Two windy days on Horseshoe and Elm, Decoy

 Peg 1, Horseshoe, Sat, Apr 23
This Fenland Rods match was our annual rover. The wind was forecast to start SW and veer round to NNW in the afternoon, so I had my eye on Peg 1. This would give me back wind in the morning, when I hoped to fish long and shallow, with casters, hopefully in some ripple. Then I would have ripple in my margins for the last hour or so. Lots of anglers don't bother about it, but I have confidence in a good Raspberry Ripple. 

Peg 1 hasn't had a good reputation in our matches, but I have always fancied it - end peg with lots of room to the right. I had fished it once before, I remembered. Even so I would have considered picking out peg 13, a known flier on the corner, facing South, which has won lots of matches on Horseshoe. But Mel Lutkin chose that and when my name came out peg 1 was still available, so I took a chance. 

Luckily the rain held off, and the wind gave me ripple in the margin at the end. 

Before we started, the wind was blowing through a gap in the trees, giving a ripple right across my swim, but Sod's Law then took effect and by the time we were ready to start the wind had swung a few degrees round, giving me mainly calm water for the first few metres out.

I stick to casters
Still, I kept to my plan, feeding casters out, but having a look with the pole on 2+3 with corn, just in the deep water, about six feet, which produced about some tentative liners, and then three F1s in the first hour. I couldn't see anything else being caught, and then thought I'd have a quick look out at 11.5 metres shallow, in the ripple. To be honest my feeding had been a bit haphazard, with the casters not always falling in the same spot.

Yet again holding the catapult with my left hand had been a problem, and I had often had to put the pole on the bump bar, to feed with the catapult in my right hand. This meant I hadn't been fishing the corn properly in the other swim, of course. I prefer throwing by hand, of course, but it was too far.

Great to see Mike Rawson back and catching fish.

When I went out with the shallow rig, pole on bump bar, everything fell into place, and I was accurate enough...but although I had an odd bite or two I think they must have been roach, After about half an hour with no fish at all I cut my losses and went back to fishing the corn. Two or three more fish came from the original swim,  but things were very slow, and I then started another swim to the right, about ten feet from the reeds, in four feet of water, which yielded a 5 lb carp and a few more F1s.

Fish moving in the reeds
When that swim slowed I tried feeding casters to the righthand reeds, about eight metres away, which gave me an F1 shallow first drop, but yet again (as as happened to me recently) no more. However there were fish moving along that side, and I concentrated there with corn and cat meat, and potting in hemp for the first time since Autumn,  and three good carp obliged. The odd one came off, but I think they were probably foulhooked, and the one that came in gently to the net and then shot off while sticking two fingers up at me most certainly was.

I am righthanded, so fishing even five sections right round to the right along the bank is a bit of a trial, and in fact I had to stop two or three times as my back was hurting. When that happened I went in to the big bunch of reeds just to my left, on a top two, and took two or three more there, best around 8 lb which fell to mussel. To my left Dave Garner had had six or eight fish on cat meat and waggler, which looked to be around 4 lb or 5 lb with the odd bigger one.. 

Fish in the shallows water?
Now I had read my blog before coming, and saw that the only other time I had fished that swim I had put the last of my pellets into the shallows to the right (about a foot deep) at the end of the match and tails were waving at us while we weighed in! So with an hour to go I potted in some dead reds, more in hope than expectation, and carried on netting the occasional F1 and small carp from the reed swims. The wind was quite cold, now blowing into my margins, as I had hoped, but I couldn't believe that fish would come into 12 inches of water with that on their backs.

John Smith on peg 20, which he had never fished before.

Dave then had a good spell with three fish in three casts, and I assumed he was beating me. Suddenly I saw a big fish moving in the shallows I had fed, and that was my signal to start there, with a bunch of four dead reds. I needed only a top two plus one, so it was quite comfortable for me. The plan worked! 

From that swim I took about five more proper carp, and a 3 lb F1 in the last 40 minutes, including the best carp of probably 12 lb. Inevitably two or three foulhooked themselves and came off. Maggots, corn, cat meat and mussel all took fish. Changing the bait after immediately catching a fish seemed to be the answer.

Shorter tops better for playing fish
Yet again I found that playing the fish on the shorter top got them in more quickly than on the normal top two, because it's stiffer and the fish don't react as much. By the end of the match I had clicked 36 lb in each of two nets and had added a third 'just in case' with 15 minutes to go, which contained two fish, but I know I almost always underestimate, and I thought I had perhaps 90 lb. Then as I was packing up Kevin Lee on peg 4 said he had over 100 lb, including a fantastic last five minutes when he had landed two very big fish.

