Bait Tech Festival 2014, Whiteacres.

It hardly seems like a year since I last loaded up the car and headed off to Cornwall, to chance my arm at the Bait Tech festival.  After the weather last year, I’m glad I now have a van to chuck all the wet, soggy gear in. We upgraded to a lodge again this year, much more room, but I think that Whiteacres have cottoned on to the upgrades being more frequently used, as it was another £80 on top of last year’s upgrade cost.

The weather wasn’t the best when we arrived, so after a look round the lakes we retired to the warmth of the bar to discuss tactics and catch up with a few folk we hadn’t seen for 12 months.

Sunday dawned and I was determined to get out on the bank, unless the weather was a raging storm, we plumped for Trewaters and fished 4 pegs in a line on the top lake, all trying out different baits and methods.  I caught initially on bread across to the island on a bomb, but this didn’t last long.  Meat down the track at about 6 or 7m produced F1’s, but no matter how I altered the shotting or the way I put the rig in, I couldn’t hit more than 1 in 5 bites from them.

I had also been feeding maggot short and caught skimmers, decent roach and F1’s on this line, the F1’s were easier to catch on maggot. Harry  Billing came for a walk round and was heartened to see the float going under so many times, I’m sure he knew how to increase that 1in5 bites hit ratio.

Going into the draw saw me in the ‘section of death’ with Des Shipp, Alan Scotthorne, Sandra Scotthorne, Lee Kerry, Jason Lebosquet and many more top quality anglers.

Day One and Monday’s home was peg 27 on Pollawyn, I draw I couldn’t complain about, except that just about everyone confirmed it was the wrong day to draw it, strong winds and persistent heavy rain coming at me through the gap in the island and having Alan Scotthorne on the next peg didn’t help.  I set up a straight lead to fish bread to the island, I rather optimistically set up a waggler to fish to the island and 3 pole rigs, one for the margin, one to fish meat at 8m (8m was the most pole anyone one on the high bank had out of their holdall, the wind was just to strong) and another for caster at 5m.

I had what was a dream start, I had two fish for 18lb in the net in the first 20 minutes, these came on the popped up bread, with the odd liner giving me hope that there were a few sat out there. I then had an F1 and a small Barbel which signalled the end of the bites and liners.  The match turned from a dream into a nightmare, as whatever I did, failed to produce a bite, or on the meat line meant waiting 20 minutes or more for a bite, which resulted in a palm sized skimmer.  No point in catching three of them an hour, so back onto the lead and I managed a couple more carp on punched meat, ending the day with 40.06 for a dismal last but one in section, only beating the angler immediately to my left.  Alan Scotthorne had made his meat line work, not catching at a fantastic rate, but he landed some better fish, weighing 67lb – that’s why I’m not a 5 times world champion…….

Day Two and it was to be Jenny’s or Trewaters , having had a few fish on Sunday, I quite fancied Trewaters, so obviously drew Jenny’s  - peg 2.  Only one ‘star’ name in the section today, Phil Ringer, even so, not an easy task.  I was advised to set up a waggler and that the island was too shallow to catch consistently, but I did set up a lead for bread.  Pole rigs for meat at 5m, caster and groundbait topkit or topkit+1 and a rig to fish at 14m – bait to be decided as the match progressed.  Once again the bread proved a worthwhile opener, just giving it 15 minutes put a 3lb carp and a 1lbish F1 in the net straight away.  The meat line was very slow with just the odd crucian to show for my efforts, so a look on the short line with groundbait and caster was necessary, this was producing skimmers, crucians and F1’s, not as fast as I’d like, but no one that I could see was really bagging. 

 That soon changed as Phil Ringer switched from a groundbait feeder to a meat feeder and was soon catching F1’s and the odd carp at a decent rate. This prompted me to try a meat feeder to the left of the island, but all that did was waste half an hour, as it didn’t produce a fish.  Phil was catching tight to the aerator post, if he did have a wayward cast (a rare sight….) he didn’t get a bite.  So for me it was back on the short line and increasing the groundbait fed brought a decent run of fish, with the line getting stronger and stronger towards the end.  My decision to go on the feeder cost me a point and a section pick up by default, as Phil won the lake with 76lb, Vince Brown was second in the section with 57lb and I weighed just under 53lb for 3^rd in section, an extra half hour on the short line would have seen me nick that point from Vince.

