Rob's day

Hi all

Back to Beggars today for the 4th round of the summer league – 7 on each bank. I drew peg 13 – never caught much from this area – had Terry next to me on 12 and I had a good view to pegs 16 and 17 so thought at least I would see some fish although fisheries never seem to fish the same one day to the next.

The levels are way down at the moment so had to set up in the water (and mud) in order to get the keep nets out. Margins here are full of roots and only a few inches deep. Set up a feeder rod and pole rigs for near the lilies in 5 feet of water and down the side – around 3 feet from the bank in 1 ½ foot of water. Wasn’t sure the carp would come in that close on this peg.

Started on the feeder about 20 meters out and had a small carp half an hour in followed by a larger one around 7lbs. Had fed the lilies to my right heavily from the start with particles and notice a lot of bubbles coming from this area. Tried the pole here for one fish (F1/crucian?) and then hooked another that went straight into the lilies and came off. Decided to fish the feeder close in by the lilies and started to get several liners and one or two strange bites which resulted in a couple of more F1s (I think). Seemed that these smaller fish around 3lbs each were causing the bubbling. Amongst these also had a few good pull rounds for decent carp but also a few foul hookers and a couple that came off. Had to put a lot of pressure on when hooking to persuade them not to visit the pads.

Into the last couple of hours – Terry to my right was struggling with one carp – Steve and Peter on pegs 16 and 17 were getting a few but not one a chuck. Not many fish showing today but did notice one tail in the margin so went down the edge. First on paste for a missed bite, then dead maggots for an instant bite and before I knew it the elastic was coming out of the lilies – another lost fish (around 10 today) managed to land one more from the edge before the next one trashed my rig so finished up on the feeder. Had another 3 fish including a couple of bigger doubles, before I blew the whistle. Finished with 81lbs – more than I thought I would get from peg 13.

The lake fished well today all round with Phil coming second on the low bank with 49lbs 5oz from peg 6 and Tony Cruci third with 47lbs 6oz – peg 5. Tony Parker had previously weighed in a 15lbs carp in his 30lbs (2 fish). The high bank also produced good weights – Richard topping with 77lbs from peg 20, Graham Carter second with 70lbs 6oz from peg 18 and Peter third 56lbs peg 17.