Round 4 – report by Phil Watters
With Ben busy this week it falls to me to write the report for round 4.
As I pulled into the car park at White Acres the external temperature guage in the car read -2C. Not a great sign but the sky was blue and with very little wind things didn’t look too bad.
With all monies in and a little problem with the gate at Lamorna sorted it was time to make the draw. The one number we didn’t want was peg 1. The first ball was drawn for our team and… you guessed it, no.1. Michael was not a happy bunny but you have to accept what you get.
I had opted to fish Lamorna this time so this would put me on peg 2 which had produced 3/4oz in the first round and was reported to be “2ft deep all the way across”.
When we finally arrived at Lamorna the ground underfoot was decidedly crunchy and all the puddles frozen. The water was still, not a ripple and no fish topping. Everyone looked glum.
Plumbing up brought better news as I managed to find 5ft down the middle and the corner of an island reachable at 14m. althuogh it was very shallow there. I opted for two lines, one in the deepest part at 10m. and one just away from the island in about 15 inches of water.
At the start I decided upon a cautious approach, cupping in some chopped worm and a few pinkies in the deep swim and started there. After a few minutes everyone appeared to be catching much to our surprize. My first three fish were Rudd but elsewhere small Carp around the 8oz mark were coming out. I decided to put a ball of groundbait in. That did the trick and I began to catch small Carp steadily loose feeding pinkie after every fish. I was beginning to enjoy myself as the sun melted away the frost and was regretting putting on the thermal fleece.
At around midday things started to slow up. It was feeling quite warm now so I fed the long line and tried it a few minutes later. The Carp were there and a procession of slightly better stamp fish made their way to my net. By about 2pm this line began to dry up as the sun dipped low in the sky. Returning to the deep swim kept things ticking over to the end.
The weigh-in revealed the result of a very successful match for me winning the section with 32lb 6oz. Pete Mawby (Mid Cornwall Angling) was second in the section with 23lb 11oz taken on pole and feeder from peg 6, narrowly beating Nigel Sanders (Atlantic Tackle) with 22lb 5oz and Dave Davies (OB Joyful) not far behind on 22lb 10oz. No-one had less than 10lb.
Elsewhere, Pollawyn was a little disappointing. League leader, Chris White (Phoenix) notched up another section win with 3 Carp taken on the pole boosting his net to 16lb 7oz from peg 34. Barry Little (Team Newtown) included 2 Carp in his 13lb 8oz net from peg 28 just ahead of Graham Curnow (Newtown Angling) who’s all silver fish net from peg 14 weighed 13lb dead.
On Sycamore, Ben Field (Mid Cornwall Angling) on gap peg 5 had to be the clear favourite and he made no mistake with a match winning 51lb 12oz of Carp to 9lb taken mainly on the feeder with worm on the hook. To his left on peg 8, Mike Bennetts (MKM) also opted for a feeder attack with a variety of baits accounting for Carp totalling 39lb 8oz. Meanwhile, on peg 1 at the shallow end of the lake, Mike Yates (Newtown Angling) worked with the pole and maggot at 11m. for a 22lb 13oz all silver fish net.
Adding up the points revealed another win for our team (Newtown Angling) with 23 points. Coming in second on the day were Mid Cornwall Angling on 21 just ahead of Phoenix with 20.Phoenix Team Newtown crashed and burned allowing Mid Cornwall Angling to close the gap to just one point. Next week back to Porth, see you there.
Report by Phil Watters (Newtown Angling)
Round 5 – report by Ben Field
With the new year well under way, round 5 sees us returning to the lovely Porth Reservoir.
A relatively mild day greeted us, and luck had shone on us once again. As I mentioned after the last round here, years of winter leagues gone by have shown us that Porth is not always such a pleasant place to fish when it’s blowing a ‘hooly’. However, this time, with not much wind and some fairly warm air, the fishing almost promised to be good – and it was!
With the draw over, peg 5 was ours. Average pegs for us in all sections to say the least. I was today to be fishing the far side (permanent peg 76) – a long walk, but with the boat to carry all our gear over, it’s a walk worth taking. Mike Yates had won the last round here from this section with 17lb of Roach, so I was really looking forward to the day. Bob was to be fishing the Meadow, while Pete was in the trees.
