Silver fishing my way to success at white acres

For the last week I have been fishing the White acres garbolino spring classic, this is a 72peg, 4 day festival. Those who know White acres festivals will know that you draw a section and follow that section around the lakes each day, I was in D section which meant I would be starting on high numbers at trewaters, then low numbers twin oaks, low numbers trewaters and then finally high numbers twin oaks.

Seeing as I'd never fished the lakes before I figured on the Sunday practice day I may aswell practice on the lake I was starting on, which was high numbers trewaters. 

Being there a tad late with several pegs in use, i opted to sit on peg 44, which had wind blowing towards it and looked like it might be alright! I decided to try a few things out and had no plans on bagging, I simply wanted to see what I could catch on certain baits and areas. I decided to start at 5m on pellet and caught a 3lb carp straight away, and f1 and several skimmers, which at the time I thought were a nuisance! I caught for an hour and it then went iffy and slowed up which seems to be fairly standard on a lot of places I fish. I then decided to fish the feeder, I opted for a micro pellet feeder, I caught a few fish on this but still it wasn't great, and the bites certainly coming fast enough for me to fish the confidently in the match, I'd rather be busy in a match putting something in the net. I'd been feeding caster down the edge and decided to have a look, it was absolutely solid with roach and skimmers. I only fished this for 20-30mins and it was by far the best way to put fish and weight in the net! My team mate had fished 2 pegs away from me and concentrated on feeder all day, it was quite apparent that bites mostly came in the first hour and last hour. With this info I was set for the match, I would start at 5m to see if I could catch any early bonus fish, have a look on the feeder and then go for the roach, maybe looking for carp late if I had too.

Day 1 trewaters peg 47

Drawing close to where I had practiced was a bonus, although on arrival I noticed my margins where Barron with no sedges at all, I was unsure if I would be able to bag on the silvers like before, the wind was also horrendous so there would be no long pole options for anyone today.

I started the match at 5m a couple of hand sized skimmers in 15minutes wasn't quite the plan, so out went the tip. 

I was using a micro pellet feeder and it was very much apparent that if your feeder didn't 'kiss' the bank you didn't get a bite! I managed 3 carp on this early for about 5lb. Not quite the required stamp!

At this point I was doing as well as anyone in the section so decided to take a look for roach. I'd been feeding caster and maggot either side from the start, action was hectic to begin but it only took 45minutes or so to slow, I managed to keep fish coming by alternating between left and right margin but they were not the required stamp from the day before, and as not a lot was being caught I stuck with this till the last hour, I picked up a carp and a couple of f1s on the tip in the last hour, I ended with 21lb 2oz for a section win, 10lb of which was roach!

Day 2 twin oaks peg 11

After drawing this peg and seeing it was last in section with 17lb the day before it didn't exactly fill me with confidence, but looking at the results they seemed to just get better the further down the lake you went, with my section being peg 7-12, I still felt I was the right end of the section.

Arriving at my peg I found Simon gould on peg 12, which had won the section the day before with 61lb.

I decided to start the match on a method across, feed a 5m line with meat and feed a roach line again as a back up. There would be no long poles or wagglers out today as yet again the wind was howling.

I started on the method and caught 2 fish for 14lb in the first 30minutes. Simon to my right then caught his first fish, a 15lb carp! He then proceeded to catch another and a couple smaller ones while my tip just sat there! I was behind and up against it! After an hour Simon said here comes the witching hour, he had stopped catching, I was no longer getting liners and I decided to look for roach! This proved a great move and I managed 150roach in the next hour for approximately 20lb by this time though this line was unfortunately starting to slow so was certainly not a feasible way to catch 60lb+. In this time no one to my left caught a fish and Simon had just caught a couple of f1s. It was only when Simon brought in another Munter that I decided I really needed some more myself and chucked the feeder out again. I'd changed to a pellet feeder and was really cramming the bait in, this seemed to work a treat and bites were far quicker.

I caught odd f1s and frustratingly smaller 4-5lb carp compared to the ones Simon caught, we were probably fish for fish at this stage of the match and I really didn't know how I was going to overtake him. Unfortunately I had an issue with a snag, lost 3 fish, 9 hook links and 2 feeders in it! A bit of a mare really and even Simon said I wasn't getting a lot of luck! Coming into the last hour my catch rate increased, I'd been pinging pellets 3/4 all day and also managed 2 lumps on this. Unfortunately Simon did the same and found another huge double!

