Whiteacres – 31.08.14 to 06.09.14 – The Pleasure Sessions

Day 1 – Twin Oaks peg 25 (12.30pm to 6.30pm), Weather: Sunny 18C, NW 8mph wind

We can never get on the low numbers on Twin Oaks on our first day of the September visit, due to us always getting up late on the Sunday and that this week has much more anglers compared to our July visit, so we settled on pegs 25 and 26, where there was plenty of room. I wanted to try a top 2 line today, where I would feed and fish just corn, and along with this I set up a shallow rig, top 4 rig and a margin rig.  I started on the top 2 and used the one tin of corn I had in the first hour and this was very successful with 33lb going on the ticker until I ran out of corn.  I then swapped between top 4 (8ml pellet) and also set up a pellet waggler and this gave me the odd carp, but I was not catching as much as on the top 2.  I had been pinging pellets on my 11m shallow swim throughout the day but I could not get a response on the odd occasions I tried it until about 4pm when I started to get 3-5lb carp at a steady rate.  At about 5.30pm I went on to the margins and started to get the lumps virtually every put in on worm over groundbait. At 6.30pm we packed up and I had 138lb on the ticker.

Day 2 – Gold Match – separate blog

Day 3 – Twin Oaks peg 26 (11.30am to 6.30pm), Weather Sunny 20C, SE 8mph wind

We decided to go back on Twin Oaks as Chrissi wanted to practice meat at 5m, but again the low numbers were pretty much full so we settled on pegs 26 and 27. I decided I would have a good go on the pellet waggler, bomb and method today and also the usual UITW, 5m and margins.  It was a bit slow today with just the odd fish coming of the rods and it wasn’t until about 4pm, when I switched to the 5m line on pellet, that I started to put the carp in the net. I went on the margins at about 5pm and it was solid and I ended up with 144lb on the ticker.

Day 4 – Peg 47 Pollawyn (10.30am – 5pm), Weather, Sunny 22C, 10pmh SSE wind

The whole complex was really busy today, with Acorn taken up by the Burts bait festival and lots of pleasure anglers out.  We were unsure whether to fish Jennys (pegs 17-20) or go on Pollawyn.  The pegs we wanted on Jennys were free but as I was keen to give Pollawyn a go before the Rover so we settled on pegs 46 and 47 Pollawyn, where there was a lovely ripple.  I started of on method and I got 6 carp on the bounce but lost 3 to the reeds on my right in front on Chrissi’s peg 46 which left me a bit puzzled as, as soon as the line would run against the reeds it would break like tissue paper. I had noticed that after losing the fish the line was damaged and I concluded that there was something else severing the line other than reeds (maybe some sunken brambles).  Things went dead after an hour and the lovely ripple we had had at the start had vanished and there was no sign of carp. I managed to get a good run late on, on pellet waggler which included quite a few big F1’s, with one pushing the 4lb mark.  Chrissi had really struggled today but did manage a few carp late on UITW.  I ended up with 65lb on the ticker. Incidentally, Jennys peg 20 framed in the rover the next day fish shallow UITW and getting over a ton, so we had made the wrong choice on this day.

Day 5 – Rover – separate blog

Day 6 – Trelawney peg 5 (12 – 6.30pm), Weather: Sunny, 23c, 4mph SE wind

We always say we will fish Trelawney on every visit but we rarely get round to doing so. With it winning the rover the day before we decided today would be the perfect opportunity, so Chrissi took the wining peg 6 and I settled on peg 5.  The margins weren’t great on peg 5, unlike peg 6 which has a great margin swim to the right.  I had decided to fish the rods for a couple of hours before moving onto a paste line at 8m and then onto a top 2 with meat and hemp and then finish off in the margins.  We had a lot of unused groundbait and meat left over from the day before which we had prepared in case we got on certain pegs on the rover and although I was unsure about the quality of the groundbait the meat seemed fine.  I started on the method which produced a few small carp and an F1 before things went quiet and the skimmers moved in.  A switch to the paste line after a couple of hours left me frustrated with only skimmers showing, so about 4.30 pm I went on the top 2 line, which after about 15 minutes of feeding started to produce a steady run of carp of about 5lb.  I had put some of my groundbait in the right hand margin as this was the one I wasn’t intending to fish much and I wanted to try out my dodgy groundbait and it proved to be off as no fish came over it. Chrissi had preserved her groundbait much better than me so I pinched some and went on the margins with about 40 minutes to go and increased my ticker weight to 77lb.

