1st And A 3rd

After a really busy week it was nice to have a break from chasing the big qualifiers. I really didn’t fancy driving hundreds of miles to draw badly on iffy venues!

So, Saturday I booked on the open at Tunnel Barn Farm with us all on New Pool. I was very happy with my peg 31 draw, as it’s a great area, but no one told the fish as it took an hour and 20 minutes to catch my first F1! I’ve had to eke out bites everywhere to end up with 69lb. It’s fished really hard so that was surprisingly enough for 3rd with 71lb coming 2nd and Mark Malin winning with 83lb.

On Sunday I’ve been to Bishops Bowl for the open on Walworths. This is one of my childhood venues and I love the place, but rarely get the chance to fish many matches there. Again it’s been a tough old day with spawning imminent, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’ve drawn peg 5 and caught a cracking mixed bag; roach, perch, rudd, bream, skimmers, ide, a chub and a little tench, plus two bonus carp. My 43lb total was enough to win with Ben Lockwood coming second with 28lb.

Both days I’ve mostly fished with casters and worms over groundbait. I love this style of fishing! I used Sonubaits Match Method Mix at Tunnel Barn and a mix of Supercrush Green and F1 Green at Bishops.

It’s always nice to catch 100lb+ but I quite enjoy the tougher low-weight days, plus it makes a refreshing change to have only driven 130 miles this weekend.

Hope you all caught a few if you got out!