A bad start, but a good finish - Fraser's Fishery

It was a strange day – Zero degrees when I left home and it must have been 25 in the sun by the time the match on Fraser’s Fishery  at Little Downham, near Ely, had finished. Very uncomfortable with all those thermals and sweat shirts on! The trip to Fraser’s took me about an hour – on a Sunday morning I do it in 35 minutes.

The hold-ups were caused by people queueing to get onto the A14 to Cambridge, queueing to avoid the A14 and get onto the A10 to Cambridge, an accident in the middle of the village of Sutton and, finally, a refuse cart parked across the entrance to the fishery. After all that I got to the draw after 8am, to find that it hadn’t taken place yet, and I was able to fish. My luck had turned!!

Ice-cold water with sun and no wind - not a promising outloook.

Nineteen of us  fished, with nine on Emily’s and ten on Mark’s Lake. I drew Emily’s 2 and Robert Edmondson said it could be very good or dire. But with the weather being bright sun and hardly a breath of wind I suspected that weights would be low all round the lake anyway.

I set up five rigs – one for dobbing at 11.5 metres on the far side, one for the bottom of the far bank shelf, one for the bottom of the nearside shelf, and one for each side margin. Roger Denson said he’d had 40 lb on the Sunday, fishing across and to the righthand margin.

Dobbing bread works

I started dubbing bread, and after 30 minutes and a couple of liners, I had a 2 lb carp. Four more followed in the next half hour, but then there was a blank spell. I had a look in the margin, but  never had a touch, so it was out to the three-section swim near the bottom of the shelf, where three roach and a 3 oz bar of soap came in, all on maggot. I toyed with the idea of staying here and hoping the carp would move in, but I hadn’t seen any fish topping, and felt my best chance was back over the far side.

Emily's Lake result - I am on peg 2.

A small carp on bread was followed by a lull, and then a 4 lb common on maggot. Now the angler to my right started taking occasional fish right over the far side, including one about 4 lb. I persevered with maggot (which I could see he was using) and managed another three or four  fish before the end, though I kept having quick looks in the margins, which are a nice depth – two to three feet. But I could see other anglers trying the margins, and soon giving up.

I also lost two fish, one foulhooked as I came back with a tiny scale, and the other almost certainly foulhooked, as it kept changing direction in an instant – an almost-certain sign of a foulhooker.

Mark's Lake result.

Another win!

The angler to my right weighed in 13 lb, and I totalled 21 lb 14 oz to win Emily’s (the lakes are treated as two separate matches), with owner Fraser second on 18 lb. He took most of his fish just down from the top of the nearside drop-off, something I had not tried. But I will remember that for the future.

Winner Joanne, on Mark's peg 2.

Kevin Sands, second on M\ark's.

So a win is a small antidote to my Winter League debacle, and gives me five wins and a second out of the six matches I have fished here. I like the place!

Fraser told me that while Emily’s is the fairest lake, with everyone having the same distance to the island, Mark’s holds more fish, and as only some can fish to an island, it will always be liable to have more varied weights. Joanne Banks won with 49 lb 8 oz. She is a regular winner here and was on peg 2,which is opposite the island, using mainly corn,.