A midweek club match and there had been lots of rain a couple of days previous, so hopefully this would have stopped the carp attempting to spawn. But the weather was still warm, with a breeze from left to right.
I made the unusual decision to start shallow, because it felt right, though I also put a small pot of pellets out on this swim, at 11.5 metres, and some corn down my left margin, where it was about four feet. I got occasional takes on my banded pellet, but hit just one carp, which came off after half a second. And after almost an hour of putting out half-a-dozen pellets every 30 seconds, with no fish, I had to try inside. And just at this point Terry Tribe, former national Div 4 National Champion, who was on my right, and who had had a few fish on my line deep, decided to go shallow...and he made a much better fist of it than I did!
For the next five hours he put on a real Masterclass of smooth shallow fishing, taking mainly fish to a little over 2 lb in spurts – something most anglers find when fishing shallow. Meanwhile I had found fish in my left margin on corn, mainly F1s to nearly 4 lb. But I could not catch tight to the grass - I had to go our about a metre. Then a switch out to a swim in front of me at three sections brought a quick burst of about seven fish on corn, including the odd mirror to 4 lb. When that died I came inside, with cat meat, and when that eventually died I started a new swim to my right, where it was considerably shallower, and there I found the odd four-pounder mixed in with the F1s.
The strange thing was that I had a lot of very cautious bites and knocks which looked as if they were roach, but if I hooked a fish it almost always turned out to be a carp or, in some cases a bream, which went to 3 lb. I also hooked two or three on the outside of the mouth, so they were definitely playing with the bait, sometimes for 30 seconds before taking it.
One fish, annoyingly, snagged me under the platform when I thought it was beaten – probably a big barbel, as I did have one of 4 lb. Sometimes meat was best, and when that slowed, corn almost always got another fish or two. At one point I tried shallow again, but just could not buy a take, and I have to admit that though I have won matches fishing shallow it’s not my strong point. Terry told me later he was fishing an 18 hook to 0.13mm nylon, which was finer than I had on. So when I got home I made up a similar rig.
With an hour to go, Terry had taken his third net an hour peviously and I went for my third. While picking it up I saw Rob Goodson, also picking up a net for his match on the strips, and he asked where I was. “Fish a big bunch of dead maggots in the margin” he said, when I told him my peg. I had already had some on dead maggot, but when I got back I put on ten dead maggots – red and white – and sure enough first drop in the right margin saw an 8 lb mirror come to my net!
That last hour saw me add 25 lb, and during it Mick Raby, two pegs to my left, went for another net. The angler immediately on my left was another Mick – Michael Ramm - (we went to school together from 1949 to 1953). And I asked: “Is that Mick’s third net, or his fourth?” “Fourth” came the reply and I knew then I was fishing for a maximum of third place.
Terry, who went for his fourth net with 15 minutes to go, weighed in 146 lb 15 oz, a very good weight on a day when the fish were not biting very well, but playing with the bait, and when roach plagued some anglers. He included a lovely 2 lb 2 oz perch in that catch. I was surprised to weigh 115 lb, and when it was Mick Raby’s turn to weigh he had only three nets! I turned to Mick Ramm and he gave a little chuckle when he saw my face! I’ll pay him back somehow, one day!
TERRY WITH HIS 2 LB 2 OZ PERCH
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