I weighed in 81lb and Simon had 110lb, I'd come second in the section and although I felt like I'd fished a good match I still felt it should have been closer. Yet again those roach had boosted my weight and made 2nd in section far more comfortable. Fortunately Simon framed so I picked up section by default.

Day 3 trewaters peg 31

This peg looked like a good peg in the section, the wind was blowing this way down the lake and I felt like I had a good chance. My team mate had been on 34 the day before and had found the lake fished very hard, with most carp caught almost straight away before people sitting bite less. On the day he fished maggot short for bites and amassed a lovely 38lb bag on roach and skimmers for a section win.

Armed with this information I saw no reason why the lake would fish any better than the previous day, the wind was similar and it still felt very chilly.

I decided to start on a micro pellet feeder cast millimetres from the island, this is something we worked out too, if it wasn't close, you wasn't getting a bite. Fortunately it didn't take long and the tip went round with a small carp followed by 2 small f1s in the first 30minutes. In this time I'd been feeding one side of my keepnet with sloppy groundbait and maggot, and the other with caster. I felt it was time to change so on with a maggot and I flicked the rig to my right. The float went under immediately and I was into chunky roach one a bung, after 20 minutes or so I found a bonus 2lb skimmer. 30minutes later and the roach started to get smaller and I was catching odd small perch, a change to the left hand caster line produced good roach straight away, I had a good 15minute spell before that also started to go iffy. I then found myself in a rhythm, fishing one side for 10-15minutes a time and it seemed a perfect way to keep in touch with the quality roach, both lines also produced another 5 decent skimmers, and a couple of f1s.

Coming into the last hour I'd not seen much caught at all so I was pretty confident I was leading the section, bites became iffy in the last hour but this was probably down to the fact the big fish were starting to move around, I actually hooked something that tore off and snapped my 0.8 bottom, I stepped up to 0.10 and interestingly sat bite less for 10minutes, I'm sure those carp and f1s are incredibly line shy on these high pressured waters. Back down to the 0.8 bottom and in the last 45minutes I managed a few more roach, along with 5 decent f1s and 2 carp, one of which was 5lb, I was using double 5 preston slip elastic and a game black hook, it's amazing what you can get in on gear like this! I ended the day with 385roach 5-6skimmers 5-6fs and 3 carp. My total weight was 57lb 10oz of which 49lb was my silvers net all caught on a top kit! I'd won the section by over 20lb, finished 2nd on the lake and had a fantastic days fishing along the way! 

Day 4 final day, twin oaks peg 19

This was easily my best draw of the week, and I couldn't have asked for a better peg today, this peg had been first or second every day this week, and I needed to catch a big weight if I was going to win the festival, this was probably one of very few pegs I could do that on this lake, as with every peg in it was fishing incredibly hard. I decided on a very simple approach, pellet feeder tight across, long pole up the margin, the maggot roach line in front of me as a back up, and a short margin line if they would come that close late. All week it had been fishing very hard with almost every fish being caught on a feeder tight across, hence why I didn't even bother with a 5m or shallow pole line today, I really just wanted to concentrate on positive methods that were working.

I started the match on the feeder and had one 3lb carp in the next 30minutes I had loads of liners in this time, but after 30minutes they just stopped, the fish were very much not obliging at this point. The guy on the peg next to me who I forget his name also had one fish, while everyone remained bite less. Even Simon gould on peg 21 only had a small roach at this point!

Now in a peg like this I really didn't want to be fishing for roach, but I had to get the section win before I could start thinking of sacking up, and with the tip completely motionless and nobody catching a fish, I decided to go for roach, I caught 86 roach on maggot in front of me on a topkit for approx 10lb as I had a bonus skimmer and a 1lb roach in this, unfortunately the last 15minutes of that hour was hard to get bites, this also coincided with the guy next to me catching an f1 on the tip, so out went mine and up the bank went the roach gear! It's worth noting at this point I fed some grounbait long up the bank to my right, as I felt I may nick a fish or two here during the next few difficult hours.

