Acorn Tuesday cost cutter

 First day on the bank for a couple of weeks thanks to my new shite job. Don`t like this stupid shift pattern but I gotta earn a crust. Got to the Bridge Hotel in time for a half decent breakfast. Off to the lake and was surprised to see how many were there. 26 fishing today. And with the likes of Callum Dicks, Tony Rixon and Steve Shaw there, I was in very good company. |Into the draw bag early and out comes peg 34. A decent peg next to the bridge on the right side looking up the lake.

A good weight came off of it Sunday from the right margin on the corner so a rig was set to fish tight in and another to fish the bottom of the shelf , both on top kit range. Also a separate edge rig was set up for the right side by the bridge as its six inches deeper. Both side would be attacked with pellet. A rig to fish half way along the bridge, again on pellet. And a shallow rig to fish the far side in 15 inches of water on, you guessed it, pellet. In fact my bait tray was pretty sparse of choice, though I did open a tin of corn just for something to do.

At the all in I did the usual feeding routine then dropped a pellet in on the far Side. Fish were straight onto the toss potted pellet but they were a bit wary, and it took a while before any indications, but that was a decent fish I managed to slip the net under. Nikki Miller to my right was on the same line but was struggling to get a bait tight over because of the overhanging grasses. Mike Hill on the island peg 1 was into fish early on his top kit fishing the corner of the island. But he did have tails sticking out the water while he was plumbing up. I was struggling to hook anything . The far side was solid with big carp but trying to get one to take a pellet was proving a bit tricky. I could let the float sit there without feeding and not get a touch. As soon as I fed a few pellets it erupted and the float would keep disappearing but I wasn`t hooking anything. And good sized fish were bolting every time. I wasn`t even  even foul hooking anything. Very strange. It was a case of feed, miss ten bites and hook nothing. Then the fish would move off. they just never stayed around without feeding, but as soon as I fed again they were on it. This routine continued for hours. I did get a few out but it took about four hours on and off, of frustration before I finally got a decent run going. The rest of the peg was pretty quiet, and the margin to my left was just a roach fest. It seems I get this problem all the time lately. 8mm pellet getting hammered by tiny roach. I did manage five in total from the margins but it was little reward for constant feeding and the time I spent there. So most of my fish came shallow across, but it was driving me nuts missing so many bites and not contacting with anything.With the amount of bites I missed I should have hit a lot of foul hookers but I only did that twice and I only lost a couple over there. At the end I knew Mike had given me a right spanking as he caught consistently throughout the match. Nikki hadn`t had a great day as he could only catch midway along the bridge but he lost a boat load. Mike weighed in first on the island and put 166-08 of good sized carp on the scales which was enough for second on the day. I was guessing at 85lb at best, but was surprised as it went 97-01, but Ray Bazzly said it should have been a couple of pound less as the scales were zeroed incorrectly. It`s strange to say I had a bad day and weigh 97lb. Nikki didnt bother weighing as he though he only had around 60lb and wanted to dry his nets out. Top dog today was Tony Rixon on peg 7 taking carp from just about anywhere in his peg to finish with 179-12.  Second was Mike. Third was D Turberville from peg 37 with 160-04. Top Silvers went to Mike Chapman on peg 15 with 22-11. Full results below.