Wendy hands out a walloping on Yew

Firstly, I have to report that my expected contribution to the enhanced pollination of British plants has taken place. I was able to release hundred of bluebottles into the countryside merely by opening my shed door, and how delightful it was to see them immediately settling on my petunias and geraniums before buzzing off into the surrounding fields to do their part in producing food for the masses. I hope the electrician who switched off my maggot fridge last week appreciates the honour which has befallen him.

And now to the mundane subject of my matchfishing...and mundane is am appropriate term to apply to my most recent performance(s).

Peg 3, Yew, Wednesday, Sept 13
Happy with peg 3 as the wind was blowing down to that end of Yew in this 16-entry Spratts match. Trouble was it was a North-easterly, and after the unsettled weather of the previous couple of days the odds were against big catches all-round, as experience has shown that the little rhyme which begins: "When the wind is in the East then it is the fish bite least" tend to be correct.  But poems have been known to be wrong, and hope beat eternal in Mac Campbell's breast as I settled into my office for the day.

 Bright, but the North-East wind was cool - not ideal conditions.

A good start for Peter

It was a good blow, with bright sunlight, but to be honest it was quite cold as it was slightly into our faces on the West bank. To my right Peter Harrison on peg 1, pole fishing against the reeds to his right at about 11.5 metres, had a big fish early on, and minutes later I saw him lose another. Then on my left there came splashing from Peter Spriggs' peg, and he was obviously underway. I was fishing the pole at 2+2 because there was a small slope onto which my rig would drift, using expander and then banded pellet, then it was back to expander, and after about two hours I had a carassio of about 6 oz.

This was all I could see of Peter Harrison, fishing long to the end bank.

Believe it or not, but that gave me  a bit of heart, as it was already obvious that everyone I could see was struggling. So I put on maggots and had a 1 oz perch. That was followed by six more, and I changed to a worm (I had brought them, as promised) hoping that if there were carp there it might sort one out. That only brought a slightly bigger perch, and cut my losses and felt I had to have a look closer in.

I had trickled corn into a spot right on the corner of the reeds, where the water was about three feet deep, and fully expected some sort of touch there, but it never happened. Around this time I saw Peter Harrison also fishing in the side and opposite, both Dick Warrener and Trevor Cousins changed about the same time. On peg 30, on the opposite bank in the corner, Mike Rawson had three fish on a feeder quite quickly and I thought I really ought to put one out...but I didn't!

Peter didn't have many fish - but they were good 'uns.

At last a 'proper' carp
Back out on corn, and at last a proper carp came in, about 3 lb, and I also lost a big fish obviously foulhooked. But the next two hours were fishless both on that line and near the reeds to my right,. where I tried corn, expander, cat meat and musell with just a couple of tiny liners.. Meanwhile I heard Peter Spiggs landing two or three more fish.

Ninety minutes to go and I started a new line on 2+1, in the deepest water, trickling in expanders, and although I had had liners on the other lines, I got none on this line. Then I started to see fish swimming into the side, which is often a sign that they are starting to think about feeding. Sure enough after I had got the bait just touching bottom I lifted it an inch, dropped it back, and the float zoomed under straight away. That was a carp about 7 lb.

More foulhookers
A few minutes later I had another about 8 lb, before playing another for a long time before losing it - also foulhooked as a scale came winging its way back to me.

Half an hour to go and I hit another fish on the deepwater line which came slowly in, just flapping its tail occasionally - I could see it was over 10 lb. But I couldn't get it over the net as it wouldn't face the right way! Frustratingly that happened twice more - almost in the net but it kept slipping sideways.

That corner on the reeds looked good, but produced nothing.
Then, about two minutes before the end, I saw a fish move
in the shallow margin only a foot from the bank. I dropped in for a
 few seconds (of course) but nothing happened. 😔

Then that fish came alive and started off along the margin, and I realised it was foulhooked. It made several runs up to the next platform and I had to put on extra sections to pull it away from the side. Eight minutes later the inevitable happened, and the hook pulled. I know it was eight minutes because I looked at my watch.

