I get a bit of a thrashing - Magpie, Pidley.

Peg 5

This was an Over-60s match, and took place on the Wednesday following three days of extreme heat. Luckily the temperature had dropped ten degrees, and with the water so warm I, and many others, expected the carp to be feeding well on cat meat and paste. In fact the match got off to a slow start, with everybody struggling for a bite.

I hadn’t fished here for some time, but guessed that the margins on 5, and on 6, were quite deep. In fact both had margins around four-and-a-half feet, though there was a very small spot next to the concrete platform on my right which was only about two feet.

My swim. The reeds are about 13 metres away, but I didn't aim on fishing
there as conditions - a  nice temperature and cloudy - were absolutely
spot on for catching fish closer in. The ripple wasn't there for long, though.

I started on a top-two-plus-one with expander or corn on the hook but couldn’t catch a fish. I’d been putting dead maggots in the deep margin to my right, and first drop with a bunch of deads brought a carp which hooked itself on the drop. But no more.

                                                                 Will Hadley finds the fish eventually

Weighing in. James German, the farmer, who
also digs lakes, is on the right with the score
sheet. I've no idea who the other bloke is!

Next to me, on my left on Peg 6 Will Hadley also started quietly but within a couple of hours started to catch fish slowly but steadily. Meanwhile I could find only the occasional fish in either swim, and with an hour-and-a-half to go I had a measly seven or eight fish, while I guessed Will had 25. He told me afterwards that he couldn’t get a bite on cat meat or corm, but that hard pellet did the business. He also bemoaned the fact that his margins were so deep, and said he didn’t get a single bite there but, took his fish on two-plus-one.

Will Hadley, fourth with 131 lb 8 oz, gave
me a thrashing. But he is a regular here.

I knew that there were fish around, though, as I kept foulhooking them. I reckoned I had lost 20! But if I put a rig in without any bait on the liners stopped completely. That proved to me that the fish were inspecting the bait but not taking it properly. I should have tried hard pellet, but never thought about it. The fish were mainly around 3 lb and fought like tigers.

At one time I went out at 13 metres to the reeds in front, and hooked a good fish...only to lose it That really chinkered me and I never tried it again. The fish were coming, and I had no reason to think that they would behave any differently at 13 metres to those at five metres or in the deep margin.

                                                                                                         Desperate

A happy Allan Golightly - runner-up with 141 lb 6 oz on peg 36.
The fish here are in super condition and fight like tigers.

Desperate, I decided I must have a look in the shallow area near my keepnet, and I found a fish there within a couple of minutes. For the rest of the match I concentrated on this area – using one rig at two feet and another at three feet about a foot away – and suddenly found fish.

A great last 90 minutes

Will estimated that I must have put nearly 60 lb into the net in that last 90 minutes, and interestingly several times I lifted the bait an inch, got a dive-under bite...and found my self attached to a foulhooked fish, all of which came off. A couple were hooked on the outside of the lip, but in the last 30 minutes the fish were all hooked well down the mouth – so they were taking the bait much better.  The fish came to cat meat, but took corn better. And I landed the best one, around 7 lb, after the whistle. So they were really coming on.

I ended with 73 lb 14 oz, which was well down the list, with Will ending fourth with 46 carp weighing 131 lb 8 oz. I should have done better, by looking at the shallower swim earlier, even though it seemed too close to my keepnets to be likely to hold that number of fish. The winner Chris Saunders on 21, a cat meat specialist, found, as I did, that the fish took corn better.

The result - best area was in the bay and on the island, from 21 round to 36.

Allan is on a roll!

Allan Golightly, who won his first Fenland Rods match on Sunday, did himself proud again, coming second in this match with 141 lb 6 oz on peg 36. I have to say he took great advantage of what is considered one of the better swims, on a difficult day. So very well done, Allan. 

We have a club rover on Magpie on Sunday, and I now have an idea of which swims I will go for if I can. (But I'm not going to tell anybody). The pegs we've been given are 1 to 20, then 28 to 34 on the island. So unfortunately peg 36 will not be in!

CORRECTION

Allan's Fenland Rods match win at Buttonhole on Sunday was in fact his second win this season, the first being on Lou's at Decoy in July.

So he's not just on a roll - he's on a Giant Big Mac Double Cheesburger roll!

