Two enjoyable matches on Beastie and Elm

Peg 26, Beastie, Friday, Apr 14
Tony Evans' win in the JV match last week, taking 200 lb-plus on casters fished shallow, in the margins of Six-Island lake, while facing a cool South-Easterly, set me thinking. I've been watching a lot of You Tube videos by Ben Townsend and Tom Edwards, and seeing their Facebook messages. And that convinced me that I have been missing a real trick by not using casters enough, even in this current cool weather.

Tony had the wind blowing onto reeds in his margin, and that's one of the points mentioned in the videos - basically if you're not fishing long, away from the bank disturbance (when pellets are easier to use anyway because of their weight) , then the fish need cover in the shape of vegetation, and preferably also ripple. So armed with a couple of pints of casters I sallied forth to Spratts' match on Beastie, to give it a go, but still wondering whether the wind would be warm enough for shallow fishing.

Here are two links to Tom's videos (copy and paste). In the first he focusses on shallow fishing exclusively; in the second he fishes four methods, including shallow with casters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrQVV4iL7ls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1FVLgvC6Tg

Willy's casters
Incidentally I hadn't got time to go to Tackle and Bates shop to buy casters, so I ordered them from Willy Worms, and was pleasantly surprised by their excellent quality - very few floaters. They are expensive after paying for postage and an ice pack, but for me they were worth it. Not necessarily moneywise, but results-wise.

My peg 26, taken during a lull in the rain. Wind was from the right.

Just eight of us fished - four each side of Beastie, and I honestly didn't fancy peg 26, which faces East,  for carp because, while it can be a flier in Summer, carp tend to keep in the main bowl all Winter. BUT to my left there were reeds, and the light Southerly wind had a little East in it at the start, giving me occasional ripple, even though the wind was cool. All systems go.

I flicked casters into the left margin for two hours while I fished out down the track halfway to the island. After a slow start this started producing bream around 2 lb to 3 lb, and one 3 lb F1. all on corn. About the two hour mark, with an estimated 35 lb in my net, sport slowed and I had a look in my banker margin swim.

A good start
Tom Edwards has one particularly brilliant video on You Tube, and in this he explains how he has several shallow rigs made up, from the eight inches now allowed at Decoy, every four inches down to 20 inches. I made do with just two rigs,  but as I use Connectadjusts I can alter the depth easily anyway. First drop at eight inches with a very small dibber, a 4 lb F1  hooked itself on a banded caster and I was away.

At this point I had already fed one almost pint of my casters and opened the other packet. Of course in Summer the top matchmen use more, but I felt that I was feeling my way in, and  wasn't looking at a massive weight at this time of year. It was all about doing thing absolutely properly and seeing if it worked. Fish fed confidently for about an hour - not hot sport, but a fish every now and then, and they ran to 4 lb, all F1s. Some fish came from about three inches away from the reeds. 

Bob Barrett shows the sort of F1s now resident in Decoy.

The deep rig also works
When the shallowest rig stopped catching fish I used the deeper rig. At one point when the fish appeared to have all gone I used the shallower rig and had fish again immediately - just as Tom says can happen. I wouldn't have believed that the exact depth could be so crucial.

The wind kept swinging about, which seemed to unsettle the fish, and there was a long spell of heavy rain, but I was enjoying it all, even when perhaps ten minutes would go by with only the occasional dip of the float, which could have been roach, as I did hook three or four. But F1s can be finicky, and I persuaded myself that they were still there!

Mick Ramm on peg 22 had some good 'proper' carp.

A good finish
When the fish seemed finally to have gone at all depths I went back to the long swim, taking the occasional bream and F1, still feeding a few casters in the margin, and coming back inside for the last run. This produced a good finish (about 15 lb in the last 20 minutes) and I had run out of casters just ten minutes before time. But I was playing a fish when the match ended. I had no idea who else had caught.

The weigh in
As the scales came round I mentioned to Trevor that I had not had a single common or mirror - it was all F1 and bream, with a few roach and one carassio. He told me that neither he nor Peter Chilton had had any carp either, and John Garner, who was leading with 79 lb 12 oz, had had only about three.

However, in the early 20s which have been providing a lot of the best weights throughout the Winter, Mick Ramm, Bob Barrett56 and Bob Allen all caught carp to double-figures. Bob had 85 lb 10 oz on paste on 24, but my catch went 103 lb 1 oz for the win. 

John Garner's biggest catch was this snag, festooned with rigs
 and line, which he managed to handline in from peg 5.

A very satisfying match for me, in which my 'plan' sort of came to fruition; and I hoped that the Sunday match on Elm lake would also allow me to use caster. I was able to pick up some from tackle and Bates on the Saturday, so it was All Systems Go...

