I scrape into the frame – Horseshoe, Decoy

Peg 16

I was really looking forward to this match, having seen reports of big catches from pegs 3 and 4 – peg 4 yielding 90 fish for 272 lb in a recent Gizmo Knockout event. These were taken shallow, but there’s a nice patch of lillies here, and I am capable of catching fish shallow, even though it rarely happens!

However, while the rest of the UK saw temperatures well into the 20s – the forerunner to a forecast heatwave in the next few days – this part of the country was covered in cloud with a cool North-Easterly breeze , and in fact after venturing out into the garden when I woke up I put on a thermal vest. My peg 16 was sheltered, however, with the wind from the left and over  my back. Two pegs to my left Trevor Cousins was determined to fish a pellet waggler near the lillies to his left, but the only lillies I had were right on the boundary between Bob on Peg 15 and myself.

Peg 16 - the lillies are farther to the right than they look here, and in the next swim.

The water was well coloured and at the end the nets had a fine layer of silt on them, presumably caused by the heavy rains stirring up the bottom. And with the drop in temperature down to 15 or so we didn’t think that big weights were on the cards.

Behind us I still fancied the early pegs and especially 7 and 9 (8 was not pegged), which are always fancied here. Still, a job to do and I started on a Method feeder with an orange wafter. After a minute or two Wendy, on my left, was playing a fish, and I saw Trevor playing one. I had put in expanders and corn at five sections, so while waiting for a bite of the feeder I pinged out four pellets at a time onto this line.

                                                                            A good start on the feeder

John Garner with one of the better F1s,
which run to 4 lb-plus at Decoy.

However, suddenly I had a bite and landed a 2 lb F1, followed by three more fish – an F1, a tench and a small bream - in the next 20 minutes, Things were looking good. But then, nothing. Trevor said he also stopped catching at this time. I gave it another half-hour with just one fish, and had a look deep on the five-section line. This brought just roach, most of which fell off. Shallow produced the same thing, so I had a quick look in the margins, only to find roach attacking the cat meat, though I did catch a couple of bream and a 1 lb tench.

The next two hours was spent mainly on the feeder for about four more F1s and a 3 lb common, but I did lose one huge fish which ripped me straight into the lillies. I could feel it struggling, and gradually it came towards me, but eventually the hooklength broke, with the fish probably still in the lillies. During this time Wendy kept catching the odd fish and I thought she was well ahead of me. Bob to my right also had several, and I thought I was behind him as well.

I can't even catch the roach!

When I caught an F1 on the wafter hooked in the chin, I decided that they were just not feeding properly, so went out to 13 metres on corn. First drop saw an F1, and over the next hour or so about four more came in. At one point I tried fishing in the margin for roach with maggot, but missed most of the bites and most of those I hooked fell off!

The 13-metre line produced another couple of fish, and I decided to put some more cat meat in the margin, and followed it with a bait-dropper of corn and hemp on the 13-metre line, intending to go back there if the margins didn’t produce. But they did!

The margins produce

Suddenly F1s started taking the cat meat – they played with it for ages before making off with it, and at the start I though it was roach playing me up. But almost every fish was either and F1 or a carp, the best  mirror at almost 7 lb. With 35 lb on the clicker I suspected there was actually more in the first net, and I started the second with 50 minutes to go.

Wendy and Trevor both in action, while a sad little me sat watching...

In that time I managed to lose a very big fish, which broke me at the hook. I don’t think it was foulhooked. And now I though I had a chance of beating Wendy and Bob either side of me. In fact Wendy came into the margins when she saw me catching, but found only roach.

Peter Harrison was first to weigh and we
thought he was a probable winner...until
Terry Tribe lifted out his nets.

I had to throw in a couple of handfulls of corn and follow it with a pot of water, to let the carp know something was going on. They would come in quickly but leave just as quickly, so if I hadn’t had a fish within two minutes I had to bait again.

Wendy was catching fish on a feeder
when I couldn't. She used a grain  of
corn and a red jelly pellet on the hook.

I have just been reading articles by good matchmen who say that it’s almost always better to fish for one carp at a time – so you put in a small pile of bait and dangle your hook bait there, to prevent foulhookers. But when I did that the roach came in and the carp didn’t appear. Obviously they don’t read the match fishing magazines!

Right at the end big carp were milling around just under the surface every time I baited, but they didn’t take a bit either on bottom or fished shallow. So I ended frustrated, with no fish in the last ten minutes.

The weigh-in

Ted's fish were a bigger average weight
than the rest of us could catch.

Peter Harrison had drawn the golden peg and was first to weigh on Peg 1. He estimated his weight at 90 lb, taken mainly from the reeds in the right margin,  and weighed in 89 lb 15 oz! I wish I could estimate like that.

It looked as if Peter was a likely winner, and would scoop the golden peg money, until we came to Terry Tribe. He hadn’t said what his weight was, but even if he had I wouldn’t have believed him...crafty is not the word! However, we were all smiles when we realised he had beaten Peter with 101 lb 4 oz, taken out on a feeder then close-in in the left margin. So the money was safe. We can be a rotten lot...

