“AFTER 90 MINUTES THE FISH WERE PLAYING BALL”

LAST week saw me off to Hallcroft Fishery in Retford for the Silverfish Final and the chance to win £4,000. I’d love to say I romped to victory, but it was more of a limp over the line from a peg that many fancied, but which never really got going!

Hallcroft is all about skimmers and not much else. Drawing peg 48 on the outer of the Moat Pool, many felt I had a good chance and, after 90 minutes, I was starting to believe them.

I’d got 15lb of fish in the bag and was chugging along nicely, but that’s as good as it got. The peg fizzled out and I could barely buy a bite on several lines while Kieran Marsden on the end peg to my right caught steadily.

I’m not one to blame pegging, but on that bank we were all in a line, with the two end pegs having quite a bit of room. I know skimmers like space to move about in, so the end result was not much of a surprise.

I weighed in 21lb for nowhere, Kieran taking the section with 30lb and Mick Brownell winning the whole thing with over 50lb of skimmers, so well done to him!

The following day saw me still with the hump, so I didn’t go and instead put in some prep for the big qualifiers coming up. The first is a Fish O’Mania match at Tunnel Barn Farm, the result of which will be decided as you read this.

Tunnel is a great venue, as every lake has the chance of winning and it’s F1 fishing on pellets or maggots. If I could have one peg and only one peg, I’d fancy 1 on the New Pool as the fish always seem to feed on this lake.

“The peg fizzled out and I could barely buy a bite”