2020 Winter Campaign (Gold Valley)

Now that the dust has settled on my so-called '2020 winter campaign' (a series of matches at Gold Valley including the 2020 Rushmoor League and the All Winners Final) I thought I'd try and capture some of the highs and lows ...

Time for some prep

Rushmoor League Rounds 1, 2 and 3: Not exactly a great start to this blog as for one reason or another I had to miss the first three rounds of the 2020 Rushmoor League! Anyway, this meant plenty of time for some much needed prep, and keeping an eye on the results I could see that the fishing was tough (we are talking about fishing in January after all) but there were well deserved individual victories for Paul Garrett, Jeb Attwood and Pete Arnold.

Peg 47 on Gold Lake

Rushmoor League Round 4 (26/01): My first match for a couple of months so it was all I could do to actually set-up my box facing the water! Things actually started quite well with a nice F1 first cast on the hybrid feeder, but normal service soon resumed as the next four hours were biteless. The final hour saw a tiny skimmer and a bigger sample hit the net from a long pole line, but a lost carp from the same line in the dying seconds pretty much summed things up. My 4-2-0 did actually generate 2 points for my new Home Counties team, but that was only because one of the pegs in my section wasn't drawn. (Congratulations to one William Raison for taking-out the match with 78-4-0 from peg 138 on the Syndicate Lake.)

Peg 110 on Syndicate Lake

Rushmoor League Round 5 (02/02): Peg 110 on the Syndicate Lake, a decent but not spectacular draw, but at least I had the wind off my back. My pre-match plan was to nick the odd carp on running line tactics in the first three hours before bagging-up on some nice juicy skimmers on the long pole towards the end - well so much for that plan! The first two hours whizzed by without so much of a liner, so taking on board some good advice from team-mate Steve Doyle I decided to have a quick look down the edge for some silvers. First drop saw a nice four ounce roach in the net (blank avoided), second drop saw me attached to something a bit bigger, but a lifetime and 6 miles of yellow Hydro later I was staring at a fin perfect 15lb mirror carp!

Say hello to my little friend

Next drop led to a nice 8 ounce hybrid, quickly followed by a few smaller roach before carp number two entered the fray – this one decided to bottom me out before shredding my hooklength, so it was time to step-up my gear a bit. Over the next 90 minutes I went on to land five more big carp, though I certainly lost control of this line in the final hour, losing at least three more, no doubt due to overfeeding and possibly (ironically) having too many big fish in the swim.

In the final 10 minutes I dropped onto my long pole line and I was into a seventh and final carp immediately – with hindsight I really wish that I’d switched to this line as soon as the margin line went funny, but it still amazes me that you can catch a fish so quickly from a line that you haven’t fed for 4 hours and 50 minutes!!!

Maybe lightning does strike twice

In the end my 7 carp and 2-12-0 of silvers went an even 84-0-0, ahead of Ian Dixon’s 70-12-0 and Jon Radford’s 54-4-0, enough to claim the day and a second individual Rushmoor League victory in 3 years.

Peg 136 on Syndicate Lake

Saturday Open Match (22/02): After a couple of weekends off (thanks to Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis) it was time to get back on the bank for a well attended open match around the whole of the Syndicate Lake. I had hoped to draw on the near side, but as luck would have it I drew on the far bank and hence had a strong wind in my face all day long - though for company I had the mighty Paul Holland to my left and England international Mark Eves to my right, so that was going to make things interesting. Or not! The fishing was incredibly tough, but two carp and a skimmer from a margin line got me to 24-12-0, which was somehow good enough for third overall behind Adrian Harris (26lb) and the ever consistent Jeb Attwood (32lb).

Peg 121 on Syndicate Lake

Rushmoor League Round 6 (23/02): After a couple of good results confidence was high and I was quite pleased to draw Syndicate 121, though it was a different story come 4 o'clock when I'd blanked! Blankety blank, cheque book and pen. (Not only that, but I was the only angler out of 50 to blank on the day.) I didn't mind getting hammered by Will Raison to my right (he was an end peg on the day and had a long margin to cast along), but John Light on 122 also kicked my arse with a fantastic display of rod and line fishing that I just can't get to grips with at the moment. (Congratulations to Ian Dixon on winning the day from Syndicate 101.)