I lose too many fish - Buttonhole, Wisbech

Peg 20

I’ve fished peg 20 before – it’s opposite a corner of the central island, but the island has been worn away slowly and to reach it would now probably need more than 16 metres of pole. So I decided not to attempt it.

The sun was scorchingly hot – 33 degrees was forecast- but I was pleased when I found as litlle as 18 inches in the margin to my left and almost 5 feet to the right. So I had options. However I started on five sections in front of me and within five minutes was playing a 9 lb common carp. A three-pounder followed a little later, and then another three-pounder.

 

Mel, to my left on 19, struggled all day.

Meanwhile John Smith, to my right, had landed three or four very big fish – one which looked as if it was into double figures, came through my swim foulhooked in the tail. It was a wild carp – bloody angry by the way it was thrashing about on the surface!

For the next hour I had a look to my left about a metre from the bank in two feet of water, and put in a pot of dead maggots next to the righthand margin, hoping to get a barbel on a bunch of deads. But I never had a fish, though I did loose one from the left, probably foulhooked. Then John came up to me and said he’d had nothing after the first half-hour, and had about 28 lb. I had about 15 lb plus a couple of small rudd on corn.

John admires his biggest fish at 14 lb 14 oz.

Bites suddenly come

So I put in a load of bait, followed it with some pots of water over the top and suddenly started to get bites from the left margin, about a metre from the bank. In the next two hours I had about five fish from 1 lb to 6 lb on corn or cat meat, and lost another three or four. Then out to the five-section swim without putting in any more bait, and two fish came in two casts on cat meat, and an occasional roach and rudd on corn.

Wendy, fourth with 81 lb 15 oz from peg 7.

Cold cherryade 

Then Chris and his wife, Bev,  the fishery owners, came round with glasses of cold cherryade – very welcome in the heat. As they came round I was struggling to free my rig from an underwater snag which a good fish had just taken me into. I lost the fish but got the rig back. But the drink was very welcome.

A beaming smile from Clive, who finished seventh.

Still John seemed to be struggling, and I’d seen Mel on my left get just two good fish early on.Now he had just one more. With two hours to go I went to the right margin and had a 2 lb bream first drop, then a lull. And in the last hour I had four or five to 8 lb, and lost some – one broke me. Mel to my left had two late fish, and I saw that Kevin, on the open bank peg 24, suddenly seemed to start catching also. He told me later that a switch from his left margin to the right, with 30 minutes to go, produced about four quick fish, but he had earlier lost five fish around double-figures at the net.

The weigh-in

At the end I had about 15 fish, but must have lost nine or ten. I admitted to between 50 lb and 60 lb. The opposite bank, peg 2, weighed in first, and came round the end of the lake, by which time there were three weights over 80 lb. with Tony Nisbet leading and Wendy Bedford second – taken on her usual feeder. Then to Allan Golightly who had never won a Fenland Rods match, on peg  15, and we were delighted to see him weigh in 90 lb 2 oz to take the lead.

Allan Golightly - winner with 90 lb 2 oz from peg 15.

 Clive Foster, not a regular framer, did himself proud with 55 lb 5 oz, and I wasn't sure whether I could beat that. In fact my fish went 63 lb 15 oz, which I was pleased with in that it beat the two anglers either side, though if I had managed to land just half of the fish I lost I would probably have been in the lead. I finished sixth.

Last to weigh, but Kevin couldn't quite
catch Allan and finished with  87 lb 5 oz.

Then to Kevin, who couldn’t quite catch Alan, and weighed 87 lb 5 oz for second spot. So well done Allan on his first win. A hot day made easier by the welcome from Chris and Bev, who also made us tea before the start . Then Alan told me had had caught fish in nine inches of water and I kicked myself for not having a look right against the piling to my left, in about 18 inches, even though I had a rig made up. I hadn’t seen any fish move there, but I definitely should have tried. To be honest it probably cost me the match.

The result - the fish were all in great condition.

My next match is Wednesday on Magpie at Pidley, followed by a rover on Magpie in the Fenland Rods match on Sunday. Thank goodness the forecast is for temperatures to drop – these hot flushes from the hormone treatment are really debilitating when it’s that hot. I’m glad I’m not a woman (though I have been called an old woman at times).

