Commercial Matchman: Better than I had feared

Peg 21, Raven

You have to wear a mask, of course, when you go into the Tackle and Bates shop at Pidley to have your peg drawn. And my spectacles always steam up, so when Tim Bates drew my peg for me I couldn't see it properly. "Twenty-One" he said, and my heart leapt (well, it gave a little flutter), assuming it was 21 on Crow Lake, which I hoped to draw.

"Twenty-One Today, off you go." Tim Bates shows me the red card!

"Raven," he continued. Heart stops fluttering and I put on a brave face. That almost certainly means fishing at a minimum of 13 metres, which can be hard work when you're 79 and nothing takes your bait for five hours. But the optimist would say that it's just another challenge to tackle. So off I drive to Peg 21, Raven.

Yes - 13 metres plus a short butt to the far side, but the reeds there didn't look inviting. You need a straight edge ideally, and I had two clumps of wavy, bent reeds with some lying in the water, and very shallow water next to the far bank, which had fallen in. Still, the wind was behind, and I set up in time to have a chat with a couple of the others. Almost everybody would be going cross to the far side and dobbing bread or maggot because results have shown that fishing down the track or in the margins at this time of year is not likely to produce much, if anything.

My peg 21. I took most of my fish from the bare swim between the two trees to the right.

A poor start picks up
I dobbed bread for 45 minutes with just a couple of liners, then saw Chris Saunders, to swims to my right, take a fish from the far side. I looked closely and decided he had maggots on the hook, so made the change, putting on two maggots.

A couple of liners later and eventually the float slid under and I brought a 2 lb common to the net. In the next 40 minutes I landed about seven more, from 1 lb 8 oz to 4 lb, some on a single maggot, some on two, and one on three, mainly fishing 18 inches deep in two feet of water. But I had to keep changing swim, as hooking one in that clear water meant that I'd not get another there for some time.

Chris Saunders, to my right, had an even slower start
than me, but found better fish in the afternoon.
You can see that by the end the wind was quite cold.

That ruddy wind changed

At that point the wind suddenly got up and started coming from the right - a swing round of more than 90 degrees which made holding the pole steady and steadying the rig almost impossible for more than a few seconds, even with a long lash. It was then easier to fish to the left, and I had a drop in as far along the bank as I could, and hit another good fish, which came off as I was shipping back.

A few minutes later the same thing happened, and I decided that if the same thing happened again I would change the hollow 13 elastic for something a little lighter. I have a fondness for that Preston green Hollow 13, as it seems a very good all-round choice when the fish can be anything from 1 lb to 10 lb-plus.

I wasn't the only one with wind trouble
But I didn't change, because for the next hour I never had a touch of any description. I wandered up to see Chris, who said he had four fish, so I decided I was doing OK. He also said he was having trouble holding his pole. That was a reality check, as I tend to think it's me being stupid when I have trouble, and that everyone else is coping properly. Of course everyone else is always in the same boat!

Peter Carter on 25 took 39 lb 6 oz but lost
some which would have given him second place.

So I went back to my swim, and as I did so one angler had decided he had had enough and was driving home. After another fruitless look where I had been fishing I a good look in the deeper water, managing to catch just four F1s in the next two hours on a single maggot in four feet of water at the edge of the far shelf, before it dropped down quickly. I lost no more fish, and fed perhaps 100 maggots in that two hours. By the end I was starting to feel the cold, and should really have switched on my new heated vest which Santa brought me. But I'm stupid!

The weigh in
Tim came round with the scales and said the angler to my left (who I couldn't see most of the time because of the low sun) had weighed 41 lb 10 oz and was top weight. I weighed in 31 lb 4 oz, and was happy that I hadn't at least disgraced myself. But the weights to my right nearly all beat mine - 35 lb from Chris, ,who had found fish to 5 lb in the afternoon, a 39 lb, a winning 74 lb from Will Hadley on 27, and a 39 lb from end peg 29.

Will Hadley's winning 74 lb from Peg 27, all taken dobbing maggots to the far-side reeds.

So I ended seventh, but just a couple of bonus fish would have pushed me up to second place. So I was satisfied with my day's work. The weights on Crow were better, as I had expected, probably taken mainly on maggot feeders.

Next match on Sunday on Decoy, probably on the Strips. Here are the full results: