| Elation and disappointment probably sums up my Skol festival week at Whiteacres in October, and it's a week I will not forget in a hurry. As most of you are aware by now the elation came in winning the festival and the disappointment in coming second in the £20,000 shoot out day by less than 2lb.of fish. Here is my story of the week that nearly was.
I travelled down to Whiteacres and lodged with my good friends, Tony Troth and Pete Wedgebrow from Fishermans Friend and Steve Saunders of Daiwa Dorking fame, in a caravan on the site. The festival was to begin on Sunday 15th October, so the Saturday night was spent preparing tackle, rigs bait etc. ensuring everything was where it should be and in tip top condition. I had won the equivalent festival in 1999 and wanted to give everything my best shot this time around to try and retain the title.
Grant In Action At Whiteacres
For the first match on the Sunday I drew peg 7 on Trelawney. It's not the best of pegs but you have to take the rough with the smooth and make the most of what you draw. I had already worked out tactics in my own mind, in that I was going to fish out at 11 metres and keep the feed very tight. The match started and I cupped in Fishmeal groundbait at the 11 metre mark with maggots, but for the first hour nothing happened. I was now watching pegs 1, 3, and 5 pulling away from me, but then the fish started to respond and I began to catch. After every 2 or 3 fish I refed with the fishmeal and a few maggots, keeping everything tight as I said earlier, which was a wise move due to a strong wind that was blowing. If the bait had been loose fed the fish would have been spread to far.
I was now catching carp to the pound mark and after three hours I reckoned I had made up the start that the others had on me at the beginning, but it was going to be close at the weigh in. The end of the match came and the scales duly arrived. I placed 63 lb. in the net, with the closest weight to me in the section being 50 lb. I was over the moon because I should not have won the section from that draw
 The key things that I believe helped me in that match was keeping things simple, keeping the feed tight and not giving up when others are catching around!
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