Originally I was going to fish the Garbolino Spring Classic at White Acres last week but due to some unforeseen circumstances I decided not to fish. I had organised my business around the fishing so it would have been rude not to get out on the bank! On Tuesday I went to Gwinear expecting a 25 peg open match and heard the news that 10 had cancelled that morning! Completely out of order in my book but that is the way some people are these days.
Three nets!
I drew peg 41 on Phase Two the location of this peg is about 10 metres in front of old peg 30! So I was sitting in what used to be 10’ of water, the peg looked good with a load of weed in front of the peg and more to my left at about 12m, the peg has a bit of form as well but the next peg to the right has been on fire recently. With about 15 minutes to go the weather changed and the sun was out, I walked back to the van to get my sunglasses and had a quick chat with Mike O’Gorman who told me that he expected me to have a ton today, he suggested that it would be wise to get a third net as Andy only wants 50lb in anyone net. Mike is a regular at the lake and knows it pretty well so I took his advice.
Marching back to my peg I was subjected to a fair bit of mickey taking by some Northern Raiders who were down on holiday from deepest Lancashire. Well I think they were taking the mickey but they had forgotten to bring the interpreter with them so couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying but as they were laughing, I presumed the banter was detrimental to me. Never mind they would soon stop when I started filling up that third net!
Just before the start Mark Lazell mentioned a bar to my right where the island used to be. I must admit that I failed miserably with the plummet earlier and never found it; I was really annoyed with myself as plumbing is one of the most important aspects of fishing. I guess I was drawn to the bank to my left thinking that is where I was going to catch. The match was just about to start so I fed my lines and reached for the plummet, I immediately found it at about 7 sections of pole between me and the next peg. I quickly put up another rig and dropped some feed smack in the middle of the bar.
Rock Steady Eddie
Starting out on my deep line at 6m was disappointing; a small carp after 10 minutes was all I had to show for it. An early look long down the also produced nothing! Time to try the bar and I was rewarded with two small carp but then nothing. This wasn’t looking too good for Mr three nets.
Meanwhile ‘Steady Eddie’ Brown one of the Northern Raiders was slipping carp into the net on a regular basis and I tried to persuade him that I got the net for him, but he was having none of it. Eventually I started to get a few but could not string bites together. I alternated between the shallower bar and the weed and put a few fish together finishing with around 37lb. Eddie wining the match comfortably with around 70lb. Personally I was a little annoyed with myself as I think the swim was worth more, perhaps not enough to push the raider but certainly enough to have come second which went to Andy Dare who had 48lb.
A red rose challenge
Flushed with success Eddie asked if I was going to Mawgan Porth on Wednesday I told him I would if there were a few going, I would book them in and give him a call later as I was hoping to persuade Mark Murdoch and his merry men to come up to Mawgan Porth for an angling treat, unfortunately they had beer and practice on their minds and stayed on site at White Acres. Later I told Eddie that not many were booked on, did they still want to fish which they did, the three raiders saw my performance with the three nets as a chink in the armour and were out to fleece me of my hard earned!
Next morning we met at Mawgan Porth and the boys loved telling Janet the story of the three nets which I have to say made me laugh as well. We drew and I ended taking the last peg in the hat which was peg 41 a very good peg and one that I was happy enough to be on, I have had it before but never done the peg justice so I was up for the challenge today. Eddie drew peg 8 which I really fancied along with peg 38 that Charlie Hobbs had drawn, Bill Dobson the final raider was on peg 6 it was good that we would all be able to keep an eye on each other. As they walked off to their pegs I had a word with Janet and asked her to give them a third net each!
I set four rigs up to tackle the swim including a duplicate of each rig I was only going to fish a top kit out in front of me and a edge swim down to the left, the edge rig would also double as an up in the water rig should I need it. The match started and immediately Eddie and Charlie were into fish Bill and I just looked at stationary floats! In fact it was getting on for 10 minutes before I had my first carp and that is an age at Mawgan Porth, the worrying thing was that another did not follow on. I was forced down the edge and after awhile I had a bite which again was a loner. This was definitely not in the plan. Both Bill and I had a real slow 1 ½ hours falling further behind.
Feed the birds
In fact during that opening couple of hours I was fascinated feeding a Coot casters, she would pick a couple up and swim back to her brood of 5 tiny chicks and give each a caster in turn, it was great to see it and it gave me something to do between all too infrequent bites.
Fortunately for me the fish turned up in my edge swim with just over three hours to go and I joined in the race trying to catch those raiders. It was interesting I had been fishing a 6mm Yorkshire Baits garlic hooker pellet but changed to a 4mm and it was immediately better, for the life of me I do not understand why but bites came much quicker with the smaller offering. The swim was getting stronger and stronger as the match went on, I was getting a fish every drop now. Whilst Eddie and Charlie were still catching I felt I was getting more fish than them including two or three better samples which were approaching 3lb each, these are the biggest fish I have caught at MP and it was great to see them put in an appearance.
The match eventually drew to a close as Janet gave us five minutes overtime! She had been working hard during the day and at 3.45 decided on a well deserved cuppa she was enjoying it so much she momentarily forgot about the battle on her lake.
I was first to weigh and recorded 166lb which I wasn’t confident was enough but secretly hoped that I had managed to get in front in those stolen five minutes! Charlie had 129lb and it was then all down to Bill who had 139lb, I thought it ironic that the White Rose of Yorkshire baits had taken the reds cash! Fortunately not by a pound or two or I would never have heard the end of it! It was a really enjoyable day in good company, shame those soft cockneys didn’t join in!
It doesn’t take me long to pack away my gear at Mawgan Porth when I have had a few fish, all my rigs are like the majority of our esteemed Members of Parliament, they are simply not fit for purpose and are trashed!
This weekend sees me at Trewater’s for a three day mini festival and I am really looking forward to it. I will get to fish the carp lake for the first time and also a day on each of the other lakes. There are about 24 fishing and the match also includes a mystery pairs when a partner is drawn for you on the morning. The main festival is fished to points and the pairs to weight so it should be interesting three days.
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Take no notice of those from ‘over therr’ they don’t speak the Queens english like we do tha noz.
Just wanted to say your blogs are well written and very informative stu. Enjoyed the reads over the last couple of months,keep up the the good work mate.
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Stewart
