Lots of fish down our end on Cedar

 Peg 12, Cedar, Monday, Mar 25
You know when life gets annoyed at you - it keeps slinging stuff in your way, making sure nothing goes to plan. For instance, my wife and I spent a few days at the famous Potters bowling center in Norfolk. We entered the four-man team competition, which meant we would be paired with two people we didn't know. Fair enough, that happened to a few other couples. Looking forward to meeting our partners.

First day there and we go to check what team we're in, only to be told that one team of the 115 entered had pulled out, and that was our first-round opponents. So while we would get a walkover it mean we wouldn't get the minimum four games expected. Just our luck.

Then we met the other two members of our team. A lovely couple...who play only short-mat bowls and had played on a full-sized mat only once in their lives. A bit like throwing someone used to  pitch-and-putt course onto a full-sized 18-hole golf course. definitely the two least-expeienced bowlers in the event.

A win!
Somehow we managed to win one of the remaining three matches, but were thrashed in the other two (in one of which our opponents turned out to be the overall winners of the competiton in the last two years). No chance with two such inexperienced bowlers in our team. Which was a pity because both my wife and myself are capable of giving even very good bowlers a game. 

Home, and I saw that flowers in our pots were wilting through lack of water. How can that be so? After all that rain? It must have been the wind drying out the soil, and the sun was now beating down from a cloudless sky. I've got outside taps, but had turned the water off and drained the whole system when we had the heavy frosts at Christmas. So I  changed into my mucky gardening clothes, turned all the outside taps off again, screwed the drain tap back in, turned on the water under the sink and spent 20 minutes watering the outside pots. 

A hour later it started to b****y rain! Now that really is life taking the p**s.

The great Cedar of Lebanaon Whittlesey
So on to Monday's Spratts match, on Cedar, where the West bank was in surprisingly good condition for the 12 of us, which was a blessing. Trevor Cousins was on 2, and since Cedar traditionally fishes best at that end I made him odds-on favourite to win. What do I know?

Peg 12, next to the corner. The weather was mainly overcast with a strong, cool SSE wind.

I was on 12, started on a feeder and pop-up, and within 90 seconds Bob Allen on my right was playing a big carp hooked on a pole in the margin. Seconds later Dave Hobbs on my left in the corner was playing a carp on his feeder rod. Minutes later he had another...then another. Fifteen minutes gone and I was 25 lb behind!

Hardly had the match started before Bob Allen on my right
was playing a big carp, hooked in the deep margin.

I had a good look and saw Dave was fishing an orange wafter, so I changed. First cast over to the platform opposite saw the tip pull round and I hit a big fish that thumped a bit. Then it all went solid on me. Snagged! Nothing for it but to wind my hook round the line and pull for a break; luckily all I lost was the hooklength.

In the next hour I landed three nice carp myself, but in the meantime Dave had had several more on the feeder, casting only three-quarters of the way across, and had then changed to pole fishing dead maggot in his left margin, where he hit three or four more big fish quite quickly.

A fish in the margin

A switch to corn in the deep margin saw a bite immediately. I was on 13 hollo elastic, which is a nice all-round elastic, but it stretches a bit. I'd been playing this fish for a couple of minutes when it moved slowly towards Dave, on my left. I looked up to see he was now fishing the margin, towards me. In an effort to stop the fish fouling his line I held it hard, but it yomped inexorably towards Dave, who suddenly struck, and his elastic shot out. 

Dave's first good carp, taken on peg 13 in the corner on a feeder with orange wafter.

I had fouled him...or had I? No. He was now attached to an angry carp and I came back minus a hook. Not a good start in the margin. But the fish were there from time to time, as I kept getting occasional liners. A change to dead maggot saw me lose five foulhooked fish in a row. I was not a happy Easter Bunny. Dave kept striking, and was now missing some, and foulhooking and losing some, but also landing more than I was, including a couple more on the feeder.

...and eventually it is in the landing net and ready to be hauled up.

The rain had held off except for a few spots, but the wind was considerable and halfway through,  I looked down the lake and could see nothing except feeder rods out with no-one on the pole. However towards the end I guess almost everyone came in to their margins on the pole.

 

A whopper
A  big fish hooked in the snout on dead maggot, on a stronger elastic, took me ages to land. That, and the tail, are the worst places to foulhook fish - but it showed me that the fish were attacking the bait without actually taking it in. Cat meat and mussel accounted for about four more, including one whopper of about 15 lb! And when the match ended I had just hooked a fish about 9 lb on mussel, using a version of my special method, which did eventually end up in my net.

Got to include a picture of Joe Bedford - 49 lb 4 oz
at the age of 92.

In the last 15 minutes Bob Allen, who had not had many more fish, went back on to the feeder and landed two more carp. But I had been thoroughly thrashed by Dave in the corner, who told me he had found a nice ledge, only inches wide, to his left, and had had most of his margin fish there, all on dead maggot.

The weigh in
I was surpised to see Trevor with just 33 lb 13 oz, and the weights getting better towards my end. Peter Harrison on six took the lead with 89 lb 1 oz, and then Peter Spriggs on 10 had 160 lb 10 oz, though he was 2 lb 12 oz over in one net. He took most of his fish on cat meat in the margins n the second half of the match.

Peter Spriggs almost won with his 160 lb 10 oz.

Down to me and I weighed 81 lb 1 oz, and Peter Harrison took my picture with that lump. Finally to Dave Hobbs,who, like Pete The Meat, had four nets in. As the last net was being weighed I wondered whether that 2 lb 12 oz that Peter Spriggs had forfeited would cost him the match, as this was going to be tight.

Bob Allen added the weights, checked them, and announced that Dave Hobbs was the winner with 164 lb 9 oz, and I took a picture of his with a lump like mine - it's not the same fish, honestly! Turns out that Peter's 2 lb 12 oz did not cost him the match after all. 

Me with estimated 15 lb lump.

Dave Hobbs with a different lump.

Marks out of ten
I ended fourth, and should not have come off the feeder when I did. But when Dave started to haul in fish from the margin I fell prey to temptation. And finding that fish were in the swim on that first drop (even though I lost it) meant I stayed on the pole from then on. I did rest that swim by going to the right margin, even though it was difficult into the wind, and in fact had two big bream there. My bare margins were a bit bumpy - I would have liked reeds to fish against. But I should have tried the feeder again occasionally, and I give myself just 5/10.

Nor sure when my next match is, but Tuesday Spratts are on Damson, and I expect to be there. 

THE RESULT

2    Trevor Cousins             33 lb 13 oz
3    Wendy Bedford            15 lb 8 oz
4    Steve Engledow           41 lb 15 oz
5    Bob Barrett                  71 lb 13 oz
6    Peter Harrison              89 lb 1 oz      3rd
7    Neil Paas                      69 lb 4 oz
8    Mike Rawson               26 lb 14 oz
9    Joe Bedford                  49 lb 4 oz
10    Peter Spriggs            160 lb 10 oz    2nd 
11    Bob Allen                   56 lb 4 oz
12    Mac Campbell `         81 lb 1 oz      4th
13    Dave Hobbs              164 lb 9 oz     1st