Tremendous Trewaters!

The water temperatures has been rising , the daffodils are blooming, the lambs are in the fields, you could be excused for thinking that spring is finally in the air. How wrong could we be? We have been plunged right back into the depths of winter! It was a beautifully sunny day but absolutely freezing when we arrived at Trewater’s for the Thursday sweep the northerly wind was biting cold and I must admit the prospects didn’t look good! Mike O’Gorman sorted out the pegs on the top lake out of the wind as much as possible. I tried to get in the queue before Harry and have my dip whilst the favoured pegs around 24 to 26 were still in the bag! I pulled out peg 28 for the third time amazing really I have fished the lake five times and only seen three pegs.

Reality check

When I got around to the peg it was good to See Steve Prouse back on the bank at the next peg , Steve has been out of action since September having had an operation on his shoulder, this was his first match back. Mind you his fishing conversation was a bit limited with no matches to talk about but he was really up to speed on the soaps and reality shows! Talking of reality its back to work for him on Monday I don’t know how he is going to cope without GMTV! Seriously, I hope the rest of your recovery is speedy.

The wind was gusting into my face with the odd stronger gust left to right the water temperature had dropped to 7.5C but it did rise to 8,5C during the match. The only difference I made to my tackle for the day was to increase the weight of float that I used and I settled for a .6 Spro mid water float figuring the extra weight would give me a bit more control in the wind. I set two identical rigs and a lighter one to fish down the near shelf. Bait was now my normal Yorkshire baits Green Betaine Groundbait, Garlic 4mm soft hooker pellets, garlic micros and a few maggots. At the start I decided to fish at 5 metres and I put in a couple of balls of GB. I am really pleased I chose that line as a just as the match started the wind switched left to right and became quite strong at times it was hard holding onto that short pole!

I started down the slope feeding a few pellets with red maggot on the hook, one day I am going to catch on this line but after five minutes I decided today wasn’t going to be that day! I went out onto the 5m line with red maggot on the hook and had a small F1 first drop a couple more followed so I tried the garlic pellet and had a pound tench. The bites were coming in the first hour but it could not be described as fast and furious switching between lines I kept fish coming. I could see that I was ahead of Steve to my left and Mark Lazell but that was about all I knew as the rest of the anglers were on the other bank incidentally bathed in sunshine and out of the wind!

End peg rules

Going into the second hour someone flicked the switch and suddenly it was a bite a chuck with a small F1’s and the odd golden tench just about every drop. They were small fish I guess averaging around 6oz but there were loads of them. Every now and then a bigger sample put in an appearance it really was great fishing. I kept thinking this isn’t going to last but it did right up to the final whistle! What a great days fishing I guess I had in the region of 130 fish which went 58lb fantastic sport, it was good enough to win the match but I didn’t have it all my own way. Harry was third with 35lb he had a slow start but was coming on strong towards the end. Billy Arch had 45lb from the other end peg to take second. Considering the conditions the lake had fished really well most had in excess of 20lb

Kernow Match Group League

It was back to the Barns for the Saturday league teams of three match and I was keen to have another go at the new lake. The match was to be fished on two lakes the old and the new and there was a peg on each lake that everybody wanted a go at. Peg 14 on the new Joan’s lake would put you on an end peg near a patch of weed that the majority of the new inhabitants had taken refuge in. And on the old lake peg 11 would give you and end peg next to the island an out an out flyer. Word was that Harry had walked Dud’s around Joan’s lake and mentioned to a couple of people that he fancied that peg 14 today, oh man we were in trouble.

After Nigel Taylors drawing prowess in the last round he was despatched to the draw bag once again, he did look a little nervous as he put his hand in the bag but came out with some good pegs especially for himself! He had drawn peg 11 on the old match lake he had fished it before so he had put the pressure on himself to come back with the goodies! I had every faith in him. He actually drew me an end peg on Joan’s lake peg 24 which was starting to show so form in the few matches that had been fished on it but I felt with 14 and 16 in the section third was best I could hope for. Mick Heacock was practically opposite me on peg 3 and I felt it was a bit of an unknown peg that could produce but third again was the most likely result.

Peg 14? Well that honour went to Harry and to make matters worse his team mate Pete Thomas was on the opposite end peg and that was a potential section winner as well. In the words of the song that Andy Dare is becoming infamous for singing when catching ‘There may be trouble ahead’! Nothing we can do about it but try our best.

Ground bait has been working for me everywhere I fish at the moment so I was confident of putting some in today and at the start I put in two big balls of YB Green Betaine near to the bottom shelf to my left. I put in some micros at about 2 o’clock at 11m and a few down by the pipe at 6m. I feel that on these pegs you need a few lines going as my experience told me the fish were just moving through in twos and threes, you just don’t seem to get more than two fish on the spin so rotation is the name of the game. I had a couple of fish in the first 30 minutes over the GB but I could not find any more on my other lines. It was a slow start to say the least but I was enjoying working at it. A look by the pipe gave me a small carp but no more followed.

Smashing!

