Mike is on his way! Six-lsland, Decoy

A late result for this Spratts match, as my back took a turn for the worse, and I can't sit at the computer for long before it seizes up. But things are better this morning.

Mike Rawson has never won a Spratts match (nor a Fenland Rods match for that matter), but his results this seaosn have been startlingly good, and he almost won this match, held in a seething cauldron of heat on Wednesday, He lost three good fish, any one of which would have won him the match. He ended third.

Winner was Trevor Cousins, who fished pellet shallow on peg 4 for 119 lb 15 oz, followed by Mick Raby on 115 lb 15 oz. It's good to see him back on the bank after missing most of last season with heart problems. Mick fished meat at five metres on peg  17, opposite the gap between the island and the corner of peg 4. It's a very consistent peg, which I've drawn only once (I won after taking advice from Nigel Baxter on how to fish it). But it offers so many options that it can be confusing.

Mike Rawson was only 9 oz behind, with 115 lb 6 oz on peg 22, mainly taken shallow on pellet - a method which Mike has only recently mastered - to great effect.

A tight match in the heat on Six-Islands lake.

Peter The Paste on fire
Peter Spriggs fished his usual miraculous, irresistible, flavoursome, home-made paste on peg  19 for 109 lb 9 oz and fourth, with John Smith having a late run of good fish on cat meat fished close in down his left-hand bank from Peg 3. He ended with just two nets, neither of which went over the club's 50 lb limit, for a total of 99 lb 9 oz!!! How's that for estimating?

Good, also, to see Ted back. At 92 everything must be just that much harder than it used to be. But he still catches fish...

My new Matrix seat box
I have to miss the next Spratts match on Oak because of an injection and blood tests, but I will be kept busy working out what to put into my new Matrix P25 seat box. It's light (at least lighter), but at the moment it has less than half the draw space of my Octbox. In addition I have to modify my trolley base to take the different-sized box, as the footplate is not supported at the rear when it's closed up. The Octbox has strong runners along both sides of the seating to take the footplate, but it's one of the reason's it's so heavy.

Everything at the moment seems to be a compromise. But I can now walk without sticks, and hope to be back on the bank within a fortnight.

Lots of luverly fish, but not for me - Decoy, Cedar

Weeds are the bane of my life. And life for me is a roundabout of cold compresses to my back, followed by hot compresses, followed by nothing, followed by compressing the offending area with a tight support. I can't yet bend down to pull those wretched weeds put of the ground, so there's no chance I could bend down to pick up a top two!

Still, fishing life goes on and the latest Spratts match proved to be yet another bonanza - with 11 of the 14 breaking the ton, and my old mate John Smith blitzing his way to a winning 221 lb 9 oz from corner peg 13, which is the opposite end to where I had expected the best weights to come from.

Another cracker from Cedar.

Although he favours the waggler the majority of his fish came to a margin pole, with a slow spell some time after 2 o'clock, when roach moved onto his cat meat baits. Opposite, John Garner reported the same problem. Then the scum which had collected blew away, and the big fish came in, best around 13 lb.

There were weights all around the strip lake, but there's still no holding Peter Harrison, who again managed a big weight with 195 lb, but I don't know how he fished - probably close in. Interestingly two days previously Fenland Rods held their match here, with another 200 lb winning weight, and from what I can gather the best catches were made well out, rather than in the margins.

A new box
I've ordered a Matrix P25 box (from the local tackle shop at Pidley fisheries) purely because it is much lighter than my Octbox, which I love, but which is so heavy. I have to take the drawers off, settle the footplate on the platform, and put the drawers back on...and even then it's a nightmare for me. Just lifting it all back on to my trolley creases my back. So I've surrendered to the march of time!

I hope to be able to fish within a fortnight. Fingers crossed.

Good news...bad news...and a result - Decoy, Horseshoe

The result on Horseshoe, Decoy

The good news is that I have my motorised trolley back in working order (I think); the bad news is that I've pulled a muscle in my back a week ago, am walking with two sticks, and haven't been able to try it.

Still, life goes on and the Spratts match on Horseshoe, at Decoy, produced good weights, with Peter Harrison on Peg 8, which has form. He fished mainly at 2+2 for 193 lb 6 oz and the win. Peter Spriggs probably should have won, but this three nets exceeded the club maximum of 60 lb, and he was second on 180 lb.

Trevor Cousins took most of his third-placed 172 lb 13 oz shallow. He put his last net in with 20 minutes to go, and added seven fish for 43 lb in that time!!

I doubt I shall be able to fish for at least a couple of weeks.

PS. John Smith won the Fenland Rods match on peg 10 on Six-Island on Sunday with 190 lb-plus, with paste taking a lot of his fish.

Nice one, Mike - Yew, Decoy

I didn't fish Spratts' first match on Yew Lake at Decoy, but it was a cracker, with ten of the 16 weighing in over 100 lb. Winner was Peter Harrison, who fished at 13 metres on peg 18,  until the last 90 minutes, when the fish slowed up , and he came into the margins. His total was a magnificent 254 lb 10 oz.

My mate John Smith fished the margins with mainly Sonubait One-on-One green paste for
184 lb 8 oz, taken mainly in the first four-and-a-half hours, when the fish moved away.

Another mate Mike Rawson had a day to remember - having a slow start, then finding fish shallow in the last half of the match, and weighing 117 lb 4 oz - his first 100 lb catch at Decoy.

A great start to Spratts' season on Yew Lake.

With the exception of Ted Lloyd (92) who took Peg 1, the match was fished along the Eastern bank, but the fish were pretty well spread.

UPDATES: We decided, not to take my electric trolley to Derby, because of the difficulty in finding toilets, if required, as pubs and restuarants are shut. I hope to arrange for a courier to take it for repair.

As for the cancer, my consultant rang and everything has been put back for six months because of the chaos caused by Corvid19.

Next match (my first for almost three months) should be Sunday 7th. Decoy is insisting on the two-metre rule, and I'm told that the Spratts match was conducted immaculately, though it took a long while to weigh in. Because of the rule that anglers must not follow the scales, I shan't be getting catch pictures.