Ellis remembered, and taming the Magpie

The Ellis Buddle Memorial Match on Oak
Disappointingly I couldn't fish this drawn-team match, which I have fished every year since its inception, but I know Shaun Buddle was chuffed that 25 anglers turned out this year. Ellis was an inspiration to me - once we had him sitting on his platform, with all his gear within reach, he would connect up his oxygen bottle and happily fish away all day. I don't have the result of this year's event, but I know it was won by Peter Harrison, and that some anglers caught only one fish in the five-and-a-half-hour contest. So it sounds like a typical fishing match...with mixed fortunes.

Shaun has asked me to include the following piece, which I am very happy to do:

"I would like to thank all who attended my Dad's memorial match on Saturday, Sept 3, at Decoy. I'm sure Dad was up there wishing he was still here, fishing with us all.

"I would also like to thank Decoy for the trophies, and Wendy and Joe Bedford and Mum Buddle for the prizes.

"It was so good to see you all, and I've no more to say, really, except well done to all the winners, and  Saturday, September 23rd is booked for next year."

I hope I will be there myself.

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Peg 8, Magpie, Pidley, Sunday, Sept 4
Thirteen of us fished this Fenland Rods match, with 14 pegs going into the bag, and that included four on the island, which everyone, including me, fancied to produce the best weights. 

My right margin - where I caught most fish early on.

On the main bank I fancied Peg 7, partly because I had spent 15 minutes a couple of weeks ago watching Peter Holland catching very quickly close in on a top 2 to his right, and finishing with well over 200 lb. It's the next-best thing to doing it yourself. In fact Peg 8 is very similar - most of the swims on Magpie have been designed to give you a margin between bank protruding out into the lake on each side of the bankside platform - except that on 8 the nearest bankside is to the left. 

I pulled in several long reed stems there that were laying on the surface, but even so it wasn't possible to fish quite as close to the reeds as it was to the bank on the right on Peg 7. But I was happy enough, and also plumbed up on five sections to the right, against the grass there. My planned attack was with luncheon meat, which I love as it is such a versatile bait, and using a big lump is so often better than using cat meat because small fish can't nibble it away. It's not allowed on Decoy, so I don't get to use it often.

The left margin was quite snaggy next to the reeds.

I try mugging
At the start, with so many fish showing just under the surface I couldn't resist dropping an expander in front of them...to no avail. Then it was on expanders out in front of me, on the bottom, but I didn't even get a liner. To the left I saw John Smith on 10 take at least three good fish shallow in the first 45 minutes, and Shaun Buddle on 7 also had a fish or two not far out, on the bottom. 

A switch to luncheon meat to the righthand bank saw two carp and a roach come in, and after an hour that was all I had, so I was well behind both John and Shaun. I was feeding small, 4mm cubes, and was getting a lot of little touches, so I carried on, and in the next hour or so had about three more carp around 3 lb. Then came a very slow spell and I turned to the left margin, where I had been dripping in sweetcorn but never had a touch.

Small cubes of luncheon meat best
I put on a bigger piece of meat, in the right margin, and because I didn't get a single movement of the float I decided that they preferred a small bait, so went back to the tiny cubes. Slowly my bite rate increased, and a few carp, best about about 5 lb, came in, but it was noticeable that once I had hooked a fish that spot was barren for some time. So I started putting in meat to the left margin, in the slightly deeper water, and had an occasional fish there as well, switching sides after each fish.

Shaun blitzed me in the first 90 minutes. fishing paste short in front of him.

Then I had a look just to the right, against the bank, on a top two, and had a fish there immediately. So that gave me three spots to alternate, and I had a better spell, with the occasional tiny perch, some nice roach, but mainly carp around 4 lb. Shaun was now catching on paste in front of him an about three sections. I tried cat meat and had a fish or two, but went back to luncheon meat as it seemed to produce bites more quickly.

The lefthand swim was snaggy and I hooked up solid there three times, so moved out a little into the deeper water, where there were no snags, but not as many fish either!

Those pesky bites!
Shaun and myself had both been missing no end of bites, though. Every minute or two his pole shot up and occasionally his elastic came out, but more often than not it was a bite missed. He said afterwards that he was missing real sail-away bites on his paste. 

Mike Rawson had only two fish with 75 minutes
left, and finished with 36 lb 2 oz.

I steeled myself to not striking quickly, and indeed a lot of times, after bobbing about and dropping down in the water the float would settle again for about ten seconds before diving down in a proper bite. As if the fish was knocking it with his head before swimming away, turning round, and finally taking the bait. But I still foulhooked, and lost, half a dozen

One fish was a five-pounder hooked in the tail which came in very eventually, to chuckles from Shaun. and another, hooked in the outside of the mouth, also took a heck of a time to come to the net.

With about 90 minutes to go I tried mussel and this seemed to pick out the better fish, though one about 6 lb was foulhooked in the side, and that was almost as hard to net as the tail-hooked fish.

A fourth net I didn't need
We were fishing to fishery rules - three nets with the fish split - but I didn't click the fish, so was unsure what I had, and put in a fourth net with 45 minutes to go, at which point Shaun told me that he had clicked 101 lb - much, much less than I had thought. Inevitably my bites slowed up then (as they do!) but I managed to add about four decent carp and a couple of smaller ones, on mussel, before the match finished.

Kevin Lee with part of his winning catch...

I hadn't taken much notice of the other anglers I could see to my left, or opposite on the island, so had no idea what they might have caught. But I strongly suspected that Peter Spriggs on 4 would have found a lot of fish, as he would have called out to the carp, and they would have been fighting all day to throw themselves onto his hook 😀. I honestly had no idea what I had - probably over 100 lb.

The weigh-in
I had five rigs to pack away, so as usual the scales came to me before I had finished. Sure enough Peter was in the lead with 115 lb, they told me. Shaun had already told me that when he had seen me catch towards the end right in the side (when I would have been using mussel) he switched, but his catch rate slowed. I should have stayed out" he said, "Instead of coming in close like you". But he still went into the lead, weighing 124 lb 3 oz.

...which included this mirror carp of about 10 lb.

 

My fourth net went 24 lb, and the other three all had around 35 lb in - total 133 lb 9 oz. And that led round to Kevin Lee on peg13, who had found 205 lb 13 oz on cat meat and paste, followed by Dave Garner on 14 with 76 lb 1 oz. But with the three pegs on the island to be weighed (34 was not drawn) I suspected I would drop down from second spot.

I should have switched baits

THEN I looked at the weighing board and saw that those pegs had already been weighed, and that they hadn't got huge weights, so I ended as runner-up. I think I was lucky, with Shaun only two fish behind me, because I should have tried switching baits occasionally during the times when I was getting touches but no proper bites. I could have tried sweetcorn (I had only one fish on it), or cat meat again, or paste, or even a bunch of maggots. I also forgot I had a pint of casters with me, which could well have brought carp in to the margin and got them feeding better.

Dick Warrener does more work than anybody at the weigh-ins,
including lifting my nets from the water for me. Thanks, mate.

Last to weigh was former club champion Dave Garner,
fifth with 76 lb 1 oz, all taken on a waggler.

So very well done to Kevin - he has absolute confidence in fishing those big baits all day while I need to start getting bites on smaller baits. And those three island pegs, which produced huge weights in a recent-three-day festival, were out of sorts. A real deluge of rain would help, I think.

Next match Friday on Yew Lake at Decoy, where we can expect carp of 8 lb-plus to dominate. I hope to avoid the car park end, say pegs 1 to 6 and 25 to 30. But I've known them to win - Decoy is like that; you can win from anywhere. Just give me a Raspberry Ripple!