Chris Vandervleit looks back on an excellent performance in the Drennan Silverfish Festival held last weekend at White Acres.
The Drennan Silverfish weekend at White Acres is a two-day event that I always look forward to, ever since the competition started three years ago. It was great to be down in Cornwall in great company and, despite the up and down weather, it turned out to be a really enjoyable trip.
Day One
On Day One I was drawn in the ‘red zone’ which meant no F1s, crucians or carassio would count. Peg 6 on Twin Oaks was my home for the day. As I arrived I could see small roach topping. This made my mind up to fish shallow at 10 metres for roach and look on the deck for bream and skimmers later on in the day.
My rigs for fishing shallow were the old Drennan Caster floats in 0.1g and 0.2g sizes on 0.12mm Supplex with a size 18 Silverfish Maggot hook and a 0.10mm Double Strength hooklength. For fishing on the deck I set up 0.5g and 0.6g AS2s, with the same main line and hooklengths and a larger size 16 Silverfish Maggot hook.
At the start of the match I loose fed casters. First cast I caught a small roach that fell to a single caster hook bait. After the first hour I had caught 60 more roach for about 5lb, which I was very happy with.
At this point I decided to have a look on the deck. First put on the 0.6g rig and a 4oz roach took my double caster hook bait. These roach were a good overall stamp which encouraged me to stay fishing on the deck. Nearly every cast I caught a roach before I caught my first bream. At 3lb it was worth catching!
At this point I introduced two balls of Bait-Tech Special G Gold and Green mixed 50/50 and half a 250ml pot of minced worms and casters. Ten minutes later another bream graced my landing net. Come the end of the match I had caught another three plus a few more roach to weigh in 25lb 9oz and an all-important section win.
Day Two
On Day Two I was now in the ‘Blue Zone’ which meant F1s would now count. Peg 6 on Trelawney was my destination. Des Shipp had drawn this peg the previous day and managed to come 2nd in the section with 80lb, so I was hoping a few fish were still in the area.
Floats for the day were the same as before for fishing on the deck, plus a lighter 0.3g AS2 with a 0.10mm hooklength and an 18 Silverfish Maggot hook. These rigs were fished at 13 metres, which was the maximum pole length allowed. I also set up a margin rig, which was a 0.2g AS4 with a 0.12mm Supplex hooklength and a size 16 Kamasan B911 hook.
For the first four hours of the match I fished at 13 metres, catching F1s, skimmers, carrasio and roach. All were on maggots over small balls of groundbait fed through a Toss Pot.
With an hour to go I had a quick look in the margins to my right where I had been loose feeding casters by hand all day. First cast, I caught an F1 of about 3lb. This fell to a double maggot hook bait. For the remainder of the match I stayed on this line, adding 30lb+ to my weight.
At the weigh in I managed to catch 66lb, which was sadly only good enough for 2nd in the section. Frankie Gianoncelli won the section with 69b from peg 12, so I was only one good fish off another section win.
The Result
At the presentation I was more than happy to discover I had come 4th overall in the festival with my 1st and 2nd. Paul Yates won with a perfect score, just ahead of Kian Wardle on weight. Des Shipp was 3rd with the same points as me but a more superior weight. Well done to the top three!
I would like to say a massive thankyou to Gary Barclay for organising and running a brilliant weekend, Drennan for the sponsorship and fantastic prices and Clint Elliott and his staff at White Acres for hosting the two-day festival.