A Winter warmer for me - Magpie Lake, Pidley

Peg 16, Wednesday, Dec 29
Well, I now know that this blog has at least one reader - Father Christmas! I recently wrote about having seen heated underwear worn by some of the top anglers...and Lo and Behold, Christmas brought me a heated vest. I've tried it out (I reckon you could roast potatoes on it) but didn't need it for the latest Over 60s match on Magpie at Pidley because although we had rain for a couple of hours, the wind was warm.

First set-back
Peg 16 has the longest walk, and within a few yards of getting on the bank I realised the motor on my trolley was not working. Again it was the battery connection, which meant I had to unload the whole trolley before adjusting the connection. Never had a problem with the old one, but like almost everything else nowadays the modern battery has been designed with cheapness in mind. At least Alan Golightly and I got it working.

My home for the day - the big Flat-Back umbrella was able to keep all the rain
off me. The angler in the back ground is Will Hadley, on the island Peg 34.
 Rob Heath, on Peg 14 to my left, fished right across to the dead reeds
 at about 16 metres.  I positioned my gear to the extreme right
of the the swim, but found the floating island too far out to fish to.

Peg 16 has one feature - a floating island slightly to the right, which is about 16 metres from the bank, but I had accidentally left my 14.5 and 16-metre sections at home, so decided to concentrate on a good presentation in open water rather than struggle to reach the island. At least the walk round wasn't muddy, thanks to the artificial turf laid all round the lake, from Manchester United's old training ground.

First cast - a fish hooked, and...
First drop in at 13 metres with an 8mm expander pellet saw a bite and a fish briefly hooked. Presumably foulhooked. Next cast the same thing happened, and I changed to bread fished from shallow down almost to the bottom, but never had a knock. On peg 34, in front of me, on the main island, I could see Will Hadley fishing bread at 16 metres, and I don't think he had a fish in the first hour.

I had started in an 8mm expander on a size 16 hook in the hope that with all the warm weather the fish might have been ready to have a proper feed, but like almost everyone else I had maggot as a back-up.

Eventually a switch back to expander saw a 3 lb carp come in, and next cast a four-pounder foulhooked, which after a long fight ended in my net. But I immediately switched to maggot, as clearly the fish weren't ready to feed properly. This produced two F1s about 2 lb each in the next hour, though I had a lot of liners, some of which I struck at because they looked like proper bites.

Jay Richardson with 24 lb 3 oz. Had he landed a big
double-figure carp which came off the size 18 hook
he could have framed. Jay took his fish mainly
 on corn fished down the track on Peg 21.

More liners
I'd been flicking maggots into a swim to my left, but two tries here didn't see even a liner. So with two hours to go I switched to this lighter rig with a size 18 hook on a light hooklength, in the 13-metre swim. Catapulting half-a-dozen maggots out every minute or two produced about four more F1s to a single maggot, and lots more liners. On the island Will started to land a few fish which looked to be up to 5 lb, and beyond him on Peg 32 Malcolm Roberts, who had had a fish or two on a pole started hitting fish on a waggler cast to the island in front of him, and he had a good last hour.

I had a pop-up om a bomb ready to cast to the island but never tried it. I probably should have done so while having a cup of delicious mushroom soup from my flask. Three more fish came adrift during that two hours, and I must assume all were foulhooked - Will had the same problem.

The weigh in
There were four DNWs altogether, and two of those were the two anglers to my right, so I was happy to be able to weigh in 16 lb 6 oz, which was at least a respectable weight. For the third Over 60s match in a row Rob Heath was on my immediate left, and he was able to fish across to vegetation, though it looked as if it might have been 16 metres, so it must have been hard work. He weighed 37 lb 13 oz for fifth out of the 26 anglers. But I forgot to take his photograph...

The first results sheet.

The second, out-of-focus, results sheet Pegs 28 to 36 are on the main island.

