26/01/25 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 46lb 12oz

Catch - 22 Carp

Weather - Very wet and windy

Match - Teams of 4 (32 fished) - 1st on lake, 2nd overall

The 2^nd round of the teams of 4 and I don’t think anyone was looking forward to it due to the forecast wind and rain. Fortunately, I was handed p21 on Doughnut, which although only 5pts came off it in what was a very tight match in the last round, I was very happy as I won from here last month.

The wind however was a concern as I wanted to fish tight to the far bank and overhanging branches were likely to be an issue. As we were setting up, I did get the pole out, shipped out as far as 13m and thought no, this isn’t going to work and put it away except for 3 sections. I did try the pole after an hour for 5mins, but it was towing badly making for poor presentation, so the remaining 3 sections got put away, which was just as well as the some the gusts were very strong, even lifting Chris Telling’s (p15) out of the water.

I started on the straight lead and maggot, catching 2 carp after 20mins. With no further bites, I tried a mini 20g banjo feeder, with a 50:50 mix of Uzit Crushed Expander and Black React groundbait, and double maggot, cast underarm to avoid those branches.

At the halfway point I was up to 13 carp and fairly confident I was winning the lake, however bites on the feeder were becoming less frequent.

I had started feeding small balls of groundbait and maggot at 5m by hand, as a back-up. A switch to fishing a maggot feeder over the short line resulted 2 carp, before returning to the far bank for a further 2 carp.

In the last 40mins I managed 4 more fish from the short line and maggot feeder to win the lake.

As a team, we managed 8pts to win the day and put us in the lead of the series.

1.    48-  1 – Tom Driver (Fintastic) – p3 (match)

2.    46-12 - Ken Rayner (Tackle Den) – p21 (doughnut)

3.    29-  5 – Andy Taylor (Maver Green) – p10 (doughnut)

4.    26-  7 – Allan Oram (Maver Green) – p14 (meadow)

5.    24-  8 – Rob Kerslake (Fintastic) – p18 (doughnut)

6.    24-  4 – Chris Telling (1,2,3,4) – p15 (doughnut)

Teams on the day

1.    8pts – Tackle Den

2.    9pts – Fintastic

3.    11pts – Maver Green

Teams to date

1.    3pts – Tackle Den

2.    6pts – 4 Skins

3.    6pts – Maver Green