The Olympics have inspired some of us - Elm, Decoy

 Peg 12, Wednesday, July 21

I think it's wonderful how the Olympics give most of us a real buzz, inspiring some of us to dream of what might have been, and what we might still achieve. Clearly that challenge has been taken up by Terry Tribe who, obviously inspired by diver Tom Daley, tried to emulate his hero by practicing his technique before this match.

Unfortunately it was not witnessed by the other 15 of us, but I understand that he successfully completed the difficult belly-flop (with tuck and stumble), which also had the added advantage of enabling him to check out his margins before the match started. He can now confirm that the margins on Peg 10 come up to somewhere between his waist and his chest.

Terry - before he had delusions of Olympic grandeur.

Unfortunately it's easier to dive in than to dive out again, and it took three or four strong men (or rather two or three strong men and me) to help Terry back onto the bank. It was ungainly, and he ended up looking like a seal, flopping about on his front, but the ultimate aim was achieved, though his spectacles possibly now adorn a very surprised carp, who should be able to see our baits more clearly in the future.

To his eternal credit Terry, who is not in the best of health, was mentally strong enough to insist on staying, after wringing out his shirt, drying his mobile, and going back to his van for a rub-down before coming back to his peg and fishing the match. He very nearly framed, as well.

The match

Mac C - Peg 12. At last, I peg I would have picked myself

After that, everything else was a bit of an anti-climax. I was very happy to be awarded corner Peg 12, as I vaguely remember catching fish off it in the distant past, and remember others doing well. However, recently it has not produced winning weights in our matches, and when I got to the swim I could see it has changed a bit.

Peg 12 before the start - flat calm.

There's an overhanging tree to the right which I could touch with a top two without stretching, and the six feet of bank there offered no close-in flat areas, but was higgledy-piggledy. The left margin was even worse - not only was it now very uneven down to the end bank, but plumbing up told me it was soft, silty, and probably snaggy, with the first area of hard level ground a good ten feet out. So no obvious hot spots.

Mugging was a disaster
I started out on a top three, on a nice level section about five feet deep, in front of the drainage pipes on my left, but got no offers. I had a shallow banded pellet rig handy to try to mug the fish which kept drifting around, sunning themselves in the baking sun, but they all shied away from the bait. I could see no-one else on my bank, but the three anglers I could see opposite all seemed to be struggling at this time.

Trevor, who so often dominates these matches,
struggled, managing to mug two early fish for
17 lb, but weighed in just 44 lb 7 oz.

I have a cunning plan

Eventually I had a 4 lb carp which took a 4mm expander on the drop. Then, after about 90 minutes I wandered up to Terry, to my right, to see whether he had caught anything to see how he was. He said he had caught a barbel. That decided me on my next cunning plan - dead maggots put in the side, which would hopefully roll down to where the barbel were waiting. They went in next to my platform, because I had found a tiny little hole there. At this point a nice breeze blew across the lake, right into our bank and overall it was very pleasant.

I had a definite touch next to the platform on a bunch of four maggots, but nothing else, so I put some more in towards the overhanging bush. After a long time there I fancied I had another touch so, with my options gradually diminishing, I pushed the rig right under the bush. The float settled a little lower, and that made me plumb up properly under the bush. I found it was several inches deeper there.

The bush produces!
So I increased the depth, potted more maggots and hemp in, and reduced the distance between pole tip and float to about three inches, to allow some sort of strike upwards. Amazingly this worked, and I quickly had a 5 lb common. After that I concentrated there, but kept putting in bait on my longer three-section line, which paid dividends when, during a slow spell under the bush, I went out to it with a piece of corn and nabbed an 8 lb mirror.

Terry Tribe nearly managed to frame after his early
bath. Frankly I think he deserved a medal.

The fish under the bush were all big - between 5 lb and 10 lb - and I had about eight, plus three fish towards the end in the hole next to the platform on cat meat. But I missed several bites under the bush because of the difficulty of striking, and though I tried to avoid striking at liners I lost a few fish, some of which were definitely foulhooked. About three were hooked on the outside of the mouth, telling me that the fish were not feeding properly. I kept moving the shots around, and overall it seemed best if the bait had at least a two-foot natural fall.

