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Grant's Elation and
Disappointment at
Whiteacres

Skol Masters Festival and the
£20,000 Shoot out.

(All Pictures Courtesy of Brian Gay Photography)

Day 2

The following day saw me sitting at peg 10 on Gwinea. This peg had been framing consistently over the past week or so I was feeling confident. I decided to plumb up at 5 metres and 14 metres on the pole line. At the 14 metre mark I found a bar about five feet deep.

I started the match on the five metre mark on meat, but had not had a bite after 15 minutes. People again were catching around me and having big fish. With Gwinea the fish are decent and you can find yourself playing catch up very quickly if you don't sort things early on. Anyway I threw the five metre rig up the bank and went out shallow on the 14 metre line. This was my saviour I caught straight away. I continued to fish shallow even though I was not bagging, I was catching fish steadily at three feet deep, feeding casters, with three red maggots on a size 14 Preston PR21 Hook.

I could see the whole of my section and knew that I was winning it. The final shout came and the scales arrived. I placed 79 lb. on them, this was not only a section win but a lake win which was even better.

Day 2.

I decided to stick to one line once I was catching. If you keep switching from one line to another you will split the fish and confuse matters. If you are catching this time of year then stick to it!

Day 3.

Porth reservoir was the next port of call. This is a venue that has never been to kind to me and a place that generally gives me my worst result in a festival. I drew peg 31, which had been throwing up a few good fish but had not produced a section win so I decided to set up a feeder rod, with an open end feeder, and a pole line at 13 metres.

Whiteacres

At the start I put in ten jaffa sized balls of Sensas fishmeal at twenty five yards and went straight on a clipped up feeder, full of chopped worm and fishmeal with double red maggot on the hook. I caught 4oz - 10oz skimmers from the off.

That, I decided, was to be my line of attack for the day. Half way through the match I hooked a better bream, a proper fish! As I was going to net it however, it came off and I was wounded to say the least, my biggest fish I had ever caught at Porth had come off! My mate Adrian Marshall was on the next peg at 30, which had won the section the day before, and was catching well. I knew the weigh in would be close and that fish I had lost would have been a sure bonus without doubt.

Both Adrian and I had quiet spells during the closing stages of the match and I was still kicking myself for losing that bream. The scales arrived and I weighed 17 lb. 12oz with Adrian placing 15 lb. I was over the moon my FIRST ever section win at Porth. I was happier than Mr Happy when I found I had won the lake! The jinx of Porth was put to rest.

Day 3.

Again I stuck to one thing, the feeder. My opinion at Porth is you can't do two things. Stick to an attack with the pole or feeder, not both.

Day 4.

Bollingy was my next stop on this festival and I drew peg 20 a good peg in that section, with the island about 17.5 - 18 metres in front. I plumbed up at 16 metres, which I found to be five feet deep. I also plumbed up down the inside margins, which were three feet deep and in addition out, came a shallow rig as I had seen a few fish topping in the area. I also set up a groundbait feeder for those extra few metres distance to the island.

The all in came and I cupped in corn, meat and a little fishmeal on the 16 metre line. The same was fed down the edge and I went straight out on the feeder to allow the feed to settle. The tip went round straight away and I landed a fish weighing about 8 oz, possibly the smallest fish in there! The feeder went up the bank and went out on the 16 metre line. Again I was having bites straight away, but missing them. I was fishing meat and every time I missed a bite the bait would come off causing me to keep shipping back. This was stressing me out which was made worse by the fact peg 12 was catching one a chuck. I opted instead for the shallow rig.

I had two big fish within 15 minutes, but began to be pestered by roach. I carried on feeding hoping the carp would move in and move the roach out but it didn't happen. Peg 12 was still catching so I went back onto the 16 metre line. It was solid. Two hours now remained and I was that far behind I needed snookers!

Get in there

I continued to catch well for those two hours but it wasn't enough. Peg 12 weighed 80 lb. to my 68 lb. I was second in section. If only I had stuck at the 16 metre line in stead of being lazy I would probably have won the section and probably the lake, instead of wasting two hours shallow fishing.

Day 4

If your getting bites on one line stick with it, even if you're missing bites. Don't be lazy like I was, it could cost you!

Day 5....Last festival day

I drew peg 27 on Pollawyn lake, back at whiteacres, an absolute FLYER. Well I didn't travel 250 miles to draw bad pegs, did I? I opted to fish out at 11 metres up and down in the water. The normal approach to this peg being to fish the feeder close to the island, but I decided beforehand that I would fish the pole.

The all in came and I potted in a large pot of meat corn and casters at 11 metres, and went straight over it with double meat on the hook. Within ten minutes I was into a good fish of around 7 lb. The next two putins, another two decent fish, but after that for some strange reason, I couldn't hit a bite. I must have missed at least twenty. I held my float off bottom and pinged meat around it, I started to get liners. Out came the shallow rig set at three feet deep and first put in resulted in a 5 lb. fish. I never looked back, the swim was solid.

I caught fish to 8 lb every chuck for three and half hours. A crowd began to gather around me towards the end of the match and the fish began to slow. People were standing, mainly non-fishermen, which made things more difficult to catch.

Venue record at Whiteacres

Grant On His Way
To A New Venue Record

I weighed 187 lb. to win the section and the lake. In addition I had also broke the venue record, the one that I had previously held, by 10 lb. What an end to the festival. I had four section wins and a section second and I was also in the top 12 for the £20,000 shoot out.

I drew well, for a festival match, all week but you still have to produce the goods when you're on the better pegs.

Final Day.

Don't panic when you're on a flyer, fish your own match.

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