Mel Lutkin adds up some weights. The club now has
a 60 lb per net limit, but we still aim for maximum 50 lb.

The weigh in
I was first to weigh - 98 lb 11 oz, and because I had taken so few fish in the first couple of hours, and had had a poor two hours in the middle, I assumed several of the others would beat me. Dave Garner's purple patch towards the end had come to an abrupt finish and he totalled 68 lb.  Mike Rawson on the next peg had done himself proud with 75 lb 15 oz,  but indeed Kevin Lee had exceeded the 'ton' with 135 lb 14 oz, his biggest fish being a beautiful silver common carp which we weighed at 14 lb. though it looked bigger. 

Martin Parker was late for the draw (battery trouble) and I had chosen peg 7 for him, which he said afterwards he hadn't done justice to, but he still weighed 82 lb 12 oz. Round the corner in the higher pegs Dave Hobbs had, according to two or three fishing near him, been catching all day, and would be next-to-last to weigh.

Dave Hobbs had a lot of fish, but most were on the small side.

Smaller fish round the corner

Shaun Buddle also had three nets, for his 99 lb 12 oz, beating me into third place by 1 lb 1 oz. And Dave Hobbs had 82 lb but it was very noticeable that round the corner in the higher numbers the fish were a much smaller average size, with few over the 7 lb mark, while on my side there were a several big fish.

Last to weigh was our leader, John Smith, who had never fished peg 20, and thought he'd try there, as it had a big wind on it at the start. His first three fish were all foulhooked, and he had the scales to prove it! But his 63 lb 13 oz was a good antidote to his previous week's return after the Winter lay-off, when he had DNWd. And as for me, I was happy that at least part of my plan had worked.

Shaun Buddle - runner-up with 99 lb 12 oz.

Incidentally, while we were fishing this match, a scratch Open, with just five anglers, saw a weight of over 400 lb from peg 8, which I had fished the previous week for 42 lb. Second was around 260 lb. The next day we were due to fish Elm, in the Spratts match. Guess which peg was favourite?

Winner Kevin Lee with his biggest  fish.

THE RESULT

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peg 23, Elm, Monday, Apr 24

Fifteen fished this Spratts match and, with only 12 pegs each side of Elm Lake, we had to fish both sides. My peg 23 is next to the end swim. The recent rains had really lifted the level, and peg 24's platform was underwater, so it was not pegged. The wind was a strong NNW, and cold, blowing into my corner from the right. On Elm the better swims tend to be towards the far end, so after the draw I didn't fancy my peg.

On the bank, the water felt dead to me, but as I tackled up I thought that perhaps, with the wind so strong, fish might feed at this end, though with 400 lb having been taken on 8 the previous day, that area was obviously favourite, and bottom weight was from 23! Ninety-two year-old Joe Bedford was on 8, and it would have been optimistic to imagine that he could match that weight, though he is still capable of putting together a good bag. But Peter Harrison was next man on 10, and he can't stop catching fish!

Forgot to take a picture of my swim (which was mainly water anyway),
but I kept an eye on Wendy on 22, who was feedering all day. In fact she caught only three.

Seven feet deep

I was amazed to find over seven feet of water in front on me, with just one tiny shallower section next to the bank on my left. I fed casters there, next to a tiny, sparse clump of reeds, on the off-chance that fish might move in there some time. But I started out on 2+2, which was the longest I could reasonably hold in the wind. 

I had one of my new Malman wire-stemmed 4x16 floats, and it was very stable in the wind. Over that I cad-potted in half-a-dozen 6mm hard pellets each time, with a 6mm expander on the hook. There was no indication for about half an hour, but then I had a definite bite which  I  missed. 

Opposite on 2, Neil Pass wasn't very busy, and I was happy, then, to get another bite which I also missed. A couple more followed, and then I hit a fish which promptly came off. That happened a couple more times before, at last, a 3 lb bream came nodding to the net. Two more followed, and then a roach, after which I had a look in the deep margins, about four feet out from where I had been throwing my casters. On 20, three to my right, Bob Allen had had several good fish, and I was way behind him.

