My new edge (and fishing the feeder on Cedar)

To win at matchfishing you have to have an edge - something no-one else has. Ivan had a natural ability; Alan Scotthorne has meticulous preparation, Andy Power has some sort of Paul Daniels magic...but I have socks.

Here they are: The secret weapon that will propel me from local pools fodder to local legend. 

I know they sort of work cos last week I wore just one - I needed a very thin sock over my foot blisters so I could pull on my boots. And I hooked enough fish to probably win the match, but lost most of them. If I'd worn the other sock I would have landed every one and would have been invincible. But in fairness to my fellow competitors I will probably be wearing thicker socks during the cold weather, and leaving the magic socks at home  - after all it wouldn't be fair to everyone else to wear them both!

Peg 2, Cedar, Wednesday, Nov 16
Twelve of us in this Spratts match, from 2 to 12, so I had the end peg. The wind was into our faces from the right, but not too strong and not too cool. I had calm water at the start of the match, while most others had ripple, but I doubt that made any difference. The fact was I started on the right method but didn't persevere, and paid the price.

Peg 2 looked quite nice, with a small bush overhanging the left margin.

First 30 minutes on a hybrid feeder with maggot saw liners but no fish, and I was itching to get onto the pole in the margins, where Lee Kendall had slaughtered fish from Peg 7 last Sunday. But while I was feeding the margins with 4mm pellets I went out with a banded 6mm pellet on the pole at 11 metres. Immediately I had what were probably liners, and eventually landed a 3 lb common. I was confident I would now start catching.

But just at that moment the wind got up, and became cooler, and I never had another touch there in the next 30 minutes! So it was into the left margins with a 6mm expander over 4mm hard feed pellets and I had a good bite missed and then a good fish hooked, and lost after about a couple of seconds.

Mike Rawson had fish on a feeder early in the match.

Fish play with the bait
No more bites came there, so I moved into the righthand margin with corn. By this time Mike Rawson on 3 and Dick Warrener on 4 had had several fish,. In fact Dick came up to me and said he had about six for 30 lb. But I was certain I'd catch on corn, and carried on with the pole. In the next hour I had a lot of very tiny touches - the float would lift up and then drift under the surface and hold there for several seconds, but when I struck there was nothing there.

Those tiny touches, definitely fish playing with the bait, went on and on, and eventually I had a 4 lb common. However I simply had to do something else, so with the match more than half over I went back on the feeder, but with a yellow wafter on a hybrid feeder holding a mix of micros and method groundbait. I have seen a very intersting underwater You Tube video showing that groundbait held better on a Method feeder than neat micros, so I use both. Around this time we had a short shower, but that was the only rain.

Mike in action after about 90 minutes. You can see that there is now a big ripple.

Should have done it earlier
In the next 90 minutes I had four fish, best 7 lb, casting a little short of the far bank. Dick didn't seem to be catching much, and I then saw he had changed to pole - a sure sign he was struggling. But he landed a fish from the margin, Later he told me it was a bream. 

Dick Warrener - fourth with 40 lb 13 oz from Peg 4.

Then I hit a strange-feeling fish - I couldn't retrieve any line after striking, and got the impression it was foulhooked - how do they do that on a feeder? What felt like a sack of potatoes kited round to the right, 40 yards away, and was almost up to the next platform before the hooklength unexpectedly broke. But I'd landed four others on that rig, so why it broke is a mystery.

Half and hour to go and I couldn't resist having another look in both margins, using corn and expanders, but never had a touch. Ten minutes left and another cast with the feeder brought a 3 lb F1. By now my tiny brain had worked out that I should have taken note of how Dick had been catching in the first 90 minutes, on the feeder, and done it much earlier. I'm sure I would have had several more fish. That may be a lesson that stays with me during the winter.

The weigh in
To my amazement I weighed in 35 lb 11 oz, which just beat Mike, and was only 5 lb (one fish) behind Dick, who eventually came fourth. Better weights came  farther down, in the wind, where Alan Porter on 9 was way ahead of everyone else with 105 lb, all taken on a Method feeder cast right across, using white chocolate-flavoured wafters. 

Peter Barnes - all his fish came to a feeder.

Peter Harrison on 10 was runner-up, with John Garner, in the corner on 13, taking fish, which included barbel, from several swims, including towards the end bank, against a reed bed. His biggest barbel must have been well over 4 lb. I have been told that several around 9 lb have been landed this year on Elm and Cedar, with a ten-pounder to an angler from Doncaster. I reckon some of those I lost last week must have been in that category.

Winner Alan Porter with his 105 lb 3 oz of carp taken on white wafters.

So I ended sixth, but was not unhappy, as it gave me a bit of confidence that I CAN catch fish on a feeder. Next match with JV is also on Cedar on Sunday. There's a temptation to say I will fish a feeder...but experience tells me I must wait until I see the swim. However, I must not stay too long on one unproductive method - at this time of year fish tend to stay put, and you have to find them rather than try to bring them to your feed.

John Garner with a very nice barbel from corner peg 13.

THE RESULT

2 Mac Campbell            35 lb 11 oz
3 Mike Rawson            35 lb 8 oz
4 Dick Warrener            40 lb 13 oz        4th
5 Martin Parker             25 lb 3 oz
6 Peter Barnes               29 lb 3 oz
7 Bob Allen                   12 lb 13 oz
8 Trevor Cousins          25 lb 7 oz
9 Alan Porter              105 lb l3 oz         1st
10 Peter Harrison         61 lb 12 oz        2nd
11 Bob Barrett              35 lb 14 oz
12 Peter Spriggs            9 lb 9 oz
13 John Garner            59 lb 3 oz          3rd