Peg 1, Willows, Sunday, June 26
A quality field of five lined up for this Fenland Rods club match, the entry having been depleted by illness, injury, work, holidays, wives, fire, pestilence, earthquakes and other common obstructions to fishing that have to be borne by even the most ardent angler.
A quality field of five lined up for this Fenland Rods club match, the entry having been depleted by illness, injury, work, holidays, wives, fire, pestilence, earthquakes and other common obstructions to fishing that have to be borne by even the most ardent angler.
We decided not to run a Golden Peg, and to fish the odd-numbered swims on Willows from 1 to 9. I thought that was unfortunate when I walked round to John Smith on peg 9, who had the strong wind at his back, with calm water immediately in front of him, while in peg 1 I had it bang into my face. A good Raspberry Ripple is never a guarantee of having a good swim, of course, but I believe that when fish are finicky - as they are at the moment - they often gravitate towards rough water when they feed. They will still swim around in calm water, of course, but they are les inclined to feed well there. It's good conditions for mugging, and catching out the odd fish that instinctively grabs the bait, but I'm not good at that.
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| My left margin was next to tall reeds. The island is at about 8 metres. |
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| My right margin. Allan on 3 is the first one round the corner, past the aerator. |
A good start
So in Summer I will almost always opt for a swim with a good wind on it...and peg 1 certainly had that in Spades! I could fish to the island in front if me with nine metres, and started there, getting two or three small F1s and a skimmer bream on a 4mm expander, before having a look in the left margin with corn. The result was roach to about 4 oz - better than nothing but not what I hoped for. But a drop out into the deeper water, about eight feet from the bank, brought a 12 lb common (we weighed it later) on cat meat, but not much else. Forty minutes gone.
So in Summer I will almost always opt for a swim with a good wind on it...and peg 1 certainly had that in Spades! I could fish to the island in front if me with nine metres, and started there, getting two or three small F1s and a skimmer bream on a 4mm expander, before having a look in the left margin with corn. The result was roach to about 4 oz - better than nothing but not what I hoped for. But a drop out into the deeper water, about eight feet from the bank, brought a 12 lb common (we weighed it later) on cat meat, but not much else. Forty minutes gone.
The next couple of hours were spent mainly on the longer swim, but with a few drops into a deepish hole to my right, where I hit my second 'proper' carp of about 5 lb, and lost another. I also had a look in the right margin, with corn, and among the roach there were a few F1s to 2 lb. So halfway through the six-hour match I had about 30 lb, but had had lots of half-hearted bites which looked as if they were from roach but which almost always turned out to be from small F1s when I hit the fish.
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| I saw Allan catch a good fish or two halfway through the match. |
'Crack'
A quick look on the longer swim brought a bite or two from small fish, but when I lifted the pole into another bite Snap! the Number Six section broke near the top end, making it impossible to telescope it.
A quick look on the longer swim brought a bite or two from small fish, but when I lifted the pole into another bite Snap! the Number Six section broke near the top end, making it impossible to telescope it.
Luckily I had been using a dolly butt on the end, which I was able to reverse into Number Five section, and take another fish or two, but still with missed bites, some of which took my corn, so I knew then that the bites were not from roach but from carp or F1s taking the bait between their lips and somehow taking it from the hook when I struck, without my feeling a thing....
Then, slowly, the fish seemed to take the bait more confidently. I had seen Allan Golightly on Peg 3 land a couple of good carp and suspected that I wasn't making the most of what we had all agreed was probably the best swim today. So I reverted to the tactic that has worked well for me this season - potting in micros and hemp to attract fish, then putting in just three or four grains of corn and dropping my bait on top, in the right margin.
Ninety minutes to go
That worked quite well, and with 90 minutes to go I started on my second net. A 3 lb F1 went in, and then I hit another big fish in the snout - and when they are hooked like that they are the Devil's own job to land. While I was playing that fish Kevin Lee, who had a terrible fall a couple of weeks ago, breaking some ribs and injuring a lung, paid us a surprise visit, just in time to see me land it - around 10 lb. Kevin sauntered round the lake, speaking to everyone, and by the time he had left Allan on the next peg I had landed another 8 lb in two fish.
That worked quite well, and with 90 minutes to go I started on my second net. A 3 lb F1 went in, and then I hit another big fish in the snout - and when they are hooked like that they are the Devil's own job to land. While I was playing that fish Kevin Lee, who had a terrible fall a couple of weeks ago, breaking some ribs and injuring a lung, paid us a surprise visit, just in time to see me land it - around 10 lb. Kevin sauntered round the lake, speaking to everyone, and by the time he had left Allan on the next peg I had landed another 8 lb in two fish.
