By Stewart Lister | No Comments
Last updated: Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Mosella Garbolino Winter festival at White Acres is the one that I enjoy the most out of all the festivals that I fish. It is much smaller with around 60 anglers taking part but I find it a friendly and enjoyable competition. It is silver fish only but this year saw the return of F1’s allowed primarily as the WA complex has such a head of them, it was also float only for the first time. Normally there are some huge weights of silvers taken in this event and everyone was looking forward to getting amongst them. The weather forecast was definitely trying to put the dampeners on our enthusiasm with rain and high winds expected every day, good job the accommodation is in the lodges which have good central heating and drying machines!

Who drew that section?

As normal there was one section that looked to contain more than its fair share of well known anglers and it was a topic in most conversations. I bumped into Mike O’Gorman in the car park and mentioned it to him asking how on earth it could happen and who could be responsible for drawing that lot together. His reply made me smile as he told me it was all down to him! He was the independent person who was asked to do the draw. He, to be fair put himself in with all of the stars!

First Day

I was on Twin Oaks for the first day and in all probabilities it had not been fished seriously for silvers since the same match last year. Consequently no one knew what would be a good draw. So when I plucked peg 28 out of the bag I wasn’t at all concerned as I hoped they would all be as good as each other. I had Callum Dicks for company so was in for a tough match. The wind was pretty bad but practically in our faces slightly to our right. I was only going to concentrate on three lines they were the margins left and right, a 6m line and 13m which I going to fish in two places should I need to.  My floats comprised of Spro midwater floats between .4gram and .6 gram for the longer lines. As you can imagine I had loads of casters, worms, maggots, pinkies and groundbait, probably enough for the whole section! Good job there were no bait limits I knew I wouldn’t need all that lot but it’s nice to have the variety.

At the start I fed two balls of groundbait on my long lines and fed casters loose. I started on maggot on the 6m line expecting an immediate response but didn’t get it! In fact it looked quite everywhere. I only gave it five minutes and went on the long pole with double red maggot. I was pleased when the float went under and a few feet of 4 elastic shot out! It was an F1 of about 10oz and was a nice fish to get to start the festival with. I then had a roach, a perch and a skimmer as the next three fish but that was in a 30 minute spell. It was very slow and I was a little concerned at not getting fish of the same species, what was more I was having to change bait to keep the bites coming. I think I caught them all on different baits including worm head, single maggot and double pinkie.

End pegs rule

Nobody was putting fish together with the exception of the end pegs they seemed to be getting more than most. We were all struggling, Callum had a spell of putting a few together but it didn’t last long and he was then struggling again. I had the idea of feeding small hard balls of groundbait via the kinder pot and fishing single caster on the hook. This worked for me and found some nice size skimmers but again not loads of them.

Hand lining?

I also hooked a large perch which as I was about to net it, the big old Billy had other ideas and charged under the undercut bank slightly to my right and snagged me solid! No matter what I did it was stuck fast. After a couple of minutes I got off my box rolled my sleeve up and felt under the bank I actually had my hand around it when it shot out from the roots at speed snapping my hook length. Not sure if tickling is allowed but I lost the fish anyway!

I finished this match with 7lb 12oz which was third in section beaten by both end pegs, that perch would have put me second. Incidentally I think second place was the best off this peg all week and that was by Harry Billing. I told him how I caught and he later told me it worked for him helping him to second place. It was really strange, Twin Oaks High numbers was difficult all week whilst the low numbers on the other lake fished brilliantly, I guess that’s fishing for you.

Tuesday Match Lake peg 17.

I was happy enough with this draw, as got to the peg I noticed that it had the most wind on it which to be fair was light as we were getting ready, by the start I could hardly hold seven sections of pole!  It was a cold morning and we had just had the coldest night of the season with a bad frost that had all but gone by 6.30am when the rain arrived, I’m not sure if many saw the white ground as they got up on Tuesday morning. I did and I had an idea that the inside line might not be as prolific as it had been in recent matches.

Starting well

I decided to concentrate at around 8m where at the start I fed with four balls of groundbait and some chopped worm and caster. I set up edge rigs and loose fed them from the start but had no intention of fishing them straight away. I started off catching roach quickly whilst everyone else struggled on their close lines. For the first two hours I felt that I was winning the section but it all went wrong! That will teach me for feeling smug with myself as I sat and watch everyone start catching up and overtaking me!

Special Branch

I really started to struggle holding the pole at seven sections and for some reason I didn’t re feed closer, I kept thinking the wind would drop but it didn’t! I did start catching recently cut pine branches though! They gave a great bite and when I struck felt just like a good skimmer for a few seconds, I must have had six of them! I really had a grueller for the last 2 ½ hours with the exception of the last 20 minutes when I just could not get in quick enough on my edge swim when it was a roach every put in.

I was very disappointed with last in section albeit beaten by one ounce to my left but Clint Elliot beat me by 5lb to my right catching some good skimmers late on from a line that he re fed at 6m! I did bash myself up on the way back to the car park. Callum Dick won the section with around 30lb. It was amazing really as he was about four pegs away from me but sheltered by the island from the strong wind and was able to fish between 11m – 14.5m catching most of his fish shallow.

On Wednesday peg 9 Jennies stuck to my hand, I really wanted an earlier peg or one at the end of the next section. In my experience this peg is a good feeder peg but that was not allowed so I went for two lines at 5m and 13m. The wind was in my face but it was no problem at the moment. I guess I was frightened of fishing longer in case it blew a hooley again. The word was that neat chopped worm was the best bait to feed log and that is what I did. I did feed a ball of GB and casters on the close line and really wanted to feed some long but I didn’t.