Up to now most of the fish had been F1s and smaller carp to about 4 lb, but 91-year-old Ted on peg 11 had a much better stamp, with several 5 lb-plus. He weighed 55 lb 5 oz – though not enough to frame.

                                                         

Trevor waits for the scales to settle -
 he finished third with 80 lb 7 oz.

I do it again!

My 35 lb net weighed 52 lb-something, knocked back to 50 lb, and the last net I had clicked at 23 lb weighed 27 lb 9 oz, so 77 lb 9 oz total. 

With Trevor admitting to about 80 lb, taken mainly on the waggler, but 12 lb of which was taken in the last 20 minutes in the margin,  I wondered if that lost 2 lb would cost me third place. There was a small chance that he also had gone over the 50 lb weight – it wouldn’t be the first time.

 

The result- good catches in the conditions.

 It was close, but Trevor didn’t go over in either net, and his 80 lb 7 oz was enough for third – if all my fish had counted I think I would have lost third place by just ounces. So no harm done. I finished fourth.

Next match this weekend on Cedar at Decoy. Let’s hope that the warm weather forecast (but yet to arrive here) doesn’t start the fish spawning again.

PS. Last week I mentioned John Garner fishing for his pole top which was being towed around Oak Lake. In fact it appears it was Martin Parker;s tackle, and while John spent several minutes unsuccessfully trying to retrieve it, eventually Martin cast over it first time with his feeder gear, and got it back, complete with fish.

I wouldn't bother, next time, John. Obviously Martin was just showing off!

A poor start, but a great finish – Oak, Decoy

Peg 13

The previous Saturday our club match had been dominated by pegs 12 and 14, so it was generally assumed that again the fish would be towards the windward end of the strip. The wind was in the same direction – SSW – but only a fairly gentle breeze. Fish were breaking the surface and a lot could be seen swimming just under the surface, mainly quite quickly. I was the end peg on this bank as 15, in the corner, was not pegged.

I put out a Method feeder with corn at the start, but within a few minutes Peter Harrison, opposite, was playing a good fish on a pole. So after a few more biteless minutes I put out a pole to 9.5 metres, where I had potted in some expanders. I was surprised when I had no indications at all, so after 20 minutes I had a go at trying to mug some of the fish I could see, but all of them took fright when they approached the pellet or corn.

There was sun at the start, but the afternoon was cloudy. 

So it was into the side, where I had a lovely 18 inches to two feet of water from my platform right along to the platform on 14, against a bare bank.  But I had no indications here either, nor at the bottom of the shelf on a top two. So after about 90 minutes I was fishless, and I’d seen Peter get a couple and Bob Allan, on my right, on the Golden Peg, had also had at least one. Big fish – well into double-figures – were now drifting in the middle with their backs out of the water.

So I  tried shallow, out between 6 metres and 9.5 metres, using a single 4mm pellet (on the assumption that a small bait might work). I had a five-pounder which took a pellet hung for a minute or two. I had thrown some pellets in, but the fish were moving so fast in the end I just slapped without feeding. One more came in, foulhooked shallow, and that was about 6 lb. And another foulhooked itself and came off.

                                                   Halfway and I have just 14 lb

Peter Harrison could catch carp
from a bucket of concrete!

Eventually I had another look beside the platform with corn, which resulted in a tench of 2 lb, and then I managed to snare an 8 oz roach on corn on the 9.5 metre line on corn. I looked at my watch - the match had passed the halfway stage and I was sat sitting there with about 14 lb in my net. Peter opposite seemed to have had a fish or two in the margins, as had Trevor Cousins to his left.

The next fish was one I managed to mug on corn, and it was a lovely 10 lb golden mirror in a group of three. I have been told that if there’s more than one fish swimming past the competitive instinct takes over, and it certainly worked on this occasion.

Several more minutes went by and the wind cooled, I put a sweat shirt on, and the fish seemed to no longer be showing in the numbers they had been. So I changed tack and tried the margins on four sections with corn, and had several bites which I missed completely. That set me wondering whether they were roach. I  managed to mug one more on cat meat, and then dropped a lump of cat meat into the deep water about five feet from the bank.

At last I start catching

Trevor Cousins was over the
50 lb mark in one net - as usual!

Amazingly this produced a five-pounder immediately; but no more came. So it was time to look at the margins again, as I has noticed carp swimming intop the margins more than they had previously. I put in just cat meat and hemp and suddenly roach were hitting the line and the float itself – tiny roach. But it worked, and I had two or three really good spells when I would land a fish (they varied between 5 lb and about 12 lb) ; feed; drop back; wait two minutes; and the fish would come in and I’d get another. Some came on three sections and others close to my keepnet.