Final fish
Two minutes later I hooked, and landed, my third nice carp, around 8 lb, on a 6mm expander.

Back in and almost immediatelyI hit another, which was also obviously foulhooked. This fish shot off immediately, lit the after-burners, and 'snap' it broke the hooklength. I dropped the top down, picked up another which was set at the same depth, and dropped it in. But there was no miracle finish - just a whistle to end the match. Didn't know we had a whistle! 

Dave Hobbs, with 60 lb 1 oz was only ounces short
of being top weight on our Western bank.

The weigh in

Peter Harrison had seven fish for 53 lb while my five (plus the itchy perch) went 26 lb. Then Peter Spriggs weighed in his seven for 52 lb 5 oz, taken on cat meat. Those catches were fairly typical as we went along, with Shaun Buddle on 60 lb 11 oz being top weight on our bank. Everybody said that they had their best spells in the last couple of hours.

Over to the East bank the highlight was Wendy Bedford on 20, who had some very big fish. I think she had seven fish for 81 lb 8 oz, all on feeder and mussel, and that catch won the match. It was certainly the most popular result this season. Wendy has a bad shoulder and always fishes feeder. Congratulations came fromn all sides. As an aside her 93-year-old brother-in-law Joe, opposite on 11, had 47 lb 13 oz.

A beautiful golden common for Joe Bedford.

On the next peg to Wendy John Garner fished pole for 72 lb 4 oz and second place, but the rest was a bit of an anti-climax, especially for Bob Allen on 24, who never had a bite all day! It really was that hard.

Marks out of ten
I can't beat myself up about not catching three or four more fish, which would have put me in the frame, because the fishing was definitely difficult. But I should have tried the left margin more aggressively, and I had a bomb rod  ready - why did I not give it 15 minutes on mussel during the hours I couldn't get a fish? I should also have come into that near corn line on the right in the last half hour, giving it just five minutes, because if the fish are near the margins you'll usually get an indication in that time. 

But when the fish are nearly all between 8 lb and 14 lb just three will make the difference between framing and coming nowhere. So taking into account the fact that I never stopped concentrating at any time I give myself 5/10. I'm having a poor spell at the moment; next match next week on Willows, which can be peggy, so I'm half expecting another grueller. On the other hand I like Willows - perhaps it will like me!

All hands to the deck as Trevor Cousins lifts out his catch.

John Garner, next to the winner, had some double-figure fish in his 72 lb 4 oz second place catch.

Wendy Bedford's first four fish went nearly 50 lb...

...and this might not even have been the biggest one!

To the winner the spoils. Well done from all of us, Wendy.

                    THE RESULT

1 Peter Harrison        53 lb

3 Mac Campbell        26 lb

5 Peter Spriggs          52 lb 5 oz

7 Shaun Buddle         60 lb 11 oz    3rd

9 Steve Engledow      17 lb 9 oz

11 Joe Bedford           47 lb 13 oz

13 Dave Hobbs          60 lb 1 oz      4th

15 Bob Barrett           54 lb 4 oz

16 John Smith            54 lb 9 oz

18 Mick Ramm          29 lb

20 Wendy Bedford     81 lb 8 oz      1st

22 John Garner          72 lb 4 oz      2nd

24 Bob Allen            DNW

26 Trevor Cousins     55 lb 11 oz     5th

28 Dick Warrener      34 lb 12 oz

30 Mike Rawson       26 lb 9 oz

Day two at Grange Park

 Peg 22, Sun, Sept 10
This won't take long. Second day of the JV away-weekend was on Curlew. I've never seen a water quite like it - two inches deep against the bank; six inches deep over a metre out; and about nine inches of water at two metres. But the platforms on this lake and on the previous day's lake were excellent - five feet from front to back, four feet wide and solid as a rock.

Hot again, and the sun was in our faces on this bank, so no point in putting up an umbrella. But there were fish there - lots - and Lee Kendall had a bit of a preview, managing to catch one before the match, when it took his band! The fish showed in the margins seconds after the match started - fish to 8 lb cruised along, showing everyone their tails and stirring up the mud. But we couldn't catch them.

