Tuesday 16/06/2009 - Whiteacres - Day Four - Mawgan Porth Fishery

Mawgan Porth Fishery was first opened in 2004 and I fished the very first match. I drew peg 7 and found I was opposite Bill Knott. I remember Billy moaning most of the match, plus a reprimand from owner Janet leads to his promise not to fish the venue again. I think has kept hat promise. I fondly remember Billy’s Dad Bill Senior. Bill Snr used to fish the SWWL with his team Marazion where Bill and his wife owned a hotel. Bill loved fishing the Crane at Keynsham and didn’t think twice of the round trip throughout the winter to and from Cornwall. Bill was a very good river float angler. Bill is also well known for his cut price Mitchell reels. Bill probably was the first to buy bulk and sell below rrp pissing off the retail trade. Now they are all cut pricing – Internet etc… I wonder what Bill would make of this, bet he would be deeply involved if he was still with us. I also remember one day Bill Snr brought Bill Jnr to a match (aged about 8 years), Rich Coles made the comment that Bill Jnr looked like a Chimpanzee.


Back to the match. A warm welcome greeted us from Janet, plus a beautiful sunny day. The Fishery is in a beautiful natural valley, surrounded by wild flowers and fauna. But be aware Janet is very, very protective of her fishery and fish which reflects in the quality of the fish - absolutely pristine. Janet provides keepnets, landing nets and cloths. She also sweeps down the platforms before you set up as well as weighing everyone in (mammoth task on this venue)! It is the best environment I have fished in. The picture right shows son Steve setting up, just look at the surroundings. I also included a photograph of a real Duck House (pictured right, this one didn’t cost £2,500, nor is it up for a charity auction).

Janet does the draw in her little open sided shed (pictured right – with Glenn looking on). I need to draw in the shallow part of the lake to have a chance of framing which is the nearest en to the car park. I drew peg 16. Janet keeps contemporary records of all her matches and a quick check on my peg revealed that a mere 25lb came off of it the day before! I have fished the venue some 10 times now and have some experience of fishing it. Glenn drew next to me on peg 18 and Steve 28 both of these are end pegs, but at the wrong end. Mark drew better on peg 8. I started in the right hand margin on small bits of paste (about the same size as an 8mm pellet). I fished this over loose fed wetted 4mm pellet (sparingly). The fish are either Common or Mirror Carp averaging 1lb, with a lot of small 3 oz Skimmers (they can drive you mad if you get them in your swim – ask Glenn). I had a good first two hours catching one a bung. It then slowed and a switch to deeper water out in front on the top set and full sized pieces of paste. Back to one a bung until the last hour until the Skimmers moved in which left me scratching around for the odd Carp. I weighed 136lb 10oz (pictured right waiting for the scales) for second overall and a pickup of £56.

Mark weighed 74lb 3oz; Steve weighed 73lb 12oz and Glenn 74lb 14oz. amazing that there was only one fish separating them all!!

The match was won by the local venue expert Andy Partridge (pictured lower right) with 167lb 10oz from peg 5. Andy started on expander pellet over loose fed pellet then switched to corn over hemp. The Hemp is probably the answer to the Skimmers nuisance.


Full Result:

1. Andy Partridge 167-10-0 peg 5
2. Mike Nicholls 136-10-0 peg 16
3. Andy Thomas 134-10-0 peg 41
4. Chris Whitehead 116-13-0 peg 47
5. Jim Hornsby 103-11-0 peg 42
6. Dave Chinn 96-09-0 peg 36

The record match weight is 343lb 13oz by Skip McCabe in five hours!! The "Stig" of the Angling World - some say he has four arms!!!