Back in the old routine

After a few weeks of getting up in the morning to see the whole world covered in frost, an operation, and some follow-up treatment, I found a window in the Arctic conditions – according to the internet Sunday would see it up to 6 degrees, or 4 in the North-East wind. Bravely I checked my tackle on Saturday night, and took some dead maggots out of the freezer ready for a trip to Decoy. Unfortunately I forgot to take the live maggots from my fridge, so was going to have to buy half a pint at Decoy.

At Decoy by 8.30 am, and the Open already had 49 anglers in it – I was the fiftieth. It felt good to get back into a match atmosphere, meeting familiar faces from Wisbech, my old stamping ground, and seeing the Great and the Good preparing for the forthcoming Winter League Final (which will see half the competitors on Fen Drains and half at Decoy – 34 teams of 10 in total). They included some faces I knew but had never met, including Jon Arthur and Lee Kerry, who makes some extremely good You Tube videos in his garage telling about his latest matches. Then there was a good sprinkling of others practising for the Final – a high standard but I was just happy to be there.

The match was on Damson, Cedar, Oak and Yew, with five anglers in a section. I drew Oak 9, towards the slightly favoured end. I have been told in the past that that a strip of gravel runs across these strips about two-thirds of the way down, so I was near it (there are 15 pegs down each side of Oak).

Start was at 10.30 and I started, as I frequently do in Winter, with a straight leger and hair-rigged sweetcorn on a PR36 with quickstop. After the first cast, which produced just a few tiny liners – a mere twitch of the tip as fish off the bottom flicked the line – I put in a small amount of dead maggot, half-a-dozen pieces of corn, and a pinch of hemp at 13 metres. Another fruitless cast on sweetcorn and I went onto the pole line, using a 1 gm Tuff-Eye float and a piece of corn. Just a couple of tiny dips, which were obviously liners, so I changed to two maggots on a size 16 PR 478 hook.

I had plumbed up in front of me and was delighted to see that over a distance of about five yards going to my right the bottom shallowed up by about three inches. So I fished in front of me just off bottom, was at dead depth a little to the right, and could lay on to my far right. All of which produced nothing for 90 minutes. To make a change I swopped to a half-gram Tuff-Eye, but it made no difference.  So I stuck on the 14.5-metre section and two put-ins later had a proper bite, which resulted in a 5 lb mirror carp. I had not put in any more bait, but risked putting a bit more in at 13 metres with a bait-dropper, ensuring it got to the bottom. Then, after a fruitless half-hour here and at 14.5 metres I went back to the leger with two maggots.

Within five minutes a 3 lb carp took it – or so I thought, because it was actually hooked under the chin, but they all count! Meanwhile the angler to my right had had three carp, I think, on a pole at about 14 metres. Over the next hour or so he tried legering, and had a look in the side, as I did, but nothing was forthcoming there.

Then to my left on peg 11 Robert Edmondson started hitting fish – carp around 5lb or 6 lb - on a straight leger with a tail of about a foot – the same as me. I couldn’t see what he was using as bait – it looked white, so I thought it might have been a pop-up. But after an hour, during which time I tried fishing up to a foot off bottom with no result, I had another fish, at 13 metres, a 5 lb golden mirror  which I think was foulhooked somewhere at the back-end, on two white maggots, but in the net the hook fell out so I couldn’t see exactly where it had been. They don’t fight as much as in the summer, but the clear water meant they shy away from the landing net, and I was glad I recently purchased a long, slim, light Matrix handle which meant I could reach right out to them.

At this point I started shivering violently, because the North-Easterly, though not much more than a stiff breeze, was bitterly cold. Everyone I could see had their hoods up and were clearly suffering – not a word was being bandied about. That forecasted 4 degrees had been decidedly optimistic! I had managed to remember to bring a flask of boiling water, and a hot cup of beefy drink definitely revived me slightly. Then I just gritted my teeth for the next hour, and had a look in the side, where the tow was against the wind and enabled me to drag two maggots along the bottom or hold them still – but not a bite!

Almost opposite Robert, Bob Bates, from Wisbech, on peg 22, next to the bird hide, started hitting fish on a pole, fishing towards his right (away from me), while Robert also kept on catching every 10 or 15 minutes. With half-an-hour to go I put on a hair-rigged pop-up, set about a foot from the bottom, and almost immediately was playing a 3 lb carp. The bite was not a real wrap-round – the tip pulled round a little, jumped back, then pulled round a little more and I waited another two or three seconds before I struck. A very half-hearted bite, but I had cracked it! There was time for another three or four fish.

Err, actually, not for the first time, I hadn’t, and there wasn’t. No more fish for me. I was thinking: “I don’t believe it!”  Then the match ended. In club matches I am always the very last to pack up and leave the bank, but in Opens I get back to the car at roughly the same time as most of the others, which I quite enjoy. And it was so on this occasion. I still don’t know how club men manage to get everything away in the car while I’m still packing my holdall!

Along came the scales and my two five-pounders and two three-pounders went 24 lb! Obviously I should have gone to Specsavers; but I know I always under-estimate the weight of fish. Then I saw that the first three in my section had weighed 13 lb, 16 lb and DNW. Robert weighed in 91 lb, and reckoned that it should be good enough to frame (top five) so I might take the section by default.

Robert told me that he was using sweetcorn, and said: “The fish were just there. I didn’t do anything special. They don’t move at this time of year.” An honest assessment from man I have known for years. But you’ve still got to catch them! And Robert is a much better angler than he likes to make out. It was interesting that neither he, nor me, nor the angler on my right had a touch of any sort in the side.

Back at the car, Jon Whincup, on end peg 28 on Cedar, told me he had fish alongside the end bank, at about 12 metres, and near the side on both sides of him. The wind was blowing down towards his end at the car park, but it was so cold I hadn’t imagined it gave any advantage. In the end he was catching his fish a foot off bottom, on maggot, and estimated he had 85 lb. I fact he weighed in 91 lb 8 oz for fourth. Robert was fifth, so I took my section by default – a very pleasing outcome, especially in that sort of company.

The fish were well spread – first and third were on Damson, second on Yew 18, with Jon fourth and Robert fifth. Bob Bates, who sat opposite, to my left, ended with 71 lb on maggot. And there were good weights all round – I think I was in one of the worst sections. The standard of fishing there was just awesome. I know I am not in their league – but I like to think I can give them a run for their money!  It’s good to be back in the old routine.