Gary's day

For the first match of the season it was a trip to Home Farm at Little Walden. At the draw there were plenty of fish showing so everyone was hoping for a busy day. Out of the draw bag came peg 1 for me; a solid end peg so I had high hopes for a good day.

With lots of silvers in the lake it was a day on hard pellets and paste planned. A try on hard pellets had a few signs but which turned out to be roach.

With the fish still cruising through it was time to try and mug a couple. Well the fish kept showing - hugging the far bank and showing little sign of feeding. A repair on my no 8 section failing put paid to getting near the far bank though.

After 2 hours I had 1 small carp in the net and the rest of the lake seemed to be equally slow going. Another hour trying all over the peg found me another small carp shallow and a couple bumped. At the half way point it was still anyone's match although Fred seemed to be having a few fish.

The last half of the match was all about the margins. I was getting quite a few signs on paste but any bites were impossible to hit. It looked like I was being plagued by small fish. With less than 90 mins to go I had another carp at long last. But Fred, Phil and now Mark were catching too. A flurry of activity with an hour to go saved a near empty net but things really slowed in the last 20 mins or so and a couple of bumped fish did not help. It was going to be close at the weigh in.

1st Fred Hunt 48lbs 1oz, 2nd Gary Pickard 45lbs 1oz and 3rd Mark Halverson 40lbs 8oz. Picture today is my peg from the far bank with some feathered company in view.