I was busy on Wednesday and couldn’t make the White Acres mid week match, by Sunday I was chomping at
The Maver Dream
The White Acres ‘Maver Match This round’ had been in my thoughts for quite some time; I was really looking forward to the day. I was up early as I had a few hooks to tie; the last thing I wanted was to have to tie some on the bank, it didn’t take long as I only needed to top up on a few thod hooks. I had arranged to meet Wrong Lake Wayne and Pete ‘Stato’ Thomas for breakfast at the MacDonald’s in Newquay; naturally talk came round to what pegs we fancied, Stato wasn’t alone in fancying peg 16 on Twin Oaks, but I was concerned that both of these drawbags were predicting that they were having it, what chance did it leave the others? I made a mental note to get in front of them in the queue for the bag of dreams.
There were around 40 anglers in the hunt for a place in the final, and I must admit to been a bit surprised that there were not more taking part; the biggest monetary prize in UK match fishing was up for grabs and only 40 had entered this round, bizarre! Still what was lacking in numbers certainly wasn’t lacking in talent with the likes of Will Raison, Darren Cox, Harry Billing and a few other big names having a go. Before long it was time for the draw but try as much as I could I just could not get in front of Pete and Wayne. I had my dip in the bag and quickly took a look at the peg in my hand, I just could not believe that peg 5 on Twin Oaks was where I was going, to say I didn’t rate my chances would be an understatement! I had my obligatory moan about the peg and I have to admit that green eye got to me when Pete showed me Twin Oaks peg 16 in his hand, closely followed by Wrong Lake on peg 12, Oh man, mustn’t grumble!
A change of wind
Driving to the lake I recalled a pairs match I fished last year when I drew peg 3. I remembered the angler on peg 5 catching a few carp on the method that day, and I must admit that got me thinking I could catch and have a good days fishing. As I walked down to the lake the first thing I noticed was that the wind had changed completely from last week, it was now blowing from right to left down into our end of the lake, that could only help. The match suddenly took on the appearance of last week’s festival as Colin Mulholland sat on the next peg to me, followed by Paul Carnwell on peg 1. Colin and I had a bit of banter with each other and ended up having a pint on the result, this brought a whole new meaning to the match, it was now serious!
In my mind this match was all about the end result and my tackle and tactics reflected that. I set up two feeder rods to fish the method and pellet feeder, one pellet waggler rod in case the fish came shallow. I had one pole rig to fish at 5m on the deck where I was going to feed corn. Two 4 x 8 J2 floats to fish the margins completed my armoury. I had my limit bait wise which comprised of micro pellets, 1 unit of 8 mm pellets to feed over the far side, a small selection of different sized hook baits some corn, groundbait and a kilo of worms I just hoped the fish wanted to play.
On the whistle I fed my 5m pole line with a full 250ml pot of corn which I spread around in a dustbin lid size area. I loaded the method feeder and cast tight to the far bank, as I put the rod onto my keepnet which I use as a rest it pulled round, instinctively picking it up the fish shot off to my right at a fast rate of knots, it was obviously foul hooked, within a few minutes my size 14 PR 38 lost its hold, not what I wanted. As I wound in I noticed Paul on peg 1 playing a carp on the pole from his margin swim, he had been in great form all last week in the festival so was no doubt going to be dangerous especially if the fish were in the edge, he had loads of edge to have a go at! I loaded the feeder again and cast to the bank, again as I put it down the tip went round, this time it was hooked properly in the mouth, a 4lb fish was soon in the net. I had a brilliant start taking around six fish on the trot some of them within seconds of the feeder hitting the water! Paul was also catching but strangely Colin couldn’t get a bite, despite accurate casting tight over.
Great start, will it last?
The first 90 minutes were really good and I had around 50lb in the net I was using my clicker to record the weight as I didn’t want to exceed the net limit of 60lb. I remember thinking this was great apart from the first one I had not lost a single fish. That’s when ‘Murphy’s Law’ kicked in and I lost the next three carp, two at the landing net which is really frustrating. I really must stop having those thoughts as it always seems to have an adverse effect! It’s the same when a cricket commentator mentions that England’s batsman are doing really well, you can bet your last pound that we will lose a wicket the next over. Anyway those lost fish seemed to have an effect and bites slowed down. I had a look on my pole line but could only manage a couple of F1’s which is not what I wanted. The pellet waggler resulted in a lost fish but it was difficult to control the line in the wind, I knew it was the feeder or nothing.
