Hard Times!

I have to admit after the build up and competing in three festivals at White Acres I was feeling a little fished out! I didn’t think you could ever get enough fishing but that little stint proved me wrong! I felt absolutely exhausted at the end of it. That said It has now been two weeks since the festivals and I am raring to go again! I just wish that there was a decent midweek match within sensible travelling distance.

Last Sunday I was invited to Snowlands fishery near St Austell, it is a new water that is still in the process of development into a holiday complex and fishery. Eventually it will cater for disabled and able bodied anglers alike, offering at least three lakes and a stream to fish, there will also be an equestrian centre. The lads are about 18 months into a five year plan and the site seems to be progressing quite well.

The lake we were fishing is the match lake and I was told that it was primarily silver fishing with the odd carp. I drew peg 12 and looked for a bit of guidance as it was my first visit to the fishery. I asked one of the members what the peg was like, and there was a long silence before I was told it was a good peg. The silence told me everything I didn’t want to hear! I wandered up to the peg and had a look. The water looked clear and I decided to fish it long looking for some skimmers and roach.

The water temperature was 12.5 degrees and it was tipping down and cold, It certainly was not the day to forget the brolly! Never mind I set up with silvers in mind and assembled a couple of 4 x 14 rigs. One to fish the chopped worm and the other the caster or maggot, ever hopeful I also set up some shallow rigs. I had some Mossella Select groundbait with me along with some casters, worms and a few maggots. At the all in I was just about to cup four balls in when I realised that this is not your average commercial and I was not sure of the stocking levels! I promptly changed that plan to two balls of groundbait on one line and a small amount of chopped worm on another!

To cut this story short I never had a bite for 40 minutes and was really regretting the decision not to bring a flask! Guy Bristow to my right on peg 11 started getting the odd fish on the 3 metre whip which eventually forced me to fish closer. I started to get some tiny roach and I had a better perch but it is not what I wanted to do. I changed around and fished a different line with pellets for a long period looking for some better fish but they never came. I finished up second in the section with 2lb 2oz beaten by Guy by an ounce!

All the winning weights came from the other end of the lake and Roger Naylor had 11lb 5oz for victory. Gordon Luck was second with 6lb 6oz and Tony Talbot third with 5lb odd.

Midweek I telephoned Janet at Mawgan Porth a couple of times hoping that enough anglers had booked in to constitute a match but was disappointed, mind you the weather down here was the pits so I don’t really blame anglers not wanting to venture out!

Thursday I decided a bit of practise at Oakside was called for as I have never fished the venue at this time of year and we have a winter league there on Saturday. I wandered around to peg 20 and setup two pole rigs to fish on the deck and shallow. I fed some Mossella Groundbait containing some chopped worms and casters. After about 15 minutes just when I was thinking ‘what am I doing here’ the float buried and I swung a small roach. Well, after that I started to enjoy myself and caught quite steady finishing with about 10lb it’s difficult to tell exactly as keep nets are banned at the moment but I enjoyed myself and experimented with feeding. It is interesting seeing the water temperature lowering on each outing, today it was down to 10 degrees I hope it stays the same for Saturday as the roach were feeding well.

Winter League

It may be only a small league but the anglers are keen and the format seems to encourage good competition with each team trying to bring on those new to the sport. It can only be good for Cornish angling in the long term.

Saturday morning dawned and I looked out of the window see a blanket of white! We had just had the first frost of the winter and it was a beauty, it is really unusual to have a frost in Cornwall at this time of the year so it was a big surprise. The first thing I did was make a flask I was not getting caught out like last week!

The draw for my team Cralusso saw Mick Heacock in A section on peg 15 myself on B section peg 22 and Nigel Taylor on the road bank on peg 33. We had a chat about methods and how we thought the match should be approached and we were off to our respective homes for the day.

Personally, I was a little disappointed with my draw as I thought I was too far round on the bottom bank, with the wind blowing into our bank it was going to be a cold day. The air temperature was showing 4.5 degrees and the wind chill made it feel much colder. The water temperature initially showed 8 degrees but slowly went up to 9 so overall had only gone down slightly which left me more optimistic.

Tackle wise I assembled similar to my practise session which consisted of a .75 and a .5 gram rig to fish on the deck with maggot or caster. I did put up a couple of shallow rigs and I also set up a feeder rod. At the start I fed four balls of Mossella Select Allround at 11 metres but cut back on the amount of chopped worm and caster that I initially planned to feed.

Starting on the feeder with a single maggot on the hook I cast to the open water and had 6 or so casts quickly trying to draw some fish to the area. After 15 minutes or so without an indication I had a look on the pole line and was disappointed not to get a bite. From what I could hear nobody was catching, my immediate neighbours Trev Conroy and Neil Kippax were in the same boat Trev on the feeder and Neil trying the pole.

I was back on the feeder and I had a think bite! It was quite hard keeping the tip still because of the wind but I was sure I had an indication which I missed, the maggot was nipped so it gave me a bit of hope. Out again and within a minute I had a very small roach followed by a couple of others. I couldn’t see Harry who was also in my section but Trev told me he was now catching steadily on the pole with the fish being so small on the tip I felt I had to concentrate on the pole.

Before long I had a better roach on the pole but it was hard putting bites together. Because of the banter I knew I was pulling ahead of Trev, Neil and Stuart Bratt but was behind the rest of the section. And that is how it remained I managed to sneak a few more roach by going longer to 14 metres but that was hard work so alternated between 11 and 14. I expected the last hour to be good but I am afraid to say that I don’t think I or my immediate neighbours had any fish in that time, my 3lb 10oz giving me 4 points.

Elsewhere Mick had done really well finishing second in his section getting a vital extra point by one ounce! And Nigel finished third in his section catching over 6lb of small roach at 10 metres he wasn’t that far off second, I was really pleased by his effort on a new water to him.

It was great to see Andy Dare back on the bank after his accident a month or so ago, he was on crutches and his foot still in a surgical boot but it was easy to see his joy at been back fishing! The old boy even sealed his comeback by winning the match with a feeder caught 21lb of skimmers! A great performance, well done Andy. By the way I am justified in calling him an old boy as he has just turned five oh! Happy belated birthday mate.

Harry won his section and finished second overall with 11lb 12oz closely followed by Martyn Newstead on 11lb 9oz.

Team wise we finished third again on weight! The match was won by Team Drekoi with 8 points followed by Dares Devils with 9 points weighing 31lb 9oz and Cralusso also with 9 points and 16lb odd. We have however moved to second place in the league behind Mossella Garbolino and narrowed the gap to 2 points but the pack is close behind and chasing hard.