Pole Series Overall Table After 5 Matches

 Table showing worst result dropped.

Pole Only 2012 Overall Table
With Worst Result Deducted After 5 Matches
Name			Points		Weight			Worst Points		Weight from worst points
1	R Wootten		39		240	8		0		0	0
2	L Walker		37		220	15		0		0	0
3	S Carvello		36		215	6		0		0	0
4	D Wride		35		299	5		8		22	0
5	M Bromsgrove		34		186	0		6		11	11
6	B Slipper		33		167	14		0		0	0
7	G Calvert		33		124	4		5		24	4
8	L Tucker		32		282	1		3		6	1
9	K Rayner		27		221	4		3		10	3
10	M Owens		26		112	3		5		54	10
11	N Harvey		25		173	3		5		12	1
12	P Faiers		25		168	14		4		10	4
13	K Perry		24		133	6		0		0	0
14	A Hockin		24		91	4		2		29	14
15	G Mewdell		23		117	11		0		0	0
16	R Lovering		22		186	11		0		0	0
17	R Heatley		22		134	15		0		0	0
18	C Fox		22		94	9		3		48	10
19	S Johnson		20		86	14		0		0	0
20	D Baker		16		95	1		0		0	0
21	D Vowles		16		72	9		0		0	0
22	M Walsh		15		114	5		0		0	0
23	P Nicholls		14		35	0		0		0	0
24	P Lasson		13		83	0		0		0	0
25	D Poole		13		36	6		0		0	0
26	J Osbourne		12		50	10		0		0	0
27	A Maysom		11		75	10		0		0	0
28	M Tomes		6		40	5		0		0	0
29	S Parrtridge		5		12	0		0		0	0
30	M Michalski		3		29	2		0		0	0

Pole Only, Round 5 Acorn & Plantation

My turn to fish Acorn, Paddock lake. Out of the bucket comes peg 6, not a bad draw, but with the wind blowing straight down the peg, I wasn't too convinced that today was a good day to draw it. Looking across the bridge to pegs 38 & 40, they had mill pond like conditions and could present light rigs anywhere in their pegs - no surprise to see Lance Tucker and lewis Jones sat there......

I set up a a couple of rigs to fish banded pellet across, one shallow and one at the depth of the shelf. Another pellet rig for full depth and a silvers rig for fishing caster short. There were some fish across to the left hand edge of the bridge, but presenting a bait correctly was impossible, Nick Harvey on peg 7 was emitting strings of expletives, also suffering from the wind wrecking any sort of presentation.

The RH end of the bridge produced four fish in as many drop ins, great, but that was it, not another fish to be had from that line. I gave up and started fishing for silvers after 3 hours, I had some lovely roach to about 14oz on caster, four tench, although three of them were 4 ouncers!! Several carp took a liking to the caster, but the peg seemed to be short of skimmers, which without, I'd struggle in the silvers.

At the end my carp went 33.12 and silvers 14.14 for a dismal nothing in either category, Plantation had fished hard for silvers, with B section only producing 2 fish. Great, I'm in that section next!!

Results on the day:

A;
1) Lance Tucker 122.06 peg 38
2) Lewis Jones 116.14 peg 40

Silvers
1) Paul Faiers 31.00 peg 1
2) Lance Tucker 20.04 peg 38

B:
1) Simon Carvello 58.13 B4
2) Darren 'Noddy' Vowles 33.00 B10

Silvers
1) John Osbourne 1.02 B1
2) Simon Carvello 0.04 B4

C:
1) Glenn Calvert 46.07 C5
2) Mark Broomsgrove 31.05 C8

Silvers
1) Mark Broomsgrove 12.09 C8
2) Andy Hembrow 9.04 C6

Maver Match This - Viaduct Sat 19th May

Really not too much to write about this one, Tony Rixon told me the brekkie in woddy's cafe was good, they only did rolls on the morning, which were good, but not the same as a full fry up.
Peg 90 in the corner of Cary was to be my home for 5 hours and a boring home it proved to be!!

