By Stewart Lister | No Comments
Last updated: Saturday, May 15, 2010

Who said the weather was slowly improving! Since I wrote that we have had a frost every day and some have been wicked! It would be great to have some nice settled weather before the spring festivals get under way. I am having a change this year I am setting off in the morning for a four day silver fish festival at Stafford Moor followed by a week at White Acres in the Bait Tech festival. For the first time in a number of years I am missing the Dynamite Baits and the Milo Festivals, no doubt I will be throwing things around when they get under way and I am not there! . However, I am really looking forward to the next two weeks, Stafford will be relatively new to me as I have not fished it at this time of year so in effect I am a SM festival virgin!

Last weeks fishing was interesting but the weather really took its toll, that said I managed to put a few fish in the old onion sack but unfortunately not enough! Tuesday at Gwinear and the attendance was low, possibly as a result of an unbelievably heavy frost, when I looked out of the window I thought we had another dump of snow it was that bad. It was also the full moon and Monday night it looked huge so no doubt the gravitational pull was going to have an effect on those carp! My draw put me on peg 40 and one that I know quite well, even with only a few anglers on the lake I cannot manage to pull peg 36! Never mind mustn’t grumble, I will leave it until there is a full house!

I set up a pole rig to fish the bar at 13m slightly to my right and didn’t bother with pole lines anywhere else. I set up two Cralusso Rocket light wagglers as I fancied that a few fish would be feeding shallow. At the start I went straight on the pole with 6mm pellet on the hook but not much happened. Andy Dare on the opposite bank had couple of quick fish on the waggler and then nothing. Eventually I had a couple of fish one after another o the pole followed by a quite spell. That made me reach for the waggler and before long I was catching a few at 3’ deep in around 6’ of water. The problem was keeping them coming there were long spells with nothing followed by a quick burst. Three times I went back on the pole and managed two fish immediately followed by a blank spell.

Close but no cigar

It was nip and tuck with Andy who was on the opposite bank and at the whistle I couldn’t call it, in the end he took the verdict with 47lb to my 45lb one ore fish was needed. To be honest I should have won this knock up but in the last hour I suffered a tangle around the bottom of my waggler and was too lazy to re tackle. Consequently I couldn’t adjust the depth, I knew the fish were shallower as I was getting line bites but like a fool I just carried on! Oh man I must try harder!

Thursday and I again had a few things to do so I text Kevin at the Barns informing him I would be late and requesting a good peg be drawn for me! There was a good turn out so I was hoping for one of the flyers it’s about time I had one!  I arrived in the car park and met Andy Dare who had drawn my peg. Do you want the good news or bad news he asks. Go on give me the bad news, its peg six for you again! Come to think of it I don’t think he gave me any good news! I trundled to my normal peg ready to get out my peg 6 rigs and looked up the lake. I just could not believe my eyes when I saw that Manchester Mick Heacock on peg 11 once again. I just had to give him a little and I actually think he looked embarrassed, just for a moment!

Wrong side

It was quite an enjoyable match but it was soon apparent that we were on the wrong side of the lake as most opposite were catching well whilst we struggled. We had a tricky little wind on our side and it was cold no doubt the fish had scarpered! Leading the charge was none other than Harry who had also drawn the golden peg and by the half way mark it was obvious that it was going to be won again for the third time in three weeks. Shame it had not had chance to build up a bit!

I finished with around 15lb which I think was 8 fish my only consolation was that I was winning until it got to Chaz Ward on peg 10 who had 18lb, then as the scales continued round to the warm side  I think everybody had a better weight! My ambition is to draw better at this venue or at least draw on the other side of the lake. Kevin the owner is talking about naming peg 6 after me. Personally I would prefer to be to draw another peg consistently and have that one christened! I have to admit though I enjoy the Barns, it is a nice place to fish with good company even if those from Manchester take all the best pegs!