Well done, Vic

Winner was Vic German on 36, who fished long to his left and right with bread, altering the depth to find the fish. His weight was a magnificent 133 lb 14 oz, with Malcolm Roberts on second with 61 lb 13 oz. I was seventeenth, which I was happy with from that peg. Ideally you need a feature to fish to at the moment. That the fishing is difficult was shown by Chris Saunders, who has been winning a lot recently, weighing in just 3 lb 5 oz from Peg 8.

My next natch is Sunday on Damson at Decoy - though Gus Gausden will probably move it if there's a large entry, as the pegs from about 18 to 24 necessitate taking your gear down several steps to fish (and back up afterwards), which I wouldn't even attempt, and I doubt I'm the only one. Then Wednesday sees the Over 60s on Crow and Raven, at Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley, where you can drive to every peg.

What will the new year bring? If I can still compete, that's all I ask.

Winding down for Christmas on Horseshoe, Decoy

 Peg 4, Horseshoe, Sunday, Dec 19
Twenty-four of us fished this JV match, on Beastie and Decoy, and first cast with a maggot feeder saw me hit a good fish. What a start...then when it was halfway in the line went slack. Just like that! I still can't work out why the line should have broken - it was the same gear I'd landed 80 lb on just ten days previously. 

A quick trip back to the van for another feeder exactly the same saw me re-rig, but the next 90 minutes brought not even a liner. (I had other feeders with me, but I keep some in the van just to keep the weight of my box down). So it was out to 11 metres to the lillies where I had put in some dead reds, and immediately I had bites from small perch. Stupidly I left that swim in disgust after three fish in three put-ins; in fact I should probably have kept fishing there.

Peg 4 on a dank, dismal December morning.

Next I went to a swim about 15 feet from the bank, past a little drop-off, where two or three roach took the bait and promptly dropped off. One or two stuck on the hook, and halfway through the match a 3 lb F1 came in. But that was the end of my excitement for the day.

Roy Whincup shows his best carp, caught while fishing for roach.

Rob shows us how
Four swims to my left Rob Goodson was catching the occasional carp casting right across to the far bank, and I reckoned he was on a pop-up. He told me later that he did, in fact, fish one pop-up on a bomb about a foot off bottom, and later changed to a feeder (presumably a small banjo or something similar) with a pop-up just an inch up. I had a rod and reel all set up in my holdall especially for fishing pop ups. with line stops so I can quickly adjust the depth. But I didn't bother to get up and get it out.

Overall winner Rob Goodson, who I've known for years - a
brilliant angler and a great bloke. His carp weighed 51 lb 6 oz.
The light was very poor at this point - my excuse for the fuzziness.

To my right on peg 2 Roy Whincup ended up fishing for roach on a pole about six metres out, and hit a good carp, a smaller one or two, and a bream, plus several roach. He weighed 19 lb 1 oz - a brilliant result from that swim. But it was Rob Goodson who won the lake with 51 lb 6 oz. I totalled a measly 3 lb 13 oz for almost last. It appears that the fish have decided I should wind down for Christmas! Perhaps the break will get my brain into gear again!

On Beastie the weights were a little better allround, with Lee Kendall top on peg 5 with 43 lb 6 oz including an 18 lb 4 oz beauty on a size 18 hook with light hooklength. Back in the cafe we all won a prize - my box of biscuits, I confess, was particularly undeserved after the way I had fished.

Lee Kendall with that 18 lb 4 oz beauty from Beastie, landed on an 18 hook.

I've stripped off the line from that offending reel and put on some 6 lb Maxima ready for the coming bonanza(!).

Horseshoe result.

Beastie result.

An oven curbs my fishing plans 

A new battery for my trolley has got it going again, but the configuration is slightly different which means I will have to  raise the wood I stand my box on by about half an inch. Why is nothing simple now?

 Next match will be sometime after Christmas - I was intending to fish at Pidley on Wednesday, but my attempts at renewing the bulb in our oven resulted in my having to take off the door (which was easy). That was followed by admitting defeat at unscrewing the bulb cover, and then attempting to put the door back on, which proved impossible. In doing so I somehow triggered a mechanism which snapped one of the hinges shut. 