THE RESULT

2 Peter Chilton         48 lb 15 oz
3 Trevor Cousins      67 lb 14 oz
4 Mike Rawson        DNW
5 John Garner           79 lb 12 oz         3rd
22 Mick Ramm         63 lb 5 oz
23 Bob Barrett          53 lb 5 oz
24 Bob Allen            85 lb 10 oz         2nd
26 Mac Campbell   103 lb 10 oz          1st

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Peg 8, Elm Lake, Sunday, Apr 16

I was very happy with peg 8 in this Fenland Rods match, as it's had a lot of good results over the years. The light wind was forecast to be SSE, which would possibly give us a little ripple on the West bank we were fishing. In fact for most of the match it was slightly over our backs, which was not ideal for me.

The start - hardly any wind, which was not ideal for me.

My left margin was bare bank for a few yards, but the right margin had a few reeds and I started by throwing casters there but starting fishing out at 13 metres with hard pellet. This produced not a bite, so I had a look in the left margin, where I had deposited some dead red maggots. Again, not a bite, and after an hour neither I nor John Smith on my left, nor Shaun Buddle on my right, had had a fish.

Yet again caster works

With sport so slow I felt I simply had to have a look in the caster swim, on a top three, and yet again a fish hooked itself first cast - a 4 lb F1. Two more F1s came in the next two casts, but then no more, and it took me about 20 minutes to get another, still feeding casters every minute or so. My  fifth F1 took another 45 minutes, and that was about the time Shaun had a good carp from his eight-metre swim.

Shaun in early action, when the sun had gone in  - you can just see his red elastic stretching.

My longer swims still didn't produce, and now Shaun was catching me up. A look deep in the right margin brought a 3 lb bream, and then, at last, a fish came from a 2+2 swim on corn. But things were very slow, and John still hadn't had a fish, while Shaun had probably overtaken me, landing some bream himself.

Then I had a torrid two hours while Shaun continued to take fish. I thought he was using mussel, and tried that myself, taking two more bream. In fact he told me afterwards he was using cat meat, and feeding only two or three lumps with each cast, Pete-Holland-style. I had another look shallow, with the casters, and in fact took two more, giving me a total of seven from that swim.

I lose fish

At one point, when I was out at 11 metres, a fish almost pulled the pole from my hands, but it came off immediately. Next cast I struck at a bite and the same thing happened - the fish came off, while the elastic, a heavy solid, felt on the harsh side, so I changed to a 13 hollow. Next bite saw me hit a fish which was certainly foulhooked and hurtled off to John Smith on the next peg.

Shaun had about three really nice carp - I had one three-pounder!

Deaf as a post!

Now John has even worse hearing than I do. I shouted to him that a fish was coming his way; he didn't hear; next thing was he struck at a 'bite' and watched as his rig slowly rose upwards! A minute later, having walked towards him, I managed to slip his hook off my line about three seconds AFTER the fish had made its escape. That short spell probably cost me a frame place. No more bites came on that line.

With half an hour left I started a new swim at 2+1 and took half-a-dozen bream in that time, on corn, plus my only 'proper' carp, a 2 lb-plus mirror. John, meanwhile, had managed to land a carp and a bream, but lost two more carp, and did not weigh. Shaun had a good last half-hour which propelled him into second spot.

Carp on tenterhooks 

At times I had seen carp cruising around just under the surface, but when I swung out the shallow rig to them they would look at the falling bait and invariably turn on their tails and scoot off. Others swum towards the float, realised what it was, and suddenly did the same thing.

Shaun included a barbel, which are doing really well  at Decoy.

The bream all had lots of breeding tubercles and the carp have all joined Tinder, so are expecting some hot action, even though the water is still very cold. Difficult weeks are ahead I feel.

The weigh in

Leader in the early pegs was Bob Allen, with 44 lb from peg 1, which  was a very good performance, as that swim often fishes worse than the other low numbers. Kev Lee on peg 6 had 53 lb 6 oz, with not a single fish from the margins, while Shaun took the lead with 104 lb 9 oz, and again he didn't catch anything at all from his margins.

I weighed 42 lb 7 oz for sixth place out of the 12 -and a "Thanks for Coming" - but I had taken several of my fish from the margins, including one or two there on the bottom, and I was happy with the fact that the casters at least took fish on a very difficult day.

Mel Lutkin with friend, on peg 11 on Elm.

We weighed this carp of Peter's at 12 lb 10 oz.

Actually, the day wasn't difficult for Peter Spriggs on corner peg 12 - he said the water was black with fish before he started. But a good angler on a good peg saw him easily win with 174 lb 5 oz on cat meat, and he said he lost 50 lb of fish. 

So no rosette for me, but I have been reminded of the potential of casters, and of shallow fishing, even in cool weather. Now I must again try something I am not good at - fishing shallow with pellet at distance, where my weak spot is that I am not accurate enough having to catapult with my left hand.

Next match Sunday, which is a rover on Horseshoe. I don't know which pegs will be in, or where the wind will be, but I fancy either 13 or 1. Lots of F1s on Horseshoe. Yummy...

THE RESULT