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| Dave Garner's catch of 43 lb 3 oz taken his usual waggler and cat meat. |
When that swim slowed I took a chance and put bait into the shallow left-margin swim I had tried earlier and Yes - carp came in. Two more proper carp around 5 lb were my reward. The wind undoubtedly helped, but there was a downside in that there was a definite undertow taking the rig out from the bank, while the buffeting wind made it difficult to hold the rig in place and to lift it that tiny amount which often produced the bite.
I was also adding an occasional F1 to the net, and by the time the match finished I reckoned I had nearly 40 lb in that net, with 37 lb in the first. It's difficult to estimate accurately when some of the fish are only a few ounces, so I erred on the safe side when I started the second net. I thought it likely that some of the others had similar catches, and that the four good fish I had lost (possibly foulhooked) could have cost me dear.
The weigh-in
Even before we started the weighing Allan said "Well done" to me - so he obviously had some idea that the others had all struggled. I was first to weigh - the second net, taken in the last 90 minutes, to my amazement went just over 50 lb, and the first was 46 lb 2 oz, total 96 lb 2 oz, and that led all the way round. As I had guessed, John in the calm water had struggled his way to just 26 lb 9 oz, taken mainly up in the water on a waggler, cast across to the island, in the ripple.
Even before we started the weighing Allan said "Well done" to me - so he obviously had some idea that the others had all struggled. I was first to weigh - the second net, taken in the last 90 minutes, to my amazement went just over 50 lb, and the first was 46 lb 2 oz, total 96 lb 2 oz, and that led all the way round. As I had guessed, John in the calm water had struggled his way to just 26 lb 9 oz, taken mainly up in the water on a waggler, cast across to the island, in the ripple.
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| Mel Lutkin - runner-up with 51 lb 2 oz taken on paste, cat meat and worm. |
So a satisfying win for me, but I have to get the Number Six section mended, together with a Number Three I sat on a few weeks ago. I have three spares for that (I always carry a spare short Number Thee), so I didn't bother to take it in as soon as I broke it.
My dilemma
I wonder whether the sunlight and the Ultra-violet light have combined to degrade the pole, in which case other breaks might soon follow. I've had it six years (over 400 matches), and it was secondhand when I bought it, so I may have to start looking around for another.
I wonder whether the sunlight and the Ultra-violet light have combined to degrade the pole, in which case other breaks might soon follow. I've had it six years (over 400 matches), and it was secondhand when I bought it, so I may have to start looking around for another.
It's a Browning Z12 - a top-line pole - but I rarely use it at 16 metres, so may decide that I don't need that class of pole in future. The problem is that the best 14.5-metre poles (ie light and strong) are those made at 16 metres. Decisions, decisions!
THE RESULT
Peg 22, Beastie, Monday, June 27
And so to Beastie (as Samuel Pepys might have written if he'd ever fished at Decoy), where the wind was still a blustery South-Westerly, with rain forecast. Nevertheless I would still have picked Peg 18, facing the wind, as my preferred swim, as I've had several good catches from there, including my best--ever match weight..
Having had the best peg in our match the previous day I was hopeful of a repeat. So 11 of us from the Spratts club, panting in anticipation, watched Trevor do the draw. First name out of the lefthand bag was Trevor himself. That was followed by: "Peg 18" and a barely-stifled groan from the rest of us. No matter - pegs 30 and 29 were still in the bag but they went to Peter Spriggs (30) and Bob Barrett (29). I was drawn Peg 22.
Horrible margins
Pegs 21 to 24 are rated highly by the top locals, who favour fishing either a feeder across to the island 50 yards away, or a long pole, as the margins along here are not ideal - the bank has crumbled in several places, giving a horrible bumpy bottom against the bank. But I would be forced to fish with a maximum of five sections, so first of all I put up a feeder rod, cast to the island, and clipped up.
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| Peg 22, with the island about 50 yards away, and calm water on the inside. |
The water was fairly calm for the first few metres out, as the wind was over the right shoulders of the three of us on this bank, so a feeder cast into the rougher water by the island was the obvious choice as a starter. However, by the time the match started I had fancied fishing a pole as fish were moving not too far out.
A great start for Trevor
First drop with a 6mm expander brought nothing, so I quickly changed to a 4mm, just in time to see Trevor, on 18 way over to my left, already playing a good carp, hooked in his right margin, which he put into his keepnet. I had a 3 oz bream almost immediately, and as I was putting it into the net I glanced up to see Trevor playing another good fish. He told me later that after those two he had mainly F1s for the next hour or two.
