White Acres June 2006

Well having obtained a ticket for FishoMania 2006 for the qualifier at White Acres I decided to spend a week at the Cornish bagging Mecca To get some practice in before the match
Having fished a match at Willow Park on the Saturday I decided to go down to White Acres on the Sunday rather than drive down through the Saturday night So Sunday saw me arrive at the complex after a leisurely 4hr drive sort out the accommodation collect all my permits and bait and have a stroll around the complex to get my bearings


Monday

Up at the crack of dawn and down to the lakes I decided to fish Pollawyn today and after an initial walk around I discovered that there must be 2 cracks of dawn in Cornwall as most of the rated pegs had gone already With a mind on the distance to the cafe and my liking for cooked breakfasts I finally decided to settle into peg 52

After a superb breakfast in the cafe I set about fishing

A pot of 4mm pellets in front at 8m and fishing a 6mm soft hooker over the top at full depth resulted in a succession of skimmers interrupted by the odd decent Bream as the swim was building to a fish a chuck the bites suddenly disappeared

Quickly followed by my white hydro disappearing off around towards peg 50 After a nice fight the culprit a 4lb common carp was netted and returned and I quickly swapped over to my Black hydro and the next few hours were spent playing and landing a succession of carp to 6lb

A fantastic mornings fishing

A quick trip to the cafe was in order for a spot of lunch and in the afternoon I decided to give some paste a try under the bush to my right at 3m

First in go 2 pots of 4mm sinkers to kick start the swim while I make up the paste (which owing to forgetting to bring my G.O.T paste) consisted of a bag of Ringers Bag-Up Paste

plumbing of the swim discovered that right on the edge of the bush was also the edge of the drop off and as I intended to fish at dead depth and use the paste to cock the float positioning was going to be important especially as paste tends to drift as it drops

First put in float cocks ..... Dips .....Dips again ... Black hydro rips out of the pole at top speed .. Top 2 dives under bush nearly ripping my arm off

I quickly add a few sections and get in control of the fish and once it's out in front it's played out and netted - a nice mirror of just over 7lb

From then on it was 5 hours of manic paste fishing - liners that set the float jigging about and kept on knocking it down the drop off and lighting bites that threatened to rip the top 2 out of my hands followed by arm wrenching fights from under the bush and beautiful White Acres carp from 2 to 8 lbs

All in all a fantastic afternoon/evenings fishing

Lack of bait stopped play so I was forced to retire to the caravan and plan for Tuesday

Tuesday

The crack of dawn snuck past without any hindrance from me today as I had an urgent appointment at the fishing lodge to restock with pellets and paste

fortunately the cafe opened before the lodge so I was reluctantly forced to sit in the cafe and await the lodge doors opening and to be honest it seemed rude to sit there and not eat something so after another superb large full English it was off to the bait counter to restock then I headed off to Trelawney for the day and settled for peg 5

Plan for today was to try the pellet waggler and pellet/corn on the bomb and paste at dead depth at 8m

First off in went a large pot of hemp and a few lumps of paste at 8m to get the paste line going while I had a look on the waggler

I gave it an hour but the only real interest that was shown was from roach and it showed no real signs of improving so

A piece of paste and a few grains of hemp are shipped out and tipped in at 8m the float performed a bit of a dance and eventually buried and a very hard fighting 4lb carp is eventually netted next put in same result and the next in fact by the time I packed up at 7pm I'd had 38 carp all between 4-5 lbs

During the day a few looks on the bomb with corn and pellet eventually produced 2 carp but paste over hemp was the more consistent and productive approach

Another fantastic days fishing soon to be followed by a well earned trip to the on-site chip shop for tea then back to the caravan to plan for Wednesday via the bar

Wednesday

I'd booked in for the Residents Silver Match which is held every Wednesday at White Acres
After the usual crush at the draw bag I came away with Peg 35 on Twin Oaks

Needless to say as soon as the all in is sounded every fish in my swim disappears for 5 hours

As usual it turned into a struggle

Pellet waggler = zilch

Bomb with corn/bread = zilch

Pellet shallow = zilch

Tight to the far bank = zilch

Margin swim = zilch

Pellet on the deck at 11m = sporadic small carp

End of the 5 hours I managed to put 10:11.0 on the scales

Being too lazy to move I fished on after the match eventually the small carp started to come quicker and grew in size and after a couple of hours I was taking carp to around the 1 lb stamp every put in

Eventually I packed up and headed back to the caravan via the chippy to get sorted for Thursday

Thursday

I'd booked in for the Residents Rover Match which is held every Thursday at White Acres