A change to the Pellet feeder brought some more fish. I am not sure why the change of feeder works but I have tried it a few times lately and have found it works for me so I’m not knocking it. I used a small 20g Preston version, with an added J Range 5g sticky feeder weight attached to the lead, that small extra weight makes a huge difference. I managed to keep the fish coming but it was a lot slower than the first part of the match. Not that I was complaining, I could see others catching especially Paul but I was just about keeping my head in front.
I had fed a lot of groundbait down my left margin around 5m from me, just before the bank curved inwards towards the next peg. The area was always in my peripheral vision as I watched my rod tip. With around 90 minutes to go I guestimated I had around 90lb plus in my nets and with 120lb expected to win the match I started to feel that I had a real chance, if only I could keep them coming. I noticed a vortex over my ground bait and by the size of the water pattern it was a big carp; I just had to have a go on the pole. Two Dendrabena worms were impaled on a T252 size 12, I shipped the pole to my left over the bank as I didn’t want to spook those cagey carp that have seen most things that anglers can throw at them, the rig was in the water but my pole was still over the bank. After a few minutes the float dipped and what seemed like yards of J Range black lastix came out of the pole, I really felt like I had foul hooked the fish as it shot off to my left, the lastix did its work and I soon had the fish under control in front of me. It was a nice sized Mirror of around 8lb, hooked perfectly in the mouth. There were still fish in the margin and I had another go but this time after a bit of a wait I did foul hook one, which I lost. Feeding some more groundbait, I went back down the edge, despite fish there I just could not hook one.
I actually had to force myself to come away from the edge as it was taking too long to catch anything. I picked up the method rod again and cast over to the far bank, before long I was playing another 4lb fish. I had a really good last hour catching over 40lb of carp in the 3 to 4lb bracket, Mark ‘8mm’ Lazell was watching for the last 20 minutes and he told me later that I had 5 carp in 15 minutes, some were F1’s but it was solid!
The scales came and I took the lead with 144lb which I was really pleased to hang onto, Darren Cox taking the runner up spot with 113lb from Trelawney. It is a fantastic feeling winning this match knowing that I am going to compete in a national final where the winner will pick up £50,000, now that’s not bad for a 24 peg knock-up! It’s not going to be easy winning that match, and I am under no illusions taking on those that have already qualified, and those that have yet to qualify, but one thing is for sure, you have to be in it to win it and at this moment in time I am definitely in it!
Just before I leave this match I would just like to thank all those people who have taken time out to send me texts, messages on face book and good old fashioned telephone calls, they were all great, thanks very much.
Back at Mawgan Porth
I actually managed to get to a mid week match at Mawgan Porth, well a small knock up really as a few didn’t turn up, never mind it was nice to be there fishing. Just before the draw the talk was of peg 36 winning, as the peg has been on fire recently. Tourettes Taylor was first in the bag of dreams and I guess the rest of the Tourettes clan heard him at home in Redruth when he drew the peg, what a noise anyone would have thought 6 numbers had just come up on the lottery! I had no complaints with my peg 38 as it has won more than its fair share of matches but to be honest they were all good pegs!
I actually fancied fishing up in the water as there was a nice ripple with the odd fish topping; I set up two .3 gram J13 floats with size 16 pr36 hooks and a micro band. I was going to start on the deck and my float choice was my old MP favourite of a 4 x 10 J3 with the same hook tied to a .18 Cralusso line. There was a bag of garlic micro pellets and two bags of 4mm garlic pellets for feed plus a few 6mm for the hook on my bait table, along with some soft 6mm Yorkshire baits garlic pellets. As I plumbed the depth at 3m I actually felt a carp brush my line! I took off the plummet and checked the shotting of the float and couldn’t believe it when I had a bite, I instinctively lifted into the bite and was soon playing a carp of around 2lb that took a Mosella micro band, good job Wrong Lake was standing behind me and saw I had no bait on the band!
Flying start
At the start I fed some micros via my toss pot and started with a 6mm pellet on the hook, within 30 seconds I had one in the net, another followed but both didn’t weigh as much as the one I caught before the match! Plenty of carp followed and before long they were intercepting the bait on the drop. I tried feeding a section further out and looked to catch shallow but they would not settle. I had to feed near to the weed to catch steady. Everybody was catching well and it was clear there was going to be some big weights. Towards the end of the match I threw some bait down the edge and within moments the edge coloured up. I had a little go down there and caught steady until the end of the match finishing with 164 carp. Chatting to Tourettes before the scales arrived and I found his clicker had recorded 154 carp. In the end his fish weighed 257lb to my 227lb fantastic fishing. Well done Nigel, you have put some time in at Mawgan Porth and are now reaping the benefits of Pixie style fishing!