I set up a lead rod, two wagglers, one shallow, one deep and a three pole rigs, a margin rig, a meat rig for 6-7m and a banded pellet rig for 14.5m.

I struggled to get a bite, but I wasn't alone, it took an hour or so before I hooked and landed, what turned out to be a solitary carp, by casting towards the tree overhanging the end bank by peg 92 (I think).

That was it, no more carp, two nomadic skimmers completed by days efforts and I packed up with half an hour to go, so I don't have the results.

Pole Only Series Tables After 4 Matches

The Overall Table

Name			Points		Weight
1	R Wootten		39		240	8
2	D Wride		35		221	8
3	B Slipper		33		167	14
4	M Broomsgrove		31		166	8
5	L Walker		29		192	3
6	G Calvert		28		102	2
7	S Carvello		26		156	9
8	M Owens		26		112	3
9	L Tucker		25		159	11
10	P Faiers		25		128	15
11	K Rayner		24		157	13
12	K Perry		24		133	6
13	N Harvey		23		108	5
14	R Lovering		22		186	11
15	C Fox		22		94	9
16	A Hockin		18		92	3
17	G Mewdell		17		105	4
18	D Baker		16		95	1
19	M Walsh		15		114	5
20	R Heatley		15		106	6
21	S Johnson		14		62	10
22	A Maysom		11		75	10
23	P Lasson		9		74	6
24	D Poole		8		25	0
25	J Osbourne		7		39	14
26	D Vowles		7		39	9
27	P Nicholls		7		14	1
28	M Tomes		6		40	5
29	S Parrtridge		5		12	0
30	M Michalski		3		29	2

Silvers Table

Name			Points		Weight
1	M Broomsgrove		40		72	11
2	P Faiers		39		86	1
3	G Calvert		34		73	10
4	D Wride		29		55	9
5	K Rayner		29		37	8
6	R Wootten		27		54	15
7	B Slipper		27		22	0
8	D Baker		24		43	5
9	M Owens		24		37	4
10	A Hockin		23		39	12
11	K Perry		23		22	2
12	R Lovering		20		28	3
13	M Walsh		20		15	8
14	C Fox		18		46	5
15	L Tucker		18		25	14
16	N Harvey		18		10	10
17	D Poole		16		11	2
18	J Osbourne		14		30	12
19	R Heatley		14		27	12
20	S Carvello		14		7	4
21	G Mewdell		13		26	3
22	P Lasson		13		11	8
23	S Johnson		12		6	2
24	M Michalski		11		19	0
25	M Tomes		9		21	2
26	S Parrtridge		6		3	7
27	L Walker		5		11	10
28	A Maysom		5		5	15
29	P Nicholls		3		1	0
30	D Vowles		0		0	0

Pole Only Round 4, 2012Sunday 29th April

If I wasn't helping Paul organise this one, the forecasted weather may well have had me crying off and watching some football on the telly!! The drive down was eventful, a Mondeo flying down into the dip by The Airport Tavern and hitting the large flood was evidence of someone not paying attention to the road.

Once at the draw, there were some requests to cancel the match and some others to reduce it to 5 hours, we did put back the draw back 1/2 an hour and the start time, as it was reported that things should improve later in the day.

It was a free draw today and I managed to get C section, the island of Horseshoe Lake at Plantation. We had to reduce the numbers in the sections, due to no shows - it would be good if people rang!!Who'd be a match organiser....

There were some trees down at Plantation, but that was on the main lake, not Horseshoe, it looked nicely coloured but the ferocity of the wind and rain gave the portent of the day ahead. I set up a MW diamond 0.6g, which might seem excessive given the depth, but it did sit stable in the wind and severe surface skim. This had 0.10 and a 20 6313, a lighter diamond with a B960 and a band, just in case...... Yes, you're right it was a waste of time, so no more about it, as it stayed in the rig roost. I also set up a margin rig, more in hope than expectation as the margin was only 15 - 18" deep, too shallow I felt in the cold wind and rain.

