01/02/26 - Harescombe - Doughnut

Weight - 24lb

Catch - 8 Carp, 1 F1

Weather - Bright start, showery later.

Match - Teams of 4 - rd 2 (40 fished) - 5th in section, 18th overall

The 2^nd round of this teams of 4 and I at least made this round without incident. Have to say a big thank you to Trevor Halliday who stepped in during the last round at very late notice and the team won the 1^st round.

Today’s draw put me on p14 (old p18) and to be honest I was happy with that although the peg struggled last week. The hot pegs were to my left and when I saw Steve Brown (p16), Chris Telling (p18) and Ronaldo (p20), I knew it would be difficult to beat them.

On the all-in I started dobbin bread along the far bank and had 2 carp in the first 10mins. Sadly, the next hour didn’t go as planned as the next 3 fish all came off and the air turned a little blue!

I tried tapping in maggot tight to the far bank using a light strung out rig and at half depth, but couldn’t get a proper bite, whilst the pegs to my left (particularly Chris) were catching. The only other person I could see catching was Cliff Dutton on p8, although it sounded like he was foul hooking a few.

Next, I tried fishing a metre off the far bank that is usually good for a few bites but I only caught 1 carp. I had another on the straight lead and maggot, but I just felt I was on the edge of the fish as I couldn’t get a run together.

I persevered with tapping in maggot and a little groundbait (So Simple Top G : Crushed Expander) against the far bank but I still couldn’t get a proper bite. I even tied a new rig with a bulk and 4” inch hooklength, and had a fish straight away, but again couldn’t get another, although I did lose a foul hooker.

A final throw of the dice was a 6m line to my right at the bottom of the near shelf, fed with maggot where I caught 3 carp late allowing me to claim a few more points.

So, a tricky and frustrating day, finishing with 5pts (out of 10). Fortunately, as a team we didn’t have any blow outs and Steve won Meadow Lake, which meant we finished the day 2^nd, maintaining our lead in the league.

1.    63-15 – Chris Telling (Team 1,2,3,4) – P18 Doughnut

2.    55-  4 – Matt Greaves (4 skinz) – p6 Match

3.    53-15 – Steve Broadhurst (Tackle Den) – p11 Meadow

4.    53-14 – Luke Fothergill (Future Networks) – p3 Match

5.    53-  1 – Andy Fry (Team 1,2,3,4) – p15 Match

6.    49-  8 – Alistair Tilney (Tackle Den) – p24 Match

Teams of the Day

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 13pts

2.    Tackle Den – 15pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 18pts

League to Date

1.    Tackle Den – 3pts (27pts)

2.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 3pts (28pts)

3.    Maver Harescombe Green - 6pts