Round 3 of the Spring Pairs league and the lake had fished hard on the previous Wednesday open Match. I was fishing today taking the place of Phil Powell who is still recovering at home (get well soon mate) Got to the lake just in time for the draw and saw the usual suspects loitering  around the car park. I was to be in the big lake (B Section) so wanted 14,15 or 25 but came away with peg 18 and was a little disappointed to be honest.

Shock of the day was the fact that Mick Lane had for the first time in 10 years drew a bad peg, He had pulled out peg 36 in the little lake but was not fazed. Weather wise there was a gusty wind blowing up towards pegs 19 and 20 across the big lake. It was quite cold but Sunny.

The lake looking nice with all the colours.

With the match underway at 10.45 it was only about 2 minutes before Mark Newbold on peg 15 hooked into a carp but lost it shipping back, out again and he had another and managed to get it in while I sat looking at my tip twitching about all over the place with liners. Jim over on peg 22 was fishing long to the bush and was already into his second fish as was Pete Arnold on peg 25 fishing to bomb and had already had one.

Steve Waters on peg 23 was switching between long pole and waggler and it was starting to pay off picking up the odd fish on the wag. About an hour in to the match and Jim was already getting up to get another keepnet (take note Pete 😛 ) I had managed to get one carp on the pole at 13m and Pat Pritchard on peg 17 had also just landed his first fish on the bomb. Mark had also manage a few more but was loosing a few at well. Taking of loosing a few me and Pat had lost 3 carp each as well due to being foul hooked.

Half way into the match and word was the little lake was fishing very hard indeed, even John Bennett on peg 34 which is normally good for a few fish was carpless while magic Mick Lane had managed to get one carp. Pete Tapp on peg 7 had decided to pack up and go home after his team mate couldn’t fish and was struggling to get a bite. Andy Quarmby fishing on peg 10 was leading A section putting together a cracking bag of silvers which included 2 nice bream. There was no doubt about who was leading B section, Jim was still pulling the fish from the corner and showed no sign’s on slowing down. Jeff on peg 26 and Michael on peg 28 were both Struggling but Jeff had managed to catch a few carp to reward him for his efforts whilst Michael had a few silvers.

I had waited for the sun to come round on to the top end of the big lake before switching to fishing 13m down the edge to my left. I had fed some corn and pellet and then dropped a piece of corn over it and instantly had a bite when the corn dropped to the deck. I managed to get 5 fishing from the edge in 30 minutes before they buggered off. In the last hour of the match Steve was really making the wag work and was getting carp consistently. Mark had not had a bite for 2 hours, it seemed the fish had moved down to peg 14 where John Draper was starting to catch a few. Me and Pat had managed a few more carp each fishing long on the pole in front of us.

In the closing 30 minutes a few things happened to change the overall scores of the day. John Bennett had winkled 2 small carp out the beat his winter league team mate Mick Lane in their mini match. Also Neil Hutchins on peg 13 had managed to land a big fouled hooked carp to put Andy Quarmby 2nd in his section for the 3rd match in a row.

Neil Hutchins with 2 big Rolfs Lake carp.

I have to say thanks to the lads in our section for the banter on the day, my pole was bouncing around all day because I was laughing that much 😀

A few pictures now from the day….

Paul Jay's only bite of the day.

Mark Newbold with his some of his fish

Me with one of my fish

Jim McCann with one of his 3 nets

Some of Jim's Match winning fish

Steve Waters with a 19-12 Common

Top Pairs on the day. Neil Hutchins and Jim McCann. 2 section wins, well done.

Pete Arnold and Dave Wightman.

Results….

(report by Simon)

Thanks for reading from Simon, John and Eddie. We hope Eddie a speed recovery after a nasty wrist injury. Get well soon mate.

Another cold day at the lake.

John and Paul had been down the lake on the Saturday to break the ice and give the anglers a head start on Sunday.

This is what greeted the anglers on the Sunday morning. (Thanks Pat Pritchard for the pictures)

The big lake

Steve Waters breaking the ice on peg 34

Michael Corsini on peg 8

The Little lake

Pegs 5, 6, 7 and 8

Results….