Time is just passing me by at the moment; I have just not found enough of the precious commodity to
Nearly There!
The weather is slowly improving and the fish are finally showing some signs of waking from their winter slumber and spreading around our local waters. But we are still getting the odd hard frost which is spoiling our expectations. Good examples of our hopes being knocked were the two midweek opens I was fortunate enough to fish! I drew peg 38 on the Tuesday open at Gwinear which is the closest I have managed to get to flyer peg 36 so far since the venue was re opened. Tyrone Hull was the lucky incumbent for the day, I don’t know if he was feeling nervous about sitting on the peg but I’m damn sure I will be if I ever draw it!
No long stick
The pole has just not been working on phase two so I decided it was to be a running line day which I have to admit I am really enjoying, especially fishing the waggler. It has given me the opportunity to give my Cralusso Rocket lights an airing and it’s good to see that a few other anglers have seen how good they are and are also now using this fantastic float. I set up two waggler rods both with 2.5gram versions. One had a size 18 hook for fishing the maggot at depth and the other had a PR36 18’s with a F1 Micro band on a hair for the pellet. In addition I also had a straight lead rod which I could quickly adapt to a small feeder should I feel the need.
I had actually arrived a little late for this match as I had a couple of things to do beforehand so I was a bit pushed for time and not quite ready at the whistle. I decided to put an 8mm pellet on the hook and cast towards the middle of the lake whilst I finished putting the rest of my bait on the side table. Within seconds the rod was nearly dragged in and a quick grab of the handle was required to save it. A nice little mirror of around 2 ½lb was soon in the net. I re baited and cast to the same spot and within a second the tip was pulling around again and I was playing the first ones brother! It all happened so quick that I think Tyrone thought I was playing the same fish! Obviously I thought I was on for the ton but no more bites came with the next 15 minutes, I reached for the waggler which was set at depth so that I could cast around the swim looking for signs of fish and also trying to establish if they were up in the water.
Offside
I had four more carp in that first hour so it was a really good start and that is what made the next three hours so disappointing, I never had another fish! It was just like one of the football matches when a goal is scored in the opening seconds; it promises a lot and normally doesn’t produce the net full that we all anticipated! The last hour produced a few more on the straight lead and that is what Mr Hindsight told me I should have done a bit more off during those barren 3 hours, cast the lead and sit on my hands!
In the end Tyrone and I unbelievably weighed exactly the same 24lb 8oz beaten by that old ex Trentman Andy Dare who had one on the whistle to weigh 25lb exactly! Oh man when things are not going your way it is a difficult game!
Expectations run high
Thursday saw our expectations soaring down at the Barns, we had just had two or three really mild days and night-time temperatures around 5 Celsius, we all to a man thought that we were in for a great match. I went into the bag of dreams full of confidence but once again took a knock back when peg 6 was stuck to my mitts. I was excited for a moment as Kevin told me there were a load of carp on peg 9 and initially I was holding the peg number upside down! Never mind I had a big 40lb weight from 5 a few weeks back so I had an idea how to approach the peg.
Float wise I chose two 4×12 J5 for fishing at the bottom of the shelf and a 4 x 8 J1 for fishing up the slope which I set at 2’ this gave me a lot of scope fishing on the steep slope. At the start I fed two lines with some garlic micros at the bottom of the slope and started on maggot on the hook. It was a slow start and 15 minutes into the match I hooked my first fish which unbelievably came off at the net! Never mind, mustn’t grumble plenty more fish in the pond. Only trouble is despite our expectations the fish didn’t have the same feeling for the day and everybody was struggling. Slowly a few fish were starting to get caught. Harry Billing on peg 22 had found a few Tench; Michael on 9 was into a few carp. The ‘hot’ pegs were cool with not much happening and I managed one or two in the deep water but it was hard. The good thing about it was it was interesting and you had to work for your bites, changing lines and feeding small amounts not taking too many fish from one swim, (that bit was easy!). I managed a few from the top of the far bank slope and quickly realised that feeding there was wrong. It was far better to slap the pellet into the water and every now and then it was taken by a not so hungry carp.
So close but yet so far
Unfortunately it didn’t last all match and the last 90 minutes were tricky to say the least. At the other end of the lake on end peg 10 was Mark Lazell who managed to find some slightly bigger fish and with a nice run at the end won the match comfortably with 37lb followed by Harry Billing on 29lb I finished with 23lb for about 5<sup>th quite enjoyable but again frustrating, obviously the water hasn’t warmed up that much. I really wish I had not lost my thermometer it would have been really interesting this winter noting the temperature of the lakes.
Carp or bust
Saturday saw us assemble at White Acres for the individual league and our numbers were depleted as Kernow Match Group were involved in their Super cup match at Stafford Moor. I tentatively put my hand into the bag and was a bit unsure about my peg 14 on Trelawney. Two pegs from where I was drawn last week and the one Andy Dare never hooked a carp on, this week it was carp included so remembering last week didn’t fill me with confidence! Now, sometimes you have to go for it in a match and this was the one for me, it was win or lose no half measures today. I knew I could fish for the roach and ‘have a nice days fishing’ but sometimes that is not enough, I really felt that I needed to try and compete as I guessed that the section was going to be won with around 60lb so it was to be F1’s and carp only for me I did not want to get sidetracked.