I started at 5m maggot over caster and had 3 small carp in the first hour, then a 12oz perch, silvers being hard to come by. It then took me nearly an hour to get another bite, which came as I was struggling to get a neoprene glove on (as my fingers were numb and siezing up), Mark Broomsgrove opposite saw the elastic coming out and told me, the fish tried to get into the bankside rushes and in my attempt to turn it, with stiff and freezing arms and shoulders, it rolled on the surface, a huge perch, 3lb I reckon, sadly the roll on the surface disgorged the hook as neatly as any slammo.

I suffered a biteless 3rd hour and tried groundbait/pimkie and some chopped worm, to no avail The visits to the margin proved equally fruitless, as I suspected they would. It took until 35 minutes before the end before I had another bite and I landed 3 more carp and a roach not far off 1lb before the all out.  I wasn't disapponted to finish, miraculously with 10 minutes of the all out, the lakes tempest  ravaged surface took on a smooth glass like sheen - it happens far too often to be mere coincidence, doesn't it?

My 2 quality silvers went 1.11 and the carp 14.11, the middle 4 blank hours being costly. Acorn lake saw only 3 left at the end to weigh in, it was some of the worst weather (and the coldest April day) that I've fished in. I have some soggy weigh sheets to try and decipher now, I doubt if I will put an update to the tables until next weekend.

Thanks to Ken Rayner for the use of his Salter scales.

A Section (Acorn Paddock Lake)

1) Lewis Walker 47.04 peg 40
2) Simon Carvello 23.00 peg 6

Silvers

1) Simon Carvello 3.08 peg 6
2) Scott Smallwood 2.00 peg 36

B Section (Plantation Horseshoe Outside bank)

1) Rod Wootten 26.04 peg B7
2) John Page 24.12 peg B6

Silvers

1) Mark Broomsgrove 11.03 peg B4
2) Glenn Calvert 8.09 peg B5


C Section (Plantation Horseshoe Island pegs)

1) Brian Slipper 29.09 peg C3
2) Lance Tucker 27.00 peg C10

Silvers

1) Paul Faiers 8.04 peg C1
2) Brian Slipper 5.03 peg C3

Maver Match, Viaduct, Sat 28th April 2012

In January I had a spare £100, so booked tickets for the two Maver qualifiers on Viaduct. It seemed a good idea at the time and Viaduct does seem to be the place, where my luck at the drawbag, sometimes exceeds my usual dismal dips into hats, tins or bait boxes.

Simples. That was the plan for today, one waggler rod, two lead rods and a couple of pole rigs, the waggler being one of those middy clear wagglers, they cast well and just need a little shotting (or a big swivel) to get them sat perfectly. The two lead rods were virtually identical, except for the hooklengths, one was 12" of 0.16 and a Guru 16 with a band, the other 18" of 0.18 with a 16 Guru and a quickstop for meat or bread. Pole rigs were a MW diamond on 0.18 to 0.16 with a 16 B960 and a MW slim power on 0.16 with a 16 Drennan Hair Rigger on 0.14.

Bait tray was simple, 8mm meat, 8mm pellet and 6mm pellet, with a, reduced to 30p in the Esso garage, loaf of bread to pop up should that be necessary - as it wasn't (or didn't work) no more of it and the bread became duck food.

Sadly my consistently shite drawing arm, once again played a blinder, putting me on one of the best skimmer pegs (70 on Lodge) - with no silvers qualification, nor money to fish for. I started on the lead and 8mm pellet and had my one and only liner within 10 minutes of the start, no ther indications on the lead on the several occasions I tried it. The wind (just for a change) was rendering the waggler a waste of time, as the surface drag from L to R and the undertow in the opposite direction thwarted all attempts to keep it in one place for more than a few seconds.

