So here it was... the 2018 season opener
The alarm went off at 5:45am and unlike on work days I was up within five minutes and after another ten minutes I was outside packing the car with my tackle. (Since moving house and now having a garage this was a much easier task than before)
I arrived at Dads and transferred my gear into his car and we set off to Winfields in Spaldington (a venue we have fished many, many times and nearly always done well at)
We arrived at the fishery in horrendous conditions. The rain was pouring down, the winds were gale force and the whole site was a muddy quagmire.
We spent 45 minutes setting our tackle up. I opted to keep faith with the Daiwa Yank & Bank rod and large reel with my new Chameleon 8lb line on. It is an In-Line only method feeder venue so I rigged up a 30g Preston inline method and mixed my Green swimstim groundbait and was good to go. Id brought quite a few different hook pellets to try today but under these conditions there was no way I was casting in more than i had to.
We were going to fish 9am until 3pm, but quickly changed it to 9pm til 2pm as it was freezing cold and we knew it would not be comfortable.
The first half hour past without either of us getting a bite. It was at this stage we were actually wondering why we were here... It wasn't fun, brolly moving all over the place in the high winds, rain wetting everything and mud everywhere. We were both literally and I mean literally shaking in the cold. My hands were red raw.... couldn't feel my fingers. We amended the match to a short 9am til 12 noon match. 3 hours was going to be more than enough today...
Then..... a little movement on my rod and a minute later my first fish caught of 2018. A small skimmer Bream of around 1 lb. "That could be the winner" joked Dad
Five minutes later... bang, my rod went round and into my net came a Common Carp of 6 lb 8 oz. Dad netted it for me and off he saunted back to his peg disillusioned but as soon as he sat down he realised his line had moved, he lifted his rod and after a ten minute struggle landed a huge fish. A 12 lb Mirror Carp. A PB for Dad and also meant he took the lead in todays match.
This purple patch continued for the next half hour. Well for me it did as I banked another 6 lb 8 oz Carp and then a double of my own. Mine weighing 11 lb 4 oz. This was game set and match surely.
Dad caught a small 2 lb carp with his last cast but I held on to gain a great 4-1 victory in the opening match of this season.
So even though it was only a 3 hour match, Dad landed a PB and small carp and I landed a double, two other good carp and a bream so not bad at all
However I've never experienced conditions as cold in my life so Happy with the 4-1 win, pleased Dad got his PB but desperately hoping for better weather for match 2 in two weeks time.
David 4 fish for a total of 25 lb 4 oz
Dad 2 fish for a total of 14 lb
Dad biggest fish of day 12 lb
David 4-1 Dad
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