FROM ZERO TO HERO IN AN HOUR!
Late run of lumps sees Carnwell off to big final
WITH big carp, it’s easy to go from nowhere to winner – as shown by Paul Carnwell’s 170-12-0 net that won the Golden Reel qualifier at Larford Lakes.
The Garbolino/Bait-Tech man enjoyed a golden spell in the margins from his peg on the chalet bank of the Specimen Lake, which was just as well because with two hours to go, he’d banked just one carp!
Fishing down his margin using worm over corn and groundbait got him back on track though, a dozen of the lake’s famed big fish, including one 24lb unit, seeing the Staffordshire rod end the match just over 11lb – one of those big carp – clear of runner-up Ray Lamb on 159-4-0.
AT THE PEG
“I thought my end peg would be fantastic! In the far bank I could see fish out of the wind with their backs out of the water, which meant it all looked right for the waggler or bomb, which was my plan of attack – nice and simple positive fishing.
“I’d love to say it all went to plan, but
after two and a half hours, I’d caught nothing and knew my tactics were wrong.
“I think there was just under two hours to go when I caught a carp on the waggler 2.5ft deep and I hoped it was going to be the first of many. It wasn’t! Twenty minutes later, I’d caught nothing else. The margins were my last throw of the dice.”
THE PEG TAKES OFF
“With 80 minutes left I fed my right-hand edge at 9m with a big pot of overwetted Special G Green groundbait and Juice liquid and a big pot of corn and I couldn’t believe it. All hell broke loose, and it was hard to think that a peg that had been devoid of fish for so long suddenly sprang to life! I went in with two worms on the hook and the float buried immediately from a big double figure carp.
“From that point it was a case of feed a pot of bait, fish over it and catch a carp. All I needed to do was feed enough to get one to take the bait each time. One carp was 24lb, absolutely enormous and my knees were knocking when I got it in the net! At that point, I thought I’d try and bully the fish in, but I started losing a few. Using lighter orange Bazookarp elastic let the fish swim out of the peg, making them much easier to land.”
WEIGHING IN
“At the end the lad next door asked me what I’d got, and I said 170lb. I can’t believe how accurate that was! The fishing in that last hour was the stuff of dreams. I had no idea if I’d done enough to win or not, but thought I may have. Looking at the backing weights though, it was close. One of those big fish made all the difference.”