White Acres Dynamite Baits Festival 2007
Welcome to our second major festival of the year the Dynamite Baits Festival. It had been two weeks since the previous festival and now we have another festival sell out with 180 anglers raring to go. The lakes being used for this festival are Pollawyn, Bolingey, Gwinear, Porth and Twin Oaks/Acorn/Nelsons. Pellet is allowed on this festival and in pervious years we have seen some amazing weights, there have been some big changes in weather conditions recently as while the rest of the UK basked in the sunshine over the weekend; down her in was colder, overcast and fairly windy, the previous week had been glorious so we are hoping these changes do not reflect in the fishing but the forecast seems fairly good and we have high hopes for another successful festival. Dynamite Baits have pledged their support for this festival spot for a number of years now and we would like to thank them for that and hope that all anglers fishing this week enjoy the festival.
Day One
With their sections drawn prior to their arrival the anglers all know where they are heading for on day one, the first draw takes slightly longer as we run over the details of the festivals reminding anglers or certain rules and procedures, one of our most important rules this year is the drying of keepnets before the match and the fact they cannot go into the lake until 15 minutes before the start, everyone had been issued with a set of bait tubs and they know there bait limits so we hope there is no one foolish enough to take more that they need with them! With the formal bits over the draw begins and as we wish everyone a great festival and we are officially off, those first few excited anglers reach for the bag hoping to draw the flyers!
A Section Pollawyn
High hopes were had for Pollawyn toady with recent top match and festival weights, the weather change over the weekend didn’t really work help those on there today and they felt the lake fished harder than in previous festivals, most anglers started off well but as the day got brighter the fish did not feed in the bright sun and then it was a sprint finish at the end of the match as the fish began to readily feed again. Andy Dare took the lake victory today with an impressive day one catch weighing137lb 14oz; Andy was on peg 19 and caught both on the pole and waggler with Pellet shallow. Second on the lake went to Phil Ringer on the high bank peg 26 who fished the feeder with meat giving him a weight of 126lb 4oz. Neil McKinnon on peg 32 took third with 95lb, Neil caught 2 carp on the pole, 2 on the pellet waggler and the rest of his fish on the bomb with pellet. On peg 12 Andy Dargue had the next best weight with 77lb 2oz, Andy fished pellet on the bomb and waggler to win his section.
Section Winners
Andy Dare 9 points 137lb 14oz
Neil Mckinnon 9 points 95lb
Andy Dargue 9 points 77lb 2oz
Gary Skeritt 9 points 55lb 4oz
B Section Twin Oaks/Acorn/Nelsons
This is the first time these lakes have been used this year on the festivals so predicting how they would fish is extremely hard as they are all strong venues and always produce some top weights, there were ten 80lb plus weights off the section with the winning weight of 134lb 1oz coming from Mark Wells on Twin oaks peg 14, Mark fished 8mil banded pellet down the edge and the crumb feeder with hair rigged meat to take the win. Geoff Ringer on Nelsons peg 11 took second, Geoff caught shallow on the pellet waggler to finish with a weight of 118lb 9oz. Third went to Steve Cooke with 114lb 6oz, Steve was on Acorn peg 4 and caught on the short pole with meat and also on the feeder with meat. The next best weight from across the four lakes came from Alan Jones on Twin Oaks peg 12 with 111lb 8oz, Alan caught on the pole with pellet.
Section Winners
Mark Wells 9 points 134lb 1oz
Geoff Ringer 9 points 118lb 9oz
Steve Cooke 9 points 114lb 6oz
Steve Ringer 9 points 111lb 4oz
C Section Gwinear
As Gwinear is a fairly strong pellet venue the allowing of this bait to be used in this festival should in theory increase the weights, this venue has suffered in the past but judging by the performance in our last festival it is still capable of some top weights. Jason Thomas on peg 20 was the lake winner today with 11llb 9oz, Jason caught on the pole with pellet shallow to take the victory. Next door on peg 19, Andy Geldart weighed in 105lb 8oz to take second, Andy caught on the pole with pellet at 5 & 14 meters. Third went to Wayne Nolan on peg 31, Wayne caught on pellet close in, giving him a weight of 99lb 12oz. John Battersby on peg 30 had the next best weight of the day with 62lb 12oz, John caught on banded pellet.
