A windy end to a good season for me - Damson, Decoy.

 Peg 11, Sunday, Nov 1
The forecast was right - high winds, and some rain, and we sought shelter from the rain behind Kevin Lee's van to do the draw. Thirteen of us fished this final Fenland Rods match of the season, pegged along the Eastern bank of Damson Lake, from pegs 1 to 13. It was the Les Bedford Memorial cup, to be presented by Wendy, his widow, and is always fished on Damson as it was Les' favourite Lake.

The first draws were greeted with groans - Peg 2 to Mike Rawson, and Peg 1, the favourite, to Peter Spriggs who doesn't make mistakes when he's given a fancied swim.

Peg 1 is narrow, with an aerator, and would have some shelter today from the Southerly winds, but chairman John Smith had told me he also rated Peg 13, in the far corner, which is snaggy but has been known to produce the winner - he has won himself there. My peg 11 had a tall bush to the left which looked inviting, but the wind was left to right, and presenting a bait there with any degree of good presentation would be difficult.

The match started in a strong wind, but the rain had stopped.
Both came back later with a vengeance!

A great start
Just before the match started the rain had stopped, and there was a big ripple on my swim, and I remarked to Callum, on my right, that if conditions stayed like that they would be great, because the wind was very slightly behind us. First drop into the shallows on my right saw a 1 lb-plus carp immediately on a 4mm expander, and two followed quickly - 5 lb in five minutes. Then, as happens so often on this lake, they vanished completely.

The next half hour saw one small fish from down the steep shelf to my left, and I decided I had to go out to the deep water - about 7 feet deep, on a top three. There was a big undertow against the wind, which was increasing, and dragging an expander or piece of corn along saw me with more fish to 2 lb, and 20 lb in the first 90 minutes. Callum, meanwhile was struggling for a fish.

Dick Warrener on Peg 5 had his umbrella pole bent
out of shape during the match - so why was he smiling?

Torrential rain
Heavy rain followed, and I was glad I had taken time to put my FlatBack umbrella up, sideways to the wind to my left, with two guy ropes and a storm cap screwed into a bank stick to steady it. Even so when the wind picked up from strong to ferocious (probably the strongest winds I've ever fished in) I could feel my box being moved around, because of course my brolly was clamped to my box, which was on the platform. Callum, with no umbrella, was absolutely drenched.

I believe that most of the others who had put up umbrellas had to take them down because of the wind, while Dick Warrener's central pole was bent out of shape by one massive gust. Then the wind turned through 60 degrees, to come into us from the left, and the undertow vanished...and my fish vanished with it. Meanwhile my cushion blew into the water once, and into my keepnet once.

Blue skies shining on me...
I waited until the wind had abated slightly before I dare get off my box to see a man about a wee dog, and Kevin next door told me had had just three fish. So I was perhaps doing OK as Callum had only four or five, including a couple on a feeder. Another hour with nothing followed, but eventually some blue skies arrived and I took a chance and took down the umbrella. That enabled me to use my landing net at the full four-metre length, as I had been using just one section because of the restrictions of the umbrella.

Mike Rawson enjoyed himself on Peg 2,
weighing in 31 lb 6 oz for seventh place -
one more fish would have put him fifth.

Four pole sections was the most I could handle in the wind all day, but that did produce a couple to corn. However with 90 minutes remaining I still had only about 25 lb. I put maggots into the shallow water and got bites immediately - from tiny roach. I gave that ten minutes before deciding that the carp wouldn't come that close in. Then I tried drawing a grain of corn in slowly along the bottom, from four sections out right into the deep shelf, which could be reached on a top two, and suddenly had a fish right against the shelf, where I hadn't had any previously.

I find fish at the bottom of the slope
I had to make something happen, so I started putting in half-a-dozen grains close in, and that brought the odd carp. In the next hour I had eight or nine to 2 lb, and three on the last three put-ins, best 3 lb. The match finished just as they had really started to feed. I estimated I had about 40 lb in my two nets.

 Presentation was difficult all day because of the wind, and I messed around with the shot, finding, strangely, that most fish came when there was only one size 12 Stotz on the last 18 inches of line. And whenever the wind dropped a little I seemed to get more indications.

Shaun Buddle on Peg 6 brings in his third-placed catch.

I never lost a fish all day, and thought I had done OK, as Callum had struggled right to the end. However, Dave Garner in the corner peg 13 had had some carp down the shelf towards the end. And at that moment, as the match finished, the wind started to definitely ease, following the Law Of Sod.

The weigh in
I managed to get down to Peg 1 to see Peter finish weighing and was astonished to see that while our pegs still had a big ripple on, the end four or five  here had almost a flat surface. They obviously had had to contend with the same gale-force wind and rain that we all endured, but someone pointed out to me that the high bank opposite and the huge straw stack beyond it had, when the wind turned, given their water some shelter. Whether that helped presentation I know not, but I strongly suspect it did a little.

Anyway, Peter weighed in 134 lb 10 oz, to win easily. Like good poker players, he takes advantage of any luck going, which is why he has such a good record. Beat Peter and you'll almost always frame. But today nobody could!

Dave Garner caught much bigger fish than the
rest of us, using a waggler and cat meat.

From there the weights dived, with Shaun Buddle on 6 weighing 47 lb 14 oz, while I ended with 45 lb 10 oz. In the corner Dave Garner had fished a waggler out beyond the range of our top fours, and had found much bigger fish on cat meat in the first hour or two. That shot him into runner-up position with 84 lb 3 oz, and I finished fourth.

A mistake
I spoke to the top three afterwards and they all used cat meat or paste. But I didn't. I stuck to corn, which was probably a big mistake, as a heavier bait would have been presented differently to a grain of corn, and that might have worked for me. So I admit to Operator Error. My excuse is that the wind blew away my brains!

After the match

Winner of the Les Bedford Memorial cup, Peter Spriggs,
with part of his 134 lb 10 oz catch.

We have voted not to have a presentation evening because current Covid rules would not make it viable for us, so presentations were made on the bank. Peter received his cup from Wendy, Allan Golightly received his Club Cup, won on the first match of the season while he was literally fishing in the face of a snowstorm, and the Handicap medals were presented and hung round out necks. Peter was third, I was second, and Callum the winner. I was still knackered after packing up and didn't think to take pictures.

The Club Champion

The final result announced was the Club Champion, which is based on the results of all our matches - no poor matches dropped. The idea is to reward the anglers who support the club most by fishing the most, but none of us except Mel and John, had any idea of who it might be. In fact Peter was announced as third, Kevin (who has won several times) was second, and I was first.

Me, sporting my second-placed Handicap medal and the overall
Club Champion cup. A good season.

So to great fanfare and a roll of drums ( I couldn't actually hear them)  I was presented with the cup by Mel, in the absence of his son Matthew, who collates all the results, but who was absent today citing the fact that he has just given birth to another baby boy. Well, you know what I mean. Congratulations to them.

I have, in fact, won this cup once before in 2015, and I think, from memory,  that since then I have never been lower than third. Kevin had at least two weeks off this season, while I can remember taking only one week off, so to some extent there's a certain amount of luck attached to winning the cup. And perhaps that's as it should be!

Next match next Monday with Spratts, also on Damson. I should have a waggler ready, but it's not what I'm best at. No - my best bet is to get Peg One...