So on Wednesday I will, as a penance, be waiting at home all day for a Bosch mechanic to come and show me how to close a door! What an ingnominious end to 2021...except that if everything goes according to plan I will be back at Pidlley on Wednesday, December 29th, for another humiliation. Why do I put myself through it?

Have a good Christmas everyone.

The big Christmas match - Raven, Pidley

Peg 25, Raven, Wednesday, Dec 15
Thirty-two of us booked into the Rookery Farm Fishery Christmas match om Magpie and Raven, all full of Christmas cheer, and hoping that the fish felt the same way. Of course it was all an illusion (at least in my swim), though I suppose it was fate that meant that as the birth of Jesus was about to be celebrated I ended with five small fishes, and no loaves (but plenty of leaves)!

The weather was kind with hardly any wind and I was able to fish the far bank at 13 metres on my peg on Raven with punch bread, dobbed above the bottom. To my left Rob Heath had two or three fish early, then the sun came out past him and I couldn't see what he was doing. However occasional splashing told me he was catching something on and off all day.

My swim - the reeds to the right were probably 16 metres away, and I didn't reach them.

After two hours I had managed one carp of about 2 lb on dobbed bread on a size 16 hook, and I wandered up to the angler on my right, who said he had four, with one on maggot. On peg 1 behind me Ken Gammon had one in the deep water and Rob Allen, to his right hadn't had a bite.

I had already tried in the deeper water at about four feet, with maggot, and then in six feet of water (with bait put in via a bait dropper), also with maggot, without having had even a liner. So I tried there again with the same result, and eventually reverted to punch bread fished shallow at about 18 inches right across. That brought just four more, best 4 lb (which was foulhooked). 

New elastic for me
I was using some NuFish Zipp Hybrid elastic 12-14 for the first time, and was very impressed. At one point I hooked a tree on the far bank, and had to pull all the way back to grab hold of the elastic. I assumed that something would break, but in fact I got the lot back, and even after stretching that far the elastic retracted and behaved perfectly normally.

Raven winner Rob Heath, with his 85 lb 8 oz catch from Peg 23.

I had several liners, and had been counting them from the start, since I had little better to do(!) By the end I had counted THIRTY SEVEN liners. I struck at several of them and always came back with my punch bread still on the hook, so I know they were not proper bites. I did wonder, though, whether they were fish slashing at the bait with their tails. When I shallowed up to 12 inches I didn't even get liners! Very frustrating.

The weigh in
Rob Heath, to my left on 23, won the lake with a magnificent 85 lb 8 oz, with some on dobbed bread and others on maggot in four feet of water. I weighed 14 lb 2 oz for eighth on the lake, which I couldn't feel bad about because with one more 2 lb fish I would have been fifth! So I sat beside the winner, but I was told that 25 is often not as good as 23, and last week when I won on Crow the angler beside me was Rob Heath...

The prizegiving

Afterwards, with masks on when we walked in, we gathered for, tea, coffee, mince pies and sausage rolls and a prize for everyone. Thankfully you are allowed to remove your masks to eat! 

Lots of lovely prizes for all of us (the chairs were not included).

It turned out that Will Hadley had been drawn on Magpie 2, where he had won last week, and he won again! Last week he won with maggot fished on the bottom; this week he found about three fish at 13 metres on dobbed bread, then a couple more at 14.5 metres, and finally he caught at 16 metres with a long lash swung out towards the far bank, finishing with 99 lb 8 oz. Hard work!

Surprisingly, Magpie had seen more fish caught than on Raven.

Raven result pegs 1 to 24

The presentation ran like clockwork, with each donated prize given a draw ticket, and as each angler was called up he was given a draw ticket. All you had to do was to find your prize. Absent friends were remembered, and I particularly missed Dennis Sambridge, who confirmed to the anglers here a month or two ago that he has terminal pancreatic cancer.

