Gary's day

After the freeze of the last couple of weeks we were finally back in a lake and heading to Hall Farm's large lake. With a cold snap mid-week and plenty of rain we had no idea how it would fish. With a few fish topping before the draw it looked better than feared.

Out of the bag came peg 10 for me. Not where I wanted to be with it being so deep. The plan was to be: a couple of long pole lines in about 12ft (a full top 3); a little maggot feeder to search around a bit; and a couple of shorter swims in only 8ft.

A start on a maggot feeder did not get the quick response I thought I might get as a few silvers seemed to be active. After just under the hour mark the tip went round and 2lb F1 was in the net. Nothing more though so time to try the long pole lines. That proved a waste of time.

Coming up to the 2 hour mark neither Tony nor Fred either side of me had had a bite and even the shallower low number pegs were struggling. There was still the odd fish topping but they were well over the other side and out of bounds.

Just before the half way mark I had another F1 and then a nice rudd on the feeder but it then went quiet again. A few fish were now being caught in the shallower swims and Phil seemed to have 2 in quick succession on peg 7.

Another F1 about 3 hours in kept the net ticking over but the long pole lines were completely dead. I had been feeding a few maggots on the shorter swims all day so, with an hour or so to go, I gave them a try. The float went under almost straight away on the right hand swim and another 2-3lb F1 was in the net. Nothing more though on either line so back to the feeder.

With 5 mins to go I decided to sit the match out looking at a float rather than a rod tip. And the float went under again. Sadly though this one came off at the net. It looked like they had turned up at the whistle - typical. It had fished hard in the deeper swims but the rumour was the low numbers had fished much better.

As seems to be the case in winter, the weights got better as the water shallowed up with the car park end fishing best. Fish wise though Rob and John only had a couple more but they were a much better average size. 1st today was John off peg 1 with 7 carp for 34lbs 11oz, Rob then picking up 2nd with 5 carp for 20lbs 12oz and then it was me just edging past Phil with 13lbs 5oz. Picture today is John Todd.