Chrissi playing margin lump from peg 6 Trelwaney

Day 7 – Twin Oaks peg 12 (10.30am to 7pm) Weather: Sunny 20C, 8mph N wind

Last day on Twin Oaks

We always try and get on pegs 15 and 16 for our last day, but with all pegs taken form 13 upwards we settled on 11 and 12.  I started off on method and got 2 quick carp for 15lb in 10 minutes and then like a lot of other days it went quiet. Up until about 4pm most of the lake went without a carp and I managed just one UITW.  I got a couple on pellet at 5m and then at 4.30pm I went on the margins were the carp had moved in over the groundbait.  I started of with 4 on the run and then although they were there and taking the worm they were blowing it out and I was not getting the positive bites I usually get on Twin Oaks and I went an hour without a fish.  I tried different ways of feeding like feeding one margin and fishing the other but I could only get the odd proper take.  With 15 minutes left of the session I cupped in the remainder of my groundbait, which was about 4 cups full and this did the trick and I got 2 quick barney rubbles to take my ticker weight to 95lb for the day.  I think although the fish were moving over the feed today they were a little spooked and they wouldn’t get in to the fearless feeding frenzy that often happens on a late session on Twin Oaks.  I caught 4 and that spooked the swim and it wasn’t until I cupped in a load near the end (like an angler packing up) that they got there heads down positively on the feed.

Well the fish didn’t feed as well as our July visit and there was common theme of getting a few quick fish on the method before a quiet 3 hour spell.  I still ended up with 670lb of fish for the week so I am not complaining.

43 weeks and counting until our next Whiteacres visit.

Tight lines

Whiteacres – The Gold and Silvers 2009-2013

I wasn’t going to bother writing a blog for these matches as I have never done that well in them and I have never framed, but I think it is important to keep a record of what I have done on these matches and the mistakes I have made.  Also for me looking back there are some comical moments, although they were a little embarrassing at the time, particularly in the first match.  I can’t remember my exact weights and where and how much the overall winner had but I think my recollection of my weights and performance are pretty close.

May 2009 – Peg 12 Trelawney (Silver)

This was my first time on this water and my first time at Whiteacres and as I have mentioned on another post I was relatively new to method and pellet waggler fishing and I had only gave fishing UITW the odd 1/2 hour stint.  I set up the pellet waggler and method and for the pole I set up a 10m paste rig, UITW dibber and a margin rig for meat.  A guy called Steve Mazza was on peg 14 and before the match we had a conversation about our method feeder chucks as with us being on a bend it meant we would be chucking pretty close to each other, so we agreed on our zones across and we were both happy with the compromise.  Whilst setting up I clipped up my rods to the far bank, but I had left my hook on my method feeder and to my surprise I hooked a carp which I don’t think was foul hooked as the method had landed and the rod ripped round as I was messing about with the clip, it must have shot to the noise and maybe there was a couple of micros still on the feeder from the day before, causing the carp to suck at the empty feeder.   A little embarrassed I began to reel it in and fortunately it came off before it made any splashes that the other anglers would notice.  So lesson learnt about clipping up!

My match started well with 3 carp in 3 casts on the method and then I had 3 casts on the run that hit the island and I snapped up.  I got fed up with re tackling up the method and as I had only one left I decided to give it a break and fish the waggler from which I managed a couple of carp before the ducks arrived and then I managed to hook 2 ducks which I had to get in  fast so I could to limit the commotion and disturbance and also limit my embarrassment.  At this point I was probably getting a few strange looks from the other anglers, but I was too embarrassed to look, and for the last couple of hours besides a couple of carp I had either been fighting with the trees across or fighting with ducks.  My match slowed down from this point and I ended up weighing 38lb which to my surprise was good enough for a default section win, so happy days and some beer tokens for me!  Steve Mazza on peg 14 had framed with 63lb which he had done by catching shallow on meat.  This was the first time I had seen the art of dobbing and thinking back the conditions were crying out for this tactic as there was a lot of fish cruising around on top that were shying away from the feed.

