A coulda-shoulda match on Crow, but a nice day's fishing

Peg 14, Sat, July 6
Looked like I was the only person at our Fenland Rods draw who hadn't heard the storm during the night (didn't even realise the wife had got up and shut the windows letting in the driving rain). And the rain and wind had followed us, putting a big Raspberry Ripple on our swims on Crow. I'd decided to fish luncheon meat all day, barring a calamity like it not working! But it did.

This was our handicap match, with Kevin Lee, next to me on 16, fishing from scratch and the rest of us having a percentage of our catch added at the end. Our attendance had been reduced, with three on holiday, one having stomach problems on the day, and two-and-a-half injured. The odd half came about because Wendy Bedford, cleaning windows at 6.30 am (!) had a fall and can still hardly walk. Wendy traditionally goes fishing with her brother-in-law Joe, and they help each other and share a trolley, so although Joe (happy 94th birthday, Joe) was not injured himself, neither came.

By the end of the match the wind had (of course!) died down a bit.

The start

Although I had intended to start on a feeder cast to the far bank it felt to me as if the fish might be feeding quite well, so I went out on the pole, starting in the deep water which was on a short top + short No 3 + three sections - about four feet deep.

I was on the £50 Golden Peg, and was happy that very early on I found fish there, on a 1 gm float, though it wasn't fast, and the fish were F1s a little less than 2 lb each. After about an hour-and-a-half I had about 12, with Mike Rawson on my right on peg 12, having five.

 Back to the swim and the catch rate just wouldn't go up - it took a while to get each bite, cad potting in half-a-dozen cubes at a time. And two or three came off at the net - they fought incredibly hard in the high wind on my 10-12 elastic. Then the rain started and carried on for over a hour, quite heavy.

I was grateful that the fish were warm, because that was the only way I could warm my hands in what was now quite cold weather. You'd think it was February, not July! And the wind was unceasing. Another fish or two came off at the net, and two or three were foulhooked and they also came off.

Grey and horrible weather, but Kevin Lee is singing in the rain while playing a carp.

An early finish
A little over halfway through the match (which we were finishing half-an-hour early so those who wanted to could watch England play what is laughingly called football) the wind became so strong that both Kevin and I had to abandon the long pole line and come in shorter, about five metres out. Yet in the lower numbers Dick and Mel were still able to hold well out, with difficulty. Then Mel came up for some mussels and said he was catching well right out on the pole.

I'd found fish again on a shorter line, and immediately tried a mussel - no response. Perhaps the bigger fish were all in that deeper water. I soon gave up mussel and concentrated on putting fish in the net - all F1s except for two carp, best 3 lb. I lost some more fish while playing them, but since at least half of my hooks in landed fish were coming out in the net I had to accept that the fish were being hooked very lightly.

Kev's best fish - bigger than any of mine..

Nothing in the margin
A quick try in the margins, about 18 inches deep, on corn and meat, yielded nothing, so I went back to the middle swim for the last few minutes, although it was now becoming 'iffy' and I briefly had a spell when I was striking into obviously-foulhooked fish which came off immediately. I thought I had about 16 or 18 fish in each of me three nets, so probably 90 lb to 100 lb. Every fish had ben taken on a 4mm luncheon meat cube.

The weigh in
Martin Parker on end peg 24 was weighed first (his catch - not him!) and when the scales got up to me it was obvious that his 83 lb 1 oz bag, which became 183.96 lb when the percentages were added, would almost certainly win the gold Handicap medal. 

Roy Whitwell, fishing from scratch because this is his first season, found several fish on a feeder before turning to pole, and I then thought perhaps I should have at least tried the feeder early on. He had 82 lb 14 oz, but he was eclipsed by Callum, runner-up last year in our Championship, with 102 lb 12 oz. Kevin had struggled, and I wondered whether I could beat Callum and take the Golden Peg money.

No. I couldn't - my three nets went 95 lb 13 oz and the Golden Peg was safe. But on end peg 8 Mel had done the business with his mussels - 91 lb 5 oz which converted to 164.51 lb (I work it out in decimal places for ease) and took second place in the Handicap result. Dick Warrener's 80 lb came third, and he will receive the bronze medal when the  awards take place.

Mel definitely found better fish on mussel.

Marks out of ten
I was actually second in the match, so I can't be disappointed. But I do feel I should have tried a bigger bait like mussel early on, in the deep water. The problem was that I was putting a fish into the nets every few minutes - and that's so often the key. Also, nearly everybody else had bigger fish than mine. Allan Golightly had five big carp in the first hour, but could add only about six more fish in the rest of the match.

I lost two or three F1s early on, simply trying to get them into the net more quickly. But they were so active (presumably the water was full of oxygen). My best fish was a 3 lb mirror, and that came in in half the time of the smaller F1s. With 90 minutes to go Kevin was in the margins and didn't seem to be catching much, which was why I didn't make a big effort there. Even so I was surprised not to get a fish in the ten minutes I tried there.

All-round, looking at the result, it looks as if I did OK. But I do wish I'd had a quick go on the feeder, and tried mussel earlier. In the event every fish came to luncheon meat. So my plan sort of worked, I had an enjoyable day in the wind, and I give myself 6/10. 

