My qualifier for the BCAC was at the lovely Chilam Mill in Kent, and as usual I fished with Ali Hamidi as part of Team Korda.

Sadly our luck wasn't in once again and the draw was a bad one, although it couldn't have been any worse than last out of the hat like the previous year! Still, with conditions as they were we were confident of catching a few from most of the areas.

Despite the poor draw I managed to catch the first of the Match, a lovely 29.02 mirror and quickly followed it up with another of 22lb. Small 12mm balanced pop-ups fished in conjunction with tiny pva bags did the trick incorporating a mixture of HNV Betaine/Amino Green 365 and Mini Halibut's bringing about the quick bites.

We qualified in second place after taking a total of 5 fish, other lovely mirrors of 28 and 25 putting in appearances. Solid pva bags using a blend of the dried insect meal, supernaturals and the same blend of pellets also brought us vital bites from an unfavoured swim.

The semi final is at Bradleys later this year, watch this space....

Gareth Fareham