Fun in the Sun on Kingsland

Peg 1, Kingsland Small Carp Lake, Sun, May 7
We were late drawing for pegs in this Fenland Rods match, and then there was a traffic jam. On the bank. Mike had loaded up his trolley with everything except the plug for the kitchen sink, and then found it was too heavy for his motor to pull it up the bank to his swim. I'm quick on the uptake - mind like a rapier - so I unloaded some of my own stuff while I waited, and took it up separately.

When the jam had cleared my motor took the trolley up no problem, and because I was late I used that excuse not to set up a feeder or waggler rod I had with me. To be honest I probably wouldn't have done anyway, as the water was flat calm and the sun was out, and even when it went in it was bright. My peg was the second one in on the South bank, as the first swim was really quite heavily weeded.

Just like Summer!
Before the start I really started to suffer - it was really, really hot, and then we had a drizzle, and the atmosphere was all wet and clammy. Very uncomfortable. Then, as if someone had pressed a button, the rain stopped, air cleared and the rest of the day was great, reminding me of what Summer is like.

My left margin, which produced 50 lb on corn in the first two hours.
The only ripples were those made by the ducks... 

The problem on this lake recently has been the hordes of tiny fish, which attack anything put in the water like piranhas. So I started by dropping in a single grain of corn, into the left margin, about four feet. The response was instant, and within ten minutes I had landed four carp of 2 lb-plus,

The margins produce all day
I stayed fishing there on corn for the next two hours, never putting in any loose feed, and occasionally dropping a rig into the shallower right margin, without any bites whatsoever. The fish were all mainly 3 lb or less, and after two hours I had about 50 lb. The best spells were when I slipped the float down to about 18 inches and fished shallow. On my right John Smith, fishing a waggler, hadn't had much at all. I'd also managed to drop an expander into the mouths of about four carp which were gliding along the surface sipping in some of the unpumped expanders I'd thrown in.

Then I noticed a dead reed twitch in the right margin, and dropped in there with corn. A 5 lb mirror obliged, and I decided to try a 4mm cube of luncheon meat, to give myself a choice of baits. This worked as well, and more fish came from the right. I'd had only about three rudd and half a dozen of the really small carp, so I now took a chance and started to put in some bait. My first choice was hemp, and I added no more than six grains of corn or cubes of meat, hoping that nothing would be left to keep the small fish in the swim. 

John Smith, on my right, fished a waggler all day and had a good second half of the match.

The carp keep me waiting

Hemp brought fish in every time I put in a pot - though surprisingly it was never instantaneous as it often is. No, the fish used to wait for four or five minutes before they came dashing in, just under the surface. Now they started to get a bit bigger, and I had the odd four-pounder, but nothing much bigger.

There was a lull for about an hour, which left me with an hour to go, and I hoped sport would pick up, as John was now catching fish on cat meat in his margin with his waggler. I had had the occasional fish on cat meat, but I had more confidence in the luncheon meat as it is harder. So I carried on with corn to the left and luncheon meat to the right.

Peter Spriggs had bigger fish than I did. He totalled 95 lb 4 oz.

Disappointing

The last hour was disappointing, but I kept putting fish in the net, and the very last fish was 7 lb, the biggest of the day. I'd lost half-a-dozen fish on the Matrix 16-18 elastic through a short top, which I now love., and I am sure four of those were foulhooked, and the other two I lost holding them too hard. Every fish, by the end, had been taken on the same rig, fished on the bottom, just off, or up in the water, and always within a metre of the bank, except for the od one which I had mugged. The float was a wire-stemmed 4x14 Malman, and I like them, as they seem very stable.

I knew that I hadn't managed to keep catching fast all day, and thought it probable that several of the other 11 anglers had beaten me. But I'd enjoyed it.

Our new club rule
I was first to weigh. I'd clicked about 40 lb on each of my three nets, but I tend to underestimate, so I stop at 40 lb. The club has decided, this year, that we will still aim for no more than 50 lb per net, but will allow up to 60 lb, bearing in mind that somebody has to lift it and take it to the scales! I just hope I'm not the first one to start going a long way over 50 lb regularly.

The water was flat calm and sun shone almost all day.
Here Callum Judge brings up a net.

The weigh in

My first net went 48 lb 10 oz, and the second one 53 lb 6 oz. The final net went 50 lb 1 oz! Total 152 lb 1 oz. As the scales went along the fish being weighed in seemed to be bigger than mine - John's certainly were. But I still led up to Shaun Buddle, who told me he had had a purple patch of 90 minutes during which he had added about 80 lb. His fish also looked to be bigger than mine, but he totalled just 110 lb 9 oz. Next door Peter Spriggs had also had one frantic spell, but ended with 95 lb 4 oz.

However, Dave Garner in the far corner on our peg 7, had had a really good day. His fish had been small at the start, and then scum had drifted in, and immediately bigger fish turned up to take his waggler-fished cat meat, and he weighed  169 lb 15 oz to win. I ended second, and was happy with that as I saw a report by Ben Townsend in the Winter, on this lake, where he said that his fish were averaging only half the weight of the winner. And that has been noticeable in our club matches in the past. So I don't think I did anything stupid or wrong - I just caught what was available.

Callum's catch. He ended fifth with 102 lb 4 oz.

Allan Golightly struggled.

Dave Hobbs - third with 121 lb 15 oz

Shaun McKenna fished with us as a guest for the
first time, and quite properly he did not win!

This was the winner - Dave Garner with a superb 169 lb 15 oz despite the conditions.

Next match Wednesday on Willows, Decoy, and then Saturday on Crow Lake at Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley. I confess I had about 90 minutes fishing there today, so sort out some rigs, and I spoke to another angler who has a match there on the Sunday, and who also packed up early after trying several methods. Between us we sorted out our plans (!).

THE RESULT