Next match Thursday on Six-Island, Decoy, which I love. But with this topsy-turvy weather I have no idea which pegs I'd like - probably the old stand-byes of 8 round to 14.

NOTE: I announced myself as third in the Handicap results, on the bank. In fact a check at home revealed that Dick Warrener was third.

THE RESULT

                                             Match possn  Handicap possn                                                 

8 Mel Lutkin            91 lb 5 oz            3rd              2nd
10 Dick Warrener    80 lb                     6th              3rd
12 Mike Rawson     36 lb 8 oz              9th              7th
14 Mac Campbell    95 lb 13 oz            2nd           4th

16 Kevin Lee          63 lb 2 oz               7th           8th
18 Callum Judge    102 lb 12 oz            1st           5th
20 Roy Whitwell    82 lb 14 oz              5th            6th
22 Allan Golightly 44 lb 12 oz              8th            9th
24 Martin Parker    83 lb 1 oz                4th            1st   

A good marginal swim on Elm, but it's a close result.

 Peg 5, Elm, Wed, July 3
A nice surprise was in store for me in this Spratts match when I arrived at peg 5. It wasn't the end of the lake I had fancied, but it turned out that there was a nice shallow margin to the left, while some pegs on Elm have very little in the way of margins, or none at all. To my right, Trevor Cousins said he had almost six feet of water straight down each of his edges, while my left margin plumbed up at 12 inches, then a drop to about 3 feet, then a drop down to the maximum five feet.

I'd taken a feeder rod down to the swim, but never used it, as I then simply fancied having a day fishing the pole, which I started out using at 2+3 in the fairly strong Southerly wind, coming from the right. And it wasn't long before I hit a good fish...which came off after a couple of seconds, probably foulhooked. Then followed a 2 lb bream to a 6 mm expander, and then two or three smaller bream, and a roach. Very happy with that because I was at least getting bites, and I'd not seen much else caught.

An overcast day, with mainly calm water to my right, but giving me
a nice Raspberry Ripple. Lovely!

But then the bites suddenly stopped, and I had a quick look in the left margin. In went casters and hemp, and up came a barbel. Now I know that hemp and casters always used to attract barbel on the Trent, so in went a few more...and it didn't work! No more barbel, but a 3 lb bream came in.

A snag
I had a look down in the deeper water towards the reeds on my left, and promptly became snagged in a reed root. This eventually came free, but I lost the hook (a size 14 since you ask). Then a 6 b carp to double caster, and a couple lost, probably foulhooked. And halfway through, after three hours, that was all I had. I'd seen Trevor land a fish or two, but to my left Dick Warrener hadn't got much.

Slowly the carp came on the feed, and even more slowly I started landing them. The afternoon passed in a blur of lost fish - I stopped counting at 15! I'm sure some were not foulhooked, but those I landed were almost all hooked very lightly in the lip. I wondered if my 16-18 elastic was too tight for them, and changed down to 14-16, which ws marginally better, but I still lost some on  that. 

Carp on corn
A switch, eventually, to the right margin, in the deep water (I couldn't find a flat area in the shallow water) brought another carp immediately, to corn. which I was using there because I like to use different baits in each margin.  And I had a short spell of catching fish from there, including a really light-coloured common, which fought like mad and would nowadays be called (quite wrongly) a ghostie. The original Ghostie was not only golden, but had a mark on its forehead like a skull and crossbones, and they are still pretty rare.

When a near-ten-pounder came in, it threatened to leap from the 18-inch shallow landing net as I was bringing it in, so I changed to my 20-inch version. I also had a disaster when one fish snagged me several yards to the right, against the bank. I walked along the bank, saw the rig was hooked to a reed root, and managed to partly retrieve it with my long telescopic hook.

Twat In The Hat
Because I couldn't shake the hook free I had to lie on the bank, reach down, and physically unhook the hook from the root. In doing so I managed to either tread or kneel on my Number One section and break it. I thereby award myself the Twat In The Hat award for the second week running. That meant that I couldn't use that top two, which was a great pity as the purple hydro in that top felt the best of all out of the elastics I had been using.

On 1, Neil Paas found fish short in front of him.

Back to the left margin, with the 14-16 elastic, and I scraped around taking the occasional carp from there, but typically had to wait for a couple of minutes for a bite. Caster was still the best bait until, with half an hour to go, I changed to mussel, which they now appeared to rather like. But I was still losing fish. Two minutes from the end I lost another, then I hooked a good 'un from the right swim, and was playing it when the match ended, but it eventually resided safely in the bottom of my net.

In the last 20 minutes I had had the best spell of the match, with four carp put into my third net.

Corner peg 12 can be very good, but
it can also be difficult, and Dave Hobbs
struggled his way there for  69 lb 1 oz.

The weigh in
First two to weigh in, on pegs 1 and 3,  were Neil Paas and Trevor, who each had 55 lb. I estimated my catch at around 100 lb, and in fact the three nets totalled 100 lb 15 oz  . And to my surprise that was top weight on my bank. Round to the opposite bank and Peter Harrison also had three nets in, and that was sort of exciting. Because when Shaun Buddle had added Peter's weight up he announced that Peter had beaten me by two ounces!

