I arrived at Broadlands Fisheries nice and early, just before light. I
was anxious ahead of the 2013 Carp Cup Qualifier I was about to take part in.
As soon as it was light enough to see, I was off round the lake, eager to see a
show of fish. After seeing a few fish move I was confident, however, it was
down to the draw to decide where I was going to fish.
Coming out fairly low in the draw I chose to fish peg 3, due to its
obvious features and I had seen the marginal reeds moving to indicate a fish
moving through them. I was confident of a bite in this peg and eager to get
fishing. I got all my gear set up and began to lead around in search of the
large gravel plateaux I’d heard was in front of the swim. After a few casts I
found it, it wasn’t too difficult as it was fairly big, I pulled my lead to the
front of the spot and clipped it up. One rod done. My second rod was cast
towards the reeds where I had previously seen a fish move, I chose an area
where I could cast very tight, I thought this would be best to produce a bite.
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| Peg 3 |
Hours had passed and I hadn’t seen a fish show, this combined with other
anglers catching fish put the pressure on a little. I re-chucked both rods
after replacing the hook baits with my two favourite colours, one pink popup
and one white. As the night drew in, I took refuge in my sleeping bag as it
began to get cold.
After a quiet I night, I woke up as it was getting light. I sat there
trying to figure out why I had not had a bite. The pressure to catch one
increased as I found out that first place had now had 7 fish and there was now
a second place of 14lb.
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| The secret weapon! |
As I ventured from my bivvy I was graced with a visitor, fellow team
Noble member Matt Eldridge. I explained to him where I was fishing and what had
been going on. He then informed me of a little spot he knew of that was also
good for a bite. As It was just one bite needed, I wound in my left hand rod
and cast the reeds next to an overhanging tree. With Matt’s approval I put the
rod on the rest and catapulted a handful of boilies around my trusted white pop
up.
A few hours had passed before I received a strange take on my left hand
rod, the bobbin slowly pulled up tight. It had bream written all over it. I
picked up the rod and bent it to what was definitely not the bream I was
expecting. After a short tussle, the fish was in the net. I secured the net in
the edge and quickly got my rod back on the spot. I lifted the fish on to the
mat and unhooked it, my combi pop up rig had done the business. Ricky, the
bailiff on Broadlands, came round to weigh and photograph the fish. There was
only one question to be asked as the sling was lifted onto the scales, was it
big enough?
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| 20lb 6oz Secured Second Place! |
Finally, after what felt like the longest hour of my life, the final
horn sounded and I was going to join team mates, Matt Eldridge and the main man
Martin Noble, in the final. Brilliant Result!
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