 Day Three,  Twin Oaks and Trelawny, Twin Oaks always seem to win the lake money, so I get peg 20 on Trelawny.  It’s a narrow peg with the island easily reachable with 14.5m, so my first rig set up was a short MW float to fish up the shelf and I spent some considerable time plumbing that line to try and find a flat area to fish.  Next was a rig for meat at 6m, then a margin rig and finally one to fish worm and groundbait at topkit or topkit+1.   As there was loads of time, I set up a waggler to have a cast around the peg and down towards the end bank to see if there were any shelves of deep areas and finally, as it had been a good starting point the other two days, straight lead for bread.

The bread/lead didn’t produce a bite anywhere in the peg, Lee Kerry was on the next peg (22)and he was trying the same tactic, also without any success.   The island seemed to be the obvious place to catch, in about 18”-2’ of water, but on meat or caster the only bites I could get were from roach.  By now Lee had told me there were carp being caught round the corner from us along the pegs 24-32 and he feared that there were no carp in the area we were in.  By now I was on the groundbait short and catching skimmers up to 2lb, but the problem was there were so many skimmers there, that I was foul hooking and losing fish, cutting back on the groundbait meant I waited longer for a bite, but a least I wasn’t foul hooking them.  Something tore off after I lifted into it, it felt like a decent fish, I played it for a few minutes before it became a dead weight and a large sunken branch surfaced, what ever it was had managed to transfer the hook into this unseen snag.

During the day I pulled a few more branches and large twigs from the peg, I guess they end up in the narrow bit before becoming water logged and sinking.  About ¾ of an hour after losing the fish, I hooked another, this one made it into the net, a Barbel of around 3lb, judging by the fight, I think this is what I lost.  I then managed to lose a bream which I put at 4-5lb, hook pulled as it surfaced and opened its mouth.  I did manage one carp taken on virtually the last put in of the day, but whilst I had been pushing if not beating Lee into the last half an hour, he managed 5 carp down the edge, (back towards 24) which gave him a weigh of 42lb and a carp weigh of 46 for 88lb.  My hard won 52lb of which 40lb was skimmers was only enough for 4^th in section, as the F1’s and carp had fed on the pegs round the corner.

Day Four, Porth.  I had been regaled with tales of nets of roach from Porth, but the daily results sheets showed just how hard it was fishing, with blanks and ounces appearing on them.  I decided that my pole was staying in the lodge, two feeder rods were the order of the day, as the best way for me to beat the quality field was fish a tidy match on the feeder and hope for 3 or 4 proper pull rounds.  Speaking to Phil Ringer, that was exactly his plan too.  I was disappointed to draw peg 39, I was hoping for one in the 70’s, I drew 40 last year and it had been a hard section, getting better as you went down the section into the deeper water.

So a long trudge to my peg, the waders and platform were put to use and the feeder rods set up, a 11’ Daiwa Tournament Pro for 25 turns and a 13’ Maver Reactorlite for 55 turns.  Plenty of ground bait made up, without too much feed in it. On the all in I spent 20 minutes casting and retrieving the big feeder at 55 turns and then left it to settle whilst I had a look on the 25 turn line with the same groundbait mix and fluoro  maggot.  Nothing until ¾ of an hour in when I missed a bite (wish I had spooled up some braid) next cast I had a small skimmer, followed by two more in consecutive casts, this was a false dawn , as nothing else showed in the next 20 minutes.

I switched to the 55 turn line and with 2 hair rigged worms settled back for a wait, but a movement on the tip had me striking and missing a bite, next put in a proper pull round and the solid feel of a big slab, with my heart now racing, as not much was being caught I eased the fish in and after about 15 turns it shook its head and dislodged the hook……..  I suppose it could have been a big perch, or even  a pike, but it felt like a bream and I was pretty pissed off.

No more bites after that for ½ an hour. So back on the short line and a couple of roach and another small skimmer went into the net over the next  hour.   The guy next to me on 38 was blanking, I couldn’t see peg 40 properly, but had a feeling he was struggling,  Down on 36 I could hear Alan Scotthorne having some banter and all the feedback I could hear was that everyone was struggling.  That made my decision to abandon the 25 turn line and concentrate on the 55 turn line, this produced a skimmer and a roach to double worm, hair rigged corn didn’t bring a bite, so back onto worm.  I was feeling tired after concentrating on a tip that hadn’t moved much, when with 10 minutes to go, it pulled round again, as I reached for the handle to strike I knew it was a bream and I played it nervously to the net. With only 5 minutes left the dream of another didn’t materialise, but I thought it would be a decent weight.  As it turned out Jason Lebosquet on the section end peg 32 had 7lb of skimmers, Alan Sotthorne had 5lb 7oz and I ended up with 5lb 2oz, so an expensive lost fish.  

