When l asked dad to catch some livebait he caught eels, when he cast his eel rods out he caught carp!

Monday saw a return to the tench lake, however a brisk easterly wind made both baited marks look rather unappealing as the wind was hacking it towards the deep bank, an area that l have avoided. The temperature dropped to a chilly six degrees overnight and the clear skies were replaced with clouds forecasted to bring heavy rain later on Tuesday. Nothing materialised and just one two fish were spotted rolling.

Travelling down to Somerset l was looking forward to a spot of eel fishing and after talking to the onsite bailiff was eager to wet a line after reports of monster fish showing up occasionally. The two lakes are very close to the River Parrot estuary so l was worried about small bootlace eels and as darkness fell the runs began, however after a dozen or so takes l was still fishless. The easterly wind raged through the trees and the rain lashed down and in the early hours l eventually managed to hook a good fish.

Unfortunately it was a carp, followed by another plus two small eels. By this time l was soaked and headed back to the caravan at 5am. The next two nights were fished till the early hours but only small eels came to our rods plus the occasional carp so the trip became a bit of an anti-climax.

The fascinating but frustrating thing about angling is its unpredictability and as hard as my father and l tried after dark just small eels came to our worm and prawn offerings, but one day an angler on the pole did take a good eel, estimated at 4-5lbs on a piece of fishmeal paste during daylight intended for bream. By the third night and after numerous missed runs l was able to adjust my rigs and finally found one that created an acceptable conversion rate so not all was lost.

The Drennan Cup results were published and as expected l wasn’t at the top of the list, coming a creditable third an angling achievement few else can boast. I’d like to thank everyone that voted for me and congratulate Alan Stag for his fourth place. I know that if Alan had forwarded a couple of big fish early on in the season and a couple of my fish/catches had been given the credit and coverage they deserved then both of us would have been difficult to beat. Unfortunately that’s angling and being a sponsored angler does have its disadvantages. I have to say that after the miles travelled and hours fitted in around a tight working schedule last season, l feel for all you all-rounders. Don’t get blinkered into winning competitions as you have to do something rather special to win, just enjoy what you love doing.