June 2010 – Peg 21 Twin Oaks (Silver)

I was happy with my draw on the day as I was getting better with my method feeder and pellet waggler and I had in fact had some great pleasure sessions on Twin Oaks catching carp after carp.  The weather on the day was miserable and the strong winds was playing havoc with my pellet waggler casting.  I don’t remember a lot about this match other than I think I lost as much fish as I caught on the method. The only other line I tried was the margins but I got nothing there.  I weighed in 18lb with the guy to my left taking the section with 28lb.

June 11 – Peg 47 Pollawyn (Silver)

For the silver this week Pollawyn, Python and I think Jenny’s were to be used as the Preston pairs was and Twin Oaks was unavailable.  I was desperate to get on the high bank on Pollawyn as I had fished this area a lot during my first few years at Whiteacres and I had done pretty well so a draw here would give me confidence and hopefully lead to a good weight.  I drew 47 which when I got to it I found it was in the middle arm and only about 14 meter wide.  I spoke to the guy to my left on the point and he informed me that it wasn’t that bad a draw and a good tactic would be chop worm and caster but stupidly I didn’t listen and decided to concentrate my match on underarming a method across and the margins.  I did set up a pole rig for across but I found that shipping back was difficult due to the steep slope behind.  I think I only managed about 10lb with 2 carp and some roach on meat in the margins and I spent most of the match watching the guy to my left put a good net of skimmers together using paste on his top 4.  I didn’t weigh in and the guy on the point weight in over 70lb of skimmers for the section win.  I remember it was won from Python this day with a 100lb + weight.

Sept 11 – Peg 5 Acorn (Gold)

I promoted myself to the Gold matches for this visit as I had a default win in the Rover in June, so I was fishing with the big boys now!!  I had only fished Acorn once before but had done pretty good on a late afternoon pleasure sessions fishing the margins on paste so I was looking forward to the match and happy with my draw.  I started off with about 20lb in the first 40 minutes chucking a method to the far bank and I had also had lots of feeding carp in the margins where I had put some sweetcorn and paste in.  I couldn’t resist holding back from my margins and I went on it after the good start I had but this proved to be a mistake as I couldn’t catch one and the fish were not settled.  I then spent about 3 frustrating hours trying to hook one which is exactly what I did……. hook one in 3 hours!  I managed a couple more across on the method for 38lb for probably last on the lake.  The guy on peg 3 went from zero to 60lb in the last 2 hours fishing meat at 3ft, the guy on peg 7 had over a hundred pounds fishing worm in the margins all day and the guy on peg 9 won the match fishing paste in the margins all day.  I remember feeling a little embarrassed and out of my depth and I had obviously done something wrong.  Looking back I should have left the margins a lot longer so the fish would settle although the guys on pegs 7 and 9 had gone straight on them and done very well.  I was really inexperienced at margin fishing then and I’m still not that good at it now.  I was feeding it wrong, putting too much of the wrong feed in for the unsettled fish which caused the fish to stir the bottom up and feed on the stirred up (light) groundbait. I was also changing rigs and swims every 5 minutes and I should have had much more patience. Incidentally, peg 5 Acorn won the silver with over a hundred pounds two days later fishing meat on the deck at 5m.

June 12 – Peg 1 Acorn (Gold)

Well back on Acorn for me this day and I was determined to put up a better show and lose that inadequate feeling I had on the Gold matches.  I caught my first fish after about 10 minutes fishing across on expander and as I was about to put it in my keepnet when I realised they were still layed out on the bank behind me. I caused a lot of disturbance getting off my box and putting the keepnets in which seemed to kill my swim for a while.  All I remember was I struggled again for the rest of this match and there were no signs of fish in the margins even towards the end.  I settled on fishing shallow for F1’s for the last 2 hours and managed to put just under 50lb on the scales which was only about 10lb off the section win which was won from peg 17.  Although I didn’t get anywhere that day I didn’t have the “out of my depth” feeling as I had managed to fight back on what was a low weight all round day and get 2nd in the section.