Where are all the roach?

At the all in I think I was first to put some bait on and I was out quickly on the 5m line this was as the other anglers were still feeding. I was pleased when the float buried and a 2oz roach opened my account for the day. I just couldn’t believe it when I could not get another bite! Never mind I was out with a piece of worm on the long line and started catching some roach they were a good stamp but were not having it, I was having to wait for bites which I found surprising. In the first hour I probably had about 10 – 15 fish which is not what I expected on this normally prolific lake. Every time I tried the closer line I could guarantee a roach but it was always a roach! On a couple of occasions I managed 4 or 5 before they disappeared I tried fishing all around my feed and shallow but could not increase my catch rate.

On the next peg I had my mate Wayne ‘Wrong Lake’ who today was fishing the right lake but really wished he was fishing a different lake! He like me was having a struggle it was a shame as it is probably the first time he has fished for silvers on Jennies and the day he picked was not the best.

After 3 ½ hours I had 1 tench and about 4lb of roach to show for my efforts, in the last hour I fished a little longer and managed six or so F1’s and another tench to finish 3rd in section. The earlier part of the section was best which once again was won by Callum.

Cold winds and more rain

Thursday dawned to another switch of wind and it was now blowing NW and had a cold feel to it, the weather had been horrendous overnight and at one stage I thought the lodge was blowing away. My draw put me on peg 6 on Trelawney which I was told was a struggle for three days until Paul Newell won the section from it the day previously with 27lb. I spoke to him and he said it was solid and easy to fish with very little wind he warned me that it would be different today I knew what he meant as it was blowing very hard.

The peg is one of the shallower pegs and also one of the narrowest on the lake, it was blowing left to right and I felt I had the most of the wind. Looking down the lake I could see Steve Hemmingray on peg 12 with flat calm water and to his left Ricky Teale also in the doldrums,  once again I had Clint next to me and this time we had a Mars bar challenge.

I fished around 8 metres where I fed a couple of balls of GB with a few chopped worms and casters. I started catching roach but not as fast as Clint. I unfortunately was having some slow spells and I could see that Mars bar going to the fishery manager. I must say we were competing for that Mars as if was the Parkdean Masters which is worth 25K! I did think towards the end I was catching up, getting some quality roach at last by fishing shallow with a long line. It was an enjoyable match but hard work and presentation was very difficult with that strong wind and at times driving rain.

I pulled out my net for the scales and was a little disappointed with the 15lb 9oz that they went. I felt sure I had more but they were much smaller than I realised. Clint weighed something in the region of 20lb so took all the sweeties whilst I finished 4th. Further down the lake Steve won the section with around 23lb. Again I left my peg a little disappointed with where I finished but the fishing really was fantastic in the weather conditions.

How quick did that week go?

I needed a good day on the last one as I had not won a penny so far! It was Python for our section and the wides were fishing and the narrows were not. I went to bed that night trying a little reverse psychology! I was telling myself that peg 15 was rubbish (It had won three sections and been second once) I kept telling myself I wanted the narrows. I really couldn’t believe my eyes when peg 15 stuck to my hand at the bag of dreams!

Positive mode

Now, you do not draw these pegs everyday and it was time to take the bull by the horns and fish for a win. Consequently I set up three rigs for the long pole and they were all duplicate corn rigs! The floats were .6 gram Spro midwater floats shotted with a double bulk. I had .10 Xedion hook length to a 16’s Milo T213 hook. I did set up an edge rig as I know there are some big VIP’s that live around the platform. I also set up a waggler that I was going to fish over by the rushes if I needed to chase fish into the cover.

My chosen line was 16m and as there was no wind on the lake it made it a pleasure to fish! I plumbed up several areas and all were the same depth, I planned to fish one line and only move if I felt I needed to, I would feed any new lines just prior to fishing. Bait was corn and I planned to introduce this by cad pot only I had two tins with me and expected to have none left at the end of the match.

Slow start

At the all in I went out immediately and sprinkled around 20 grains of corn around the float and waited. It was slow for everyone and I don’t think I saw anyone catch for 10 minutes or so. By this time I had re fed a couple of times without any indication. I saw John Waples down on peg 12 catch on the waggler but as he netted it my float dipped and it was great to see two foot of pink J range lastix shoot out of the pole with a good sized F1.

My swim just got stronger for around three hours and I had several others including a couple of large fantails and a Crucian. The last couple of hours were a little slower but fish kept coming and I finished up with around 40 fish which totalled 50lb exactly which was good enough to win the lake and was also the biggest weight on the day. I did have a couple of casts on the waggler but managed to tangle it so was back on the pole within minutes!  It was a great days fishing to round off an enjoyable week, it is nice when a plan comes together but it could quite easily have backfired.

In my opinion the festival was a great success and very enjoyable however the weather was the pits! My arms are still aching after struggling with the pole in the wind I just hope White Acres turn off the wind machine next year! The Friday night was very sociable and the complimentary buffet was great we all tucked into a hog roast with all the trimmings, very tasty. Well done to all the staff at White Acres, you did a great job!

Congratulations

Congratulations must go to Shakespeare’s Rob Middleton on winning the festival with four section wins from Mickey Williams and Steve Hemmingray. Well done also to long time sponsors Vic Bush from Mosella and Darren Cox from Garbolino who provided top tackle prizes for the top 10 anglers it is great to see you supporting this event year after year.

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