10/03/24 - Harescombe - Field Lake

Weight - 30lb 13oz (5lb 4oz - silvers)

Catch - 4 Carp, 7 Skimmers, 3 Roach, 1 Hybrid

Weather - Mostly cloudy, rain late on.

Match - Teams of 3 (36 fished) - 7th in section.

The Teams of 3 and my turn for Field Lake. Jason handed me p3, which initially I thought was a decent draw, however when I looked at the previous rounds weigh sheets, the highest weight from the peg was 14lb and the points so far were 9, 11 and 12 (out of 12), so not a great area. When I got to my peg it was just before the lake narrows, with no real room either side and I doubted the margins would feature.

After yesterday’s match, I had a clearer idea on how to attack the swim, so deposited 2mm & 4mm p-nut pellet at 14m slightly to my right in nearly 6ft of water and then groundbait and maggot at 13m to my left which would serve as a backup swim.

Whilst that settled, I thought I would try 3+2 line tapping in meat (covered in Uzit A-krill cloud) and 2mm pellet. I soon had a skimmer, soon followed by a carp which was a relief but I lost a second which I think was foul hooked.

After 45mins I moved out to the long pellet line, tapping in 4s and pinging 4s over the top. I had set up 2 rigs, 1 strung out rig to a hair rigged pellet and the other was a bulk and 3 droppers to fish expander or maggot.

I started on 6mm pellet and soon switched to 4mm hair rigged pellet catching a couple of skimmers, but it didn’t feel right. A switch to fishing 4mm expander was much better, catching a couple more skimmers, plus a carp.

Ed Bryant to my right started catching the odd carp shallow slapping a pellet. I followed suit, but never had a bite. Being a team match I didn’t want to waste too much time trying to catch shallow, so went back down on the deck picking up a few skimmers and another carp all on 4mm expander.

I did try the groundbait and maggot line, but only caught a couple of roach. I also periodically tried the short meat line without success, until the last 10 mins, when I hooked a carp and promptly pulled out of it! Fortunately, a few minutes later I hooked another which was a 10lber.

I was pleased to have weighed 30lb for 7pts from the peg and the team finished 3^rd on the day.

Odd moment of the day was netting a carp to also net a couple of frogs.

1.    79-  9 – Luke Seabrook – p4 (Meadow)

2.    76-  2 – Nick Hancock – p8 (Field)

3.    68-  6 – Andy Taylor – p5 (Meadow)

4.    68-  5 – Ed Bryant – p2 (Field)

5.    55-  7 – Allan Oram – p6 (Meadow)

6.    47-  2 – Keith Builder – p10 (Field)