I get a good peg - for a change! Willows, Decoy.

 Peg 24, Willows, Sunday, June 27
I was very happy with Peg 24, which always seems to produce fish. On my last match on Willows Terry Tribe came fourth from it. Sometimes it's better even than 25, which is the 'flier', though today our Club Champion Dave Garner was on 25. Ten of us fished this Fenland Rods match, in a cool North-Easterly, which was over my right shoulder, and thick cloud almost all day.

I started on a feeder, cast to the island, and had two quick 1 lb carp on a wafter with micros. Then. stupidly, I added another yard on my cast and put it right into an overhanging bramble, which cost me the feeder when I had to pull for a break. I re-rigged with my last Preston banjo feeder, and soon had another 1 lb fish. 

Peg 24, with 19 on the left, where Peter Spriggs' tackle is on the bank.

Not happy with Preston
Incidentally, it turns out that Preston no longer issue the banjo, and that their new offering, a similar affair called The Hybrid, while having been reviewed in Match Fishing, is not actually yet available. I was so annoyed I considered throwing away all my Preston ICS system and going over to Guru, but didn't actually do it. I might do that yet, though, after which I might never buy anything from Preston again What they have done is unforgivable - sharp practice.

Fish on the pole

By the time I had my third small fish Dave on my right had landed two better carp on waggler and cat meat, so I thought I'd try the pole, and went out to 10 metres, on an expander, where I had about five small fish fairly quickly. Then, to start a second swim, I came in to the aerator on my left, where I found fish immediately off the front of it, in about four feet of water. The first fish, about 3 lb, took me straight through the gap between the aerator and the post it is tied to. I hung on, thankful I had my tight, extra-strong, bungee elastic in the pole, and, to my amazement, the fish came back through the gap and into my waiting landing net.

Kevin Lee, on 21, had his better fish towards
the end of the match in his right margin.

From then on I concentrated on that swim, typically  taking two or three 1 lb fish quickly, and then finding that they had drifted away, only to reconnect with them a few minutes later. Occasionally a bigger fish would take my corn bait - the best was about 8 lb.

 I also lost half-a-dozen, which I am sure were simply lightly hooked, and brought up several twigs - I know the area near the aerator is snaggy, but that's why it holds fish. So I kept putting fish into the net until, with an hour to go and 80 lb on my clickers, things really slowed down.

I should have immediately gone back out to 10 metres, or, better still, as the wind had got stronger, gone out on a short line in front of me. Instead I kept plugging away, without much of a result, and after seeing Kevin on Peg 21 start taking good fish in his margin I eventually tried the right margin. On previous occasions when I had fished this swim the right margin had been very productive, but now a bunch of reeds protruded and I could fish only a top two, and the wind was playing havoc with my presentation, even with cat meat. It was as deep as the main swim - about four feet. The left margin, between me and the aerator, was also deep, and looked dead.  But it would have been much easier to fish, and I should have been putting a little corn in their earlier, and had a quick look every now and again.

Alan Golightly, on 31, with 30 lb 5 oz.

Two fish from the margin
Back to the aerator for nothing - I later realised the fish had probably dropped down to the deeper water a couple of metres farther our, but my brain didn't register that. So with 25 minutes left in went hemp and cat meat to the right margin, and I fished it hard, and this brought several knocks and bites, which I missed. When I managed to hold the rig still I got a proper bite on cat meat which turned out to be a 4 lb carp, and the last fish was a 3lb barbel which I was playing when the match ended, and I was able to shout 'Fish On' loudly enough so all the others could hear me. Just a bit of psychological warfare!

Those knocks and half-bites, and the beautiful dive-down bites I missed, I later realised, were almost certainly from barbel. Peter Spriggs said he had the same problem. It seems that barbel, with their underslung mouths, have difficulty in targeting baits sometimes - a bit like carp trying to take surface baits. They always have trouble getting it exactly right!

Part of my second-placed catch, including barbel.

The weigh-in
Peter The Paste was first to weigh - 103 lb 10 oz, mainly from the shallower margin, which won. Kevin came in with 77 lb 3 oz, and I totalled 92 lb 9 oz, while Dave, to my right, had  66 lb 14 oz. He fishes a waggler and on that peg, with an island on it, the waggler limited his options - you can't fish at distance right next to the island in the same way as you can with a pole. So the boy done good.

The back of the lake had less wind, though it was much warmer, and top here was John Smith on Peg 35, which is at the start of the narrow section going under the bridge to peg 1 on the other side. He did well to get 48 lb 5 oz.

  So I came second.  Perhaps I should have won, but when you are putting fish, even small ones, steadily into the net it's difficult to consider changing tactics. - one of the conundrums which makes fishing so fascinating.

John was top in the back five swims, which were more sheltered.

Good to see the barbel
It was good to see several barbel caught. Of course they don't breed, so numbers will drop every year as they die naturally. But the searing heat we had in May must have reduced their numbers even further. However they seem to do well on Decoy. I wonder whether the new owner (when things are eventually finalised) will consider another stocking.

Next match is Sunday on Cedar, where there have been barbel for some time. We are on the East bank, sheltered from any East winds, but having any warm Westerly in our faces. Could be a good'un.

THE RESULT

PS. There's something to be said for paying sections, especially when you can divide a water up into obvious areas, as you could for this match. Grebe AC used to do it when I fished with them - it cost us £1 extra in pools. But would it produce more arguments?

I mess up - Oak, Decoy

Peg 28, Friday, June 25.
Fourteen of us fished this Spratts match, and I favoured the pegs three-quarters of the way down the strip lake - roughly 9 to 12 and opposite on 19 to 22. But I know that matches on all the lakes at Decoy can be won on any peg, and my peg had a nice long shallow run along my left margin. It was only about 15 inches deep, however, and proved to be my undoing.