On to the next peg and Roy Whitwell, in his first year with the club, also had three nets for a winning weight of 105 lb 6 od, leaving me in third spot. Roy took several fish on a feeder and maggot at the start, and ended fishing to his left, near the bush, with mainly corn.

Marks out of ten
I felt like giving myself about 4/10 after the match. But then thought that just one of those lost fish (probably about 20 of them) would have won me the match, and that I had taken reasonable advantage of a good margin. I had found that putting in just a few casters with double caster bait didn't bring carp in. I felt I had to put in a fair amount, plus hemp, to attract the carp up into the shallow water, and they soon dropped down deep, when I then changed to the right margin before re-baiting the left margin and going back there.

The one thing I probably should have done was to fish the deeper water to the left, but keeping away from the reed roots. But you can't do everything. So I think I was worth 7/10, and it was another frame - think it was my 15 th time in the main frame in the last 17 matches.

Next match Saturday on Crow, at Pidley, when I am looking forward to winkling fish out on the pole in the deep water (nearly four feet), then the shallower shelf and finally in the margins, provided I can find more than 18 inches of water there. My main decision is whether or not to start on the feeder.

It's our Handicap match, with last year's Champion (Kev Lee) fishing from scratch and everybody else having 10% added to their weight for each position below first. Pools and medals awarded on the Handicap weights, but points awarded on the actual weights. I have no preference as to what peg I draw, though the higher numbers down to 25 often appear to be maginally favourite.

Rain is forecast in the morning, from the West, which is mainly a side wind on Crow, from the right, and  possibly slightly behind us.

Winner Roy Whitwell with his 105 lb 6 oz.

THE RESULT

                East bank                                                 West bank

                                                  1 Neil Paas            55 lb 2 oz
 24 Mike Rawson       DNW                      3 Trevor Cousins   55 lb 9 oz  
22 Martin Parker      33 lb 4 oz                 5 Mac Campbell   100 lb 15 oz     3rd
20 John Smith          49 lb 3 oz                7 Dick Warrener      42 lb 5 oz
18 John Garner        72 lb 11 oz    4th      8 Mick Ramm         16 lb 9 oz
16 Roy Whitwell     105 lb 6 oz      1st     10 Shaun Buddle    63 lb 13 oz
14 Peter Harrison    101 lb 1 oz     2nd   12 Dave Hobbs        69 lb 1 oz   

 

I finish well on Cedar.

Peg 22, Cedar, Sun, June 29
Very happy that the heatwave had come to an end, but as a precaution I took an extra thick shirt, and a light hoodie...and I needed them, because the wind was in our faces and definitely cool. However I was Golden Peg, and on a swim I quite fancied. Unfortunately the grass here is so high (as an elephant's eye!) that I couldn't see Dave Garner on my left or Dave Hobbs on my right. No matter - a day's fishing spread before me. Martin Parker on 15 was second Golden Peg.

Behind us a visiting club from Kettering had arranged to finish at 3 o'clock, rather than the usual 4 pm. And I was told that some of our members had been talking about doing it. Finish just as the carp come on feed? I couldn't see the logic. Then I was reminded that there was a football match kicking off at 5 pm. Aaah, now I understood. But a quick check by our treasurer (and treasure) Kev Lee found that most of us weren't bothered, so we started at 10 am. for six hours.

For the record I would rather be fishing that watching England's mens team play football.  When I'm fishing I try to win, and show a sense of urgency, and I'm never bored while fishing, which is more that I can say about our footie team!

Behind in seconds
Forgot to take a picture of my swim, but I can describe it - reeds a netre or two either side and water in front. Then, seconds after I had cast out a Method feeder and pellet, Dave Garner on my left was playing a carp on his waggler. Minutes later There was splashing from Dave Hobbs' swim, and I could stand it no longer - in came the rod and out went the pole, to a short top, short number 3, and two more sections, which was as far as was really comfortable in the head wind.

Dave Garner, to my left, was in action literally within seconds of the start!

To cut a long story short, after an hour that had brought nothing so I had a look in a little cut-out a few metres to my left. It was an awkward bottom - it shelved down slowly to about three feet before dropping down to the bottom at five feet. But it brought two 2 lb-plus bream to corn. I perhaps spent too long there before switching back to the long swim and then into the deep water. The bream were really very warm, as all the fish were, even in that cold wind.

A barbel and two carp
Eventually cat meat in the deep water only feet from the bank, brought a 3 lb barbel, while Dave Garner said he had a bream and three carp, and Dave Hobbs had a bream and two carp (from memory). Back in my swim in the next hour a 3 lb carp came from the deep water, and after a long gap, a 10 lb carp which came in quite easily, from the bream swim, which then dried up on me (again). The strange thing was that I was getting tiny liners all the time.

I put on maggot and, as expected, had a roach. But I was certain that the liners on cat meat, corn or mussel, were from carp, so I plodded on hoping they would come on the feed. The wind was still cold, so I decided not to fish shallow with caster, even though occasionally fish came in close to me. Then there was more splashing from both Daves, and also from Kevin Lee's swim on 20. Halfway through and I had about 20 lb but was clearly behind those three. I had no idea what anyone else had.

