By Stewart Lister | No Comments
Last updated: Saturday, May 30, 2009

I had been looking forward to the Spring Bank Holiday Festival that was to be held at Trewater’s over Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Initially there were 27 booked in but that dwindled to 21 and finally 20 as one person failed to show on the day! Because of the falling numbers the format had to be changed and it was now an individual only festival based on section points, there was going to be a pair’s competition as well. Never mind the pegging was great and everybody was keen to get started. The weather was superb as well with the promise of the best day of the year so far.

Draw time

There was actually two draws to be made on that first morning one to decide your section rotation and the other for the peg. I drew the bottom lake first followed by the carp lake which I have not fished before and finally the middle lake. The section draw had been designed so that we didn’t fish with the same anglers in section over the three days which was a great idea as some anglers get despondent when they are up against the same people over three days. I drew peg 53 which was an end peg but to be fair everybody had so much room everyone we all had end pegs! The thing I did like about my peg was that the wind was blowing down towards my corner, which could be a distinct advantage.

I set my normal farm rigs up to concentrate at 6m with a 4 x 14 rig, a smaller down the edge rig and a shallow set up. The only difference I had made was to assemble a paste rig to fish in the deeper water as paste had made a big impact in the recent Garbolino festival. Bait wise I had my normal Yorkshire Baits Garlic micros along with some soft hookers, I also had some 4mm hard pellets and a few 6mm for the hook, Green Betaine GB completed my bait table. At the start a large ball of GB was deposited on the 6m line containing some micros and I threw some loose 4mm down the edge where I planned on starting. It wasn’t such a bad start either, I had a couple of F1’s and a small carp but I couldn’t help but notice Joe Bray to my left catching well at 6m and also Wayne Ledbury to his left also catching. I immediately left that close line as it wasn’t as prolific as I had hoped.

All change

Moving out to 6m with a pellet the float was soon going under and F1’s were coming to the net, there were fish topping and I was getting more and more tempted to fish long and shallow. Before that I slipped a bit of paste on the hook and the bites became very positive and I had a few on the ‘dollop’ but I could not resist those shallow fish. I put a 6mm pellet on and shipped out to 12 ½ metres and before long it was fast and furious with nice sized F1’s and the odd small carp coming to the net, I was now wishing I started shallow! I must have had about 30 fish when all of a sudden the wind stopped, going a little deeper and I managed to keep them coming albeit not as fast. Then the wind started but it had switched completely and was now right to left! My bites shallow just dried up and I was struggling! Fortunately I had dribbled the odd bit of feed on my 6m line and there were some fish still there.

Joe had seen me catching shallow and had changed his approach and he was catching well, amazing I could not buy a bite shallow. I spent the rest of the match on the deck fishing paste and thinking to myself that Joe was edging in front. I had fish to the end but I had had a couple of quiet spells and was unsure of what I actually had in the net. The scales were soon on the lake and I was last to weigh so I would know what to beat, not that you can do anything about it at that late stage! There were some good weights with Arthur Turner just losing out by an ounce to ‘Northern with Fag’ who is also known as Alan Hodgeon he had 40lb 6oz Joe took the lead with 47lb and I honestly though he would win but I had underestimated my net and I had 58lb for a good start to the festival. I have to say that Joe fished a very good match and in my opinion he is the most improved local angler by far, 12 months ago he only fished club matches and is now doing well in opens. He is one of the ‘young guns’ so has loads of time to make to improve further.

Records tumble

The middle lake fished incredibly well with C lint Elliott winning the lake with a new venue record of 119lb from peg 19 unbelievably Harry was second in section with 90lb. Roy Booth won the carp lake with 55lb.

Sunday dawned and it was another great day I was up and ready with what seemed like hours to spare, I arrived at the lake over an hour before the draw and most people were already there. Even Harry turned up well before the draw! I was on the top lake today and it is a carp only affair, a lake that I have not fished before. Peg 4 was the winner yesterday with around 55lb and last had something like 40lb so it was a relatively fair match. Like a lot of carp pools it would be favourable to draw with the wind in your face as the fish do like to follow the breeze.

I had my dip and came out of the bag with peg 12 with the wind of my back! But I am told it is a very consistent peg and in fact Colin Mulholland was second off it on Saturday. There is a lot of weed on the lake but my swim was relatively clear and the nearest I could get to it was on the pole limit of 13 metres, the majority of the weed was after the running line limit of 20 metres. I decided that it would be float only for me and only assembled the pole and pellet waggler but as the match drew closer the wind changed again to come from the side, the wag was going to be difficult and in fact I never fished it.

Colin had caught at around 6m so I set up rigs to fish there in about 4’ of water; my other line was down the edge and at 13m. Bait was going to be micros, 6mm pellet and maggot I was ready in plenty of time and had a word with my neighbour’ NWF’ Alan Hodgeon he was keen to point out that his name would have to change come Tuesday as he is stopping smoking, I pointed out the name will only become Northern without fag so no real change there! To my left I had the ‘Whistler’ Billy Arch so it was going to be an entertaining day, I wouldn’t be able to understand what NWF said and I would be driven to distraction by Billy’s constant whistling!

