Jon Arthur reports back from a successful festival which saw him finally qualify for the prestigious £25,000 Parkdean Masters Final.

For the past five or six years I have been making the annual pilgrimage down to White Acres in Cornwall to compete in the Preston Innovations Festival. This is the biggest festival of the year at this popular holiday complex with the top 24 qualifying for the £25,000 Parkdean Masters Final that gets televised on Sky Sports each year.

As you also have to qualify to actually fish the Preston Festival it really is a who’s who of top-flight match anglers. Almost all the top names are there and with 180 anglers split over five 36-peg zones and the fishing spread over 10 different lakes you have to be on your game. This place gets fished harder than any other venue in the country, too, so the fishing can be up and down at times. That means you have to draw well and be versatile to stand a chance of getting to that Final. That’s something I certainly haven’t done over recent seasons, so I was really hoping for better luck at the draw bag this year.

In my lodge I had Neil McKinnon, Nick Speed and Rob Wootton for company, so we had plenty of banter and abuse to dish out. Nick’s also an amazing chef, so we were treated to a feast every night thanks to his culinary skills!

Day One – Acorn 9 (62lb, 3rd)

Peg 9 on Acorn was my destination for Day One. It’s a decent peg in the section with the added benefit of being able to reach the far-bank island with a full 16 metres of my Acolyte. Even so, the fish were surprisingly moody and difficult to catch and it was a tough day for us all.

I say tough, but it was also pretty fair, as just 10lb separated the top five in the section. Adam Wakelin won it with 67lb, 62lb 14oz was 2nd and I was just 14oz away with 62lb for 3rd. After that there was a 60lb and a 58lb. Now that’s close! A single point missed can make a huge difference after five days of fishing so I hoped it wouldn’t end up biting me.

As far as my match went, I caught a couple of small mirrors plus some F1s at five metres with 6mm expanders over pellet. I really struggled against the island on pellets and meat until I switched to maggots and worm over groundbait. I then had a few fish but foul-hooked several too. Despite everything looking right I only managed one 6-7lb carp down the edge while others around me latched into quality fish.

At the end of five hours I was well up on fish count but the overall stamp was quite small. Peg 7 beat me by just 14oz thanks to four big ‘uns down the edge in the last 30 minutes while I sat there fishless. I also missed a fish at the net early on that was easily 4-5lb which came off seconds later. That seemed to be a similar story across the lake with everyone pulling out of valuable fish. They are really spooky on this lake at times and were clearly not taking the hook bait confidently.

I ended with 40lb of carp and 20lb of silvers and F1s. I was maybe a little off my game but apart from that last hour I felt I fished OK, considering I hadn’t fished a match for the best part of a month.

Day Two – Porth (11lb 1oz, 6th)

I think the writing was already on the wall when I drew next to Alan Scotthorne!  We were in the 70s which is a really tricky section as far as getting good points is concerned as there are normally some big bream swimming about that can really upset the form book. Over 50lb of bream had won the previous day from this area so I really expected a few to show today and 20lb being needed to win the section.

Wrong! It fished surprisingly hard. Alan got his head down on small fish all day and won it with 17lb. Only just, mind, as there were two other 17s in the section, a 14lb and another 11lb which ounced me.

Alan was on 73 and I was on 72 so we had a nice ding dong battle for a few hours. He was catching mostly small roach faster than me but I was definitely level pegging after two hours with slightly bigger skimmers. I normally try and catch on loose fed maggots or casters but this time fancied catching on small balls of chopped worms and casters in groundbait. It was working quite well before a mahooosive double-figure pike leapt clean out at six metres and snaffled one of my 3oz skimmers!

My peg never really recovered after that incident and so I gambled and chucked a Method feeder. I had borrowed Dean Barlow’s feeder gear, as he had fished in the 80s the day before, and primed a line at 51 reel turns of a Series 7 Specimen reel. This was precisely where I saw a few patches of bubbles in the morning and gave me confidence.

Incidentally, it’s often flat calm at 9am but the wind typically gets up once the match starts. We had all kinds of weather to deal with, from sunshine to strong wind, rain and even a mini hail storm. I actually had a 250ml Drennan pole pot’s worth of hail collect in my landing net after that had passed!

I don’t think I have ever chucked a Method feeder at Porth before so my hopes were up after a bite on my very first cast… from a 3oz skimmer. God knows how it got an 8mm white dumbbell boilie in its gob!

Next chuck with a large 35g Method Feeder I had a 12oz skimmer and then a 2lb fish on the third. Andy Leathers was on the end peg 71 to my right and had caught a 4lb bream and lost another on the same tactics so I was really confident of another pull with half an hour to go. One good bream would have given me several more points but it sadly never happened. In fact the whole lake fished quite poor on the day compared to the Monday.

