Another frame in the rain (there's a song there somewhere) - Yew, Decoy

Peg 20

Fourteen of us fished this wet Fenland Rods match, though the forecasted rain hadn’t started when we began. In fact it was warm, and the surface pretty calm. And instead of starting on the feeder hunched up against the rain, as I had imagined I would, I decided to have a look on the pole.

I was, as often happens, late starting, and almost before I had put my rig in Neil Garner, on 18, was playing a big carp, which looked to me to be over 10 lb when he landed it. Minutes later he landed another! I guessed he was fishing with cat meat, and then I saw Kevin Lee, on 17, also playing a carp, which I was certain would have taken cat meat. So I put a pot of pellets and cat meat into the deep margin and started out at 11 metres.

I quickly had three bites, two of which were foulhooked and came off, and one of which I landed, about 4 lb. Then into the side on cat meat, and in the next hour I found three or four carp, best 5 lb. By now the wind had got up and although I tried again out at 11 metres I had only one more fish there.

Lots of rain, and by the end the wind had switched round almost
180 degrees, ending in our faces on the East bank. Notice the picture is
squarish rather than long - I have no idea why this is!!! You need a
degree now to operate these new-fangled mobiles.

Hemp definitely brought fish in

Then came a lull for about an hour, and I looked at Dick next door. His fish hadn’t gone off, because they were never on. He still hadn’t had a fish! More than  two hours had gone and we had had several bouts of rain – which was into us on this bank -  and I decided to start another swim at three sections. There I added hemp to the pot. This attracted some carp, and  I started getting bites on corn. But the fish were finicky. I was using a 16 hook to red 4 lb line straight-through and putting on the smallest grains I could find, and several times I had a tiny bite, lifted up, and the bait had gone – most unusual with corn. They were definitely not roach taking the bait.

I lose a big, big barbel

However I had enough fish to about 10 lb to be happier, and Dick still hadn’t had a fish, so I mentioned that I was catching on corn. Immediately he brought his gear in, put on a grain of corn, and within two minutes he was playing a fish.  Soon afterwards I hooked a fish on corn which snagged me some way out. After a couple of minutes, as I was preparing to try to get the rig back, the fish moved – into the marginal reeds, and I could see it was a big barbel. Recently we weighed a barbel at 6 lb 8 oz, and this was bigger! It had snagged the hook in a reed, and although I once managed to get it into the net tail-first I couldn’t manage to get it out, and suddenly, there it was...Gone!

Neil Garner on Peg 18 was Golden Peg and started like a train,
 with two big fish in the first 20 minutes or so. He ended 6th.

James gets third net

Now James Garner, opposite, went for a third net, and I could see that he had out in a load of hemp before he left, which caused a big calm patch in the waves. He came back and was playing a fish within minutes. After a good spell I went for a third net, only to see that Alan Golightly on 26 already had four. So I was doomed! Kevin Lee went for a third net soon afterwards, and as he typically has 50 lb in his nets I guessed he would be ahead of me.

When I returned I went out to three sections and had another good carp, and the time was 3.10 pm. I put in some feed to the deep margin and put on a cube of cat meat. It took a fair while, but I then had a barbel, which took a long time to land. I had another look, but didn’t have any more knocks, so I quickly swapped back to the three-section line. Two or three fish around 3 lb came in, and then a fish around 9 lb. This thrashed around in the landing net and broke the line about 18 inches above the hook.

Light, regular, feeding worked a treat

I managed to extract the hook with forceps, but there were less than ten minutes left. Rather than get out a brand new rig I opted to add line to the bottom of the rig, because the float was set perfectly, and attached one of the Guru ready-tied hooklengths which are better than I could tie myself. Normally I would have whipped a hook to the end and unwound line from the Connectadjust on the end of the pole, but in this case there was no surplus line there.

Callum had the biggest fish. We would have weighed it,
but it was raining. It must have been 15 lb-plus.

With about three minutes left I put in the usual half-dozen grains via the small pole pot and dropped in again. I had been putting in just a few grains at a time when I knew the fish were there, hoping to avoid bringing in a load of fish and foulhooking them, and it had worked. I didn’t foulhook one in that swim.

Anyway, with 60 seconds left, and the float now tensioned to the bait by the wind, it dipped under. Most of the bites had come that way, just as the bait moved slightly. The match ended while I was playing the resultant  fish, and a few minutes later I slipped the net under a six-pounder.

The weigh-in

I didn’t see must of this as the heavens had opened and I felt bedraggled after putting away several tops and sorting out the unused bait. I had twice swapped elastics because the fish were taking so long to land – from 13 Hollo elastic  to a stronger Middy, and also to Purple Hydro. So by the time I put all these away, dried my pole as best I could, and had loaded up my trolley the weighing party was up to Neil, who weighed 80 lb 7 oz – much less than I had imagined after that fantastic start.

