Ben revealed:

“On a social you’re never too optimistic about your chances due to draws etc, and having never fished Sandhurst before, I wanted to see for myself and set my own plan after the draw. Upon arrival we had the standard social meet and greet and a short while after we were allowed a bit of time to have a look about. Whilst walking the pond, I noticed fish actively feeding in a couple of areas and noted them before returning for the draw in the car park. My turn to pick a number came and as luck would have it, I drew ball number one! With the whole pond to choose from, I settled on a swim called The Pipes, which according to the bailiff did produce fish.

“I chose not to fish the going areas and try find something slightly different, with that in mind, I had a good feel about with the leading rod and found some nice ground for all three rods. My next move was to leave the fishing until the evening and get all my rods and bait prepped accordingly. With Sandhurst being shallow and plenty of bird life around, I decided on a mix of minimal food items with more attraction. My mix consisted of crumbed Krill Active combined with Bloodworm Pellets with a liberal dose of the new Pure Fish Liquid. I gave it a couple of hours prior to getting the rods out to give my mix time to soak up the liquid, the plan was it wouldn’t take long for it all to breakdown leaving just attraction with no food items for any birdlife.

“After getting all the traps set and the bait out, I was optimistic, as I started seeing fish in the area. The night drew a blank and I was slightly disappointed as fish were still present, but as the morning drew on, I started seeing active feeding a lot closer to where I had baits. Sure enough, my left-hand rod burst into life, and I was into my first Yateley carp, using a new test mono and being a braid user for 99% of my fishing, I played it with care but eventually the fish was mine, a really nice common, dark and wide across the back, it looked a good ‘un. It went 37lb in the end, I was made up, catching on the first morning lifted the pressure slightly from coming out first in the draw, meaning I could now settle into the session and repeat the process with hopefully more to come.

“I got the rod back on the spot and fancied my chances again as the fish were still there. Not long after, the same rod let out a couple of bleeps before ripping off, this one immediately felt more powerful! As the fish drew closer, I noticed it was hooked in the tail wrist, I was gutted but happy the fish were still feeding on the spot. I slipped it back after taking the hook out and got the rod back out once more.

“An hour or so passed and it was the turn of my right-hand rod, and after going through a couple of weed beds as well as my middle rod, I eventually got the fish in the net, a nice, chunky 28lb mirror. It had been a good first morning and I couldn’t have been happier, but the action started to slow down, so I reeled in and kept the spots topped up with attraction before going for some food.

“After returning from the social, I repeated the same process as the night before. With so many fish getting caught during the late morning spell the day previous, I wasn’t too unhappy to wake up the following morning and nothing had happened. Knowing that bite time was still to come, I sat in anticipation and watched the fish slowly move back into my zone. Not long after the fish had returned, my middle rod pulled up tight with a weird occurrence, thinking it wasn’t a bite, I slackened off the line to reset the bobbin, but no sooner had I reset it, the line pulled from the rod tip and the clutch starting ticking! Lifting into the rod, I was into another fish, again I played it quite softly and very differently to using braid. It felt heavy, and soon there was a huge mass of weed on the surface making it tricky to see what I had hooked. As it came closer to the net, I realised what fish it was, and without panicking too much, it was mine. It was a fish called the Armadillo and what a carp, a mind-blowing fish of 37lb. I was buzzing, it was my first trip to Sandhurst and arguably the best-looking fish in the pond was in my album. I could have gone home more than happy with no more fish but with one more night to go, I reeled in again before topping up the spots and headed for a BBQ.

“I repeated process once more for my final night. After struggling to sleep after what’d been a mega couple of days fishing, I put the kettle on slightly earlier than usual. As I sat and watched the water, my middle rod tore off! I ran on the gravel bare footed and pulled into what felt like another powerful carp. After what seemed like forever, I finally pulled the fish over the cord, and I had another Sandhurst carp. We got her up on the scales and it turned out to be another 37lb common! Three 37lb fish, how’s your luck? They were all very different fish too but all mega in their own way. I was very happy with all three spots producing a bite on a venue I’d never been to before. Let’s just say, I’m certainly planning a trip back!”