The pole at 12m produced a 5lb carp on the fith or 6th put in and that was to be the sole representative of Cypry's relatives to grace my net. I had a nice days fishing, I filled the bottom rung of my keepnet with skimmers and bream, 45-50lb would be a conservative estimate, but it was, in the context of the day, a total waste of time. I wasn't alone with most pegs on my bank, except 73 (who caught a few carp down to the tree) not weighing in. Oh well, I've another opportunity on 19th may, a carp peg would be nice.....

Rather than my usual photocopies of the weigh sheets, Steve gave me some hand written results, including some info on baits etc.

1) Tont Gilbert 196.08 peg 64(The Monk) 31 Carp on double 8mm meat at 16m in the margin
2) Martin Preston 165.07 peg 81 18 Carp on 11mm pellet on the lead
3) Jeb Attwood 158.08 peg 110 pellet on the waggler
4) Miles levy 139.13 peg 86
5) Ray Hayward 134.12 peg 102
6) Roland Lucas 128.14 peg 85

Avon Angling Open, Wildmarsh, 22/04/12

I like fishing Wildmarsh, it usually fishes a lot harder in matches, than pleasure fishing and it doesn't take huge weights to frame. I was grateful for the 10.00 draw, as I had been into town the night before on my leaving 'do'. (Large quantities of Jaegerbombs and then fishing really don't mix.......)

Still once I'd got to peg 29 and set up a small groundbait feeder, a waggler and two pole rigs, I was feeling much better, the two rigs were a 0.5g MW diamond to fish at 12m and a Carpa Chimp 4x14 to fish close in. On the whistle I fed caster short, micros, caster and dead maggot at 12m, then had 1/2 an hour on the g/bait feeder, which produced on tiny roach. That went up the bank and I had a look over the 12m line and almost straight away hooked and lost a good fish, straight after I had a decent skimmer. Then another, but bites were hard to come by, a look on the close rig produced a few roach, but not at anywhere near the rate needed to make it a viable option.

Back to 12m and a tench was gratefully netted, by now the rain in the face had stopped, but the wind had increased making presentation at 12m impossible. A switch to the waggler brought a bream to the net, but even with 12" of line on the bottom and 3 No8 shot, the wind was pushing it through as if it was rigged with sails.

I started a new line at 7m to my left, hoping that the presentation would be better, that produced nothing, the feeder was resorted to again, but I had nothing on it. I did wonder if g/bait was the problem, as I didn't catch over it at all, only where I fed micros and caster. I tried a new feeder line with micros and dead reds, all to no avail. So the odd roach and motherless minnow were all I could manage for the last hour or so, the match ruined for me and the others on the spit (with the exception of the method slingers...) by the wind.

My 11lb odd was just out of the silvers money, one more decent skimmer would have done it, still you can change the way you fish, but you can't change the weather - unless of course you are a water company and announce a drought, hasn't it rained most days since they told us the South West was in drought??

1.      Adrian Jefferies 32-14-0 peg 25

2.      Dean Malin 27-08-0 peg 42

3.      Tony Rixon 26-09-0 peg 30

4.      Steve Kedge 26-02-0 peg 9

5.      Steve Tucker 24-07-0 peg 58

6.      Glen Calvert 23-01-0 peg 6

  Silvers:

1.      Steve Tucker 16-10-0 peg 58

2.      Paul Faiers 16-05-0 peg 20

3.      Tony Rixon 15-0-0 peg 30 

Pole Only Series 2012 Match Three

My turn to fish Acorn this round, Paddock was fully booked so it was onto the newly redesigned Match Lake, which has had many carp removed and plenty of skimmers added. We pegged it out in the reverse of the old permanent pegs, with A1 being at the top end and A10 was the old peg 2. I drew A7 which actually turned out to be the old peg 7, I would rather have had an end peg, but its a bit of a suck it and see today as the lake hasn't been match fished since the changes.

