Gary's day
It was Home Farm's small lake for us today with Storm Ashley meaning it was going to be rather breezy with 40mph winds. We decided to fish the far side which hopefully offered a bit of shelter from the trees behind. Out of the bag came peg 9 for me, one of the end pegs and with a large, overhanging tree. Not a peg we usually use but it looked very fishy.
I started as long as I dared on 6 sections with hard pellets. 2 bites and 2 carp of around 3lb each in the first half hour or so was a solid start as only Peter on the other end peg seemed to be catching. After that, the bites dried up or I just could not see them as the wind picked up. A try long on expanders and then maggots only caught a very small roach.
Time to try closer in the margins which was pretty much the same depth as out long and a bit sheltered by the bank. The right edge held some decent roach at 6-8oz but they were not coming fast enough and no sign of carp. Peter was still catching and was admitting to 8 carp 2 hours in. The rest of us were struggling.
A try under the tree was a waste of time with no signs even on maggot. I swapped long and to the right edge and even tried a small feeder under the tree but the middle of the match was very slow with just some silvers from the right edge. Fred to my right then had a couple of carp on a feeder dropped on a long pole line and I was quickly dropping down the order. Time for kill or cure time. I upped the feed with some micros and groundbait and decided to try the last hour under the tree as I needed carp. I was just about to head back to the right margin to get some bites when the float went under and a carp was on. Only for the hook to pull when it got in some reeds under my feet. Then it was 2 carp in 2 put ins and I thought the come back was on. It fizzled out though with 3 foulhooked and lost carp and a few silvers seeing me to the end of the match.
1st Peter Green 34lbs 4oz, 2nd Gary Pickard 23lbs 12oz and 3rd Fred Hunt 21lbs 12oz. Picture today is my swim with the disappointing margin.