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.