Gary's day

This was my first match of the new season missing last week's big weight opener at Home Farm

After another hot week it was a little chilly waiting for the draw and I was glad I brought a coat in case of rain. At the draw bag I came out with peg 16 - not one of my favourites and the last time I drew this I ended up with very little in the net.

Having seen Phil's write up on the Weds match I had a pretty good idea of what to face. And just like on Weds the fish were cruising around at high speed - annoyingly tight to the island for much of the day and the wind made it nearly impossible to get a waggler near them. I got off to a flying start with a 6lber in the net in first 20 mins but it was a false dawn. It was a long day with just the odd bite here and there when a cruising fish slowed down a bit and decided to take a pellet. Not a sign on the tip all day when I needed to resort to this when the wind got too gusty.

I ended up with 5 fish with 1 slipping the hook - amongst those was a 14lb mirror which helped me to 37lb 2oz and a win, 2nd Peter Green 28lbs 13oz and 3rd Phil Whitmill 6lbs 10oz.

I am sure the fish have alarm clocks as they always seem to arrive down the edge after 3:30 - this carp was taking a real liking to Fred's spare bread.