Damson, Decoy, peg 16
I got the ‘phone call at 9.15 am: “Hi, Mac. Where are you?”
“At home, why?”
“You should be at the match.”
“What match?”
“Ellis Buddle’s memorial.”
I am afraid I said a naughty word. I hadn’t put it on the
calendar. But there was only one thing for it – it was a drawn team event so I
had to go late. In 15 minutes I had changed, my stuff was loaded up, and I was
off.
I arrived on the bank at ten minutes past 10, and Trevor was
playing a fish. “Peg 16” he said. Sod’s Law – it was the farthest walk, to the
other end of the lake! But eventually I was sat sitting there, and at 10 to 11
I started. You can always catch fish shallow here, especially in the first
hour, so I started, confident I would catch a few quick ones on banded pellet
on top three.
Zilch. In the side, where you can ALWAYS catch. Zilch. So after
15 minutes I came inside, on the bottom, in about 18 inches of water, with
corn. Three fish around 1 lb straight away. I had cracked it!
I lose more precious
time
But then, a minor disaster. My mouth was a dry as the bottom
of a parrot’s cage and I couldn’t find my water. Must have left it behind. I
have to have liquid, as my saliva glands are a bit messed up after repeated
radioactive treatment for the thyroid cancer. So I trudged back to the car,
drove up to the shop on site, and Wayne opened up the shop where I bought a
bottle of water.
Drove back, and after another couple of fish I felt settled.
It was now 11.30 am, and I started to look at the anglers I could see,
expecting them to be hauling in fish. But they seemed strangely quiet, and some
were already fishing long, so I knew they were struggling, as short is the main
method here for most. There was a splash from the angler on my right, but I
could see he was fishing long one minute and close in the next.
Afterwards Trevor, who has a terrific record on this lake, told me he had started his second net (50 lb
max here) at 11.15, which was eventually weighed at 42 lb...and he then proceeded
to catch just 10 lb during the next four-and-three-quarter hours! The same
applied to almost everybody – the fish had just vanished. But, not knowing
that, I had visions of ending last in the match and letting down whichever team
had drawn the short straw with me.
 |
| Runner-up Peter Spriggs - AKA Peter The Paste. |
I changed from the right margin to the left, where I first caught
a couple of fish very close in, then found they had dropped down to the second
little shelf about 2.5 feet deep. Half-a-dozen there and I changed to the right
again. Every now and then a fish would take corn, but they seemed to be moving
out slowly. Every single fish had to be tempted to take the bait by my lifting
or dragging it.
I find fish long on
corn
After three hours, with about 18 lb in the net I started a
swim in seven feet of water three sections out. Hemp, pellet and corn went in
and I managed about one fish every ten minutes, though the bites were very,
very timid. But the best carp went 5 lb and a couple of others were 2 lb.
My weight slowly crept up and the only angler I could see
catching was over to my left, who was also fishing long. It turned out to be Peter Spriggs, who ended
second. I kept alternating between the long swim and the deep margins, adding
another fish every ten minutes, and with the angler on my right now having
turned in desperation to using a feeder I thought I might perhaps avoid last
place.
 |
| John Buckenham blitzed it - his second win in this Memorial match. |
Second net goes in
With an hour to go I started a second net as a precaution, with
about 40 lb in the first. The long line was best now, and I managed a quick
burst at the end, though had to put in a biggish pot of bait before each fish –
they seemed to lose interest and move away after about a couple of minutes.
End of the match and John Buckenham, who won the first Ellis
Buddle Memorial, stopped me as I made my first journey back to the car and
asked what I had. I admitted to about 50 lb. “Mac, you’ve let me down. I thought
I could rely on you!” he said. It turned out I was in his team. He then said he
had three nets and 100 lb. I felt very embarassed having turned up late. But
then I could see that the majority of anglers around me had only one net in the
water. Strange. Damson has been consistently producing three-figure weights.
Then several anglers told me they had caught nearly all
their fish in the first hour. I didn’t feel quite so bad then, and thought I
had actually done quite well considering I had started late.
 |
| The result - drawn teams of three. |
A surprise I didn’t
deserve.
I followed the scales round and unbelievably was third up to
me with 55 lb 1 oz – Trevor had ended with 52 lb 14 oz and told me he had
caught just four fish after 12.15 pm, and two of them were foulhooked! John
Buckenham was obviously the clear winner with 124 lb 5 oz taken close in,
which, added to Barry Gibson’s 30 lb 9 oz, gave us the team win! Underserved,
but I took the money!!!
It’s great to meet up with anglers I fished with for many
years around Wisbech, and in fact Barry and I used to fish together when we
were teenagers, in the Blacksmith’s Arms club. I remember us being taken to a
match in the back of Jim Flint’s van. The back was open as we were driven along
and Barry was smoking (as teenagers used to in the 1960s). He flicked his stub
out of the back of the van...and it came flying back in the slipstream! Funny
the little details you remember...
 |
| The Three Musketeers (They othrs told me I must get 'ere earlier!). L to R - Me, serial winner John Buckenham, and an old mate of mine Barry Gibson. |
Ellis and Shaun
 |
| Shaun with his 11 lb 12 oz grass carp. |
Ellis was a real inspiration, fishing for years with his
oxygen tank beside him and asking only that we placed his box in position and
his rod holdall where he could reach it. One day, on Kingsland, he called for
help as I was walking past. He had an 18 lb carp in his landing net and hadn’t
the strngth to lift it inj to unhook it. Together was managed it, and then had
an awful kerfuffle gtting the fish into his keepnet because the keepnet head was too small to get the landing net
inside! Then we sat back and had a good laught at our predicament.
Shaun organises this match
each year in his memory. I was lucky enough to be in the winning team
the first year, so I have happy memories of it. Shaun caught the biggest fish
of the day – 11 lb 12 oz, and I took a picture.
John at the fishery identified it as a grass carp – the head shape is
different to mirrors and commons, and the mouth is not as underslung.
PS. Ellis told me
smoking was what affected his lungs, and eventually killed him, even though he had
given it up years before.
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