Rest of the Raven result (yes, I sat next to the winner!)

Magpie result 1-22.

Rest of the Magpie result.

I have been able to confirm that the reason my motorised trolley won't motor is that the battery is dead. A new one has been ordered, though it will not be essential for my next match on Beastie, at Decoy, on Sunday. Recently the best weights have been coming from the early 20s, which I have never managed to do any good on! Wish me luck...

Not my finest hour on Four-Islands, Decoy

 Peg 6, Four-Islands, Decoy
After spending a fair time equipping three feeder rods with different systems, in case I drew the famous Peg 6 on Lou's Lake in this JV match, I went and drew Peg 6 on Four-Islands, which would obviously be mainly pole. Five of us fished in this section with ten on Lou's.

It's been many years since I fished on Four-Islands, and Peg 6 (which has been the best peg recently) presented me with two nice islands at about 11 metres, one a little to the left and the other a little to the right, with open water between them. The water was almost as clear as tap water, and the wind, though described as 'mild' by all the weather forecasters, was on my back, but cold enough to make me put on my thick, padded Imax jacket after an hour.

I am an iriot!
At this point there would normally be a picture of my swim, surrounded with what often looks like a building site, but since I forget to take my phone you will have to use your imagination. 

The match was simple - I started on 2mm expanders against the righthand island, switched to maggots in the open water for two roach which promptly fell off, and then moved to the lefthand island, where I hit a better fish on maggot which came off after about two seconds. A look into the margin where I had been flicking maggots proved fruitless.

Eventually two roach came to hand, followed by a 2 lb F1 from the righthand island, but it took another hour before three more came quickly to maggot. Meanwhile Chris Saunders, round to my left, had definitely had some roach and a better fish or two fishing long against some reeds. 

Bite; strike; twigs!
At one point Chris saw me land a fish and then go straight back and within seconds my elastic was showing again as I struck. Chris shouted out: "Mac's catching" but in fact although I had had a bite there was a bunch of twigs on the hook, and no fish. How do they do that?

A couple more F1s and two carp about 3 lb came in the next 90 minutes, all on three maggots after I had dumped in some dead reds. Then a better fish came broke my hooklength, which surprised me as, after a tangle, I had only just put that hook on - a Guru ready-tied, which I find brilliant, and much better than I can tie myself. Two more fish came off, almost certainly foulhooked.

Into the last hour, and I took just one slightly better carp. Chris then started hitting fish and I couldn't get a bite. In that last hour I am sure he overtook me.

The weigh in
Chris won the lake with 37 lb 10 oz, all taken on maggot; I weighed 23 lb 13 oz; and Barry Webb on 3 took 31 lb 11 oz for second. So I was third on the lake. Barry told me he had had some fish from the  margins, and I kicked myself for not having a look there in the last hour. The fact that the water was so clear had put me off, but I should have tried. Also, I  tried the open water swim only once after the first hour. If the media football pundits had been rating my performance I would probably have squeezed a 4!

Lou's was won on 7 by Lee Kendall, casting a feeder to within a yard of the far bank for 46 lb 7 oz, with Jim Regan second on 5 with 28 lb 10 oz.

My next matches
My next match is at Pidley on Wednesday, when a draw won Raven would be nice, as the battery on my trolley had given out, and if I get a peg on Magpie I will have to push it. I will have bread with me, as it's allowed at Pidley, and is the default starting method for a lot of the anglers if they can reach lillies or the far bank..

Then Sunday sees a JV event on Beastie at Decoy, where pegs in the early m20s have been producing - 21 won on Sunday with over 100 lb, followed by 13 and then 6. I will have the feeder rods with me, as they will come in handy on most of the swims on Beastie. I will also have pop-ups.

A bit of a feeder-fest for me on Crow, Rookery Farm, Pidley

Peg 8, Crow, Pidley
This was my first Pidley Over 60s match for months (I go there when my midweek club matches have finished) and it was held on Magpie and Crow lakes, with 24 entered. Magpie has some shelter, but Crow felt the full force of the howling wind, and after reading and hearing about recent matches there I decided to fish a maggot feeder, although I did make a short pole up.