The day was cloudy, with a cool breeze in the faces of us on the East bank, and some fish were mooning about just under the surface looking the worse for wear. That wasn't surprising, as spawning was still going on in several places. They've been spawning now for the best part of a month.

John Garner to my left had a very good first half of the match. I caught (and lost)
fish against the small bunch of reeds in the foreground, ten metres from my platform.

I had intended to have a look shallow, but in the facing wind I couldn't throw pellets very far, so got out my slow-sinking bomb gear, though in the event I didn't use it. I certainly should have given it a try towards the end of the match.

On the whistle I put in some expanders and hemp at ten metres and had a quick look in both shallow margins, but didn't get any signs of fish. Out to ten metres and I had five bites in the next 20 minutes, pricking two, losing two very quickly, and finally landing a 3 lb ide on corn. I persevered here for too long, but it slowly became apparent, even to my tiny brain, that the shoal had suddenly moved on.

A quick ten-pounder
So eventually on the slope above deep margin just off a little cut-off to my right, and I thought I had an indication immediately. So in went half-a-dozen grains of corn, plus my bait, and the immediate result was a 10 lb mirror. I spent a long time here looking for another, with some indications but no more fish, and with two hours gone had a look 10 metres away in my left margin, against a clump of reeds, in about three feet of water, above a sharp drop-off.

Immediately I had an indication, and repeated my previous action - a few grains of corn went in and a 7 lb carp came out. One more fish about 8 lb came, and I lost one, before bites dried up, but I lost one, possibly foulhooked.  Meanwhile John Garner, in the corner to my left, had started really bagging, with fish after fish. But there hadn't been much action that I could see among the rest of the anglers.

Mick Linnell, of Fletton ex-Service fame -
one of the top sides several years ago.

My ten-metre line produced nothing more, and I eventually put in some maggots into the shallow water, as the wind, which blew into that bank, now seemed warmer.

Lots of action...but
The maggots produced a long run of action for me - about three fish landed in the next hour, all from 8 lb to 12 lb, but I also lost four or five, some of which I am sure were not foulhooked. Then John, from the fishery, came along the bank, by which time more fish had started to show - boils and tails waving. But I couldn't get a bite! He went down the line to deliver a message, telling everyone that "The fish are boiling in Mac's swim." Which they were. Thanks, John. 😍

Now if you've ever been in an escape room you will know that it's possible to get completely the wrong end of a riddle, and spend far too much time thinking you're on the right track, when you should step back and try something else. Fishing can be like that - and today it was. I spent far too much time determined to catch one of those pesky fish in 15 inches of water when I should have known, from previous experience, that for some reason it's very often impossible. I fished dead depth, way overdepth, and hung a bait off bottom, all to no avail.

Peter Chilblain, who has lost the peak of his cap,
with his second-placed 118 lb 2 oz from Peg 20.

What I should have done
I should have gone down to the deeper water nearby, gone out to 10 metres again, gone to the right deep margin, or plonked a rig out in the deep water in front of me, which eventually I did, but not before wasting the best part of an hour, and losing two or three more foulhooked. That move to my front swim, on a top two, quickly produced a 10 lb mirror on cat meat, plus a 3 lb tench and an F1. 

There was now an hour to go, I put in a third net, with about 40 lb in each of the first two, and suddenly I couldn't get a bite! My own fault - I should have realised that as the fish were obviously moving around, and that some were willing to feed, if I was going to get a bite it would come quickly - within a minute or two. All I had to do was find the right line. But I messed about, putting in far too much bait, instead of trickling down bait into new swims and sitting on it for a just couple of minutes. All day I had had fish quickly in new spots, after which it was not worth flogging that area, but I stupidly carried on.

With literally two minutes left I plonked some maggots into the bare margin to my left, which I had not looked at, on just a top two. A minute later a fish boiled there, I dropped in a bunch of deads, and literally two seconds before the match ended hooked my smallest carp of the day, about 4 lb.

Peter (The Paste) Spriggs lifts out a net - just as the sun
 comes out for the first time all day.

The weigh-in
Several anglers told me they had waited three hours for their first bite, so it had obviously been hard. On the opposite bank John Smith was top weight with 75 lb 2 oz, which was suprising to me, as they had back wind. But when the scales came round to my bank the weights went up. Pegs 18, 20 and 24 all went over 100 lb, with Peter Spriggs on 22 weighing 79 lb 7 oz. I admitted to "perhaps 90 lb" and my eight good carp and the few 'bits' actually totalled 87 lb 10 oz.

Last man to weigh, John Garner, had many more fish than I did and I honestly thought he must have had around 200 lb. In fact he weighed 137 lb 6 oz for the win. Then I saw his fish were in fact smaller than mine, averaging perhaps 5 lb to 6 lb, taken on about 13 metres of pole to the end bank on his left, on cat meat. A very good performance. And I ended fifth...but I honestly think I should have done much better, considering that my fish, except the last one, were all between 7 lb and 12 lb.

John Garner, winner with 137 lb 6 oz, took most of his fish on cat meat against the end bank to his left.

THE RESULT

30 John Garner            137b lb 6 oz  1st             1 Peter Barnes          50 lb

28 Mac Campbell        87 lb 10 oz                      5 John Smith            75 lb 2 oz

26 Bob Barrett            52 lb 4 oz                        7 Mick Ramm           28 lb 1 oz

24 Peter Harrison        111 lb 11 oz  3rd            9 Mick Rawson         33 lb 3 oz

22 Peter Spriggs          79 lb 7 oz                        11 Shaun Buddle       55 lb 15 oz

20 Peter Chilton          118 lb 2 oz   2nd             13 Terry Tribe            55 lb 3 oz 

18 Trevor Cousins       100 lb 5 oz   4th              15 Mick Linnell         68 lb 4 oz        

The options I didn't think about
The bottom line is that I messed up badly, losing too many fish, and one, hooked properly, broke me on a light rig which I should not have been using for fish of that size, especially after landing two or three on it. I should have changed over after the first double-figure fish came in, because rigs do deteriorate with all the rasping against the hard scales of these big fish. I also didn't try paste, worms or mussel, all of which I had with me. Anything to break my focus on those fish in that swim. A good angler there would probably have won.

