Gary's day

Today was the annual Triple Cup match against Sawbridgeworth and Abbey Cross. It was our turn to host, however, the low water levels at Hall Farm meant we could not find the 30 pegs needed. Many thanks to Sawbo for the use of their lake. Carp usually count as 10lbs here in Sawbo matches (with some much bigger lumps) but were going to be 5lb each today to give the silvers a chance of making a difference.

My peg for today was 12 only 2 away from where I was in last year's Triple Cup so I knew which direction to walk around the lake. Our section was a funny one starting in the little bay I was half-way along the bank of and then wrapping around a long strip island where it narrows to about 11 metres until re-emerging into the main lake and the usually brilliant peg 21 on a point.

I was glad to not be in the narrow section like last year but was not expecting much from my peg as the one to the right, where it started to narrow looked, very good with plenty of cover and seemed to be where all the fish would head. Darren was opposite me but in a different section. I decided to feed a longer line heavily with 4mm pellets, a shorter line with 6mms and was not sure about the margins which were a bit odd with a slope up to nothing at the bank.

A start on the short pellet swim produced a quick bite and the first carp to come off of the day. Alan Sims to my left had a quick start too with his carp getting to the net though. Another bite on the short swim ended with a carp in the net so I was off the mark. Darren opposite was getting a few bites and his swim was bubbling like a jacuzzi and Mark Vobe in the corner was also getting a few. Martin to my right was having a slow start too.

A swap to the long line trying both pole and a method feeder was worryingly quiet despite a regular show of bubbles on this. Back to the short pole line found another carp and swapping back and forth kept the odd bites coming. By the midway point I was on 5 carp and looked to be doing OK as it was pretty quiet to my right as you went along the channel. The middle of the match was very, very slow with only Mark and Darren (not in our section thankfully) seeming to still be getting bites if not fish in the net. Everything they hooked charged up and down their margins looking for snags.

In the last 90 mins or so the short pole line suddenly came good and the bites started flowing but only if I was careful not to fed too much which was quite difficult in the sudden excitement. By the end another 6 carp (including some real brutes) were landed with, thankfully, not too many falling off or being foul hooked. I never got near the margins in the end.

Our section seemed to fish pretty tricky with quite a lot of carp lost as there are plenty of lily beds and other snags for them to charge into in the channel. There were a lot of people with the odd tench which was good to see – the only silver I saw was a small roach that fell off out at 13 metres. With 11 carp that gave me a section win and my job for the team was done.

Weighing in my section showed it could be tight. If every carp hooked had been landed the results could have been quite different with some very close weights. In the end Sawbridgeworth won the Triple Cup this year with 44.5 points, Bishop's Stortford chasing them hard with 49 points and Abbey Cross coming in third with 70.5 points. Many thanks again to Sawbo for use of their lake. Photo today is our little bay with Mark V left and Darren right.