The fish were hot, and not really bothered, on Oak

Peg 22, Oak, Sunday, July 28
Oh, the heat! Now, I can tackle heat better than Winter's cold, but when Mel got to his end peg 16, in the far corner, and started tackling up, he felt definitely queezy. So he sensibly packed up, wheeled his trolley back, and went home, returning to us for the weigh-in 'cos he's a good 'un, is Mel.

That left Kev Lee as end peg, and he made the most of it, fishing up to the platform 17 on his right, and his first carp went 16 lb 4 oz! In the middle pegs on that Eastern bank, however, we were struggling for a bite, and several anglers afterwards said it was halfway through the six hours before they had a fish. Carp were motoring quickly around under the surface, though they were difficult to see properly - unlike on Yew, behind us, where the reflection of the far-bank trees allowed the fish to show up in their dozens!

I try mugging
Back to my swim (forgot to take a picture) and I tried mugging a few on pellet. Just one had a go, very close to my bank, and I felt the fish briefly before it came off, possibly not taken in the mouth anyway. When nothing else came to that pellet, tantilisingly dropped in front of many cruising carp, I turned to a banded caster, dropped into the area I had been feeding at 13 metres.

First drop in with caster, and the float sat sitting there, motionless. So I pulled it a few inches to one side...result! The elastic stretched out and I was playing a 6 lb carp. Five hectic minutes later it was in my net - foulhooked in a pectoral fin! And half an hour later that experiment also came to an end.

Mike Rawson, on my right, had his first fish within a few minutes of the start.

Still struggling
Next it was out to 13 metres on the bottom, and apart from a few surface-cruisers bumping into the float it sat there motionless.  Next try was out to the deep water on a long top two - same result on corn and cat meat - Zilch. Meanwhile Milke Rawson to my right had had two early carp on a feeder and I considered changing over. But first I glanced along the bank way down to my right, to see Kevin's orange elastic stretching out with a fish. 

Blow me, he's gone and got another one!

As Kev netted the fish it looked as if he was fishing about three feet deep. That would mean he was about a metre out from the 'tins' which now line Oak lake. So I went in there myself. After a fair time an 8 lb fish came from the left, on corn, also foulhooked! But they all count. Now almost halfway through the match and I could see both Kevin and Dick Warrener, on his left, landing fish after fish.

One or two fish!
The second half got slowly better, and a light cloud cover brought the heat down to a tolerable level. Cat meat and mussel brought occasional bites and very occasional fish to around 10 lb from the right hand margin, on a top three. And one more from the left.  But I had to bait with hemp and micros every time, or I didn't get a bite. Then a drop in right beside the lefthand keepnet, using my special method, saw two more come in on cat meat, though one of those was foulhooked.

The fish not foulhooked had come in pretty quickly for me - I've now got the hang of  feeling how much pressure I can exert, and when to keep a fish sliding towards the net without allowing it to turn round, thanks to Ben Townsend's tuition. But in the landing net they are so lively and more difficult to unhook. And today I was glad I had the keepnets a good three feet above the surtface, because several times fish leaped up vertically, and lifted themselves almost to the top of the nets before falling back in. I've never seen so many fish attempt that in one match.

ITMA - It's That Man Again (do you remember that radio programme?
If so you are even older than me!)

A late flurry

Now Mike had two or three quickish fish from his left margin, though he seemed to be able to get bites right against the tins, whereas I had had only one there - also foulhooked on maggot over a bed of deads! Then a late flurry gave me one or two more nice carp on mussel, and I am sure some bites I missed were 'proper' bites, as the mussel was shredded - so something had had it in its mouth. 

Seconds before the match ended yet another fish, almost certainly foulhooked, came off. I ended with about 11 carp, which I estimated at around 70 lb, having lost only two. Mike added one or two more but Dick and Kevin, down the end of the lake, seemed to have had a lot more than me.

John Smith with his best fish from
peg 27 - it helped him win his
section with a total of 72 lb 2 oz.

The weigh in
The message went round that Kevin had four nets in! And Martin Parker congratulated me for probably coming second (Spoiler - he was wrong). First to weigh in was Roy Whitwell, on corner peg 30, who had started fishing a pellet on bomb or feeder (not sure which) towards the aerator and found fish quickly. He ended with 127 lb 8 oz. 

John Smith on 27 thought Dave Garner on 28 had slaughtered him - Wrong again. Dave had 42 lb to John's 72 lb, and I thought John had probably beaten me, too. Three weighs later they came to me - my first "forty pound" net going 52 lb-plus! Then the last one, started about an hour from the end and not clicked properly, went almost 40 lb, total 92 lb 2 oz. 

Mike ended with 33 lb 14 oz, and I was surprised he hadn't had a late flurry, because he seemed to be fishing OK - perhaps not feeding often enough, though. Kevin told me he had to feed a dozen grains of corn and a dozen hard pellets before every fish. If he didn't feed he never had a bite. I found the same thing.

Kevin with his best fish - the first of
quite a lot from peg 18.

Down to the last two pegs and they both beat me - Dick Warrener had some lovely double-figure fish in his 108 lb 1 oz catch, taken on mussel and corn. But Kevin took top spot with 167 lb 9 oz, taken mainly on mussel, and we weighed that big one in at 16 lb 4 oz. Roy was second, and Dick third. That left me fourth - not a frame place (we pay only the top three), but I managed to nick the four-man section pool.

Back you go, old son.

Marks out of ten
Afterwards I thought I had done pretty well, with the top weights coming from both ends, but later I thought I should have tried paste, worm, or a different, firmer, cat meat, and I never tried corn again towards the end, when fish were in my swim but not biting. However I was chuffed I had those two early fish (though both foulhooked) while many others were still fishless. I had worked hard to get them. That made the difference.

I also took the trouble to bring out six different rigs, including the two shallow, even though it meant I would take a lot longer to pack up. But being able to switch from one rig to a similar, heavier or lighter one, brought one or two fish I might not otherwise have had. Also, I realised I had to feed before every fish, though towards the end I did have more liners.  So I think, in the end, I was worth 6/10.

Next match probably Sunday on Damson - my least favourite of the 11 Decoy lakes, though one on which I nearly always seem to do pretty well. It's a Funny Old Game. I will probably fish most of the time in the shallows - that is within four feet of the bank before it drops down sharply to at least seven feet.

THE RESULT

How about that for luck? Mel paid his pools, went home before the start,
came back to help weigh in...
and found he had won his section by double-default! 😂😂😂