Peg 128 on Syndicate Lake

Sunday Open Match (01/03): Yet another windy day, once again on the far bank of Syndicate (peg 128 to be precise) and once again the wind was in my face all day long!!! Much to my amazement I actually caught a carp on running line (bomb & big meat) tactics second chuck, though even more amazingly that carp and another caught down the edge in the final quarter of an hour went 13-4-0, enough to get me second overall on a very, very tough day. (Stefan Gent winning the match by miles with 28lb.)

Peg 134 on Syndicate Lake

2020 All Winners Final (08/03): With this match being spread across Gold, Middle and Syndicate lakes I was either hoping to draw on Middle Lake (as I thought the match would be won from here) or on the near bank of Syndicate Lake (as I wanted to escape a fourth match in a row in a face-on gale) - so obviously I drew the far bank of Syndicate once again! Peg 134 isn't really that great, but I had a bit of room and a nice looking margin to the left so you never know. Unfortunately there were no signs of carp on running line or from that margin, but at one stage I did get into a nice run of skimmers on the long pole - disappointingly they soon came and went, though when I weighed 9-0-0 I thought I had an outside chance of scraping third place in the silvers pool, but that wasn't to be as on the day you needed 15lb plus for that. (Congratulations to Paul Holland on winning from Middle Lake with 75-8-0.)

Pointless selfie

So there you go - one blank and two other blow-outs, but a couple of framing places and another individual victory in the Rushmoor League. The weather has been pretty rubbish (well windy anyway) but you have to be in it to win - see you on the bank sometime ...

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01 July 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well I think it is fair to say I made a right pig's ear of that one, only really figuring-out what I should've been doing ten minutes from the end!

   

Round-up the usual suspects

   

My home for the day was Gold Valley, Middle Lake 63 a peg that can be really good as it is in among the where the islands used to be - with the water level being quite low I actually found a spot at 14.5m slightly to the right that was just 12" deep, though in the main it was hard to find more than two and a half feet anywhere in the peg. I started on paste at top kit plus one and expected to get off to a good start but after 15 minutes I was biteless and giving the 12" swim a dabble earlier than expected - I could get bites here but they were very dodgy and I ended-up losing a frustrating number of fish.

   

All the gear ...

   

All the time I'd been feeding 4mm hard pellets at 13m slightly to the left with the aim of catching shallow - this did work to a certain extent but after 90 minutes of feeding, tapping and slapping my jigga I had to sack it off as it just wasn't working well enough. (There were plenty of fish in the peg but they seemed preoccupied routing around in the silt and sending-up blooms of the black stuff every few minutes.)

   

Nice day for it

   

With little option I returned to the 12" swim and I eventually caught a few on a 4.5mm expander over potted micros and 4mm hard pellets, though as the match progressed the number of missed bites and lost fish went through the roof with the fish seemingly coming-up in the water despite it being just a foot deep! I tried my best to keep them on the deck but they just weren't having it, so towards the end I switched to fishing just 5" deep and it was one a bung!!!

   

Plenty of sun today

   

In the end I limped home with 58 fish for a level 55lb, one out of the money as Dan Cooper took the section with 69-8-0 - well done to Craig Meadows on the win and Giovanni Barbato on taking second spot. If only I'd have switched to fishing super-shallow a little earlier!

   

Until next time ...

  

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24 June 2018, Top Lake (Willinghurst)

Day two of the Angling for Heroes mini-festival and I've only gone and drawn the same peg again! Having learned some harsh lessons yesterday I was able to fish a much simpler match today, putting 99-6-0 on the scales, just short of the 100lb barrier but comfortably ahead of the 75lb that was second.

Nice bucket

   

This left me on 4 points, just a point and 30lb short of finishing second overall, something I could've managed on day one if I'd had gotten my act together a bit sooner (easily said with hindsight of course). I'll sign-off by saying a massive well done to my partner in crime Claire 'Bagger' Hollis who not only won the first day with a whopping 130lb but smashed the festival by being the only angler to finish with a perfect 2 point score - what a superstar!!!
  