Ripple? I don't remember seeing much of that on Curlew lake.

A fish!
I had one fairly early which took a banded pellet on the bottom in about  a foot of water, level with the front of the platform, to my right, but the next two or three hours passed without incident. To my right Richard Linnell had the  (doubtful) pleasure of my company again, and he had a couple early and then one on a feeder. On the far bank Lee had started on a feeder to the island and I saw him land several fish in that first two hours.Otherwise everybody was struggling.

On my left Justin Hayes had, I think, a couple in the first half of the match and spent the rest of the time fishless. I had a look out in front of me in about four feet of water and somehow managed four fish in the next four hours on small cubes of luncheon meat - carp all around 3 lb. I had several more tugs that looked like bites, and am convinced that, as on the previous day, the better fish were just hitting the bait.

I got the impression that putting bait in did more harm than good - after the fifth fish, having had three in about an hour, I put in some luncheon meat and micros, and never had another touch of any kind in that swim.

Worm did the business
Richard then went out towards the vacant platform between us, with worm, and snared about four or five, also losing one. That convinced me that worm is a bait I should have with me at all times - so many of the anglers took fish on it when they couldn't catch on anything else.

Should I have a drink or play the fish? In the heat it was a no-brainer for |Richard Linnell - down the hatch...

...but it had a happy ending. Richard got his drink and the fish.

Everybody had the same experience in the shallow water on this lake - fish would be there but when they drifted up to out floats they took fright and swirled away. I tried laying on about 20 inches and briefly hooked one fish which might have been foulhooked. And right at the end I set the rig to six feet, laying it in the margins so the line was on the bottom. The float slid away once, and again I pricked something, with no way of knowing whether it was a proper bite.

Then half an hour before the match finished it started to rain, and I couldn't resist t6he opportunity to start packing away. Justin, next to me, had exactly the same thought at exactly the same moment. It's very rare for me to pack up early, but circumstances were unusual - the heat was really oppressive and the atmosphere very muggy and close. I forgive myself, and all the others who did the same! 😉

Dave Parsons tips his fish in - third place to him.

The weigh in
The top weights came from the far bank, where Andy Kelk in the corner fished worm for 72 lb 15, caught a little way from the bank in water  between nine and  18 inches deep, followed by Andy Bull in the corner at the other end of the far bank.  He fished worm tipped with maggot for 66 lb 14 oz. Dave Parsons was third, fishing just maggot (more food for thought). I wonder whether the movement in worms and maggots was attractive to the fish? 

I was told that the water was a foot down on normal level, and that the fish normally feed in the margins, but of course must feel more secure with more water over their heads. A pity to travel that far for not much - but spare a thought for Brian White and John Taylor, friends of Carl White, who had a nine-hour journey back to St Ives in Cornwall to make the next day.

Andy Bull - second with 66 lb 14 oz taken on worm and maggot.

My journey home

Carl White and Lee, who organised the event, announced the results and made the payouts quickly, which enabled us to get away in good time. I wanted to go via Lincoln and Newark onto the A1, but my sat nav took me via Gainsborough, which was OK with me as I knew it wasn't much farther.

But then she wanted to take me over the Trent at Dunham bridge. That was also OK with me...until I drove up to the bridge and saw it was a toll. Fifty pence to cross! Bugga that - I turned round and went on my original road to Newark, which gave me no problems and I was home in about two hours and 20 minutes, which is not bad for a van limited to 50 mph on all roads except dual carriageways and Motorways.

Marks out of ten
I give myself, and everyone else, ten for sticking it out. So another little adventure ended with my congratulations to everyone who took part, and especially to Lee and Andy for ending up on top of the heap, as it were.Next match with Spratts Wednesday on Yew, when I will have home-grown worms with me!

Busiest man over the weekend was Carl White, who had 32 lb 2 oz on the last day. Many thanks for all your work, Carl. It was a good weekend, despite the heat.