Fish!
By 2 'o'clock sport started again with a couple of carp from the deep water on cat meat, and I had a look in the shallow righthand margin, only a top two to my right, and right against the bank. Here it was about two feet deep before dropping down a foot to a sloping shelf, and finally dropping straight down to the deep water. But first drop in the right margin, inches from the bank, saw what I thought must have been a liner. So at least fish were willing to come right in there.

In went hemp, micros and some 6mm pellets, and eventually I had a carp on corn! About 6 lb, it fought much better than the ten-pounder. More came from this swim, though I dropped into the deep water to my left occasionally to rest the margin swim, and another ten-pounder came from there. I then lost one or two - probably foulhooked, but landed some more on mussel. Dave Hoobs was still adding the occasional fish to his nets - I sometimes saw his landing net handle swish about as he sneaked some in with no splashing.  

Some of my fish came adrift, and I am sure most were not foulhooked - the hook pinged out as I prepared to net them . Perhaps I held them a bit hard. Half an hour to go and I'd clicked 43 lb for the first net and 35 lb for the second, and started a third, just in case.

Callum - third to weigh, with 75 lb 7 oz.

Last half-hour

In that half-hour I lost another fish, but landed three more carp to 8 lb. Dave Garner seemed to have dried up (at least his swim had), and Dave Hobbs and Kevin Lee told me they also had a bad last hour. 

Ten minutes left and I hooked a big fish on mussel which I thought I would eventually land, but it suddenly had the fishy equivalent of a glass of Guinness and came alive, stretched the 17 hollo elastic way out, and then it was gone! Rig trashed, I picked up another, heavier rig, pulled down the float, dropped in with mussel, hooked a big fish seconds later, and 20 seconds after that match ended.

Some minutes later I was confident this one would stick, but it didn't. Ping! I had lost ten, though I found out later I wasn't the only one.

The weigh in
On corner peg 26 Allan Golightly had done well with 104 lb 5 oz, and I didn't think I could beat that. Next to me, Dave Garner had had an horrendous second half (shades of the footie team lately?) and managed just 43 lb 10 oz. Shaun Buddle kindly offered to get my nets in. The 36 lb net proved difficult - and he's a well-built lad. But an extra heave helped put 52 lb on the scales (!) - I must have forgotten to click a big fish. Those screw-in clickers may be expensive, but if one was on a front leg of my box I could hardly miss it, could I? Food for thought.

Former chairman John Smith with a typical
 Cedar common, around  8 lb, from peg 17.

My 43 lb net was weighed at 48 lb, and the last three fish went 19 lb,  giving me a total of 118 lb 15 oz. Dave Hobbs next door had clicked 103 lb (on one of those screw-in clickers) so he is better at that than me - he ended with 108 lb 13 oz. But Kevin Lee on 20 had eclipsed all of us, as he so often does, with 163 lb 14 oz which would obviously win. The only other 100 lb-plus weight was from Shaun in corner peg 14 - 105 lb 12 oz.

So I was second, and the Golden Peg money was safe. Unusually, the top three weights were all in section 20-22, with three main prizes. So as chairman I made the executive decision that after the other sections were paid out the money would go to the next top weight ,which was Martin Parker - some slight consolation for the fact that when I went to book my place in the Angling Trust Veteran's National (with Martin also preparing to do the same) the site showed: SOLD OUT. That was b****y annoying, as the closing date is July 12, and there are plenty of pegs on Tunnel Barn.

Former Vets National Champ, Martin Parker,
with 89 lb 2 oz.  He does incredibly well,
considering he has only one eye.

Marks out of ten

I was pleased I switched swims more quickly than I often do. I found that allowing the mussel to fall naturally in two feet of water, with all shot under the tiny float, seemed to bring more bites. I was confident that eventually the carp, which were giving liners all day, would eventually take the bait properly. And if I hadn't lost as many fish as I did I might have challenged Kev for first place. 

I think that perhaps loose-fed casters did help bring the carp in, and hold them. So 8/10, with the added comment that I am a twat for leaving my nets, keepnet bar, and a bait holdall beside my van, forgotten about as I handed out the section winnings.Thanks, Dave Hobbs, for rescuing them. I trust there's nothing in the bait bag that will go off and start smelling, though I wouldn't bank on it! Next match Wednesday on Elm, where traditionally peg 8 or opposite on 17 may be the favoured area. Peg 12 in the corner also has form.

THE RESULT

Sections were 14-16, 17-19, 20-22, and 23-26. Martin won a
section prize  because all top three were in the same section.
Kev Lee  and Mel Lutkin swapped swims before
the start because Mel's platform wasn't ideal for his chair.

An abysmal result while melting on Yew

Peg 16, Yew, Tues, June 25
Fate played me a trick at the draw for this Spratts club match. My name was first out of the bag, and before my peg was drawn Bob Allen asked: "What peg, Mac?" I replied, without thinking: "Sixteen".

Into the other bag dived Trevor (just his hand, not his whole body) and came up with: 16! Why did I tempt Fate like that? It's the longest walk, and the heat was already burning us up. Sixteen is a good peg (even I have won from it) but on a day like that I don't think it really gave any advantage.

