Gary's day

After another red hot week it was going to be sunny and windy for us today at Beggar's Hall. After the last few matches we were all wanting peg 19 so I was very happy when it came out of the draw bag for me - the pressure was on.

A try out on the long(ish) pole with pellets to start with produced no bites but it gave time for the sun to swing around so I could see the water in front of me. It was then time to try a pellet waggler where I had been feeding from the off. Nothing to start with but the odd carp was starting to show further over. About 30 mins in Mark on 21 and then Darren on 20 had carp and I was 1 down. It was then my turn for a bite only for it come off near the net (it was not going to be the only one that got way today). Thankfully I had another quick bite and this time I was off the mark.

Fred over on peg 18 was having a slow start and also having problems with lost fish. Darren though was now starting to get a steady run of bites out on a waggler whilst I was struggling to get decent presentation out in front. A swap to a bomb and pellet seemed to be the answer with a quick bite but then lots of liners and no bites. Swapping between bomb when the wind was playing up and waggler in the calmer spells kept the fish ticking over but I was losing far too many. Darren was still doing well and Mark was also catching a few. I could also hear the odd splashing down towards Fred on 18. It was feeling like I was slipping behind Darren who was having a very steady day.

Changing to a different hook pattern (a Guru QM1) seemed to help with the lost fish and I was finally landing a better proportion. Time for a try in the margins with about 90 mins to go. I had been feeding to the right near the bush and the first put in looked encouraging with a few signs on the float. They turned out to be small roach despite fishing double corn on the hook. I fed more heavily with corn and also dropped some to the left edge before heading back out to the middle on the bomb as the wind was quite gusty now.

After a couple more fish I tried the right margin again and it was still full of small fish so I ditched that edge. Back to the middle as the wind had dropped got me another good carp. Then it was down the left margin for the last 25 mins or so and they had suddenly arrived and I had another 3 good carp in quick succession.

Unless Tony way up on peg 17 had been bagging and keeping it quiet it looked like it was between me and Darren. The flurry of margin fish was crucial and made all the difference giving me 124lbs to Darren's 100lb and with Mark having 51lbs including some nice crucians with one over 2lbs.