THE RESULT

Two days at Grange Park, Scunthorpe

JV club's outing Oop North. Day One.
Seventeen of us journeyed up to Grange Park Fishery, just South of Scunthorpe. I went up on the Friday, which is certainly the worst day of the week to try to travel, and in my case the problems started 400 yards from my house, with traffic built up past our village up to the roundbaout a mile and a half down the road. So a diversion was necessary just to get on to the A1.

Less than half an hour later, more problems. There was a six-mile queue going South into Peterborough, and just as I was thanking my Lucky Stars that I wasn't in that snarl-up, my side slowed to a crawl. Twenty minutes later, having gone perhaps two miles, it came to a standstill, but again my lucky stars came to the rescue, as I had come to a halt right beside a turn-off for Stamford.

I could see miles ahead that there were still problems, so came off through Stamford (slowly), Bourne (also slowly), Sleaford (slowly), Lincoln and so to my destination hotel nearly four hours after leaving. For the record, my Lucky Stars went AWOL at that moment!

In the usual manner, we had made no particular plans, but somehow we all found ourselves in the same Wetherspoons that evening, and the weekend began in earnest.

Peg 2, New Lake
The New Lake here was originally two, but is now one, with an island in the middle. A local at the bait shop told me all I would need was a top two, and I should expect to find the fish in the shallow margins, which was already the impression I had gained. So a top two it was, with banded pellet at the start. That brough a load of 2 oz carp, until a change to corn saw the odd two-pounder. On my right was Richard Linnel, son of the Peterborough legend Mick Linnell, who I had not met before.

Peg 2 - hot and flat calm. Best spot was against the long rushes to the left, but the
fish kept moving back into them! Green algae was swirling around all day.

Richard changed to a feeder cast to the island to pick up a few fish during a slow spell, and gradually the better fish showed in the margins for both of us. This lake produced 300 lb in the same event last year, with Lee Kendall coming second with only 280 lb-ish. The margins were the key, with fish being taken in nine inches of water right against the bank.

I had Mick Linnell's son Richard, who I had never
met, on my right. He beat me (like his Dad used to).

Unfortunately my margins had those big, fleshy round green rushes to my left, so I couldn't trap the fish against them - the fish kept going back into the rushes when I'd caught a couple - I could see the stems shaking around. The other side had two large clumps of sedge onerhanging the water, so I couldn't fish right against the bank, and I found only the occasional fish there.

However, fish around 2 lb or a little bigger, in among the tiddlers, kept me occupied for the rest of the six hours, with a couple on mussel. Later Lee suggested I had not fed enough, which I am sure was correct. Fishing the open water proved fruitless, but again it was down to my not having the confidence to do it properly. Afterwards I thought that I should have added two or three sections and fished towards the platform on the left, against the vegetation on the bank. But I still think bare banks would have been better.

Having the umbrella up to shield me from the blazing sun meant I had a pleasant enough day, though I doubt whether the temperature got up to the 33 degrees forecast. Don't get me wrong - there wasn't much wind and it was hot!  During the day I lost several of those better 2 lb fish; whether they were foulhooked I can't be sure. But boy, those that weren't fought like blazes! By the end I suspected I should have had a lot more.

Kevin Bell, on my bank, had almost 50 lb of really
 small fish in his total of 106 lb 7 oz.

The weigh in
Richard used worm towards the end to pick up some late fish and weighed 96 lb 3 oz, while I was behind, with 69 lb 8 oz. There were several other 100 lb-plus catches, but the highlight was Lee Kendall's catch, made on the opposite bank - 311 lb 14 oz, taken mainly on worm, within inches of the bank in only a few inches of water. I have a wormery at home, but didn't take any because I though the really extreme heat forecast would kill them. Last time I take notice of those pesky forecasters, even if they are pretty!!

Pete Molesworth on the next peg had 159 lb 8 oz, - a very good angler, showing that Lee really is in a different class to most, when there are fish to be had. Lee fed 11 pints of micros, and six pints of dead maggots. Round the corner Tevor Dew fished 2+3 in open water with 8mm banded pellet for 130 lb 15 oz for third spot, pipping Dave Parson by three ounces.