Day Five, Bolingey.  No need to over complicate things for this match, two baits, bread and meat. Peg 11 was staring back at me when I drew, an island chuck and in the area where the fish were the day before.  Nothing fancy nor finesse today, a lead rod with 8lb Shimano Technium to a 0,20 hook length and a 14 QM1.  A waggler rod  and 3 pole rigs complete the set up, a 6m rig for meat, a 12m rig for meat and a margin rig.

Starting on the bread saw a fish on the net second cast, but I coukd see that the fish were further along the island in front of 15, 16 and 17, I dro[[ed short into the deeper water and experimented with the height of the pop up and had a couple of fish at 4’ off bottom.  But as they weren’t there in any great numbers. I came in and had a look on the two pole lines, nothing at 12m, but the 6m line produced a fish approaching 15lb first put in.  A long wait for bites  saw another 3 fish netted from the 6m line, a look down the margin was a pointless exercise and the fish had started to come round the point of the island with 2 hours to go.  I would have fancied catching them on the waggler, but whilst the wind wasn’t overly strong, it did put a nasty L to R skim across my peg.  I shortened the bread hooklength back to 12” and caught steadily on that for the last 1 3/4 hours.  I weighed 118lb which was enough for second on the day, well behind Des who had 190lb+ on peg 39, again om meat and bread.

So, my aim was to better last year’s position and I failed, 49^th, although another 2 points would have made it look a lot more respectable and the time wasted on the feeder on Jennys and my total inability to catch on the pole on 27 Pollawyn scuppered me.  Lee Kerry was good enough to show me his rigs for F1 fishing and to explain my missed bite problem was almost 100% down to feeding.

Another good week though, thanks to Lodge and fishing mates, Paul and Glen, Paul took Lodge honours coming 42^nd, beating me by one point, Glen was 69^th and only a couple of points behind. A few beers, some laughs and some shared frustrations at wrong or late decisions and changes. I did scoop the Gudgeon trophy though, with two on Jenny’s, one to defend next year!

Special thanks to our ‘Lodge Maid’ Chips Rafferty, breakfast cooker, washer up and all round nice guy.

Roll on next March…………

Bait Tech Festival 2013

The last year seems to have flown by, even with the awful weather we now seem to endure for much of the year. A uneventful drive down saw me arrive at the Whiteacres complex at the same time as the sleet, then snow and hail, a bit different from last year, when the on site shop sold out of sun tan lotion.  I called in and picked up the caravan keys and they offered an upgrade to a lodge for £100, we did that and were so grateful for the extra room for preparation and trying to get clothing and tackle dry overnight.

The weather did not inspire us to practice on the Saturday and with Glenn (Calvert) being a big egg chasing fan we settled into the lodge and then headed to the bar to watch Wales v England, the Welsh contingent got pretty rowdy as they celebrated their victory and seeing what we assumed was soiled bed linen outside of their lodge the next morning, I guess they celebrated to excess!!

The weather had perked up a bit by Sunday morning and we decided to practice on Pollawyn, we all had a few fish, Paul (Faiers) and me catching skimmers on the groundbait feeder, Glenn had a few on the pole using meat. After, we adjourned to the bar to discuss the next day and our prospects, although as I was on Porth, I wasn't likely to be boosting my weight on the first day.

First morning draw saw me on Porth 40, end peg, but with the cold weather I and most others thought it would be the wrong end. I had stripped down my gear to the bare essentials, but added a platform and waders, which as 40 is stuck out into the water, I didn't need.  Some top quality company on the next few pegs, Rob Wotton on 39, Pemb Wrighting on 38 and Tom Scholey on 37. I'd write an in depth analysis, but it wouldn't be any more instructive than a few brief lines as the fishing was poor, I had 7 bites, one of which was a 2lb skimmer on the waggler.  The most entertaining bit of the day was whilst setting up, somehow Tom Scholey's rear box leg gave way and dumped him straight into the lake, not a good day to be totally immersed in the reservoir.

I managed to weigh in 3.04, Rob Wotton pipped me by 2oz, Pemb had 2oz less than me and Tom barely scraped a pound. The weights were slightly better further down the lake, but 6lb odd was top weight from the 36 anglers. A poor start, not good having your 'dropper' on the first day.

Peg 40 produced the following weights for the five days:  3.04  0.05  2.11  0.05  0.06  so you can see how poorly Porth fished, the best weight of the week was on the last day, from the 70's, Mark Harper had 19.15, I think that was one of two double figure weights all week and there were a few blanks.  Glenn drew 40 on the last day and Paul had 83 with Callum Dicks on the next peg, they managed 3 and 2 ounces respectively, Paul was savouring beating off the next peg, Callum by 50% more weight.......

