Travelled down on Saturday and met up with lodge mates Paul & Glenn in the café at Whitacres, also Dave Stephenson was there. After a decent breakfast we headed onto Pollawyn for a practice session, me and Paul headed for one of the points and fished 19 & 20, Glenn and Dave went round to the high bank. We had a lovely afternoons fishing, I mainly fished meat short and caught skimmers, Barbel, F1's and Carp. Paul had some huge F1's that must have gone 5 or 6lb each. He also had this Barbel which was 6-7lb.
The usual Saturday night social in the bar and then onto Sunday, decided to have a fish on Acorn, that was tough going, but we did end up with a reasonable day once we sussed out the F1's were shallow. I had bought a couple of packets of the new Guru Kaizen hooks to try whilst practising, not intending to use something untried in the festival, but I was so impressed by them, that I did use them in the matches.
Onto the festival itself, I had drawn in the same section rotation as Paul and Glenn, first time that had happened, we had the rotation of Monday on Pollawyn, Tuesday on Twin Oaks / Trelawny, Wednesday on Jennys / Trewaters, Thursday on Canal / Acorn & Python and Friday was Bolingey.
The draw put me on 21 on Pollawyn, the next peg to where I fished on Saturday, Paul drew 20, so we felt that we knew how to catch, as the short meat line had been so prolific. I could also reach the point of the spit, so set up a rig to fish tight against it in about 2' of water. I set up waggler and lead as well as the same rig I had all the fish on Saturday. I started across against at 16m the island with meat and had a carp about 5lb straight away, then a F1 and then hooked a big carp, which took ages to get back from 16m I got it down to the topkit and saw it, I'd estimate 18lb, then inexplicably, as sometimes happens, the hook pulled and that was my bonus fish gone.
I managed to catch more F1's across and a few skimmers and a 12lb carp on the short line, but it was nothing like practice day, as the F1's and Barbel didn't show up on that short line at all. I weighed 57.02 which was enough to win the section and 4th on the lake, that lost fish costing me a third place. (Top three on the lake are paid out and section winners).
Tuesday saw me draw peg 12 on Twin Oaks, not an out and out flyer, but not the worst draw, I set up two lead rods, two wagglers one deep and one shallow, a margin rig and rig for meat short. Starting across on the lead was pretty unproductive, either with bread or meat, I did have one fish and a switch to the waggler wasn't any better. Peg 14 was catching well and I was falling behind, I had to try and make something happen, so I started firing pouchfulls of corn across and fished corn on the waggler, this made a big difference and I started to catch - mainly F1's, but the odd carp. The short line was totally dead until the last 30 minutes where I put 5 more carp in the net. Peg 14 won the section, with 172lb, I put 124.06 on the scales and was 12lb behind 2nd place, but I only managed 4th, so an earlier switch to corn may well have seen me get a couple of extra points.
Wednesday, I was hoping for a draw on Jenny's as Trewaters is a bit of a bogie venue for me, it wasn't to be and 31 Trewaters was home for the day and I had Paul for company on 29. The wind was right to fish 16m and long line, but I didn't set it up, as my shoulder is buggered up and there is no way I can swing that around all day. There were some old bulrushes on the far bank, I could see them knocking, these lakes with islands are my least favourite and I hate the way the fish stick so tight to them.
First cast with bread and the tip went round as I was sinking the line, a small carp, then another, but typically for this lake, that was it, I fished the waggler across and had a couple more, but they would back off into the rushes and casting tight to the rushes meant the wove their way into the back of the stick-ups and snagging everything up.
The short line was totally non productive and I did manage a couple down the edge towards the end, I just had to keep leaving the far bank and then going back to it and taking an odd fish. I knew the pole at 16m with about 6m of line would be better, but couldn't risk making my shoulder so bad I couldn't fish the rest of the week. I ended up with 60.09 and the same points as Tuesday.
I got back to the lodge and then discovered that Paul's van had broken down leaving Trewaters, so me and Glenn went down to find him. Couldn't do anything to help, I hadn't taken any tools or my code reader. It sounded like there was no fuel getting through, The tow truck took him off to the garage, where the next day they informed him the cambelt had snapped...... ouch.
Thursday I drew 19 Canal, Alex Nadin had popped down for a couple of days staying with his dad and he was good enough to give Paul and Glenn a lift to the lakes.
Having listened to Trigger who won his section on Canal earlier in the week, so I set up to fish meat short, I also set up a waggler, a lead and a long line, as well as a shallow rig and one at 2/3 depth. Starting on meat short was a good move, as I caught steadily for a couple of hours, then I started missing bites and had a couple of foulers. A switch to the 2/3 depth rig resulted in a few more fish, before the same happened. Switching again to the shallow rig saw a few more fish netted. I wasn't sure how much I had in the net, so dropped another in - kiss of death - had to switch to chucking a waggler and corn down the peg to get an odd fish for the last couple of hours. I weighed 63.08 for a section win and third on the lakes.
Friday, the draw was at Bolingey, I took Glenn and Allan Oram was good enough to take Paul, I drew 25, not too over joyed, but then found I had no one either side and loads of room.
I set the usual, lead, waggler and long, short and an edge rig on the pole. Two chucks with the lead and bread, not so much as a liner and up the bank with it. A look on the short line saw me get off to a great start, 42lb on the clicker in the first hour, carp and big F1's, I did think a big weight might be on the cards. The second hour knocked that back, as I put one carp and one F1 in the net for 12lb, the third hour was as bad. Luckily the 5m line came back to life in the last couple of hours and I had a few from the margin. I fed both sides, one with maggot and one with corn and meat, the maggot line just produced roach, so no more about that.
The LH edge produced 4 or 5 fish, but there wasn't loads of fish there, the 5m line was better and there was some bubbles and signs of fish there towards the end, shame about the quiet mid section of the match, as I put 132.14 on the scales, which was second in section behind peg 10 which won the section 4 days out of 5. That was also enough for 3rd on the lake, so a pickup again to end the week.
Shame I couldn't have nicked a couple more points on Twin Oaks as that would have seen me scrape into the top ten, I guess I can't complain at 19th as I have a had a good weeks fishing in great company, thanks to Lodge mate Paul and Glenn, the evening company in the bar, Steve and Alex Nadin, Chris Albiston, Dave Stephenson and all the others from our local circuit and those I only see at big matches or Whiteacres.
I guess I'll have to get booked on the Preston Festival now.......
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