Caption competition time!

   
Until next time ...

  

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23 June 2018, Top Lake (Willinghurst)

Day one of the two-day Angling for Heroes mini-festival, my home for the day being Top Lake peg 8, a pretty average peg in the main bowl. Having not fished for a few weeks, and having not fished for proper carp since the Guru festival at White Acres I was pretty rusty and spent at least half of the match fishing the wrong methods!

  

A nice photo

  

Saying that I somehow managed to put 56-8-0 on the scales, a reasonable return that got me third in section, just 2lb short of second - mildly annoying!!!

   

Until next time ...

  

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02 June 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Another great day at Gold Valley yesterday for a WC Group Coaching day with Will Raison and Callum Dicks, this time with a focus on catching F1s shallow on Middle Lake. Without giving too much away lets just say it was a brilliant session with loads learned and loads of fish caught!!!

   

More satisfied customers

   

Until next time ...

  

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26 May 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well it was back to Gold Valley today for the charity fundraiser for the England ladies team - I think that over £2k was raised so well done to all involved, especially Sam Sim and the team at Gold. With 104 taking part the pegging was always going to be tight, and with Middle Lake our of sorts, like most I was hoping for a bit of room on a big fish lake so of course I drew 70 on Middle!

   

Roll-up, roll-up!

   

With half of the match gone I was convinced I was going to blank, so to end with 2 perch and the 5 smallest F1s in the lake for 3-6-0 was actually a relief! (In the end it was the wind the really impacted the weights, personally I struggled to hold 5m of pole so getting out to the required 14.5/16m was impossible.) Anyway it was a nice day out and we won a bottle of wine in the raffle so can’t complain!!!

   

Until next time ...

  

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18 May 2018, Trelawney (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 5 todday, another distinctly average peg in Trelawney 29 being my home for the day. I started by nicking a nice carp from in front of peg 30’s platform in the first five minutes then after a quick dabble on the short pole and feeder it was time to start spraying casters and fishing the long pole shallow for those pesky F1s.
 

Nice and sunny to the left

 
I gave it a good go for two hours and whilst I caught quite a few I knew I was lagging behind Tony Evans and Craig Meadows to my right and both of the anglers to my left so I decided to sack it off and focus on fishing to the vacant platform in the hope of catching some proper carp. This worked well for 90 minutes though another poor last hour left me on a slightly frustrating 65-9-0 for 6 points, miles behind Steve Clark but tantalisingly close to Phil Canning and Bryan Travis who weighed 75 and 76 pounds from the two end pegs.

   

Until next time ...

  

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17 May 2018, Trewaters (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 4 today. Finding myself on another non-flyer in the form of Trewaters 23 and with the wind blasting into 25/27 I settled on a positive pre-match plan involving catching 20lb an hour for the first 4 hours by pinging pellets to the island and fishing a mini hybrid feeder over the top then winning the match by catching 40lb down the edge in the final hour. As things turned-out I had just 6 small fish for 15lb at 15:30 so I was down the edge earlier than expected!
 

There's that bucket again!

 
By 4 o’clock I actually thought I could get back in the race as I’d landed 4 fish for 30lb in half an hour, but the wheels came off in that last hour as I never had a bite on either the pole or feeder!!! As a result I ended-up with 46lb, only beating the person that didn’t turn-up and one other. So was the plan flawed? I should’ve swapped to the long pole after an hour but ultimately it was that last hour that cost me as another 4 or 5 for 30lb would’ve got me second in section ...

   

Until next time ...

  

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16 May 2018, Pollawyn (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 3 today and I found myself on Pollawyn number 2, a reasonable peg in what can be a very tricky section centred on the arm nearest the cafe. The first hour or so was good with some nice perch and the odd brand new carp from my right margin but the rest of the match has been hard with jut the odd skimmer at 13m, no bites at all in the shallow water at 16m.
 

All the gear

 
In the end I’ve weighed 18-9-0, miles behind Chris Kitchen and Tony Evans who’ve both snared big carp on the opposite side of the island but enough for 6 points, just behind Scott Russell who has weighed 20lb next door on peg 1.