Sept 12 – Peg 3 Twin Oaks (Gold)

By this point I was getting to know the lakes and pegs at Whiteacres a lot better and I knew that the favoured pegs on Twin Oaks were pegs 14 to 18 with 16 being the flier, so I was a little disappointed with my draw as I would be up against some good pegs.  I had been experimenting a little with pellet feeder around this time and although I hadn’t done very well with it I decided to set it up as some good results had been achieved with it fishing micros and dead maggots.  I also set up a method, pellet waggler, 2 margin rigs, a UITW rig and 2 plus 2 meat rig.  I started off OK with about 20lb in the first hour and then my match slowed down with about 20lb in the next 3 hours.  The guy on peg 2 was really struggling with 1 carp and the guy on peg 5 who had gone straight on the margins wasn’t doing much better.  I remember keeping an eye on the guy on peg 5 as he had the carp swirling in the margins from the off but he couldn’t catch them, this convinced me to leave my margins alone until the last hour which was a good ploy as I managed to put 40lb in the net in the last hour including a common of about 15lb on paste. I weighed in 79lb for a default section win as the guy on peg 15 had framed with 103lb.  I felt I had fished a good match on a day when many had struggled in the early numbers on Twin Oaks and I was beginning to lose that “out of my depth” feeling.

June 13 – Peg 33 Twin Oaks (Gold)

What I remember about this day was that I probably blew the section by messing about and trying to catch the F1’s quicker than I needed to.  The guy on peg 32 won the section with 53lb and I had about 40lb.  During the match I began to put a good run of 2-3lb F1’s together and stupidly I decided to change rigs to a shorter UITW rig to catch them quicker. I spent an age getting this rig ready as I couldn’t thread the hook with bait band through the minute hoop on the mainline ( I now tie bigger loops on the mainline!!).   By the time I got back fishing the F1’s had moved off and my new rig didn’t produce.  I spoke to the guy on peg 32 after the match, who won the section and he said he actually stopped fishing shallow as he thought he couldn’t compete with my catch rate so he went across on the bomb and this proved to be a success as a slow but steady number of 5lb carp came to his net.  At this point it dawned on me that one of my big problems was chopping and changing too much and when I am on a swim that is producing more than others around me I should stick to what I am doing.

Sept 13 – Peg 9 Acorn (Gold)

I was happy with my draw this day as Acorn had been fishing well but again I didn’t make the most of the peg.   I started off on the method across and got a couple of the smaller carp and a couple of F1’s and after an hour I had about 10lb which was slightly behind the others.  Most anglers had gone straight on the margins or their top 2’s and although they were only catching the odd one the carp they were catching were between 6-12lb.  I switched to my 7m line which I had set up to fish on 8ml hard pellet feeding by hand on which I had a good run of about 15lb of small carp/F1’s in as many minutes until the swim started to fizz. I tried shallow over this swim and this only produced a couple of F1’s.  After 3 hours I was well behind so I tried my margins but I could only get 1 fish out of it even though the fish were there. I chopped and changed in desperation (like I usually do) but I could only pick up the odd fish and my catch rate was half that of every one else.  I weighed in 53lb for last on the lake and everyone else had caught over 90lb so I was well beaten.  On reflection the fizzing on the 7m pellet line was probably caused by fishing 8ml pellet and that the pellets would sink into the silt a little and break up there causing the fish to disturb the silt to get at the pellets – meat would have been a better bait.  I was guilty of chopping and changing and not getting my head down on a swim and making it work.  I also have to admit that I am doing something wrong with my margin fishing during matches when the fish are not settled and a little wary and I need to alter my feeding and what I feed.  I noticed a lot of anglers would feed a lot less than me and play the waiting game, just feeding enough for one fish to come in, I on the other hand feed too much and get too many fish in the swim and when I can’t hook them I try changing things too much and lose patience.  The feeling after this match was probably my lowest and worst feeling and the “out of my depth” feeling was back, in fact it was “way out of my depth” this time.

I am back at Whiteacres in less than a week so hopefully when I blog the Gold match that I will fish it will be a little more successful than my previous experiences.