When I got there the corner was completely filled with cut reeds, and actually I quite fancied it, because I had casters, and thought there might be carp under the floating reeds. There were carp all over the swim, drifting just under the surface, no naturally I tried mugging some (I had three shallow rigs ready). Not a chance, they either ignored the corn skin, pellet or caster, or had a look and turned slowly away.

It was HOT, with the corner completely filled with floating reeds,
which I thought would be holding fish galore!

Casters for me
Next I catapulted casters out to the edge of the floating reeds, fishing a banded caster shallow, and after a fair while I had a 2 lb F1. That was followed by several rudd around 2 oz each. Then a bottom bait of two catsers brought a 5 lb carp, but only the one.

Out to 2+2 in front, where I found a hard bottom in about five feet of water, and in the next three hours I managed to land three barbel, a 3 lb tench and half-a-dozen more F1s, plus two carp around 6 lb. I also lost two big carp, definitely foulhooked. With an hour to go the fish which had been basically sunbathing atarted to become more animated, and they started swimming a bit faster, coming towards the margins. I hoped they would drop down and feed so tried cat meat and mussel both sides, but never had even a liner. Ten minutes left and I went back out and had the last fish - a 2 lb tench.

It was a superb performance from Trevor in the heat -
260 lb 13 oz, all taken mugging on a long pole. 

The weigh in
Trevor Cousins on peg 25, towards the car perk end, absolutely blitzed it with 260 lb 13 oz, every fish taken mugging with a pellet on a long pole. By the end he was absolutely cream-crackered. And then I thought that I should probably have tried it when the fish started moving about towards the end. Second and third went to Peter Harrison and Dave Hobbs who had 153 lb 5 oz and 148 lb 13 oz, also taken mugging.

My measly catch, all taken on two casters, went 49 lb 4 oz, which placed me sixth out of the 12. 

Marks out of ten
Probably worth 4. I love fishing shallow, and when I asked Trevor what he'd had at the start he told me he had had only an F1 in the first 30 minutes. So if I had tried mugging farther out for longer I guess I would have had some of those cruising carp. But that first ten minutes, trying to mug fish close-in, put me off. 

Didn't like the heat, which didn't adversely affect me, but it did affect my phone, which stopped working and gave me the message that it was overheating. So I put it in my cool bag with the casters and cat meat and that cooled it down. I hope the temperature drops by my next match, on Sunday, on Cedar.

THE RESULT

28 Martin Parker         43 lb 14 oz

27 Mike Rawson        DNW

26 John Smith             26 lb 6 oz

25 Trevor Cousins     260 lb 13 oz     1st

24 Steve Engledow    DNW

23 John Garner           12 lb 13 oz

22 Bob Allen              54 lb 1 oz

21 Kevin Lee               84 lb 7 oz       4th

20 Dave Hobbs        148 lb 13 oz      3rd

19 Mike Ramm          16 lb 2 oz

18 Peter Harrison     153 lb 5 oz        2nd

17 Neil Paas               32 lb 1 oz

16 Mac Campbell       49 lb 4 oz 

The heat hits us all on Magpie

Peg 27, Magpie, Pidley, Sat, June 22
Summer had arrived at last, and I chose peg 27 on Magpie because acccording to Tim Bates in the shop "The bay is solid with fish" and I fancied using casters shallow next to the lillies. I was full of optimism, and my bait bags were full of casters, but the b*****y fish had gone on holiday! In the words of Victor Meldrew I Didn't Believe It.

This was Fenland Rods' annual rover, and my name came out fairly well down in the choosing order. Famous peg 36 had gone to Mike Rawson and 19, which has been yielding big catches to 14-metre poles fished shallow to the far-bank reeds, went to Callum. We had been given pegs 14 to 27 plus 35 and 36, and I had walked along the previous day, quite fancying the lower numbers for their margins. But I needed to practice fishing casters, and plumped for 27, which was also the shortest walk from my van. Given the heat during the day that turned out to be a bonus.

Not a lot of Raspberry Ripple on this part of Magpie Lake!

I start shallow

Afterwards I was pleased I did it 'properly'. I had two shallow banded rigs out (I use Connectadjusts, so can alter the depth at will), plus a left margin rig and a right margin rig, and a stronger meat rig. The bottom in front of me was so soft I ruled that out immediately. So I started caster shallow, catapulting casters to one of the lily pads because they were too far for me to throw casters in the light wind.

Fishing to the nearest lillies was out of the question, because you need to srike sideways at 90 degrees and hold the fish. So I had to go out to about eight metres, where fish were humping the lillies about.

The first fish, after about 45 minutes, was a small rudd. Lots of minutes later came the first carp - a near-5 lb common. I had Matrix Slik 18-20 in, and this  was just powerful enough to keep the fish out of the lillies, even though it was hooked only inches away from them. It's the elastic Ben Townsend recommended in a You Tube video taken on peg 36.

Lots of more minutes later an F1 took the banded caster, and ages after that, came another F1. Then I actually saw a carp hanging under a lily leaf, just sucking it, and hanging there for several minutes. It obviously wasn't interested in feeding on any bait I could offer.

Mike Rawson playing one of his fish, taken in the margins of peg 36.

The halfway point

The match was now halfway through and with those four fish in my net, and my casters almost two pints lighter, I wandered up to Allan Golightly on 26 to see how he was faring in the heat. He had three, whilst Bob Allen, on his right was still blanking. 