A big one turns up

Several times  I rested the left margin by trying corn in the right margin, but this produced just one 3 lb F1. I had an estimated 38 lb in the first net and 34 lb in the second when I landed a fish which looked to me to be at least 15 lb. I put it into the third net (we are given three nets now) and the next carp, the smallest of the day at about 4 lb, went into that second net. That decision paid dividends when it came to the weigh-in!

We weighed my best fish at 15 lb 7 oz.

I lost just two fish in this spell, one of which was definitely foulhooked because I came back with a scale. I was able to use my pole fishing "Special Method" which largely avoids foulhooking fish when fished correctly. It’s not possible to use it in rough conditions, but today the wind allowed me to do it.

The last hour saw sport drop off a little, and I added about 28 lb lb, all on cat meat, in the next 50 minutes. The last ten minutes were fishless – the fish weren’t even giving me liners, and the roach had disappeared too.

Peter Spriggs - runner-up with 125 lb.

The weigh-in

I walked back to the car with loaded trolley and saw that Peter Spriggs and John Smith both had three nets in, as had Peter Harrison opposite. But I was happy that I hadn’t disgraced myself after a terrible start. It’s so frustrating when you can see fish all around and can’t get a bite.

John weighed 89 lb, and Peter 125 lb on cat meat and pellet. I wasn’t sure whether I had as much as that. To my amazement Bob, beside me, had landed just three fish. I’d seem him playing two or three and assumed he had been catching well.

We weighed my second net first, and it was just as well that I’d put the “fifteen-pounder” in the third net (which I’d estimated at 38 lb after putting one more fish in) , because that net weighed  44 lb 13 oz. I would have lost several pounds if I’d put the big fish in there. The first net went 38 lb 13 oz and the last one 43 lb 8 oz. Total 127 lb 2 oz, and I was in the lead. The big fish we weighed at 15 lb 7 oz.

John Garner didn't have a good day. He spent time trying to recover a
 top two; he didn't  frame; and the picture I took of him was blurred!

John’s  cabaret act

Over to Peter Harrison, who totalled 125 lb 12 oz, all on pole. I’d been concentrating on my own swim in the last two hours, and had no idea he had so many fish, though I had spotted Trevor landing several from his shallow margins. There were also a few minutes during which John Garner provided a cabaret act trying to cast a feeder over a top two (or it may have been a top three) which was being towed around the lake. I forget to ask him whether he ever recovered it.

 As we weighed back to the car park the weights fell away, as we had suspected might happen. Bob Barret took most of his fish on a slow-sink bomb in the edge – a method I have used to catch fish at Makins, but never on Decoy.

Conclusions

I snatched the narrow win, and thoroughly enjoyed the match once the fish started biting. I lost just three fish all day, rather fewer than most of the other anglers, I think. The match also reinforced my view that the longer the length of bare bank the better, as I could see fish moving along it from the left, up to my keepnets, and then veering out to the open water. I think they may do the same if there’s a big clump of reeds or irises in the way.

Martin Parker - my regular travelling
companion to the Vets National.

Peter Barnes was at the 'wrong' end on peg 30.

The result - pegs 1 to 15 are on the Western bank.

Of course fish won’t always feed in these margins, but when they do you can have a cracking day.

John, at the fishery, said afterwards he thinks the fish have not yet completely spawned, and that they are waiting for the next time the water warms enough to allow them to deposit their spawn.

My next match is on Horseshoe next week. I hope they’ve completed their spawning by then. I’m happy with any peg there – peg 12 is good, but it sometimes depends on the wind which other swims produce.

A strange match on Oak, Decoy

Peg 24

 This was a drawn pairs match, with seven on each side of the strip, and I was paired with Kevin Lee, on Peg 14, next to the corner peg on the opposite side. This was after the consistent rain we’d had for a week, so the water must have been cool. The stiff wind was into me, from the left.

I know that pegs 20 to 22, around the bird hide, have often had an edge, but I was pleased with Peg 24 because there was a lovely length of bare bank to my left, up to peg 25, which plumbed up at about two feet deep. It meant fishing into the wind, but I started by putting dead maggot and hemp in two spots – on a top two, and on six sections near to the platform of peg 25. However  I started by putting a Method feeder with maggot out.

Peg 20 - reeds abd irises to the right and a lovely shallow margin to the left.

After ten biteless minutes I tried the shallow margin. I had been told that someone had won a match on Oak the previous day fishing maggot in two feet of water, so I was confident, although the wind was cool, and the air temperature quite a lot lower than the previous day.

Two early tench

However, within a few minutes I had a 1 lb tench from the top-two swim, but then nothing. Over to the six-section spot I had baited, and another 1 lb tench came in. But then nothing. About 45 minutes gone and I had to try to deep margin to my right – I had no shallow margin there.  I hadn’t seen much else caught.

I put in 6mm pellets and hemp, and fished corn over the top. This resulted in a 5 lb carp foulhooked, which I landed. In the next two hours I landed another five-pounder, hooked correctly, and lost two more probably foulhooked. Things were not looking good, and the wind seemed to have become colder – I had a T-shirt and two sweatshirts on, one with a hood, but I had to put on my Goretex jacket to keep warm; and Dave Garner, to my right, put on another sweatshirt.