Clint had a vote, Porth yes or Porth no for the festivals next year and will do so on the next couple of festivals as well, given how hard it fished, it was surprising to see it come up Porth yes by 3:1.

Day two saw me on Bolingey, couldn't be more different than Porth, but there was a chance of struggling for bites, as the carp are still in winter mode and resident in areas. Peg 43 was to be my home for the 5 hours, Paul had a second in section from 44 the previous day with 84lb, with Callum winning the section from 31 with 111.10 .  43 is opposite peg 31, which was drawn by Pemb Wrighting, who had 10 fish before I and most of the others on the lake had a bite.

Meat was the plan, but I did feed some caster down the RH edge, as there was a flat shelf in front of a little gorse bush, although I'd have been happier if it had been more than 4m along the bank. I started at 7m as that is where Paul caught the day before, but with no indication after 30 mins I had a drop in the margin and hooked a carp on meat over the caster feed, I lost that and discovered the curly pig tail of a shoddy hook whipping, bugger.  Out to 13m and at last, my first fish, not a big one and it had me puzzled at first, but it turned out to be a small grass carp, the first one I've ever caught.

The switch to 13m saw the fish come at a reasonably steady rate, 8mm meat over 6mm meat feed doing the trick, a slow 4th hour happened for everyone on the lake, before the fish came late on the 7m line. I did have a couple of looks over the caster and took two fish from there, but there were very few fish caught from the margins.  As expected, Pemb won the section with 145.02, I had clicked 53 and 38 for my two nets, the actually went 51 and 42, I guess the fish I clicked at 10lb was 13lb.  93.04 being the total,which gave me 3rd in section, as Paul Holland had 99lb from peg 41. All those who caught decent weights fed very little.

Peg 43 produced these weights for the week.  56.00  93.04  18.06  42.10  46.02

Day 3 saw me headed for Pollawyn peg 16, Andy Neil had won the section from here the day before with 117lb of carp on the waggler, shallow, but that was overshadowed by Pete Wilde's 261.14 from peg 27.  I am reasonably happy with my waggler fishing so was looking forward to catching a few over, I also set up a straight lead and a pole, that had a rig for meat at 11m.  I gave the waggler and bomb 55 mins with one skimmer on popped up bread, before feeling that it wouldn't work. First drop in on the 11m line I had a 4lb carp, then a couple of skimmers, before another carp about 6lb. I then had two barbel which weren't far off 3lb each, then a few skimmers up to 2lb.  The carp didn't show in any numbers after their battering the day before, the guys either side of me had persevered for them and didn't get enough to beat my mixed bag, that weighed 33.14 for second in section , being beaten by peg 22, where Ricky Salmon weighed 45.03.

The weights I have for peg 16 are:  ??:??  117.15  33.14  55.14  50.09

Day 4 saw me needing a good draw, the weather this day was horrendous, strong and gusting winds and torrential rain, it stayed all day.  I drew 25 on Trewaters, deep joy, totally exposed and with the cold wind blowing straight down the lake into the peg, to cap it off it managed last in section the day before. As an omen for the day, when I got to the peg, on the footpath was a 3lb carp with its gills eaten out, I assume otter or mink.

The wind lashing down the lake ensured the first thing I set up was a straight lead, I also set up a waggler as I wasn't convinced I wanted to risk the pole, but I did set up two topkits and 3 sections.  Starting on the lead, the tip remained motionless, I had clipped up tight to the island and tried that, as well as dropping short, all to no avail. Finally the tip did go round and a small carp saved the blank. Two more followed in quick succession after a swop to worm on the hook and I thought I had worked it out, but no that was the end of the straight lead action. I had searched up and down the island, the open water and along the end bank, all without any indication.

Switching to the pole saw a couple of micro perch, before I foul hooked a big carp that gave me the run round and then straightened out the hook - landing that would have given me 2 or 3 more points. I managed to get 3 or 4 decent skimmers on the pole and weighed in a paltry 14.10 for 5th in the section, which was won with 28.15 from peg 35 which was the only peg with the wind from behind.  A miserable day and any chance of sneaking into the top 20 gone.

Weights from peg 25:  ??.??  ??.??  9.16  14.10  2.06

Day 5 Trelawny and Twin Oaks, I came out of the draw bag with 25 on Trelawny, it had produced a section win on the first day and peg 26 had won the section for the previous 2 days, so a decent draw.  The information was that carp right across to the island on the lead  and meat. I duly set up the lead rod and clipped up tight to the island. I also set up 3 rigs, but only got 9m of pole out as the wind was gusting again and the forecasters were promising 4" of rain!!  One rig to fish just touching bottom and a diamond shape float with 5" of line on the bottom to try and achieve some sort of presentation in the windy conditions. I also set up a margin rig, but no more to said about that.