Lucky Horseshoe Lake for me - Decoy (Spoiler - I win)

Peg 18

Twelve of us fished this club match on Horseshoe – a lake I like because it’s a short walk, the banks are good, and there are no real fliers. Peg 18 (an end peg on the day) stuck to my fingers, and I remembered when I got there that Trevor Cousins had had this swim in an earlier match, when I was two to his right. At that time there were fish moving near the lillies, which are about 13 metres to the left, and when I got there this time the fish were there again. Big black ones, all approaching double-figures.

The temptation was to go straight to the lillies, but honestly it would have been suicidal, so I dismissed the idea.

I take a long time to set up, but Spratts matches give even me plenty of time, so with ten minutes to go I had a wander along the bank and had a word with Wendy. While we were talking I pointed out a great big mirror carp which was hanging about next to her margin. It was there for a minute of two, so at that point I decided to start in my margin.

The sun was from the left at the start, which would have made fishing towards
the lillies difficult, but suicidal as the fish moving there were really big!

When the match started I threw some corn into my right margin, potted out some pellets and hemp to nine metres, and had a look in the margin. First drop-in I had a bite which I missed, and second drop-in had another good bite which turned out to be a 5 lb common which ended in my keepnet. Five minutes later a three-pounder joined it, and a few minutes late another three-pounder.

One fish shallow - then no more

But then the bites petered out. After the match it seemed that most of the anglers found fish in that first few minutes before they went off feed. Anyway, I went out to nine metres and in the next hour found four or five fish from 2 lb to 4 lb. I kept looking inside, but had only one more. As there were fish moving nearby I started pinging 4mm pellets out, and on the first drop-in with a banded 4mm pellet an F1 took the pole round. Cracked it! No. For the next 30 minutes I fished shallow really hard and never had another touch.

Wendy was seventh with 52 lb 1 oz. It was a
big fish I saw in her margins before the
start that decided me to start fishing there.

Occasionally a fish would saunter into my swim near me, just under the surface, and I managed to mug two of them. One took me straight into the lillies and broke me, but the other one I landed. Then I took a chance and started a margin swim about three metres to my left, towards the lillies, but still ten metres away. Every time I put bait in I saw swirls, and usually got a bite.

Then I noticed that the fish near the lillies were coming closer, swimming into the margins near me and out again, but coming closer each time. And suddenly they started taking my cat meat.

A good spell in the left margin

A steady stream of carp came for about an hour before they dried up, and I lost four or five fish, one of which broke me, possibly foulhooked. I estimated I had about 65 lb with an hour to go, and in the next 30 minutes had enough to bring that up to 80 lb, so I went and got another net. I was surprised to see Peter The Paste with just two nets, as peg 1, where he was sat, has won several matches lately, and I assumed he would be well ahead of me as he’s a very good, consistent matchangler.

Trevor took an early lead with  74 lb.

In fact I know that most of the winning weights here were taken largely beside the reeds to the right of the platform, on a fairly long pole. Peter was fishing out in front, as he usually does, but I decided, after due consideration (about half a second) not to upset his carefully-laid plans and tell him.

Of course, when I got back with 23 minutes left to fish I couldn’t carry on where I left off – isn’t it always the case? It took me almost 15 minutes to get the next fish, which was about 5 lb, and two more came, about 2 lb each, before the whistle blew...actually it’s not a whistle; more an “Aay, Aay, Aay. That’s it lads, Mac, Mac, Mac, Finish, Finish, Finish.” Then there’s a chorus of: “Mac, that’s it mate. All Over.” Anyone would think I am deaf!

Help needed from John (again)

It takes me longer each match to pack up – not helped by the fact that I usually have six or seven different rigs to pack up. So by the time I had packed up my gear and John Garner had pushed it back to the car for me (thanks, John) the weigh-in had started. And indeed Peter Spriggs on peg 1 had only 54 lb, so those early pegs probably hadn’t fished any better than mine – if they had Peter would have had more.

Mick Ramm, 51 lb 9 oz, peg 2.

Callum, 56 lb 13 oz for third place.

Mick Ramm also had 50 lb-plus – the first of several weights around that mark. 

Then to Trevor, who took the lead with 74 lb,  all taken shallow on pellet waggler and then pole.  Callum on corner peg 12 had 55 lb 6 oz and then to Wendy, who almost made the frame with 52 lb 1 oz, taken on a feeder. I probably should have put on a feeder during the slack times – it’s a failing of mine.

I admitted to about 90 lb, was last to weigh, and finished with 98 lb 15 oz for the win. I have to say that a really good angler on my peg would probably have had a lot more.

