07/10/25 - Rood Ashton

Weight - 54lb 9oz

Catch - 16 Carp

Weather - Cool and blustery.

Match - Tackle Den (14 fished) - 3rd overall

Only 14 today for various reasons, which meant some of the worst pegs could be left out.

More than happy with p21 as it was the end peg on the far bank. The only concern was yesterday’s heavy rain and the impact it would have. Taking the water temperature (11.7c) revealed it had dropped a couple of degrees from last week, which suggested it would be tricky.

On all the all-in I started on a small 30g method feeder cast 30m loaded with Top G groundbait and baninion micros and a 6mm pink gofter. After an hour I had 3 carp for about 5lb. It was a relief to catch as no-one on my bank had a bite yet, however I was a little disappointed with the stamp as usually I would expect to have 10-15lb.

I had intended to fish meat on the pole, however when I realised it was going to be hard I decided to set up a pellet rig with 0.14 bottom to an 18 B960, which is lighter than I would normally go, but there didn’t appear to be many snags in the swim. If the carp rocked up properly, I could still switch to a heavier rig.

After an hour I switched to fishing 10m to my left where I had been pinging 4mm baninion pellets, fishing a hair rigged 6mm baninion pellet. Bites were tentative but at least I was catching, nothing bigger than 3-4lb, plus a couple of 1lb fish and I knew I was beating those along my bank.

I also started feeding 8mm meat (covered in Sludge) and 4mm pellet into my right margin, which was 3ft deep, soon catching a 6lber and then losing an 8lber at the net.

With 2hrs remaining I had 13 fish in the net, mostly from the 10m line and thought I would get a run of proper fish down the margin or over a 25m line where I had been pinging 6mm pellet.

Well, those last 2hrs were extremely frustrating. Over the right margin I was getting liners, losing a couple of foul hookers and only landing one more fish. I never had a bite over the 25m line, fishing the straight lead which to be honest was a surprise as its usually worth a couple of fish.

Fortunately, I managed a couple more fish over the 10m line, but a lost a proper fish at the net. As things weren’t going as well as expected I cupped groundbait, micros and a few bits of meat 10m down the left margin in 2ft of water. This produced 1 carp, before the roach moved in.

At the all-out I knew I had beaten the anglers down my bank, but I was concerned the stamp of fish might leave me short, as normally 16 carp would go 65-80lb and I’ve probably missed out on 2^nd place.

Picking up 3^rd place meant that is now 8 straight pick-ups, which is my best run of results.

1.    72-14 – Vince Grillo – p6

2.    64-  1 – Simon Collins – p14

3.    54-  9 – Ken Rayner – p21

4.    49-  6 – Pete Phillips – p4

5.    45-15 – Matt Greaves – p5