I stayed very local on Tuesday and had a trip to Gwinear, there were over 40 booked in and I hoped my drawing arm was on form! Actually I really wouldn’t have known what a good peg was as it is all still very new following all the changes. Talking about change leads me on to the new leaseholders of the venue; Andy Dare and Chris Hancock have taken over running the place and are now firmly at the helm , already they have plans on improving the fishery. Andy has a great background in match fishing at a high level and with Kernow Match Groups chairman Chris to help out I am sure the place is in good hands. They are running open matches on Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays if you are in the area give them a call on 07980269242 for Andy or Chris on 07966788994
My draw put me on peg 22 on phase three which would have been around old peg 34 on the island. I had Steve Bass for company to my right and we had a mars bar challenge. It was one of those rare sunny days and anglers opposite were stripping shirts off but Steve and I were in the shade and both of us had made trips back to the vans to get extra jackets!
I planned on fishing three lines at 13m, 6m and an edge swim where I could find around 4’. The two longer lines are in deep water and the .75 gram Cralusso Capri was my float choice. I had some maggots and pellets both hard and soft for bait. At the start I fed the shorter line and went straight out on 13m pinging pellets at my float. Steve took first blood with a small carp but I just couldn’t get an immediate response. In fact about 20 minutes into the match and I was looking around trying to see how others were catching when I had one of those old fashioned bites, the pole tip slammed into the lake! A small mirror about a pound was the culprit. He must have been the scout as I didn’t get any more bites on that line.
Changing to the 6m line and I managed a couple of fish in the next 30 minutes but it was hard to string two bites together. I had a look on the straight lead and a small T bag, first two casts produced two carp but that was it. The rest of the match I stayed on the 6m line and the down the edge where I managed to get a few more including a couple of nice bream. As is often the case the fish started coming in the last 15 minutes and I three in that time but it was too little too late. Liam to Steve’s right had caught really well and as he was in the section the only thing Steve and I were interested in was who would win the mars bar! I knew Steve had pipped me as he had a little run fishing well to his right in the shallower water. It was close as he had 26lb to my 23lb. The match was won with 90lb and backing weight were 80lb there were several weights around the 50 to 60lb mark.
There were 21 booked in for Fridays match and I decided to give it another go. The weather had turned really bad with heavy winds and rain and I hoped to get a draw with the wind of my back, fortunately I drew peg 2 on phase 1 which is roughly the same area as the old peg 2 at Gwinear. I must admit to feeling out of it as the carp seem to be in greater numbers opposite me where the water is shallower. I fancied a day’s fishing for silvers and found myself wishing I had some casters with me! I had a pint of maggots and some soft pellets so decided that is what the bream were going to have!
I chose a couple of lines at 6m and fed Yorkshire Baits Yellow Toffee groundbait containing some micros and maggots. I gave it 20 minutes on the long pole and pellet hoping to have a few early carp but nothing happened. Moving over the ground bait and the fish started coming, some good skimmers and the odd big roach and hybrids. I really enjoy catching these Hybrids as they put up a great scrap I’d love to fish somewhere that is solid with them. I had a nice spell a couple of hours in to the match when I was catching steadily on maggot. Just when the thoughts entered my head that a weight was on the cards the bites stopped! I don’t know what caused them to stop feeding but they did, not just for me but all on the lake seemed to slow down!
I had 40 minutes on the GB feeder and managed a carp and a couple of bream but then that line gave up on me. I decided to spend the remaining time down the edge looking for carp but I’m afraid that didn’t work either. Andy came round with the scales and I had 35lb which was a reasonable weight considering I had only caught for less than half the match! The section was won by Mike O’Gorman who was opposite me he had in the region of 50lb he did well as the wind was horrendous straight into his face, good job it didn’t rain!
Maver Pairs
Saturday saw Harry Billing and I at White Acres for the Maver pairs qualifier and having got through to the final last year we were keen to get back to Maver Larford for another go! Zone A was to be on Trelawney and Python and Zone B Twin Oaks and Canal. As you can select your zone we had already decided that I would be on A.