Next match on Buttonhole on Sunday, but the forecast is for searing temperatures, so it might not be easy.

John Garner fourth with 55 lb 6 oz from  peg 11..

For my own information the weights were:

Peg 1 P. Spriggs       54 lb

Peg 2 M Ramm,       51 lb 9 oz

Peg 4 M Parker        53 lb 9 oz

Peg 5 T Tribe           48 lb 4 oz

Peg 6 T Cousins       74 lb

Peg 7 B Barrett        30 lb 9 oz

Peg 9 P Barnes         27 lb 4 oz

Peg 11 J Garner        55 lb 6 oz

Peg 12 C Judge         56 lb 13 oz

Peg 16 W Bedford    52 lb 1 oz

Peg 17 M Rawson    DNW

 Peg 18 M Campbell  98 lb 15 oz

MEDICAL BULLETIN

My mates all know that the hormone treatment for my prostate cancer really has taken away a lot of my strength. The good news is that following a colonoscopy carried out because of consistent bleeding, the hospital has confirmed that the colon is OK and the polyps they removed are benign. So everything on that front  (or rather that backside) is satisfactory.

Next appointment is December when they will look at the lung cancer again. But I have no symptoms yet.

A nice match on Jay, Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley

Peg 25

I’d fished Jay only a couple of times in the past two years, so wasn’t expecting to do particularly well, as all the other 25 contestants in this Over-60s match are regulars here.

Lovely pegs, lined with astro turf - so no mud if it rains.

Vic German, second with 136 lb 2 oz - from peg
45 - just 2 oz less than the winner, Brian Yorke on 30.

The wind was Westerly, from my left to right, and although I’d checked the far bank –at least two feet deep – I didn’t want to start there, preferring to catch closer-in if possible, as it’s physically easier. I put a bait-dropper of hemp and corn out at two two plus two, but started inside, in the shallow margin. I had one tiny touch, and after a couple of minutes saw Mick Curtis on my right take a fish from the deep water on four or five pole sections.

I persevered inside for another 15 minutes, in which time Mick took another two fish, so I also went out longer. A 4 lb carp first drop-in was followed by one of about 1 lb, and another of 3 lb. But then bites dried up. I out some pellets to my right, down on the first drop-off, and immediately took two more fish, then a couple more missed bites, then nothing.

The next two hours saw me alternating between these two swims, taking the occasional fish mainly between 3 lb and 6 lb on corn, followed by an hour when I couldn’t get a bite.

With two hours to go I put pellets into the shallow margin to my right, and saw fish clouding the bottom, and swimming around just under the surface, but in the next hour I managed to land one, and lost about three foulhooked.

Peg 1 to 28

Finally with an hour to go the fish started to feed on corn – cat meat hadn’t worked up to that point – and I caught about six more. I weighed  85 lb 14 oz, which was eleventh, with ten weights over 100 lb, taken mainly on cat meat. However, I was pleased to beat the anglers on both sides, as Mick had 78 lb 8 oz, and Ray Myland to my left round the corner had 83 lb 2 oz.

Pegs 29 to 47

I should have concentrated on cat meat, probably just over the drop-off. But I look forward to the next time I fish Jay.

My eleventh-hour spurt not quite enough - Willows, Decoy

Peg 21

I seem  to be in a run, in Fenland Rods matches, where I keep drawing pegs I really do not fancy to win. This was no different – I rated pegs 1, possibly 3, 15, 24, 25, 28, 33 and 35 as all capable of winning this 12-entry match. But my peg 21 was in what used to be called Deadman’s Bay, together with 17, 19 and 22. In recent Spratts matches these pegs have framed ...but with the calibre of anglers on the better pegs in this match I genuinely rated my chances of framing as probably nil, though anything can happen, as we all know.

However, the forecast was reasonable, with just the possibility of light rain, so I decided to enjoy myself, and to just try to beat the other three in the bay. The wind was just a stiff breeze from my left to start with, though it increased during the day. I started on a feeder to the far bank about 30 metres away, and on the third cast a 1 lb carp took the hair-rigged corn.

The wind increased markedly during the match.

By this time Callum, to my right, had had two carp which looked to be well over 3 lb each, so I was already behind. Another couple of small carp came to the pellet feeder and eventually I decided I would have to have a look in the deep margin, where I had put in dead maggots in the hope of barbel. A bream came in, but nothing else so I went to 8 metres with a 0.5 gm Tuff-Eye, where I had potted corn, hemp and 4mm pellets.