Before the all in, all anglers took a minutes silence in memory of Gerry Savage, who sadly passed away last week – a local angling journalist and nature lover who had written for more than 10 years in local newspapers. I think I speak for us all, sea, coarse and game anglers, when I say that he, and his articles, will be sadly missed.
On the whistle, I cupped in 4 balls to 11m (as far as I could go with all the bushes behind me) and started on an inside whip line to catch a few Perch before moving out over the groundbait. There seem to be a lot of Perch on the far side, and on hard days can be worth targeting. Today however, they were so tiny and few that I moved out on the longer line after just 20minutes. Stuart Athay (Atlantic Tackle) on the platform peg next to me was at this point catching larger Perch close in (until disaster struck and one of his pole’s only no.4 section slipped in to the water and out of sight), and to my right, E. Trinder (MKM) was also catching a few. These were the only two I could see, and with Phil Watters (Newtown Angling) and Alan Roberts (Team Newtown) also in my section, from 2 teams I had to beat, I didn’t want to be wasting any time.
Over the groundbait, fishing maggot (feeding caster and the odd ball of groundbait) I was in to fish straight away, but mostly just small Perch again. With the odd Roach eventually showing, I was confident that there would soon be a few more around. Soon as they did show up, with the odd small skimmer thrown in to add a little variety, then a 1lb 8oz Perch to compensate for the small ones at the start, I was having a really enjoyable day – despite the rain showers that had now started.
A switch to caster on the hook after a couple of hours proved very productive, upping the average size of my fish slightly, and increasing numbers at the same time.
Come the end, it was a very close affair. I weighed 19lb (8.63kg) which luckily for me was enough to take the section. Alan Roberts put 17lb 4oz (7.83kg) on the scales to give me a bit of a fright (weighing before me), netting a fair few skimmers on both the pole and feeder after a blistering last couple of hours. Phil Watters managed 3rd in section with his pole caught small fish net for 5.28kg, all on maggot. Looe A.C’s, R. Stokes had a similar net for 4.65kg (still a very good weight of small fish by anyone’s standards) and 4th place off section peg 9. Behind that, there was nothing in it with all anglers weighing between approx. 3 and 3.5kg.
Across in the meadow Mike Yates (Newtown Angling) had taken the section, weighing 4.88kg under the long pole, like team mate Phil Watters, fishing maggot. John Wilson (Team Newtown) did well in another close section to finish with 3.58kg, and S. Snipe added to a good day for the Looe A.C. boys with 3.18kg and the section 3rd. Close weights followed from N. Pope (MKM), P. Langsleigh (Atlantic Tackle) and my team mate Pete Mawby (Mid Cornwall Angling).
The trees had been showing some form as a match the previous weekend had been won from this area with 22lb. Today proved a little harder, but the fish were at least a little more willing to feed than our last round in this section. My team mate Bob Noble took the section with 5.56kg, which included a 1.5kg golden tench that he managed to land on the whip close in – backing that up with perch and roach on maggot, also caught close in on maggot. Behind him was current individual leader Chris White (Phoenix) with 3.66kg, again caught close in under the pole – he seems to be having a great league this year. Newtown Angling’s Graeme Curnow managed a very close third with 3.63kg, yet again taken under a short pole with maggot. B. Little (Team Newtown) and P. Baker (Looe A.C.) were not far behind however, both taking over 3kg.
The impressive Newtown Angling team’s total of 23 points was enough to give them the honours on the day. We did however manage another 2nd with 22, slowly but surely pulling ourselves up the table. 2nd place overall is a realistic chance, just 1 point behind Team Newtown we remain, tying with them on points today, but having a good weight advantage.
Looe A.C. did enough to pull themselves nicely up the standings, finishing in a close 4th today, and they’re now just above Plymouth A.C. in the table. Everything is still to play for mid-table at present.
Whiteacres is the venue for our next round (re-scheduled instead of Bolingey), so I’ll see you all there.
Special thanks go to Phil Watters for his excellent report in my absence last week.
Report by Ben Field (Mid Cornwall Angling)
For more details of results, team and individual standings visit the Real Cornwall Website.
