Sat 28th Jan 2017: We all arrived at Risby expecting the Folly to be capped with ice & sadly it was…but no-one expected it to be so thick. A quick re-think was needed & we opted for a rover on Tench Pond, (which was also covered in ice, but nowhere near as thick as Folly). 11 lads fished & despite being 8th choice out of the bag I still had a few reasonable pegs to go for, but I gambled on the shallows being worth a go & took end peg 32. It’s normally carp or bust which is why the other lads had ignored it !!Within 1 minute of the all-in Pully was playing a large ghostie on the wag & mag, but was unlucky to lose it on the ice. The next minute John Belton was in on the tip with corn & landed a 4.5lbs mirror…no-one could believe it!! Then Pully had a carp of about 4lbs & Tony Coates got one on the pole…MAD !!?? Then as quickly as it started they shut up shop!
I decided to try and grind my way back into contention with roach on the wag. Luckily I caught fairly well for the first 3 hours. I then had a look down the inside on the pole & winkled out 3 small carp, but it died on me so I went back on the hunt for roach. I caught steadily and had some quality roach to finish with 16:06.
John Fletcher took 2nd with 11:03 off peg 26. He fished 4mm expanders and maggot to get a lovely bag of skimmers, roach & 2 small tench. Result:
1st Robbo 16:06 P. 32
2nd John Fletcher 11:.03 P 26
3rd Pully, 9:14 P.28
4th John Belton 7:07.
No blanks…lowest weight 4:10 !!