This produced three or four fish in the next hour and I went back to the feeder, for another three or four quick fish. Three hours after the start I had about 15 lb, which was less than Callum had landed. 

Callum had a good start on peg 22, casting a pellet feeder a few metres from the island.

So back to the eight-metre line and I had a small spurt of fish which was then ruined by the wind increasing in force. I wondered about putting on a heavier rig, but the fish seemed to take better when the rig was moving in the undertow, so I decided a heavier rig wouldn’t help.  I eventually had to start another line, at the same depth, on a top-two-plus-one, where I had potted caster and hemp. After about ten minutes I started getting bites and had a run of small carp plus a four-pounder and a couple of bream, best 2 lb. At one time Callum and I were almost fish-for -fish.

I kept looking in the margin but never had a bite, so then alternated between the eight and four-metres lines, going long when the wind abated for a few minutes. Occasional fish came, and with an hour to go I estimated I had 32 lb. Then, Callum, to my right, had a barbel on meat in the margins (I had been keeping an eye on him), so I changed, fishing cat meat over caster and hemp.

I had to watch John Garner taking fish
after fish during the second half of
the match from peg 24, fishing
close to the aerator on his left..

A good last 50 minutes

In the last 50 minutes I took two barbel to 4 lb, about three or four carp to 3 lb, and two better ones, best about 8 lb. The fish were really feeding at the end, but too late for me. I assumed Callum had probably beaten me, but I thought I had made the best use of my swim on the day.

Mel Lutkin had some really big fish from
the narrow channel to the right of his
Peg 25, where he hadn't even fed.

The weigh-in

Dave Garner on peg 1 had 130 lb on his usual waggler and cat meat, taking his fish from the righthand side, and Tony Nisbet on 15 had 103 lb.  I could see Tony fishing though I didn’t actually see him land any fish; but it’s a noted peg and I fully expected him to beat the four of us in the bay. He found that the fish would take only a 4mm pellet - nothing larger, which was interesting because I fancied my fish preferred a small piece of corn rather than the full-sized pieces.

Kevin Lee with 87 lb 6 oz from peg 35,
a swim I have never mastered.

I was happy to finish eighth

When I weighed I had nearly 33 lb in that last net and 46 lb and a few ounces in the first net, total 79 lb 4 oz which was top in the bay and put me eighth overall, with Callum on 64 lb 13 oz, so I had beaten him after all. Winner was John Smith on 33, with a favourable backish wind, who caught 148 lb 15 oz on banded pellet shallow.

Pegs 23 and 24 both had 100 lb, with Mel  Lutkin on 25 having to fish in the narrow channel to his right to get a run of big fish after having had a very poor start.  On 24 John Garner, who is having a very good season, came third, with most of his fish also taken in the second half of the match, from next to the aerator.

So the seven pegs I had really fancied took the top seven places, and Joe Bedford, who was on 3, had 20 lb 1 oz – but Joe has done hardly any fishing for 18 months, and is 89,...so it may take him a few weeks to warm up!

John Smith fish a brown Bandum shallow for his winning  148 lb 15 oz.

PS. At the end Dave Garner and Tony Nisbet both helped me get my tackle and barrow up the slope to my car. I'm still on hormone treatment for the prostate cancer, and although I go to exercise classes twice a week (complete with weights and dumbells) I've still lost a lot of my strength, so I'm really grateful for the help my mates give me. 

I've been told I've got another 21 months of hormone injections, unless the specialists change their minds at my next appointments in September and December, when they also consider what to do about the lung cancer, which has so far not affected me. So long as I can still fish I'm happy.

Next match

John's best fish weighed 13 lb 7 oz.

Next match Friday on Horseshoe, where fishing shallow can produce big catches of F1s, but there are big carp here, and nice margins everywhere. I’m looking forward to it – peg 1, 7, 8 or 12 would be nice, though as there are lots of lily pads, almost any peg offers the possibility of shallow fishing. The direction of the wind can play a part.

