Gary's day

It was a trip to a warm and sunny Beggars Hall for us today. Thankfully peg 19 was left out of the draw bag . After drawing it 3 out of the last 4 matches here I wanted somewhere different. Pulling out peg 17 it was going to be a feast or famine day as it has not fished well this winter and has had its fair share of blanks including one for me.

Walking to the pegs we could see plenty of carp cruising around and the odd one gobbing at bits on the water which was encouraging.

I set up a bit of everything: a feeder/bomb rod; pole rigs for shallow, on the deck and margins; and a pellet waggler. At the whistle I fed the long pole line and pinged a few pellets waiting to see if a carp would swim within pole range. One swam by and promptly grabbed the pellet but it came out the winner after charging off on an unstoppable run - time for a stronger hook length.

With the carp looking to be feeding it was time to try the pellet waggler. An hour in and I had 4 carp in the net and was off to a flying start. Mark on 16 was getting liners on the feeder but had just the one carp, although a big fish.

It was hard to see what was happening up the other end of the lake but I could see Tony net 1 off peg 18.

The middle of the match was slow with just a couple more falling to pellet waggler after casting at passing fish. Mark was also having a slow time but I could see Phil on peg 21 get up for another keepnet.

Finally the margins came to life and it turned into a bit of race between a couple of ducks that took a liking to the sweetcorn I was using and the carp. After losing the first couple of fish I got my eye in on picking out the proper bites and I had a great last hour ending up with about 17 carp.

Sorry no pictures of the weigh in as the heavens opened right at the end and it was a scramble to get everything packed away. The strong finish really helped add to my weight and I ticked up my first 100lb of the year with 116lbs. Phil also had a busy day weighing in 64lbs 13oz including a couple of good tench with Mark's net of carp coming in at 35lbs 11oz.