A method feeder, straight lead and margin line with carp in mind were assembled. To compliment theses positive methods I had a long pole to fish corn over micros hoping for F1’s and the odd carp I was going to ping 4mm pellets hoping to draw some carp and I also had a shallow rig just in case!
Blinkers
Well I had one of those matches when I watched Andy Dare on peg 12 catch an F1 a chuck on the straight lead and maggot and the guy next to him catching F1’s on the pole! The others in my section were catching roach looking for 30lb plus to come third, I persevered for the elusive carp and F1’s that didn’t want to play ball in my swim finishing last with 15lb. Andy Dare romped the section with 61lb and 35lb coming second.
Tremendous Trelawney
What made it harder for me was that I could see the other section on the other side of the island and they were absolutely bagging! Paul Carpenter was catching very well on the waggler; he struggled to get some of the carp into the landing net they were so big! He was practically opposite me as well, it’s a real shame there are no tunnels in that island. That old cliché was very apt, only there was a wall between us! A few pegs up and Harry Billing was wearing his pole out catching an F1 every single put in, eventually finishing second to Paul in that section 102lb a great performance. Paul managed 116lb a slow last hour costing him overall victory in the match to Mark Lazell who had 120lb from peg 16 on Twin Oaks. All I can say is you lucky people and Paul Carpenter must try harder!
Personally I was disappointed finishing last in section but I set my stall out for a win knowing that I would be going nowhere if I tried fishing everything in my swim. But what a cracking match it was with some fantastic weights, I was really looking forward to the next round on Sunday which was a silvers only round and in our league F1’s count. Oh man please put me on one of those pegs on the straight banks of Trelawney!
It doesn’t get much better
To be perfectly honest I was afraid of putting my hand in the bag of dreams on Sunday morning! Instead I volunteered to help out with the recording of names on the section list, perfectly content to let someone else seal my fate by drawing my peg for me. When it was revealed that I had peg 26 on the match lake I felt like doing a cartwheel around the shop! A fantastic peg in an area that I haven’t been able to draw for myself for ages, there just had to be a catch! I had recorded the names of the anglers fishing Trelawney and never thought to look at the other boards. I walked outside full of the joys of spring and bumped into fellow SPRO backed angler Andy Partridge, he is currently second in the league and I wondered why he was doing a Victor Meldrew impression, he was shaking his head and muttering ‘I don’t believe it’ What’s wrong mate I asked ‘Our section, have you seen it, Clint Elliot, Harry Billing you and John Rennie’ Oh man this is going to be a tough one, we both walked away muttering together!
Reprieve from the breeze
We were really fortunate with the weather as the 45mph winds had not appeared and it had the making of a good day. I had a bit of wind which was over my shoulder, fish were topping everywhere and I really couldn’t wait to get at them. I did fancy fishing up in the water as there were so may fish moving around. In view of this I decided on a long pole attack and also at the bottom of the shelf at 5m plus a look for those very important perch that reside down the edge in the margins. My rigs were Cralusso Capri’s and I had a .75 gram to tackle the deep water and a .5 gram for the 5m line. For the edge I settled on a 4 x 12 J12 and a .30 gram J13’s for up in the water. All my hooks were Milo T213 in 18’s and 16’s to.10 Xedion line. Bait wise I had 3 pints of casters, some worms, maggots and two kilos of ground bait which was my normal mix of Green Swimstim and Yorkshire Baits Green Betaine.
At the start I fed three big balls of GB on my 13m line and two on the 5m line a good handful of casters went down the edge. I started on the long line with maggot on the hook and was a little disappointed not to get an immediate response. John Rennie to my right started catching F1’s in the 8oz bracket at 7m and alarm bells started especially as he was catching steady from the off. Harry to his right was also catching in fact he was quickly into ‘Harry mode’ netting fish from the off. To my left Andy Partridge and Clint were starting the match at the same speed as me, slowly! Both of them fishing much closer lines than I had chosen. Eventually the fish found my bait and I started getting some roach and the odd F1. We were all catching quite well it looked like the main shoal of F1’s were to my right as I was getting the odd one and to my left none were showing.
Here we go
Slowly the swim came alive and I have to say that this really was the best match I have fished in a long time, everybody was getting fish and no doubt it was going to be close. Well, close if you take Harry out of the equation he was trying his level best to empty the lake! I only caught from two of my lines and they were the long pole on the deck where I had a load of skimmers in the 6oz bracket along with a couple of Bream some roach and F!’s. The edge line was the other productive swim where I found some VIP’s of around 2 1/2 – 3 lb they are fantastic fish those big old Perch, brilliant to catch. I really must weigh one separately if I am fortunate enough to catch another one, it makes me wonder just what size they reach in the match lake, well over 4lb I bet.
Please don’t blow the whistle!
It was one of those matches that you just didn’t want to end the fishing was so enjoyable but unfortunately Clint called the all in and we had to stop. The scales came to Harry and he emptied around 70lb of mainly F1’s onto the scales to take the lead in the section. John to my right had somewhere in the region of 30lb and I recorded 49lb 10oz to take second place. And fortunately for me that’s how it stayed with Andy P and Clint weighing around 46lb each. What an incredible match the other sections on Trelawney fished really well with Clive Hancock taking the match win with around 75lb of F1’s. Role on next Sunday for the last in this series I would love to be around that high bank again.