Sorry, Alex, but I'm dumping you!

Kevin Bell took a better picture of me and my fish than I did of him!

Marks out of ten

I give myself 5, partly because I'd not fished there before, while most of the others had done so. But I know I wasn't aggressive enough. I should have had at least 120 lb! I was prepared to feed more heavily the next day...

Here are a few pictures, after which we were all happy to go back to the hotel and get something to eat.

Lee Kendall takes out one of his nets.

One bag going back while Lee waits with his next net.

His last net. I think he is indicating that he came first!

John Emerson - it was also his first time at Grange Park.

Pete Molesworth - always smiling, but he had to be
content with second spot on 159 lb 8 oz.

Trevor Dew - third with 130 lb 15 oz on banded 8mm pellet.

Dave Parsons - next to Trevor Dew, and beaten by just 3 oz.

THE RESULT

Note - the bottom fell out of one of Brian White's nets as he prepared to weigh in.

Mussel wins it for me on Elm

 Peg 10, Elm, Tues, Sept 5
There were just two pegs left in the bags after the first 11 had been drawn in this Spratts match. They were pegs 10 and 12, and our names - Trevor Cousins and myself. How I yearned for 12. It's had some good results and it was only in June that Trevor had won from 12, while I was third on 10. I thought it would be nice to reverse them this time.

Nope - out came my name and: "Ten". I immediately made Trevor favourite.But what do I know? The water at that end was calm at the start, in the Northerly wind. But it soon swung round Easterly and we had some ripple in our faces. It was bright sun, but there was a bit of a breeze, thank goodness.

Flat calm before the match, but by the start I had a little ripple on peg 10.

Fish were showing in spasms, and I guessed Trevor would start by mugging them. But once the match started I could not see any, so I took a chance and dropped a rig with corn into the left deep margin. There was some shallow water inside to the left, but it was close to the platform, and even then it was a good three feet deep. The right offered a slightly longer area of shallow water.

Chocks Away
After about 20 minutes I had a knock or two and then a 6 lb common in the deep water. Chocks were away! In the first three hours I found another four or five nice carp and F1s  in that swim, and I now had 35 lb on my clicker - nothing in the right margin, though. Not a lot of fish in my net, but I didn't see anybody catching much else, so I waited patiently for things to improve.

Trevor's "got a few"
Then halfway through the match, Wendy walked along, past me and up to Trevor. When she came back I asked what trevor had. "He's got a few," was her answer. I thought: "Yes. I bet he's got a lot of few, as well!" To be on the safe side I decided I would start a second net with the next fish, as Spratts fish to a 50 lb limit, with nets over 60 lb disqualified.

Roughly at that time occasional fish started to show around the swim, just under the surface. I'd had one carp adding an extra section and putting the bait down the left margin against the reeds. So when a fish swirled there I added that section again and lay out the rig. Immediately the elastic stretched - a fish must have taken the corn as soon as it hit the surface. That mirror was about 8 lb, and ended in my net.

More fish shallow! 
A fish from the right deep margin was followed by two cruising together in towards the bank, and again I lay the rig flat in front of them, and again one took the bait immediately. And not long after that it happened a third time. That rig had a 0.5 gram float, with bulk shot two feet from the hook, and two droppers. So the fish must all have taken the bait without thinking. I had a shallow rig ready, but I never managed to pick it up before any fish that were showing had vanished.

Hemp and micros with a few 6mm pellets and a few grains of corn were what I was offering the fish each time in the deep marrgin, and it seemed to be working.

To my left, in the corner, Trevor lived dangerously
when showing me his fish after the match. A pity I still
couldn't get the fish pictured peoperly!

Fish in the shallow margin at last

Then there was a quiet spell and I dropped my three-foot rig, baited with corn, into the left margin only a couple of feet from the platform, and within 30 seconds a double-figure mirror took it.  I then alternated between the left shallows and those to the right, where there were two or three shelves, which made it a bit awkward. But I had the occasional fish there - and they were all over 8 lb - with some on mussel, so I stuck to mussel now.