Back to my swim for another small fish or two, and a quick look into the first level spot I could find to my left, about eight feet out from the bank, brought just a tiny tap or two on corn. Back out, and a 6 lb carp took corn, and for the next hour I concentrated on that swim, with the occasional small F1 or bream coming in, plus another carp around 5 lb.
I take a wander
After a couple of hours, with 20 lb on my clicker, I wandered up to my right to John Garner on 24, who said he had about 11 lb. Martin Parker, on 26, had flat calm water and said he had just a small perch. So perhaps I was not doing too badly. And as I knew John had started on a feeder I thought that perhaps I hadn't made a bad choice by not yet using it.
Back to my swim, and I found that if I fished about one inch overdepth with corn, and allowed the float to move against the wind, with the undertow, until it started to go under the surface, I could just hold the top up, and hold it there until a bite came. Moving the bait didn't work well - I had to be patient.
One more nice carp came, plus F1s, and I lost three probably foulhooked, which I felt I really needed. Then, sure enough, it rained.
Torrential rain and gnomes
Two or three small showers were followed by 15 minutes of torrential rain, when the heavens opened, and it was coming down so hard I thought it was hail. John Garner and Martin Parker had put up their umbrellas, but I hadn't, and Joe Bedford, Alan Porter and Trevor couldn't, as it was in their faces. I peered out from under my peaked jacket hood and the three of them sat there, hunched up like garden gnomes!
After that the wind died down just a little, meaning I had even less ripple. But fish still came from the long swim, until with 38 lb lb on my clicker and an hour to go I had another look in the lefthand side swim on a top two.
Now the tiny little taps eventually turned into proper bites, and two or three big F1s, best 3 lb, came in. They gave quite a distinctive fight - it was obvious they were not huge carp, because they didn't pull out a lot of the 13 hollow elastic, but they just would not give in. They fought like little barbel.
Mussel works at the end
Twenty minutes left and I put in some chopped mussels and put half a mussel on the hook. Immediately a 4 lb F1 took the bait, then another couple of F1s, and next drop a beautiful golden common carp around 8 lb also came in. Last fish was a 4 lb common. I thought I probably should have been more positive and fished that swim earlier, but you can't do everything, especially when you are putting fish into the net.
The weigh-in
I wandered up to Trevor's swim, to find that my phone, which I had forget to charge overnight, had no charge left after taking a picure of my swim. So no other pictures. Oh for the old-type mobiles which would go for days without being charged...
My first "38 lb" net went 46 lb and the second net, started with an hour to go, went 26 lb - total 72 lb 13 oz, which was already behind Trevor, who had 97 lb 1 oz, having lost some very big fish under the bridge - the main hazard in that swim.
To my right John had struggled to 23 lb 8 oz, while Martin, having landed a 12 lb salmon from the Tweed last week, came down to earth with five carp up in the water for 28 lb 3 oz. Then round to favoured pegs 29 and 30.
Good weights from 29 and 30
On 29 Bob Barrett had, I assume, fished his favourite feeder, probably cast to the island, for 95 lb 14. Next door peg 30 would have also had calm water for some way out. But Peter Spriggs is a very good angler, and it's a peg with nice margin features, so I was not surprised that he won with 109 lb 11 oz on the pole, even with not much ripple.
Pegs 3, 4 and 5 would have had rain in their faces, but even so they all caught fish, with the top weight there 61 lb 11 oz from Peter Harrison on 5, which left me in fourth spot, and I was happy with that, given that the three pegs I most fancied took the top three weights.
Next two matches are on Yew, which tends to be the moodiest of the four strip lakes, but the carp are big, and they dominate, with fewer bream and barbel than on the other lakes. As attendances at the Fenland Rods matches have been so depleted this year the Club Championship will be almost meaningless, so I might concentrate on mussels for next Sunday's match, as I know they can take big catches of big carp.
THE RESULT
3 Bob Allen 31 lb 15 oz
4 Peter Barnes 50 lb 3 oz
5 Peter Harrison 61 lb 1 oz
15Joe Bedford 34 lb 7 oz
17 Alan Porter 41lb 2 oz
18 Trevor Cousins 97 lb 1 oz 2nd
22 Mac Campbell 72 lb 13 oz 4th
24 John Garner 23 lb 8 oz
26 Martin Parker 28 lb 3 oz
29 Bob Barrett 95 lb 14 oz 3rd
30 Peter Spriggs 109 lb 11 oz 1st
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