Shame it’s the last one

Sunday was the last day of the Individual league at White Acres and around 30 had turned up. It is probably the last time locals can get on the lakes until late autumn as the park opens up for business for the new season next week. Hopefully there will be the odd match that we can attend plus the festivals. Following on from last week I hid behind the counter in the shop keeping well away from that bag of dreams which has been more like a bag of night mares recently! I was recording the sections on Twin Oaks and Sycamore and really was hoping for a nice peg on Twin Oaks. Slowly all the pegs were taken on my boards so I was bound for the match lake, the last one in the bag was peg 30 which I was not unhappy with.

Section win required

I had Andy Partridge in my section and he was going to be a danger on end peg 12 the section is split with anglers on each end of the high bank. I could just about see him from where I sat but would not be able to see how he was doing. Both of us needed the section win, Andy to have a chance at coming second in the league and I needed a push to get a little higher up the league. All we can do is fish the peg we have been dealt and not worry about what anybody else is doing.

I thought about a carp only approach but quickly changed my mind I had nigh on 50lb of silvers last week so if I could get something like that again with a few carp thrown in I was sure that would be enough for the much needed section win. The weather was also a deciding factor as the wind was strong and cold coming from the NE, it was sideways on to me and I felt it would put the carp off.

Nice when a plan works

My rigs were the same as last week but everything was shortened because of the wind, I felt that I would be only able to hold seven sections of pole comfortably so that was to be my main line. There was no point in my mind battling with 13m of carbon! I also plumbed at 4 sections and down the edge. A straight lead and a method feeder completed my armoury. At the start I went out immediately on the straight lead close to the island before I had fed my pole lines. I had a plan and wanted to be the first to drop bait out by the island. It worked as within a couple of seconds the rod pulled around and I was playing what turned out to be a 6lb 10oz mirror! The reason I know its weight is because it was the only one I had! Despite a few more attempts on the lead and method I never ha another. I was getting the odd line bite so I knew that there were some more around, no doubt if I had stuck to it I would have found a few more.

Towing

I struggled to start with on the 8m line with only the odd perch but it was really towing and I wished I fished an gram float.  Moving onto the closer line and I started to catch perch and roach and quite quickly they were small samples but they were coming. Slowly some bigger fish came along. After feeding the longer line again I found a few big skimmers which were a nice boost. But it was the closer line that was more prolific. Funnily enough I could not get a bite down my edge! Perhaps it was down to the wind or down to the ducks they all seemed to congregate around me!

I had an absolutely blinding last 15 minutes on the short pole when the fish just turned up catching a hybrid of around 2 1/2lb a big skimmer and a huge perch plus a few stamp roach, I just wish the match had gone on for another hour! At the end I guestmated I had around 40lb and hoped it would be enough.

Victor re visited

Andy Partridge was on the scales and he started with himself recording a brilliant 63lb which consisted of around 45lb of perch! He only had 1 carp of around 4lb so he had a fantastic days fishing. I decided to have a little fun with him and soon had him impersonating Victor again! I told him I had a good net of silvers along with half a dozen carp. When my silver net went over 40lb he was a very worried looking man! A mock struggled ensued as I struggled to lift my one carp out of the water but the look on his face was worth it! Well done Andy that was a really good bag of fish. Once again the great net of fish I had caught the pain away from not picking anything up, the lake is fishing really well at the moment, it’s a shame the league is now over.

Harry Billing won the league by a country mile he even won the last match individually with 78lb from Twin Oaks taken on the method feeder. Andy Partridge was second followed by Clint and Andy Dare well done guys you all fished well throughout the winter. Fortunately for myself Clint pays to 10<sup>th position and the last two matches had moved me up to 8<sup>th place which was worth 60 drinking vouchers! In the B league my mate Steve Maynard was the champion Taking home £150 plus his section win on the day. He was followed by Andy Gray and Nigel Sanders well done guys glad you got promotion to our league!

Many thanks to Clint for running the matches over the winter period, there has been some fantastic fishing considering that this has been the coldest winter in living memory in Cornwall. I actually find myself wishing my life away looking forward to next winter!

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