Next match Sunday on Willows at Decoy, which is different to all the other lakes, but I like it as there are good margins in some places. We are on Pegs 20 to 35, which include the 'fliers' on 24, 25 and 29, though I also particularly like 23, 27 and 28. But you can win from literally any peg.

I waggle my way to an undeserved frame - Cedar, Decoy

 Peg 22, Saturday June 19
This was the match I was not looking forward to. It was Fenland Rods' annual Waggler-only Rod-and-line event - proper wagglers fixed bottom only. And every year it reminds me just what an advantage a pole can be in many circumstances. In addition I hadn't been able to remember whether feeding via a pole cup was allowed, so I popped in the basic cupping kit from my spare pole - two short sections totalling about four feet - just in case.

That was stupid of me, especially when I found out that the rule was that yes, pole cups are allowed. I should have checked the previous day. The rule seems to me to be a little illogical, but no matter. It's the same for everyone. (That is everyone who remembers). My puny four-foot kit proved to be almost useless. Ten of us were fishing the East bank of the strip lake, Cedar.

My left margin - the biggest fish came here.

This was the day after the incessant rain, which never stopped all day in our village. So the water would be a little better oxygenated than of late, while there was very little wind, no rain, and the sun never shone all day - nice conditions. On the other hand fish don't like quick changes of any kind. And they were still mooning about under the surface when we started. 

So I went out on a pellet waggler, casting up to 30 yards, in the hope that they would feed shallow. John Smith on end peg 14 took all his fish shallow, but it didn't work for me even though I went quickly from 12 inches to four feet deep, and I gave up after 20 minutes. Probably should have given it longer.

The right margin - fishy-looking
but I never had even a bite here.

My surprise first fish
I had two more wagglers made up, one on a leger rod and the other an overweight three-piece 13-footer which was not at all suitable for this sort of close-in fishing. My second float choice was an insert Ray Nimmo waggler taking about three BB shot. No sooner had I put a piece of corn on the hook than a fish swam close to me. I dropped the corn in front of it, waited for a few seconds, and when the float didn't move I lifted the rig...only to find myself attached to a very surprised 3 lb common carp.

The right margin looked really good, and Kevin Lee had told me before he started that he had done well on this peg fishing to the reeds. But it didn't work for me, and I never had a bite there all day. Nor did I get any more offers from carp swimming past. My next good move was to fish banded 6mm pellet under the spot I had been feeding some by catapult, at about ten metres. 

John Smith, in the corner on 14,
could only catch shallow casting well across.

Lost fish
Over the next three hours I managed about four carp to 6 lb from this swim. I also lost two or three big fish, probably foulhooked, even though I tried not to strike at the obvious liners. I had to feed by catapult or by hand - but I would have much preferred to be more accurate using a pole cup. It seemed to me that it would have been a question of just nabbing the occasional fish that felt hungry by putting just a couple of pellets and my bait in front of it, and that catapulting out pellets was just feeding those fish and distracting them from my bait.

Back to the left deep margin and a seven-pounder took a piece of corn just beyond an overhanging bush, but things were proving difficult. There were awkward snags under the bush and I had to go out a little farther. On my left Dick Warrener had a fish or two on  meat about eight metres out. I went back there with the banded pellet for just one more fish, with another on corn, and, giving up on the right margin, concentrated on the left.

Dick, on my left, had a good spell in the second half
of the match, and would probably have caught more
had he not packed up early to help weigh in.

Mussel works first drop
A change to mussel in the second half of the match brought a six-pounder first drop in, but no more, though I did lose a couple more on meat. Then Dick started to catch more fish - in the next couple of hours he had six or seven on meat, mainly around 4 lb, so far as I could see, while I had just two, close in. Mind you, the first was a foulhooked 7 lb carp, which took me right up to both adjoining swims while I dropped the rod as far below the surface as I could, gritted my teeth, and hung on. It finished in the net...eventually. The hook was in a pectoral fin.

Next came a mirror carp, hooked properly, which took a grain of corn just after I had lifted it. It's much more difficult to lift a bait just an inch when using a bottom-only waggler, which is one of the biggest disadvantages I have found. Anyway, that fish came motored off slowly but as soon as I dropped the rod tip under the surface the fish, which must have read the books on playing fish, obligingly came to the surface, and slowly allowed itself to be gently nursed into my waiting landing net. All 14 lb 15 oz of it!

In two fell swoops I had caught Dick up. Quite undeservedly. 

I admire my best fish prior to weighing it at 14 lb 15 oz.

I start a second net
My final fish, 20 minutes from the end, was a nine-pounder also foulhooked on corn in the left margin. This again threatened to charge through Mike Rawson's swim on my right, in fact I think it probably did. Then it went out, swirled towards the far bank, and dived back towards the reeds on my bank. A long pole would have probably quickly stopped it from making its target, while a short rod requires luck, and in my case more gritted teeth and a silent prayer. The reeds shook, but the fish grudgingly drifted out.

That was the first fish to go into my second net, even though I had only an estimated 38 lb in my first net, but you can't be too careful, and our club fishes to the "50 lb maximum" rule.

 I had a pint and a half of dead maggots, but didn't feed them I as thought it might just confuse the carp, and there had been no sign of barbel. I wonder whether they have suffered in that red-hot spell we had at the end of May. BUT I should have tried a bunch of maggots as hook bait, as this sometimes works wonders for a short time with the big carp.