Even so, I actually had a pretty enjoyable day and can’t complain with 11lb of silvers at this time of year. With your best four results to count overall, my 6th place in section would definitely need to be my ‘dropper’ at the end of the festival though…

Day Three – Bolingey 16 (110lb, 2nd)

I was very happy with Peg 16 on Bolingey as it’s a decent peg in a decent area on the back bank. Coincidentally Dean Barlow, who I had spoken to in the morning, had about 90lb off it the day before, but was just beaten either side by Tommy Pickering and Steve Cooke. I had similar stars either side in the shape of Andy Powers on 15 and Lee Wright on 17 to contend with, so it was always going to be tough!

I ended up catching around 20 fish, mostly on the short pole with pellets and meat plus a few fish on the Method to the island to just pip them both with 110lb. I thought that would be enough to take the section, but Peg 11 had other ideas as he weighed 130lb for second on the lake.

I felt I’d fished a decent enough match, though, and was unlucky not to catch any really big fish. You normally need a couple of 10lb-plus fish to bump your weight but they were a tad elusive for me…

Day Four – Pollawyn 12 (54lb, 1st, Lake 4th)

After four consecutive days of hammer a good draw on Pollawyn would be vital. It was fishing quite poor all week with the arms being especially tough. By now the skimmers and roach have been clattered but there are always a few rogue 8lb+ carp swimming about to upset things.

Yet again I failed to draw on the fancied ‘high bank’ but I was certainly not disappointed when Peg 12 stuck to my hand. In this section there are only three or four pegs you’d be happy with. Peg 13 is easily the stand-out peg, but 10, 12, 7 and 1 are all worth a few fish. A weight of just 25-30lb would probably be worth mega points in that arm of the lake.

I had a dream start on the short pole with two carp for 20lb within 20 minutes. I didn’t mess around, with my 0.18mm Supplex to pink Carp Bungee elastic subduing them comfortably. I then went out to 15 metres where I had fed two spots: a chopped worm swim and a pellet swim. The worm swim was easily best as I managed a string of 10-12oz skimmers here on worm heads with a light 0.3g AS1 float to 0.117mm Supplex and a 18 Silverfish Pellet hook. Strangely, the other swim was less productive, but I did manage a 2lb perch on that well-known predator hook bait… a 6mm expander!

With an hour to go I swapped back to the short pole and stepped up the meat feed. My reward was three more carp which gave me a very pleasing 54lb 15oz total. That was more than enough to win the section and gave me a surprise 4th on the lake, which was won with just 70lb. I now knew I needed a top-two finish tomorrow to make the all-important Parkdean Masters…

Day Five – Twin Oaks 29 (111lb 15oz, 2nd)

I was really happy to draw on the bottom lake at Twin Oaks as I knew it would be a catching match. I have had some really good results on this pool and you never quite know where the fish will settle in the morning, so you go to it not knowing what your fortunes will be. The wind can play a big part and it’s also typical to catch big carp at one end and all smaller F1s at the other, which can really make things interesting. Deep down I was hoping to land on a pile of F1s and just get my head down and catch all day…

For company I had none other than Lee Kerry to my left on 31 and Lee Wright past him on 33. I also had Andy Power down the bottom end of the section amongst others. End Peg 35 had won it the day before with 130lb so I really felt I had to fish a good match to do well today.

My plan was quite simple. I would start short on meat then fish caster shallow at 14 metres and caster and/or meat down the edges. I also had a pellet feeder and bomb rod set up, just in case. However, it was flat calm and I knew the feeder hadn’t been playing as much of a part as it can do.

I managed two F1s and a 1lb skimmer early but looking up and down the bank I could see that it was an extremely slow start for everyone. With very little else happening I soon went out shallow. Three roach had me worried but juggling depths and rigs saw me relieved to finally catch a decent F1.

These F1s seem to average 2lb in this lake and are old and wise fish. They also fight like demons and never give up all the way to the net. Just getting their heads up can be a nightmare at times and you really have to be patient to avoid pulling out of them.

I had a great run with these fish and was on about 28-30 after three hours, all on caster shallow. I felt like I was in front but my swim was showing signs of flagging. Meanwhile Lee Kerry, fishing the same tactics, was now putting fish together with more regularity and getting me worried. This was made worse because he could see how I was catching but a bush right next to my peg prevented me from seeing what he was up to!

A drop down the edge saw me find a few more F1s but it wasn’t exactly solid. I really wanted to single these fish out with meat but they were only interested in casters. In between bites I was also having the odd quality roach and perch, but I knew it was the F1s I really needed. I couldn’t work out whether to feed very little so the F1s would bully the fish out or heavily to feed the silvers off. I also fed a bit of sloppy groundbait but, again, I couldn’t weigh up if this was helping or not. In the end I just felt like the fish were coming into the peg in short spells. I managed around 10 fish here but, as per the rest of my week, I suffered a very lean last 10 minutes.