Teflon hooks

The match started and I was straight on the 6m line after feeding three swims. I think Harry was the first to catch on the method feeder followed by NWF. It wasn’t long before I joined the party and had a small carp but once again I caught the scout and no others followed! I was soon out on the 13m line and started picking up the odd fish. The annoying thing was that after I had three fish in the net I started losing the odd carp for no apparent reason, they just kept coming off! Not just on one rig but on two completely different rigs and hook patterns, I was pulling out what little hair I have left! I must have lost 10 fish throughout the match and it was one of those days when not much was caught so I knew it was going to cost me.

The match ended and first to weigh was Harry Billing on peg 17, he recorded 34lb 12oz next was NWF and he had in the region 33lb I put my fish on the scales and saw the needle swing round and stop agonisingly 4 ounces short of Harry’s weight, Oh man, I must get rid of those Teflon hooks and must try harder! Steve Pope just pushed Harry with a weight of 36lb from peg 1.

Oh Man, must try harder

Wayne Ledbury was briefly the leader from peg 4 with a weight of 55lb catching the majority of his fish in the last couple of hours on the long pole. I say he was briefly the leader as it later transpired that he had fished the wrong lake and his weight didn’t count! So we all moved up a place. Wayne was mortified but accepted Clint’s decision with good grace. That said there was no end of mickey taking for the poor lad including a noose thrown over a branch on a nearby tree; I asked if we could fish the match again to give me a chance of drawing peg 4 but later retracted that as there is no way Harry would miss drawing the flyer twice!

Records tumbled again on the bottom lake with Clint breaking his day old record this time with 129lb what a great catch all taken on paste down the edge. Roy Booth was the other section winner and going into day three they were the only two anglers on maximum points.

Last day

Monday arrived and with it the end of the good weather we were greeted by the threat of heavy rain. Still the two previous days were fantastic and I don’t remember two days like it in the whole of last year! I hope we get a bit more of that currant bun. I had a spent a lot of time thinking over how I was going to approach this match as my normal method was not working as well now that water is warmer. I decided to fish this match regardless of where I drew with just two methods, the paste on two lines, down the edge and at 6m over Yorkshire Baits Green Betaine GB and shallow at 11m nice and simple. This in some way was a brave decision for me as fishing the paste is not my strongest method, I had a long chat with Rob Hitchin’s last year and also I have spoken to Harry over the last few days so that was that, sorted!

I was hoping for peg 19 but ended up opposite on 33, a peg I was not unhappy with but to be honest the way the pegging was I would have been happy anywhere as the venue was fishing brilliantly I was really looking forward to a good days fishing.

I had a 4 x 14 J4 float to fish the paste and a 4 x 12 version for the edge. My shallow rigs were floats from Gaz Malman and all were to be fished with J Range pink lastix, I find this perfect for this kind of fishing especially used with a pulla bung.

Back on top

At the start I fed a large ball of GB on my 6m line containing some micro pellets and fed some loose pellets down the edge, starting close I had an F1 first drop on the paste followed by a pound plus carp but then I had to start waiting for bites, continuing feeding this line I tried the 6m line and started catching F1’s but they were on the small side, the fish were topping and I found myself watching them more than my float! With 45 minutes gone I was on the shallow rig pinging 4mm pellets around my float.

It wasn’t a bite a chuck, far from it I had to wait for the fish to find my loose offerings but slowly the bites and the fish started coming and they were some good fish amongst them, nice sized F1’s and the odd small carp the majority I suppose were in the 8 – 12 oz range. I actually stayed on this line for the remainder of the match and on occasions catching very well and very shallow, it was a very enjoyable match but I didn’t know what had happened in the rest of the section. I could see John Forster to my left and Chaz Ward to my right and was reasonably confident that I had more than them but I had no idea what the others had including Mike O’Gorman, Skip McCabe and ‘NWF’

Mike had in the region of 45lb and NFW was admitting to around 80lb and that is what I was guestimating so it was going to be close between us. Alan actually put 74lb on the scales including a load of n ice tench that he had caught down the edge from peg 25. It was soon my turn and I just managed to top Alan with 87lb to take the section and also record the top weight on the day.

The Verdict

Harry won the bottom lake with around 80lb and Roy Booth was second in that section, Clint was also second in his section on the carp lake behind the winner Tony Williams so it was tight at the top with no one on maximum points, I was rueing all those lost fish on day two!

Back at the pub for the results and it was soon established that Clint was the winner on weight over Roy Booth, both had 20 points. Harry Billing and I also tied on 19 points. I took the moral victory as I had two section wins but Harry took the cash as it was decided on weight! It was great little festival and I think everybody enjoyed it, all caught loads as the Farm responded well, I bet the match is full next year!

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