Gary's day

Today we were over at Home Farm's small lake which looked like it had had a busy week as a caravan club rally was packing up. We went for a rover this week and peg 1 was my choice for the day. The first thing I needed to do was find some shorter rigs as the water level had dropped. I had just over 2 feet at most.

The first couple of hours were slow for all. Lots of fish cruising around but nothing seemed to be stopping to feed apart for the roach. Fishing shallow with hard pellets and mugging a few meant I was doing well at the halfway point but then it became a bit more cloudy and the fish much harder to see. The only person I could see was Rob, who was struggling on peg 8, but there were enough splashing noises to let me know I needed to start catching a few.

The middle of my match was a nightmare with very few bites and most I hooked coming off and little went in the net. There were indications on paste but not turning into bites. Phil though was not having these issues and I was falling behind fast and Tony was also getting a few carp now. With an hour to go I came much shorter and upped the feed and finally started to get some more fish in the net. It was a case of being very patient and only striking at genuine bites as the carp wafted the float all over the place in 12 inches of water. Exciting but frustrating fishing and a lesson learned for next time.

1st Phil Whitmill 88lbs 13oz, 2nd Gary Pickard 59lbs 13oz and 3rd Tony Cruci 41lbs. Today's picture is just before the all in - Tony at the front and on the opposite bank Fred left and Rob right.