Gary's day

Phil, along with a number of the other regulars, were out of action with various illnesses so we were a little down on numbers for the Xmas match but that just meant more mince pies and sausage rolls for the rest of us. Get well soon lads.

I spread us about a bit so we all had a spare peg either side as the heavy rain the day before was likely to make it a tough day. I was left with peg 20 in the bag - an OK peg but not a flyer. With expecting a tough day I risked going out to 11 metres on the pole and hoped I had some shelter from the bank behind from the forecast wind. It was a very slow start with no signs at all on a maggot feeder. There were carp topping giving you a false sense of bites to come - I suspect that they were just looking for some warmth in the top layers. Steve though got off to a flying start with a couple of decent looking carp on the pole on peg 6. Finally, I had a small carp after an hour on a hybrid feeder but nothing more. Another hour in I finally had a couple of bites on the pole - the first one was foul hooked and came off but the next came in. Steve was also still catching the odd fish. I then had a quick run of 3 carp swapping left and right pole swims potting in maggots and a few micros but it did not last and the next hour was biteless.

The lake switched on a little towards the end with Jeff on peg 24 getting a couple of carp and another showing up for me on the feeder. I could also see Tony on peg 8 had had a couple. Steve though had another quick flurry of fish on bomb and bread and it was game over.

Today's results 1st Steve Foster 33lbs 14oz, 2nd Gary Pickard 23lbs 5oz, 3rd Barry Cornel 17lbs 1 oz and 4th John Carter 11lbs 15oz. Photo is Steve with his winning net of fish.

A big thank you to Phil and Terry for running the Weds matches - have a great Christmas and New Year all.