Just three cans at my Brothers last night and although it was 1am when I went to bed, I was fresh as a daisy when the alarm went off at 3.30am.
Today was a trip to Oakmere Lakes near Selby. I'd never fished the place before but I did have a walk round yesterday to take a look at the venue.
We arrived at Oakmere Lakes at 5.30am and the early morning sun was already out. We picked a double peg on the Carp Lake. (The front lake is the most attractive with trees, islands and lilly pads however that lake houses mostly silvers so we decided on advise to fish the Carp Lake)
The Carp Lake is quite sheltered and houses two Islands and plenty of vegetation to fish to.
Today's match was to take place between 6.35am and 2.35pm and I was very confident of obtaining a win even though I'd been told that Pole gets better results. With a 24 point lead in the league I felt no pressure.
The match started and I was on fire. Fish after fish with almost every single cast. After 90 minutes I had already netted 25 lb 12 oz (15 small carp). Meanwhile Dad was on about 7 lb so I had a huge early lead.
The next 2 hours were still a fish a chuck for me. Another 12 fish in the net (11 Carp and a Bream). All small again though but another 15 lb in the net. Dad was starting to catch on the pole more frequently now and had also bagged a couple of decent sized carp of around 4 lb 8 oz.
During the next half hour I'd bagged another 8 or 9 lb and was now touching 50 lb
So Midway through the match I had close to 50 lb. What a fantastic first half of the match and I genuinly thought I was going to obtain the magical 100 lb mark by the close of play.
Then........... Everything changed.............
I switched to Hard hook pellets and the next 3 hours were nothing short of abysmal. I only caught 9 fish in this spell and even worse.. I lost roughly 12.... It was strange, the fish were getting hooked but on approach they were coming off. I tried new hooks but the same results and this was really, really annoying me.
Coupled with me losing all these, Dad was still catching and my lead was being eroded away.
I just couldn't understand why this was happening. Why would they suddenly take the bait but jump off almost at the net???
With the clock showing one hour to go, it was neck and neck but Dad was in control. His peg still producing the goods.
I had to do something and do something quick... I switched back to the soft paste pellets that had done me well earlier in the day and bang I was back into them and interesting no fish were coming off...... For whatever reason when using hard pellets the fish just wouldn't come in. I don't think I'll ever solve that puzzle. The hour passed with both of us catching small carp.
With 20 minutes on the clock Dad took the lead for the first time and held on for a narrow victory but well deserved.
We both finished with 48 fish each and although I had a good 66 lb I was beaten by Dads 68 lb. Dad also took the point for the largest fish.
Points total for the match : David 0.5, Dad 4.5
Although a defeat, I still lead by 20 points in the league so not the end of the world but still a disappointing result for me. Next time I will stay on the paste pellets........
The venue is a nice place and I will come back. Its just a shame no bigger carp seem to get caught frequently. The owners told us that although there are double figure Carp in the lake, most are around the 1 lb - 5 lb mark.
Roll on next week - I don't like this losing malarky !!!
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