By Stewart Lister | No Comments
Last updated: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I actually predicted the peg I drew on Saturday but it’s the last time I’m trying that game, its back to moaning about the peg I draw from now on! It was the teams of three winter league on Saturday and chatting in the car park before the draw Mark Lazell told me that he wanted peg 21 on Jennies, I told him it had my name on it and so it proved when I went to do the team draw. I also pulled out peg 27 on the match lake and peg 13 on the same lake, two end pegs and a flyer on the high bank. I came out of the tackle shop with a big grin on my face, I couldn’t wait to tell teammates Skip and Andy Partridge the good news. I haven’t felt so good about a team draw for along time!

Carp city

Weather wise it was looking like the best day of the year so far, not a cloud in the sky with little wind and warm at around 10 Celsius, a nice change to what we had become used to! However, the alarm bells were sounding when I got to my peg as the carp were crashing around all over place, not what you want to see on a silver fish only round! I just hoped that they would start grazing elsewhere before the start. My plan was to fish three lines two long at 10am and 2pm and one at 5m directly in front of me. For the 12.5m lines I chose a 4 x12 J2 float it has a nice bristle which I find important on Jennies as the sun can make seeing the float very difficult. I had a SPRO midwater float for my 5m line where I hoped to catch roach and skimmers. At the start I fed chopped worm long to my right, some ground bait went on the other two lines, I also loose fed casters on the short line

Starting on the worm I had a roach just about every put in and some were good samples as well, I thought it was going to be one of those 40lb of roach days that was until the carp put in an appearance and spoilt the fun after an hour or so! That line just died and I could not resurrect it, I had the odd fish but it was a waiting game. Moving onto my other line to my left started well with roach to caster before a carp decided he fancied a shell. My 5m line would just not work, just the odd small roach here. I changed this to a slightly longer line at 7m and fished elsewhere whilst the fish found my feed. My first bite on this new line was a carp! I found myself falling behind as the others at the other end of the section were catching well including some Tench.

Wrong end?

Mark to my left was also struggling and having problems with carp and it was looking bleak for us as we fell further behind in the race. Tourettes Taylor on peg 18 seemed to be on fire catching loads of fish, all I could see of him was elastic streaming out of his pole, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He was just a little too far away to hear what he was saying properly but it sounded like he was talking about different species of carp, I kept hearing ‘King Carp’ at least that’s what it sounded like! Clint reminded him on a few occasions that carp didn’t count in this round but he wasn’t deterred, those King Carp just kept getting caught.

The middle of the match was difficult with only a few roach and the odd skimmer showing as I searched all my lines. Going into the last hour I decided to fish solely on my line to my left as Mark Lazell had also found some Tench and I figured I would be better fishing as close to him as possible hoping for a few Mr Greens myself. Fortunately I managed four by sitting and waiting with double Minkie * on the hook. It was just a shame that they didn’t turn up a little earlier.

It wasn’t a bad days fishing, in fact it was good it was just a shame that carp were not allowed as they were really feeding well. What was strange was the lack of F1s, they just didn’t want to know and the lake is full of them! I actually finished the match with 20lb 10oz which was third in section behind Clint Elliott on 30lb and Dave Hillier with 28lb plus. I really must try harder!

I knew our team had finished well down the list as when I got back to the car park there was no sign of Skips van plus Andy Partridge was trying to escape! I managed to block him in and have a quick chat. It seems like the other end of Andy’s section was better and despite Skip catching more than his far share they were smaller stamp than the rest in his section. Both have a very good record on the match lake so I knew their pegs were difficult on the day. From now on there is no more Mr happy when I draw, it’s moaning all the way!

*       Minkies, a squatt like old maggot, available only in the South West during winter, possibly a hybrid between a maggot and a pinkie, hence Minkie!

On Sunday it was the Individual league round and the turn of Gwinear to host the match, after my practice match on Tuesday I was looking forward to it. We unfortunately were being punished for such a nice day on Saturday, it was freezing cold and we had one of the harshest frosts of the year! Still the sun was shining so hopefully we would all warm up.

