24 Hour Match In East Yorkshire On Grebe Pool On Hull & District’s Brough Complex

John Vickers sent in this report of a recent 24-hour carp match in East Yorkshire… 

Eleven of the Nutrabaits junior team from around the country were joined by the UK media team for a 24 hour-match on Grebe Pool on Hull & District’s Brough complex, where the first and second place prizes were a place each at the last BYCAC qualifier of the year on Oxlease Lake at Linear fisheries. This was to be a two-rod match and the biggest total weight would decide the outcome.

With everyone due to meet at 10am for the peg draw and the match to start at noon, after a change in the weather the conditions looked ideal for a few bites. And in fact it didn’t take them long, as within five minutes of casting out a rig Kieran Dale was playing the first fish, a scaly 8lb mirror that fell to a 12mm Plum & Caproic pop-up over four spombs of BFM Krill & Cranberry+ freezer baits and pellets that had all being coated in the BFM Krill & Cranberry+ liquid booster. 

The media team took their photos and within minutes the next fish was in the net – this time it fell to Oliver Mann, this one finding the ever-faithful Trigga irresistible! Oliver quickly unhooked the fish in the net and set about clipping up to the spot, a new rig was attached and it was back out! No sooner had he clipped on the bobbin than the rod was away again, unfortunately this one came off due to a hook-pull. 

This was going to turn into a frustrating couple of hours for Oliver, who suffered three more hook-pulls in quick succession. With a few more lads landing fish on BFM Krill & Cranberry+ it was time for a barbecue dinner. The lads gathered around and got to know one another while enjoying burgers and sausages! They chatted about the fishing they would be doing while on their summer holidays and arranged sessions with one another. 

As the weather changed and with rain now coming down the conditions seemed to get better and better. Kieran Dale was soon into his third fish, another carp of 8lb plus, and this put him in the lead with just over 20lb. Then it was Oliver’s turn for another fish, and while playing it in his second rod was away. With the first fish in the net Oliver had the second one just heading for the spreader block when the dreaded hook-pull left him with his head in his hands, this was now five fish he had lost due to hook-pulls, which was more than likely down to the carp only been young in the lake. 

It seemed to be the smaller brighter hook baits that were getting the bites, giving food for thought to a few of the team who changed hook baits to smaller, brighter ones, which brought them instant action. With a few lads still to get off the mark the light started to fade and they settled in for the night, but not before another fish was landed by Kieran Dale that increased his lead. 

The action through the night seemed to be fairly regular with many getting off the mark and landing their first fish of the session. Having tallied up the weights of the fish caught through the night, four lads now had a bit of a gap from the rest of the team: Oliver Mann was now leading the way, closely followed by Kieran Dale, Owen Hughes and Cameron Hinch. 

With a couple of fish for Owen and Cameron, who were both fishing small wafter hook baits during an hectic morning feeding spell, they began gaining ground on the leading two. Owen had also just landed the biggest fish on a Trigga dumbell wafter, a mirror of 10lb 8oz. Were the bigger fish starting to feed? 

No sooner had Owen slipped his back than Kieran was playing what looked to be one of the better fish in the lake, another double and the biggest fish so far, this one being 12lb 14oz. 

After breakfast Brian and Martyn Skoyles went round the three remaining lads who had yet to land a fish, giving them words of encouragement. The sound of an alarm was heard and our youngest angler, 12-year-old Harry MacRae, was into his first fish, a mirror of 8lb, this one taking a White Spice pop-up over a scattering of BFM shelf-life boilies and pellets. 

Harry had fished his socks off but the fish just didn’t seem to be in front of him! This didn’t dampen his spirits, I don’t think I ever saw him not smiling and he was always on hand to help land and congratulate Kieran, who was fishing in the next peg. 

It was really starting to hot up now with Oliver going through a dry spell and Kieran and Owen still landing a few fish. With this the mind games started as we told Oliver he was no longer winning; the look on his face was full of determination – he was not going to let this slip away. There was now 3 to 4lb between him and Kieran and 7 to 8lb between Kieran and Owen. 

With that Owen had a take, but it snagged him up in the reeds on the far margin. Trying to get a different angle on the fish and hope it would come free, Owen eventually had to slacken off and put the rod back on the rest. This still didn’t get the fish moving, so one of the adults walked around the back of the lake armed with a landing-net pole to try and free the fish. With that unfortunately the line came free to the disappointment of Owen, realising he had lost the fish, but to the relief of Oliver and Kieran, who had got wind of Owen having a fish on. 

After all the commotion from the snagged fish, Owen cast to the right of his swim and within a couple of minutes he was into another fish, but so was Oliver, quickly followed by Cameron and Kieran! This was then followed by a couple of quick fish for Oliver that increased his lead, and got him over the finish line. The shout of “lines in!” came a matter of seconds too early for Kieran who had a screaming run but the fish was not to count although it would not have changed the end result anyway!

Over the 24 hours the 11 lads had accumulated some 60-plus runs between them, landing 48 carp, with the lead regularly changing. Oliver Mann came out on top with 15 carp for 108lb; a very creditable runner-up was Kieran Dale with 93lb plus from 12 carp and Owen Hughes ended with nine for 70lb plus. Kieran also had the biggest fish of 12lb 14oz.

We would like to say a big thank you to Hull & District Anglers Association for letting us use their great venue – look out for our upcoming video!


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