Another angler worth a mention is Glen Melsome who actually lives for his fishing and spends many a day practising at MP, he has an ambition to catch a ton from every peg, and he is well on his way! Glen is disabled and confined to a wheelchair; he pursues the sport with total dedication and thoroughly deserves his recent good catches. Glen is there for just about every match and has ‘No Fear’ when it comes to opponents. It’s just a shame that more match anglers are not visiting this fabulous fishery it would be great to have some proper matches once again, it is after all fishing brilliantly.
Gwinear on Saturday
My last match this week was at Gwinear for the Saturday open, again it was on the small side with just 10 making the effort. But it was the Saturday before the bank holiday weekend and there is a lot on Sunday and Monday. I drew a peg that I do not remember fishing before on Phase 3. I was just out of the corner on peg 19 and decided to fish a pole only match. I set up rigs to fish at 5m to both sides on the slope in around 6’ of water. I also had a couple of edge swims that I wanted to concentrate on in the last couple of hours.
The match started and I didn’t get the immediate bite that I expected but after around 10 minutes the first Carp arrived. It was a day for chopping and changing swims taking a couple from each line, I found if I didn’t try and force things it was much better. I had quite a nice match catching all the way through but not particularly quickly. The only thing that surprised me was that I just could not catch shallow on the long pole, it looked perfect for it, I tried several times at all depths. I fed my margin swims with an hour to go and started catching in them fairly quickly but again not that fast. Maybe I messed up here; my old mate hindsight told me I should have tried the edge a little earlier in the match. In the end I finished 4th with 68lb the top three all coming from Phase 1, Chas Ward taking the verdict with 94lb from Brownings Andy Dargue with 87lb Arthur Turner was third with 71lb it was a little frustrating seeing all the coin go to one lake but to be fair I lost a few fish which would have put me a place or two, I must learn how to avoid losing those fish at Gwinear.
June looks like a busy month on the visitor front in Cornwall and with the local lakes that I have visited recently it looks like we are in for some top fishing, hopefully I will be able to get on some matches an d catch a few. Well, that is me bang up to date, at last. I am having a few days off with the family over the Bank Holiday and school half term, the long suffering Vivien has put her foot down with a firm hand and made me take her away for a short break!
So until next time keep those strings tight.
The White Acres ‘Maver Match This round’ had been in my thoughts for quite some time; I was really looking forward to the day. I was up early as I had a few hooks to tie; the last thing I wanted was to have to tie some on the bank, it didn’t take long as I only needed to top up on a few thod hooks. I had arranged to meet Wrong Lake Wayne and Pete ‘Stato’ Thomas for breakfast at the MacDonald’s in Newquay; naturally talk came round to what pegs we fancied, Stato wasn’t alone in fancying peg 16 on Twin Oaks, but I was concerned that both of these drawbags were predicting that they were having it, what chance did it leave the others? I made a mental note to get in front of them in the queue for the bag of dreams.
There were around 40 anglers in the hunt for a place in the final, and I must admit to been a bit surprised that there were not more taking part; the biggest monetary prize in UK match fishing was up for grabs and only 40 had entered this round, bizarre! Still what was lacking in numbers certainly wasn’t lacking in talent with the likes of Will Raison, Darren Cox, Harry Billing and a few other big names having a go. Before long it was time for the draw but try as much as I could I just could not get in front of Pete and Wayne. I had my dip in the bag and quickly took a look at the peg in my hand, I just could not believe that peg 5 on Twin Oaks was where I was going, to say I didn’t rate my chances would be an understatement! I had my obligatory moan about the peg and I have to admit that green eye got to me when Pete showed me Twin Oaks peg 16 in his hand, closely followed by Wrong Lake on peg 12, Oh man, mustn’t grumble!
A change of wind
Driving to the lake I recalled a pairs match I fished last year when I drew peg 3. I remembered the angler on peg 5 catching a few carp on the method that day, and I must admit that got me thinking I could catch and have a good days fishing. As I walked down to the lake the first thing I noticed was that the wind had changed completely from last week, it was now blowing from right to left down into our end of the lake, that could only help. The match suddenly took on the appearance of last week’s festival as Colin Mulholland sat on the next peg to me, followed by Paul Carnwell on peg 1. Colin and I had a bit of banter with each other and ended up having a pint on the result, this brought a whole new meaning to the match, it was now serious!