Kevin Lee's best fish in his 69 lb 10 oz bag.

The weigh-in
I estimated I had between 40 lb and 50 lb, and was amazed to hear that Callum on peg 25 had had only two bites for 7 lb 5 oz, and that Dave Garner, our club champion who fishes only with a waggler, had struggled to 32 lb 2 oz. I was later told by an angler in another match that Dave had fallen in, which I suppose doesn't help...

Dick had 43 lb 11 oz - much less than I had thought, but his fish were smaller than I had thought. My first 38 lb net weighed in at 49 lb 14 oz! We weighed that biggest carp at 14lb 15 oz. My last fish, in a net on its own, went 9 lb 9 oz, for a total of 59 lb 7 oz. Mike DNW on my right had made a quick exit, though I know he had at least one fish. Then along to Kevin Lee with 69 lb 10 oz on meat close in.

And then to Peter Spriggs, who also took his fish on meat close in, and was 4 lb 8 oz over in one net, giving him 68 lb 2 oz and second spot - if he had put just one fish in that large net into the smaller one he would have won by 3 lb. Not the first time that has happened and it won't be the last.

Peter Spriggs should have won, but went over 50 lb in one net.

Conclusions
So I ended up third, and received a handful of golden coins. But I am certain that if I had had a longer length on my cupping kit I would have done much better - I simply couldn't be accurate enough with my feeding. And had I landed just one of the lost big fish I might have won.

However, I have decided to  put the pellet waggler rod and the other leger rod with a waggler on it in my rod case, made up, as I can see the advantages of at least trying for fish, at this time of year, that are beyond a pole swim. I can catch shallow at Fields End, so why not anywhere else?

John said that he couldn't catch shallow until he changed from 18 inches to 24 inches deep. He also used a yellow Band-Um pellet, while I kept to my normal dark hard pellet. That would be worth remembering in future.

The third rod in my rod case will be a leger with the Preston ICS system, which enables me to change from my favourite banjo feeder to a Method, pellet, maggot feeder or straight bomb in seconds. No need for a duplicate rod.

The result. Dave Garner fell in, but as he didn't end up in his keepnet he was not weighed.

Next match

Next match Friday on Oak lake. I'm not expecting the fishing to be much better than it has been of late. but someone has to win. Then on Sunday to Willows, pegs 20 to 35. Even if it's hard I expect pegs 24, 25 and 29 to produce at least some fish. but I'm happy anywhere. Willows has proper margins in most swims. But it can seem to be almost fishless on occasions. I like a challenge!

What happened to 3 o'clock? Yew, Decoy

 Peg 6, Thursday, June 17
This was the day that Armageddon was supposed to arrive - thunderstorms the like of which we had never seen; lightning to set the night skies on fire; and if your name was Noah you'd better start rounding up the elephants and giraffes. What was actually delivered was a little shower at night, followed by a warm, very humid morning, and another hour's heavy drizzle at the start of our match.

The carp on Yew were following the tradition they had started three weeks earlier - cruising around on the top like miniature sharks, ignoring all baits, and occasionally splashing around as they threatened to spawn for the umpteenth time this Summer...mainly in Peter Harrison's swim, peg 22.

I forgot to take a picture of my swim, which was
mainly only water anyway! Peter Spriggs was next to me,
but hidden by the tall elephant grass on the bank.
Here he gets one of his three nets out to weigh in.

My peg 6 was at the 'wrong' end of the strip, as I, and most of the 17 others, had assumed that the best weights would be at the other end - pegs 9 to 15 and back from 16 to about 22. In fact we were wrong.

A decent start
My own start was good - a fish of 1 lb within five minutes of starting out on a pole at 11.5 metres with a 6 mm expander. That was followed by a lost foulhooked mirror of about 6 lb which I almost had in the net once, and then a 2 lb F1 foulhooked in the pectoral fin which went into my keepnet - they all count!

Hardly anyone that I could see seemed to be catching fish, so I was pleased, then to foulhook two fish quite quickly, of which one was lost and a four-pounder landed. The rain had now stopped, but the skies were dark, so those of us with umbrellas erected kept them up.

Opposite, after a couple of hours, Trevor had had, I think, one fish mugging - casting to fish he could see. I then managed to add another couple of fish and to have a look in the right margin, where I had dumped some maggots and hemp, hoping for a barbel. But just one carp turned up, about 6 lb.

My mobile call
Halfway through the match and I made my usual mid-match phone call to She Who Must Be Obeyed. She likes to be assured that I have not succumbed to a fit of the Vapours or any of the other nasties that have threatened me over the years. I think that is called being solicitous, and keeping her mind at rest.

Trevor was opposite me. Those biggies are difficult to hold!

Of course there's always the chance, as I have pondered many times, that she is sitting by the filing cabinet with the draw opened at "Life Insurances." That, I hasten to put into print, is only 'alleged.' It is not intended to be libellous or scandalous, Your Honour. And so far as I know SWMBO has never (thankfully) read this blog.

I have a cunning plan
Anyway, an hour after that I glanced at my watch to see it showed 2 pm. Two hours left, and I noted Shaun Buddle, on Peg 26, land a couple of good fish, as had Trevor, from his left margin. I managed one or two more carp around 4 lb, and unfortunately lost two or three more, and decided that for the last hour I would change from maggot to cat meat or corn, in the margin, in the firm expectation hope of catching everyone else up. Sure enough, I now started getting proper bites - the float would drag slowly under, but I missed them all. 

Mick Linnel, on Peg 1, took his fish on a feeder.

I was sure they were proper bites as they all behaved the same way - liners are typically short, sharp dips, or slow pulls sideways.  Never the same. Then I foulhooked - and landed (!) a ten-pounder in the tail. So as clearly fish had arrived I checked the watch to see how close I was to 3 o'clock. To my horror the watch showed FIVE MINUTES TO FOUR. Where had 3 o'clock gone?