The result

A quick look at the board and I saw that James had weighed 119 lb 6 oz and Kevin 114 lb 2 oz. I estimated my nets at 38 lb (possibly 40 lb), 45 lb, and the last one 20 lb, totalling around 100 lb. So I was surprised to see them weigh 47 lb, 44 lb and 26 lb, totalling 118 lb 2 oz, for third spot.

I had taken a picture of Neil, and took a picture of Callum’s best fish we estimated at well over 15 lb from peg 22. Then finally to Allan Golightly, who had won with 150 lb 2 oz, taken from a shallow margin swim to his left on 6mm pellet. So much for me expecting the best weights to come from the other end! It was a good performance, facing the rain during most of the match.

Unfortunately the phone camera wouldn’t work when I got Allan in its sights, so no pictures. When I got home I looked at a review of the camera, a cheap one which I bought only ten days ago, the review stated  that is one of its faults. I may change it again for a decent one!

The weights were fairly well spread, with the far end not dominating as had been expected.

Conclusion

Yet again it was a day when a lot of anglers struggled until the last two hours. I had managed to find a few early on, which gave me a bit of an edge. And if I had landed that barbel it would have boosted me to second. So a good day, really, although when I got home it took me 50 minutes to get everything out and lay it out to dry.

The best bit was that after the first two fish lost I lost only that one barbel, while John Smith and James Garner opposite me, apparently lost a lot of foulhooked fish. Feeding sparingly once a cast when the fish had already appeared paid dividends for me.

Next match Friday on Elm, where I fancy the far end pegs from 9 to 16, then Beastie, where any peg could produce the winner. The fish at Decoy seem to have put on a lot of weight this summer, so I expect to stick with my heavier elastics for the moment, though I have several tops with light elastic in ready for Winter.

I frame in the rain - Elm, Decoy

Peg 21
I wanted a peg towards the far end, say 8 round to 18, as the wind was blowing that way, with 12 to 18 preferred as it's the Eastern bank. At least 21 was on that bank, so I was happy, though didn't imagine I would win.

To start with there wasn't much wind, though it blew harder later in the match, and the water was still greenish from algae. But worst of all, the sunny weather of the previous days had suddenly altered and rain was forecast. I had a feeling things would be hard so started by just potting in about eight 4mm expanders and putting another on the hook over the top, next to some reeds about 7 metres to my right, in the deep water.

Overcast, though not really cold. I fished next to the reeds on the right.

I was surprised to get a bite first cast, which I missed. Next cast and a 2 lb barbel came in, and the next one brought a double-figure mirror. Twelve pounds in the net in the first 12 minutes!
But then the wheels came off and in the next two hours I managed a 3 lb carp, a 2 lb bream, and another of 6 oz. Two good bream came off at the net. The bites were very timid indeed.

Meanwhile Kevin Lee on my right also started slowly but suddenly had a couple of really big carp on cat meat to his right. An hour or so later he had three quick carp at about 9 metres, but like me he then sat fishless. So halfway, and I think we each had five fish (though Kevin's were much bigger and I estimated he had over 40 lb).

Nothing in the shallow water
I had a lovely shallow swim next to the reeds, but although I had a look there several times it never produced a bite. I also had a look to the left, into the wind, but although I had several knocks on corn near the side, in about three feet of water, they never came to anything. Possibly roach.

James Garner with a whopper, probably around 15 lb. He finished third.

Then at 1 o'clock Kevin and I started finding the odd fish, though his were still bigger. I tried on a top three, but although fish swirled around, sensing the hempseed, they never took my bait. Several showers came though and the wind had now increased. I had an 11 hollo elastic on one rig, but although it felt safe, playing the fish it was taking a long time.

At 2 o'clock James Garner went for a third net, followed soon after by John Smith. As he walked by I told him I was still on my first net. Dave Garner went past a little later for his third net, and I then had a good spell, catching about five fish in the next hour on corn or cat meat. Then Kevin went for his third net.

With about an hour to go John went for a FOURTH net and I simply had to make something happen. The wind was cooler and the rain was now heavier.  I had about 60 lb and took a chance by potting in a big pot of dead maggots and hempseed on the top three line.

Dennis Sambridge was to my left on 23. We
weighed this mirror at 15 lb 4 oz.

