Long pole dominated on Raven

WEDNESDAY, NOV 1, 2017

Raven Lake, Pidley, peg 17

I’ve matchfished Raven only once previously, and the best weights came from the high numbers – 20 onwards. So I wasn’t overjoyed about pulling peg 17 from the bucket. And when I got there I have to say that pegs 17 back to about 12 were not ones I would have picked – there was a cold breeze from the right, which gave us all a side-wind. Peg 18 to my right down to the end had more of a head wind, but a high bank gave some shelter, while the lower numbers had a back breeze, but were not fancied to produce the winner.

Still, a job to do, and I had Dave Pearce to my right. We went to junior school together...when King George the Sixth was on the throne – so you can guess how long ago that was! The water was a good colour, but I had a bush directly opposite while I would have preferred the simple dead reeds that some of the other pegs had.

Three rigs

I basically set up three rigs – one for across at around two feet, one for my margins (both around two feet deep) and another at eight feet for down the track. But like almost everyone else I started across, after putting in a pot of dead maggots in the shallow margin to my left; even so, before I had time to put in my rig Dave was into a fish! And he kept on like that for the first two hours, fishing across at around 13 metres, though as he was using a Daiwa pole I think he was using the 14 metre section.

My Browning is correctly quoted as 13 metres, and that’s what I used, plus a half-butt for comfort. But it took a long time to get my first fish on a 4mm cube of luncheon meat. That fish was 2 lb; 15 minutes later I landed one of 7 lb. But in the next hour and a half I took only about five more fish. The wind made presentation difficult - if I could hold the rig still for 30 seconds as it sank I usually got a bite, but the wind made it impossible most of the time.

My far-bank swim. The overhanging bush was dead opposite, and I eventually caught towards the reeds on the left.

My margins didn’t give me a single bite. So I kept trying towards the reeds on the opposite bank, to my left, and suddenly had a liner. I moved swims and took a couple of two-pounders there, about six feet from the far bank. Any closer and I couldn't get a bite – probably to do with the depth. A change to expander brought more carp, steadily, for the rest of the match, mainly at 2 lb with odd smaller ones, but with annoying spells of ten minutes at a time without fish.

After two hours I reckon I had had 13 lb, while Dave must have had over 40 lb. Then his fish went off, and I after moving swims started to catch up, losing just two which I think were foulhooked. I kept looking quickly in the margins, and in my original far-bank swim, but the only place I had a bite was in my new swim. My best spell came when I fished the bait several inches off bottom when the wind had died down towards the end of the match.

Overall, a good day

The end result was 73 lb 8 oz and some aching arms through pushing the pole out all match with a small Toss-pot filled with expanders attached. That is a lot harder than pushing it out with no pot on. But a satisfying result as, although Dave beat me, I was fourth up to me, then beaten by Dave and two other weights over 100 lb to my right in the higher numbers, all taken on long pole. Peg 24 won with 158 lb 8 oz – this peg has form. Most of the others are regulars and certainly better than me. Perhaps I should have primed a proper swim down the track as an alternative. And a really hot spell of 20 minutes would have put me perhaps in the top five. But it was a good day’s fishing.

Dave with his 112 lb 4 oz carp catch for third spot - fish mainly to 2 lb.

However I am wondering whether Raven will cause problems with clubs who have anglers unable or unwilling to  fish at 13-plus metres. Of course there will always be some fish in the margins, and down the track, but I strongly suspect that matches here will be dominated by anglers fishing the long pole. This seems to have happened on Jay Lake, and it has been suggested to me that with the original wooden platforms removed, the loss of cover on the near bank has caused fish to tend to go over to the far margins. Already the club I am in who have traditionally fished Jay have said they no longer wish to fish there. Time will tell. I am happy to fish anywhere, but I know not everyone feels the same way.

The result. There are 29 pegs on Raven,
which has just had an injection of fish.

What is certain as that with hundreds of fish just stocked into Raven, there are a lot of fish there! Perhaps the margins will fish better in Summer.