In fact the only person I had seen landing a few was Mike Rawson, to my left on the island peg 36, and I reckoned he had half-a-dozen. That was the moment I decided that I simply had to have a look in the margins, and the response was almost immediate - two big fish hooked...and lost. Probably foulhooked. In the next hour I had a couple of F1s on corn, but after losing more foulhooked I altered tack completely.

Cracked it! 😁
I put on a 4mm cube of luncheon meat and dropped in down right beside the marginal reeds to my right, which had been twitching occasionally. First drop, and a 3 lb carp took the bait...in its mouth. Soon after, another came in. Bingo. Cracked it! No more there so I went to my left and dropped the bait down right beside the reeds there and Lo and Behold two F1s came out. All without putting in a single piece of loosefeed.

But all good things come to an end and after a long biteless session I came back to where I had foulhooked, and lost, the first two. Same thing happened - in went some pieces of meat and a few micros and some hemp, and the fish were there within a minute. 

Nightmare
A couple more came in, but then I had the Ultimate Nightmare: I hooked about 16 fish...and landed just one! I am sure that three or four were properly hooked, but they were fighting like tigers, and with the fish almost ready for netting the hooks kept pinging out. Afterwards several other told me that had happened to them - we reckon they were just hooked on the outisde of the mouth.

Dave Garner - back in action after an
operation on his back - 32 lb 3 oz.

A good last 20 minutes

Meanwhile Mike was still landing the occasional fish, and was way ahead of me. Then, with 20 minutes left, things changed. Three fish in three drops, all on meat, and all landed. Five minutes left and I drop in, get a bite, strike, and the fish screeches away into the nearest lillies only six feet away. And I am snagged. That was the end of my match, the worst possible end, of course, because that fish was lost, as was my rig. The only time a fish had taken me into the lillies.

The weigh in
The heat was now pretty intense, but two liberally-applied doses of suncream had kept my bare arms, and my face, from any sunburn. First to weigh was Dave Garner, on 35, only a short hop away from me, and I reckon he did well, using only his waggler, to get 32 lb 3 oz, because all his fish would have taken a stationary bait on the bottom, while I had to keep lifting my bait to get a bite.

Mike Rawson  on 36 had bigger fish than me.

On 36 Mike Rawson beat that with 34 lb 13 oz taken in the margins - another good catch in quite a good run he's been having. And when my three nets (catches are split at Pidley) went 37 lb 2 oz and Allan on 26 had 32 lb I actually felt a little sad that I was top weight in that four-peg section, and not Mike. (But only a little!)

Round to Bob Allen and he, also, was in the 30s with 35 lb 11 oz, Joe next door (aged 93) had stuck it out for 18 lb 9 oz, but his sister-in-law Wendy had not had a bite on her feeder. Things were looking dire. Dick Warrener had one carp and some 'bits', but then we came to Martin Parker, in the narrows.

Martin had cast a Preston ICS bomb with a banded 8mm pellet to the far bank and had had six fish in the first couple of hours. Then he put out paste on a pole and first drop had a carp. Naturally that meant he stayed on the pole for a long time - too long in fact, because he had one bite in the next couple of hours, which he missed. And it wasn't until Dick next door asked why he hadn't stayed on the bomb that he went back to it.

Joe (93) stuck it out to the end in the incessant heat for 18 lb 9 oz.

That move back to rod and line proved decisive and he ended up with 77 lb 9 oz. Callum on 19 was another in the 30s - 35 lb 3 oz, but Kevin Lee on 17 found fish out in front on paste and ended with 70 lb 1 oz. Then yet another '30' came to the scales - Mel Lutkin with 34 lb 4 oz, and last to weigh was Dave Hobbs, who had some ripple on end peg 14. I fully expected that Dave had caught well, but no - he struggled to 36 lb 10 oz.

Kevin Lee - runner up.

Callum Judge - almost beat me.

Dave Hobbs was one of eight of us to weigh
in a catch in the 30 lb bracket. 

That meant that Martin was first, Kevin second and, amazingly, with eight catches in the 30s, I was third with my 37 lb 2 oz. It also meant that Mike Rawson had won my section by default. A strange, difficult match an a lake known to hold good numbers of carp. I suspect that they haven't spawned properly yet. But it meant another frame place for me.

Marks out of ten
If I had not fished shallow I'm pretty sure I would have had more. But it was good practice for caster fishing. I had several 'bites' which I missed while doing that, but the fish weren't really interested. I stuck to my plan until I felt it wasn't working but I still had time to win. I didn't win, but I did enough to put myself in a position where I could have won given a bit more luck, and if those fish hadn't come adrift. So I think I'm worth probably 8/10. "Couldn't have done much better."

Next match Tuesday on Decoy, on Yew lake. No point in trying to guess where the best weights will be, as the heat is likely to result in a topsy-turvey match.

THE RESULT

I get a plum peg on Damson (geddit?)

 Peg 13, Damson, Monday, June 17
Has my luck suddenly changed again? I had never fished peg 13 on Damson, but every time I fish on Damson it seems to produce fish, and with 13 of us fishing this Spratts match, it would be in, and end (and corner) peg. So I said it would be my choice and when Bob Allen picked my name out of the bag, with Trevor about to pick my number out, Bob actually said: Peg 13.

