Should have done better - Horseshoe Lake, Decoy

 Peg 1
I blame the cramp. It had me leaping out of bed all night like a demented frog, and  I never got more than 30 minutes uninterrupted sleep. Funny thing was I felt fine at the match, and was happy with Peg 1. It can produce good weights in the Summer, and although the results I have seen in Winter from Horseshoe tend to show the first four pegs as not being too good, there are a lot of options on Peg 1.

But my brain must have been in a low gear because I never got started properly - I had intended to fish waggler if I got back wind (which I did) but somehow I left the float I had the rod shotted up for at home. So I had to choose another, adjust the shotting, and then it took me ages to work out what was happening - I couldn't get the float to come to the surface.

A light back wind meant no ripple on the first few pegs.

It took me ages to realise that this swim is very deep - eight feet or more, perhaps the deepest swim on the complex. Anyway, by the time I had it set up the match had started, and I hadn't even assembled my pole tops. Then Terry Tribe walked back to the car for his umbrella, and gaily announced that Mick had already landed a ten-pounder.

Mick? Which Mick? We've got three  fishing today, And at the end of the match I looked carefully at all three Mick's catches and couldn't find a double-figure fish. Terry then sort of pointed to Peter Spriggs and asked: "Did I say Mick?" Yes, Terry, you did. I know Peter would have been facing the water (presumably) as you walked behind him, but methinks a call to Specsavers is on the cards!

The match
Back to the match and eventually, almost 20 minutes after everyone else had started, I got underway. I last fished this peg about 15 years ago, and there was a lily bed to the left, which is not there now. So I had a guess at where it might have ended, and started at 10 metres towards a lily bed in the middle. My trusty 1gm Tuff Eye float now had a bright yellow tip, to show up against the brown reflections of bushes on the far side. Despite the rain we've had the water was much clearer than it was only two weeks ago.

John Garner, on my left, waited for over
four-and-a-half hours for his first fish. He ended with
five weighing 31 lb 8 oz.

After a short fishless spell at ten metres I had a quick look in the margin to my right, against the reeds, with corn over half-a-dozen grains. Nothing. So back to the main swim, with the intention of moving round to the right, where the water was about three inches shallower, as my second swim. Then a 3 lb barbel took my corn and I was underway. I put in some maggots with a bait dropper, hoping for more barbel, but none came. An F1 took a bunch of maggots half an hour later, and a small roach, which prompted me to go back to corn.

Things are slow
It took me nearly two  hours to add three more F1s, one of which was on the waggler, at the rate of one every 30 minutes. At this point John Garner to my left was still fishless, but Callum on his left had six fish on a pole. Another hour went by and I had forgotten about the intended second long swim, but fancied I saw a tiny liner while fishing the margin swim to my right. Now becoming desperate I wondered if the fish, perhaps, preferred to feed in the deeper water, so I went a little farther out and a little longer to my right.

Callum on Peg 3 had six fish early on and
weighed 35 lb 12 oz for seventh.

In went a some hemp and corn, and I dropped in over the top. Within 15 seconds I was playing a 7 lb common, which didn't fight particularly well, and ended in my net. It was as cold as ice. Next drop saw a six-pounder come in. but then no more. I probably should have had a go on the feeder, but my brain was not working to its maximum capacity.

Alternating the two swims
It slowly dawned on me that the flashing when a fish was hooked was probably disturbing other fish, so I went long again, and had another F1; then back to the other swim, about ten feet from the marginal reeds. I slowly added fish by alternating the swims, mainly by dragging the bait very slowly. But the bites took a long time to develop. I'm certain that the ones I missed were not liners- the fish were just very cagey. Perhaps a small length of worm would have tempted them in the clear water, but I forgot to try.

Cat meat took an F1 from the right-hand swim, and the rest - F1s and carp to 6 lb -  came to corn, mainly from that right-handed swim, with the exception of another small F1 on expander. I lost just one fish.

Mick Ramm and I went to junior school together  
in Wisbech in the 1940s. Neither of us look our age...

With an hour to go I put an eight-pounder in the net from the swim towards the reeds, but in the final hour I added only one more fish, also about 8 lb. John on my left, meanwhile, had his first fish with 85 minutes left, and ended with five, all on a top two.

The end - and my big mistake
When the match finished I kept the unused hemp, cat meat and expanders to freeze and use again (as I always do) but there was a handful of corn unused and some dampened micros. I threw these in down to a small patch of lillies on my right, where the water is about 18 inches deep.

Five minutes later the lillies were shaking, as fish had come in to sweep up the food on the bottom. In water that shallow and that clear I hadn't imagined that it would have been worth fishing the margins. And I am sure I would have had more fish if I had. Stupid. And I had never fished the second long swim, either. What was I thinking of?

I blame the cramp!

Terry Tribe weighs in his third-placed 56 lb 2 oz.

The weigh-in
I was first to weigh, and had no idea what most of the others had been catching. But several remarked that I had two nets in, so it gradually dawned on me that I hadn't done too badly. My fish weighed 60 lb 6 oz, and that led right round to Trevor Cousins on 16, who won with 78 lb 2 oz - five F1s on a 10-metre pole and the rest on a feeder baited with a Washter cast tight to the far-side reeds.

That win produced some elation from the others, and I realised I had forgotten that I was Golden Peg. Same thing happened the previous week when I was Golden Peg (again) and came third. They must love it when I get it.

Of the 14 anglers fishing no fewer than ten weighed in the between 30 lb and 40 lb. I finished second, and honestly believe that I had the opportunity to win in that last hour, if only I had had a look in the shallow margins - a lovely bunch of reeds to the left and lillies down to my right.

Terry displays the golden coin wrenched from the  reluctant fist of a smiling Martin Parker.
It's what makes life worth living.

I'm fishing from a boat at Graham on Friday. Not sure if sweetcorn is allowed! And next match is on Damson on Sunday - The Les Bedford Memorial Cup. Les died at decoy, and Damson was his favourite lake.

Mike Rawson with fish! Lots of them...

Winner Trevor Cousins from Peg 16 - 78 lb 2 oz.

                              

The result of a tight, difficult match.