Either I had misread my watch earlier, or I had been transported by that pesky spaceship to planet Zog for an hour and my memory wiped.

Or I was just stupid!

I would ask both my readers not to actually put their decision in writing...

The weigh-in

Mick Linnel on peg 1 had failed to catch on a pole and had weighed 62 lb 8 oz on a feeder cast to the aerator. Opposite, Mark Parnell had used the same tactic for 81 lb 6 oz. Next to me Peter Spriggs had had a good last hour on cat meat for 94 lb 5 oz and second place. I couldn't see what he was doing because the grass was as high as an elephant's eye. Sorry I'm getting all poetical.

Some crackers for Peter (Chilblain) Chilton.

The weights were not as good towards the far end. I weighed 42 lb 3 oz - 10 lb more than I had estimated, for ninth spot. But Peter Harrison had had a good last hour on corn on 22, in the margin, for 94 lb 2 oz and third place. Shaun Buddle, on 28, had a great last hour on cat meat, feeding two tins of cat meat and two pints of micros, for a winning 98 lb 10 oz, on a peg I am sure none of us really fancied. Nice one, Shaun.

So ended a difficult match on what turned out to be quite a nice day, weather-wise, after that rain. A match I should have done much better in, if I'd had time to execute my cunning plan.

My next match
It's a lesson learned for Saturday, when we have a waggler-only match on Cedar. I'm not good on a waggler - I was much better, in a previous life, on a stick float. In fact I don't have a proper carp waggler, and will be pressing some feeder rods into use, But I have a plan - to keep it simple, mainly in the margins, to use cat meat and corn, and not to struggle. However, I do still have big Ivan Marks insert wagglers which I am prepared to cast out to the middle if necessary, on the assumption that no-one else will be doing it.

Mark Parnell found double-figure fish on Peg 30.

And I intend to put my watch on my side tray and hope that the spaceship keeps well away Wish me luck. 

Peter Harrison caught mainly on corn in the margin.

RESULT
1 Mick Linnell           62 lb 8 oz    5th

3 Wendy Bedford      32 lb 3 oz
4 Peter Spriggs           94 lb 5 oz    2nd
6 Mac Campbell        42 lb 3 oz
9 Mick Ramm            DNW
10 Mick Rawson        17 lb 4 oz

12 Peter Barnes          43 lb 13 oz

13 John Garner            21 lb 5 oz

16 Alan Porter             14 lb 14 oz

18 Bob Barrett             10 lb

19 Terry Tribe             22 lb 3 oz

21 Peter Chilton           50 lb

22 Peter Harrison          94 lb 2 oz     3rd

24 Joe Bedford              15 lb 4 oz

25 Trevor Cousins        62 lb 3 oz

27 Martin Parker            DNW

28 Shaun Buddle        98 lb 10 oz    1st

30 Mark Parnell            81 lb 6 oz    4th

THE WINNER

Shaun Buddle is running into top form.

  

Probably the hardest 20 lb I've ever caught - Magpie, Pidley

 Peg 34, Sunday, June 13
When those smiling weather forecasters tell you that the maximum temperature is going to be 29 Degrees Centigrade they don't remind you that that's the temperature in the shade. The other afternoon I looked at the thermometer in my garden, in the sun, and it was registering the maximum figure on that device - 50! And that was the sort of temperature was had on Sunday on Magpie lake at Pidley.

Magpie is sheltered, so with the trees around the edge in full leaf there was precious little of the breeze which reached us, and frankly we all suffered, though some had a bit of relief in the shape of some shade from the trees. Not me, though. Peg 34 faces South and was in the blazing sun from start to finish. It can be a bit of a flier in Winter, when it affords some shelter from strong, bitter Northerly winds, but on this occasion I definitely needed the suncream Her Indoors had insisted I use.

The fishing was always going to be dire - the water looked dead, except for carp basking and drifting on the surface, looking like miniature sharks. In accordance with the club's instructions, given at the AGM a million years ago we each picked a peg to go into the bag. But with the fishery giving us pegs 1 to 20 and 28 to 34 for only 13 of us, there were going to be big gaps. That's how John Smith found himself on 20, with his nearest angler way round the bend on 13, and just Joe and I on the island, which has seven pegs on it.

Flat calm all day on Peg 34, which is roped off to stop other anglers encroaching into the swim.  The pegs opposite,
where Dennis Sambridge was sitting on Peg 13, offered some shade.

The fish are no mugs...
No matter - someone still had to win. I started trying to mug fish on maggot. Twenty minutes later, after having not a single fish show interest, and with Joe having had a fish on feeder and Dennis, opposite on 13 about 70 yards away having had a good fish on pole, I gave it best. Then a stroke of luck - I had left the mugging rig, baited with a 6mm expander, in the water on a top two while I considered my options. When I lifted it in there was a 1 lb F1 on the end. It had obviously taken the bait somewhere near the bottom, as I had a three-foot tail on it, in about four feet of water.

After that I concentrated on that top-two swim, and in the next 45 minutes three more one-pounders came in. After a long pause a bigger fish of about 2 lb also ended in my keepnet. Occasionally a light breeze passed by, otherwise the heat was stifling, and I renewed my sun cream halfway through the match and kept taking copious amount of drink from my frozen bottle of orange squash (heavily diluted).

Joe Bedford, who is about 90 and still strong as an ox, took
all his fish in the first 90 minutes or so.

Nothing at all in the margins
The rest of the match passed slowly, with one fish coming to a small cube of luncheon meat on my first drop into the left deep margin, about six feet out. There is a hole to the right, and I hooked one fish there only for it to come adrift. Another carp hooked itself as my rig fell through the water but this also came off. Three more small carp and a roach then came to maggot in the top-two swim. I never had a touch in the actual margin all day. The margins here are against the piling - I would have preferred a piece of real bank to fish against.

