Acorn Fishery (Saturday).

A return to Acorn fishery today For which it seems like ages since my last visit so was looking forward to the day ahead, Arriving just in time for a sandwich from the on-site café before the draw and I wasn't really bothered as to were I would draw just as long as I could avoid the couple of pegs which were going to be effected with the already strong wind' It amazes me just how often we get to the weekend and the weather changes dramatically".

True to my run of form in the draw-bag I wasn't really surprized to find myself on peg 23 which just so happened to be the most effected area of the lake along with Brian Hadley on peg 26 with the wind resembling which I can only describe as a washing machine affect in are swims' Just what we wanted to contend with! It didn't help when I had to pass Kev Perry on peg 30 on route to my swim who was on the opposite bank who was already tackling up in a T-Shirt!, No Chance of that for Brian & Myself as we were already adding clothes to keep warm' Seeing as we were going to have to battle through the elements we had a quid between us to keep us interested, First up I had a 0.3g AS1 float assembled on 0.13-0.11 & an 18 Maver pellet hook to fish just off the far bank were I found 3ft of water, A 0.2g Maver invincible to fish tight to the far bank off to my left but pluming up I realised I only had 8'inches of water as the level was down for some reason and didn't expect to catch well from here. Last up was my favourite 4x12 Chanti on 0.15-0.13 and an 16 Wide Gape pellet hook to fish in-front of the Empty pallets to my left and right which was the same depth around 3ft.

I started by feeding a handful of 4 & 6mm hard pellets to the left hand pallet and just a few 8mm pellets on the right hand swim, a handful of Micros and 4mm's tight over in the shallow water and began the match fishing just of the island in the deeper water with a 4mm expander on the hook cad potting a few micros over the top. It didn't take long to have a 3lb carp and a couple of F1's but I was already struggling to present the rig properly being buffered around all over the place'. I saw a sign of fish in the shallow water right over but as soon as I switched to trying it the fish buggered off! I tried the inside sooner than I would have liked but it failed to produce so struck to the deeper swim across.

I had a few more smaller carp & F1's but was already foul hooking a few so switched to feeding a few hard 4mm's to try add pin then down to the deck, I was getting the odd fish but looking around I could see Kev among others had already had a few bigger fish so I had to try and make something else work? Not wanting to get plagued by small fish I decided to fish 8mm pellet on the hook down the inside swims feeding just a few 6mm via the cad-pot over the top, it worked for a few fish before things died again. The wind seemed to be getting stronger as the day went on as I was cursing to myself as I struggled to get the rigs working properly, I had already been blow around on my box and found myself hooked up to the empty pallets in the process' and to be honest wasn't enjoying the day".

I kept at it though and by switching between the two inside swims and the deeper far line I was still adding the odd fish to keep me interested without going insane! I could see Kev had been catching well as well as a few anglers who weren't as effected as us but Brian was also Struggling with the wind, it wasn't until the last hour I had a better run of fish on banded 8mm pellets feeding just a few 6's down both inside swims but didn't think I had done enough to see me make the frame? At the weigh-in we started at fancied peg 9 at the bottom end of the lake Were Shaun Clayton put 99lb odd on the scales before Team Mate Glen Calvert from peg 5 came close with 98lb odd, After a few lower weights we got around to Kev Perry on peg 30 who managed 88lb before Brian threw back around 30lb so it was just down to me' 82lb later so me just miss out on the frame but more annoyingly pulling out of a few better fish due to hooking them when it was gusting cost me dearly' I new had I been able to present a bait properly I would of put more in the net but in hindsight I felt I had done well considering but that's fishing. Shaun went on to win the day catching the bulk of his fish on maggot or worm over ground-bait in his margin.

 Winner Shaun Clayton.

 Runner-up Glen Calvert.

 

Well glad to be back on the bank after missing last weekend and a trip to Shiplate farm tomorrow for an open on the main lake.

Full Results -

1st Shaun Clayton (South Wales) peg 9, 99lb 8oz.

2nd Glen Calvert (Maver) peg 5, 98lb 2oz.

3rd Kev Perry (Sensas Thyer's) peg 30, 88lb 14oz.

4th Dom Sullivan (Maver) 82lb 8oz.

5th Rich Heatley (Clevedon  A.A.) peg 3, 61lb 6oz.