2011 Carp Singles Match on the Fendrod.

Well its time for another bash at the Brynmill Angling Club Carp match. Over the past few month I've been doing better than I've done in a long time on the Fendrod and I was fairly confident that I'd be in with a chance of a Carp or two gracing the bank.

The draw wasn't the best but at least I wasn't last out. I had a handful of pegs to choose from and opted for the point as it was still free and it was the peg that I managed to bag enough to rank in the top three back in 2009.

The weather wasn't the best with temperatures being a lot higher than what we've been used to and the bright sun and quite a strong wind made me think it was going to be a hard session.

The baits had been out for a few hours and I'd only seen one other fish being caught on the lake when my alarm screamed off, I was on to the rod and instantly expected it to be a Carp but the old tell tale plod of a Bream brought me back to reality and even though I'd normally be happy landing a big Fendrod Bream it was a Carp match and the Bream count for nothing in the match.

I guided the Bream into the net and done a bit of a video blog before putting it back. It was then I realised that I'd forgotten the scales but I guess it didn't really matter as any Carp would be weighed for me but I would have like to have known what my first big Bream of 2011 set the bar at, I'm guessing it was around the 8lb mark but it was quite a wide fish so I wouldn't be surprised if it pushed a bit more.

Camcorder still of the first Slab of the year. Welcome any other time except during the Carp match!

Once the Bream was back in the lake I hooked on another PVA bag and swung the bait back on the spot. I don't think the line had time to settle before the alarm was beeping again. This it was the standard Bream take with a short little pulls. I didn't really wait for it to run properly before before picking up the rod which was one of my usual errors with the big Bream. I felt it kick a few times before it came off...

I was left with a bit of a dilemma as my left hand spot that I'd been baiting had had its second Bream take and I didn't whether to steer clear of it or stick with it in the hope that the Carp move in.

I opted to stay on the spot but I didn't get any further action from that spot for the rest of the match.

The night was quiet of the fish front but I didn't get that much sleep as the wind picked up quite a lot after dark and I was being woken up by single beeps most of the night. When I finally did get to sleep I was gone and I didn't open my eyes again until nearly 10am.

From the information I could gather I had missed the feeding time as nearly all of the Carp caught in the match were caught between 6 and 9am and I was yet to see one.

The day seemed to rocket by without anything truly eventful happening, I kept baiting, tied a few rigs and even tried a long zig rig for the last few hours which mustered me an aborted run but I finished the match with only a single Bream to have graced the bank.

Check out the video blog of the match.

The finishing weights for the match were pretty low with 33lb claiming first place, 12lb for second and 11lb for third. I was in with a chance of ranking in the top three right up until the end but it just didn't happen. It was another match where things didn't go as planned but I still enjoyed myself and although it didn't count I had banked my first big Bream of 2011 so it wasn't all bad.

So, until I find a spare moment to write up the next blog entry take care.