Peg 8
Before the match I wanted anywhere between pegs 8 and 20,
avoiding most of the pegs nearest to the car park, so I was happy with 8.
However, when I got to the lake I saw that the car park pegs hadn’t been put in
anyway!
There was hardly any wind, and the water was green with
algae, although this doesn’t seem to adversely affect the fish. But the air was
hot and humid, and lots of fish were showing just under the surface, so I had a
quick look shallow, putting in caster and fishing maggot. I persevered for half
an hour, but simply had to change
because by this time Kevin Lee, opposite on 16, had had several fish
fishing deep close in, presumably with his usual cat meat.
No decent shallow margins
My margins were all deep, except for a small area next to
the platform where the bank had fallen in, and even this didn’t offer any flat
areas. So I had a quick look down the side in the deep water with cat meat, which
brought nothing for half an hour. Then suddenly I hooked seven fish, managing
to land just two, a 2 lb barbel and a 3 lb bream. After a long biteless spell
it was back out to where I had been flicking casters, and in the next hour I managed to snare five F1s to 4 lb on a top
two plus one fishing a single caster on a Guru Kaizan size 18 hook. More than
two hours gone and I had about 20 lb while John on my left admitted to 8 lb. We
were struggling.
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| John Garner lifts out a net - the water was flat calm almost all day. |
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| There are some big barbel in Elm Lake - here Dave Garner holds one that must have weighed almost 5 lb. He finished second. |
Next I put in hemp, pellet and corn at five sections, and
immediately the fish started fizzing. However I did manage to hook four or five
fish in the next hour, to 10 lb. When bites tailed off I tried shallow among
the fizzing and took an F1. Then it was back to the inside with meat in the
deep water. Meanwhile those opposite all seemed to be catching, but John next
door was still struggling. My main aim now was not to win, but to beat John!
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| Kevin Lee took his first barbel within two minutes if starting. But in his 128 lb net he included only five carp. This was his biggest. The rest were all barbel and bream |
Tony Nisbet had already been for a third net, and now he
went for a fourth – between his two trips I took just one fish (!) Two or three
more fish came off and in desperation I had a look in the shallowest area I
could find, about a yard from the platform, and landed a 10 lb carp. No more,
but a move 12 inches along the bank saw a sudden drop-off, and here I managed
to hook a small carp and another ten-pounder on corn. If I had plumbed up more
carefully I would have found this little hole, and would have fished it
earlier.
I catch a double-figure carp, unfortunately!
Ten minutes to go and I had 40 lb in the first net and about
37 lb in the second net. A three-pounder brought that up to 40 lb, but I had no
time to fetch another. And Sod’s Law then dictated that I catch a big double-figure
mirror which I landed just as the match finished. Whichever net I put it in, I
knew it would bring it above the 50 lb limit! The corn seemed to work better
than meat, perhaps because the fish were not really hungry.
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| Wendy with a lovely common. She later said that if she had stayed on a feeder she would have had a much bigger catch. |
Dave Garner on Peg 5 nearest the car park had a magnificent
154 lb on waggler and meat and said that big fish had been moving all day to
his right, along the vacant pegs. I
managed 91 lb 11 oz, with one net about
4 lb over the limit, which meant that Dick, on my right, had beaten me – a result
he loudly pointed out to me in what I murmured seemed to me to be in an
unseemly manner...
I had beaten John, but disdained to celebrate it, in contrast
to my ‘mate’ Dick.
The winner
Then down to Tony who was the obvious winner, now having no
fewer than five nets in – and a 206 lb 8 oz total. Then round to the other
bank, where barbel dominated the first swims – Kevin Lee had only five carp in his 128
lb 13 oz total, the rest being barbel and bream (and he was 12 lb over in his
nets).
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| Allan Golighty found some big carp |
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| ...and this was the biggest at 14 lb 15 oz. |
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| Winner Tony Nisbet with one of the many double-figure carp caught by the 12 competitors in this Fenland Rods match. He caught all his fish on 6mm expanders in the margins to his right, away from the corner, where the surface was covered in scum. |
Bob Allen, third and Allan Golightly all had over 100 lb, so
the overall result was good. I struggled, but 91 lb can’t ever be called a bad
day’s fishing – especially when you think that for 40 years I fished the Fen
Drains where a 1 lb-per-hour catch would usually get you into the frame! Many
seasons I fished almost every weekend for less, in total, than I caught today....
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| One of my special mates Mike Rawson, who is having his best season. He beat John Garner, a very experienced angler, on the next peg. |
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| Barbel showed more towards the far (Northern) end, with more carp towards the car park end. A good match considering the recent heat. |
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