Snake Lake, Head Fen, peg 23?
Two weeks without a match - mainly due to my taking a holiday. But it never hurts to have a break!
This will be a shorter description than usual of the club match as I woke up that morning with a slight attack of vertigo,. But decided to go anyway as I assumed it would wear off. But it didn’t, and it was a bit of a handicap as I couldn’t put my head down without feeling dizzy and sick, so everything took a longer time than normal; and it means I fished in a bit of a haze and can’t remember everything.
The first thing to strike me was that there was a big dead thistle in front of my platform, right where a keepnet would go, which convinced me that the peg had not been fished all year – I know that some pegs are normally missed out on this lake. Also I’m not sure what the permanent number was, as our secretary re-numbered the pegs before we had the draw. So not a good omen, I felt.
The firsts 20 minutes saw Tony, to my right, start hooking fish, some of which pulled off, presumably foulhooked. He was fishing down the track, but I started across, hanging a piece of bread a foot deep in the far bank margins, which produced just one knock, probably a liner. So I had a look in the side with a top two, which produced nothing on a small piece of luncheon meat; then I put some pellet and luncheon meat down the track, and tried cat meat to my left, at the bottom of the shelf, with not a knock. So it was down the track, at about three-and-a-half feet, and I at last managed a carp of 6 lb on luncheon meat.
Strangely I got no other indications, and after two hours I had just the one fish, while I reckoned Tony must have had 10 or 12. Then a fish came to cat meat in the side swim, at about 8 metres, and just one on top two on luncheon meat. I fished a method here which I am convinced I would at least tell me whether there are fish in the swim, and it appeared that that one carp was the only one there!
So I had a good look at Tony, who was still hitting oodd fish, and thought he was using corn. On went a piece of corn into the track swim, and eventually carp to 4 lb started coming. I probably had about 8 in 90 minutes, and lost four of five, but I found I had to have the bait on a slight slope. The corn took the float under when it was over the deepest bit of a slight dip, then I eased the rig along until the float just showed and if it wasn’t within an inch of the correct spot (I pinpointed in in the reflections of some trees) I didn’t get a bite. In one slack period I also managed another down the side on luncheon meat – just the one. Then the rain started. It was falling straight down and I was able to stick the umbrella straight up above me, but it took a long time because of the vertigo.
In the 45 minutes of rain I didn’t get a fish, but when it stopped I snaffled another six-pounder from the cat meat swim and hit two more which came off. Then, with half an hour to go, I came down to my top two swim, just to my left, and nabbed three more fish, which went into my secodn net and weighed 15 lb 4 oz.
Packing up was a bit of a blur, as the vertigo hadn’t gone, so it took some time, but I had felt OK actually fishing, as I didn’t have to move my head around much. The scales showed me with 40 lb in my first net, plus the last three - so 55 lb 4 oz total, with Tony having ‘only’ 88 lb – I thought he had well over 120 lb! The match was won by one of our best anglers on one of the best pegs – peg 15, and I was eighth out of 12. One of my worst results (if not the worst) in that club, but Les, on my left, who has been having a really good season, managed just two fish for 7 lb, so perhaps it wasn’t such a bad result after all.
PS. The vertigo carried on for the next three days – unusual, because usually it starts off so bad that I have to spend at least 24 hours in bed not moving, then it goes off over the next couple of days. This time it just seemed to hang around without ever getting worse or better. And I never know what brings it on!
It handicapped me when a fish took me into the far side magin and my hook came off. I tied another, but with wet hands and the vertigo it took a long time – and after catching a fish on it that one pulled off on a fish. So I have made a determined effort at home to use my Matchman hooktier, which I have never used before. A few practices and I hope I have mastered it – but it wastes a lot more nylon than tying by hand, and takes much longer, and because I almost always fish straight-through in the summer I am glad I use the Nisa connectors, which allow me to unwind extra line.
PPS. I wasn't in the mood to take any pictures. Sorry.
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