Tight Lines

 

 

Whiteacres – The Rovers 2009-2013

 

I wish I would have started this blogging malarkey 6 years ago when I got back into match fishing as it would be good to read back and see how my fishing techniques have progressed.  In particular I would like to read back on my Whiteacres matches, but unfortunately the only info I have on most of my past matches at Whiteacres are stored in the grey matter.  I thought I would post a quick summary of the rovers I have taken part in along with a brief description of the methods used before I forget them all together.  I have also fished 8 silver/gold matches down there, but my memory of these are not as clear, probably because, besides 2 section wins, I have done really bad in most of them.  I will post what I remember of them.  By the way, this post won’t be a great source of info for people reading this and it is mainly a source of information for myself that I can look back on in years to come.

ROVERS:

June 2009 – Peg 33 Pollawyn.

This week was my first ever visit to Whiteacres and I didn’t know much about it, so on my first pleasure session I headed straight for the main match lake any found some space for me, the wife and her son Chris in the pegs around the 30’s.  I was also relatively new to method feeder fishing and my casting technique at the time was to clip up to the island with the rod pointing straight at it and there was no bringing the rod back to the side, hitting the chest, which enables you to get a little line back on the reel.  I did so well on my pleasure session that when it come to my turn to pick a peg on Thursday’s rover, I opted for the same peg again.

I used a 30g medium Preston method with 4 inch .19 powerline to B911 14 eyed hook with lasoo and I used 2mm pellets for the feeder with 8ml on the hook. Mainline was 8lb sensor.

I also set up a pellet waggler with a 8g whiteacres loaded waggler, 6lb sensor mainline, 6 inch .15 powerline bottom, B911 16, 8ml on the band

I started of slow with my first fish after 40 minutes on the method and I then had a steady run.  In the 4th hour I had a really good run of fish on the waggler before it faded and then I picked up just 3 fish in the last hour on the method. My fish were averaging about 5lb and I had 18 which weighed in for 93lb and 4th place out of 87, which I was chuffed to bits with.

June 2010 – Peg 33 Pollawyn

This year I had started to get to know the waters a bit better, but my high number draw in the rover meant that by the time it was my turn to pick, most of the pegs on my favoured lake Twin Oaks had gone, so I opted for Pollawyn again.  This time I had a faster start with about 20lb in the first hour, it then became a struggle and I think I just plugged away picking up the odd fish for a weight of about 75lb for 10th place, out of 90.

June 2011 – Peg 12 Eery 

I pleasure fished Eery for the first time this year, mainly due to the fact that the Preston pairs were on this week and Twin Oaks could not be fished and I wanted to check out some of the lakes I hadn’t fished before so I could give myself more options on the rover.  On the pleasure session I fished 12 and the wife fished 13 and we bagged up all day with the little stockies that are in there.  Me and Chrissi drew highish numbers in the 50’s on the rover and we were pleasantly surprised when we were able to get pegs 12 and 13 on Eery again. I fancied my chances today as there had been a lot of rain this week which had driven the weights down and with Twin Oaks out of the equation Acorn and Trelawney had a lot of angling pressure. I even took 4 keepnets!!

I set up 2 duplicate rods: small preston 30g method, 4 inch .15 powerline Pr36 18, bait band with 6ml pellet. 6lb sensor mainline.

I didn’t want to over complicate my match so I planned to just target the island with method feeder using micros and 6ml.

The match started off a lot slower than practice with me catching about 20lb in the first hour.  Chriisi had about the same catch rate from peg 13 until she got in a birds nest tangle around her reel and as she had only just started fishing with a rod and reel she didn’t attempt to untangle it and threw it up the bank in a bad temper.  My match slowed a little after about 2 hours and only improved when the guy, who was in the match, packed up on peg 11 with about an hour to go, leaving me with the island to myself and I then managed to put a few more stockies in the net.  Incidentally, Chissi who had fished pole in the margins for 3 hours, picked up her rod with an hour to go and managed to untangle the reel and was back on the method.  She caught about 30lb in the last hour and her catch rate was much quicker than mine. I weighed in 73lb and Chrissi had 45lb and although she was 28lb behind I think if she had attempted to untangle her reel straight away she would have won this match as she seemed to have much more feeding fish in her swim.