I fished the mussel just off bottom, allowing the wind to drift the bait into the side. I am sure that the silt and muck that has built up on commercial waters means that often the fish don't want to  root about in it, and prefer food that is sinking, or at least not in the silt.

Eventually I took off my sweat shirt, so sat in a T-shirt, but was careful to apply sunscreen not only to face and arms, but also on the backs of my hands, which take the brunt of the sun.

A lost fish...almost netted
It's almost inevitable, with fish moving around all the time, that we foulhook some, and I did lose about three. One of them, I could clearly see, was hooked on the top of the lip, and I actually had it drifting in over my net when the hook pinged out. I lifted the net, half expecting the fish to be in it, but no - fish gone!

Bob Barrett, on my right, had all of his 46 lb 7 oz on a feeder.

With about 20 minutes left I was visited by Peter Maskell, former colleague at EMAP, who is the man who introduced me to mussels (thanks, Peter). He'd had an estimated 120 lb on mussel on Yew 2 in four hours (the longest he feels able to fish following his heart by-pass). 

Within a minute of him leaving I had a near-double-figure fish on mussel and then a foulhooked fish turned on the turbo chargers and took my rig, with only eight minutes left on my watch. Rather than fish around in my boxes for a replacement I picked up a heavier rig I'd used for cat meat (I think I had had just one F1 on it) and adjusted the depth.

I put a mussel on and dropped it into the right margin, again in the deeper water so it drifted into the side. I'd had several very tentative bites, most of which I had missed, and just as the bait hit the shelf I got another. The float sort of sank very slowly under, which is often the sign of a liner, but it stayed there, a couple of inches under the surface.

My best fish
I felt I had to strike and the thick orange elastic slowly came out of the end of my pole. It was slow but steady, and it kept going up to the platform on my right. Luckily I was able to add a couple of sections, and the fight commenced. I kept the pole low to the surface when I was able to, and eventually the fish surfaced and drifted slowly towards my net. It's not a big net, but luckily the fish went in head first, hooked in the mouth, and it was mine, easily the biggest of the day, with just seconds left.  Not enough seconds, though, to get another.

My very last fish was my best of the day at 15 lb 15 oz, but it was
 lively and proved very difficult to hold! That's my excuse.

I thought I had about 35 lb in the third net and as this looked to me to be well into double figures, as a precaution I picked up the fourth net that was lying beside me, dropped it in with one hand, slipped the landing net and fish in with the other, and hooked the keepnet over my pole sock. 

The weigh in
I had no idea what anyone had caught, except that Trevor had had 'a few' earlier on. But I guessed that as I had had three lucky fish shallow he would have had a bagful mugging. I thought I had about 35 lb  in the first three nets and that big fish of around 14 lb, for around 120 lb. 

 First to weigh in was Neil Paas on 1, which I know can produce good weights. He had 78 lb 12 and after that weights fell quite dramatically, with the next three totalling just 4 lb 6 oz. John Smith was the middle one of those - he had had four small carp but had put them back and packed up already. Yet in the June match on Elm he had won on 24 with 145 lb.

Bob Barrett on 8 somehow again managed to catch on a feeder when everyone else had problems, and totalled 46 lb 7 oz. I was next, and my first 35 lb net went 53 lb - to my horror - and I began to think, as Dick Warrener suggested, that the lost foulhooked carp I almost landed might cost me the match, as happened on Six-Island earlier this year when a huge fish had escaped through a hole on my landing net as I tried to unhook it. Because he said Peter Spriggs had today also got four nets in front of him...

Peter Spriggs on peg 18 had four nets in front of him, like myself.
He needed 38 lb in his final one to beat me...

My next net was 36 lb, and the next one went 46 lb. So thank goodness I had put that last fish into the fourth net. Out it came to be weighed - 15 lb 15 oz of it. John Garner took a picture, but it was still lively, and I couldn't hold it properly. Never mind - I had managed to put 146 lb 15 oz on the board. But Trevor was next to weigh.

