I got up and changed and packed my gear in the car and set off. I'd planned to meet my Dad on the main road just two minutes from the venue. Today was the first "match" between us of this new season so I was a little nervous. (After all... Bragging rights are a big thing ha ha)
Driving there it became apparent that the weather wasn't that bad at all. No rain whatsoever and although it was cold the wind wasn't too bad.
I arrived at the meeting point not 30 seconds before my Dad and we drove the 1/2 mile to the venue. I'd been yesterday to look around so knew the sat nav was wrong (dont use the post code). I remembered the little dirt track to drive down and as I drove i glanced over at the slightly run down waters of Aston Springs the farm complex you have to pass through on route to Aston Park.
I got to the Aston Park complex and to my grief the big metal gates were locked. FFS it says dawn til dusk on line. However after a short wait in my car the owners arrived and opened up and I drove into the complex. After a bit of banter with the owners who asked "if we cannot sleep" we drove to the little car park next to the lake that we were going to fish. (Lillys Lake)
The lake was obviously quiet as we were the first to arrive so taking on board what Id been told the previous day we headed for pegs 3 to 8. Dad took peg 5 and I took peg 4. We set our gear up and then headed to the tackle shop to pay and then had a full English breakfast to set us up for the day.
At 7-10 am it was first cast time and the season was about to commence. The wind has got up a little and it was bitter cold. I thought to myself 20 lb would be good in these conditions however when fishing a lake that hold huge 30 lb carp all you need is one fish and it could win the match. The match started and after an hour we both had failed to register any catches. Id had a big bite but nothing else. The Lake has no features so I was fishing two points both directly infront. One out in the middle of the lake and one about 3 rod lengths out. About 90 minutes in and id banked a bream of 2 lb 8 oz hooked on an Aston Park green pellet. It was not only the first fish of the season for me it was the first caught by one of my new rods Id purchased. The one I was using today was my Frenzee 10ft feeder. In addition to this, it was also my first ever fish caught using an in-line method. Id used elasticated ones for the last 5 or 6 years but as more and more venues ban the elasticated ones I'd gone for the in-line version. Dad was next to catch, it was a nice little Ide. The next 3 hours passed and Id netted another 3 bream and an Ide caught on Krill Pellets, Skrill Pellets and J Pelletz whilst on the next peg Dad had caught just another 2 bream so I was leading on overall weight and number of fish. Dad was looking like picking up the point for biggest fish at this stage with a silver of about 3 lb. It was getting hard work as the wind picked up and it was really cold now. We decided that we would call 1 pm as the end time instead of the planned 2.15 pm so for the last hour I decided to try and hook a carp after not seeing one all day. I upped my pellet size by squeezing two krill pellets together and casting quite far out. I sat back in my chair shivering and just hoped Dad wouldn't catch that elusive carp to snatch the victory. Ten minutes later my rod bent round and I was on to a carp. I netted it and it weighed 5 lb 8 oz. Not a huge fish but I was just happy with a first carp of the season and surely a victory on the day. The next 45 minutes or so passed without a bite for either of us and victory was mine
Biggest fish was my Common Carp of 5 lb 8 oz (1 point to me)
Most fish on the day was me with 6 (1 point to me)
Overall weight was me with 14 lb 8 oz (3 points to me)
So overall not a fantastic day for action and not the big weights we would expect next time we go when its warmer but not bad to say its still March and conditions were bad
I'll be definately fishing this water again and also the next lake to Lilly (Split Lake)
Anyway - 5 point lead after the first match. I'll take that
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