Long fight
A 4 lb barbel quickly took the bunch of maggots, but playing it on the 11 elastic was hard work so I switched to the purple Hydro and a bunch of dead maggots. The rain was now really heavy and I hooked a fish which simply would not run. I played that fish for 20 minutes in the rain, and landed it with about 25 minutes of the match left, just as the rain eased off. It weighed about 12 lb. At this point Kevin went for his fourth net.

A 3 lb carp was next, and my next fish was even bigger - about 15 lb - but came in much more quickly, and I put it in my second net knowing it would probably put me over the 50 lb limit. Ten minutes left

Next drop in with cat meat and a 5 lb golden mirror came in, which went into my first net, which was probably also
now over  the limit, but it wasn't worth driving up and getting another net. More than 30 lb in the last half hour, and the fish were really feeding now...but the match ended before I could get another.  I lost only two carp, both foulhooked.

Me, after a really good last 30 minutes
 brought my weight to 100 lb.

Camera problems
I'd got a new camera the day previously and hadn't taken any pictures...unfortunately some of my 'pictures' taken after the match turned out to be videos and I can't work out how to get a still frame from them. So John Smith, who won with 158 lb 15 oz on peg 17 won't get his ffizog in this post; neither will Kevin  Lee. But James and I managed to get some proper pictures.

The result - again the Eastern bank, from 13 to 24, fished best.

Conclusion
I was, in the end, happy with fourth place with exactly 100 lb (both nets slightly over), and the match taught me the value of dead maggots at this time of year. As I expected the better weights came from the pegs towards the far end, with John finding his fish about five feet from the reeds in the deep water. Interestingly James found fish right from the start, as did John, so the pegs at that end probably fizzled slowly out at the same time as mine picked up. Perhaps the fish moved along the lake.

Another hard-earned second place - Horseshoe Decoy

Peg 6

The lure of exotic hotspots worldwide tempted some of the Spratts members to forsake this Wednesday match – I imagined them sunning themselves in places such as Las Vegas, The Seychelles, Cuba, The Maldives and Hunstanton. The result was that just ten of us competed on the most beautiful Autumn day you could imagine. 

After temperatures had dropped overnight to 5 Centigrade the sun blazed down incessantly with not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind to disturb the surface of Horseshoe Lake. In other word pretty awful conditions for fishing, with every movement of a pole being shown as a moving shadow on the surface.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfullness...and blazing sun and no ripple!

So I approached it as I would a Winter match – fishing long, at 13 metres (actually twelve-and-three-quarters as I fished with my Number Four section telescoped after breaking it on Sunday). I plumbed up and found a small area a couple of inches deeper than the surrounding bottom, so decided to fish on the edge. This allows me to have a bait an inch on the bottom or, by moving the rig a couple of feet, to have it just touching.

I fed about ten 4mm expanders at a time with a small Toss Pot, and within five minutes had hit a welcome 5 lb common. Within another 25 minutes I had two more slightly smaller fish, and the only other person I had seen catch a fish was Wendy, who had netted some on a feeder from Peg 4. I considered putting out a feeder (I had one rigged up ready) but as I was putting fish in the net I carried on with the pole.

Nice fish for Mike from peg 11 on the end bank.

Couldn't get caster shallow to work

A change to corn brought half-a-dozen more carp and F1s in the next hour or so, and after taking two on the drop I adjusted the shot to give a slow fall, taking two or three more, I then had a go shallow, with caster. But just one carp and a roach came, so I went back to the bottom rig. After three hours I had about 35 lb, and bites had stopped. Everyone I could see seemed to be struggling at this point.

A look in the margin under the tree to my right saw a four-pounder come in, but roach were knocking the cat meat all the time. I got the odd liner from carp, but went back to 13 metres. This brought another fish and one I pulled out of. Now Mick Raby, on my left, had started to contact fish on a top two, the best two of which looked to be near 10 lb each, so I tried starting a swim in front of me on a top two, putting in a big pot of dead reds, which brought carp in – I could see them.

I was sure Mick had beaten me, but I was wrong!

I get a clue from Mick Raby, next peg

But they seemed to want to hang out from the dead maggots I put in, and I caught only two on a bunch of deads. Then I saw that Mick was able to fish about five feet deep on his top two, while I had only three feet of water there. So I went out another section where it was deeper, with 45 minutes left, and immediately found more fish. In that time I managed about six or seven fish to 6 lb, pulling out of one, but I was sure Mick was in front of me on weight. To my right Peter Baker had struggled all day, but landed two good fish on a pellet waggler.

With two minutes left I hooked a fish which shot off so quickly that within a second it had stretched my Purple Hydro to its limit, and the line snapped above the float. The fish continued to hurtle through the water and probably bored a hole through the bank to Four-Island Lake before it could stop. End of match.

