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.