On the all in a volley of leads with meat went out and for the most part they were non productive, I fed a line at 9m with 6mm meat, as the lead once again looked to be a non starter, I did have a very small F1 on the lead and then bumped one, that was the last bite on it and it went up the bank where it belongs.

I had a couple of small F1's on the meat at 9m, but it was slow going, so I chopped up some worm, that and some caster went in on a new line in a tangerine sized ball of sieved lake and gimps gold. A whole dendra with the tail nipped off brought a decent run of F1's and skimmers up to 2lb, it was essential to keep a nugget of groundbait going in at least every other fish.  A lovely days fishing, not a vermin in sight and the weather forecasters got it wrong, the wind dropped and the rain mainly stayed away.  My net of fish went 35.02 to win the section by 5lb, a decent result to end on, sadly it was the lowest weight section of the 4 that make up the lake (even though its 2 lakes!), so only a section payout.

Peg 25 weights: 54.01  ??.??  ??.??  30.02 35.02

It would be good if Whiteacres put some money into creating decent paths round the lakes, I guess 80% are using shuttles and the wheels sink into the mud or the thin layer of chippings they have put down. My one other gripe was the restaurant, I felt the service and food quality was poor.

It was a good  festival, shame Porth was poor, but Trewaters also fished hard, but didn't get so much stick, it was cold, the wind and rain didn't help and there were some good weights, but often not two days running from the same pegs.  Last year I felt like a fish out of water, this year I fed sparingly and didn't get sidetracked by the bait limits, a couple of decent draws helped, but you'll never compete from bad draws.

Paul took the £5 side bet off Glenn and myself, but it was close, our final positions were:

Paul Faiers 29th  30 points  177.06
Chris Fox  46th   29 points  176.06
Glenn Calvert 59th  27 points 156.00

Bait Tech Festival 2012

Today saw me on 31, Twin Oaks, I'd decided on a line at 14m for worm and caster, a short line for meat and tight to the far bank with a waggler and straight lead. I also set up a margin rig as both margins looked tempting and one rig did for both.

I clipped up the waggler and lead rod, plumbed up the pole rigs and was ready for the start, I had an F1 on the second chuck with the straight lead and then one of those inexplicible cock ups, the lead hit the far bank and I lost the lot. I don't like leaving tackle on the bank, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Switching to the waggler I had a carp tight across, then heard a commotion as a duck had picked up my lost line and then tangled that up with the waggler set up of Lewis Walker on peg 29, he managed to get the duck in and I went down to his peg and cut all the line off it - it flew away quite safely.

Sad to say that was the most exciting part of the day, the promising looking margins only producing one fish from each side, a few skimmers on the pole and a couple of carp across ensured that my dismal performance continued.

Onto the last day and I was looking forward to Porth, I was confident that I could put in a better showing than on the lakes dominated by F1's. 82 out of the drawbag, so a trip on the boat and it was dropping off at peg 80, so a short walk. I was intending to only take a couple of feeder rods, but I did slip a waggler rod into the rod bag.

I set up two feeder rods, one at 25 turns and one at 60 turns, the 60 turns rod didn't get touched again, so no more about that.  I added the waggler rod to the set up, with a large bodied Drake waggler. Hooklengths were 0.10 flurocarbon and size 16 hooks on both rods used.

Starting on the feeder with caster & worm, I had indications and a couple of fish early on, after an hour of bites and a few small skimmers I tried the waggler and had 3 fish including a chunky 4oz roach, in 3 put ins. Then the line caught under the plastic plug on top of the platform leg and broke, I retackled up, but couldn't replicate the bite a chuck of the first 3 casts.

Back on the tip and I kept fish coming, the 2 best fish, skimmers of about 12oz and 1lb, both taken by pike, at 4 o'clock another disaster - the fine glass tip of my drennan rod snapped, so I had to retackle up with another tip section. I kept catching to the end and was happy that I'd fished a much better match than the previous 3 days. I was second to weigh in in the section and was winning the section with 5lb 10oz until end peg 89 weighed 6lb odd. Someone said,"that end peg has won the section every time I've been here!!"

So some redemption on the last day, the festival was a massive learning curve. I now know how little I understand meat fishing, F1 fishing and that good up to date info is crucial to success in these festivals. The bait limit meant I was worrying about taking the full amount, which on every day was too much.

I reckon I'll go again, but next time with full preperation and more prepared to ask questions.

See the Whiteacres website for all the results.