Commercial Matchman: Ellis remembered - team event on Oak and Yew

Sat, Sept 2
Since my rant about being unsexed by the NHS we've had our garage and shed re-wired by an electrician. Previous owners had added various light and sockets to exixsting lights and sockets and the wiring system looked like a map of the London Underground. All went well EXCEPT (there's always an except).

The except was the wonderful sparky unplugged my maggot fridge to renew the socket and forgot to plug it back. I don't suppose he'd looked inside when he did it, but if he had he would have seen two pints of lazy, contended red maggots sleeping their short lives away. Twenty-four hours later, when I opened the fridge door they had transformed into a bright red, wriggling Persian carpet that covered the floor in seconds.

I didn't think to take a photograph - silly me!

I had no chance, really. Two minutes after I had cleared up (as I thought) hundreds more came out of cracks in the skirting board, from under the fridge, from behind assorted garden tools and others mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Time will tell whether I found them all...and no doubt Time will tell me I didn't! In a few days time the door will have to be opened late at night, when Wifey has gone to bed, and shut in the morning before she awakes.

The match
Peg 14, Oak
And so to the Ellis Buddle memorial, a drawn team even always very well organised by son Shaun, and it's always a pleasure to fish this event. Food and presentations were laid on afterwards, thanks to Decoy fishery, and everything from the weighing-in to the presentations went like clockwork for the 27 of us entered - nine teams of three.

Lovely conditions - mainly cloudy and later a fair ripple on our side of the lake.

I had a nightmare. The wind was Northerly when we started, giving our end swins calm water, but before the match started the wind swung round Easterly and gave us some ripple, and by the end it was a light South-Easterly, into me from the right - overcast, and the conditions were very good for fishing.

Fish in my swim!

Fish were moving all the time, and when I got to my swim there they were, in the shallow margin to my right. It was so enticing that I actually gave it ten minutes there at the start, but never had even a liner, although the carp were showing themselves all the time. So it was back to Plan A, on the feeder, which produced just a few liners from fish swimming into the line a few yards out.

Rod Melnyk in action, to my right on peg 8. He ended with 65 lb 8 oz.

Nothing there, so out to eight metres where I had been catapulting maggots, to try shallow. Not a touch. I'd put in hemp and some 6mm pellets there so fished a banded pellet on the bottom without even a liner. Then it was into the deep water just beyond the margins, next to the reeds to my left, with cat meat and corn. Not a touch.

At last a fish!

Into the shallow margin again, this time with maggots and at last - a fish! A tiny perch. At least I was getting bites, and had eight of them before I became a little despondent and dropped a bunch of ten reds down beside the platform. An 8 lb carp took that bait quite quickly, right out of the blue, and I went back there. Nothing more, though I tried mussel, worm, more cat meat, corn, and praying!

Hmmmmmmm. Foulhooked perhaps?

Halfway through the match and I had just the one fish but had lost a couple of others clearly foulhooked. Frankly with the amount of fish in the margins, waving their tails at nme, I was amazed I hadn't foulhooked more.

In the last three hours I tried everything again, managing to land one foulhooked in the deep margins, but losing three or four more. After seeing Shaun McKenna opposite take two fish on a feeder dropped into the margins I tried that as well, and never had even a liner. After six hours that was all I had - those two carp.

A last-second 'miracle'

When the shout went up to end the match I immediately lifted my rig out, happy to end a terrible day's fishing...and there was a fish on the end! A common about 8 lb, and this one (played VERY carefully) went into my net. Talk about miracles. I really had tried everything, and was sad for the other two poor sods who had been paired with me. We fished in sections of three and I was against the two on the opposite bank, who I knew had twice as much as I did. I would be getting Trois Points, but it might just as well have been NUL Points!

Richard Deller on the opposite bank, with a
beautiful common carp.

Kev Lee was one of many anglers from Fenland Rods
fishing in Ellis' memory. He had 87 lb 5 oz for second place on Oak.

The weigh in

Two anglers to my right sat Peter Harrison, and I had seen him catch several fish - he seemed steady all day. In fact, fishing mainly cat meat in the deep margins, and coming in to the bank for his last few fish, he won the lake with 150 lb 9 oz. Kevin Lee was second with 87 lb 5 oz, and my measly contribution was 25 lb 6 oz - next to last on the lake. The two opposite me weighed in 58 lb 9 oz and 54 lb, and that sealed my fate and my maximum three points.

Peter Harrison weighs in his lake-winning 150 lb 9 oz catch.

On Yew lake Peter Spriggs won on peg 26 with 157 lb 13 oz, mainly on cat meat but with four fish on corn, to win the match overall. There were several 100 lb-plus weights on Yew, with Neil Paas getting 101 lb 12 oz and coming last in his section of three!

Shaun McKenna, sitting directly opposite me
included two fish taken on feeder from the margins.

Peter Chilton on corner peg 16 included a big bream in his 58 lb 9 oz.

Dave Garner demonstrated his specialised technique.

Back in the cafe we had drinks, and food, and just one team had the minimum score of three points - Peter Harrison, Mick Ramm and organiser Shaun Buddle - three great performances on what was a difficult day (at least it was in my swim). They won trophies and cracking hampers of goodies. Made me jealous. Two anglers won the 'Lucky Pegs' draw (and I wasn't one of them, either). But I'm looking forward to next year's event.

Shaun 's thanks

"A thanks to Decoy for the trophies and laying on the food. And to Mrs Buddle for the hampers and to Wendy for the second 'lucky draw' prize. And a big Thank You to all who attended the match and to all there that helped on the day."