I was having a bit of banter with lake record holder ‘Yam Yam’ who was opposite me on peg 1 who was in the same boat as me, no bites. Mike Heacock had started really well and for the first couple of hours was well in front in his section. I needed to try and force the issue as I could see Andy Dare to my left catching. I probably had about six fish at this stage. As the groundbait had worked I decided to introduce some on a different line to my right in open water at 12.5m, I was cupping it out and got to about 11m not too far from my original line when my sixth section snapped dumping the contents about a metre from one of my other lines, great! The funny thing was that Sean felt sorry for me and snapped his fourth section within seconds of me breaking mine, just so I didn’t feel too bad; I mentioned before that they go that extra mile at the Barns!

I ended up with about 14 carp that went 24lb for a disappointing last but one in section, my old mate Trev Conroy to my left saving my blushes. The section and the match was won by Harry Billing with 76lb he had a slow start but towards the end was catching well. Unfortunately Mick’s good start petered out and he really struggled for the last two hours, a real shame as he puts his all into his fishing. A couple more bites and he would have been well up in the section. Nigel coped well with the pressure and won the section with 61lb that weight also put him second overall we totalled 11 points which I think was fourth team on the day.

Windy Acres

We had an early start on Sunday for the final individual league the draw was at 8am so that we could finish fishing at 2pm; this would allow Clint, Andy Dare and Mike O’Gorman time to get to Newquay airport as they were off to London and onto a fishing festival in Las Vegas! Lucky sods.

I was 12th in the league and I could drop a last in section courtesy of a load of carp in a silvers only round, so if I had a section win I would get into the top 10 and the overall money list. I was looking forward to the match as the whole complex was fishing really well I was just hoping for a decent draw. I had a different strategy at the draw today which came to me when I saw Neil Kippax and Trev Conroy at the back of the queue; I figured that if they were at the back there must be a good peg left in the bag! I was delighted when the theory proved correct and I pulled out peg 13 Python in the wides.

I had travelled with Steve Maynard today and he had drawn on peg 15 so a golden nugget side bet was struck. On my right I had Karl Pender who was in a similar situation to me in the league and he desperately needed a section win to catapult him into the money so a good match was in the pipeline.

I had actually made my mind up how to fish as soon as I drew, it was going to be a feeder day for me. The new rules allowing the method are not yet in place so it had to be the crumb feeder, I did set up a pole rig to fish at 5m should I need a plan B. That was all I set up as I felt a positive approach would be best today. I had two kilos of YB Green Betaine GB, some maggots and a few pellets. The water temperature was creeping back up and was showing 8.5C. At the start of the match I put a tiny ball of GB on the pole line along with some pellets. I have fished the feeder on these pegs before and knew that to fish it back to back I would need all my allowance and could not afford to start putting balls on my pole line.

I cast to about where I thought the reeds used to be on the far bank, (they have been cut during the winter whilst work was carried out on the lake and have not yet become visible). I had a’ think ‘bite and struck into the first F1 that took a fancy to my double red maggot. During the next hour I had several more. Karl had started on the pole but had followed onto the feeder and was catching as was Steve.

The bites were very finicky the majority were little trembles but occasionally there was a better bite. But there were loads of fish in the swim, I had a bite or indication all match and lost quite a few foul hooked fish during the day. In the end I fished the feeder front to back, I fed the pole line all day but never picked it up so I will never know if they were queuing up on that line. At one stage Karl was catching F1’s and good skimmers on pellet on the long pole and I was getting a tad concerned that he was getting very close. I have a golden rule that I really try not to break and that is don’t leave feeding fish. I have broken this in the past and it has cost me, as I have spent too long trying to make another method work when I was catching before I switched!

The wind however was getting stronger and it was hampering Karls presentation so he had to keep going back on the feeder. It was hard at times getting the feeder in the same place and there were a few wides, if it had been cricket the extras column would have been mounting!

The conditions were dreadful with very strong cold winds and heavy rain but the fishing was fantastic! The lowest weight on Python was 30lb; I just shaded the section with 68lb to Karl’s 56lb both of us ruing the weather conditions as we knew that bigger weights were on the cards if we could have got the presentation better.

Overall Andy Dare won the match from peg 10 on Sycamore with 99lb 8oz followed by Pete Thomas on Trelawney with 92lb15oz

Many thanks to Clint for running the individual league throughout the winter we have had some great matches, and congratulations on winning the league, go on put the winnings on Red you know you want to!

Final League table

Clint Elliot, Preston Innovations 34pts

Harry Billing, Mosella Garbolino 33

Andy Partridge, SPRO 32

Mike O’Gorman, Bolingey Lakes 32

Andy Dare, Dynamite Baits 31

Skip McCabe, White Acres 31

Trevor Conroy, Kernow Match Group 30

Stewart Lister, SPRO 29

Clive Hancock, White Acres 29

Karl Pender, The Tackle Barn 29

I will be slowing down over the next couple of weeks whilst I try to get a bit of work done and get my kit ready for the spring festivals at White Acres. I will still be out and about but not quite as much, until next time keep those strings tight!