The big Christmas match - Raven, Pidley

Peg 25, Raven, Wednesday, Dec 15
Thirty-two of us booked into the Rookery Farm Fishery Christmas match om Magpie and Raven, all full of Christmas cheer, and hoping that the fish felt the same way. Of course it was all an illusion (at least in my swim), though I suppose it was fate that meant that as the birth of Jesus was about to be celebrated I ended with five small fishes, and no loaves (but plenty of leaves)!

The weather was kind with hardly any wind and I was able to fish the far bank at 13 metres on my peg on Raven with punch bread, dobbed above the bottom. To my left Rob Heath had two or three fish early, then the sun came out past him and I couldn't see what he was doing. However occasional splashing told me he was catching something on and off all day.

My swim - the reeds to the right were probably 16 metres away, and I didn't reach them.

After two hours I had managed one carp of about 2 lb on dobbed bread on a size 16 hook, and I wandered up to the angler on my right, who said he had four, with one on maggot. On peg 1 behind me Ken Gammon had one in the deep water and Rob Allen, to his right hadn't had a bite.

I had already tried in the deeper water at about four feet, with maggot, and then in six feet of water (with bait put in via a bait dropper), also with maggot, without having had even a liner. So I tried there again with the same result, and eventually reverted to punch bread fished shallow at about 18 inches right across. That brought just four more, best 4 lb (which was foulhooked). 

New elastic for me
I was using some NuFish Zipp Hybrid elastic 12-14 for the first time, and was very impressed. At one point I hooked a tree on the far bank, and had to pull all the way back to grab hold of the elastic. I assumed that something would break, but in fact I got the lot back, and even after stretching that far the elastic retracted and behaved perfectly normally.

Raven winner Rob Heath, with his 85 lb 8 oz catch from Peg 23.

I had several liners, and had been counting them from the start, since I had little better to do(!) By the end I had counted THIRTY SEVEN liners. I struck at several of them and always came back with my punch bread still on the hook, so I know they were not proper bites. I did wonder, though, whether they were fish slashing at the bait with their tails. When I shallowed up to 12 inches I didn't even get liners! Very frustrating.

The weigh in
Rob Heath, to my left on 23, won the lake with a magnificent 85 lb 8 oz, with some on dobbed bread and others on maggot in four feet of water. I weighed 14 lb 2 oz for eighth on the lake, which I couldn't feel bad about because with one more 2 lb fish I would have been fifth! So I sat beside the winner, but I was told that 25 is often not as good as 23, and last week when I won on Crow the angler beside me was Rob Heath...

The prizegiving

Afterwards, with masks on when we walked in, we gathered for, tea, coffee, mince pies and sausage rolls and a prize for everyone. Thankfully you are allowed to remove your masks to eat! 

Lots of lovely prizes for all of us (the chairs were not included).

It turned out that Will Hadley had been drawn on Magpie 2, where he had won last week, and he won again! Last week he won with maggot fished on the bottom; this week he found about three fish at 13 metres on dobbed bread, then a couple more at 14.5 metres, and finally he caught at 16 metres with a long lash swung out towards the far bank, finishing with 99 lb 8 oz. Hard work!

Surprisingly, Magpie had seen more fish caught than on Raven.

Raven result pegs 1 to 24

The presentation ran like clockwork, with each donated prize given a draw ticket, and as each angler was called up he was given a draw ticket. All you had to do was to find your prize. Absent friends were remembered, and I particularly missed Dennis Sambridge, who confirmed to the anglers here a month or two ago that he has terminal pancreatic cancer.

Rest of the Raven result (yes, I sat next to the winner!)

Magpie result 1-22.

Rest of the Magpie result.

I have been able to confirm that the reason my motorised trolley won't motor is that the battery is dead. A new one has been ordered, though it will not be essential for my next match on Beastie, at Decoy, on Sunday. Recently the best weights have been coming from the early 20s, which I have never managed to do any good on! Wish me luck...