Four nets!

Elm lake, Decoy, peg 16

This was a club match, and took place just days after heavy downpours which I thought might have cooled down the water. Certainly the level was well up on this strip lake, and I’d got six feet of water at top two distance straight in front of me. But when I got on to the bank I really fancied we were going to catch fish – in the old days we used to reckon we could smell bream sometimes, and knew we were going to catch.

Well there was no actual smell today, but the water looked good, there was a good wave, and the wind was warmish, which made a change from the months of cold breezes we’d had, almost non-stop since November. In fact I was so confident I didn’t get my feeder rod out of its bag, reasoning that if I needed it I would be struggling, so would everybody else, and the extra few minutes I would take getting it ready wouldn’t make any difference.

Things got better when Kevin, who is almost unbeatable on these strip lakes, said he’d caught on this peg in the past fishing near the bottom of the shelf just to his right. That was the obvious place to fish today, given the stiff wind from the left (which had not been forecast) but it was still cheering to hear Kevin’s comment. But, as so often happens, I missed hearing the start, and looked up eventually to see people putting in bait. A few minutes missed at the start isn’t normally important, but today it could have been, because first drop right in the margins, where it was about four feet deep, saw me foulhook a fish, then next drop in a 2 lb common came in, followed immediately by a big fish which turned out to be about 8 lb foulhooked in the tail.

So ten minutes after starting I was in double-figures (I found out afterwards that Kevin’s first fish, on his first cast - we weighed it - was 13 lb 11 oz). Another fish came to corn in the margin and I sensibly put in some corn and hemp in the deep water, at top-two distance, where a 4 lb F1 came to cat meat first drop-in. For the next hour I alternated swims, taking one fish from each, until I felt confident anough to take three or four fish from each before changing. The fish were mainly from 2 lb to a little under 4 lb.

After three hours I went for a third net (maximum of 50 lb allowed in each net) to find that Kevin had just been himself. And for a change instead of finding the fish had moved away while I was fetching the net, as so often happens, they were still there when I returned. I was getting some awkward line bites, but managed to foulhook just one more, which came off, and found that the fish were better in the margin to corn, which they seemed to take more readily than cat meat. Even so, I often had to lift the corn an inch to induce a bite.

I also had a look to my left, where there was a rather nice flat ledge at three feet. I got two fish immediately after putting in a piece of corn, but they were both about 1 lb, so I kept that back to visit again if I started really struggling. As you would expect, I had the odd five minutes without a proper bite, and then had to switch swims. I could get fish in the deep swim almost immediately – even if I hadn’t fed it for some time. I was putting in only about six grains of corn at a time into the margin, as the fish were obviously moving around and all I wanted to do was to get tghem to come over and have a look – so I had to follow the feed with my baited rig almost immediately. Leaving this swim without baiting it saw the fish move away within half a minute or so, probably down below the ledge.

I also lost two barbel, which took me under the platform and somehow broke the line at the hook. When it happened for the second time it was a barbel which had taken corn in the side, and I picked up a Kamasan Animal hook which happened to be on my tray. But once I’d whipped it on I realised it was a lot heavier than the PR478 I had been using, and I fancy bites slowed a little because of this extra weight. But you know know it is when you’re flying – I carried on when perhaps I should have changed it.

With just under an hour to go I went for a fourth net at the same time as Kevin, in fact he gave me a ride in his van to collect them. In the meantime Dennis, to my right one off the corner, had also gone for a third net, as had John in peg 21 and Tony and Les opposite me.Luckily I resumed where I had left off by catching straightaway when I got back to the swim. But then I had a near-tragedy when a double-figure fish came off after I’d had it over the net once but couldn’t quite manage to net it properly. Two seconds later it was gone.

But there wasn’t time to think about it, and I got back into a rythmn and nicked more fish from the margin, plus the most beautiful golden scaleless carp of about 6 lb from the deep swim, and then two fish in the last five minutes in the margin. In fact I was playing a four-pounder when the shout went up to end the match (funny I always hear the all-out but not the all-in!) I was quite tired, but was fairly sure only Kevin and I had four nets, so it was probably between the two of us.

The weights were briliant, really, with 11 weights over 90 lb. Top weight to me was 147 lb, and I was interested to see what my last net weighed, as Kevin was admitting to 30 lb in his. Well, my first net, the second one I filled, went 50 lb 1 oz, and I began to worry whether I had gone over on the others. No need – I hadn’t, and my last-hour net was 36 lb 11 oz, total 173 lb 7 oz.

Kevin’s turn to weigh and, as usual, he had calculated very well, all around 45 lb with his last one only 32 lb, total 167 lb 7 oz. So I won, and was chuffed to beat Kevin on one of the waters he excells on, mainly fishing catmeat over corn or pellets. And it was interesting that some anglers – including Clive to my right, had almost all big fish from 4 lb upwards, while others had mainly smaller fish, like me.

If I find out how to get pictures off my new Smartphone I’ll put some on here. Next match probably on Magpie at Rookery Waters, on Wednesday. And this morning (Monday) I’ve been and changed the hook on the margin rig I used back to a PR478, which should give better presentation, as I am convinced the fish can be put off sometimes if a light bait sinks a lot more quickly then it should. Even a fraction can make a difference. With catmeat, fished on the bottom, I doubt it makes any difference at all.