“IT’S ALL CHANGE FOR MY WEEKEND FISHING”

WITH only one midweek Golden Reel qualifier this week I was at a loose end for my weekend’s fishing, but it allowed me to revisit a fishery I’d not been to for years. I also had a little go at qualifying midweek on a lake a few miles from my house.

My shot at Golden Reel was at Larford Lakes, and my draw wasn’t bad. Peg 14 is in the middle of the grass bank on the Match Lake, bomb and pellet giving me a few early carp early before the last 90 minutes saw big carp in the edge on pellet for 131lb. This didn’t win – the end peg bossed it again – but I was happy with how things went. It seems at the moment on these qualifiers that you need an end peg to give you room for enough fish to turn up!

With a coaching cancellation on Thursday, I booked on to a little 20-peg match at Yew Tree Fishery, just down the road from my house, and had a lovely day fishing meat short for a winning 105lb of carp and skimmers. Plenty of bites, a win and a few miles to drive back home – just what I needed!

Saturday saw me off to Blundells near Manchester, somewhere I’ve not been in summer for eight years. Things have changed, mainly the size of the F1s in Trio Pool where I drew. They average 4lb and I caught them 50:50 with carp from peg 25 on pellet long to the sunken island, then short, and finally on corn in the edge. I had 124lb to win the lake and finish second. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve booked on again for the weekend.

“You need an end peg to give you room for enough fish to turn up!”