A nice coating of ice on the car made me glad that I had pinkies in the bait bag, I set up a Malman Winter Wire 4x10 with a .08 hooklength and a 20 gamma black hook. A Carpa Chimp with a 0.12 and a 18 63.13 at the same depth just in case they went mad..... and a rig for up the far shelf completed my rigs, this was a J range dibber with a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 63.13.

I found an area of the peg that was at least 6" deeper than the rest, this was at 9m at 2 o'clock, so this was where I targetted the skimmers, initially feeding some groundbait, micros and pinkies. I found a nice level area on the far shelf and fed this with caster. I didn't have to wait too long before the float dipped and a small carp graced the net, then another - I thought they'd been taken out!!! Next was a skimmer around the 6 -8oz mark and I managed to keep them coming one every 5 - 10 minutes for a couple of hours, by using a pole pot to add micros and pinkies every put in,

The skimmer line then went quiet, so I refed the line with groundbait and had a look up the shelf with double maggot, that produced a small rudd, a 12oz perch and a carp, that was it for up the shelf, every other look over there produced no so much as a twitch of the float. Back over the groundbait and 2 quick skimmers, then back to waiting for a bite, topping up the groundbait, or potting in some micros and maggot seemed to bring a fish or 2, but then the wait after was longer than a steady drip of bait via the topkit pot.

Going into the last hour I expected to put a few more fish in the net, maybe even a bonus from ther far shelf, it proved hard going, I didn't have a bite from 15.30 until 16.25, when I had 2 skimmers in 2 put ins just before the all out at 16.30. I could see that Sam Johnson on A10 had a really good last hour from the end margin and that proved to be my downfall, as he beat me for the silvers by 14oz, but it was an enjoyable days fishing, my 4 carp going 4.12 and the silvers 24.08. Dave Wride won the lake by a convincing margin, with 65.06 from end peg A1.

Todays results:

A Section: (Acorn Match Lake)

1) D Wride 65.02 A1
2) G Calvert 30.09 A2

Silvers

1) S Johnson 25.06 A10
2) C Fox 24.08 A7


B Section (Plantation Main Lake 1 - 19)

1) S Carvello 113.04 Peg 12
2) M Broomsgrove 70.11 peg 7

Silvers

1) M Broomsgrove 26.09 peg 7
2) Ken Raynor 18.00 peg 4


C Section (Plantation Main Lake 20-39)

1) R Wootten 81.02 peg 30
2) B Slipper 66.14 peg 27

Silvers

1) P Faiers 28.00 peg 39
2) L Tucker 19.12 peg 33


League Top Six after 3 Matches.

Overall
1) R Wootten 29 pts 214.04
2) D Wride 27pts 198.13
3) M Broomsgrove 25pts 154.11
4) B Slipper 23pts 138.05
5) R Lovering 22pts 186.11
6) K Rayner 21pts 147.10

Silvers
1) M Broomsgrove 30pts 61.08
2) P Faiers 29pts 77.13
3) G Calvert 25pts 65.01
4) D Wride 23pts 54.08
5) A Hockin 23pts 39.12
6) K Rayner 21pts 34.05

Acorn Open, Monday 9th April

I fished Friday, but just couldn't be arsed to write about it, Trinity Waters, I drew peg 9 which I wasn't unhappy with, but my match was a waste of a day, I foul hooked 1 small tench and 1 small carp, the only thing I hooked fair and square in the mouth was a 12oz eel.

Today was my first visit to Acorn  Paddock Lake since May 2010 - it was a toss up between this or watching City v Coventry, I booked into this before I saw the wet weather forecast..... Still, the breakfast has improved since the early days and at £5.50 for the large one, it wasn't too bad at all.

Peg 7 was to be my home for 6 hours, having been advised by those with local knowledge that I'd need to carch from the shelf in front of peg 8 (handily vacant) if I was to stand a chance of beating peg 5 or 6. So a 4x12 Carpa Chimp was set up to fish this very flat plateau that extends a few feet from the margin of peg 8. I also set up a rig to fish meat tight across and another Chimp (4x14) to fish at the bottom of the far shelf for skimmers.