A reasonable result, and a carp with pretentions of being on TV - Yew Lake, Decoy

Peg 5

We should have been on Lou’s Lake, which has 15 pegs, but 16 of us turned up to fish this Spratts match. Now one of my best subjects at school was Maths, so it took me only a few minutes to realise that 16 into 15 won’t go! I’m quick like that. It’s similar to Fermat’s theorem, which proves that something-or-other is impossible (I can’t remember what). Anyway, although Diane at the fishery had intended to rest some of the strips after a big Maver match the previous day she offered us Yew as an alternative. Many thanks,Di.

I would have liked any peg down at the far end, from about peg 9 to 15 on the West bank, which had back wind, and from corner peg 16 back to 22 on the East bank, with the East bank preferred. Failing that, any peg on the East bank. We were to fish the odd numbers 1 to 15 and the evens 16 back to 30, so I wanted to avoid 1 (which Ted was fishing anyway), 3, 5 and 7. I drew out peg 5...

Of course any peg can produce at any time, and apparently there was a 300 lb-plus catch on peg 15 the previous day - but my immediate thought was that I would probably be fishing to beat the anglers either side, and hopefully the three anglers to my right on the opposite bank, in other words just the anglers nearest the car park.

By the end of the match the wind was blowing left to right.

A quick fish on feeder

I started on a Method feeder and within 5 minutes had landed a 3 lb common. A few minutes later I had another wrap-round which somehow I missed. Then 20 minutes without a bite and |I had a quick look down in the margin where I had been dropping some pellet and corn. I quickly had one bite which I hooked into for about two seconds before it came off, but no more bites for almost half an hour. The wind by now had strengthened and the anglers on the far bank must have been shivering. 

With no joy in the margin, it was out to about 8 metres with corn on a half-gram Drennan Tuff-Eye float, and I quickly had a 3 lb F1. It was enjoyable fishing, with a big tow right to left against the wind. Up to this point not much had been caught that I could see, but Martin and Trevor on the opposite bank had certainly had a fish or two fishing in the margins. I stuck at the 8-metre line for an hour and managed four more fish, best about 5 lb. But I had lost several, mainly foulhooked. If I came off bottom I couldn’t get a bite. Two hours gone and John on my right said he had just four fish to my six. Trevor had definitely caught more than that on peg 24.

Ted (91) was on nearest Peg 1.

My margins did not produce a fish

I kept having a look in the margins to my left and right, mainly with cat meat, but never had another bite there, although I did get liners from fish swimming just under the surface. So I tried shallow fishing out at 8 metres, as the wind was so strong I could throw casters there by hand. But I never had a touch. However I did decide to use my casters up by potting them in with hemp at 8 metres, and I think this definitely attracted some fish. I had to trail the bait, mainly corn with the odd 4mm and 6mm expander,  along the bottom, holding the float back a little against the flow, but had to keep altering the amount of line on the bottom.

Bob Barrett was on 7, to my left.

I would fish for 20 minutes and be about to pick up the feeder rod, when suddenly I would get a bite, usually from an F1 but with the occasional ‘proper’ carp. That went on until the last hour, at which point I had about 40 lb in my first net and about 15 lb in my second net.

I'm doomed...

With an hour to go the bites started to increase in frequency, and I was catching an F1 every 5 minutes, and included a 6 lb carp. But by this time eight anglers had gone for a third net, with Trevor the first to go, so I knew I was doomed, and I had made beating the anglers at my end of the lake my sole target.  Martin opposite seemed to be landing a lot of really big fish and had three nets and I thought he had me well beat. The wind by now had turned to almost come straight down the lake from the North and I wondered whether I should put on a thicker-tipped float, which would pick up the tow better.

One of two 15 lb-plus mirrors caught by Terry Tribe,
 former National Division Four National Champion.

A super-charged carp

The decision was made for me. With 20 minutes to go I hit a carp which was obviously practicing for an appearance on Top Gear. It went from Zero to 60 mph in 0.28 of a second and by the time it had zoomed past Bob Barrett on peg 7 it had probably equalled the UK Waterspeed record.

The float tip broke off and  hurtled back past the end of my pole like a javelin, followed by my float doing a passable impression of a high-speed skier across the surface of the water, trailing a useless piece of nylon behind it.

So that fish would have been foulhooked then?

Former National Vets Champion
Martin Parker totalled 76 lb 14 oz.

Thicker float tip works well

Unusually for me I employed a piece of commonsense, and just lay the top down and picked up another rig with a thicker-tipped float, which, annoyingly, worked better than the Tuff-Eye, which is my favourite float because you can change the colour of the tip. In that last 20 minutes I managed four or five more fish, including an eight-pounder which I landed several minutes after the whistle. I decided to put that into my first net, which again was a good decision.