There was a time when I knew every peg intimately at Gwinear but since the redevelopment of the lakes I didn’t have a clue where peg 50 was. A quick chat with Mark Lazell and I was happy, for happy read moaning! I was on phase two and in the old days I would actually be sitting by the tree on the island opposite peg 29. It is a noted peg and hopefully the fish would be on the pole line. The danger peg in my section was diagonally opposite me and Andy Dare had drawn that for the second time in a week! Oh man, there are some draw bags in this neck of the woods!

Who has the biggest pile?

Now in a good sort of way Andy is very frugal with the truth when it comes to telling fellow anglers what he has caught! He makes me giggle when he tries to convince everyone that he is not catching when in fact he is normally sacking! So, I devised a plan so that I would know exactly what he had all through the match, that way I could not fall foul of his mind games! I made a space on my side tray and every time he caught I was going to put a pellet in a pile, next to that I had was going to have a pile for myself I just hoped mine would be biggest at the end of the match!

Andy stated well with the first fish and he was soon into his signature tune ’There may be trouble ahead’ and after the first hour I was in trouble as I had 2 carp to his 9. Andy Gray next to me also 5 and Rob Fuller was getting a few on peg 40 I decided to sack the pole as it was clearly going nowhere. I was going to spend the rest of the match on the waggler fishing a 2.5gram Rocket light just my side of the middle. Bait was 8mm pellet and I was feeding 6mm pellet.

Told off by Hindsight

I had an indication first cast and when the same thing happened without a fish on the second cast I shallowed up by a foot and found the fish at around 3 ½’ deep in around 6’ of water. It was great winter fishing with the carp coming in little spells and before long the two piles of pellets were looking evenly matched! At one stage we were matching each other fish for fish with Andy catching at 16m. Unfortunately for me I had a quiet spell with 90 minutes to go and back in trouble. Andy finished well and ended up with around 40 carp and I had 31 it was close but no Mars bar for yours truly. As I packed up Mr Hindsight chided me saying that I should have started on the waggler, he of course was right but after all Mr Hindsight is an expert!

The match was won by Harry on peg 24 on phase 3 with 75lb, Andy had 73lb and I managed third with 55lb. It was a good match and very close again. It wasn’t brilliant for some as there were a few that struggled. But if I can give any advice to some anglers is watch your feed, some put in far too much. The old adage of you cannot take bait back out of the lake after you have put it in is paramount. To give you an idea I fed less than half a pint of pellets and I know that Harry and Andy fed around the same if not less!

On Tuesday I fancied a bit more waggler fishing so I was back at Gwinear. The difference was that it was bitterly cold and we had suffered another very heavy frost the third on the bounce. When I moved to Cornwall a few years ago everybody told me that we only had the occasional frost and never two on the trot! This match really showed the problems with winter fishing for carp.

I drew peg 48 and was only a couple of pegs from Sunday. The match had been pegged to allow everybody to fish the waggler if they wanted to so consequently there was nobody on the bank opposite and the half way rule had been scrapped for the day. I Decided on a waggler and straight lead approach and set up my normal Rocket Light waggler.

It was amazing after two years of saying how good the Cralusso Rocket light was it seemed that anglers were now seeing there worth, three anglers out of my section came to the waggler library asking to borrow a float so that they could give them a try! Damn, looks like I am about to lose all my advantage!

The match was one of those very hard affairs with carp in little pockets and it took me four hours to locate my pocket! Unbelievably I had to cast my 4g Rocket light around 45 yards to find some fish that wanted to be near the other bank. I couldn’t feed that distance but I’m not sure the fish wanted anything as I am sure the lake is about to freeze again!  I landed three lost one and missed a couple of bites. I was also next to the winner Tyrone Hull who managed a dozen carp for 26lb all caught on one of my Rocket Lights! I told him that the library charges 50% of any winnings! Funnily enough he seemed to think I was joking and now has an overdue amount to pay.

I did manage to retrieve all my floats and I have to say there were some great comments about them, hopefully there are now a few more converts but not too many as I do need all the advantage I can get.

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