Despite the forecast of rain almost all day 17 of us idiots turned out for this Over 60s match. And when peg 28 was pulled out for me by Tim Turpin in the shop I was pretty pleased. Because I've have previously fished Raven just three times - firstly on Peg 16 when I managed to catch 70 lb of carp by dobbing bread to the far side, then on 15 when I bombed out, then 16 again when low Winter sun made fishing very difficult indeed and I bombed out again.
But in those three matches - and indeed in most match on Raven - pegs in the 20 s almost always feature. And 28 is one of the best. So it looked as if my luck had turned. You can drive to your peg here - another bonus for us knackered oldies.
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| A murky start on Raven, Peg 28, before the rains started. |
The day started with heavy fog as I travelled to the fishery, but by the time I got there it had cleared enough for us all to be able to at least see a float at 14 metres.And that was how I started, with a Preston Flat-Back umbrella hoisted over my box, ready for the onslaught. I managed an early liner on bread and after 20 minutes a chunky little F1. But for the next hour nothing else happened. So I switched to double red maggot, and first drop a 6 lb carp was hooked.
My how that fish fought on the size 18 Kaizan hook. I thought it must be foulhooked, but no, after at least ten minutes I was able to land it, hooked properly in the lip. In fantastic condition.
The Maver Invincible
I hooked several pieces of rubbish when the bait was on the bottom, so had to fish with it off bottom, the 7mm piece of pinch bread just sitting the yellow-topped Maver Invincible float down nicely when it was off bottom. It's a pity those floats are no longer made - they are in-line and perform really well especially for long-range fishing, when I use the yellow top to show up against the dark reflection of the far bank or reeds.
The rain had now started to fall, and it fell almost all day, with the occasional break, during which time, with little wind, it was nice fishing. The platform was shale, so not much mud, but the water started to form puddles, and by the end everything touching the floor - even sheltered by the umbrella - was drenched.
The Great Escape!
And even with a good Nu-Fish side tray with cover the humidity in the air was enough to get my maggots and pinkies performing their version of The Great escape. Well it is Christmas!
After another lull I put about 20 maggots on a small pole pot, tipped them in, dropped in over the top and the result was a tiny perch. To be honest that threw me a bit, and I decided to leave the far-bank swim and look in the deep water.
I had previously potted some micros, maggots and hemp in at four sections, where the water was over 8 feet deep. And after ten minutes, using a 1 gm Drennan Tuff-Eye with black tip to show up against the while surface, and slowly dragging the bait along the bottom, another chunky little F1 was put into the keepnet. In the next our or so three or four more followed, and as I couldn't see anyone really hammering fish from the far side I carried on, and bait-droppered some more maggots in. That brought another, quick F1, but then nothing.
Lighter rig brings two carp
Quick looks in the near margins, at 18 inches on the inside and at three feet on the edge of the drop-off brought no a touch, so back to the far side. But that was now dead as well.
With about 45 minutes left I put out a much lighter Tuff Eye - about 0.25 gm, into the four-section swim. The spread shot took about 30 seconds to properly stabilise the float, but as it started to sink to the correct level it slid under. A 3 lb mirror had taken the bait as it hit bottom. Next cast another three-pounder! There was now about 30 minutes left. though the light was fading and the rain was now falling gain, but I hoped for a last-minute burst. It didn't happen.
Other anglers told me they had caught fish in the margins in the last 20 minutes, but I'm not that familiar with Raven, and hadn't tried that. It needs nerves of steel to change methods when you've just had two decent fish.
The weigh-in
By now the light was really bad (too bad for catch photographs) and I didn't recognise Alex when he came along with the scales, as he had his mask on. In went the fish, and I was so knackered (as a lot must have been) packing up in the rain that I didn't even ask whet the weights were. Mine was 23 lb, and I eventually drove back to the shop to see the completed sheet.
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| The result of my final match of 2020 - better than my recent results. |
It turned our that the top two were Brian Yorke, who dobbed bread for a large part of the match, and Alan Owen - two who so often dominate these matches. Well done to them, and to the other two framers, one of whom was Roy Whincup who has a bad back and can't fish long poles. But he always manages to find fish closer in, even on this lake. That, and my experience, now gives me a lot of confidence to not be afraid to fish closer on Raven if the far side is not producing.
I left it too long today to come in close, but I ended seventh, and was satisfied with that, as these other blokes all have more experience on this water than I do. All-round, a good end to my 2020 match fishing.
Matches for us are now finished as we are now in Tier 4 (despite Huntingdon Council area having one of the lowest rates of Covid in the UK). But I look forward to some pleasure sessions.
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