Gary's day

Today was the last match of the season and it was a trip to MBL. The expectation was it would be tough, however, on turning up to find some colour in the water, hopes should have been higher but for the 8 cormorants on the lake.

Out of the draw bag came peg 29 and really not a peg I wanted as you are hemmed in and I was expecting the fish to be well out in the lake. Surely though there would be a few small fish near the lily bed? A quick start along the edges for a perch on worm did not produce a bite but it gave a bit of time for the swims over near the lilies to build as I was sparingly firing a few maggots over them. A first try long did not produce a bite - no problem though I hoped as it was a bit chilly so it could be a slow start. Darren over on peg 18 was having a much better start with a bite on his pole line producing a good looking tench. We were all now playing catch up.

An hour plus in things were looking more desperate as no one but Darren had had a bite never mind a fish. Darren though was having no problems with a steady run of bites and each one a tench on both pole and waggler. 2+ hours in my float shot under but there was nothing there and nor did my maggots show any signs of being nibbled. But a sign at last. Was this the turning point?

Darren was still catching and by the midway point had around 9 tench in his net and was having a true red letter day. A try on a waggler right over the dead lily bed must surely produce a fish of some sort I thought - even a micro perch would do. Not a wobble despite perfect conditions for fishing the waggler. Unbelievably everyone else was in the same boat and only Darren was getting bites.

At the end of 5 hours it was a very quick weigh in with only Darren having caught a brilliant net of tench all around the 3 - 4lb mark. Photo today is a very happy Darren with over 46lbs of MBL tench.