Apparently he managed to mug only five fish early on, and then caught some down to the bush to his right - the area where Callum, a week or two earlier, couldn't catch. But Trevor's total was just 108 lb, so I was leading.

Ah - but Peter Spriggs was on 18. also with four nets out. After three had been weighed Mick Ramm, on the board, said Peter needed 38 lb catch me. I have to say Peter had been much more conservative than me, and he was stopping below 40 lb (very sensible). That last net was his smallest, though, and brought him to just 125 lb 8 oz, which had included barbel. John Garner on 24 had 64 lb 10 oz, which also included a barbel or two, and that left me as the winner.

Peter Spriggs found a few barbel, as did John Garner on 24.
But they are small, compared with what we were catching a
couple of years ago, and I wonder if the bigger ones are still there.

Marks out of 10
I give myself 8, which I rarely do. Afterwards I knew I hadn;t fished the prefect match, but felt I'd just concentrated on putting fish into the net, without worrying about what others might have. I was glad I'd takren frech mussels out of teh freezer that morning, as in this hot weather they start to deteriorate quite quickly. The older mussels I cut up and pur in - only a few, perhaps four halves at a time. Peter Maskell uses even less, he told me. And Callum judge puts in hardy any at all.

My next match is a two-dayer at Grange Park Fishery, Messingham, near Scunthorpe this weekend with JV club. Never fished there before. The weather forecast is for 30-plus degrees, so I will take the umbrella, and be prepared to sit in the van with the air conditioning on if I start to feel dodgy in the heat.

THE RESULT

East bank                                                                    West bank

24 John Garner        64 lb 10 oz                    1 Neil Paas                78 lb 12 oz    4th   
22 Mike Rawson        DNW                          3  Wendy Bedford       4 lb 6 oz
20 Mick Ramm        25 lb 10 oz                    5 John Smith                DNW
18 Peter Spriggs     125 lb 8 oz      2nd       7 Joe Bedford              DNW    
16 Dick Warrener    46 lb 13 oz                    8 Bob Barrett            46 lb 7 oz
14 Dave Hobbs        75 lb 4 oz                    10 Mac Campbell    146 lb 13 oz    1st
                                                                     12 Trevor Cousins   108 lb             3rd

Fun in the sun for me on Magpie

Peg 11, Magpie, Pidley, Sun, Sept 3
Many years ago when I used to fish the single National Championship it was always held on the second Saturday in September and it was always red hot. The Wisbech team used to travel in a bus, leaving about 3am, and we'd try to get some sleep, which always proved next to impossible. Sometimes we did well, such as on the Severn, when I got a round of applause from the spectators when I weighed in 7 lb of bleak,and sometimes abysmally, such as on the Oxford Canal, when I and several others blanked blanked and we came back to the bus so despondent that we could not actually bring ourselves to speak to each other. 

But it was the heat I remember, while in recent years I don't recall September being that hot...except that this year it was for the 11 of us that fished the Fenland Rods match on the famous Magpie lake at Rookery Farm Fishery. We put 14 pegs in - four on the island and then 1-14 missing 3, 6, 9, and 12. In the event pegs 1 and two pegs on the island (which I would have liked) were not drawn.

Bright sun and water like a mirror. Not the best conmditions for catching fish, but some were caught...

No casters for me

The end three - myself and 13 and 14 had some shade at the start, but the sun got round later, and there was no wind at any time, so it was hot! I'd decided not to buy casters, but to concentrate on luncheon meat, which I like fishing with. Each swim here has the bank cut back each side of the platform, giving a shallow margin. Because of the bright sun I decided to start on the left corner of the cut-back, where it was almost as deep as it was farther out.

From that moment it was a straight-forward match for me. To my right Dick Warrener had a bad start, as I did, but I fancied I could detect liners, so I stayed in that swim. Then a 5 lb carp obliged, and I kept feeding just the occasional few cubes and some hemp. To my left Shaun Buddle on end peg 14 started catching fish early, fishing cat meat long to a line of reeds to his left. On his right on 13 Kevin Lee also had a bad start.

