Bait Tech Festival 2009

I had to work on the Saturday before I was due to leave for Cornwall, so as you can imagine I was watching the clock all day praying for three O’clock to arrive so I could get on the road! On the way down, I was due to stop off at Evesham to see my old mate Jim Smith, and my pre holiday euphoria was quickly dampened when I arrived at his pad. The poor lad was in pieces, his mum had died the previous week unbeknown to me, and he was understandably very upset. Jim is a great bloke who goes out of his way to help people out, and it was sad to see him as down as he was. Still, I am sure he will be back to full strength in a few weeks once he has had time to come round. It did put things in perspective however, and made me realise how lucky I was to be off on my holidays, and determined to enjoy it while it lasted.

I arrived at White Acres about 10 O’clock, and headed straight to the bar, where Stewart Lister, Adam Richards and Gaz Malham were waiting, a swift pint and we headed back to the lodge for a few tinnys, and soon bed was calling. I spent the Sunday fettling my gear, though I did go to Bolingey for a look at the lake, as that was where I was headed the first day. There were a few fish being caught, but it was by no means hectic.

I had drawn a section which Richie Hull described later in the week as the toughest he has ever been in at White Acres. There was Harry Billing, Des Shipp, Steve Sanders, Richie Hull, Michael Sanders, Kieron Rich, Andy Dare, Dean Barlow and Adam Wakelin, not to mention Fishing4Funs own Stewart Lister in my 36 peg rotation. Still, I was confident, and I commented to Matt on the phone ‘ the bigger they are the harder they fall’ I reckon I may have put the mockers on it from that point forward.

Bolingey on the first day saw me draw peg 33 in what I felt was quite a fair section. I did however have Steve Sanders on what Stewart described as the boss peg in the section, 42, and the end peg 44 had been made a whole lot better with 45, one of the best pegs on the lake and not in the same section as me, not being drawn!

I started off long on the pole and took a couple of fish in the first hour, but wind was making presentation really difficult, a drop on the bomb produced another fish but it wasn’t exactly hectic. I had been feeding the short line all match, and two hours in I had a drop on it. Ten fish in ten chucks made me think I had finally sorted it, but then inexpicably the fish just dried up, they seemed to do so for Steve Sanders as well, who was also catching on that line.

In the last couple of hours, the lad in the corner started sacking towards empty peg 45, and the writing was on the wall. I was disappointed to weigh 63lb for 5th in section. The best I could have done I would have thought was second (80lb), but this would still have been a good start.

Pollawyn

Day Two saw me on the match lake on peg 10, which was described to me as one of the worst pegs in the section, apparently it gets beat by 7 when the fish are in the arms, and 12 and 13 when they are on the high bank. To make matters worse, I had Michael Sanders to my left on peg nine. My pathetic efforts at clipping up to the island saw me in the trees twice, and rather red faced, but when Michael followed suit and his first two chucks ended up in the tree I didn’t feel quite so embarrassed!

My plan was to fish ground bait with casters and worms for the skimmers, and have a chuck on the meat feeder for the carp. Unfortunately, this didn’t really go to plan, for a start the tip didn’t go around, while Michaels did five times. Then I went on the skimmer line, and couldn’t get a bite, over all the ground bait I had so carefully cupped in, while Michael bagged up on big potted meat!

Two late carp on the meat feeder were something of a facesaver, and saw me weigh 19lb for yet another fifth in section. Pete Riley and Steve Sanders probably couldn’t be beaten from where I was, as both caught carp long and down the edge, its almost as if the shoal were sandwiched between them, they weighed 60lb and 50lb respectively. I could however have caught the 30lb required for 3rd in section had I not made the mistake of putting ground bait on my skimmer line.

A night on the beer ensued after the disaster on the match lake, inspired largely by a win at Porth by ’Bream God’ Malham who was stopping in our lodge. So me, Gaz, Adam Richards (or NCC as he has been christened since someone branded the Kamasan Cup he has just won the Northern Carp Championships, making him the Northern Carp Champion) and our designated older person (or dope for short) Stewart Lister headed for the bar, and stopped in far longer than was good for any of us!

Python

I dipped my hand in the bag and was delighted to draw peg 14- the one that won the section the previous day, and was second in the match with 64lb. I had spoke to the chap who had caught off it the day before, and he told me he had caught on ground bait feeder with maggot on the hook. I had some tough completion however, with Steve Sanders on the next peg that had come third in the match the previous day, and also Michael Sanders and Dean Barlow further down the lake, but still in my section.

For the first hour, I caught fairly steadily, but then the F1’s seemed to shut up shop. At first I thought that my bad casting may be to blame splitting the fish up, as it was a windy day and I was sometimes a few yards off the mark. The strange thing was though after a decent first half an hour, Steve Sanders also stopped catching.

I seemed to be able to catch the odd fish on the tip, but it definitely wasn’t hectic, and you could tell the volume of fish in the peg had decreased, as you would have to wait for bites, and sometimes it would be a skimmer when the tip did eventually go around. Furthermore, the lads below me started catching well, which lead me to think that the wind was pushing the F1’s down the lake. I did manage to snare a few bream on the short pole late on, but after the manic start I had encountered it was something of an anticlimax.

At the all out, I weighed 32lb which was good enough only for fourth in section. Steve next to me blew out in grand style, weighing 13lb for last in section, which made me feel slightly better. No money to take home but a celebrity scalp.

Twin Oaks

In went the hand and out came peg 33, which had come last in the section the previous day, and been battered by the end peg to his left. I planned on fishing the meat feeder, pole long and short and down the edge, which in hindsight was definitely to many lines.

I took five in the first chucks and thought I was on for a few, but for the rest of the day it was slow progress, and the fish just didn’t seem to want to get there heads down. No one was exactly bagging up, but with my swim never really getting going I wasn’t going anywhere fast. The long pole didn’t really produce, nor did the short pole, but I did manage a munter down the edge late on. When the scales arrived I put 44lb on for 4th in section, being beaten by the two end pegs, and a lad on peg 23 who weighed 70lb to win the section.

Porth

I drew peg 19, which showed decent form, winning the section the previous day when Steve Cooke had caught 10lb off it. No excuses, I went on to fish an appalling match, the worsed I have fished in a long time.

I caught a few early on the tip, then I got piked out, a brief spell on the long pole and I took a few more fish then it went dead. It seemed to be the same for both me and Michael on the next peg, five or six fish on a particular method, then it would die.

The biggest thing I got wrong was not having enough weight on my feeder, I feel sure if I had more lead I would have been able to cast more accurately and so catch more fish. The other big mistake I made was not picking a method and sticking to it, instead I followed Michael back and forth, which in the early part of the match seemed the right thing to do, but in hindsight I think picking one method and sticking to it would have seen me stand more chance of hooking and landing a bonus bream. Michael next to me won the section with 7-1-0, and my 4-14-0 was good enough only for sixth.

I had a nice weeks fishing, but sadly didn’t do well enough to win anything in the overall festival, finishing just below half way in 96th place. Still, I had another week to look forward to, with five more chances to shine and still the dream of a festival win, and more importantly a chance to win back some valuable £1s in the lodge sweep, I hadnt won a single one! With that in mind there was only one thing to do- head to Newquay and get drunk! Well done to Steve Mayo on winning the festival, and runners up Steve Ringer and Giles Cochrane, and thank you to Clint, Kirsty and the team for yet another brilliantly run festival. I will update on how I went on in the Dynamite later on in the week, as well as letting you all know how come there are pictures of me in a Mankini plastered all over the internet. Its a long story!