In my mind this match was all about the end result and my tackle and tactics reflected that. I set up two feeder rods to fish the method and pellet feeder, one pellet waggler rod in case the fish came shallow. I had one pole rig to fish at 5m on the deck where I was going to feed corn. Two 4 x 8 J2 floats to fish the margins completed my armoury. I had my limit bait wise which comprised of micro pellets, 1 unit of 8 mm pellets to feed over the far side, a small selection of different sized hook baits some corn, groundbait and a kilo of worms I just hoped the fish wanted to play.
On the whistle I fed my 5m pole line with a full 250ml pot of corn which I spread around in a dustbin lid size area. I loaded the method feeder and cast tight to the far bank, as I put the rod onto my keepnet which I use as a rest it pulled round, instinctively picking it up the fish shot off to my right at a fast rate of knots, it was obviously foul hooked, within a few minutes my size 14 PR 38 lost its hold, not what I wanted. As I wound in I noticed Paul on peg 1 playing a carp on the pole from his margin swim, he had been in great form all last week in the festival so was no doubt going to be dangerous especially if the fish were in the edge, he had loads of edge to have a go at! I loaded the feeder again and cast to the bank, again as I put it down the tip went round, this time it was hooked properly in the mouth, a 4lb fish was soon in the net. I had a brilliant start taking around six fish on the trot some of them within seconds of the feeder hitting the water! Paul was also catching but strangely Colin couldn’t get a bite, despite accurate casting tight over.
Great start, will it last?
The first 90 minutes were really good and I had around 50lb in the net I was using my clicker to record the weight as I didn’t want to exceed the net limit of 60lb. I remember thinking this was great apart from the first one I had not lost a single fish. That’s when ‘Murphy’s Law’ kicked in and I lost the next three carp, two at the landing net which is really frustrating. I really must stop having those thoughts as it always seems to have an adverse effect! It’s the same when a cricket commentator mentions that England’s batsman are doing really well, you can bet your last pound that we will lose a wicket the next over. Anyway those lost fish seemed to have an effect and bites slowed down. I had a look on my pole line but could only manage a couple of F1’s which is not what I wanted. The pellet waggler resulted in a lost fish but it was difficult to control the line in the wind, I knew it was the feeder or nothing.
A change to the Pellet feeder brought some more fish. I am not sure why the change of feeder works but I have tried it a few times lately and have found it works for me so I’m not knocking it. I used a small 20g Preston version, with an added J Range 5g sticky feeder weight attached to the lead, that small extra weight makes a huge difference. I managed to keep the fish coming but it was a lot slower than the first part of the match. Not that I was complaining, I could see others catching especially Paul but I was just about keeping my head in front.
I had fed a lot of groundbait down my left margin around 5m from me, just before the bank curved inwards towards the next peg. The area was always in my peripheral vision as I watched my rod tip. With around 90 minutes to go I guestimated I had around 90lb plus in my nets and with 120lb expected to win the match I started to feel that I had a real chance, if only I could keep them coming. I noticed a vortex over my ground bait and by the size of the water pattern it was a big carp; I just had to have a go on the pole. Two Dendrabena worms were impaled on a T252 size 12, I shipped the pole to my left over the bank as I didn’t want to spook those cagey carp that have seen most things that anglers can throw at them, the rig was in the water but my pole was still over the bank. After a few minutes the float dipped and what seemed like yards of J Range black lastix came out of the pole, I really felt like I had foul hooked the fish as it shot off to my left, the lastix did its work and I soon had the fish under control in front of me. It was a nice sized Mirror of around 8lb, hooked perfectly in the mouth. There were still fish in the margin and I had another go but this time after a bit of a wait I did foul hook one, which I lost. Feeding some more groundbait, I went back down the edge, despite fish there I just could not hook one.
I actually had to force myself to come away from the edge as it was taking too long to catch anything. I picked up the method rod again and cast over to the far bank, before long I was playing another 4lb fish. I had a really good last hour catching over 40lb of carp in the 3 to 4lb bracket, Mark ‘8mm’ Lazell was watching for the last 20 minutes and he told me later that I had 5 carp in 15 minutes, some were F1’s but it was solid!
The scales came and I took the lead with 144lb which I was really pleased to hang onto, Darren Cox taking the runner up spot with 113lb from Trelawney. It is a fantastic feeling winning this match knowing that I am going to compete in a national final where the winner will pick up £50,000, now that’s not bad for a 24 peg knock-up! It’s not going to be easy winning that match, and I am under no illusions taking on those that have already qualified, and those that have yet to qualify, but one thing is for sure, you have to be in it to win it and at this moment in time I am definitely in it!
Just before I leave this match I would just like to thank all those people who have taken time out to send me texts, messages on face book and good old fashioned telephone calls, they were all great, thanks very much.