Then a beam of sunshine broke through the clouds, orchestras started playing, and a heavenly chorus surrounded us. And we were sore afraid. And Trevor put his hand into his bag, withdrew it, looked at the milk bottlke top, and said unto us: "Thirteen!" Well that last bit is right, anyway, and it was now up to me to produce the goods.

Deep in the side
So down to peg 13, and I was surprised how deep it was in the side against the reeds - straight down to three feet, while other pegs I have fished on that bank tend to start at 18 inches. The wind was blowing mainly into the corner, though somehow the ripple was farther out, and the margins on the end three pegs were calm.

Nicely in the wind, but strangely a lot of the time our margins were calm.

 A quick plumb up and one side was a few inches deeper than the other, so I put up two margin rigs, plus a shallow rig, and the deep-water rig, which could be fished on a short top and short Number Three (though I actually used a long top as it was about seven feet deep).

Rejected!
The sun came out occasionally, and there were occasional fish just under the surface. When the match started I dropped a banded caster in front of one and after having a look, the fish turned smartly away. I immediately went to my basic Damson approach - corn over micros, and within a couple of minutes I was playing a 1 lb F1. That set the tone for much of the day.

Usually fish come into the peg immediately there is any disturbance, but today they didn't. However they were willing to feed near the bottom, and I would get two or three fish before changing from the right margin to the left. I only once had to go any longer than a short top and short Number three. Hemp definitely kept fish in the swim.

It was steady sport (perhaps one fish every three or four minutes) with fish to a little over 2 lb. I would have liked to catch more quickly, but decided to keep putting fish in the net. Then, after about two hours, bites tailed off, and the splashing from Bob Allen, on my left, stopped. The sun was out and I could see fish under the surface some way out, so had a go at fishing casters, shallow, hoping they would come towards me - and they did. 

Casters worked for me
That was when I added a section, and tried to drop my banded caster into the falling casters I had just thrown out. If I got it right I might get a fish, though most times I drew a blank. However, in the next 40 minutes I had about five carp, best 5 lb. Then those fish seemed to become cagey and I went back to the margins, half expecting to have to go out top the deep swim.

But careful presentation, just touching bottom, and lifting it every few seconds, saw tiny bites, resulting in a few more fish, which now were mainly mirrors and commons, with only the odd F1. And I kept on taking fish, but had to feed before every one. That seems a bit over the top when the fish are no more than 2 lb, but I heard very litle splashing from my left and I guessed things were hard overall. I tried a worm over caster, which took a small rudd, so that experiment was abandoned.

Mike Rawson - 33 lb 4 oz from peg 9. 
 He's having a good run at the moment.

The last ten minutes were my worst of the match - I had just one 1 lb fish, on corn. And frankly I was surprised to have been able to fish close in all day, so I couldn't complain at that. I'd used three keepnets, and estimated they were 32 lb, 42 lb and 21 lb for about 100 lb.

The weigh in
Trevor Cousins was on peg 1, and had Managed to mug only 46 lb 10 oz. But I wasn't surprised - it's a sheltered swim, which can be great in Winter, but I didn't fancy it in this match as there was no ripple. However, next to him Peter Spriggs weighed in with  114 lb 4 oz. I know it can be a good close-in swim, though I suspect Peter fished long for much of the time. And I didn't think I could beat that - although it's difficult to estimate accurately when the fish are smallish.

Peter Harrison - third with 69 lb 4 oz.

Peter's weight led the field down to me, and I got a bit jittery when my 32 lb net weighed 42 lb! However the 42 lb net went 45 lb, and the last one went about 36 lb. I had forgotten that I hadn't bothered to click the last few fish, simply because I was concentrating on catching them and guessed I wouldn't go over in the last 20 minutes. Anyway, the end result was 123 lb 3 oz, for the win. Very happy with that.

Steve Engledow was two swims from me, and
like me he included some slightly better fish.

Marks out of ten

I was pleased I had enough confidence in my ability to present the bait sufficiantly well to keep getting bites, and although I didn't go into the deep water I certainly had the 1.5 gm rig ready. I kept it simple, and was particularly chuffed I added a few fish in that spell on casters when, apparently, fish in all along the bank, became difficult to catch. So I'm probably worth 9/10, which is the best score I've ever given myself. I know I fancied the peg before the start, but you've still got to catch 'em.

Next match a rover on Magpie Lake at Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley. The pegs in the island will be taken first, I suspect. But I'm confident of catching a decent weight anywhere (Famous Last Words?

THE RESULT

1 Trevor Cousins        46 lb 10 oz
2 Peter Spriggs            114 lb 4 oz   2nd
3 John Garner              43 lb 2 oz
4 Dick Warrener          31 lb 15 oz
5 John Smith               67 lb            4th

6 Martin Parker           42 lb 12 oz

7 Neil Paas                  60 lb

8 Mick Ramm             22 lb 10 oz

9 Mike Rawson          33 lb 4 oz

10 Peter Harrison        69 lb 4 oz    3rd

11 Steve Engledow     60 lb 8 oz

12 Bob Allen              62 lb 14 oz

13 Mac Campbell      123 lb 3 oz    1st    

All good things come to an end on Oak

Peg 14, Oak, Sunday, June 16

The message was clear - You're Toast!

