Gary's day

After a very hot week it was thankfully a lot cooler for today's match. Out of the bag came peg 6 for me - not too bad I thought. When Kevin picked out peg 19 again where he won it from last time we were here he looked like the man to beat

It was an eventful walk to the pegs when Bill's wheel sheared off his trolley. After helping Bill move his gear we then found someone was already fishing the peg he had drawn! After that drama the plan for today was going to be simple (if the wind allowed): a longish pole line with hard pellets to start; pellet waggler and bomb towards the island; and then down the margin(s) at the end. The pole line was a waste of time as it seemed to be full of roach even on 6mm pellets - some nice fish but not the intended targets.

After 30 mins or so I had seen a few carp milling around where I had been firing out pellets for the waggler and I was soon into a decent carp and off the mark. The next couple of hours were pretty good with the odd carp showing each time I was just about to switch from the waggler. A quick go on the bomb and pellet under the waggler line also produced a few carp but seemingly a bit smaller ones.

About the half-way mark I jumped off my box, which I had set out into the lake as the water level has really dropped, to get another drink and wandered down to see Tony for some info as you cannot see anyone else on peg 6. Tony had had a couple and Kevin was flying catching steadily from the off.

After catching a few more on the pellet waggler and bomb it was time to try the margin. My options were quite limited as the willow has really grown and there was no way I could get under it. Fishing corn and micros there were some encouraging signs on the float after a few minutes and then it shot under and I was into another carp. It came in with quite a lot of weed up the line and it looked like I was on the edge of an unseen weed bed where I had chosen to fish the edge. Not ideal. The last hour was frustrating - there were fish there but getting a clean bite was not easy with the wind gusting and willow breaches waving around. I had just started to work it out when the whistle went and that was it. It was a busy 6 hours and plenty of fish - a lot better than my last visit to Beggars on peg 7 for just the 2 carp.

It looked like Kevin had walked the match but Rich had also been catching on peg 21 (after doing a bit of wading out to start with to rescue a pole section) and so had Mark on peg 4. Beggars had fished its socks off today with the top 4 weights all over 100lb. Well done Kevin with a huge 249lbs and a new lake record with myself next with 152lbs, Rich with 130lbs and Mark 107lbs. Picture today is Darren with a rather lump caught on the pole and weighing in at just over 20lbs.