My maggots expire

I had purchased four pints of maggots from the shop and taken out a pint to keep on my tray, leaving the others in the shade under some bushes behind me. At this point the ones on my tray (which has a cover I closed down) were lively, and difficult to put on the hook, but when I checked the other three pints they were all dead. Killed by the heat. 

I had now seen Dennis, fishing long, land several more fish, and lose one or two, and I guessed he must have 50 lb-plus, which seemed to me to be very good.  He had shade from the trees behind him and suspected he was using his favourite worms. I had forgotten to bring mine, but they would not have lasted more than two hours on my peg, even shaded under my box

Half an hour left and I estimated I had 15 lb; at this point John Smith went past on the far bank, pushing his trolley (very slowly), having given up with just two fish in the net. The narrows, where he was pegged, were so sheltered he said he felt not a breath of wind there. Somewhere behind him the local cuckoo had been calling on and off all day. Good to hear him again - I missed him last summer. I hope he found a Mrs Cuckoo.

My meagre catch. The hat kept the sun from burning my ears.

A final flourish
At this point I put some groundbait, hemp and luncheon meat into the left deep margin and fished it hard for 20 minutes, without result. Ten minutes to go and I went back into the top-two swim, and first drop hit my best fish of the day which stretched my elastic a ridiculous amount, surfaced like a plunging crocodile, and threatened to wrap my rig round several of the poles which hold the ropes that enclose this swim.

But amazingly (that's how I felt) it ended in my landing net. A good bonus right at the end. Match over and I was melting, but at least not sunburned. The suncream had done its job.

The weigh-in
It was the fastest-ever weigh-in for Fenland rods. First to weight was Dennis, with 66 lb 7 oz taken, as I had guessed, on worm, at about 11.5 metres (top two plus five). No-one else had two nets and the weighers were round to the island in no time, just in time for me to snap Joe, who had four or five small fish very early on and nothing in the last four hours. Alan Golightly was second on 24 lb 7 oz, but I knew I couldn't beat that, and in fact totalled 20 lb 13 oz for third. I was very happy with that result in those conditions.

The lowest weights ever on a commercial for Fenland Rods.

Several of the anglers had really suffered in the heat and no doubt turned on the air conditioning in their cars and shot off as soon as they could. For me it was like fishing a 1960s Winter League in the heat! And it wasn't until I came to load up the van that I found that the heat had melted one of the handles away from my stink bag.

My next match is Thursday, at Decoy on Yew, by which time the weather is forecasted to break, with probably rain. But this excessive heat will have done the fish no good, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's another very difficult day. The weights may be bigger, as the fish are bigger, but I reckon it will still be a scratcher.  Hope I'm wrong.

A mad-hatter's tea party in my swim on Six-Island, Decoy

Peg20, Wednesday, June 9
Peg 20 was just two away from where I was pegged on this lake ten days earlier, so I knew where Dick had taken his fish - just off a tuft of sedge grass. But I didn't expect the fish to come in that close very early in the match, in fact in the blazing sun, with black shapes all sunning themselves out in the middle, I suspected any real action would be in the last hour.

I had originally fancied a lot of pegs - a dozen or more, but every one was drawn before mine Why can't I draw a swim I REALLY, REALLY fancy? However, when we got to the lake I decided that just the swims facing the wind would be favourite; unfortunately that didn't include mine. The wind was blowing into two corners - 25 and 9. On my bank, which ran from from 16 to 23, it was from right to left, a little over our backs, and I sort of decided that I would be very happy to be top on this bank.

A bit of ripple at the start, but hardly a cloud in the bright blue sky.

I try mugging
I started by trying to mug the basking and swimming fish, without success. I am not good at it, and lost confidence after 15 minutes of having my expander ignored by a dozen or more fish. There seemed no point in feeding pellets to fish that weren't interested, and in fact Trevor, who eventually won, didn't feed a thing all match!

After I gave up the mugging I went down the track, between me and the island, and in the next 30 minutes took carp of 2 lb and 4 lb on the bottom on a 6mm expander, just feeding a tiny pole pot of expanders and a few micros. Then I went out to 14 metres to the point of the island, and within minutes had hooked a fish on a grain of corn, with no loose feed. But stupidly I tried to break the pol down in just two operations, and with a high bank behind me this was so awkward that obviously I must have slackened the line and the fish came off.

Mick Linnell sat facing the sun on Peg 24,  which
 I didn't think would compete with 25 because
of the wind direction. He ended fifth with 40 lb 13 oz.

A few minutes later I hooked another, and this time took the pole apart section by section, and landed the six-pounder. Then the wind picked up and I had to revert to the track swim. Two hours later, without another fish, and having had a quick look in the margins, I made the decision to put in dead maggots and hemp on a top-two line, and lay on with a big bunch of deads, hoping for a barbel.

Success!
The barbel came. Just one, although it took half an hour to get the bite, and it weighed 5 lb. I then concentrated on this swim, taking three or four more carp around 5 lb, and a solitary roach, and hooking, and landing, two scales which put up a good fight for a few seconds.

With less than an hour left and precious little action from the others around me, I put in a big handful of micros, some hemp, some expanders, and some halves of mussels into the 12-inch deep margin to my left. Within five minutes all hell broke loose there. Double-figure fish rocketed in, rolling like porpoises, and churning the bottom up to a thick cloud. At any one time I could see six, waving their fins and tails at me, and there must have been another half-dozen beneath them. It was like a mad-hatter's tea party.

My late surge
In went my piece of mussel on the size 12 hook, and the rig swung about from side to side as the fish bumped against it. The float lay flat, slid off one way and then the next, but never shot under, How the fish managed not to foulhook themselves was amazing. The minutes ticked by and still I hadn't hooked a fish. So I took it out, dropped it a few feet away, towards the open water, and immediately it slid away and I was into a big fish.