I cast my feeder out after catching those roach and it flew round almost immediately, I had an f1 of my own! Over the next couple of hours I sat on the tip catching odd f1s and small carp, this kept me ticking over nicely, especially as no one else was hardly catching. Probably an hour and a half I saw some signs on my long margin line and managed to catch an f1 and small carp on worm here, I topped the line up but unfortunately not another fish turned up here all day! This didn't matter too much though as the tip was gradually getting better. With an hour and half to go I started throwing small nuggets of gb to my right short margin, with about 40 minutes to go I saw a huge tail waving at me, so on went 2 worms! I lowered the rig in where I assumed the head of the fish would be and the rig just carried on, I wondered if I was under depth and the worms pulled it under, when I went to lift the rig it was solid, before a head started to nod and the fish wallowed out into the middle of the lake, big lump on! After a 10minute struggle I finally caught a glimpse of what was a good 15lber! Amazingly though just as I went to net it, the hook pulled and I watched it slowly swim away, proper gutted!

I had fed a few nuggets of groundbait down the edge while I was playing this fish, and there was another waiting for me, so in went the rig and I had to sit and wait frustratingly for a good 5 minutes before the float buried, this time I had a baby edge dweller of only 8lb! Although it was still best fish of the day at this point! This fish had caused a fair bit of disturbance when I hooked it, and as a result there was no tails waving at me after I'd landed it. I topped up with a pot of gb and went out on the tip.

It wrapped round with a 5lb carp, I then went out again and had an f1. There was 5 minutes left on the clock, and there was a tail waving at me, not a double but not far off, I now had to make the quick decision if I fish for it and potentially not get a bite before the whistle, or chuck the tip out for an almost guaranteed bite from what would probably be a smaller fish. I chose the feeder and it turned out to be an inspired choice as I caught 2 carp for 14 lb in the last 5 minutes! What a finish!

I ended up winning the lake and section with 78lb 10oz, a great days fishing as the next best on the lake was 40lb! Yet again I felt like I'd fished a great match, by catching plenty of silvers in a time when the bigger fish simply weren't feeding!

Unfortunately though I knew I was 60lb behind Harry billing going into the last day, so he only needed a section win and 18lb to beat me, this turned out to be the case as he won his section with 50lb.

I'd finished 2nd in the festival with 23 out of 24 points and a weight of 241lb over the 4 days, over 85lb of that was silvers! They played a massive part in the week for me and I would have been nowhere in the festival without them!

At this point I'd like to thank all the white acres team for a really well run week, and more importantly my bills tackle team mates for the great info they provided me each day! They all had up and down weeks themselves, all having some really tough draws, but also I think they all won there section or framed on the lake at least once too, including banksy who managed to pull himself up the leaderboard with a section win on the last day after a 'slow' start to the week!

Congratulations also to Harry Billing for the win and Danny Edwards for taking 3rd spot!

I had a great week and will definitely be back for more!

Southern supercup semi final at colemans cottage

This weekend saw me and my bills tackle team mates fish the supercup semi final at colemans cottage, this is a venue we know well, and have had a fair but if success at, although that's more in the individual front as a few in our team fished the recent spring league, myself included, and we fish the odd open and the big money qualifiers, including the fishomania where I managed to finish third overall.

As expected, everyone was saying we were the favorites in the run up to the event and at the draw, it was quite obvious that one of the teams was trying to put us off by piling on the pressure, as a team we simply shrugged this off and carried on as we were, most likely putting this pressure back upon there shoulders! 

Match fishing is a funny old game, and two things stand out to me as things that have a massive impact on your day. One of those is confidence, in this instance, in our position if knowing the venue quite well, we knew what we was doing on each lake, and if we were lucky enough we'd know how to approach a peg we'd fished before, and we knew what baits to bring in order to comply with the bait restrictions at the venue, an area no doubt people tripped up on. More importantly though, the other stand out factor is having a drawing arm! Our captain Danny mason seems to have one of these magical elusive limbs that everyone in match fishing wishes they could possess! When it comes to a team match, there's no point in having a couple of fliers and some rubbish, you need a good solid draw. It's fair to say we got just that, we had two good pegs on pathfield, pegs where there's always a few bites to be had, which should be maximised by our chop worm caster catch everything that swims approach, we had one very good peg on wood, with another decent peg in the shape of peg 29, this is one round from a corner which means you have room, which as we have found in the big money matches counts for more than anything on this lake, my mate Mark 'Paul' Banks drew this one so I knew he'd do the damage from there as this was a peg he'd won a 60+ pegger in the spring league.

