Back to Fields End with friends

Another day at Fields End, with my former editor of Sea Angler Mel Russ. We had promised ourselves a day out together two years ago, and now was the perfect opportunity. One of his mates, Brian, also came with us. Covid rules were in place - separate cars, correct money collected on the bank, and two metres apart.

The hot weather had brought at least a dozen others out. The water had
 a good tinge of colour and a light breeze made for a pleasant day.

We had to walk to the other side of the Pool, because the near pegs were taken. Luckily there was a cool breeze (there always is at Fields End – it’s why windmills were built there) otherwise we would have roasted. I had rods with me but stuck on a pole all day as there were lots of fish moving in the margins – I have never seen so many on any water. The conditions must have really suited them.

I try several elastics

I messed about with various methods – shallow, on the bottom at five metres, and in the margins, and kept changing my elastics. The opinion of most top matchmen is that lighter elastics – around 8 – are best for playing carp. In fact I found that on a light elastic once I put the pole tip under the surface to let the fish calm down and drift back towards me, some came off. Presumably the hook fell out as the elastic retracted. I lost about five like that.

Mel brings a fish to net on a feeder...

A change to Middy white (22-24), purple Hydro, Preston 13 Hollo or Red Hydro saw me not lose any. It must be that you need to strip back quickly if losing a lighter elastic, to keep pressure on the fish. But when I did that it felt so harsh. Anyway, the result was that I was landing fish more quickly on the heavier stuff than on the light. So it was a good exercise.

Shallow, the fish were all around 2 lb to 3 lb, and the 13 Hollo was great for this. They fought harder than the bigger fish which came to corn and cat meat in the margins. Here I often had five-pounders in the net within 30 seconds, playing them gently, keeping the pole tip well down, and letting them drift on the surface slowly towards the landing net.

...a carp of about 3 lb, which fought like a tiger (a small one).

Delicate bites from good fish

These better fish fed very delicately, in only 14 inches of water. I could see them go down towards the bait, and obviously most were just sucking the bait in, and not registering the bite on the float for several seconds. A slight lift if I thought the fish might have taken the bait often produced a fish on the end. Perhaps they will become more edgy later in the year as the water sees more angling pressure. Then, I would expect them to inspect the bait, circle away, and then make a mad dash for it, giving a proper smash bite.

Brian enjoyed his first visit to this fishery.

Meanwhile Mel was fishing a feeder with maggot or corn, and I think he finished with about 20 fish around 2 lb to 3 lb. Anyway he said he’d had a good day. Brian probably had a few more – I didn’t think to ask, as I was so knackered when I packed up. I had around 70 fish for over 200 lb. Of course it doesn’t always fish like that and we hit it just right. Other anglers seemed to also be catching odd fish.

        The very first picture of my shiny new balls.       

        

Feeding

I found that heavy feeding – half a handful at a time, brought fish in, then half-a-dozen over the top, fed by hand, kept the shallow-feeding fish there. A 4mm banded pellet seemed better than the 6mm.

So that has given me confidence to fish banded pellet rather than the expanders I usually rely on. Also I have set a rig up specifically for fishing my special method with corn, as well as fine-tuning the cat meat rig.

My first club match, observing the strict rules, looks like being on Sunday, June 7 on Six Islands at Decoy. It’s possible my trolley will have the motor mended by then (yippee) and I will be displaying my new balls for the draw at Fenland Rods.