If this blog seems a little rambling it's probably because I seem to have been wafted into some sort of parallel universe - almost real but not quite. I read, now, that when I'm in a waiting room at Addenbrookes hospital, expecting to see my consultant, a nurse is likely to come in and not shout out "Robert Campbell", but "They" or "Him" or "It" (they are pronouns, apparently). This would obviously be followed by 60 people all standing up expectantly, followed by a five-minute consultation with the nurse and 59 people sitting down again; and ten minutes later 59 people would stand up when the nurse shouts "They", and 58 would eventually sit down.
The last scene pictures me three days later, still in the corner, reduced to a whimpering, gibbering idiot still waiting for my name to be called...
On top of that, according to some of our magnificent university student,s it's Britain's fault that some countries have anti-homosexuality laws (honestly); and now the Home Secretary has had to politely suggest that police investigate crimes if they can find the time between picking on little old ladies who drop sweet papers and can't bend down to pick 'em up. And only today I read that she is giving the police service power to sack officers if they turn out to be crooks!. You couldn't make it up.
And it's rubbed off on me - last week I reported that Spratts angler Joe Bedford was 95, based on the fact that I reported he was 90 five years ago, only to be assured, slightly indignantly, that he is ONLY 93. So I have knocked him back to 93, and it appears I apparently have the power to knock years off anyone. But be warned - I also have the power to ADD a few years on...upset me at your peril.
And so to Damson, on Tuesday for the Spratts match, where Peg 3 was my home for six hours. The early few pegs were flat calm at the start, while a little farther along there was a bit of ripple much of the time, and I think that was probably key.
First five minutes saw me hook a good fish in the margins, fishing banded maggot shallow, but it same off. Then, as often happens on Damson, I started to see fish come into the swim. But incredibly they all refused to take my bait, while sweeping up all the maggots I threw in. A quick switch to fishing the same bait down near the bottom, at about two feet, saw some 1 lb F1s come in. But sport was very spasmodic.
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| Jumping forward six hours (I can now do that) and Peter Spriggs (centre) casts a beady eye on the weighing procedure. |
As soon as Shaun had gone I managed a 2 lb carp, but it was nearly an hour before I had the next one. In between I had hooked and lost three or four, probably foulhooked as the fish were definitely hitting the bait but not taking it.
Then - a lightbulb moment! I decided I simply had to take a look in the deep water on a top three, and put in sweetcorn and hemp. No bites, but within five minutes carp started to drift into the swim from all over. I'm convinced it was the smell of the hemp that was attracting them. Another five minutes saw no bites in the deep water, so I came back into the margins.
Sure enough I started to catch the occasional fish about 2 lb on corn; then one on worm; then one on cat meat, and another on mussel, but it was slow going. Suddenly the wind changed and brought some very welcome raspberry ripple, and the difference was incredible. In the next half-hour I put more than 20 lb in the net; then, as quickly as it had come, the wind died and I was back to scratching, with occasional spurts when I might get two fish in successive drops.
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| Mick Ramm on peg 1 was first to weigh - note how small most of his fish are compared to those farther down the lake. |
Mick Ramm on 1, which had been flat calm almost all day, struggled to 42 lb 12 oz, while Shaun did not weigh, of course, though he said he had about 30 lb when he left. My final weight of 80 lb 15 oz led up to John Garner on 6, who almost beat me with 79 lb 5 oz. But Dick on 7 then took over the lead with 87 lb, and more good weights followed, and it seemed that the fish were bigger towards the far end.
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| John Garner just beat me with 79 lb 5 oz from peg 6. |
I ended sixth and give myself 6 out of 10. I did change bait occasionally, and had the sense to come back to the shallows when the hemp brought fish in. But I should not have wasted that middle 90 minutes for just two fish - the feeder rod was there ready to use and I just couldn't bring myself to pick it up! Two or three of the fish I lost were probably my fault - they were probably a bit bigger than the others and I held them too hard.
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| Here is John Garner's best carp - probably not far off 10 lb. Joe Bedford (93!) and his sister-in-law Wendy are admiring it, or are they trying to work out how to zip up Wendy's jacket? |
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| Peter Harrison takes one of his three nets to the scales. |
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| The result - exactly 99 lb and fourth place from peg 9. |
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| The winner - John Smith with 164 lb 6 oz from corner peg 13. |
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