My silvers quest started OK, with a tench and a couple of skimmers, then I hooked a carp which promptly saw the skimmers do a disappearing act. By this time I was becoming a spectator, watching Glen Bailey on peg 5 catching well and Rich Heatly catching - a smaller stamp of carp - from his far shelf next to the bridge. I persevered with the silvers quest, but after two hours gave up, as the odd carp that I hooked and landed, scared the skimmers off for periods of up to an hour. It was the dilema of if I fed it attracted carp, but not in sufficient numbers to catch consistently or if I laid of the feed I could get the skimmers back, but how do you keep them coming without feeding?

I hooked a big carp that came off and as it did the float exploded, so up the bank with that top kit and a try with banded pellet, that produced my one and only fish from the plateau of peg 8 and I had one more over against the far bank, but I wasn't getting liners or foulers, they seemed content to stay in peg 5 and by the bridges.

I topped up the skimmer line with 2 balls of groundbait and had a little run of fish, but again a carp moved in and that was the end of the skimmer action, as this one ploughed through the swim, before taking me out into open water in front of 8 and snapping the hooklength.

I ended the day with 29lb odd of carp and 11lb 12 of silvers, which I believe was one out of the silvers money, I don't think there were enough carp in the peg to compete with the carp weights (I only had 6 or 7 for the 29lb), so they were big (for the venue) carp pushing out the silvers. In contrast Silvers winner Steve Mayo didn't weigh a single carp.

Not fishing until next Sunday now and I reckon it will take that long to dry my kit out.

1.      Glenn Bailey 120-10-0 peg 5

2.      Des Shipp 85-12-0 peg 21

3.      Mike Nicholls 84-06-0 peg 38

4.      Rich Healey 80-14-0 peg 6

5.      Kev Perry 79-04-0 peg 40

6.      Lance Tucker 69-09-0 peg 39

 Silvers:

1.      Steve Mayo 42-04-0 peg 15

2.      Mark Bartlett 35-04-0 peg 1

3.      Paul Faiers 17-08-0 peg 30 

Pole Only Series 2012

Round two of the series today, after a week of chopping up meat I decided on a change and aimed for a pellet attack. Plenty of worm and some caster also in the bag, all left over from Whiteacres. I knew I was in C section, pegs 23 - 39 on Plantation. Peg 32 was my home for the day  - not an ideal draw, but I felt there was enough water to enable a few fish to be caught.

I set up 4 rigs, a shallow rig, as the fish do come up in the water early in the year on this venue, a rig to fish hard pellet on the deck, another to fish Devils Spawn and one for worm and caster. I started at 14m towards the island and foul hooked 5 fish in 5 put ins, so switched to a shallow rig, that produced nothing. Back on the deck and I managed a couple of skimmers and a carp, but the liners and foulers were a problem.

I dumped 2/3 of a large cup of 6 & 8mm pellets in to try and get the fish down, that proved to be a big mistake, the indications stopped - but so did the proper bites! Onto the short caster line and that produced a reasonbabale hybrid, but little else, the water was green and the bright green algae bloom kicked up by a hooked fish was worrying this early in the year.

I ended up going 19m towards the island to get another 3 carp, but finished with a dismal 29lb 10oz, another 6lb would have given me 3 more points, but I would have need another 43lb to get another point, once again I was at the end of the lake with low weights, I didn't help by dumping the bait in, but it would be nice to draw a favoured peg.........

