On Hold...

Well, alot has happened since my last blog,and most of it isn't fishing related! In the last 6 weeks my girlfriend has moved in with me,we had a week in Tenerife and a few family do's so time on the bank has been rather limited. I have also changed poles from a Daiwa G8 to a Garbolino Super G10. Finally I have been lucky enough to land a full bait sponsorship deal from Romsey Bait & Tackle. This makes it alot less painful when taking 5 pints of caster to Greenridge Farm. I must say a big thanks to John Hardeley for backing me with the sponsorship.

I have fished two evening matches at Whinwhistle,coming 1st & 2nd,with 21lb both times,mostly consisiting of carp caught down the edge on corn. I also fished a match at Greenridge Farm and drew the wrong end of canal 2- peg 13. I managed to catch a few late on caster short for 56lb,beating the two either side of me but way off the pace of the other end of the lake.

This Saturday I was back at Greenridge for another crack. With 25 booked on only 3 canals were needed this time. After a later than usual breakfast I had my dip into the bag and pulled out peg 28,2 in from the far end of canal 3. I had only fished canal 3 once before, and that day I got caught out as I had no caster. This time I had 5 pints so hoped to do better than the 36lb odd I had last time. To my right I had venue regular Andy Vane, with Lee Woodhouse on endpeg 30 and Mark to my left on 27. The match the week before had fished very well,with 16 weights over 100lb,with Pete Newman winning overall with 176lb odd from peg 29 on shallow pellet. AFter speaking with Pete during the week I planned to fish a similar way to the farbank- just a length of line with a band on a hair,allowing you to get right into the ratholes under the cover. It's by no means the prettiest way to fish as there's no float,but using a float asks for trouble as you instinctively strike,resulting in rigs getting caught in the far bank vegetation on more than one occasion. I planned to start on the deck across,so set up a 4x12 Scone Jubleez for the 2.5ft deep swim,on 0.18-0.16,a Tubertini 3 and 14 latex. The shallow rig was a foot of 0.16- 16 Pr36 with a band on a hair and 14 latex. I also planned on fishing caster short,so plumbed a line at 3m- a 4x12 NG Finesse,0.16-0.14 and a 16 B911. This was matched to yellow bungee and shotted with a spread bulk of 10's, set 2 inches over depth just up the near slope slightly. For bait I had 5 pints of caster,3 tins of corn (for the inside line,although I didnt actually fish here) a bag of 6mm pellets and some 8mms for the hair.

The all in was called and I potted in around 20 grains of corn and a pinch of pellet right up the farbank before throwing a couple of handfuls of caster on the short line. I had an early carp on corn across but it was a bit of a false dawn as after 3 hours I had just 3 carp in the net for about 7lb- 2 across and one short on the caster. The guys on the next pegs were fairing no better and it became quite clear there weren't many fish at our end. I knew that my best bet was going to be the short caster line which I had been feeding from the off. Fishing double caster with a spread bulk and regularly feeding by hand I began to catch a few. Going into the last hour I was absolutely flying and included a few better fish up to 8lb. When the all-out was called I had a fish on and dropped my 28th carp in the net after the whistle. It had been pretty tough and Mark & Andy either side of me both tipped back 7 carp each. Lee on the end peg weighed 30lb odd before my weight was called out at 97lb 4oz. The rest of the weights were in the 30-40lb bracket before we got the far end and Jamie Payne put 86lb on the scales before Paul Barnard on the end peg plonked 124lb on for a comfortable win. I managed 2nd on the canal and 5th overall,with 114lb winning canal 2 and 103lb winning canal 1. I had fed 4 pints of caster on the line I caught well on and learned plenty which I will put to good use next time. I picked up £40 for 2nd in section and after the usual post-match beer headed home.

I have made the decision to put my blog on hold for the foreseeable future. I am struggling to find the time and rather than do a half-arsed job I would rather leave it until things settle down and I can give each blog 100%. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my exploits half as much as I've enjoyed writing about them. I will be black blogging one day but until then 'Tight Lines' and I hope to see you on the bank someday.

Gareth