Back at Mawgan Porth
I actually managed to get to a mid week match at Mawgan Porth, well a small knock up really as a few didn’t turn up, never mind it was nice to be there fishing. Just before the draw the talk was of peg 36 winning, as the peg has been on fire recently. Tourettes Taylor was first in the bag of dreams and I guess the rest of the Tourettes clan heard him at home in Redruth when he drew the peg, what a noise anyone would have thought 6 numbers had just come up on the lottery! I had no complaints with my peg 38 as it has won more than its fair share of matches but to be honest they were all good pegs!
I actually fancied fishing up in the water as there was a nice ripple with the odd fish topping; I set up two .3 gram J13 floats with size 16 pr36 hooks and a micro band. I was going to start on the deck and my float choice was my old MP favourite of a 4 x 10 J3 with the same hook tied to a .18 Cralusso line. There was a bag of garlic micro pellets and two bags of 4mm garlic pellets for feed plus a few 6mm for the hook on my bait table, along with some soft 6mm Yorkshire baits garlic pellets. As I plumbed the depth at 3m I actually felt a carp brush my line! I took off the plummet and checked the shotting of the float and couldn’t believe it when I had a bite, I instinctively lifted into the bite and was soon playing a carp of around 2lb that took a Mosella micro band, good job Wrong Lake was standing behind me and saw I had no bait on the band!
Flying start
At the start I fed some micros via my toss pot and started with a 6mm pellet on the hook, within 30 seconds I had one in the net, another followed but both didn’t weigh as much as the one I caught before the match! Plenty of carp followed and before long they were intercepting the bait on the drop. I tried feeding a section further out and looked to catch shallow but they would not settle. I had to feed near to the weed to catch steady. Everybody was catching well and it was clear there was going to be some big weights. Towards the end of the match I threw some bait down the edge and within moments the edge coloured up. I had a little go down there and caught steady until the end of the match finishing with 164 carp. Chatting to Tourettes before the scales arrived and I found his clicker had recorded 154 carp. In the end his fish weighed 257lb to my 227lb fantastic fishing. Well done Nigel, you have put some time in at Mawgan Porth and are now reaping the benefits of Pixie style fishing!
Another angler worth a mention is Glen Melsome who actually lives for his fishing and spends many a day practising at MP, he has an ambition to catch a ton from every peg, and he is well on his way! Glen is disabled and confined to a wheelchair; he pursues the sport with total dedication and thoroughly deserves his recent good catches. Glen is there for just about every match and has ‘No Fear’ when it comes to opponents. It’s just a shame that more match anglers are not visiting this fabulous fishery it would be great to have some proper matches once again, it is after all fishing brilliantly.
Gwinear on Saturday
My last match this week was at Gwinear for the Saturday open, again it was on the small side with just 10 making the effort. But it was the Saturday before the bank holiday weekend and there is a lot on Sunday and Monday. I drew a peg that I do not remember fishing before on Phase 3. I was just out of the corner on peg 19 and decided to fish a pole only match. I set up rigs to fish at 5m to both sides on the slope in around 6’ of water. I also had a couple of edge swims that I wanted to concentrate on in the last couple of hours.
The match started and I didn’t get the immediate bite that I expected but after around 10 minutes the first Carp arrived. It was a day for chopping and changing swims taking a couple from each line, I found if I didn’t try and force things it was much better. I had quite a nice match catching all the way through but not particularly quickly. The only thing that surprised me was that I just could not catch shallow on the long pole, it looked perfect for it, I tried several times at all depths. I fed my margin swims with an hour to go and started catching in them fairly quickly but again not that fast. Maybe I messed up here; my old mate hindsight told me I should have tried the edge a little earlier in the match. In the end I finished 4th with 68lb the top three all coming from Phase 1, Chas Ward taking the verdict with 94lb from Brownings Andy Dargue with 87lb Arthur Turner was third with 71lb it was a little frustrating seeing all the coin go to one lake but to be fair I lost a few fish which would have put me a place or two, I must learn how to avoid losing those fish at Gwinear.
June looks like a busy month on the visitor front in Cornwall and with the local lakes that I have visited recently it looks like we are in for some top fishing, hopefully I will be able to get on some matches an d catch a few. Well, that is me bang up to date, at last. I am having a few days off with the family over the Bank Holiday and school half term, the long suffering Vivien has put her foot down with a firm hand and made me take her away for a short break!
So until next time keep those strings tight.
Trevor
Jun 04, 2011
Stewart congratulations on the Maver result! Well done.