Back at the shop I talked to a few people about what they had caught and it turned out the weights were really low. The conversations continued for about 15 minutes with various different people and after a while people started to inform me that the Rover had been won from peg 12 Eery….. which was me!!  Well in fact I was second overall as  a lady who I think is called Lynn Haines actually had 74lb from Trelawney and was the winner overall, but she only entered the ladies section.  I got the prize, along with the envelope and winners trophy for first and Lynn got the free holiday and invitation to winners week.  So this was sort of a win for me, maybe you can call it a default win?  Whatever it is I want I will take it but I do want to go one better and win it outright. 76 fished.

Sept 2011 – Peg 35 Pollawyn

I drew another high number on this draw and when it was my turn to pick all pegs that I fancied had gone but I did notice I could get some room if I picked 35 Pollawyn, which is what I did.  Unfortunately all the pegs around me were chosen after I had picked which left me with little room.  I decided just to fish rods today and set up a method, bomb and pellet waggler and neglected the pole lines.  I started off on fire with about 40lb in the first hour and then the fish backed off and could only catch the odd skimmer or small barble.  This continued until about 30 minutes to go when I managed to put 2 barney rubbles in the net to boost my weight to a final 78lb, which was good enough for 7th out of the 128 anglers who fished.

June 2012 – Peg 26 Pollawyn

All I remember about this match was that it was cold and fishing was slow.  Both me and Chrissi, who was next to me, packed up with about an hour to go.  I only had about 15lb of bits in the net and so did Chrissi.  Everyone one else around us had caught twice as much but I don’t think anyone from our area would have framed.

Sept 2012 – Peg 2 Canal

This September was the first time we had fished Canal and in a pleasure session I had caught 148 F1’s averaging a pound in 4 hours from peg 2.  So for the Rover both me and Chrissi chose Canal, me on peg 2, Chrissi on 5 (no-one between us).  I fished shallow at 6 metres using 6ml banded pellet.  The match was going really well with 98 F1’s after 3.5 hours and then all of a sudden it switched off.  The air pressure rose dramatically, so much so I could notice the drastic change in atmosphere.  I tried different depths, areas and baits but all I could manage was another 3 F1’s in the last hour and a half, which put me on 101 fish for 100lb 4oz.  Chrissi weighed in 68lb.

124lb won overall from peg 15 Twin Oaks and I was a little gutted I couldn’t sustain my momentum throughout the match and take the win, but speaking to the winner he said Twin Oaks slowed right down at the same time and he too had noticed the change in air pressure.  I finished 5th out of 102 anglers.

June 2013 – Peg 4 Canal

Another high number draw for me and with most of Twin Oaks and Acorn taken up I opted for Canal again and Chrissi also managed to squeeze on peg 6, even with her usual near last pick.  We both went shallow again but we could not get them going all day and packed up with 90 minutes to go and decided to go for a beer in the warm afternoon sunshine. I had about 30lb and I think the top weight from the lake on the day was over 70lb, so we must have done something wrong!

Sept 2013 – Peg 2 Canal

I had a mid number draw and although peg 12 and 13 Eery were free, I went for Canal again, mainly because this is where Chrissi will always pick and if I pick Pollawyn, Jennys, Sycamore ore Eery, it would mean waiting for Chrissi, who unfortunately is always one of the last to draw, driving her round to the other side and then driving back to the shop side. This is too much hassle and bearing in mind it takes me ages to set up I am limited to Twin Oaks, Acorn and Canal.  Having said this in future I will pick Eery if it’s free as even after driving Chrissi round and then heading back, and considering I only use rods on Eery, it shouldn’t take me long to set up.

In practice I had done well on Canal by fishing a top 2 with 6ml banded pellet, so this was my main line of attack for the match, although I did set up a couple of shallow rigs for when the fish backed off.  I never really got into a good catching rhythm throughout the match and I would catch 2 or 3 before they spooked and then I would change swims or lay a different rig in the same swim or just simply change the shotting pattern which would give me a few more fish.  There was a lot of chopping and changing, the fishing was slow but steady.  I counted 64 fish the same amount as the guy on peg 20.  Mine weighed in 86lb whilst the guy on 20 had 64lb (mine were obviously bigger).  This was good enough for 12 out of 76 anglers. ( I actually have a full blog of this match)

 

Well I am there again in 8 days and I can’t wait……. great fishing, lot’s of beer and the annual game of bingo!!!