Fish on corn

I soon hit a big fish on corn, which took me a long time to land on the 10-12 elastic, mainly because it was a big barbel of 5 lb-plus, or perhaps even 6 lb. I immediately changed the elastic for a stronger solid, and the next fish was a 2 lb barbel. Half the match had gone now, and when I telephoned my Dearly Beloved We Are Gathered Here Together, to let her know I was still alive, I was able to tell her I had a roach, two barbel and three bream. She grunted, but I am sure she was impressed!

Neil opposite had by now had a few better fish and was fishing the margins, so I had a look shallow in the caster swim. I had a bite first drop and a 3 lb F1 next cast, and then absolutely no movement at all. So it was back to the deep margins, where I managed to find a snag so big that my float was two feet above the water when I tightened up. Two rigs were trashed before it entered my head that perhaps I should not fish there...

Mick Ramm ended with 50 lb 2 oz from corner peg 12.

Changing baits best again

After about another hour, some good carp started to feed closer to me than I had put the feed (!) and, as I had done the previous day, I found that changing the bait after each fish was best, and I landed about four. I now tried the right margin, potting in hemp again, as I had the previous day, and that brought a 12 lb carp first drop. Two more came from there, on cat meat and then mussel, and then I hit a fish which played me for probably nearly 15 minutes before the hook pulled out.

I never looked like getting that fish anywhere near the surface, and frankly I was glad when it got off, as my back was killing me, and I had to stop fishing for a short while. I think it must have been a foulhooked, very big, barbel. However one of the previous fish, which had given me the run-around turned out to be a 10 lb carp, and I would have sworn that it was a barbel.

Mussel working

The last two fish came from the left on mussel, which I was fishing by potting in just two or three halves at the same time, and cat meat. Those last four fish I put in my second net all fought like fury, and they weighed 40 lb. I had several sachets of cat meat with me, and one contained small flakes, rather than large lumps. But the flakes were quite hard, so I put two on and had a fish first drop within seconds of it hitting bottom. I fancy the slow drop must have attracted it.

Trevor was on 17, opposite the famous big-weight swim 8,
but it seemed that the previous day's huge catch from there
had affected the fish in those swims. He totalled  46 lb 9 oz.

Sean Buddle said he had 70 lb and I thought I had more, perhaps 80 lb.

The weigh-in

Peter Harrison was top on the West bank on peg 10, with  152 lb 4 oz, taken on cat meat on 2+2 then in the margins. Peter Spriggs next door on peg 11 was second with 96 lb 6 oz. I ended top on the East bank and third overall with 89 lb 13 oz, ahead of Sean Buddle on 74 lb 11 oz, fourth with 74 lb 11 oz. John Smith used a waggler, his favourite method, in taking fifth spot with 73 lb 8 oz.

Some said they were absolutely frozen at the end, but I was OK, and not even my hands were cold.

Peter Spriggs, runner-up with 96 lb 6 oz.

Peter Harrison with his best fish, which we weighed at 16 lb 9 oz.

Me with my best barbel, which we didn't weigh. All the barbel in Decoy seem to be in superb condition.

Lessons learned this Spring

1) Hemp, I am sure, is bringing fish in;

2) Changing bait after catching a fish seems to be working;

3) Changing swims as soon as they fail to bring another fish is working on all waters;

4) It's worth going back to a previously-baited swim, even after an hour, without re-baiting it. I sense that some carp and bream are happy to rummage about, and may even prefer bait not being introduced on their heads.

THE RESULT

                                East bank                                           West bank

23 Mac Campbell         89 lb 13 oz    3rd                   2 Neil Pass             57 lb 5 oz

22 Wendy Bedford       21 lb 6 oz                               4 John Garner        30 lb 13 oz

20 Bob Allen                59 lb 9 oz                               5 John Smith          73 lb 8 oz    5th

18 Steve Engledow      17 lb 1 oz (net fell in water)   7 Mike Rawson     DNW

17 Trevor Cousins        46 lb 9 oz                               8 Joe Bedford        20 lb 3 oz 

16 Bob Barrett              23 lb                                     10 Peter Harrison  152 lb 4 oz   1st

14 Shaun Buddle          74 lb 11 oz   4th                   11 Peter Spriggs     96 lb 6 oz    2nd

                                                                                   12 Mick Ramm      50 lb 2 oz

                                                   

Next match is an invitation to a Police event on Captain Tom's lake on Float Fish Farm on Friday; then Yew at Decoy on Sunday; then Yew again on Tuesday. Captain's Tom is a virgin visit for me (the first for a while), while Yew can be quite difficult - big fish and the tactic is simply not to lose those you hook. The water seems to be very well oxygenated and the fish are incredibly fit.