Pressure point
I personally was having nothing to do with the draw bag today; the responsibility was placed firmly on the shoulders of the draw master himself! I stood as far back from the bag as possible but I was having a sneaky peak from the rear of the queue! He was soon back with the news that he was on peg 11 Twin Oaks which was a good area to be in. I was on peg 9 Trelawney. My initial reaction was that it was going to be a tough one as pegs 1 and 19 were also in my 10 peg section and those two pegs could reach over with the pole. If the fish were resident it would be a struggle. Harry reassured me that it was a reasonable area and he said peg 10 – 12 were the most consistent pegs in the recent festival. When I got to the peg Ritchie Hull walked past and heaped a bit of pressure on my shoulders saying that Harry and I had a couple of good draws and he thought we would qualify!
The Plan
There was no doubt that the method was going to be key today and I could see everybody setting that up and casting tight to the island so we all had the same idea, no surprises there! I actually set up two Spro pickers 2.70m rods for the method just in case I had a disaster with one. Both had 28g Preston inline feeders and bait was going to be micro pellet I had three pints with me and intended on using it all. I set up a couple of pole rigs for the 5m line which would also do for the 13m as well. I included a paste rig in the plan. Finally I assembled an edge rig and a shallow rig just in case!
The weather was abysmal with very strong winds that was swirling all over the place heavy rain was forecast as well, in fact during the match we had torrential rain and I don’t recall ever seeing such big rain drops! We also had a spell of hail stones, lovely spring weather!
On the hooter I was straight out on the method with a boilie, I was hoping for a quick fish but it didn’t come. I could see the anglers to my right all have early fish but I had no indications what so ever. It was the same for Paul Carpenter to my right, I stuck to it casting every few minutes confident that I was putting a bed of feed down in case the carp came through my swim. After 30 minutes or so I had my first pull round, I had changed to a 6mm pellet and a very small carp had taken a fancy to it. It was followed a short while later by an equally small F1.
I started getting the odd small carp and it was nice to be putting something in the net. My old mate Mark Murdoch turned up behind me as he was down on holiday fishing the festival which stars on Monday. Mark sat behind for a short time in fact he stayed until it rained and he was gone in double quick time! My peg slowly started to show some life and carp including a few 3 pounders started putting in an appearance. I was enjoying the fishing and from what I could see I thought I was edging in front but a couple of other anglers were catching.
On the pull
I had a great pull round and as I picked up the rod I saw a ghostie role in the shallow water I thought it was about 3lb but it fought really well and I was pleased to put the net under an 8lb plus Koi Mirror it was a fantastic looking fish and easily my best of the day. I would have loved to have had a few more of those and wished I had my camera me!
The fish were not really having it and I could see a few of the anglers trying the pole but they were only catching the odd fish that kept me on the method. I had fed the pole line from the off dropping a few 6mm pellets every few minutes on the 5m line. During the match I had literally three 2 minute spells on the pole without any indications; I also had a probably 10 minutes down the edge again with no bites including the last 5 minutes.
Make mine a pint
Mark sat behind me during the last couple hours or so and during one very heavy shower I looked behind him as he was huddling up under my waterproof jacket, he looked quite hurt when I demanded it back. He got me back though when he was joined by his mate with 30 minutes to go and I heard the unmistakable sound of two cans of beer opening, they refused to give a tin saying I had to concentrate on the tip, all I could concentrate on was the imaginary taste of the amber nectar!
The scales came around and the section leader had 58lb and I was thinking that it was going to be close, I had my fish in two nets and the first weigh went 28lb and I immediately knew I had taken the lead when the second net came out of the water, I finished with 66lb and was really pleased to win the section, more so as it is the first time I have fished the method with any conviction and I actually enjoyed the experience, it must be great when you are really on a few.
We are on our way to Larford
The rumour was that Harry had been catching but I couldn’t find anyone who knew for definite and as he had to go and pick Linda up I couldn’t speak to him. It was later in the bar that I bumped into Rob Fuller who was a couple of pegs from Harry and he told me that Harry had won Twin Oaks with 150lb. Not only winning his section but the match as well! We were the only pair to finish with two section wins. My mates from Surrey Calvin Lawson and Paul Taylor were the pair in second place with four points from two section seconds. They did really well considering that they were up at 4am to get to the draw on time.
I was staying with them in their lodge Saturday night and I have to say we celebrated with style, win or lose have a booze springs to mind.
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CONGRATULATIONS STEWART ALL THE BEST FOR LARFORD
The Billing and Lister show rolls on !!…………well done Stew and say high to the Shilling !
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