The weigh-in

Ted did well in the corner Peg 1, and weighed 63 lb. and John on my right had 79 lb, which I though I could beat. I weighed my second net first, which had 42 lb on the clicker, and it weighed 52 lb 4 oz! The second was better – 48 lb 13 oz. Total 98 lb 13 oz.

Peter 'The Paste' Spriggs, equal fifth.

But as I had expected, there were bigger catches towards the far end, though Terry Tribe commented that he thought my catch was very good from that peg, which was nice of him. Peter Harrison weighed 121 lb 6 oz, which turned out to be second. I didn’t ask him how he fished but whenever I looked up he was fishing out the same length as I had been.

Terry Tribe had 119 lb 2 oz for fourth, and included a mirror we weighed at 15 lb 3 oz.

Rob Allen’s third catch of the day was a keepnet, which he sportingly decided not to weight in. I asked him whether there was anything in it. “Yes, Water” he said without so much as a smile. Oooh, he is awful...but I like him! He was followed by John Garner, who caught most of his fish on a feeder and beat Terry by just 13 oz with 119 lb 15 oz.

Trevor was the winner on 133 lb 3 oz, caught in the margins. And surprisingly Martin’s three nets totalled just 76 lb 14 oz – he had only one fish in his last net, so I  beat him and was the best in the six pegs nearest the car park. Fifth spot was shared between Peter Spriggs and Mick Linnell, both on 115 lb 1 oz.

Mick Linnell, former Oundle and Fletton
Ex-Service team-man, checks his weight...

...and poses with his catch, which
included some barbel.

Mick Ramm with a 12 lb 5 oz common.

Wendy with a 12 lb 4 oz mirror from Peg 30.

SECOND, Peter Harrison

THE WINNER, Trevor Cousins

THIRD, John Garner.

NOWHERE, Bob Allen (but he
would have won if he could have
weighed in the keepnet full of
water that he caught on Peg 16).

Six weights over 100 lb in difficult conditions. A good day overall.

That left me in seventh place, and to be honest I was quite pleased about that result from my peg. Only 23 lb off second place – and I’d lost that amount of fish which I was sure were properly hooked. One of them, a big one,  was not obviously foulhooked – I had it in the side for ages, but it wouldn’t come to the net. I suspect it might have been hooked on the outside of the lip. It eventually pulled off. But I'd had a good day's fishing.

Next match on Willows, where I don't really mind which peg I get. If I had a pick it would be 23, 24 or 25.

I manage to win – Damson Lake, Decoy

Peg 2 (no permanent numbers here, but 1 is on the lower bank opposite the aerator).

I pared my stuff down for this match, dumping the 14.5 and 16-metres sections of my Browning pole, and leaving behind my big pole roller, because all you need to fish Damson is basically a top three.

As luck would have it I drew peg 3 so had only a short walk anyway. Peg 1 wasn’t in, and Ted had peg 2, the nearest peg to the car park. Sixteen of us fished this Spratts midweek club match. Showers were forecast but they stayed away.

The margins here go from a few inches in the side to around 2.5 feet five feet from the bank, and then there’s a steep drop to eight feet, which you can reach by just holding a top two out in front of you. I started shallow in the side to my left -with a banded pellet, and hit four fish around 12 oz in the first five minutes. I could see the fish flashing under the surface every time I put in pellets. Then the band came off and rather than put on another – or a lasso, which would have been even better – I put a 4mm expander on the hook. A few fish came but, as often happens, their initial enthusiasm soon waned and I had to wait longer and longer for a bite.

My swim. That's not a thundercloud - it's a flappy bit of the camera case.

I realised later that the hook, being eyed, was heavier than I would normally use for an expander, and that it probably affected the presentation. Anyway, after 50 minutes I had about 12 lb and changed to corn just over a little drop-off on a top two to my right, about four feet from the bank and two feet deep. Here the fish seemed larger, and several of 2 lb came in during the next hour. It was more difficult fishing this side as the wind was right to left, blowing the rig towards me, and presentation suffered.

