Gary's day
It was Beggar's Hall today for us with us all along the low bank to get plenty of water over the nets and a half time weigh in. It was deja vue for me as peg 6 came out of the bag again. On getting to the peg though it was very different to my last visit 6 weeks or so ago with the lake a lot lower. Hopefully the rain will arrive soon.
There was the odd small fish topping whilst setting up but no signs of anything bigger which was odd given it is still quite warm. The plan was: a long pole line with hard pellets on the bottom; feeding some 8mms further out for bomb or pellet waggler; and then the margins with a few worms for the hook.
The first hour flew past and was hugely frustrating with all 3 carp I looked on the long pole coming off for no apparent reason. Mark over on peg 12 was having similar problems with plenty of bites casting a feeder to the island but getting them past the lilies proving tricky. Kevin on the other side of the willow to my right sounded like he was doing better with landing carp.
A swap to pellet waggler did not produce any bites but trying a bomb and pellet finally got a nice carp of about 7lb in the net and then a couple more before the line faded. A try back on the long pole produced another quick bite and another lost carp. One more carp on the feeder before the half time weigh took me to 22lbs. Kevin was leading with 44lbs and Mark with just under 20lbs.
After a slow restart there were suddenly some carp cruising around on the top and the pellet waggler was starting to come good. It was not fast and furious action but the size of the carp meant the weight was adding up quickly. Mark was also getting a few and it sounded like Kevin was too on peg 5.
With the last hour upon us it was time to try the margins. In went a couple of big worms over some micros and the float shot under promptly followed by a small perch flying through the air after an overly enthusiastic strike. A few more perch later something better finally ate the worms and a chunky carp was in the net. The small perch proved a real pain but 2 more big carp also took a fancy to the worms before the all out whistle sounded.
After the first half I had a bit of catching up to do and Mark was close behind. It looked like it could be a tight one as Mark looked to have been catching well and there were regular splashing noises from the other side of the willow for Kevin. The couple of late big carp helped me sneak out ahead of Kevin with 95lbs 11oz to Kevin's 89lbs 12oz and Mark coming in third with 50lbs 7oz. Photo today is Phil heading down the beach for his net on peg 3.