Bream to the rescue on Elm, Decoy

 

Now that's what I call a bacon roll, served up for some lucky blighter
in the Decoy cafe before the match. Not for me - I'm non-gluten (unfortunately 😢😢).

Peg 10, Sunday, June 4
That wretched North-East wind blew again, on Sunday, straight into our East-facing bank on Elm.  But I wasn't unhappy with peg 10, as it is in that favoured area around 8 which often produced good catches on this lake.  The sun was shining, but believe me it wasn't very warm. I'd looked up my blog for Elm at this time of year and found that I often get an early fish or two on the feeder, so that's how I started.

Bright and cold. Those cut-outs each side of my platform were horrible and knobbly,

with only a small flat area in the lefthand one; and the carp never came in there anyway.

The feeder with corn, and with maggot on the hook, brought some liners but after 20 minutes I turned to the pole as I had seen John Smith, in the corner on 12, net a big fish. I later found out it had been foulhooked, and at the end we weighed it at 16 lb 8 oz. But I could see him fishing down the margin, so I followed suit, assuming he had either hooked it there ir was getting liners.

This was John Smith's first fish - 16 lb 8 oz and foulhooked!

My first fish a bream
The left margin used to have an overhanging bush which has been cut back, but new growth showed me where it was and I plonked a rig with corn over hemp down there. It wasn't long before a 2 lb bream came in, and I was off the mark. A little later another bream of 3 lb came, from the deep water about six feet deep. I also tried right next to the reeds, where it was two feet shallower, but the ledge was literally only inches wide and I had no bites there.

Almost opposite, Shaun Buddle on 14 seemed, after a time, to be catching the occasional fish in his margin, so I persevered near the side. However when the wind died away a little I could see odd fish under the surface and had a half-hearted try at mugging, with no result. Then a 7 lb carp came to the corn, on a 0.25 gm float, and some time later another on cat meat, followed by two or three more bream, all around 3 lb. I walked up to John after a couple of hours and he had two carp, I think, and had lost a couple foulhooked,

Shaun Buddle had a steady day fishing the margins,
and ended up winning this Fenland Rods match with 123 lb 1 oz.

Nothing on maggots
Back at my peg and I put some dead reds down in the cutout to the left of my platform, where there was a very small flat area, but all I had there was a small roach and a tiny perch. I had to assume the cold wind on their backs stopped the carp from coming in, because although I kept trying there I never saw another fish. At one point put on an extra fleece.

Three times I had a bite but found myself snagged on the strike, presumably in the roots of the bush. Luckily I got the rig back each time. But several times I had a bite and struck only to find a piece of weed on the hook, and John said the same thing happened to me. How does that happen?

In the last half of the match another good bream or two came from the bush swim, and eventually I had a look in the right margin, in the deep water, although it didn't look as promising. However, what do I know? First drop with corn and I had a bite which I missed, and next drop a good bream came in.  Then a carp or two, and another bream. The rest of the match saw me take a couple of fish here, mainly carp to 8 lb and F1s, then another from the lefthand swim, though the bites were longer coming there.

A good finish
I switched back and forth, and the fish were coming quite well at the end - three or four carp in the last 20 minutes gave me a good ending, all on corn. But at least 30 lb of my catch was bream - about ten of them. And they fought surprisingly well. Every one had the hard breeding barnacles around their head.

Dave Hobbs - 42 lb 15 oz from peg 22.

Afterwards I began to kick my self because I think if I had put on heavier rigs I would have done better, as the tow was quite pronounced, away from the bank, directly against the wind. So it was likely that the moving water near the bank was moving the bait around, perhaps making it harder for the fish to pinpoint it. But as I has catching on the 0.25 gm rig I hadn't thought about changing. I really should have gone straight to a 1gm.

No matter, I estimated I had about 90 lb in the three nets, and had had a good day, but had no idea what anyone else had, except that Shaun on 14 seemed to have quite a lot of fish. I like that opposite bank, because the prevailing Westerlies have degraded the banks and there are some long, nice margins there.

The weigh-in
Kevin Lee, on 2 at the car park end fished his usual cat meat, in the margins and weighed in 119 lb 6 oz, which included a 15 lb 11 oz carp. Then the weights dropped off, down to me, where I weighed more than I had estimated - 102 lb 15 oz -  with John in the corner on 82 lb 1 oz.

Kevin Lee started proceeding by weighing in this 15 lb 11 oz 
beauty in his second-placed 119 lb 6 oz from peg 2.

Over to the far bank, and Shaun won the match on 14 with 123 lb 1 oz, all except two of his fish coming from the margins. I think he, also, fished mainly cat meat. Next door Dave Garner took 72 lb 12 oz on his wagglers and cat meat, but the last man to weigh, Callum Judge on corner peg 24, beat him with 80 lb 9 oz, most of which came from about four feet from the reeds on the end bank. 

So I ended third, with John Smith fourth., meaning that the four end pegs had come 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th. Next day was to see me on Six-Island, where peg 15 had done well in matches, but I suspected that with this cold wind the fish would be difficult to catch and could be found anywhere.

Last to weigh - Callum Judge, peg 24, fourth with 80 lb 9 oz.

THE RESULT