Cider Farm Lakes Open Match

I had a terrible nights sleep Sat night, and on Sunday morning I was feeling really rough as my cold had gotten much worse on Saturday. Part of me did not want to bother, and it was only the fact that Glenn Bailey was giving me a lift today that I was able to get motivated.

I didn't feel fully prepared for this match as I could not get my backside off the sofa on Saturday to make some rigs, and I had wanted to make a few spares.

An egg and bacon roll, cup of tea and 2 paracetamol helped me at least perk up a tad, and in the draw queue I though about drawing peg 46 (hot peg at present). I pulled peg 37 which is actually the peg behind 46, so whoever drew it I would be able to hear / see them catching! Well wouldn't you know Glenn drew it, he drew this peg the last time I travelled down with him a few weeks ago! Still my peg offered lots of features as it has a shallow bay with reed beds to the left and an island across. Glenn advised there were a lot of small carp caught of this peg last time.

I had about 5 possible lines to catch off, but I didn't feed them all to start. It was a slow start for all around me, but I managed 2 in the first hour in the deepest water and 3 in shallow water next to the island. I was getting bites from the bay and from the inside line, but the fish were small and even paste didn't up the size. Glenn was struggling and after 2 hours had only 4 carp. But his peg got better and in the last hour he was flying. Hours 4 and 5 were dead for me, but I got fish going again in the last hour right next to the reeds in close, then had 2 carp in the last cast back in the bay. I had caught fish on pellet mainly, but also on paste and corn.

I had 29 carp in total and they went 46lb 5oz. This was good enough for 3rd place overall and a pick up of £60, there was a 45lb which was first out of the frame, so those last 2 fish I had (one was on the whistle) were crucial! Glenn won easily with 27 carp for 72lb, so you can see the difference in the size of our fish. Glenn caught in the deep water (5ft) on paste, whereas I had caught all bar 2 of my fish in water 2 ft deep. Well done matey, hopefully a bit of your draw bag luck is going to rub off on me next weekend.

I was feeling better during the match but by the end I was aching all over, sneezing my head off and looking forward to getting home. I've a trip to hospital this week, hopefully no problems and I'll be tackling larger specimens at Avalon on Sunday, now where is that waggler rod, do I need new line on my reels, where are my Corbys......