One carp seperates top 4.

After a mad rush form work to get to todays match i was greeted with another top field in todays mid-week open. I have Neil Riddy to thank for my peg 8 draw and another battle with the big carp thank live in this peg { thanks Neil }.

Around the lake the ususal suspects were on the flyers with Derek Hammond on peg 9, John Bennett on form peg 6, Paul Jay on 10, Neil Riddy was on peg 4 and Andy Quarmby on peg 32 by the hut. As the all in was called i was still setting up but no one was flying away so i was not bothered to be starting 20 minutes late.

Spare a thought for Nick Dean on peg 7 as he was not upto speed with my and John Bennetts season battle and also the pirate theme so he was bemused when i showed him the gifts of an eye patch, a pistol a skull necklace and a bag of gold coins left on my empty peg waiting for my arrival. Also Nick had to endure the banter between us for the five hours and also my terrets which was in full flow by the end of the match.

From what i could see the anglers on the car park bank were having the odd few fish with Roy making a few visits to the weigh station so he seemed to be pulling away. It was slow in the small lake with only Nick on 7 really having any success by fishing the bomb over to the rope but only coming back with small carp to 5lb so it was going to take a few to make a good weight.

In first place today was Andy Quarmby on peg 32 who like most started very slow but Andy was still picking off a few fish either fishing shallow long with pellet, 6 metres on the deck or over the bush towards peg 33. Towards the end of the match Andy started to get a few bigger fish on his two short lines and in the end was only one fish ahead of the rest { well done Andy }.

Andy Quarmby and another victory down on the lake.

In second place and on a very good run of drawing pegs { sorry i mean form } was Neil Riddy on peg 4 and Neil was another angler out of view so he was catching without anyone taking notice. Neils main catching line was the margins to his right as he saw fish boiling there and also caught big fish to double figures and after five hours caught 165-14 for another framing weight. Completing the frame was Paul Jay on peg 10 and Paul mainly fished long down the margins to his left using banded pellet feeding heavy and had fish to double figures in his net { sorry on the board } in his weight of 164-14.

Neil Riddy on a roll down on the lake.

The one thing i have noticed in the last few weeks is that the really big fish to 20lb + are really having a go and pushing the small carp of 10lb out of the way and during each match there are at least 40 weigh fish on the boards and most are around the 12 to 19lb bracket. There are also many big fish being hooked and destroying both strong rigs and top kits so please make sure your gear is up to to the job.

As for me i had another nightmare day not only being stuck close to John and having to endure his banter for five hours , but having the right method and feeding but i was smashed out of sight by the big fish under the bush to my left. By fishing just down the ledge under the bush i had lots of bites and hooked fish but their desire to want to get either to the far bank or into the big lake cost me dear as i lost between 20-25 fish and got smashed up 5 times. I just could not calm down and sort it out and at the end was in full terret mode as i was totally frustrated. Add the fact by the way that John was giving me stick i thought i was going to be thrashed by him and lose my two month lead to him made it even worse, but in the end it was the three big fish in a row 18-12, 18-12 and 19-12 that did it for him to take John into a 10-9 lead.