Section Results:
Weights in lbs & oz

A: (Acorn Paddock)
1) Rich Lovering 108.02 peg 5
2) Ken Rayner 73.14 peg 36

Silvers
1) Mark Bromsgrove 16.12 peg 3
2) Kev Perry 14.02 peg 6


B: (Plantation)
1) Rod Wootten 100.10 peg 19
2) Lance Tucker 100.00 peg 8

Silvers
1) Rod Wootten 40.14 peg 19
2) Paul Faiers 33.06 peg 10

C: (Plantation)
1) Rich Heatly 80.08 peg27
2) Lewis walker 74.09 peg 28

Silvers
1) Dave Wride 23.08 peg 25
2) Clenn Calvert 21.09 peg 23


Overall Table After Two Matches:

1) R Lovering 19 points 148.09
2) L Walker 19 points 144.15
3) R Wootten 19 points 133.02
4) D Wride 17 points  133.07
5) K Rayner 17 points 104.01
6) M Bromsgrove 16 points 84.00

Silvers Table After Two Matches:

1) D Wride 20 points 51.09
2) M Bromsgrove 20 points 34.15
3) G Calvert 17 points 41.13
4) P Faiers 15 points 49.13
5) A Hockin 15 points 24.12
6) R Lovering 14 points 20.19

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.

Bait Tech Festival, Whiteacres, 2012

Third day and I drew Jenny's, peg 5. The first 2 days saw pegs 8 and 9 first and second in the section, as Des Shipp drew 8, I had little doubt it would win the section for the third day. 40lb had come off my peg the day before, so I at least wanted to beat that.

I have realised in a couple of days how little I understand about F1 fishing and the intracacies of meat up in the water. The bait limits have screwed my brain, it has resulted in me taking more bait than I need, my resolve to keep things simple also being tested, with advice coming from all angles, much of which I had taken on board and then found it to be wrong or I just couldn't put it into practice.

I arrived at the peg to see the sun beating down on a flat calm lake, never a good sign, I set up a straight lead to fish meat to the island, a feeder to fish short of the island and a pellet waggler to fish meat, if the wind allowed. 3 pole rigs graced the roost, a Carpa Chimp to fish at 14m with worm, a Malman float whose name eludes me to fish 5m and a Preston something to fish shallow. With the advice from Faitheey that worm & caster would be the way to go I mainly had that in my plan. Pepperami king, Paul Nichols was on peg 9, but as I have only ever managed to catch one fish on it I didn't have any.

I carefully clipped up the lead rod to fish to the point of the island and plumbed up the pole rigs, although therte was only an inch or two difference in the lines. On the all in I cupped in chopped worm and caster at 14 & 5m, then sent the lead to the clip, with a piece of 8mm meat on. That instantly found some underwater snag (dead rushes) that weren't apparent when clipping up, snapping the main line. That was that rod chucked up the bank after 5 minutes, I then tried the cage feeder with groundbait in for the F1's, I managed 1 in half an hour.

Onto the 14m pole line and a slow start on the worm, a few small skimmers were all I had to show for it, before a small tench joined them. I tried the 5m line and had 3 skimmers then nothing, back to 14m and the fish came slowly, very slowly, I was potting in (kinder pot) chopped worm & caster and the peg was fizzing like mad, but the bites were few and far between. I tried upping the groundbait content of the pot, increasing the worm, adding a few grains of corn,all of which didn't speed up the wait for bites.

I started pinging a few 8mm bits of meat to the island, as I knew I was getting well behind, I was looking for a swirl or some sign that carp were there, I saw some dark shapes with just over an hour to go and picked up the waggler rod. Six carp came in the last hour, with 2 lost, foul hookers I suspect. I knew Des Shipp had won the section, he stayed on the feeder all day and weighed in 97lb odd of F1's, my weight of 50lb odd beat yesterdays weight off the peg and was a miserable halfway or so in the section, the six carp tight to the island saving another embarrasing result.

Back to the caravan for a shower before another session in the bar, which as my festival dreams are now nightmares, it will make no odds, roll on Porth on Friday!!

Bait Tech Festival, Whiteacres 2012

My first visit to Whiteacres, the Bait Tech festival, having just moved the Friday before was used to find my tackle, rather than any actual preparation, although I did check all the elastics and change a couple that were starting to rot.