Then is was onto step field where captain Danny mason was on a good reliable peg on old side, and he'd drawn me probably the best winter peg on the lake in shape of 56, I had this peg and the ones almost either side in the spring league probably more than any other angler so I had an idea of the area! 

After thanking the captain for our good fortunes and the use of his golden arm, we all headed to our pegs confident! We really wanted to win this match as last year we finished 2nd in the semi final at monk lakes and we really wanted top spot!

On arrival at my peg (which I pretty much ran too) I was the first person at the lake, I stood on the hill behind to get a picture of the lake and the wind was roaring down the end to the 30s and 40s, my peg was flat calm and I didn't like the look of it! In my experience of this lake, end pegs produce big weights of carp, whereas anything in between is an f1 race, I also new after an hour this race would slow up so you have to absolutely make the most of it.

My approach today was to start on a top kit with pellet shallow, pellet shallow is the method on this lake in the summer, and although I hadn't fished the lake since spring, I knew I could catch close early before it dies then moving out after, this worked for me in the winter so I saw no reason why it wouldn't be even better in the summer. Another thing about this lake is that, in the first hour, everyone can catch a fish from every inch of there peg, close,long,short,down the edge whatever is was you can get almost a bite a chuck. With this in mind starting on a top kit would allow me to catch more fish in that period than anglers fishing say 5m or 14m etc etc. I also had another tick up my sleeve, in the form of varnished lasood pellets, now being me, I leave nothing to chance, I spend a lot more time preparing than I do fishing, and this no doubt catches me more fish, in this instance spending time the night before lassoing and varnishing 15 hook lengths would be worth their weight in gold. I'd worked out if you spend 10 seconds unhooking a fish then rebanding a pellet, you would lose 10minutes of fishing in the first hour if you was to catch 60 fish, which is perfectly possible on this lake. Therefore my lasso approach should prove exceptional! And as it proved I caught 50 fish in the first hour on a top kit using just 2 pellets!

My rigs for the day were small dibber floats, with 0.15 main line for durability to an 0.13 hook length with an 18b911, although later in the day I changed down to 0.11 hook length. The 0.13 was more to bag up early doors. I set my rigs a foot deep as rules state and set up a rig for across on the deck for carp if I was struggling, along with a method rod in case it was hard too.

My feed today was sloppy groundbait, although it's not something I normally do, as I tend to fish and feed pellets, it seems to be the method as of late and is be daft not to try it, this also proved a brilliant decision and the word piranhas comes to mind with the reaction I got from the fish!

I started the match by feeding some slop and slapping my rig on the water, I hooked a fish first put in, netted it, unhooked it, slapped my rig again and as I was putting the fish I had just caught into my keep entry another was pulling the elastic out! I enjoyed this blinding action for the first hour and had around 50 fish for a brilliant start. I got into a lovely rhythm slapping, hooking fish, feeding, netting, unhooking, slapping, all the time I was just making the most of the early fish as I new it would die off!

Soon after I was adding a section to the pole and had to follow the fish out, this lasted another 40minutes before I was moving further out, towards the end of the match I was fishing 11 meters catching just the odd fish, as the fish had become very crafty to catch, it was very frustrating towards the end, I felt if I could fish shallower I could have still caught well as the f1s would attack the slop on impact then spook off but wouldn't feed deeper, I tried all kinds of ways to present the bait and the best was to slowly lower the pellet on top of the slop, hard work in the end, but I finished up with 140fish for 101lb and an important section win. The windward end had somehow not fished although it looked perfect, and the next best weight was 81lb further down the lake, I was buzzing and couldn't wait to get the gear away and find my team!

One we were all back we totted up our talley, which was 20points, this included my section win and team mate Alan lees section and match winning weight of 154lb from peg 6, and marks second in section and 4th in match 129lb from peg 29. Julian had also come second and dean and Danny had not had such easy days but still beat the anglers around them and secured good team points!

The results where called and we had done enough to win with second having 29points, it was a fantastic feeling and what we had came to do! We were all buzzing and I still am while I write this piece!

Hopefully we can have a better final after last years not so great result!

Thanks for reading and well done to all the other teams that qualified, see you at barston lakes!