I stay on the inside swim

I concentrated on that spot with occasional forays around it, for the next couple of hours. About 1 o’clock Bob, on peg 5, who had been fishing 8 feet deep since the start, went for a third net; I estimated I had 50 lb at that time. I was contemplating going out to the deep swim, but decided to keep putting the occasional fish in the net – the odd one went almost 3 lb. I believe that the first four of five pegs on Damson tend to hold more of these better fish.

Six or seven fish came off, and I believe only one of these was foulhooked – I suspect the fish were just sipping at the bait as all except one fish had been hooked in the lip. Several anglers told me they lost a lot more than that. As for the bites, almost every fish I took all day came when I lifted the bait. I tried off bottom, as I know Terry Tribe has won here using that method, but I just couldn’t get a bite.

                                                                 Cat meat didn't work

The fish seemed to be smaller away from the
road end of the lake. This was one of
 John Garner's nets from end peg 17.

Cat meat didn’t work, nor did paste, so I stuck with corn, and found that I had to put in a pot of bait – pellets or corn, plus hemp, to get a bite. The fish came to it but as the match went on they took longer to do so. Then as the clock moved round towards two o’clock Peter Spriggs went for another net, then Martin Parker, then Trevor Cousins, then John Smith! Martin was on the far end bank, where Terry Tribe has twice won matches here and I feared the worst. So at 2 o’clock I decided, with an estimated 80 lb – possibly more as I tend to underestimate weights – to go for a third net. As I walked past I saw that Ted also had three nets. Things were not looking good.

When I came back I put in two bait-droppers of corn and hemp into the 8-foot deep swim but had another quick look inside, where carp were sucking the marginal weed (these wouldn’t look at a bait). I took two more from the two-foot swim and went out deep. Immediately I had a bite which I missed, then during the next half hour I managed two or three carp around 3 lb, plus a barbel, and a mirror or almost 10 lb. But the bites were taking longer to come, and it was awkward playing and landing fish with such a long rig.

Mike Rawson, peg 16 next to John.

For the rest of the match I swapped between these two swims, with the better fish coming from the deeper swim., and corn proving the best bait. I didn’t try a banded 8mm pellet, and should have done. Then Bob Allan went for a fourth net and I thought I was doomed! Doomed, I tell Ye! But a couple of 3 lb carp in the last five minutes left me quite happy – a good day’s fishing, whatever the result.

The weigh-in

Ted weighed in at 117 lb 14 oz. He seemed to be taking all his fish from the very shallow water next to the bank – I’m not sure how he did this as I couldn’t get fish from there after the first hour. Anyway, I was surprised when I lifted my first net out – it seemed heavy and went 46 lb 8 oz. Then the second was 50 lb 4 oz – so I had been right to stop when the clicker said 40 lb but I thought I might have missed some. The last net went 44 lb 10 oz – total 141 lb 2 oz. But Bob, with four nets, was still to come.

When you’re catching fish less than 1 lb most of the time estimating a total weight is difficult, so a lot of the anglers were stopping at around 38 lb to 40 lb – very sensible. But after the first hour I caught very few fish that small – probably only half a dozen fish less than 1 lb – so it was easier for me to get a reasonably-accurate total, or at least to stop before I started getting well overweight in the net.  Bob’s nets were 37 lb, 40 lb, 46 lb and 15 lb – the exact total being 138 lb 13, so I was still in front. He’s very good at estimating his weights – certainly better than me (but then everyone is better than me).

As we went along it was noticeable that there were more small fish in the nets, and no-one managed to beat me, though several more were close; and I was pretty pleased with the win, even though it was by only 3 lb – one fish.  Damson is not a favourite of mine, but I think I have framed almost every time I have fished it.

Seven weights over 100 lb - a good club match on Damson.

Final thoughts

I remember Trevor once telling me that he should have used a lasso rather than a band on here, for quickness. So next time I will do that. I have several 4mm pellets superglued in a lasso in my box. I should also have had a quick look in the deep swim earlier, even if just to convince myself that I should stay inside. Otherwise there’s always the nagging feeling that I should change swims. Certainly the average size of fish from the deep swim was higher than the inside one, but the bites were taking longer.

I must also remember to charge my phone every night – I had to plus it into a power pack after the match to get enough juice to take the four pictures.

Seven weights over 100 lb meant that we all had a good day, and Peter Harrison’s DNW was caused by him having to pack up and start combining on his farm, when it became clear that rain was going to hold off. With a good warm wind the weather was just perfect for combining. Like fishing, you have to take advantage of the opportunity when conditions are perfect.