, that said (this is where I shoot myself in the foot!) the fishing has changed, anglers have to adapt to those changes to stay in the hunt. It really is no good just turning up at the fishery with a top two and sitting there fishing inches from the bank simply because that is how it has been done for several years. Longer poles are now important, you have to search for the fish maybe fish in several parts of your swim looking for the fish, change the size of bait, hook size etc. As we move further into summer the water that feeds the lake will warm, then I am sure the colour will spread throughout the lake and I think we will see some big weights again. I have found it very interesting and enjoyable fishing so far this year and have fortunately found some fish from several areas, but at the moment you do need to be drawn in the shallower end of the lake. Hope this answers your question – Please rubbish those rumours there are plenty of carp to be caught at Mawgan Porth.
hi stewart thanks for info on mp from what you have said maybe it would be better if we put off our april trips until june ? or july even anyway can you give me any info on gwinear i used to fish it when simon owned it , i have seen it since it was made into 3 pools but not fished it , i was talking to pete sivell on sunday and he thought it would be a good venue for a club weekend ? what do you think thank again hope to see you and harry at mp when i am down in early august
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terry palmer
