Match Lake, North
View, Gedney, peg 15
I love this water – proper margins, flat grassy banks,
perfectly-conditioned carp, and you can take your car to your peg. Such a pity
that the owners are considering stopping matches after next year, citing bad
treatment of fish, which sounds odd to me. But, like many other fisheries, they
have lodges and caravans on site,and maybe they prefer to deal with specimen
and ‘pleasure’ anglers, as they have two other lakes, including one Specimen
lake for which I believe there are season tickets. There’s not a lot of
information on the fishery as they don’t have a website and the match lake has
no rules displayed, but obviously we knew the basics, and stuck to our 50 lb
maximum club rule.
There were 12 of us – some members unable to attend – and I
was slightly disappointed to see that my peg, on the far side of the lake, had
no bare bank I could fish against, unlike a lot of others, including most most
of those on the opposite bank, on the roadside. There the water shallows up to
10 inches in places – the ideal spot to see big carp coming close. I had reeds going out at 45 degrees on my
left, and another bunch on my right, preventing me being able to fish against the
bank there.
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| Reeds to the left of me; reeds to the right of me... |
Sort of a good start
The day was mainly cloudy, with sun for the last few
minutes. I took a 2 lb carp very early on pellet on top two plus three, just over
a ledge which went down to five feet, and as soon as I had potted in pellets
fish had started moving just under the surface. I put the carp in the keepnet
and switched immediately to a shallow rig, but never had a touch for 20
minutes. This is not something I am very good at, so although I was putting my pellets
out accurately I gave up on that. Out again fishing deep, but no fish, so I
came in to the reeds on my left in about three feet of water, and got a
three-pounder immediately on luncheon meat. Then no more bites, so I had a look
to my right, in the shallowest water I could easily fish a couple of feet from
the reeds, and took a carp first drop-in on corn, then no more.
The water was well coloured, and looked good, but then light rain started to fall, and the wind
started blowing into my face from the right, so I put on my Gortex jacket. I kept
moving round the swims with odd fish, then the wind started to blow harder and
swung round into my face. I put out a Method feeder for a few minutes, but
never had a touch.
Tragedy
At one point I hooked my keepnet, and had to push my pole
behind me to kneel down and unhook it. I did that successfully, sat down...and
heard a crack. The end of my Number Four, about 10 inches long, was no longer
attached to the rest of the section! A lovely clean break.
That’s always a bit of a downer, but I telescoped it, and it
looked perfect, and I was able to fish the rest of the match using just three
sections, but I did have to add the fourth section occasionally, to cope with
the better fish, with no problems. After two hours I had about eight fish for
25 lb, and had a wander up to secretary John, who admitted to about the same,
but said that James, two swims to my right, had started catching well. As I
wandered back James asked me: “Did you break your pole?” I said yes, and he
said he had heard it. It’s an unmistakeable sound and I’ve heard it too many
times – never on a fish; always my own fault.
Good spells when the
wind dropped
Back to my peg and the rain had stopped, but the wind had
now swung round to come from the front left. I decided to concentrate on the
two closer swims, and slowly the fish started to come – lucheon meat to the
left and corn to the right. But as so often happens the fish would come in for five
minutes when I fed and then move off. Every time the wind abated for a few
minutes I got bite after bite. As soon as it picked up sport slowed. When I could fish properly I was able to add about
25 lb in half an hour before the wind ruined it. There was such a skim on the
water that presentation was affected.
Would a drilled
bullet work?
I have toyed with the idea of fishing a small drilled bullet
to get the bait down and hold it in position in strong winds. I am sure it will
work, and some years ago I made up such a rig, but can’t find it.
Anyway, another good 15 minute spell saw me catch four or
five more, up to 6 lb, with red Hydro and Middy Blue 20 solid essential to keep
even the two-pounders from dashing into the reeds – I was fishing only a metre from
them most of the time. One fish turned out to be a 2 lb rudd, though an old one
which was golden but a bit battered. I love big rudd, and am reminded of a
short poem by the late Patrick Chalmers, describing the rudd:
A kind of roach, all
tinged with gold;
Strong, broad and
thick, most lovely to behold.
I need my third net
With half an hour to go I got out my third net, with an
estimated approximately 40 lb in each of the first two, and almost 20 lb went
into this, though unaccountably I lost two or three in this spell, probably not
foulhooked – I foulhooked and lost only a couple early on, lifting out and
hitting something close to the surafce; they both came off quickly. With 20 minutes
to go the sun stopped me seeing the exact spot to the right where I had had
most of my fish. No matter how I squinted or moved about I couldn’t see the float properly, and had to
concentrate on the lefthand swim. I was
playing a 4 lb fish on the whistle – that’s
happened a lot recently, which put me even farther behind in the
packing-up stakes as I usually am. I guessed I might have 100 lb.
“Error”
First to weigh was Callum, 87 lb, and I had 19 lb 8 oz in my
first net. So I then wondered whether I would beat Callum, with 40 lb-ish in
the other two, but thinking I might have over-estimated. Out came the next net;
then that horrible feeling as the weighers-in looked at the scales, back to me,
and the onlookers (who pretend to be my mates) gleefully shouted: “Error!” That net was 2lb-plus over 50 lb; and the final one
was 3 lb over, bringing another shout. How do I keep doing that they asked? I have no
idea...I stopped at 40 lb on the clicker on one and at 39 lb on the other...Mr
Mainwaring would have the answer...
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| I manage to scrape into third spot, despite two nets being cut back to 50 lb. |
Dave Garner, on the roadside bank, who always uses rod and line, took 164 lb – a wonderful
performance. I went round to take his
picture, only to discover my phone had run out of battery. So it was back to
the car to use my portable charger and get enough power in it to takea picture
of the result sheet. My error on the nets didn’t cost me, as Tony Nisbet had
109 lb, mainly on pellet, and I finished
second.
If the wind had been a little kinder I am sure I could have
won. But winning matches is all about taking advantage of any good luck the
draw brings or which you get during the match. So later I thought perhaps I
hadn’t fished too badly, particularly as young James, next to me, had 74 lb,
and he is noted for getting big weights..
Next match tomorrow (Monday) on Yew, at Decoy. I am going to
use my Browning Sting, a put-in pole, as I’ve already taken the broken section on
my Z12 to be mended locally. For a
change I intend to have an easy day and just fish close-in, probably with cat
meat, as there are some big carp on Yew. Unfortunately the Sting doesn’t have
pullers, so I may have to add the third section to land the bigger fish. But
the sections on this pole are shorter than normal anyway.
HOOKING WEED
So many times I get a bite, strike, and pull up a piece of
weed or small twig. It’s perplexed me for ages, but I think I may have worked
it out.
I now suspect that the bait touches the weed, which momentarily
straightens the line, and at this point a fish hits the line, giving what looks
like a bite, and pulling the hook into the weed, which causes the float to
submerge.
If the bait is not impeded by the weed the ‘bite’ will look
different, the float won’t go below the surface, and the movement be immediately recognised as a liner.
That’s my theory, anway.
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