Mirror images!

On Tuesday I should have fished at Mawgan Porth, but with Kernow Match Group having an Angling Times Supercup match there in a few weeks time, I didn’t think it right to give their opposition any clues on how the lake is fishing, after all I am President of KMG! So I thought it would be interesting to write about a ‘fictional’ match that I attended on Tuesday at a lovely little place situated in the North Cornish countryside close to Newquay Airport. The venue is a cracker, full of small carp and goes under the name of Nagwam Htrop!

It was another freezing cold day and at least 6 anglers failed to appear which was shame. A club match was won with 17lb on Sunday so I suppose it was understandable that anglers didn’t want to venture out, word was that the water was crystal clear and the normally voracious inhabitants were not playing ball. As the water was so clear I thought of a cunning plan that I was positive was going to work! Monday night saw me searching for my bread punches and liquidising bread, something I haven’t done in awhile.

Cold and clear

I drew peg 35 which put me opposite the island and as there were no anglers pegged opposite it gave me the opportunity to fish the long pole. I decided on two lines one at 6 and the other at 13 metres. I plumbed carefully looking for the same depth on my two chosen lines to save having too many rigs lying about. The water was very clear and I found it a bit disconcerting when you can see your plummet on the bottom! Not quite true, but it was very clear and I have to admit I was not feeling very confident especially as the water temperature was 4 degrees.

My three rigs were all identical .3 gram Cralusso Capri’s with a .10 Xedion hook length and a size 18 Middy T7313 hook. I planned to fish the bread punch on the long line and maggot shorter. Everything was going to be fed today by pot so the more food they wanted the more they had to bite! I had a pint each of maggots and casters plus a loaf of liccy and a few slices of Mosella Magic Bread for the hook.

Happy Birthday

I had birthday boy Roger Cannock to my left on 36, that’s the peg and not his age! Match organiser John Forster was to my right, I think we were all of the same opinion that it would take awhile for the fish to start feeding. At the all in I cupped some liquidised bread at 13m and a sprinkling of maggots at 6m I immediately went onto my longer line with a bit of punch on the hook. This coincided with somebody turning the wind machine on; you would think in a fictional match the wind would be perfect, no not in Cornwall it was getting stronger by the minute and it was getting very hard to control the pole. I eventually had to give up the long line so I will never know if my cunning plan would have worked, I didn’t want to feed bread closer in case it had an adverse effect on my swim.

Pot Black

It was about this time that I noticed the little Welsh snooker ace Alan Hurley catching on peg 38 which is one of the shallowest on the lake! He had several already and was saying that he was getting liners as he dropped his rig in. Roger also had a carp from a close line, I put a maggot on dropped in over my 6m line and immediately had a bite which unfortunately for me was a liner and resulted in a foul hooked fish, the hooked pulled and it resulted in my rig wrapping itself around the top kit in terminal fashion! Fortunately I always have several identical rigs made up on this venue and was back out in seconds.

I had 6 carp before the end of the first hour about the same as Roger and we were both well behind Alan, he looked like he wanted the 147 break, every time I glanced towards him he was potting a fish! The next hour for me was very slow I fell further behind the two shallower pegs to my left. Elsewhere on the lake it was slow and there had even been a few casualties that decided home was a better prospect. Going into the third hour the sun was starting to cause loads of problems I just couldn’t see my float properly which was a shame as the fish had turned up. I had a spell of just dropping the rig in and lifting and on a couple of occasions actually hooked carp! It was no good though, I had to change lines I fed a line further to my left and also a closer line where I could see properly but I never had a bite on the two new ones. Eventually the sun moved further to my right and I was able to get back on the original 6m line, I was pleased that I had continually fed it whilst fishing elsewhere as it was now solid!

Moment of truth

The rest of the match raced by and I was really enjoying catching plenty of fish. I lost a few as I tried to up the ante and catch Roger and Alan, towards the end of the match Roger seemed to lose his fish and was concerned that I had got my head in front . Eventually the whistle went and it was time for the moment of truth!

Alan was first to put his fish on the scales and recorded 83lb which was a great effort on a difficult day and he deservedly won the match. Roger had 51lb which gave me a bit of hope, my first weigh went 28lb and the second net had 41lb giving me a total of 69lb which was good enough for second place. Incidentally I only started using the second net with 1 ½ hours to go, so you can see what a blinding end to the match I had.

Alan had two dips in the draw bag for the golden peg which was worth well over £300 if he could only find his peg number! For a man who can draw as well as he can we all thought it a certainty! But once again the money is still there accumulating for one lucky angler next year!

Trev Conroy was fourth with 38lb and John Forster was fifth with 33lb both anglers catching well in the latter part of the match. It’s a brilliant venue that Nagwam and one that I am going to frequent a lot in 2009.