Blimey, that was difficult

Head Fen, Snake Lake, peg 13

I was quite happy to draw this swim as it was here a couple of years ago I probably broke the water record with over 200 lb, only to have two nets disqualified and another knocked back, giving me 61 lb, which was next to last in the club match! The wind was gusty, from the North-west, though there wasn’t much ripple on my swim, and it was sunny for some of the time, and the threatened in held off. I had a big patch of lillies to my left, where I found a small hole deeper than any other part of the swim. Normally that's because fish have been used to feeding there, so I was rubbing my hands.

I started really slowly, unable to get a bite except just one 4 lb fish in the first three hours, on a piece of bread punch hung about a foot deep across the far side, at 13 metres. At this point I had a walk along the other 14 anglers, to find that those in the last five pegs, behind me (the snake winds back and forth) all had several fish, while Bill, to my right had just one, and all the rest to my left and round the first bend were struggling – three fish was the maximum. Kevin, who consistently wins the Club Championship, still had not had a bite.

This lake almost always starts off slow, but this was ridiculous – and I could see fish swimming around under the surface. Tony Nisbet behind me on 18 was getting a bite on pellet every put-in, down the track, so I went and tried the same. Over the next three hours this produced just five more fish – with a 6 mm expander getting bites when a 4 mm didn’t. A couple of fish, probably foulhooked, came off, and another – certainly foulhooked – broke me when it shot into the far-side weed before I could blink.
Left: Dave

I love margin fishing here, but in the whole six hours, though I kept putting in a few cubes of luncheon meat, I never had any sort of indication in the side. Never known it before!

The upshot was that Tony won the match with just over 100 lb, Mel on 21 had 90 lb-plus for second, and Dave on 15 was third with around 88 lb. I forgot to photograph the final list so the weights are only approximate. Five of the top six were in the last five pegs. And I think I was eighth with my measly 18 lb 13 oz. Normally this lake produces fish galore, but I must agree with another member who caught some fish with spawn in, who said he thought the fish were about to spawn, but that the wind had kept the temperature down. This lake is open to Northerly and Easterly winds, which could well do that, even though fish in Decoy, 20 miles away, spawned the previous week.

I know that sometimes when carp are spawning, or about to do so, other carp tend to move away, and I suspect that happened this day. But there’s always a winner, and some good fish came out...which I remembered to photograph!
Left: John