Friday 18/06/2010 - Gwinear Open

We were booked in to Morgan Porth; however, there was some discussion on changing the venue to Gwinear because it was offering a wider choice of fishing. So with a unanimous vote we booked in to Gwinear and tendered our apologies to Janet who was a tad disappointed.


On arrival it was good to see Chris Hancock’s dog locked in his van, he is a bloody nuisance ask Marl tanner (the dog I mean). We Steve already on his way home the remaining three of us drew on Phase 2 (see picture of the Lake map). Mark on peg 51, Glenn on 50 and me on peg 46. With the wind blowing in to my end albeit it to the opposite corner I was please with the peg. Paste had been working well on the venue so this was my first choice to be fished at 11 metres at 11 o clock which happened to be the shallowest part on the swim (remains of Simon’s bars). I also set up a jolly for the same swim for soft pellet or hard pellet with a hook length change. I didn’t fancy the end margin as it was flat calm, but always simple to set up a rig if need be. I had a good start catching the 2lb Carp “Stamp” fish for the first two hours, but it was fishing strange. I would catch a couple and then lose them for a while, Chris Davis said after he had experienced a similar problem. I think it’s because the fish are very strong fighters and zoom of taking spooking the shoal. As the match progressed the fish appeared to move up in the water and then completely disappeared. Unlike Phase 1 there are few Skimmers in this Lake and I only caught three which was a bit disappointing. I weighed in a par 57lb 6oz for 7th overall. With 15 minutes left Chris's dog sneaked up behind me and jumped on my back - nearly had an heart attack - a doggy paddle followed!!


The winner was Glenn Bailey (pictured right with half his catch – plus video of his weigh-in at the bottom of the page - glenn needed 40lb frim this last weigh(turn up the volume)) with 93lb 8oz (57 Carp). Glenn’s match was the reverse of mine, struggling for the first two hours fishing paste etc.. at depth. Glenn had been loose feeding at 16 metres and with two hours to go notice fish had arrived on the surface (probably mine). So a quick change to a shallow rig and Glenn caught 40 fish in the time remaining (on hindsight I should have tried up in the water after the first two hours). I could see Glenn from my swim and I must say he fished it very well and was without doubt the worthy winner. Well done matey.

Full Result:

1. Glenn Bailey 93-08-0 peg 50
2. John Thorley 90-04-0 peg 27
3. Dave Fantom 70-08-0 peg 40
4. Mick Powell 69-02-0 peg 22
5. Chris Davis 59-12-0 peg 18
6. Andy Fantom 58-12-0 peg 21
7. Mike Nicholls 57-06-0 peg 46

… Mark Tanner 38-08-0 peg 51

This was our last day’s holiday, so off home in the morning. Glenn had a phone call from his special one and discovered than she would still be in bed ay 09:30 the following day. Come 5 o clock in the morning I heard the wheels spinning on his car waking up most of the camp site!!

We have all decided to give Whiteacres a miss next year and try Stafford Moor, so the planning starts.

Sunday 13/06/2010 - Gwinear Open

It was nice to be back to Gwinear. I do like this venue and I was hoping to be on phase one or two – particularly phase one due to the large head of decent Skimmers. Yippee I drew phase one – peg 3 (see the Lake Map right).

The grape vine was saying either 8mm pellet or paste. So I set up a 4x16 Jolly for expander pellet and a paste rig, both to be fished at 6 metres. Plus a small paste float for the shallow 30 inch RH margin. First mistake was feeding micro pellet on the 6 metre line. The pellet was being ripped off by small Tench to 4oz attracted by my small fed. I did have a 2lb Skimmer, but I was putting back more Tench than I was catching it’s like trying to unhook a bar of soap that wriggles! I had been feeding 4 mm wetted pellet in to the margin so have re-fed the 6 metre line with 4 mm pellet I had a dabble with paste and had a run of Skimmers to 3lb. Time to try the paste at 6 metres. Another run of decent Skimmers followed with the occasional Carp to 3lb. I found that by topping up after every fish with 4mm pellet through the Kinder pot kept them going. I wish I had started this way as it cost me a higher framing position. My Skimmers and tiny Tench weighed in at 29lb 6oz and my Carp 32lb 8oz for a total of 61lb 14oz as it only took 45lb to win last Friday so I was hopeful, however, it wasn’t to be as this put 4th overall.