   

Until next time ...

  

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15 May 2018, Bolingey (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day two today and with the weather being much colder than of late I was rather surprised to drop in on Bolingey peg 1 to find spawning carp doing their stuff along the long margin to the right! Having said that I got off to a flying start and after half an hour I already had 30lb on the clicker (5 nice fish on the short pole with meat) - unfortunately the next three and a half hours where very frustrating as virtually every bite I managed to induce led to a lost fish with very little going in the net!
   

A nice end peg for a change

   
With spawning activities complete I was eventually able to fish the long margin to the right in the final hour, a further 40lb going in the net as a result. This gave me a total of 79-11-0 which only beat two - as ever things were tight and just 30lb more would’ve put me second in section, so those lost fish and that terrible middle part of the match really cost me as there is no margin for error in these festivals.

   

Until next time ...

  

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14 May 2018, Porth Reservoir (White Acres)

White Acres, Guru festival day 1 today and it was off to the mighty Porth Reservoir, peg 33 on the car park side of the lake being my home for the day.
 

Click, click, click

 
Usually I blow-out on day 1 and I usually blow-out on Porth so I was pleased to catch 126 small fish on the short (top kit plus 3) and long (13m) pole with maggots over groundbait for 9-3-0 and third in section.

   

Until next time ...

  

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12 May 2018, Campbell Lake (Viaduct Fishery)

Viaduct today for the Golden Reel qualifier and with 83 on it a good draw was the order of the day, so 123 on Campbell seemed pretty decent! I spent the first hour on the long pole shallow without a bite, so by noon I’d committed myself to fishing at 13m along the margin to the left to give myself any chance of qualifying or to even win a section that included the likes of Andy Power.
 

Pre-match excitement

 
Well it wasn’t to be and come 4 o’clock I was tipping back two carp and three skimmers for a big fat DNW! In fairness the lake has fished hard (post-spawning, mid-spawning, pre-spawning no doubt), with sections being won with forty and fifty pounds! Anyway well done to Paul Morris who I watched all day bashing-out 180lb from 121 (or more precisely from in front of empty platform 120) to easily win the match.

   

Until next time ...

  

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29 April 2018, Syndicate Lake (Gold Valley)

Well there you go ... Gold Valley, Syndicate Lake 115. One carp, four skimmers. No bites in the final two hours ten minutes. Battered by both sides. Last in section, virtually last in the match! So cold I could hardly feel my hands. But apart from that lot it was a great day!!!

   

Just one of those days

   

Until next time ...

  

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22 April 2018, Main Lake (Reepham Fishery)

Third and final day of the Reepham spring festival and my home for the day was Main Lake peg 18, a swim on the far side of the lake – apparently this isn’t a noted swim but it is a fairly good one within the lower weight section.

   

All the gear ...

  

I had a little bit of room to my left but generally the pegging was quite tight as this is lake is essentially a square pond and I had Marcus Leek, Mick Warner and Claire ‘Bagger’ Hollis in a line to my left all sitting at right angles to the way I was facing. With it being hot and sunny again (and taking onboard some information from Reg Barrass who’d fished the same peg yesterday) I settled on a simple plan focussing on the long pole shallow with a throwaway line tight to the bank to my left at TK+3.

   

A lovely day again

   

As it happened my match was essentially split into three parts – the first two hours were spent mugging and resulted in 7 nice big carp; the third hour was biteless and I couldn’t muster anything on the pole, waggler or bomb; and the final two hours or so were spent slapping, tapping and feeding on the long pole shallow where I probably landed another 9 or 10 fish, some of which were mugged, though most pulled the float under without me realising that they were in the peg.

   

Final weigh of the week

   

In the end I didn’t try the margin line, so all of my fish were caught on the long pole shallow and weighed a total of 94-3-0, enough to win the section from Mick Warner (79-8-0) but miles behind Dale Stones who won the lake with the biggest weight of the week (156-14-0).