Peter Spriggs, Peg 1, found the fish too late to get a framing weight.

The weigh-in

In the absence of John Garner, my mate Mick Rawson pushed my barrow up the slope back to the cars – thanks, Mike. That helped me no end and I was able to watch the weigh-in.

Peter's fish. Memo to self: Do
not take pictures into the sun!!

On Peg 1 Peter Spriggs, who had drawn the Golden Peg, had only one fish at 1 o’clock, and then found the bulk of his 55 lb 5 oz to his right against the first clump of marginal reeds. The next anglers struggled, and Ted Lloyd found just four carp and a roach. My first net, which I had clicked at 37 lb, weighed 37 lb 1 oz (!) and the second, which I had estimated at perhaps 30 lb went 36 lb 14 oz – total a surprising 73 lb 15 oz.

Ted had just four carp and a roach on Peg 2.
Aged 91, he could kneel down for the picture...but
would have the devil of a job getting up again!

Mick, on Peg 8, totalled 66 lb 4 oz – much less than I thought he had, and Terry Tribe – who is a threat on every match – beat that with 69 lb 6 oz, with three taken early on a feeder to the corner, then some on the pole at 11 metres, and finishing at seven  metres.

But we knew Trevor Cousins had beaten us all on Peg 13, which has a good reputation,  as he had three nets after a varied day’s fishing – some fish mugged, others taken shallow on a banded pellet, and others taken full depth near the lillies (some lost in the lillies). He totalled 117 lb 5 oz for the win, which left me a satisfactory second.

Terry Tribe - third with 69 lb 6 oz.

THE WINNER - Trevor with  117 lb 5 oz.

                                                            

Only ten fished ...but what quality!!

More Higlights

Two moments stand out during the day. First was a kingfisher flashing left to right next to the far-bank reeds in front of me, and then turning and zooming back again before diving into the trees opposite. I managed to definitely see its blue back and red markings. This bird, or perhaps a pair, hang around this spot, and I’ve twice seen it dive into the water in front of me on Peg 26 on Beastie, coming from Horseshoe and then flying back the way it came.

Later I watched a grass snake swimming into the bank to my right, head held proud of the water. I have seen one at Decoy just once previously. There’s a lot of wildlife here – a water vole swam next to my keepnet and a wood pigeon came down to the water no more than a foot from my platform, to drink – most unusual. I assume they get used to anglers. In the Winter a big flock of long-tailed tits hangs around Pegs 29 and 30 on Beastie, and I once had a wren – the most timid of birds – take maggots next to the platform, like a robin.

How’s that for service?

On Sunday at 5.30 pm, after breaking the Number Four section of my Browning pole, I called in at Decoy, who have a Browning account, to ask if they could order another for me.

On Thursday morning I had a call from John at the fishery to say it had arrived. What brilliant service.

Next match Sunday on Elm at Decoy, Any peg will do, but anywhere from 9 to 12 and back from 13 to 16 on the opposite might have an edge.

Everything went wrong, but I finished second...Kingsland Silver

Not permanently pegged

Eleven of us fished this Fenland Rods match. The downside started when we got to the fishery to be told that we couldn’t drive our cars up on the bank to our pegs. Apparently someone had reversed into some trees and got stuck and Richard, the farmer, spent a fair amount of time getting them out. Luckily I had put the front Octbox wheel and the handles into the car so I could convert the box into a trolley. I don’t normally do that – it creases my back, and I normally use a Frenzee trolley.

Even so because there’s a slope up to the lake and the grass on the top is not even, I was cream crackered  by the time I’d got the tackle to the peg. The moveable platforms here are good and big, but  there’s a short drop down to them, over ground which is bumpy and not easy to shuffle around on while getting the gear put together. They are also a foot off the ground and were well off the water.

The wind was cool, but into my bank, so I thought that if it warmed up I might have a bonanza second half of the match. I started on a bunch of dead maggots in the left margin, as Kevin Lee had won a match here last year at the same time of year, doing that. But all I got on a bunch of deads were rudd, most of which fell off.

Foulhookers

So out to eight metres with pellet for nothing. Then back to the slightly deeper margin, where I managed to foulhook, and lose, three big fish. Then I landed one...foulhooked in the pectoral fin. Then things got worse. Almost three hours gone, one fish in the net,  and I went to cup out bait, only to see my Number Four section break apart. It’s been repaired twice, but I think it’s just old. I estimated that in three years, at a rate of 70 matches a year, exposed to the sun and elements for eight hours at a time, that’s 1,680 hours laying in the sun. So it’s, like me, knackered.

