I miss the obvious– Magpie, Pidley

Peg 30 

Eighteen of us fished this Fenland Rods club match , and we tried a new way of deciding which pegs to fish. We each chose a peg from those allocated, and then the draw took place. Early on in the draw Tony Nisbett’s name was called and a peg drawn for him – Peg 2. A peg with form, and I immediately thought that he would be one of the favourites.

I was given peg 30, on the island, and was not unhappy with that, though I would have preferred 31 to 34, as I’ve always done well there. Peg 30 is hemmed in by tall reeds either side, so I couldn’t see Dennis on my left or Wendy, on my right, but I could see some on the lower numbers, opposite. And early on I saw Dave Garner, former Club Champion, came through on his way past me – to Peg 34. This is another peg with form, as there’s a lovely hole down to the right margin which always seems to hold fish, and Dave was sure to find it.

Bright sun and an Easterly greeted us, the wind turning to the West later. Most of my fish came from the left, where straggling reeds and awkward reflections made it difficult to control the rig and see the bites.

So two good anglers on good pegs, but I had a job to do.

Very slow at the start

It was slow – two fish in the first hour in the deep right margin on corn; then  two fish in the next hour on luncheon meat to the left margin; then two fish in the third hour on expander out at about eight metres. However, those opposite seemed to be struggling as well, though Dennis, on my left, had caught some fish, evidenced by the splashing and bright orange elastic cutting through the water. And James Garner, on Peg 9, was also into fish – I estimated I’d seen him playing 15 fish in that first three hours. So he could be winning.

Joe Bedford was 90 last week, and fit as a fiddle
(he took my rods down to the bank at the start).

In fact, although I had only six at the halfway point,  I’d hooked a lot more - probably 15 or so, some foulhooked, and some not. And every time I put in bait, fish would come in and give liners. I tried fishing off bottom, but didn’t get a single indication, which told me the fish were interested in the bait, but not taking it properly.

So halfway though, and I had only six fish. One problem was that the swim was sheltered so the margins had had no ripple at all after the first few minutes (when the wind came from the East despite the forecast for Westerlies).  So I decided to concentrate, for a time, on  the reeds to my left, with luncheon meat, and slowly began to catch. Cat meat brought a couple, but the changing  light, and the reflection of the reeds, made seeing bites difficult – the best bites were not the sharp pull-downs, but the ones which started with a nibble or two and then slowly sank under. So I got off my box and took out a new top to which I fixed a very special rig I have made up. This worked well.

Sport picks up

James Garner - I thought he'd made a terrific
start but he lost a lot of fish, as did most of us.

Suddenly I was hooking and landing fish, mainly on cat meat, and realised that they seemed to be in the slightly deeper water, only about 18 inches from where I had been fishing, and right under some overhanging reeds, which made things difficult. That should have been a clue to re-plumb and find out where the loose feed was rolling down to. But unaccountably I didn’t do that. Now I suspect that the fish were congregating at the very bottom of the shelf, particularly as I didn’t catch a single fish in the shallow margin.

Anyway, I plodded on, with sport getting better, even though I was still losing fish, including a six-pounder hooked in the tail which eventually weeded me and came off. The best one was a lovely golden ghostie, with the proper ghost marks on its head, of about 8 lb. Quick looks on the long line and to my right produced only a lost foulhooker to my right, so I kept to the left margin, and found that very small cubes of luncheon meat were now doing better that big cubes of cat meat. And two fish of 4 lb each in the last five minutes (I was playing one when the horn sounded) concluded my match.

Kevin Lee (left, and Dick Warriner do the honours.

I had James down as a possible winner, as he had been hooking  fish steadily in the first three hours while I struggled, and I assumed he would get even more in the afternoon.  I knew Dennis, to my left, had a few, but had no idea whether Tony, on fancied Peg 2, had many, as I’d seen him land only one fish. But with the fish averaging 3lb-plus, and typically going to 5 lb, you don’t actually need many to get a decent weight.

The weigh-in

The weigh-in started at Peg 24, where Dave Garner had, in fact, fished the deep hole to his right, and said that his waggler rod was able to haul fish out which would have been lost in the weed. His three nets went 130 lb 6 oz, which I knew was way ahead of me. Wendy weighed in 53 lb 12 oz, all on her usual feeder, and that later made me think that the feeding  fish were, indeed, in the deeper water.

My three nets went 94 lb 4 oz, but they were eclipsed by Tony’s 128 lb 4 oz, taken on pellet on a longing line, not in the margins (!). And so on to James, and I was amazed to see him weigh in just 89 lb 15 oz – he told me that he, also, had lost a lot of fish, which I hadn’t realised. Then round to Kevin Lee on 12  and Dick Warriner on 13.

Dave Garner, winner with 130 lb 6 oz
 from Peg 34, on cat meat.

Dick’s very first bite was at 10 minutes to 1, and Kevin had his first bite five minutes later.  Kevin had then had two good hours, but caught only one more in the last hour, ending with  82 lb 3 oz. Although these pegs in the early  ‘teens’ have not produced as well as the early pegs and the island pegs, they do have nice margins, with good cutouts either side, and Kevin caught mainly on the point of the reeds.

Kev Lee had a good two hours from 1 pm,
but a really terrible last hour, with just one fish.

So I ended third, giving me several framing places in a row, which I can’t be unhappy with, as the vast majority of these club anglers are quite capable of winning any of our matches.

A tight match, with no fewer than two of the 18 taking between 50 lb and 100 lb.

My next match is on Beastie at Decoy, where the winner can come from absolutely anywhere. My favourites are 18, 2, 30 and 9, with 24 being my bogey peg - I simply cannot put together a weight from there. Then on to Damson at Decoy next weekend. It's not my favourite lake, but I usually manage to scrape together a decent weight.