That ten-pounder came in fairly easily. I had no evidence to support it, but I guessed  the fish was knackered after spawning. That was until it lay in the landing net, when it went crazy. I then had to suppose that it was my brilliant technique in playing it that had got it in so quickly! 😂

Half an hour left and I tried it again, but they had all wised up and although I lured them back for another rollicking party, nothing took the bait. Obviously this lot didn't like sea food, and they were taking the Mickey....

The sun had got his hat on all day - as had Peter
Harrison, on Peg 10.

Two late fish
So a final decision - 15 minutes left and I had to make something happen. More cut-up mussels went into the top-two swim in front of me, in about three feet of water, and my bait, on a long tail followed them. Another ten-pounder obliged, and with three minutes left I recast and this time the bait was taken by a plump, silvery 2 lb F1. End of match. 

The weigh-in
I now guessed that there wouldn't be many really big weights, as Terry Tribe on 22 to my left had been  struggling, as had Joe and Mike to my right, and Peter Barnes, opposite on Peg 3. I caught up with the scales to see that Bob Barrett had managed 32 lb 14 oz on Peg 4, which would have had some wind into it (pegs 4 to 9  should have had wind). That made me think that perhaps things had been even worse that I had anticipated

Down to 9, where John Garner, who has been doing well recently, had struggled to 17 lb 10 oz, and Peter Harrison opposite on 10, which has been fishing well this year, had just 31 lb 2 oz. To be honest that still represents a good day's fishing when compared with the matches we used to fish on the Fen Drains, when 1 lb an hour would probably be enough to frame but everything is relative, and Peter is one of the best anglers in the club.

Peter The Paste sat to the winner's right,
on Peg 13 and weighed 52 lb 9 oz. I didn't
bother with a picture of Trevor, as I've 
taken so many before. He shouldn't win so many!

A superb performance
Peter The Paste now leapt into the lead with 52 lb 9 oz, and then Trevor Cousins weighed in on Peg 15. This swim was almost flat calm, certainly the calmest on the lake, yet Trevor had mugged 95 lb 10 oz. Every fish was taken on a 6mm hair-rigged hard pellet, and not a single piece of loosefeed had gone into his swim. It was a superb performance - I don't have the confidence to stick at it for hours until the fish decide to start feeding.

Trevor said that the last five put-ins saw five fish come past, fairly close in, and every one took the bait and was landed. He was fishing about 15 inches deep, with four feet of line from pole tip to float, and said that when he dropped in the bait he used to watch the fish drop down 

I don't have the patience
In the early part of Trevor's match most fish refused to take the bait, but as the match went on more and more grabbed it. Even so, with his fish averaging perhaps 6 lb, he would have had landed only about 16 all match - fewer than three an hour. That needs patience, which I don't have. But he must have judged that his catch rate was probably sufficient to win the match, which it did.

Peter Chilton on 25 with 86 lb 11 oz
was the only angler to make a real
challenge to Trevor Cousins' top spot.

Round the corner to my bank and Martin Parker on 17, a swim I have always fancied but drawn only once, had just 29 lb 7 oz. I admitted to 60 lb, and indeed they went 60 lb 3 oz, which was second, round to the last angler to weigh, Peter Chilton (or Peter Chilblain as Trevor calls him when he does the draw).

Peter had had the occasional fish shallow in the first half of the match, but made up ground with five lumps from the margins in the last hour, and weighed 86 lb 11 oz for runner-up spot. 

Conclusions
I was happy to come third out of the 17, and felt I had scrapped around pretty well on a day when the fishing was obviously very difficult. And I will remember that tea party for a long time. It looked as if the big fish were so highly turned on and tuned in that they automatically ignored my bait in the shallows. Next time I will fish it in the deeper water.

It has also given me even more confidence in fishing mussels. My tin of Vitacat, in a cool bag, went unopened. There is life after cat meat!

THE RESULT

3 Peter Barnes            15 lb 1 oz
4 Bob Barrett             32 lb 14 oz

6 Mick Ramm            10 lb 12 oz

8 Wendy Bedford        DNW

9 John Garner            17 lb 10 oz

10 Peter Harrison       31 lb 2 oz

11 John Smith            15 lb 12 oz

12 Alan Porter            17 lb 5 oz

13 Peter Spriggs         52 lb 9 oz        4th

15 Trevor Cousins       95 lb 10 oz     1st

17 Martin Parker          29 lb 7 oz  

18 Mick Rawson          DNW

19 Joe Bedford            9 lb 9 oz

20 Mac Campbell        60 lb 3 oz        3rd 

22 Terry Tribe              21 lb 13 oz

24 Mick Linnell            40 lb 13 oz     5th

25 Peter Chilton            86 lb 11 oz     2nd

A match I should have won - Oak, Decoy

Peg 3, Sunday, June 6
Eleven of us fished Pegs 1 to 15, with each of us picking out a peg to go into the hat. And to be honest I didn't fancy Peg 3. On Tuesday the better weights had come from the far end - 9 to 15, apart from my Peg 1, where I was second. But I like a challenge...(!)

We had trouble parking as other matches had driven down to the lakes early and nicked most of the spaces for Oak Lake - they had the draw on the bankside, whereas we always have the draw in the main park. It looks as if we will have to change our system. But the walking is OK, and I was lucky enough to squeeze between two vans close to my peg.

An angler on Cedar, just behind us, told us that a Maver Golden Reel match had been held on the previous day, and that Peg 3 on Cedar had caught 350 lb-lus...for third spot! It would have been full of top anglers, and they would probably have caught a lot of fish, so immediately we suspected that weights might not be huge. Saturday had been blazing hot, while today was cooler, and cloudy, though with a nice breeze.

My left margin - nice-looking but  there were
snags around the reeds.