Comedy time

I telescoped it together and promptly managed to foulhook another biggie which shot 20 metres along the bank and buried itself in the bankside reeds. Then commenced a comedy. I gingerly got off the platform, managing to do so without actually falling onto any tackle, carefully stepped over it all, and crawled along the bank, managing to gradually get my hands up the pole to the top two. But I couldn’t reach the elastic.

So I re-assembled the pole and, gingerly holding it, went back to my holdall, across the hills and hollows, and extracted my long hook. I walked back to the reeds, managed to reach the top two again and grab the elastic with the hook, and twist the hook round the elastic. I pulled it back so I could grab the elastic with my hand, pulled, and of course it broke. But at least I’d retrieved my top two.

Believe me, I was fed up, and considered packing up. Instead I went to the car and took out my old margin pole – at least 40 years old – which has just two tops. I rigged these up and somehow managed to lose another four carp, and land about six around 4 lb, mainly on corn. The best spell was the last hour, in the righthand margin, as the sun made it difficult to fish the swims I had baited.

There are no pictures as I couldn’t be arsed – hot and bothered and fed up, and last to put my tackle away. Both John Smith, in the next swim (who had lost a lot of fish in the reeds), and I moaned about the difficulty of packing up on a slope and taking everything to the top of the bank and then back to the car on hard, bumpy ground. We were on our last legs.

The weigh in

The scales came to me and I admitted to 25 lb, but the fish weighed 37 lb. I didn’t even ask what the rest of the weights were. I took the last stuff back to the car and managed to make my way slowly towards Callum, who had the board. To my amazement he said I was second, which lightened my mood a shade. Tony Nisbet had won with 81 lb 11 oz, starting on pellet and finding  rudd, and suddenly contacting carp when he changed to luncheon meat. But he told me he lost five times as many as he landed.

The result - obviously the fish have not acclimatised to the cool weather.

I’m undecided whether to risk fishing Kingsland again if we can’t drive to the pegs. I don’t always do that, but the Silver lake has a very wide track round it and I’ve never known anyone to get into difficulties there. The average age of club match anglers is getting higher every year, and in the Spratts club we voted not to go there again as it’s too dangerous for any of us who are unsteady on our feet, especially if it’s wet.

So it ended with just one tiny chink of happiness in a day of gloom. That’s life I suppose. But I did order a new Number Four from Decoy on the way home. Should have no problem as it's a Browning Xitan Z12, and still current.

Next match Horseshoe on Wednesday. I’m happy with any swim there.

Another decent weight for third - Cedar, Decoy

Peg 18

A nice surprise before we started

Fifteen of us fished this Spratts club match on the Tuesday, and before the start Trevor announced that after the Saturday teams-of-four Ellis Buddle Memorial  match the wrong winners were announced. Two teams had tied on points and the weights totted up to find the winners. The weights were added  up correctly, but credited to the wrong teams.

The result was that the team that I, Mick Raby, Peter Harrison and John Buckenham were in had in fact WON by 6 lb and not lost by 6 lb! So Trevor gave me the medal he had been presented with, and the £25 as my share of the winning team’s prize. A good start.

Then  I drew peg 18 which, for a change, I was fairly happy with. I wanted a peg on the Eastern bank – 14 to 26 -  and would have strongly preferred 20 to 26, but Bob Allan had had quite a good weight from 18 on Saturday so I thought I might have a chance of catching a decent weight.

John Smith with a 15-pounder. You can see
how green the water was.

The water, like Northview on Sunday, was green with algae, but hot a bad as Northview had been. When we started nothing seemed to have been caught in the first few minutes, so I was pleased to get a 3 lb carp on a 6 mm pellet on a top two, dragging it slowly along the bottom. This has seemed better recently than lifting the bait, and it proved to be the same in this match.

Peter The Paste - 60 lb 15 oz from peg 11
on the Western bank, which didn't fish
as well as the bank opposite.

I soon went out to the swim I had baited six sections out, and using a pellet or corn I manged, in the next hour, to hook three fish and lose them all, almost certainly foulhooked. I knew the fish were there because they were fizzing – dispelling air through their gills. They seem to do this when they are cruising around just filter feeding through their gills, and when they become excited.

Bob Barret was in peg 13, in the corner.
 I've done well in this swim, but it
didn't fish well on the previous Saturday.

So back inside, and another two fish were hooked and lost, but two good fish approaching 10 lb were landed, so that at 1 o’clock I had just three fish. John, to my right on 16, had also had a big fish or two.

Maggots for barbel

I put in a load of dead red maggots to my right margin and had a barbel there, but decided to switch back to the left, in the deep water about five feet from the bank. Then fish started to come in waves – at one time I had a 12-pounder and next drop-in had a bite straight away, and landed this in seconds after it came to the top and obligingly floated into my net as I laid my pole level with the surface and let the elastic contract slowly.