Repeated forays into the shallow margin to my left produced nothing. I was getting desperate, and I could now see the anglers opposite and to my right – from pegs 7 to 14, all catching. I suspected that some of those fish were foulhooked, because of the length of time the fights were taking.

Dave Garner with a fish which must
have been 13 lb-plus, taken on cat meat.

I'm getting hammered on my right

Meanwhile Dave Garner, on my right on peg 22, had had several big carp on waggler fishing with meat in the deep margin just beyond a clump of rushes. I was fishing the same line, but eventually I decided I would have to do something else, so went out to three sections with pellet. This worked well, and in about half an hour I landed two carp around 5 lb and lost two. The only way I could get a bite was to pull the expander against the wind – I couldn’t pick up any undertow but the wind was so strong I reckoned there must have been one. Then that swim died.

The rest of the match was spent mainly in the deep margin using cat meat. I was getting tiny touches all the time – some liners and some I suspected being fish playing with the bait. I would get roughly one fish every half-hour, but lose two – all foulhooked (though one fish I was sure was foulhooked turned out to be hooked in the mouth). I tried fishing off bottom with corn, and managed to foulhook just one fish (and lose it); but I wasn’t getting many liners on this rig so I assumed that fish had, in fact, being playing with my bait. By now the wind had warmed just a little. I managed to land three foulhooked fish after long tussles in the wind.

Kevin Lee won with 174 lb 12 oz. The fish
on Oak were nearly all like this - and
really hard fighters in the oxygen-laden water.

With 90 minutes to go Kevin Lee went for a fourth net, and soon after, Tony Nisbet also went, to be followed a bit later by Dave Garner. I was getting a real thrashing, as I estimated the six carp and two tench in the first net were 34 lb, and the three carp in the second net about 21 lb.  I wasn’t going to be much help to my partner, as the pairs event was to be decided on points, and obviously Dave was way ahead of me, and I guessed most of the others were also. With 20 minutes to go I had nine carp and the two tench in my nets, and reckoned I had lost between 15 and 20 big carp!

Last-minute disappointment

Unable to think what to do I dropped the rig and a grain of corn in the deep water to my left, where I had not baited, and in came a 1 lb F1. Next drop in a 2 lb F1 took, and with ten minutes left I hooked a really big fish.

I am sure it was foulhooked, but after playing it for almost ten minutes it came to the top and I could see it was at least 10 lb Then, when I thought it might be coming to the net for the last time, the hook pinged out! Match over...

The weigh-in

By the time I had packed some stuff up and got to the scales I could see three 100 lb-plus weights on the far bank, and my partner Kev had yet another – 174 lb 12 oz, taken mainly on meat,  beating Tony Nisbet on the next peg by just 12 oz. Tony used his usual expanders, both as feed and on the hook. 

Then to my bank, where Dick Warrener on 20 weighed 131 lb, and Dave Garner 127 lb. I admitted to about 60 lb, so imagine my surprise when they totalled 81 lb 8 oz. The fish I had estimated at 5 lb must have been considerably bigger. They certainly fought as if they were on testosterone. The fact that it was more than I had thought was of little consolation, as I know that I had fish around my bait in the deep margin all day.

John Smith weighed 103 lb and
  knocked me down to 4th in my section.

Several anglers told me they had hardly a fish in the first three hours, and all those I spoke to said they had lost a lot of fish foulhooked. So perhaps The fact that I caught hardly any carp early on wasn’t all my fault – although the pegs towards the windward end did produce early on.

My mistakes

Afterwards I realised I should have tried a feeder down the margin; or paste; or worm; or hard pellet; or a big bunch of maggots; or (the worst error) put on a really heavy rig – 2 gm or more - to combat the underwater swirls caused by the stiff wind. 

I finished eighth, but we won the Pairs event! Peg 1
was paired with peg 22; Peg 4 with 20; 6 with 18;
7 with 30; 10 with 28; 12 with 26; and 14 with me on 24.
This ensured that no partners were fishing opposite each other.

In other words I fished like a sirry iriot (as Benny Hill would say). My next match is on Tuesday on the same lake and I have sorted a bigger rig, and hope I can avoid making the same mistakes two matches in a row.

The big surprise

John Smith, on 28, beat me, so I eventually finished fourth out of the seven on my bank. But imagine my surprise when the result was announced – Kevin and I had won the pairs event with 5 points! Dave and John Garner (no relations) were second on 6 points, and Dick Warrener and Clive Foster (who weighed 48 lb 6 oz, which was a very good performance on his part) were equal on 8 points with John Smith and Bill Foster. But John and Bill edged third place on weight.

So a most undeserved £30 will be coming my way at the annual presentation later in the year, thanks to Kevin.