The podium

 
In the end I finished with 3 section wins from 3 but this was only good enough for second place as the awesome Nigel Lale put in three great performances to also secure 3 sections wins but with a higher total weight (271-4-0 to 237-8-0). Chris Parsons was third (5 points) and Dale Stones fourth (6 points but more weight than Gary Mallett). The planning for next year has started already!!!
   

Until next time ...

  

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21 April 2018, Bungalow Lake (Reepham Fishery)

Day two of the Reepham spring festival and it was back to Bungalow Lake, peg 18 this time – this peg is on the road bank but similar to the peg that I drew in the practice match (13) in that it had a spare platform (though this time to the right, so not as convenient for a right-hander).

   

All the gear ...

   

Having concluded from the practice match that it wasn’t really worth fishing the long pole shallow I settled on a two-pronged attack – short pole on the deck straight in front and a line in front of the spare platform (though on discovering that this swim was only 15” deep I wasn’t that confident given the sunny weather and fairly clear water). For company I was something of a ‘Dutch sandwich’ as I had David Holland to my left and Paul Holland to my right (on 15).

   

David Holland to my left

   

Starting on the short pole with an expander over micros I was soon getting plenty of bites though I must’ve missed a thousand in the first hour – though the rudd weren’t really a problem today my swim seemed to be full of 4 ounce crucians that were proving rather tricky to connect with! By the end of that first hour I had loads of fish in the net but only about 8lb in weight as the majority of the fish that I was catching were either the aforementioned crucians or equally small tench, with just a few 1lb carp mixed in, so sooner than hoped it was over to the spare platform to my right.

   

Nice rope

   

Things started slowly but at least I was getting proper bites and the 1-2lb carp that I was going to need to catch to do any good. Regular feeding of micros and 4mm hard pellets via a medium Guru pole pot eventually got the swim going, a switch from a 4.5mm expander to three dead red maggots on the hook also accelerated my catch rate and at one point I was into that lovely routine of ‘shipping-out, feeding, hooking a fish immediately’ that really gets the catch rate going. As we entered the final hour the action slowed dramatically – feeding a full pot of groundbait worked for a short while, but the second time I tried doing the same it killed the swim!

   

Nice caravans

   

Dropping back onto the short pole led to nothing but missed bites so I spent the final 15 minutes fishing past the platform at 13m – this resulted in a couple of extra fish in the net but also a few lost foul-hookers as I was fishing away from the bank (I couldn’t get tight to the bank as the platform was in the way).

   

Nice spare platform

   

Despite that rather anticlimactic end to the match I managed to put 59-1-0 on the scales, enough to win the section and the lake ahead of Dale Stones (48-1-0) and Mick Warner (44-7-0) – so going into the final day I’m lying in second place overall, tied with Nigel Lale on two section wins but over 50lb behind on weight countback!

   

Until next time ...

  

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20 April 2018, Long Lake (Reepham Fishery)

Day one of the 2018 Reepham spring festival – having been allocated C section I knew that Long Lake would be my home for the day, with Bungalow and Main Lakes to come on Saturday and Sunday.

   

Pre-festival briefing

   

My draw put me on peg 43, an interesting swim with a little bit of open water in front, a point of a spit to the right at 13m and a nice-looking margin to the left. For company I had Mick Warner directly opposite – even though Mick was only about 20m away his swim was virtually at right-angles to mine so there wasn’t too much of an overlap.

   

All the gear ...

   

Given the amazing weather there were lots of big fish cruising about and I managed to mug 14 or 15, losing just the one on some tree roots to my right. The line to the spit didn’t produce a bite, but the margin line to the left produced 3 fish on bunches of dead red maggots over groundbait (1 part Special G, 2 parts Bait-Tech Karma).

   

Nice margin to the left

   

In the end my 84-4-0 gave me a perfect start with a section and lake win, just ahead of Steve Johnson (79-3-0) and Marcus Leek (77-12-0).

   

Until next time ...

  

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19 April 2018, Bungalow Lake (Reepham Fishery)

Well today was a practice match ahead of the upcoming 3 day spring festival at the amazing Reepham Fishery in deepest Norfolk – we were up at 4, on the road by 5 and at the venue by 9 to be met by a proper heatwave!