 Two unusual incidents

1) Of course fish didn’t always come quickly, so I decided to put in bait with a bait dropper in the six-section swim, intending to go back there during one of the quiet spells. But the bait dropper came off. About an hour later, when I visited the swim again (without catching any fish) I hooked the bait dropper and got it back!

2) The platform was quite a way above the water, so when I landed a double-figure fish I had to get off my box, kneel down on the platform, and reach down to grab the net, as trying to lift the net horizontally with the fish in it would probably have broken the handle.

Once, when I grabbed the net to haul it up, the fish jumped suddenly and I dropped the net. The net fell back into the water and the handle cartwheeled over my head into the lake. Luckily it floated and I was able to jump off my box, grab my hook from the holdall, and hook the net back.

The rig was still in the water and to my amazement when I lifted the pole the fish was still on, and I was able to net it!

Peter Harrison, winner with  141 lb 6 oz
from peg 14 in the North-Eastern corner.

I now had to put bait in before every fish – if I didn’t I didn’t get a bite. Casters and hemp seemed to be the best combination, and this brought about seven more carp from the left deep margin. Each of the big ones presented me with problems – some did not go into the net easily, then I had to kneel down to grab the net to land them; then they jumped about in the net and made unhooking difficult. Twice the hook was torn from the line and I had to re-whip it.

John Garner with a barbel which
we weighed at 6 lb 8 oz.

 Then I found a spot just a few inches from where I had been fishing in the right margin which was a few inches deeper. First drop in there I found a barbel of about 5 lb. Then another smaller one, and with 40 minutes to go I went for a third net. Trevor, on peg 23, already had three. The trip to get the

net took almost 15 minutes as I had to go to the toilet, so I resumed fishing with 25 minutes to go. As I did so Trevor came back with his fourth net.

It took me ten minutes to get a 2 lb barbel, but then an 8 lb mirror came to cat meat, and then a ten-pounder. Thirty seconds before the end I hooked another big fish, but unaccountably, about three minutes later, the hook came unwhipped. It was a Kamasan Animal eyed hook, and I’d had several fish on it. The end had a piggy-wig's tail, so the line hadn't broken, it had somehow come undone. Yet I always leave a tag when I tie a hook...

John Chilton with a double-figure beauty.

The weigh-in

Mick Raby, last to weigh, threatened
to overtake my weight, but finished
with  106 lb 11 oz for fourth.

I didn’t get to see Ted (91) weigh in from peg 1, but he had a fish of 16 lb-plus. The weights on that West bank weren’t great – Terry Tribe was best, from peg 6 with 85 lb. But my bank was much better. On 14, in the corner, Peter Harrison, fishing top-two plus two with cat meat, took fish steadily all day for a winning 141 lb 6 oz.  A great performance, with the fish taken from in front of him rather than towards the corner. 

John Smith had 87 lb 7 oz, including a fish over 15 lb, and I weighed 116 lb 14 oz – the last net went 22 lb 4 oz in the last 25 minutes. I was 1 lb over in one net.

Trevor Cousins,  second on 137 lb 10 oz.

Trevor on 23 was second with 137 lb 10 oz, 65 lb of which was taken early on fishing shallow with banded pellet and the rest on corn (he’d used corn in the Saturday team match). I never tried fishing shallow because it hadn’t worked on Northview, but I probably should have. Then Mick Raby, on last peg 26, went 7 lb over in one net and needed  20 lb in his third net to beat me. But those fish weighed just 10 lb 2 oz, so I finished third. I was happy with that, from a nice peg, but not one I rated as one of the best five.

Mick Linnell (far left) watches as his  68 lb 1 oz is weighed.

The result (see also left).

The weights (1 to 13 on the Western bank, 14 back to 26, opposite bank).

Peg 1   Ted Lloyd              31 lb 9 oz

Peg 3   Wendy Bedford      35 lb

Peg 4   Peter Barnes           DNW

Peg 6   Terry Tribe             85 lb

Peg 9   Bob Allen              41 lb 12 oz  

Peg 11 Peter Spriggs         60 lb 15 oz

Peg 13 Bob Barrett            39 lb 14 oz

Peg 14 Peter Harrison       141 lb 6 oz

Peg 16 John Smith            87 lb 7 oz

Peg 18 Mac Campbell      116 lb 14 oz

Peg 20 Peter Chilton        79 lb 8 oz

Peg 22 John Garner          31 lb

Peg 23 Trevor Cousins     137 lb 10 oz

Peg 25 Mick Linnell         68 lb 1 oz

Peg 26 Mick Raby            106 lb 11 oz

An OK weight from a peg I didn't fancy - Match Lake, Northview.