Blank spell mid-match
It took me another 90 minutes to get about four more carp, followed by a blank spell. Dick had just a couple of small fish, so I decided to just put the odd fish in my net if I could. I have no doubt that in an Open the anglers would all have been blasting out casters and catching shallow, but I'm not sure I would have had the confidence to do that for several hours before the fish started biting. I had a very quick look at at 11 metres with banded pellet, but it didn;t feel right, and I came back to the inside swim.

Bites were so scarce that when Dick hooked a fish I dropped my pole
into the bankside vegetation and grabbed my phone to take a picture...

A change to the corner of the right cut-off, using the same rig, brought a couple of F1s on corn, and now Kevin started catching fish. I wandered up to him and he was in the shallow water to his right, a lovely-looking swim next to the roots of an overhanging tree. My margins were open, and I'd not seen any movement there, but I made the decision to have a look. The water was between two feet and three feet deep.

Fish in the shallows
It took a little while to get a bite, but I did find one five-pounder on meat in the left margin, I tried worm there and immediately got a tiny perch, so finished that experiment immediately. I then took five more on the right margin, on corn.

I had to fish the corn just off bottom and left it drift into the slope, where a fish would take it, probably having watched it move and come to a stop. That was what I imagined, anyway. Just dropping it onto the bottom brought nothing at all.  A couple of fish were foulhooked and came off. I had to feed something after landed every fish, and although I kept looking in the left margin I never had another fish there.

Shaun Buddle brings in one if his three nets of carp.

In that last couple of hours Kevin landed several more than me, as did Shaun, and Dick also started catching the odd one. I didn't know it at the time, but Dick's fish were smaller than mine. At the end, using three nets, I know I had a total of 13 carp and F1s. But I had no idea what the anglers on the island, pegs 28 and 30, had as I couldn't see them.

The weigh in
Well, Peter Spriggs continued his terrific run of catching fish with 122 lb 2 oz on cat meat on peg 28, with Callum on 30 taking 48 lb 5 oz. On the main bank Allan Golightly had 34 lb in the scum which formed there, and then weights dropped badly, with some catching no fish at all. Dick had 24 lb 3 oz, and I thought I might possibly beat Callum to go second. Indeed I did - 60 lb 5 oz.

Part of Shaun's winning catch, taken on cat meat.

Kev Lee included one or two much bigger fish in his 95 lb 12 oz catch.

But Kevin had 95 lb 12 oz, all taken on cat meat in the side, and Shaun pipped Peter to top spot with 122 lb 14 oz on peg 14, saying he had to keep dragging the bait along the bottom to get a bite. "They wanted it moving," he said. So I ended fourth.

Marks out of ten
I give myself 7/10. I didn't panic when I couldn't catch fast, confident that I was presenting the bait OK and would see bites if the fish started feeding. Really, I scrapped my way to that fourth place, and looking back was beaten by three better anglers on what were probably better pegs. So I was happy enough.

THE RESULT

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."

Above - the winning team l to r: Mick Ramm, Shaun Buddle, Peter Harrison. Shaun included 46 lb of barbel in his 114 lb catch - around 15 fish.

Left: Shaun, Ellis' son, with Peter Spriggs, overall winner.  

The overall result.

TEAM RESULTS

Somehow I have not photographed the third team result sheet. But here they are...

Oak 2      Bob Allen             79-4            2

Oak 20    Mike Rawson       27-0            3

Yew 10    Trevor Cousins    123-11        2   

                                        TOTAL            7

Oak 4        Allan Golightly        21-12        3

Oak 22       Dave Garner            71-15        1

Yew 12     Neil Paas                   101-12      3   

                                         TOTAL               7

Oak 6         Kevin Lee             87-05        1

Oak 24      Richard Deller       36-12        2

Yew 14      Callum Judge        131-12      1  (all on mussel)

                                          TOTAL            4