Sport slowed up in the last hour, which at least enabled me to wet my third net with two final fish from the platform swim, but I was really  disappointed because I imagined some of the others piling fish into their nets, as so often happens late in a match. I estimated I had 12 lb in that last net, possibly 40 lb in the second net and at least 40 lb in the first, so I admitted to 90 lb-ish. And not a single barbel.

The weigh-in
I love Spratts matches, because Trevor takes his time before starting the weigh-in, and this meant that I had managed to pack up my stuff, load up the van, and miss only the first few weighing in. Peter Spriggs was top with 97 lb 5 oz from Peg 6 when I joined, so it appeared I would not win. Shaun Buddle on 7 was next best with 68 lb 10 oz. I noted, with some envy, that they both had what looked like attractive margins - shallow areas running along to deep water against reeds, offering a choice.

Martin Parker brings his catch to the scales. The ripples on
the water were from the nearby aerator. 

Down to Terry, who managed to nab 59 lb 3 oz after his attempt at Olympic fame, and I was next. My first net went 14 lb something, then 38 lb something, then 46 lb 8 oz - total 90 lb.

We re-calculate my weight
Round to the opposite bank, while I laid out my nets to dry, and for some reason as I wandered round i mentally added my weights together. I was knackered, as always after a match, but something was not right, and of course a quick re-calculation on the board  revealed that the total was, in fact, 100 lb.

I was very surprised that my weight was not beaten on that opposite bank, and that the top four weights - including Wendy's 65 lb 9 oz, all on a feeder - came from our East-facing bank. perhaps the facing breeze had helped us. So I won, and Peter The Paste was left wishing that I had managed to get that weight on the previous Sunday, when we were partners in the Fenland Rods Pairs match.

Martin's hard-won 33 lb 12 oz from end Peg 24.

Conclusions
I was lucky to find that hole under the bush, because it began to look as if I would be really struggling. It really is a lesson to plumb up absolutely everywhere. and it has confirmed the value of maggots when things are difficult, as you can vary the size of bait - even down to a single maggot if necessary. And after Sunday's disappointing performance it has given me more confidence - I can catch fish!

Martin and I would normally have been fishing the Veteran's national on this day, but it's a fair drive up to Lindholme, which we think, from previous visits,  is much 'peggier' than Decoy. Last year's match on Decoy was cancelled, even though some Fish O'  Mania matches were held before that date. Will it ever be arranged here again? I do hope so, as it's such a fair venue.

Next match Saturday on the new Crow lake at Pidley, which I have fished just once, for about an hour. It was in a raging gale last year and resulted in just one 1 lb F1, which I didn't know was on. It's a wide 25-peg  strip lake (about 30 yards wide) designed to give waggler and feeder anglers more chance than a narrower pole-dominated water. The fish are a mixture of new F1s and older carp, mainly to 6 lb, from other lakes on the complex.

You can drive up to your peg on Crow, and with astra-turf to put your box on there will be no mud, no matter how hard it rains. The young local genius matchman Tom Edwards is featured fishing it in the latest Improve Your Coarse Fishing.

THE RESULT

24 Martin Parker        33 lb 12 oz             1 Peter Chilblain         30 lb 6 oz
22 Trevor Cousins       44 lb 7 oz              3 Mick Ramm            39 lb 2 oz
21 Bob Barrett            63 lb 3 oz     5th    4 Wendy Bedford        65 lb 9 oz      4th
19 Alan Porter            DNW                      6 Peter The Paste        97 lb 5 oz      2nd

18 John Garner            52 lb 10 oz            7 Shaun Buddle          68 lb 10 oz       3rd

16 Mick Rawson        18 lb 14 oz             9 Peter Barnes           38 lb 10 oz

15 Joe Bedford           50 lb                      10 Terry Tribe             59 lb 3 oz

13 Bob Allen               30 lb 8 oz             12 Mac Campbell        100 lb              1st