I would have liked any of the first four pegs, or one of the two on the far end bank (14 and 15), in this 14-entry Spratts match. But peg 1 was reserved for 92-year-old Ted if he turned up. The early pegs went elsewhere, and Trevor drew 15 – I believe he’s won from there before. I certainly remember Terry Tribe winning a Winter match from it. Peter Harrison had Peg 2, which I thought he would probably frame from, and Terry Tribe had 4.
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| A picture of Trevor's car. Also our draw - names then Peg Number. |
There was not much wind at the start, but it soon picked up, and was cold enough for me to have to put on my padded Imax jacket.
A terrible start
John at the fishery told me to fish half depth with banded pellet, and after a quick drop-in with cat meat in the deep water on top-two-plus-one (which brought nothing) that is what I did. But I never had a take. I know I didn’t do it for long enough, but on my left Alan Porter had three fish on a feeder and then started catching in the margins.
Meanwhile Mick Ramm, on my right, had had a good carp on his first drop, also in the shallower water. So I changed to more conventional fishing, and took a quick 1 lb carp on expander in the margin. Then the wheels came off. One hour gone and I had 1 lb, while Alan must have been in double-figures already.
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| Overcast but calm...at the start. The wind and rain soon came, though. |
The second hour saw me with just three more. Two hours gone and I had 4 lb.
Still the fish proved elusive, but while Alan seemed to have come to a halt I made up a little leeway, with about five more fish, in the shallow water. Then I made the move to the deep water, just over a top two length, where there’s about seven feet. A fish first drop on sweetcorn gave me hope, but only the odd fish came. Then I made what was probably a mistake – after having two or three fish quickly I potted in casters...and the bites stopped completely! I’ve never known casters put carp off before, but that’s what happened.
Two hours to go and I had less than 20 lb, while Martin Parker, two to my right, had really started to motor in the deep water on what looked like a top two.
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| Martin Parker, on Peg 8, was catching fish while I could hardly get a bite. |
I concentrate
I decided to do what had worked two days previously, on Beastie – potting in about eight pieces of corn and fishing right over the top, concentrating hard. Slowly it started to bring bites, but found I needed to pick a medium-sized piece. The larger grains brought little knocks, but the fish wouldn’t give a proper bite, and the really small ones brought roach.
The 1gm rig with a 16 hook was set so it was several inches over depth and I laid it out flat, allowing it to sink in an ark.
If the fish didn’t take as it hit bottom, inching the bait along the bottom brought the occasional bite, from fish which were now all over 2 lb, though I lost the biggest at 5 lb after seeing it plainly. As the previous week, I could see fish twitching the float, so even though it might have taken me ten minutes to hook a fish, I knew they were still down there.
My spare rig was invaluable
I was helped by the fact that while I could fish with the 1gm rig and catch fish, if I wanted to experiment with the presentation I took up my spare 0.5 gm rig, leaving the 1gm the same. This helped a lot, as if the 0.5 rig didn’t work I just reverted to the 1gm. However, in the last half-hour I tried fishing dead depth with the 0.5 rig (which hadn’t worked earlier) and found that, suddenly, the fish would respond to a quick lift of no more than one inch.
I had enough confidence to change the 1gm to this set-up and it worked a treat, and my catch rate increased a little, with the odd four-pounder among the two-pounders.
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| My best fish, landed ten minutes after the match ended. |
Five minutes to go and I lifted the bait, and the float shot straight under. This was a heavier fish, and I was still playing it when the match ended. It was a full ten minutes later before I was able to bring it to the surface, and it was a good fish. I thought it must be foulhooked or hooked in the nose, as every time I slid it towards the net it was able to veer sideways, and miss the net.
When I finally landed it, it was in fact hooked in the lip. All 12 lb of it! A nice bonus.
But it put me even further behind in my packing up than usual. I estimated I had something over 50 lb.
The weigh-in
Packing up was not enjoyable, as it was now raining fairly hard. I’d put up the umbrella earlier, but you have to take it down eventually. Then it eased off a little, just as the weighing-in started. Ted hadn’t turned up, and Peter Harrison set the target with 65 lb 12 oz on peg 2. Terry Tribe beat that, on 4, with 69 lb 7 oz, having caught just one fish in the last two hours, when I had had my best spell. It’s a Funny Old Game.
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| John Garner lifts out his catch. |
At that point Bob Allen put a damper on us all when he announced that Trevor, on 15, had four nets in! Definitely a Golden Peg rollover then. That lucky last-minute 12-pounder boosted my catch to 66 lb 10 oz, pipping Peter’s weight, and making me feel guilty...but Not A Lot!
Martin, as I had expected, well beat me with 86 lb 7 oz, and indeed Trevor, fishing as John at the fishery had advised – banded pellet at half depth – won handsomely with 146 lb 13 oz. So I finished fourth, and was actually very happy, considering I had been beaten only by Trevor, who is better than me, plus a former Vets National Champion, and a former Division Four National Champion.
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| Winner Trevor got it absolutely right, fishing off the bottom with banded pellet on a top two all day. |
Result:
Peg
2 Peter Harrison 65 lb 12 oz
3 John Smith 39 lb 3 oz
4 Terry Tribe 96 lb 7 oz
5 Alan Porter DNW
6 Mac Campbell 66 lb 10 oz
7 Mick Ramm 24 lb
8 Martin Parker 86 lb 7 oz
9 Mike Rawson 31 lb 14 oz
10 Mick Raby 33 lb 13 oz
11 Bob Allen 27 lb 8 oz
12 Bob Barrett 28 lb 12 oz
13 John Garner 39 lb 3 oz
14 Peter Barnes DNW
15 Trevor Cousins 146 lb 13 oz
Wednesday sees me on Jay at Pidley, where I will genuinely be aiming not to come last, as the match will consist of anglers who fish there regularly, whereas I haven’t fished there for a year or more.
No rain, please...
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