The last two festivals that I have fished at White Acres have really been rain lashed affairs so although it was still chilly at around ten to thirteen degrees for the week it was a real relief not to be wet through and spending most evenings drying out equipment!

My starting point was to be at Bolingey lake were normally it is a proper fish fest on the first day so there was a buzz in the hall as one hundred and eighty anglers listened to Clint Elliot’s first day spiel of the rules of engagement for the week ahead.

In went the hand and peg 50 was my starting peg and I already felt that this was going to be a poor start for me. It had been good peg on the previous festival I was informed but I don’t like corner pegs as I feel that you are so limited in what you can do.

On arrival I surveyed the peg, with the wind blowing down the lake to peg 7 and not a sign of a fish I felt a little dejected. Steve Ringer was on the lake behind me on peg 41 and a quick look at his peg made me feel a little less optimistic with Carp boiling everywhere and needless to say he went on to extract 131lb shallow to win the lake.

I won’t bore you with my match, 15lb three carp and not a sign for the last three hours was not a good start, I only beat the lad opposite on peg 1 and Paul Burton won the section on peg 7 with 79lb. I didn’t have a chance but now I couldn’t make a mistake or it was game over for this festival. Still you can drop one result so all was not lost.

Better result on Match Lake

I like the match lake or Polwyn lake as it is called on the site at White Acres as I feel that it’s possible to squeeze a result from even some of the un-fancied pegs by targeting silvers and Carp and it’s been kind to me in the past.

I have never been on the point opposite the high bank before and was surprised when peg twenty was stuck to my mitt as I lifted it from the draw bag. There are always Carp in this area but often they stay on the high bank side of the island, but with a back wind I really fancied it for the waggler as I could control the line and keep it straight to the float to hook bites if the Carp were there.

I set up very simply two wagglers, one to fish tight to the island and one to fish three quarters of the way across in open water, a method rod and straight lead rod and a short 5m pole as I felt this was covering all my options.

At the start of the match I started on the pole with one of my new 0.5gram Drennan prototype carp floats, loose feeding cubed meat to catch about ten pound of mixed fish using meat on the hook, Barbel, skimmers, Bream and F1s in the opening thirty minutes. All the anglers around me started to the island with either feeders or bombs, I like to leave this part of the swim as I hope the fish will settle in front of me where there are fewer disturbances.

I started in this area tight to the island with straight lead and bread for no reward so quickly changed to waggler. It’s around a thirty meter chuck but using one of the new Drennan hollow glow tip 4gram wagglers on a five pound Supplex reel line to a 0,22mm shocker I could reach the island easily and soon started to catch Carp, some real big boys at that. (For more information on pellet wagglers, see this video.)

Using a banded eight mil pellet on a hair rig and a Kamasan size 16 B911to 0.18mm Supplex hook length and pinging eight mil pellets, I amassed 148lb by the end of the match for a section win and a lake win to keep me in the hunt. I did carry on feeding the 5m meat swim and also fed 6mil pellets on my shorter waggler line but never had to pick either up.

Jenny’s, Day Three

Peg 4 was my next port of call on Jenny’s lake and I really did fancy it as I have won the section on it before. I set up three Drennan prototype 10ft method feeder rods with 25gram small Drennan methods with different hook length to swap around the baits on the hook from pellets, maggots and spiked Worms. On the feeder I was going to use micro pellets and I prepared these by soaking them in water and leaving them for just one minute before tipping of the surplus water, after leaving for a further fifteen minutes I add 500mil of Sensas Crazy Bait Marine groundbait to separate the pellets. To this I then put about 100mil of Horlicks to help them stick to the feeder.

The wind was very strong in the face so I rigged just a sort pole of a top two just to add one section as this was about the only distance I could loose feed casters and meat for carp and silvers. Starting on the method with pellets and maggot on the hook I caught Carrassio and Skimmers well for three hours casting to three different spots close to the aerator that is in front of this peg at thirty five turns of my 4000 FG Reels. Then it all fell apart.

The next half hour was slow with just three fish so I changed to pole to catch silvers and even this was not so good putting just seven or eight pounds together on caster in the next hour so it was back on the method . The fish had settled again and by alternating the three spots I managed two Carp and a few Carrassio to finish with 69lb and another section win and third in the group with only 71lb winning. I felt that this was achievable and I should of gone back on the method sooner instead of trying to make the pole work in such bad conditions, with the main problem being missed bites due to having to fish with a bigger float just to get the rig in the water.

Trelawney Lake, Day Four

This is another lake I do like and was quite relieved to draw on it as there are two sections at Twin Oaks in with Trelawney and both are dominated by the pegs in the middle of the lakes, so my peg 32 draw looked good when I arrived to check it out. The wind was strong and blowing down to my end of the lake and thirty two is the end peg so I fancied it for a good result.

Normally on this peg you would fish across to the island at 16meters with the pole, but with a strong cross wind this was impossible. Instead I elected to start with 6 sections of pole and fed with a sprinkle pot with micro pellets to fish soft expanders on the hook in the hope of catching F1s and skimmers. 50lb had been a good weight in this section so I didn’t want to be feeding bait all over the place until I established what was available to catch. I set up two rigs to fish the margin to my left but didn’t feed them at the start, just feeding casters by hand to right and an odd ball of fishmeal GB to try later for Roach and odd bonus fish.

This was trial and error at the start and I quickly sacked the micro pellets as feed as I was attracting too many Roach, a change to four mil hard pellets was much better but I was still getting pestered by small skimmers. I slipped on a piece of corn and immediately caught an F1 so this prompted me to fix a cad pot to the pole and feed corn as well.

This worked like a dream and I also fed corn and pellet down the margin to catch a few from here later in the match, 66lb was the end result for a comfortable section win and I still had chance to win the festival as I could still manage 36 points. The main thing about this day is I fished very light, just 0117mm Drennan Supplex hook lengths to a size 16 B911 F1 hook and green 6to8 Drennan Bungee. I landed two reasonable Carp and never felt I was in danger of getting broke but F1s are the most important fish and they will not accept heavy gear like Carp will.

Porth, not as we know it

Porth has declined dramatically over the last five years mainly due to vast numbers of Pike and Cormorants present at the venue but it is still a place I feel confident at getting a result. I drew peg 38 so it was going to be hard fishing.

I set up a micro flat lead cage feeder with an extra 15grams of lead glued to the base of it to fish at 30 turn and balled in groundbait (Sensas canal original and gross Gardon)at 11meters to fish for Roach. At 14.50 I also cupped in some fishmeal and worms for skimmers.

Starting on the feeder with fishmeal GB and finally mushed worm and worm on the hook I caught about a pound and a half of small skimmers but lost 2lb of bigger skimmers to pike, most frustrating. A change to pole and loose fed maggots and I caught very small Roach to the end of the match for a lowly 4lb 13oz and this finishing second in the section, incidentally I also lost several fish to Pike on the pole landing one about 6lb and I smacked its bum and tossed it back as they don’t count.

Not the best end to the week but 35 points was good enough for sixth overall and I had some really nice fishing along the way. Young James Dent won the event with 36point dropping a second, this is one lad that I am sure will fish for England at some point in his career as he has all the right credentials plus he seems unflappable, well done mate!