Travelled down on Saturday morning, meeting up with Paul Faiers,  Glenn ‘Faitheey’ Calvert and Chips, Pauls Father-in-law . We meet at Hilltops, had a decent enough breakfast and got on the road, the journey was nice and straight forward, we arrived at Whiteacres just as the Spurs game kicked off . Faierzy being a Spurs fan went straight to the bar to watch it and we intended to then go and look round then the lakes. As anyone who knows us, will suspect, it didn’t go to plan and we were still in the bar at 23.30 – not the wisest move.

Thankfully Sunday wasn’t the first day, so the resulting hangover didn’t infringe on the serious fishing. It took us a while to get going and we did get to Pollawyn for a pleasure session on Sunday afternoon, I fished peg 421 and had a pleasant afternoon catching skimmers, tench and bream to 5lb on corn over groundbait. A much quieter evening in the bar, although we did need a restorative cordial or two, especially to help us get over the brutal rape and gangbang we witnessed on Sunday afternoon, one single duck being ravaged by a long line of rampant mallards.

I was drawn in E section, so Monday was Bolingey day, peg 9 was stuck to my hand in the drawbag, not the best I was informed. I set up a lead rod, a waggler and a couple of pole rigs to fish meat. At the all in most anglers chucked a lead or feeder towards the island, I followed suit and 40 minutes later that went up the bank, as every had had a fish or two (and some 6 or 7), whilst I hadn’t had as much as a liner.  The pole line proved to be equally as fruitless and I was now 8 or 10 fish behind some of the pegs further round the lake.

I could see some fish up in the water, the waggler  was difficult to control, but was the only method I could get a bite on, I had a couple of decent carp, then they seemed to disappear and I managed some decent sized F1’s by casting tight to the island. Reverting back to the lead brought another couple of fish on 8mm meat, but I just couldn’t catch at a rate or size, that the guys further up the lake, thus rendering my first day section challenge a disaster.

The pole line stayed seemingly devoid of fish until 4 o’clock, when a lone carp took the meat on the 5m line, it proved to be the only bite of the day on the pole.  I managed 70lb, but the lake was won with 240lb (although it was estimated the winner  had in excess of 300lb, but only had 4 nets). I managed to beat the pegs either side, but we were at the wrong end of the lake today, had the wind been more favourable I might have cracked the ton though.

Tuesday saw me on Pollawyn, after a quieter night in the bar Monday, although the Mallard porn show was fast becoming one of the features worked into conversations, as Faitheey spent his 3^rd on Pollawyn money on beer.  I drew peg 17, 40lb had come off it on Monday, but it was well beaten either side. The plan was to fish 6mm meat, starting on the bottom, then coming up as the fish come up, I actually followed the plan I had in my head, starting on the feeder across, whilst the meat lines settled. Most anglers along my bank managed a carp or two on the feeder, but I didn’t.  In fact I didn’t manage a bite in the first 40 minutes, not good in a 5 hour match.

Switching to the pole line at 14m I had a couple of skimmers on the 6mm meat before once again becoming  biteless.  I was once again watching anglers further along the bank catching whilst I struggled. I swapped between the 5m line and the 14m line and took a very occasional fish.

I fed a line with chopped worm and caster, this produced 3 skimmers and I thought  I’d sussed it, but that was the end of the action over that line. Had it not been a requisite of the festival to stay and weigh in, I wouldn’t have been at my peg come the end. I reckoned I had about 10lb of skimmers with 15 minutes to go and my one and only carp was hooked with 15 mins to go, a 10lb ghostie doubled my weight, but still couldn’t lift my pathetic weight off the bottom of the section. Chatting to those that did catch carp and more skimmers than me, I’m not sure what it was I did wrong – if anything too much – this has been a very frustrating festival so far, hopefully tomorrow will bring a change of fortunes.