Gary's day

It was back to Home Farm this week and just a few of us today. Whilst the morning was mild and quite bright the weather was due to get very wet and a bit windy later on.

Out of the bag came peg 6 again for me. After last time I thought I had a plan; out long to start with expanders, meat and maggots; and down the edge later. The water was still very low and must have dropped 6 inches since last month so I had under 2 feet everywhere with some of the deepest water closer in.

Phil was opposite me today with Tony and Darren hidden off to my left. 30 mins on expanders out long proved a waste of time with no signs. Another 30 mins later I had had no signs on meat or maggots either and was not alone. It was fishing very hard.

Finally Darren had a small carp on peg 1 and I had one not long after. After that though it was down to scratching around for any fish. I had a couple of runs of nice roach but then a small perch which usually signalled the end to that little run of fish.

An early try in the margins could only produce micro perch and even they started to disappear. About 12.30 the rain started and the bites stopped. I could not get a sign anywhere. After trying all the lines again without any signs I decided to start a new swim off to the right out of the way with 30 mins to go as I had nothing to lose.

Phil then had a carp it was now looking a 3 way battle with 1 carp a piece. My float then dipped under and a carp was on. By this stage I had dropped elastic size to stop bumping small fish . After a few minutes and much stretched elastic the hook pulled - not a happy man at this point after such a long wait.

I flicked the rig back out thinking my chance had gone when the float dipped and I struck thinking at least some roach were feeding. The elastic shot out of the end of the pole and another carp was on. This happened twice more in a hectic last 30 mins. Where had they been all day?

The last 30 mins made a huge difference with my 4 carp pulling ahead giving me 19lbs to Darren's 4lbs and Phil's 3lb. It turned out to be a much tougher day than expected but at least the rain held off for longer than forecast. Picture today is Phil opposite getting ready during the sunny morning.