Section Winners
Jason Thomas 9 points 111lb 9oz
Wayne Nolan 9 points 99lb 12oz
Simon Fry 9 points 53lb 7oz
Andy Lloyd 9 points 31lb 12oz
D Section Porth
Porth was another lake that fished fairly hard today, with some low weights being recorded, this is a fairly specialised venue compared to the bagging lakes on the White Acres complex this reservoir is crammed with silverfish and if you are lucky enough to draw amongst a shoal of bream or skimmers you are on to a winner. Rob Wootton on peg 77 took the lake win with 27lb 9oz, Rob caught on the pole with worm, second went to Gary Hamilton with 22lb 4oz caught from peg 79, Gary fished on the pole with chopped worm over groundbait. Third went to Will Raison, Will also fished worm over groundbait to weigh in with 20lb 8oz from peg 72. On peg 40 Tony Baker had the next best weight with 19lb 8oz, Tony fished chopped worm and castor on the pole.
Section Winners
Rob Wootton 9 points 27lb 9oz
Tony Baker 9 points 19lb 8oz
Joe Brennan 9 points 8lb 10oz
Ken Russell 9 points 8lb
E Section Bolingey
E section started of their week with a bang today on Bolingey as between the 36 anglers over 3000lbs of fish including 15 ton plus weights. The fishing here seems to get better and better with not even Mike the lake owner realising how much was stocked in the lake and how much the fish had grown. The lake today was won by Kerry Kirkwood on peg 45 with 160lb 15oz, Kerry fished shallow at 15 meters with pellet. John Chapman was second with 138lb 15oz, John was on peg 44 and caught on pellet shallow and also had 9 fish down the side on corn. Third went to Greg Roberts on peg 29, Greg fished pellet shallow and on meat down the edge giving him a final weight of 137lb 5oz. On peg 38 Mark Pleavin had the next best weight of 136lb 6oz, mark fished down the edge with meat.
Section Winners
Kerry Kirkwood 9 points 160lb 15oz
John Chapman 9 points 138lb 15oz
Dan Ashington 9 points 134lb 14oz
Chris Whitehead 9 points 129lb 2oz
So that was day one and it was a cracking start to the festival, those in the top twenty obviously bagged their important section points and can only hope to carry on onwards and upwards over the remaining four days.
Overall Top Twenty
1st Kerry Kirkwood 9 points 160lb 15oz
2nd John Chapman 9 points 138lb 15oz
3rd Andy Dare 9 points 137lb 14oz
4th Dan Ashington 9 points 134lb 14oz
5th Mark Wells 9 points 134lb 1oz
6th Chris Whitehead 9 points 129lb 2oz
7th Geoff Ringer 9 points 118lb 9oz
8th Steve Cooke 9 points 114lb 6oz
9th Jason Thomas 9 points 111lb 9oz
10th Steve Ringer 9 points 111lb 4oz
11th Wayne Nolan 9 points 99lb 12oz
12th Neil Mckinnon 9 points 95lb
13th Andy Dargue 9 points 77lb 2oz
14th Gary Skeritt 9 points 55lb 4oz
15th Simon Fry 9 points 53lb 7oz
16th Andy Lloyd 9 points 31lb 12oz
17th Rob Wootton 9 points 27lb 9oz
18th Tony Baker 9 points 19lb 8oz
19th Joe Brennan 9 points 8lb 10oz
20th Ken Russell 9 points 8lb
Those anglers on maximum points will be hoping for another top draw tomorrow and those that had not faired as well are keeping their fingers crossed for a better draw tomorrow, will we see any of the above names in the top spots again tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more festival action tomorrow, Cheers Kirsty