A good finish takes me to third - Magpie Lake, Pidley

Peg 2

Thirteen of us fished this Fenland Rods club match on Magpie, at Pidley. I’d had a run down to the tackle shop on Wednesday, and had a look at the lake. There was a really strong wind blowing – I had a quick look at anglers fishing Rook lake and it nearly blew me off my feet. But Magpie had hardly a ripple on it, thanks to the trees all round, which give it shelter, and it looked sort of dead, and not much was being caught. Personally I’d rather it was open to the wind, as it would mean more oxygen in the water.

Anyway, the lake again had no ripple on Sunday, and we all thought that perhaps the heavy rain had freshened the water, which was very coloured. The bank on 1 to 14 had a light head wind, which served to bring lots of bits of floating debris into the margin of my swim, and doubtless into lots of others.

My swim at the end. Nine metres to the lillies, twice as far to the far bank.

As I tackle up in Peg 2 I realised that I had left my main landing net handle at home, and the long hook I use to catch awkward reed stems – both left in my other pole holdall which I had used the Previous Sunday. Luckily I always carry a spare landing net handle which was heavy, and shorter, but OK.

Our secretary and match organiser
John Smith - never happier than when
 he's fishing. He totalled 86 lb 7 oz.

I have a cunning plan

My plan (which was a novelty as I don’t usually have one) was to fish cat meat, so I put in a little on a top two line, where the water was deepest. However, with a patch of lillies within easy reach I actually started fishing with a shallow rig baited with an expander, against the lillies, where a big fish or two had turned. Two rudd were my prizes, and I turned to the cat meat swim, prepared to go back to shallow fishing if nothing else worked.

Very early in the match I looked up to see Dennis, opposite on peg 28, on the island, playing a good fish. Not long after that it happened again, so I thought I was already playing catch-up.

The next 20 minutes was spent fruitlessly fishing the cat meat. So I had a look in the deep margin to my left, against the reed bed. Against the bank the water was about 18 inches deep, but I started on the next shelf, about two feet deep. First fish, on a small cube of luncheon meat, was a small carp, about 12 oz. But sport was slow and in the next hour or so I had only about three more fish, best 2 lb.

The moment of truth. Callum must be
the neatest writer in UK matches!

A move out a few inches into water a couple of inches deeper brought a few more, best 3 lb. It appeared that the fish were off bottom, as I had a lot of what looked like liners, but managed to not foulhook any. I tried hanging a bait off bottom, but never had a touch. That made me think that the ‘liners’ must have been fish playing with the bait.  

I tied fishing against the bank but never had a fish there all day.

Not a good first half, and then I get a splinter

Halfway through and I had about 30 lb, and the occasional splashing from Tony’s swim on my right made me think that he probably had about the same number of fish as I did. Just before this I had managed to get a sliver of carbon in a finger, and I spent several minutes trying to pick it out with the point of a size 10 hook. I thought the end of the splinter was still embedded, so had to put on a plaster (which I keep in my bag) and hope it didn’t turn septic, which splinters in my hand can do in a short time. It didn’t give me a lot of hassle, but I had to be careful handling the pole.I must get a proper pair of tweezers to put in my bag.

Mel Lutkin, second from Peg 8.

Still nothing came from the cat meat swim, and I tried a speculative drop in four sections to my right, in a little bay. I’d put no bait in there and was surprised to get a fish first cast on corn. And another second cast. So I potted in a few grains and took half-a-dozen fish, which allowed me to start a second net with 40 lb in the first, before resting it and going back to the lefthand swim on luncheon meat. This brought a few fish, as did cat meat in that swim.

Finicky Fish

Bites started to come more frequently and I foulhooked a couple of fish which each left me with a scale. I also hooked a very big fish which I played for several minutes before it came off, and I landed two or three to 4 lb foulhooked. Some others  were hooked on the outside of the mouth, which reinforced the notion that they weren’t taking the bait properly. One other fish (probably hooked correctly) took me into the reed bed and I lost the rig.

The debris in the swim was now causing problems, but I didn't want to disturb the fish by scooping it out with my landing net, so I gritted my teeth and carried on. With 28 lb on my clicker for the second net I started my third net with 70 minutes to go. I’d put in a big pot of corn and hemp against the right corner of the concrete fronting, on a top two, and within a minutes clouds of mud came up.

Kevin admires his fourth-placed catch.

Corn gives me my best spell

I dropped in with a grain of corn, and provided I avoided the many underwater strands of reed and grass which held up the bait, I usually got a bite. These were better fish, to almost 5 lb, but they weren’t coming really fast, and most took a long time to land, though three obligingly came to the surface immediately which allowed me to gently slide them into the landing net in about 15 seconds.

That was my best period of the match, and the splashing in Tony’s swim had also increased in frequency. Eight minutes to go and I landed a near-5 lb fish, dropped in and got another about 4 lb. No more time, and the match finished.

