04/07/24 - Harescombe - Match Lake

Weight - 41lb 13oz

Catch - 14 F1s, 9 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Sunny, cool and blustery

Match - Open (16 fished) - 3rd overall

I had last weekend off with the intention of doing a couple of local day trips walking the dog with Abi. However, Poppy ended up being quite unwell, having probably eaten something she shouldn’t have, which resulted in a trip to the vet and the weekend spent at home.

With the 3^rd round of the summer series on Saturday I got a day off work to fish Thursday’s open to stay in touch with the venue. With 16 booked in it was always going to fish a little hard and a decent draw was required.

I drew a very average peg in the shape of p11, but to be honest I wasn’t that concerned and just wanted to enjoy my day. The weather however was a concern, with a 20mph wind forecast for most of the day.

On the all-in, I started at 3+2 fishing meat, but after 15mins, 2 roach and a single F1 wasn’t the start I wanted, however everyone appeared to be struggling. Trying pellet to my left at 3+2 didn’t produce a bite either and after 10mins I abandoned the short line.

A switch to fishing a 4mm (u-zit p-nut) pellet, tapping in 4s at the bottom of the far shelf at least produced a few F1s and carp. When the swim dried up, I tried to set up a new swim to the right but couldn’t get a bite – strange!

It was time to try the fishing tight to the far bank and to be honest, I didn’t like how it plumbed up, but I eventually found 2 spots to fish. By tapping in 6mm meat (covered in uzit a-krill cloud) and 2mm p-nut pellet, I had a slow start, but had a nice run of F1s and carp swapping between the 2 swims.

The wind however was proving to be a real pain at times as I struggled to keep the rig in place. With 90mins remaining, the far line had dried up, although I think my presentation was suffering due to the increasing wind.

I tried the bottom of the far shelf again, without success which just left the margins and a 2+2 meat line. Unbelievably, I only caught 1 skimmer from the margin. Fortunately, I managed a couple of decent F1s and carp from the short meat line.

When the match finished, I was fairly sure Steve Brown on p15 had won as he had a very good last hour fishing shallow and I hoped I would frame, which I did just missing out on 2^nd by 3oz to Mick O’Brien. The anglers either side of me didn’t weigh, so I was quite pleased to weigh what I did, and I will be glad when the weather settles as I’m sure it effected todays match.

1.   52-  0 – Steve Brown – p15

2.    42-  0 – Mike O’Brien – p3

3.    41-13 – Ken Rayner – p11

4.    30-  3 – Jerry Wiggett – p5