November Euro Trip – Gaz Fareham

‘The first bite is always the hardest, and until that moment, you’re never completely sure you are getting it right. We were faced with a difficult situation that trip – day only hours which in late autumn, meant roughly 7.30am-5.30pm, a deep pit, with the majority being 25-35ft, and vast areas of almost top to bottom weed. Spot finding was difficult, and finding anything in a reasonable depth that was presentable was the biggest challenge. The first of the bites for me came from 28ft and a spot that although felt great, I was really unsure would do a daytime bite in late autumn. It was something of a wildcard this spot – a tiny little area probably no bigger than an unhooking mat of fine feeling gravel amongst a larger silty area, a spot I was fairly certain they would have stripped back naturally from how it felt and given how small it was, probably one that was just in the making as opposed to a big old bullet hard gravel spot. It produced the first of a run of mega ones from the pit and was the start of a special few days for me. The ever-faithful size 2 Wide Gape X fished Slip D style with a big 20mm bottom bait cut flat and tipped with a small section of a prototype Baitworks yellow one. The usual Hybrid Lead Clip set up providing the terminal arrangement and what has been my standard approach in Europe for years – Film is out on the Baitworks YT channel now.