I estimate my weight at nearly 100 lb

I estimated I had 40 lb, 28 lb, and about 20 lb in the last net (which I didn’t click). Probably a little less than 100 lb. Then Tony came up to say he had around 150 lb, which I was astonished at, so he must have managed to get some in without any splashing. Crafty beggar.

The winner - Tony Nisbet who fished on the peg next to me!

John Garner on Peg 14, the end peg on that bank, weighed 99 lb, but on 8 Mel Lutkin was rumoured to have caught fish all day. As so often happens it always seems that the other bloke has caught a lot more fish than he has. Mel certainly hadn’t caught all day – but he weighed 138 lb 10 oz, which easily led the field, and beat Kevin Lee next door, who weighed 125 lb 5 oz.

I get a surprise

I knew I was unlikely to finish in the top four now. So imagine my surprise when my 28 lb net took the scales to 45 lb! The 40 lb net went 42 lb. And my last 70-minute net weighed nearly 45 lb (!), totalling 132 lb 3 oz – so perhaps Tony wasn’t that far in front of me. In fact he totalled 147 lb 6 oz, which left the three anglers on the island to weigh.

I think we were all surprised that they struggled, and the top weight there was 67 lb 14 oz, and the early fish I saw Dennis playing were foulhooked and came off.  All three are capable of better weights than that, so it could only have been that the fish weren’t feeding there, which was surprising, as last year those pegs produced really good weights – I had 200 lb.  So on this occasion Tony won and I finished third.

The result - 1 to 14 were on the main bank and 28 to 32 on the island.

Final thoughts

As I thought about the match afterwards I was pleased. I wasted time with the splinter and rescuing my rig from the reeds, which would have taken only seconds had I had my hook with me. Also my shorter landing net handle cost me a little time landing fish. Several anglers told me they lost a lot of fish, including Tony who trashed or was broken on nine rigs, and I lost only about five all day, mainly foulhooked.

I was chuffed that my special little method again tended to avoid my striking at liners. The end result was that I was only a couple of fish from second place. However I also suspect that if I had dropped down to the deep water in my lefthand swim I would have suffered fewer fishless periods as possibly fish were dropping down when one was hooked. It’s a weakness of mine. I should have altered one of the other rigs I had ready and tried it.

Not for the first time this season I think I could (and perhaps should) have won. I didn't try my red luncheon meat, paste or worms, all of which I had with me. Nor did I try feeding and baiting with expanders in the margin properly.

Next match Saturday - a pairs event on Oak at Decoy. The weather will no doubt determine which pegs fish best. A lot of rain is forecast, which will cool the water down, so it could be really hard.

Update on the "Guess the Weight" charity event.

The winner of the charity "Guess the Weight" competition, organised by John Garner last month,  was Len Loughton of March, who guessed 195 lb for the winning weight, when the actual weight was 194 lb 15 oz. Others were a few ounces out, but Ken was nearest.

In addition Roland Butcher gave his winnings back to the chaity, so the total raised for Cander Research UK was £787.

The best laid plans...

No match after all on Tuesday. My plan to fish Frasers Fishery was thwarted when I suffered an attack of vertigo on Monday night. It's something I am prone to, and it meant I couldn't possibly fish the next day - it leaves a slightly nauseus feeling, and the dizziness takes several, hours to disppear.

However all is well now and I can reveal that I have been told that the Fenland Rods club does, in fact, have another match on Northview, in September. I look forward the that.

Next match should be Sunday on Magpie Lake, Rookery Waters, Pidley. Any of the pegs we are likely to use (roughly 1 to 13 and 28 to 34) to will suit me, though pegs 1 to 5 are often the most consistent.

“Could do Better” – Match Lake, Northview Fishery, Gedney Hill

This was our last match ever on Northview, as Adrian is not having any more matches from next season. I was on our peg 13, two from the lodges on the far bank, opposite the corner of the island. The wind was quite strong, and blowing straight into our bank. Sixteen of us fished.

I was having to use my Browning Sting pole again, as my main pole was being patched up. It’s lovely and light, but has no pullers. I started 9 metres out, using corn, and had two or three liners before losing a fish. I put in hemp and pellets with a bait dropper in an attempt to get fish down on the bottom, and had a quick look in the deep-water margin about six feet from the bank) to my left, where I had put in a small ball of groundbait containing maggots.

A lovely-looking swim, with a good ripple into my bank.

Immediately I had a 1 lb bream, which leapt out of the water when hooked, and the next two drop-ins I hooked two more, both of which jumped out and threw the hook. Then no bites at all, so back out to 9 metres.

I could not catch against the bank

Here I managed to snare a 2 lb carp and some roach on corn and pellet, but nothing much was happening; so into the right margin. I had about one metre of bare bank before the reeds started. I am convinced that when fish are spawning, or about to, the bare banks hold non-spawning fish, as there is no weed on which to hang the spawn. But I got absolutely nothing right against the bank, even at half depth.

Dick Warrener, on mt right,  seemed
 to me to be catching fish all day.

