Lots of oohs and aahs when this peg was drawn for me in this Fenland Rods match. It's in a corner and rated as one of the better pegs, but really comes into its own in the Winter because it's one of the few swims which has lillies. Then it's often a case of hanging punch bread near the lillies and just waiting for a take. Still, I wasn't complaining, though had I had a choice I would have picked Peg 13, which has been doing very well recently.
Holidays (remember them?) had depleted our turn-out, reducing it to just nine, so we used all the odd numbers from 1, round to 17 on the far side of the lake, and generously paid three places. Peg 1 faces roughly South-West, so on this banks we had the sun in front of us once it had come out just after the start of the match. And it was hot, with no wind - I actually stopped partway through to apply sun cream. In September.
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| Hot and windless all day, and the water looked dead. |
I could reach the lillies at 13 metres, so started there, within a few inches of them, with a banded wafter fished about two feet deep. Within seconds I had a take. My elastic was a tight purple hydro, and I hung on for all I was worth and ten seconds later I felt the fish moving slowly away from the lillies. I immediately started pushing the pole behind me and I prepared to break it down, still under great pressure, when the hook pulled out!
Well, after that I obviously kept fishing shallow to the lillies, then a little away from them, then closer to me, and in open water. I fished like that for another 45 minutes and never had another take! I didn't put in any feed pellets as the water was flat calm, the sun brilliantly bright, and the only place I saw fish moving was in the lillies themselves. I don't think they would have been attracted by pellets dropping in - more likely they would have scarpered.
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| John Smith, who ended second, had a five-pounder on his first cast. |
So, an hour gone and I decided to go back to the van and get a tube of pellet wagglers heavier than I had in my box, to cast to reeds on the far side, about 22 metres away. I was just in time to see Callum lose a fish which looked as if it might have been a carp. He said he had a few small fish on worm. So after I got back I put in some cloud groundbait and dropped a worm in over the top in the right margin.
Actually there was a lovely cut-out about 18 inches deep to my right, then a nice shelf about two feet, and it then dropped down to three feet. I decided to try the two-foot shelf first.
Sure enough small perch obliged, and in the next half hour another four or five came in. Then a carp of 3 lb, and a little later another of about 4 lb. The match was almost half over, and I had a few casts with the pellet waggler shallow, but nothing happened. So I decided to take a chance and swap over to quarter-inch cubes of luncheon meat on the pole. And in the next hour I had about four more carp, next 5 lb.
I also lost two or three fish foulhooked, even though I was waiting for what looked like proper takes. But I had to sort of hang the bait off bottom, as there were a lot of snags, and I lost six hooks on them. Once I was snagged on something immoveable just six inches under the surface. What was that all about?
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| Allan Golightly shows the stamp of carp in Rookery Fishery. And the fish are in super condition and fight like tigers. |
I also cut a quarter-inch cube of luncheon meat in half, as I had the feeling the fish were almost playing with the bait as I was getting indications which never came to a proper bite. In fact this immediately took two or three of those fish.
Trouble at t'mill
All morning rubbish had been drifting into my corner - lily pads, reeds, sticks, leaves and a sort of dust on the surface which gradually built up into a layer of scum. In fact as I played the fish these bits and bobs kept attaching themselves to my line, and sometimes as I was about to net the fish the flapping in front of their faces saw them start charging away again.
Now the scum was thick, and had stopped right over the spot where I had been catching fish. I changed to a grain of corn to try to get it through the scum, but even if it did, the line wouldn't always follow. If I could get it through in the right spot I sometimes had another fish, and picking out the smallest grains also definitely helped. When the scum receded for a moment I dropped in to the 18-inch swim and had a fish immediately, but then the scum covered it again. Annoyingly, fish were moving underneath it now.
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| I had been catching on the second shelf, where the biggest line of scum built up. The best spot had been in front of the little cut-out, near the corner of the reeds. |
Putting on a heavy bait like cat meat to get through it simply didn't bring a bite, and I was nervous about getting repeatedly snagged on the bottom. Nor did going out into the deepest water a few feet farther out. I kept thinking about changing to the left, deep, margin but every time I prepared to switch I would get a good bite or a fish, which went up to 5 lb, and in any case the sun had been in an awkward position for fishing to the left. I suppose I had about 13 carp when, with 20 minutes left, I eventually made the switch to the left margin, where there wasn't much floating rubbish.
To be honest I hadn't baited it properly, so just threw in a handful of luncheon meat, followed it with my rig and started to think about working out what the bottom was like. To my amazement the float shot straight under and a big fish shot out to the lillies 13 metres away and came off - almost certainly foulhooked, and the hook was straightened.
I dropped straight back with the cat meat rig and a three-pounder took the bait, and ended in one of my three nets (three nets is the rule here). Then there was a lull, and I quickly changed the hook on the luncheon meat rig...and promptly hooked a four-pounder. Then a two-pounder obliged. Then the match finished. Why on earth hadn't I looked there earlier?
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| Winner Peter Spriggs with 114 lb 1 oz. Note the artificial turf on all the swims. Note, also, the lovely clear water in front of him! |
The sun was really blazing now, and I was first to weigh. My three nets went 68 lb 10 oz, and Callum thought that might be enough to win. In fact that was a fair assessment, as it was top weight on out bank up to Peg 11, round the corner. I decided to follow the scales rather than pack up, in the hope that a little later it would be cooler. As we walked round I looked enviously at the rubbish-free
Then round to John Smith on 13 who pipped me by 2 lb 2 oz, having had a five-pounder on his first drop, and then waited for hours for his next fish. Then round to the last two, who were now in blessed shade cast by the trees behind them. The difference was incredible - it was actually really nice here, out of the sun, and I started to cool down rapidly.
Peter Spriggs, who is a always a danger, had walked it on peg 15, fishing the deep margins and totalling 114 lb 1 oz. I didn't ask him what he's used as bait, but since his nickname is Peter The Paste I had a good guess. He told me that in the last 15 minutes he had hooked six fish, and lost every one of them! So I finished third. And by the time I got back to my swim it was not as hot in the sun while I packed up.
I blame the sun, which must have addled my brain. I was so certain that the fishing would be hard that once I had a carp I was satisfied with catching just one every 20 minutes or so. I should have looked in the other swims I had plumbed up - out at 13 metres near the lillies on the bottom, and particularly in the left margin. Also I did not try the side, right in front of me against the piling which ran across the front of my swim, even though I have had fish right beside it in several other swims.
I should have been prepared, once the scum became really difficult, to ignore that swim until I was certain it was my only hope of catching fish. As Bryan Lakey used to tell me: "Mac, fish have fins!" I believe I might even have won, if I'd made the switch at the right time.
Next match on Cedar on Decoy on Thursday. I'm happy anywhere, but hopefully the weather will be cooler.
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