This was the first day of an invitational two-day event organised by Mellor, from Telford, Shropshire. He’s run similar events for several years, and half of the entry are from Telford, Sheffield, and other places in t' world where they talk funny; the rest are sort of local. Anyone who thinks matchfishing is ‘cliquey’ should see this lot – they’ll all talk to anybody...even me, and there’s a great atmosphere!
The matches are run as completely separate events, so a bad first day doesn’t depress you – there’s always Day Number Two. But I was happy with my draw on Day One – peg 18 has been mentioned in a previous report, and I don’t think I’ve ever fished it without winning something, though it doesn’t seem to produce for everybody. It’s beside the bridge leading onto the Spit, with a channel under the bridge that is a haven for big fish – if they get too far past the bridge into the open water behind, it’s Goodnight Vienna so far as your pole is concerned!
The big bugbear on this day was a massive wind, coming almost straight into this peg and threatening to blow poles everywhere. I had to get up several times to grab poles and tops blown off my rest and during the day I inexplicably lost two towels, which must have blown away but I never saw them go. Like most anglers I started with a leger, with banded pellet cast into the open water, but like most of the others I gave it up after 15 minutes without a touch and had a look in the margins. Over the next hour odd bream came to corn from the right margin, which tends not to be as good for carp as the dangerous left hand swim next to the bridge, and eventually, with about 10 lb of bream and the odd barbel I tried out in front, at three sections.
Within minutes I gave this up, as I had no idea where my corn was going in the underwater currents that are created here by the water building up in front of the channel. It shallows up as it runs under the bridge and creates a huge tow. Anyway, I then put a pot of pellet and corn put into the main channel and immediately took an 8 oz bream on cat meat. When the bream are around the carp tend to be absent, so that was my first and only drop in there. I put corn and pellet into the side of the channel, near the bridge supports, and went back to the right margin. Robert Edmondson was to my right and he seemed to be struggling, while Bob, out to my left on the other side of the channel was the same. So I thought I might be doing reasonably.
The odd F1 showed in the margin, plus a foulhooked barbel which must have stretched my Purple Hydro 20 yards before coming off, and odd bream to 2 lb, and a couple of 2 lb barbel, which felt like five-pounders in the wind. I had the occasional drop into the side of the channel with no result but with about 40 lb in my net and 75 minutes left I decided I had to concentrate to the left, right beside the scaffolding that holds the bridge, on top two but with Number Three attached as a precaution. Sure enough there were carp here now. But the wind was still horrendous, and almost all the anglers I could see had been fishing top two down the edge for the last two or three hours – even those with a backish wind.
First fish here was a 4 lb mirror, which went into my second net, then two or three F1s before sport slowed and I put in a pot of dead maggots. First look with a bunch saw a 9 lb common in the net and I persevered here to the end of the match, putting 47 lb into the net in that last 75 minutes, mainly on cat meat on a three-gram rig, which helped steady everything in the wind. The fish seemed to move up and down the slope of the channel, and putting on two inches and moving just 12 inches farther out often brought a fish immediately – them moving back into three feet of water would pick up the next one. But I knew I had not won, as the angler two swims to my left had managed to pick up fish all day out in front, had gone for a fourth net by three o’clock, and had a great last hour down the edge. He had obviously won our three peg section.
Sure enough he won the lake with 166 lb. But I managed 94 lb 7 oz for fourth on the lake and a section win by default, which I was chuffed with as most of these blokes are in a different class to me.
Beastie Lake, peg 21
Second day and while the wind was still strong it was nothing like as bad as the previous day. I really did not fancy this area, which had fished the worst the previous day, though Tony Dawson had won his three-peg section on it with 65 lb 14 oz. He told me had had caught on top-two-plus-one, some shallow, and some at ten metres in the bay on the right. But I have fished here before and always caught to the left, about eight feet from the bank (there is stuff trailing into the margins here), so I kept throwing corn in there while I started at three sections, where Tony had fished, because when I had dropped my plummet in there fish were hitting the line.
First fish was a 1 lb bream after 30 seconds, followed by others, most smaller, and after 30 minutes I had about five, plus a roach, all on pellet. Corn produced the odd one, but I had to look to the left, where again there were a few bream to 2 lb. After more than two hours I had about 15 lb and could not buy a bite. The anglers to my left didn’t seem to be doing any better, and Kenny to my right appeared to be struggling as he had a quick look shallow before giving it up.
Eventually I decided I had to look at ten metres, where I had plumbed up (it was slightly shallower there than my front swim at three sections) and immediately, after putting a pot of corn in, I found bream. One after the other for half an hour. They ran to 2 lb, and in the middle was a solitary 3 lb F1. Then, unaccountably, they stopped and I put cat meat down on the left before having a look to the right at ten metres. It’s always awkward for a right-handed angler to fish long to the right, but I did get a bite or two which I missed, and then an F1 and a bream. Then I bumped something hard, and decided that as the 2 lb bream had not managed to pull any elastic from the tip I was probably over-gunned, so I put the rig onto a top with green Preston 13H, a very good alround elastic which is popular with some of the regulars here.
Sure enough that felt much better and I took a couple of F1s at nearly 4 lb each there before having a look to the left with cat meat. That brought some spasmodic action from F1s and the odd carp to 8 lb, but they seemed to move in and out all the time. The tow, even in the side, was dragging the meat along the bottom at times, and it was difficult to keep the rig still, and even thern it needed lifting an inch to induce a bite. With half an hour to go I dropped in with cat meat and within two seconds was playing a 2 lb-plus bream; then next drop in the same thing – nearly 5 lb in three minutes. But then the roach moved in and I had the last 25 minutes fishless except for one small roach which mibbled its way onto the hook.
By this time I was using the old Coshida cat meat, which I had kept in a cool bag to keep it firm. The lumps are bigger than all the other cat meats I can find locally and are ideal for the really big carp. I have a a few tins left, but when they run out I will be struggling to find anything as good. The new Coshida in blue tins all floats, of course, and is useless.
I spoke to several anglers afterwards and gained the impression that they all had a rotten last 20 minutes, with roach trouble. So perhaps I hadn’t done anything stupid. Meanwhile I knew Kenny had had a couple of good carp in the last hour, fishing shallow down the side – something which I had not tried. I know F1s tend to come off bottom all the time so I must think about this next time I fish. But you simply can’t do everything in a match of course...you have to concentrate heavily on something. But I should have put feed into the right-hand margin as a precaution, with half an hour to go, so I had somewhere different to drop into at the end. That probably cost me a fish or two.
Today the pegs 19 to 22 were the section here, so I had three to beat, and when I told Kenny I though I had about 60 lb he said: “It’s going to be tight, then, because I have got about 60 lb as well.” On peg 19 Bob, who had made the decision to fish only with leger or feeder, had put back six fish with 33 lb on his clicker, Garry had 44 lb 13 on 20 and I weighed 69 lb 15 oz. Then, while Dusty was taking a picture of me with a carp, Kenny weighed in but by the time I was back up the bank they were on to the next angler.
However, Kenny came towards me with a huge smile on his face and hand outstretched and said: “Well done.” He had weighed 65 lb 3 oz and I had won the section. More bad news for him a little later as he spent ten minutes in the water looking for a Number Four section which had slid in. Stupidly I didn’t think about taking a picture for your delight, but my excuse was that, like all the anglers, I was pretty knackered and after loading up the car just wanted to sit down and wait for the scales. More bad news – he never found the section!
So two section wins and I I’ve already had an invitation to fish the next two-dayer in August, alongside these anglers who speak funny...
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