An inauspicious start to my Winter campaign

Scraping ice off the windscreen before you set off fishing is not a good sign – agreed? But it has to be done – and the one thing to look forward to was that the Rookery Farm Over 60s was on Raven Lake, where you can get your car to every peg.

At least I had a laugh at the draw when Tim Bates reminded us that the fishing times were 3 to 10 (I’m sure that’s what he said). There are 29 pegs on Raven, with 24 fishing,  and I desperately wanted to avoid pegs 12 to 17, because they face right into the sun and it make fishing a long pole really nasty in Winter, when the sun is low. So of course it was Peg 14 that stuck to my fingers.

There’s not much to add, actually. There was hardly any wind, but obviously the water was cold and nothing was moving on the surface. And as I had expected, the sun was horribly glarey - right in our eyes, hence no picture! A few minutes fishing punch bread at 14.5 metres to the far bank in two feet of water proved fruitless – you really need reeds on the edge of the deep water, and there are none on these pegs. In addition the sun never hits that far shelf. So I tried maggot in the deep water (a good six feet at the moment) which also brought not a tickle.

My left arm ached!

Then Adrian Hunter, to my left on 12, caught two fish from what appeared to be about eight feet from the far bank. I plumbed up and it was about five feet here, up the slope, so I tried for a long time on this line. Eventually, after a couple of looks in the margins and back across, I had a bite and landed a carp about 1 lb 8 oz. From time to time I had to stop and have a drink, as having to hold my left arm out to stop the glare made it ache. Adrian said he did the same. I put on sunglasses, but then couldn’t see the float properly against the black far bank reflection.

Then two hours biteless and with 90 minutes to go Roy Whincup, on my right, had a couple of fish on a short line and then one on four sections. I tried this line for half an hour, in the deepest water, with a mere pimple of the float showing, but never had a knock until I swapped from dead maggot to live maggot. This brought two carp both about 1 lb 8 oz, which just dipped the pimple the tiniest bit, and with half an hour to go I thought I might get more. But no. And though the sun was now on the near shallows, I don't think any of us on that bank caught close in. That, as they say, was my lot!

The weigh-in

Mick Curtis on Peg 11, on the corner, was top weight round to me, with 30 lb 7 oz. He told me later that Adrian on 12 had seen fish moving on the far bank there as they had tackled up, but hadn’t told him! Mick couldn’t see them, but eventually turned to his right, towards the sun which was not quite so annoying by then, and found them. He finished fourth. 

Lots of DNWs - I assume they all blanked. Far-bank reeds which extend out to the edge of the shelf are best.

Adrian had six fish for 9 lb 9 oz, and my three went 4 lb 9 oz. Roy on 15 had six for 6 lb 8 oz. And when I saw that Tony Watling Snr on Peg 17 had weighed just 3 lb 3 oz I felt a smidgeon better! He’s one of the best senior anglers in the country.

Four of the top five weights came, as we had all expected, from the higher numbers – 23, 27, 28, and 29, where the far bank has reeds which the carp hang around. It also helped that these swims caught some sun. There were nine DNWs, and I was 11th.

I have to miss the next Wednesday Over 60s – Addenbrookes calls, where I expect to receive some sort of outline of how they will tackle the cancer on my lungs (I have no symptoms yet, but it’s there). And the next Wednesday should see me at the big Over 60s Christmas match at Pidley, when I will win a prize (it’s like Hook-A-Duck because everybody gets one).