Gary's day

The good weather is back with us. A little chilly at times still overnight but today was going to be hot and sunny at Beggars Hall.

It was just a few of us today which was a good thing as the lake filled up as the day progressed. It was peg 16 for me - one of the more open water pegs with it being a good 30m+ to the island.

With lots of carp cruising around on the top as we set up, the pellet waggler rod was the first out of the bag along with a feeder/bomb rod and pole for the edges. I got off to a great start with a carp in the net within 5 mins after it took a liking to an 8mm pellet. And then it was steady for the next hour or so with the odd carp going for the pellet I cast towards them. Mark on 17 was having a slow start and there was no news from the other end of the lake. The wind then picked up and it became difficult to see the fish and present the bait well.

A try on bomb and pellet under my feed and a method over by the island were a waste of time with no bites. The next few hours saw me swap between feeder and waggler when the wind dropped enough - I never did get a bite on the bottom. Mark was slowly getting a few bites on the feeder but I was now struggling. A try down the edges with a couple of hours to go saw no signs. Back on the waggler grabbed me a couple more fish and big ones at that. The last hour was hard work with just one more fish from the edge and one lost. Putting in the third net was fatal. It is amazing how often that seems to happen.

Despite the lack of many fish in the second half I had done enough and some of the fish were real lumps with the biggest going 19lbs 10oz. 1st Gary Pickard 88lbs 6oz, 2nd Mark Halverson 43lbs 15oz, 3rd John Todd 18lbs 9oz and 4th Phil Whitmill 18lbs 1oz. Picture today is my lump of a mirror carp.