Peg 15

A few weeks ago secretary John Smith and myself paid a trip to Northview, at Gedney, to check out the newest addition to the match lake – a strip of water previously separate from the lake, but now part of it. We had a lot of fish from the shallow margins, so John put this area in the draw. Sixteen fished, including two guests. John drew 14 – the first peg in the new area, and the same peg  he had pleasure-fished. I would have liked the roadside – pegs 7 to 11, but  I drew 15, about 40 yards farther along the bank from John; and Mel  Lutkin drew the last peg 16, on the far bank of the new area.

You can't tell from this picture, but the water was heavy with green algae.

The water all round the lake was heavy with green algae – I’ve never seen as much; it looked syrupy., and when I scooped out a maggot tin of water to put my casters in it was still green, and never cleared. We'd had two or three days of this cool wind, and the previous day on Decoy the fishing has been harder than during the summer.

I had a quick walk round the lake before we started, and was told that fish were moving in the main part, but I never saw any in my swim before the start. However, the wind was into my bank, but it was cool and it had blown in scum, which was worse in John’s swim than mine. To be honest neither John nor I felt that the fish would be feeding when we started. We were right!

Three hours without a bite

I put in dead maggots and hemp at six sections, in about four feet of water, and then had a quick look in the margins about a metre from the bank where the depth was about two feet. Nothing. Out to the long swim and again I never had a smell. So into a top-two swim where the shelf dropped quickly to four feet. But after nearly three hours I had not had a single bite, although some fish were now swimming just under the surface and I could clearly see swirls. I had already tried shallow fishing with caster for these fish well out, but never got even a liner in 45 minutes. Strange.

Kevin gets the weighing underway.

Kevin with part of his winning 185 lb 6 oz catch.

John Garner, third on 125 lb 2 oz.

So I decided to put in a fair amount of bait – pellet, caster and hemp with some corn, in that top-two swim. That brought me a fish – a 2 lb bream on cat meat which leapt out of the water when hooked. Then a smaller one. Then two foulhooked carp lost, and finally eventually a near-5 lb carp ended in the net. Cat meat then brought me a bite from a fish perhaps every ten minutes, but I lost half of them. Some were definitely foulhooked, but not all. One carp took a worm meant for the bream.

Meanwhile John on my left had had two or three carp, also from the deep margin, but it was taking him a long time to land them. And Mel to my right was struggling. So I thought  I wasn’t doing too badly.

Guest Barry Plumb shows the sort of quality
fish found in the match lake. he totalled
57 lb 8 oz from a peg on the roadside.

Problems netting the fish

The opaque water meant that you couldn’t see the fish until they were literally laying on the surface, and I lost several at the net because they were taking so long to land. Nothing at all came from the margins, even though fish were now swirling there a lot of the time.

Dennis Sambridge with 99 lb 6 oz from peg 7, 
nearest the lodges, on the roadside bank. 
All the fish fought like veritable tigers!

The result - the cool wind didn't help the weights.

Corn as a change bait just didn’t work, so I stayed on cat meat and ended with about 12 or 13 carp plus a roach and four bream – all in cracking condition from 3 lb to about 7 lb-plus. I ended by weighing 75 lb 2 oz, which was top in that end of the lake. But it couldn’t compete with pegs 3, 4 and 5, opposite the road, which produced the top three weights, best 185 lb 6 oz to Kevin Lee on cat meat. 

I ended sixth, which I was satisfied with from that swim on the day, and with luck, if more fish had stuck, I could have ended in the top four. John to my left had 44 lb 2 oz and Mel just 19 lb 7 oz, though he also lost some. So far as I could make out, hardly a fish was taken from the shallow margins next to the bank - almost all came from the deeper water.

Difficult in the cold wind - Cedar, Decoy

Peg 2

This was the fourth memorial match for Ellis Buddle, organised by his son Shaun, and 20 took part in teams of four. My team looked strong – Peter Harrison, Mick Raby, John Buckingham (twice a winner) and myself.

With a strong, cool,  North wind blowing straight down Cedar towards the car park I guessed that the car park end would probably fish best – it tends to anyway, whatever the wind. But my peg 2 was on the West bank, whereas the opposite bank tends to be better – it has better margins. Still, if I had to be on this bank then I was at the best end, I thought.

Peg 1 would have been preferable, as there’s an end bank to fish to, but Trevor Cousins had this. And being realistic I felt I would do well to finish second in my five-peg section.

By the end of the match the wind had started to die away (of course).