After 13 frames in a row, in club matches, I was told, by my breakfast, that things were going to alter for this Fenland Rods match. Yes. By my breakfast! Things are coming to something when your toast starts making faces at you...

I was happy enough to be fishing anywhere on Oak, on the lovely new strong, metal, non-slip platforms. And I had a plan. Actually that's a kiss of death for me, 'cos it hardly ever works. But I sallied down to my peg 14, next to the corner, (taking my trolley on the opposite side of the lake, because heavy rain and hail had stirred up some mud on the West bank), full of optimism.

A refugee on peg 12
I  had a refugee on my right, on peg 12. Steve Tilsley was a refugee from JVAC, who were fishing Willows that motning. It's not that Steve, fishing as a guest of Mike Rawson, doesn't like Willows - it's that Willows doesn't appear to like him! On my immediate left, on 15, sat Martin Parker. Now Martin is a former Vets National Champ, and Steve is a former European Police Champ, and I reckon that sealed my fate. There was a gap of about 60 yards to Kev Lee on peg 9, which might or might not, be important.

The wind was behind us, leaving not much ripple on our side of the lake.

First cast on a Method feeder with a wafter, cast towards the far bank, saw me watch Steve catch a big carp on a pole at about 6 metres, while I sat gloomily waiting for even a line bite, which never came. When I lifted the rod to bring it back it was stuck. Some frantic pulling and jiggling about saw the feeder come free from the mud it which it appeared to be stuck, and I went onto the pole.

My float looked great
Eleven metres out, and the float sat there beautifully. Steve had another big fish or two on the pole and changed to a bomb and pellet and immediately caught more fish. My float still sat there beautifully. Basking in the sun. Meanwhile Martin had two or three big fish on a pole, and my float sat there beautifully, until it dived under, and up came 1 lb F1. Small fare compared to the double-figure fish either side of me.

After  catching on a pole Steve Tilsley went on to a bomb and pellet and caught straight away.

A carp

I'd been flicking casters out and now went on to a banded caster fished shallow. Up came a 1 oz roach! And about an hour later a carp at last - around 10 lb. But halfway through the match Steve must have had at least a dozen, on pole and bomb, and Martin four or five.

Martin had a least four fish before I had my first.

The margins disappoint

Two hours to go, and after fishing bomb and pellet for a long time, without even a liner, I came into the side, to the right, at roughly the same time as Steve, who was sitting absolutely parallel to the bank, so I did the same, dropping my bait in right against the tins, where fish started swirling after I put in hemp. Nothing! Yet Steve was now catching really well, as was Kev Lee - it seemed that every time I peered round to look at him he was landing a fish.

Another good-un for Martin Parker, on peg 15 in the corner.

The penny drops!
It took a long time for the penny to drop - Steve was fishing a three-foot lash, dropping in his paste a metre from the tins, and holding his pole against them , so it wasn't over the top of the fish. So I went out a little farther, and managed to find three fish there on cat meat and mussel, before coming in to the really deep water to my left, where I found two good carp in two drops, and another hooked on mussel seconds before the end of the match, which I landed. My total was the roach, the F1, and eight carp approaching double-figures. 

Steve had another two or three on bomb and pellet, and had a poor last 45 minutes. But I knew I had been thrashed. Martin appeared to have also beaten me, especially when he landed two tench in the last few minutes of the match.

The weigh-in

Kevin Lee's best fish was weighed at 16 lb 9 oz.

You wouldn't want to see a grown man cry, so I will summarise it by saying that there were two weights over 90 lb at the far end, and Kevin totalled 193 lb, including his best which we weighed at 16 lb 9 oz. I thought that Steve had probably beaten that, but he came agonisingly short with 190 lb 13 oz.

That dwarfed my 72 lb 15 oz, but I then had a nice surprise when Martin, who I thought had me well beat, weighed in just 69 lb, leaving me fifth out of the ten. A small compensation for ending my run of framing places was winning my three-peg section by default.

Marks out of ten
Steve told me that when he turned to his left, facing me, to fish the margins, he never had a single fish - all the margin fish came from his right. So perhaps that long gap between Steve and Kevin was a factor in their big catches. I felt that putting some casters into the margins, with the hemp and corn, did perhaps hold some fish, but I didn't try worm or paste, which I should have. 

Steve Tilsley  with part of his 190 lb.

Martin's last two fish were tench. 
Good to see them still in the lake.

With the big carp averaging 9 lb (four fish in the weigh bag typically weighed 36 lb) I needed only three more to come third (sort of Best Of The Rest). And I had a feeling that I should have been able to do that. So I give myself just 5/10. At least I stuck it out and never stopped concentrating. Next match was on Damson the next day, when I thought that peg 13, in the far corner, would be a good draw. Time would tell...

PS. The gap between 9 and 12 came about because we had a last-minute withdrawal. Dave Hobbs had to go to the hospital, where his daughter gave birth to a boy just two hours after arriving. I am happy to report that all is well! 😀 It is Dave's fifth granchild.

So there were eleven peg in the bag for the ten of us, and it was 11 that was not drawn.