Over the next hour a change to cat meat about six feet out in the right margin took some carp to about 4 lb, but things were very slow. I kept on putting occasional fish into the net, and every time I was about to pick up the 9-metre rig another fish came in. I had a nice spell fishing corn at about half depth, but then that stopped working. After three hours I estimated I had about 50 lb, and had started on my second net (the club rule is 50 lb max). I kept trying right against the bank but still could not catch a fish there.

Foulhooked fish

I did lose several fish – mainly when they snatched at cat meat on the drop. I don’t think most were foulhooked, I think they just didn’t take the bait in properly. Some were foulhooked, as I had a scale a couple of times, and hooked another in the tail. But it was very frustrating. John Smith told me afterwards he reckoned he had lost 100 lb of fish.

Meanwhile Dick Warrener on my right seemed to be playing fish every time I looked up, fishing a deep hole – about four feet deep – in his right margin. I believe several fish took him straight into the reeds only a couple of feet away. Also to my right I saw James Garner catching. He was pegged in a reedy swim and was catching well out...that should have been a lesson to me, but I didn’t catch on.

Kevin needs anther net!

Mel Lutkin weighed in 93 lb 15.
He is a very consistent angler.

At that point Kevin Lee, on peg 9 to my left, came up and tapped me on the shoulder, asking if I had a spare net as he had filled his three! I had brought several with me, so he took one. The next two hours were terrible, with about one fish every 12 or 15 minutes on cat meat or corn, and with an estimated 70 lb in my net Kevin came up for a fifth net!

Things looked dire for me, but then I found a few fish just about 12 inches farther out than I had been fishing, just over a small drop-off. The last hour was my best of the match, and with 45 minutes left I got up and fixed a third net into position. The good catch rate carried on and I estimated I had 20 lb in it when the match finished, with 40 lb in each of the other two nets, so my guess was 100 lb maximum.

The weigh-in

As I had expected, the swims opposite, on the roadside, which have no reeds in the margins, had produced big weights. Leading was Tony Nisbet, who fished largely corn, and weighed 188 lb 10 oz; John Smith had 161 lb 15 oz, and James, in his reed-lined swim, had put 179 lb 2 oz on the scales.

We use a carp mat to place the net on.

I could see Dave Garner  preparing to weight his three nets as I walked round to watch, and of course I knew Kevin Lee had five nets! I was in for a real thrashing.

Dave G had 142 lb 1 oz, and John Garner weighed in 157 lb 5 oz. Then to Kevin Lee, whose five nets went 206 lb 9 oz.  To be honest I was despondent, as I knew I should have done better. Dennis on my left – a very good angler – managed 95 lb 2 oz, and I wondered if I could beat that – certainly Dick had beaten me on the other side.

A bad mistake

So to my nets, and when James lifted my first net out of the water he looked at me for a couple of seconds as he heaved it out. The others anglers shouted “Error” before the net even went onto the scales.

The digital scales shot up to 59 lb and wavered somewhere above that before the net was taken off and the fish returned. So I’d lost 9 lb-plus! Then I watched in amazement as the second net went on the scales and the needle shot to 58 lb and wavered above that. I had now conceded 17 lb-plus to the rest of the anglers. The third net which I estimated at 20 lb, went to 27 lb 5 oz...total 127 lb 5 oz. But It should have been nearer 145 lb.

John Garner - fifth with 157 lb 5 oz.

I had guessed that  Dick, on my right, probably had three nets of 50 lb each, but I was wrong again. He totalled 124 lb 11 oz, a little over 2 lb behind me! I finished seventh – not brilliant but I was second on our bank, behind the winner, so I felt I was not disgraced after all.

A cracking day for this club match.

   Wrong tactics

Afterwards I realised that I should have gone out to the deeper water. I had found, towards the end, that fish fed better in that extra few inches of water. Watching James fishing well out should have told me what to do – have a plumb up where I was catching fish and go out to see how the bottom lay.

There were a lot of fish all over the lake, so it wouldn’t have been a problem getting them to feed – the problem was just finding exactly where they were lying. Why I hadn’t spent that couple of minutes having a look I can’t explain.

The winner

Kevin caught almost all his fish fishing mainly meat or paste about eight inches deep in 14 inches of water nine inches from the bank – a nice run of bare bank to his right. He said that if he put his rig in two feet from the bank he didn’t get a bite!

I had actually made up three rigs especially for fishing corn or pellet shallow, and also fished meat shallow under a bit float; but although I took the occasional fish like that fishing six feet out, I couldn’t get a bite against the bank. I have to assume that the fish weren’t hanging about there.

Next match should be tomorrow (Tuesday) at Frasers, near Ely.

I just manage to frame - Cedar, Decoy

Peg 15

I would have chosen a peg from 1 to 6 or 21 to 26, as the fish in Cedar are often at the car park end. But – as several mates reminded me – the wind was blowing towards the far end and peg 15, one from the corner, could hold a lot of fish. The wind was blowing into me, slightly from the left, and increased during the morning, so fishing to the left was not only difficult, but cold. The forecast was for 22 Centigrade, remaining at 22 in the wind, but that was rubbish, as I soon had to put my jacket on.

