14.10.13

Hall Lane Diary Part Two - Andy Bennett

The deadly duo, Andy Bennett and Steve Parry, continue their three week open days at Hall Lane in Wigan. Andy runs us through how the next chapter unfolded for the lads.

"Following our results from the previous week at Hall Lane, Steve and I were both excited and eager to get the match underway.

This time around 42 keen anglers turned out on a beautiful, warm day, although there was a strong wind cutting across the lake, which would hamper a few anglers fishing the long pole. I drew peg 69, which was along a straight bank and looked a good area. Steve had drawn the same sort of area as the previous week, so straight away I fancied him for a few through the day. I managed a section win two weeks before with 92lb, so it's renowned as a good area.

With the wind being so strong I had to set up accordingly, with a 4x14s float, shotted with a bulk of No10s with 11 droppers. My hook was a size 18 LWG Spade, as these are my preferred hook pattern for fishing maggots. I scaled down the main line to 0.15mm N-Gauge, then 0.11mm N- Gauge for my hook length. I was hoping for a few ide and small fish just in case things slowed up on the carp front.

My setup was the same as last week for fishing across to the island, just slightly heavier this time. The reason being, I was hoping for mainly carp around the 3lb mark, so I needed the right gear to prevent and hook pulls.

The first hour proved to be very slow, so I decided to rest my long line and have a look at the shorter middle line. Little action came from there, so I decided to persevere with the longer line and wrestle with the wind. Resting the area obviously did it some good, as I managed 18 fish after two hours and I was back on track.

With an hour to go I knew I had around 65 fish in my nets, so I chucked another net in, as there is a 50lb net limit rule. However, in the last hour the action really slowed down across the lake, so it was quite an anxious finish to the match.

As the scales arrived for the weigh in, I knew it was going to be close as Frank Yardley was winning with 66lb. Finally the scales pulled round for the moment of truth; I weighed in for 111lb 8oz. Next door was Mick Reed who managed a well earned second place so far with 78lb. Next up was Steve who’d had another faultless performance with 80lb pushing him into second position.

It was another great weekend, so lets hope our run continues into the final week.

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