   

All the gear ...

   

The match itself was split between Long and Bungalow Lakes, and I pulled-out Bungalow 13, a nice shady peg in the middle of the far bank. I had a really enjoyable day catching 67-5-0 of small carp, initially on the short pole but mainly from in front of peg 14’s platform.

   

The locals were friendly

   

This was good enough for a section win and second on the lake behind double Fish’O’Mania finalist Dale Stones who won with 74-11-0.

   

Until next time ...

  

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08 April 2018, Bat Lake (Gold Valley)

After a good little run of successful matches it was back down to Earth with a bump at Gold Valley today. Things started badly when I actually failed to draw a peg in the epicentre for once (my home for the day was Bat Lake peg 8, a swim on the middle of the canal bank with little or no recent form) and got worse when I realised that I’d left my flask of coffee on the kitchen table! The first hour of the match was in fact quite good as I managed an 8lb carp (more on this bad boy to come below) and some nice F1s for about 20lb.

   

I see no bats

   

Unfortunately, the action soon tailed-off and going into the final 90 minutes I hadn’t had a bite for an hour so it was time to go all out for another big carp or two – needless to say I didn’t get one. By the time the scales reached my peg I was soaking wet and ‘mildly disappointed’ with my own performance, then to cap things-off nicely I managed to drop my bonus carp back into the lake before he could be weighed, leaving me on 18 F1s for 26-3-0 and stone cold last in the match!!! (In all fairness putting that carp onto the scales wouldn’t have made any difference, I’d have still been last.) 

   

Didn't really need these today!

   

Well done to Giovanni Barbato on winning the match, just a few ounces ahead of Jason Morgan who was second
   

Until next time ...

  

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07 April 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Well it was back to Gold Valley today, this time for the open match on the Middle Lake. I was hoping for an end peg flyer or a nice pitch in amongst the sunken islands so I was mildly disappointed to see 68 in my hand, especially when I realised that this was the same peg than Will Raison drew 7 days ago and only returned 2-3-0!!!

   

Cheers!

   

Given the upturn in the weather I decided to start my match on the short pole, but after 15 biteless minutes it was time to chuck a hybrid feeder to the rope. I’d decided to give this 3 casts of 5 minutes each and was fearing the worst when the tip eventually pulled round during the final minute of the third cast, though a nice big (3lb) F1 was the culprit. A massive liner on the next cast and a smaller F1 on the cast after that were something of a false dawn so with nearly an hour gone and just 2 fish in the net I decided to give the short pole another 5 minutes before going out to 13m – as luck would have it the float dipped at 4 minutes and 59 seconds and this was a start of a good run of nice F1s that lasted for a couple of hours. Going into the fourth hour I lost my way somewhat trying to make a line to my left in shallower water work, before getting a run of fish at 13m (which was tricky given the increasing wind).

Juicy

   

For the final hour I dropped back to the short line again and was rewarded with another run of fish giving me a final total of 66 F1s for a surprising 82-12-0, just about good enough for second overall – Steve Tubb won the match with 86-2-0 and there were other weights of 81-3-0 and 79-14-0 so things were pretty close!!!

Happy days!

   

Until next time ...

  

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02 April 2018, Middle Lake (Gold Valley)

Following Saturday’s success it was back to Gold Valley yet again today, this time for the open match on the Middle Lake – once again there was a separate match on Syndicate Lake, such is the popularity of the place at the moment! My run of good form at the draw continued, my home for the day being peg 99, a nice swim that is in amongst where the old islands used to be and one featuring a floating island.
  

All the gear ...

  
I had hoped to catch on the shallow bar to my right but it seems that I may have drawn the peg a month or two early as the majority of my 32 fish fell to a mini hybrid feeder – the bites were savage with the line either going completely slack or the rod doubling over! These fish weighed a total of 38-4-0, good enough for third place on the day and another pick-up.
   

Nice!

Well done to Guildford Bait-Tech teammate Dan Carey on the win and to another Guildford Bait-Tech teammate in the form of John Light on coming second!
   

Until next time ...

  

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