My swim, one away from the corner, had no shallow margins.

I was fishing under a slight handicap – my main Browning pole is being patched up, so I fished with my Browning Sting, which does not have pullers. It’s not possible to put in puller bungs as the top twos are so thin in diameter, though I could get side pullers fitted. Also there are only seven tops, while my Z12 had 15, which gives me a good choice of elastics. So I also took my 40-year-old stiff margin pole, a Century I believe. This had just two tops (also without pullers), but the fish don’t fight as much on it, because it’s stiff.

I had one cast with a Method feeder and corn, with just a liner, and after ten minutes I brought it in and had a quick look on the pole where I had been throwing a few grains of corn, prepared to go back to the feeder if there wasn’t a quick result. So, out to about five metres with corn, feeding with a small pot, and a small F1 came second cast, followed by a 3 lb common and another F1.

                                                                 I feed 8mm pellets, to discourage the roach

Martin Parker with 88 lb 1 oz on peg 4.

I then put in some 8mm pellets and corn just out from the  bottom of the shelf, about eight feet out, and had a look with cat meat using the Century. I had several unhittable bites – the fish seemed to be playing with the bait for all of a minute before finally shooting off with it, and I missed the first few. But after about 20 minutes I managed to hit a 3 lb F1.

Mick Ramm had 127 lb 4 oz
on peg 7, and was runner-up.

The rest of the day I spent alternating between the Sting at five metres, taking the occasional F1 on corn, and the Century near the side, taking mainly barbel, which ran to at least 5 lb and fought like demons. Bream to 2 lb also came to corn on the longer line, and one around 3 lb jumped out of the water at least three feet  before throwing the hook.

I would have liked to fish a shallow swim, but there were none in the margins.

I lost several fish during the day, hooked for about four or five seconds, and probably foulhooked, though I waited until I was sure the bite was a ‘proper’ one before striking. John Smith told me afterwards that the fish were pulling his elastic out sometimes...and he still failed to feel anything. At one point I played a definitely-foulhooked very big fish for several minutes, only to eventually lose it when the hook pulled out.

Callum uses the weighing mat to rest his net on before weighing.

Hemp seems to bring the fish on again

Halfway though the match Peter Barnes , two to my left on 17, walked past and said he had just four fish. I had about 30 lb at that time. I could easily see Callum, opposite me, and he seemed to be struggling, so I decided I would be happy to beat them both.

Sport fell away a little then, but hemp seemed to bring the fish back and I had a good 90 minutes, mainly with barbel on cat meat, leaving me with about 80 lb with an hour to go. At that point I started my third net.

A disappointing last hour

Unfortunately things slowed down again. I tried corn on the longer swim and immediately took two roach, so I then concentrated on the meat swim, and when that died I was forced to try close to the reeds to my right, where the water was almost as deep as the main swim. This nearside swim brought a couple of barbel, but that third net held only 12 lb an hour later when I weighed in.

Afterwards, Peter Harrison, who took 124 lb 7 oz on a feeder, of which about two-thirds were barbel, told me he used worm. Why didn’t I think of that? I had worms with me! It’s possible they would have taken them better than the cat meat, which they seemed to be playing with before taking it. The knocks looked like roach hitting the bait, but I’m sure they were proper carp – the floats would dance about for a minute and then zoom off without a pause, and these were all F1s or barbel or carp – no roach. The only roach I had were on corn.

Winner Peter Spriggs, 137 lb 7 oz, Peg 7.

                                                        The weigh-in

Peter Harrison had 124 lb 7 oz
 on a feeder baited with worm,
two-thirds of which were barbel.

Ted (91) had a good day, weighing 80 lb 15 oz from peg 1. Then, on peg 6, Peter Spriggs put 137 lb 7 oz on the scales for the win. Terry Tribe, who was opposite me towards my left, weighed 110 lb 15 oz. I hadn’t watched him at all, all day, and wished I had, as I might have worked out when the fish were coming on, and noted how far out he was fishing.

 Peter Barnes,  to my left , had a good last hour and boosted his weight to 39 lb 3 oz. 

Afterwards I thought I should have tried the left margin, despite the high wind, as it had been left alone all day. Operator error!

John Smith, like me, had barbel
 to around 4 lb - difficult to land
as they are in superb condition.

The result - lots and lots of barbel were caught.

I ended with 107lb 12 oz, a few ounces over the 50 lb limit in one net, for fifth. The catches I expected, particularly from pegs 21 to 26, didn’t materialise, and I wonder whether I would have done a lot better had I had my pole with pullers as I seemed to spend more time than usual landing the fish.

It looks as if I will be without my Z12 pole this weekend when I fish at Northview on Sunday. But I have just spent some time working out what rigs to put on what elastics, so I’m actually quite confident and looking forward to it - the forecast is for cloudy with possibly some rain.