Meanwhile Lee Wright, who had been quiet most of the match, was suddenly bagging up on F1s and some proper carp while Lee Kerry was still plucking odd fish from his shallow line. It’s hard to know for sure but it felt like the fish in front of me had drifted to my left where the two Lees were sat. With it being flat calm all day they certainly didn’t want to settle in front of anyone for long.

With just over five minutes to go Mr Kerry looked at his watch and told me he wanted two more fish. He promptly went out and had two good F1s in two chucks while I sat there fishless! It had been a great battle and nip and tuck between us both all day so neither of us was quite sure who had the upper hand. We both had three weighs and even when Lee’s last bag went on the scales neither of us could predict the outcome.

It was only when it was all totted up that we realised just how tight it had been. I had 111lb 15oz while Lee had 113lb 7oz – less than one F1 in fish terms! It meant that Lee had won the section and the festival overall with a super-consistent five straight section wins. He’s a top angler and good friend so very well done mate!

That result put me on 32 points and gave me a very nervy night at the evening presentation while I waited to see if it would be enough to make the all-important top 24.

It was! My effort was good enough for 19th overall. and a 350lb total was also the 6th best weight of the week. Looking back, I had obviously drawn some decent pegs and caught plenty of fish. I had certainly enjoyed it much more than previous years. If only White Acres was always that kind to me!

Congratulations once again to Lee for winning it. Our lodge also had extra celebration as Nick Speed came 2nd overall while Rob Wootton was 15th. So, three of us had made it into the Parkdean Masters the next day. Game on!

The Parkdean Masters Final

Everyone was full of anticipation for this four-hour match on Jennys Pool. The lineup really was top notch with most of the usual big hitters making it. I wasn’t too disappointed with Peg 6 and had John Whincup on 5 and Grant Albutt on 7 to fend off. Frankie Gianoncelli had drawn the red-hot favourite Peg 16, while Geoff Vallance was next to him on 17 and Nick Speed was on 15. Andy Geldart was also a favourite before the start after drawing Peg 4 on the aerator.

However, it fished unbelievably hard for everyone. I had a few chucks on the feeder to a freshly strimmed island but the bottom was covered in branches and leaves, which rendered it unfishable.

A switch to the long pole and pinging 6mm pellets at 16 metres yielded five carassio and a tench while no one else around me could buy a bite. With nothing else happening and it obviously fishing below par I made the decision to target silvers. Sloppy balls of fishmeal and worms normally works ok on here but the fish weren’t obliging. I swapped to casters at four metres and down the edges and caught a few roach plus the very odd skimmer. Sadly, they weren’t the usual stamp for this lake and I had a lot of tiny roach amongst them. All the time I was hoping to catch a rogue bonus fish amongst them but it never happened.

I still had an enjoyable day’s fishing while most others sat there praying for an elusive big fish. I weighed 29lb for 7th overall with Grant having 17lb to my right and John really struggling to my left. I definitely dropped a bit of a clanger, though, as I had primed the long pole and wanted to sit on it for the last 15 minutes for a carp… only to realise I’d run out of time when I looked at my clock. That’s four-hour matches for you!

Well done to Jamie Wilde for winning off unfancied Peg 13 with 46lb. I think that was just six or seven carp on the Method and a surprisingly low winning weight for this normally prolific lake. Jamie is a top angler, nice bloke and a really popular winner so it was thoroughly deserved.  Well done mate, but keep that trophy well polished as I really fancy having my name on it next year!

Result

• 1st Jamie Wilde 46-5-0
• 2nd Andy Geldart 43-11-0
• 3rd Geoff Vallance 43-3-0
• 4th Paul Holland 32-13-0
• 5th Steve Ringer 31-12-0
• 6th Matt Godfrey 30-0-0
• 7th Jon Arthur 29-12-0
• 8th Des Shipp 26-13-0
• 9th= Lee Kerry 26-9-0
• 9th= Lee Edwards 26-9-0
• 11th Andy Leathers 25-5-0
• 12th Frankie Gianoncelli 24-11-0
• 13th Andy Power 23-4-0
• 14th Adrian Higginbottom 20-9-0
• 15th Nick Speed 17-13-0
• 16th Rob Wootton 17-10-0
• 17th Grant Albutt 17-9-0
• 18th Tom Pickering 17-8-0
• 19th Andy Nelson 15-6-0
• 20th Leigh Hodgkinson 15-0-0
• 21st Gary Thomas 12-5-0
• 22nd Richie Hull 6-8-0
• 23rd Steve Cooke 5-0-0
• 24th John Whincup 3-15-0