A terrible first three hours
My margins looked nice, particularly to the left, but I started shallow as fish were topping. That brought nothing so after 20 minutes, having seen an angler opposite catch a fish out from the bank, I started on six metres, with expander over hemp and hard 6mm pellet, and I never had a bite. Then into the left margin, next to the reeds, but there were a lot of straggly leaves and roots there and I was snagged a couple of times, and didn't get a bite of any sort.

Out again, fishing a bunch of deads on a four-feet tail, and immediately I hooked a fish which came off. A quick look in a very shallow spot just to the left of my platform felt good, and I put in hemp and dead maggots, but not a bite. Then corn took a hard-fighting golden common from the left deep margin. Three hours gone and I had 5 lb, while on Peg 1 Dennis Sambridge had had several fish, from the end bank to his right and, I think, from his left margin.

I start losing fish
The angler opposite was now catching the occasional fish from his shallow margin, but the swims on that east bank, which have the prevailing winds into them, have much nicer, bigger, shallow margins than our bank. My right deep margin was a bit higgledy-piggledy because of the grass stretching out, but a drop in there suddenly brought a bite from a fish which pulled off my purple hydro set tight. So I put that rig on to a Middy 18-20 hollow,  which has more stretch, and in the next hour or so hooked several more, from both margins, most of which came off, after stretching the elastic right out to the middle 20 metres away.

My right margin - bumpy. Most fish here came 
a metre out from that untidy clump of grass.

At one time I know I had hooked seven and landed two. I tried cat meat and to my surprise got some bites which I missed. Back to the left margin and corn, where I landed three more, two of which were hooked on the outside of the lip, which not only told me that the fish were finicky, but I suspect it was the reason why all the fish were difficult to land. Now it was Fish 9 - Me 5, and there were just 90 minutes of the six-hour match left. Dennis on 1 was way ahead of me, having landed about 10, I thought.

On my left  I had seen Allan Golightly land only two or three fish, and Peter Spriggs, beyond him, didn't seem to have been very busy either. The weather now alternated from bright, blazing sun to heavy cloud, with a few spots of rain thrown in. Perhaps a big wind would have livened things up.

My Magic Mussels
A quick look in the shallow swim brought nothing - but what happened later makes me think I didn't do it properly. More of that in a minute. In fact, in desperation I turned to my mussels, of which I had perhaps 30. I chopped ten in half, cupped in the bottom halves to the right margin, and put a 'lip' half on the hook, more in hope than expectation, fished dead depth. Five minutes later - a fish! With 30 lb estimated for my first net he went into the second net. That was followed by two more, but my dwindling supply of mussels was now down to about five.

I had to supplement the mussels with hemp before each drop, and then went a few inches overdepth, with strung-out shot to give a slow fall on a tight line. This worked well, including one taken on the drop, though two fish were hooked well inside the mouth - the mussel is light and could doubtless be sucked in by a big carp from two feet away. But it meant that they fought extremely hard, and I lost some more. I think that may have been down to a precarious hookhold on a tiny sliver of flesh in the mouth, rather than being hooked in the lip. They were all from about 5 lb to 10 lb.

To my right Dennis Sambridge on Peg 1 started well,
but my last fish overtook him. He finished fourth.

A last-minute ten-pounder
Five minutes left and I had no mussels left so put on a grain of corn and - wonder of wonders - hooked a fish which I was still playing when the match ended. It was about 10 lb, and ended in my landing net.

I had lost 14 fish in total. And though one was definitely foulhooked I don't think most of the others were. I landed three or four which I was convinced were foulhooked, as I played them, but either they were hooked on the outside of the lip of the hook came out in the landing net. I think they just weren't taking the bait properly - and that was borne out by what the others had caught (or not caught) and by what they told me later. I think I landed 11.

The weigh-in
I admitted to 60 lb to 65 lb, and Dennis was first to weigh, 75 lb 9 oz. My '30 lb' net went (from memory) 36 lb 6 oz and my last net, which I estimated at 35 lb, went 42 lb 9 oz - Total 78 lb 15 oz. That last fish had taken me above Dennis and, in fact, above Kevin Lee on 9 who had 77 lb 13oz, leaving me second behind Peter Spriggs, the winner with 85 lb 4 oz.

Petr told me he had had a late run in his shallow swim, 12 inches deep. Now I always take any good amount of meat or corn home to freeze but at the end of this match I had put a small amount of excess bait into my shallow swim, including a couple of handfuls of dampened micros . Within three minutes fish were churning up that area!!! Obviously I should have had a proper look there during the blank spells towards the end of the match. Stupid Boy!

We weighed Mel Lutkin's best fish at 17 lb 8 oz.

The weights towards the far end were not very good - on Peg 13 John Smith had his first bite at 2.30 pm, after four-and-a-half-hours without a bite. He said he had about 24 lb, but did not weigh. Now John is a good angler - he's a former Div 1 National section winner on the Welland, while my best was a third in section on the Trent. Next to him, Mike Rawson  didn't get a bite until 45 minutes later, landing just two fish, so perhaps that end really was devoid of feeding fish.

To my surprise the higher numbers, which had produced good weights
on Tuesday, fished very hard. Mick on 15 had just two fish, while John
on 13 had four. Mel had about five.

Conclusion
I was very pleased - not just at second spot, but because I had at least hooked enough fish to easily win. Just two of those would have seen me top. I like to think that getting the bites was down to the feeding and presentation, and as I have said before, better to have hooked and lost than never to have hooked at all.

Next match Wednesday on Six-Island, where I understand the Golden Reel match was won. but it's the shallowest of the lakes here and anything could happen. Then to Rookery Farm at Pidley on Sunday, where we are fishing Magpie Lake. I haven't fished there for over a year.  I have no pre-conceived plan - it will be all down to watercraft on the day I guess.