I had intended to put out a feeder early on, but decided to have just ten minutes on the pole, to see whether I could pick up an early fish. So dead maggots and hemp went into the left margin, and 8mm pellets and hemp with a few grains of corn went out on a top-two-plus-two line, which was as far as I could easily fish in the wind.

I didn’t catch anything for a while, but stuck at it, inside, as the angler on my left had a big carp in the first five minutes on cat meat fished into a small cut-out in the reeds about two feet deep. I hadn’t got a cut-out that I could reasonably fish, so had to bait on the slope against my platform to the left, and fish a bait swinging into it. When that didn’t work I had to go full depth, about four-and-a-half feet, which eventually produced a 3 lb carp on a bunch of deads. By this time, 45 minutes after the start, the angler on my left had had four big fish, and Trevor had had a big fish on the feeder and two more on pole – one in his margin and one against the reeds near the end bank.

Trevor's first weigh - I knew he had me beaten.

A terrible first two hours

I was getting thrashed and went out onto the longer swim but never had any indication there. There was a tow against the wind, but I couldn’t pick it up all the time as heavy gusts were moving the surface water so quickly at times. I had nothing for the next hour, though I could see evidence of liners a lot of the time in the deep-water margin.  I tried a very shallow swim to my right which was more of a bump rising off the bottom, but the sun shone straight into my eyes and I had to give that up. 

Eventually, after more than two hours, I started another swim in the deep water just a little to my right, out of the glare of the sun. Meanwhile Trevor had had two or three more big carp approaching 10 lb each.

Trevor - always smiling.

Rob Melnyk - hadn't seen him for ages!

Then I had a bite on a bunch of deads to my left, and a little later a near-10 lb carp on cat meat to the right. The rest of the match saw very occasional fish coming – always just after I had fed – and I lost about five, probably foulhooked. One 10 lb carp I foulhooked in the tail, but managed to land it. Trevor was also catching the occasional fish, but I knew I was behind. Two barbel and a tench also ended in my net, but there was no pattern at all – most of the bites came as I drew the bait to one side – only one came after I lifted it.

Roger Archer was on the Eastern bank
on peg 20- more barbel were caught on this
bank than on the opposite side of the lake.

Cat meat took about seven or eight, maggot two and corn two. At one time I put on a worm and immediately had a fish on which came off, but the worm was untouched so it must have been foulhooked. Next drop-in the same thing happened. I did then get a 4 lb barbel on worm.

Two fish hooked themselves ...but both threw the hook. The last hour was bad – one fish, with another good bite missed literally one second before the shout went up to end the match. I estimated I had 90 lb and Trevor estimated he  had 120 lb (we were both well out).

Michael Ramm, opposite me, played an obviously-foulhooked fish for a long time. When we weighed it in it was 17 lb 4 oz – hooked in the tail!! Three pegs to his right I could see Mick Raby, in my team, with three nets so I guessed he would have won his section.

John Buckenham was second in
his section with 60 lb 12 oz.

The weigh-in

Trevor weighed  99 lb 15 oz, and mine went 78 lb  4 oz, so we had both overestimated out weights. He won the section so had 1 penalty point and I was second with 2 points. As I followed the scales along the weights tended to fall off a little towards the far end and I was happy with second on my bank. Peter Harrison was second in his section with 45 lb 10 oz on a pole.

Mick Raby - winner with 103 lb 14 oz - a sterling
performance which gave our team 1 point.

One of my oldest angling mates, Barry Gibson
with a cracking double-figure mirror. He was
in the winning team last year.

Round to the opposite bank and the weights tended to get better as we moved along. John Buckenham did well to come second in section on peg 15 with 60 lb 12 oz, and Mick Raby won the match on 22 with 103 lb 14 oz, giving us 7 points total. BUT Trevor’s team also had 7 points (two firsts, a second and a third) and beat us to the team prize by 6 lb. So well done to them.

Mick Ramm with a 17 lb 4 oz mirror
hooked in the tail!

Tight at the top - the top two teams tied on 7 points and
won on weight - 288 lb 8 oz to 282 lb 2 oz.

Three of the winning team - left to right: Rob Melnyk, Trevor Cousins, Roger Archer (Bob Barrett went AWOL).
 Overall winner Mick Raby is on the right.
Thanks to Shaun Buddle for organising this event, ensuring  Dad, Ellis, is not forgotten.

For the record I finished fifth, which I was happy with from that peg. I’m there again Tuesday and again hope for a peg from about 20 (though Bob Allen had a big weight from 18 today) to the corner on 26. If not, then 1 or 13 will be OK.

On Northview tomorrow, which has no permanent pegs but I would like a peg on the roadside or close to the new end section.