09/03/2024 - Harescombe - Field Lake

Weight - 38lb 12oz 

Catch - 11 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Roach

Weather - Bright & sunny. Cool easterly

Match - Open (6 fished) - 2nd overall

As I was due to fish Field Lake on Sunday for the teams of 3, I decided to fish todays open to give me a feel for the lake, as the last time I fished it was 17 years ago.

There was only the 6 of us today so plenty of space. My draw put me on the right-hand corner of the dam wall, which had a very inviting right-hand margin. To my left was Steve Brown of Harescombe Maver, so it would be good to keep an eye on him to see how the locals fish the lake.

It was a slow start for everyone, probably due to an easterly weather system over the last few days and a cool wind. I caught my first fish after an hour 13m down the right margin on 7mm meat, feeding Uzit A-Krill cloud covered meat and 2mm p-nut pellet.

I caught 2 more before having to rest the swim. I had also been feeding meat and micros at 3+2, which produced a couple of skimmers and a carp. I had also been pinging pellet long to fish the waggler, but never had a bite on that.

Groundbait, micros and maggot were deposited at 13m and this only produced 2 roach which if I’m honest was a surprise, but I felt I may have overdone the initial cup of feed.

So, most of my fish came from the right margin at 13m. As it was only 3ft deep, I found it best to catch one fish, and then switch to another swim to rest the margin. When I returned, I would catch another fish almost immediately, until the last 45mins when I felt the fish had backed off. By moving to 14.5m next to the disused platform I managed to catch another 3 fish.

The only disappointment was the stamp of fish, as the biggest fish I caught was about 4lb, whilst the majority were around 3lb.

By the all-out I knew it would be close between myself and Steve, who had 8 carp and 13lb of skimmers to weigh 38lb 13oz, beating me by an ounce, which was some payback for Steve who I beat by an ounce in the last round of teams of 3.

Importantly, I picked up a few ideas for tomorrows match, as Steve caught over pellet and maggot.

1.    38-13 – Steve Brown

2.    38-12 – Ken Rayner

3.    16-  7 – Steve Partington