Nineteen of us fished John Garner's annual invitation match, so we wished him, err, happy invitations (don't know when his birthday is). That mattered not - it was a day's fishing, and a chance to meet up again with old mates, though the trek along the East bank of Cedar (next to Oak) was a bit muddy after all-night rain. But Sean Reilly has put down some sort of ash or gravel, so it's better than it has been.
To be honest (as I always am, of course) I didn't fancy my peg to win. I would have preferred the first half-dozen pegs each side, as Cedar tends to fish better that end. But at least there was a small cut-out to my left, though when I plumbed up it was unusual - three feet deep next to the bank, and then it rose a little, before bobbling down to the deeps at about five feet.
The weather changed completely from the previous two days. Thunderstorms were forecast, but they never materialised and apart from steady light rain at the start it was a decent day, though the Southerly wind had East in it at the beginning, which is never a good sign. And I therefore decided to start very negatively, just dropping a 6mm expander down on a line just past the deep margin. Within seconds I received a surprise - the wind wasn't particularly strong, but there was a strong undertow, right to left.
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| By the time we had finished the wind had picked up a lot. |
So far I hadn't put in a single piece of loosefeed, and I thought I was probably doing OK, as not much else had been caught around me. So I took a chance and put just a few 6mm hard pellets and hemp on the original line to my right. The next hour saw three 2 lb-plus bream come from there. Some fish were just under the surface but whenever I flicked a piece of corn to them they hurried away. Other were swimming past leisurely, hand in hand, obviously with other things on their mind.
Next move was into the shallow cut-out, whhere I had a liner on corn, and then a 2 lb ide. An F1 came from a little farther our, and then I had a bite in the shallow swim. This fish shot out towards the middle, then went to the right and then did a smart about-turn to the left. Definitely foulhooked. And the next five minutes were interesting...
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| To my right, Mike had a big carp early on, which took some lifting! |
I walked up towards the next platform (it was vacant) where the elastic was pointing, and prepared to have a fish around with the hook to see what happened. The fish had obviously read my mind, because suddenly I felt a judder on the line and the bottom moved out. The fish was still on, and when I pushed the pole tip into the water it rose and I could see it was foulhooked in the tail.
I assumed it would come off, but held the pole (as you do) until the fish came towards me by about three inches, when I pulled elastic in. That was repeated, and repeated, and repeated, about thirty times, so eventually I was able to sit back on my box. By this time we were both knackered, but I summoned up enough energy to gradually pull the elastic in, lift the pole, and the fish dived straight into the net. All nine pounds of it! Biggest fish of the day. Lucky or what?
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| Joe is incredible - he still loves his matchfishing and he always has something to weigh in. |
No matter, cat meat took a carp, then there was a long biteless spell, and with literally ten minutes left I tried a mussel. Within seconds the float had gone and a 7 lb carp was in my net. Another drop with mussel and another carp. Why hadn't I tried mussel earlier? Back in and the match finished 30 seconds later.
I had clicked 38 lb for one net and 22 lb for the last one. Opposite I had seen Shaun Buddle take a nice fish or two, so I assumed he would beat me, and with Trevor Cousins having landed a nice fish or two very late I assumed he would beat me as well. I couldn't see properly what had happend past them
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| James found some good fish in the corner, but not enough! |
The journey back on the bank to the van was much better as the wind had hardened the mud. And by the time I caught up with the scales James in corner peg 14 was weighing in - just six fish for 33 lb 1 oz. James rarely fishes our club matches, but when he does he almost always frames, so it must have been hard. Top up to that point was Kev Lee from peg 1 with 113 lb 9 oz on cat meat, with most from the margins. Next to him Neil Paas had 90 lb 12 oz, on mussel.
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| A quick shot of Allan and his fish - obviously a wee bit too quick! |
Those first three fish taken without putting in any feed gave me an early edge. But I don't think I did much wrong after that - it was obviously difficult down at our end. I didn't lose any fish, so I give myself 7.5 out of ten. Probably should have had at least a bomb ready to drop in onto the margins, in case a different presentation worked. But when rain is falling, as it was at the start, and the platform is a little difficult (as this one was) my brain tells me to keep things simple. So I did. Having said that I have recently been going more by 'feel' than having a plan, and make more changes than I have in the past.
Next match on Oak on Thursday, if the bank is not too bad. If it is I expect Trevor will ask if we can go on another lake.
THE RESULT
East bank West bank
25 Peter Spriggs 31 lb 12 oz 3 Neil Paas 90 lb 12 oz 2nd
PS. I've been dog-sitting since this match, so apologies for its lateness. But good news for locals - Ben Townsend has qualified for the Fish O'Mania final at Westwood Lakes on Sat, July 27th.
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