Out of 147 people fishing I managed to pull out Number 135 at the draw bag

Things did not look good. It eventually got round to my turn to choose and a quick look at the board showed that every peg I had down as a possible had gone

Eventually I spotted Peg 12 Trelawney and plumped for that

Unfortunately by the time I had got in to choose and then got out of the car park and round to Trelawney unloaded and got to Peg 12 I had just over 10 mins to get set up before the all in was sounded - great joy ! by the time the hooter went to start the match I had just about levelled my seat box and unzipped my holdall

I decided to go with paste over hemp at 8m and first put in the float sails away and a nice 5lb carp is in the keep net

Next put in nowt followed by lots more nowt

I swapped my attack to the l/h margin and fishing corn in amoungst the reeds I managed to get a few bites and eventually managed to land 3 further carp but I also managed to trash most of my margin rigs and lost countless fish to the reeds

When the scales arrived I managed to weight 4 carp for 22:00.0

Not a red letter day it has to be said

Still no fishing on today I packed up double quick and rushed off up to the bar to watch England play and pray for a better day on Friday

Friday

After the disappointment of the last 2 days I decided to spend the day fishing on Jenny's and setup on Peg 13

Right everything ready must be time for breakfast !

After a fine full English at the cafe I called into the fishing lodge to stock up on bait for today and also bait allowances for the Fishomania match on Saturday

Nothing special today just going to fish pellet on the deck at 8m and also pellet shallow

also set up a pellet waggler for later on

First I kick start the swim with 2 pots of 4mm sinkers and go straight over the top with a 6mm soft hooker soon as it settles the float shoots under and a nice tench of around 2lb is in the net from then on its a fish a chuck with Tench Carp and Rudd all taking their turn to make an appearance eventually the fish move up in the water and a quick switch to a shallow rig keeps me in contact with some lovely Rudd

By late afternoon I remember the pellet waggler and put an 8mm hard pellet on a band 12" deep and cast it over to the island followed by a pouch full of 6mm pellets

Some hungry Rudd are the first to find it and after 1/2 a dozen pouch full of pellets the fist of the Carp intercept the 8mm pellet

From then on it's a constant stream of Carp between 1 and 4 lbs

Eventually it gets too dark for my poor old eyes to see the waggler

So it's time to pack up and head back to the caravan and get ready for the Fishomania match on Saturday

Saturday

Well the day of the match is finally here and some of the best match anglers in the country are gathering to fish for a chance of getting through to the final and a chance of the £25000 winners cheque

As I pull my hand from the draw bag and look at the token I'm pleasantly surprised to see I have drawn Peg 2 on Trelawney proberly not a match winning peg but it will do for me

If it fishes well I shall have a good day (Who am I trying to kid)

Plan for today is to fish paste at 8m over hemp and fish corn in the margin tight to the reeds

Soon as the hooter goes I feed both swims a pot of hemp with a few lumps of paste at 8m and a pot 50/50 corn and 4mm sinkers into the reeds in the margin at about 6m

On with a piece of paste and ship it out in the pot with a few grains of hemp tip it in and wait for the float to cock

Presentation is not very easy in this swim because due to the aerator being on full blast the tow in the swim is unbelievable I could almost trot a stick float through it's so strong

Eventually I get the paste to a stiff enough mix that it will hang on the hook in the tow and hold the float and after a bit of ducking and diving the float buries and I’m into 1 of Trelawney's rocket powered 4lb carp and my Black Hydro is soon ripping out towards the far bank

Thankfully it's soon under control and safely in the net

True to form no matter what I do I cant get another bite so rather than waste time I head straight for the margin swim with a grain of corn on a hit and hold rig

After a bit of lifting and jiggling the float disappears into the reeds at top speed and I'm attached to another of the Trelawney carp after dragging it from the reeds I manage to play it out in front of me and it's in the net

from then on it's a story of highs and lows I hook and land a few carp I hook and loose twice as many

1 zoo creature I hooked almost made it to the aerator before the hook pulled which resulted in my float coming back at sub light speed powered by black hydro at full stretch unfortunately the float disintegrated as it smashed into the tree next to me (so much for Tyson’s being indestructible)

Fortunately when the sky cameras came round they had nothing embarrassing to film in Peg 2 and the carp I was playing behaved it's self

But that was about it for my Fishomania 2006

when the scales arrived I only had 5 carp to weigh for 27:00.0

Not a winning weight but I enjoyed the match and the weeks fishing

White Acres is a fantastic place and I shall defiantly be going back hopefully for fishomania 14 if I am lucky enough to get another ticket

Full Result