The match was won by Chris Hancock (pictured right (centre) with runner ups Mark Lazzel and Bob Dac) with 72lb 12oz. Chris fished similarly to me but had the advantage of being able to fish in to the end peg margin. Chris used both paste and hard 8 mm pellet on the hook.

Full Result:

1. Chris Hancock 72-12-0 peg 1
2. Mark Lazzel 66-04-0 peg 36
3. Bob Dac 64-14-0 peg 46
4. Mike Nicholls 61-14-0 peg 3
5. Skip McCabe 48-12-0 peg 50
6. Mark Tanner 46-04-0 peg 5

Steve Nicholls 36lb peg 51.

Sunday 14/06/2009 - Whiteacres Day Two - Gwinear Open

Day two, we are off to the “New” Gwinear Fishery to fish their open. The venue has been completely revamped, with the match lake being drained and every living organism “nuked” then the bottom scraped. The lake was then made into three separate lakes. Each lake then fitted with a new liner.


The pools are paid to the top two on each lake, which I think is fair. The lake pegging map (pictured right) shows the three Phases. Phase 1 has a lot of big Skimmers plus carp to 14lb. The other two phases are similar with smaller Skimmers and small Carp averaging 1lb. We had a walk around the venue. Off course I wanted to draw Phase 1! We were hoping that we had an angler on all three Phases, rather than all four of us on one Phase.

I drew peg 11 which is Phase 3 along Mark on peg 8 and Steve on peg 18. So one of us will be going home empty handed!

With no margin to talk of I set up two 4x14 Jolly’s to fish at 7 metres with 4mm expander pellet one at 10 o clock the other at 1 o clock. At both positions I had 8 foot of water and still shelving off. I started well with a few small Skimmers and some small 1 lb Carp. However, the wind decided to change, which left me becalmed and bite less for some time. It was obvious from the final result that the fish were following the wind. This is probably because the fish are “new” to the environment. The upshot was that I weighed 29lb 6oz which included 3lb 6oz of 4oz Skimmers. This put me 4th on the lake one behind Mark Tanner who weighed 30lb.

The Lake was won from corner peg 15 with 56lb with Steve a close runner up with 53lb and a pick-up of £45 for lake second. The video attached (bottom left) shows Steve weighing in and getting a rollicking for having one Skimmer in his net of Carp (the last fish he caught - blimey Skimmers are expensive in Cornwall) – shows how careful Andy Dare is being with his fish.

Glenn Bailey (pictured right being weighed in by Andy Dare) drew the corner peg 43 on Phase 1 and won the lake with 62-14-0. Glenn caught Carp from the end margin on paste. This also put Glenn third overall and a pick-up of £60.

The match was won from Phase 2 by Bob Rand (pictured lower right) with 81-0-0. Bob fished 16 metres with pellet.

My impression of the venue revamp is that it is far better than the latter years of Simon’s management. I do enjoy this type of fishing – small soft pellet, etc....

Full Result:

1. Bob Rand 81-0-0 peg 26
2. Martin Newstead 76-0-0 peg 41
3. Glenn Bailey 62-14-0 peg 43
4. Bowzer 56-0-0 peg 15
5. Gordon Maeers 55-08-0 peg 47
6. Steve Nicholls 53-0-0 peg 18

What are the chances of Bob drawing the same peg the next day and winning again? The answer is exactly the same as the first day. Amazing enough that's exactly what he did. Well done Bob, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.