There's a rolling draw for these matches, which gave me at least half an hour before the start to sit in the back of Steve Tilsley's van and reminisce about the years of match fishing in Days Of Yore. That's one of the delights of matches - nostalgia, but also picking he brains of others. And Steve told me what I had suspected - the favoured pegs on Crow have been from about 11 onwards.

A big, cold wind greeted us on Crow. I made up a pole, but never used it.
Laying it on the bank was the only way of preventing it blowing away!

At the start of the match the wind was even blowing my side tray cover open - from the closed position! I'd already clipped my line up, after having made just one exploratory cast, which landed about a foot from the far bank; Oh that I could always do that! The wind put a huge bow in the line, but I clipped up without tightening.

Fishing a bow
Years of bream fishing on the Fens have given me confidence to fish a bomb or feeder without tightening up immediately after the cast. I can't remember the last time I plunged the rod tip down under the water and reeled in to tighten the line, because I think it often moves the bait and the feeder or bomb, and bream certainly watch the bait fall before going down and taking it in their mouths. In fact I used to have reels with Black Spider and White Spider braid on, so I could allow the wind to form a bow, and I'd watch the bow tighten when I got a bite. It was a common technique in the Fens - slacklining.

So now, when there's a wind, as there certainly was on this occasion, I put the rod on the rest and slowly tighten, inch by inch, confident it will not move the feeder, but confident I will see a bite. The swingtip does it better than a quiver tip, but I don't use a swingtip any more.

A good start on the maggot feeder

Steve Tilsley was to my right. We had a good
old chinwag before the start of the match.

My first two casts across didn't give me a bite, but the third, about eight feet from the far bank, with two maggots, saw a slow wrap-round and a 2 lb common come to the net. I carried on there and started getting a fish about every ten minutes. Two took the bait almost before I had the rod on the rest.

 I was using only a four-inch hooklength, so didn't move the feeder unless I had gone five minutes without a bite, when I twitched it as short a distance as I could, and this produced several fish, which must have been within inches of the bait. All my fish were all between 1 lb and 5 lb, but mainly 2 lb.

One time the two maggots had twizzled the hooklength, so I changed to three and this seemed better. And after that I changed absolutely nothing - I caught steadily for the full five hours, with the bites being often just a slight twitch forward. It's possible that the hooklength helped - it was 4 lb red line, given away with Angling Times some years ago and whenever I use it I seem to catch fish. You'd think that red would show up, wouldn't you? But it seems to work for me when I remember to use it(!)

Alan Owen, a regular in the Over 60s events,
was on Peg 10 to my left and found that big fish
fairly early on. he weighed 36 lb 12 oz.

The feeder emptied quickly
The maggot feeder was the large Preston ICS model, which is a bit fiddly to fill, and I have found that the maggots seem to come out very quickly - if I miscast and immediately retrieved they were almost always completely gone. That's another reason I don't want the feeder to move if I am using only a four-inch hooklength. It would be different if it was 12 inches or more.

Steve Tilsley, to my right, had a poor start but found fish around 12 o'clock on his maggot feeder, and Alan Owen to my left on 10, had fish all day, but on and off. I had managed to find the right length of cast - still on the shallow margins on the far side - and had about 30 fish (I didn't count them) which weighed 83 lb 2 oz, top on the lake. I was happy to  hear the shout to end the match, as the cold had started to penetrate, despite my six layers of clothing.

What about Magpie?
Steve and I agreed at the start that weights would be much lower in Magpie, even though it has more shelter. My mate Mike Rawson had ring me to say he was on Magpie 26, which is tucked away in a corner, with lots of lillies, and was not one of the favoured pegs. But at the end he drove up and said he had had 17 lb 2 oz, which was not bad, but that there was a 112 lb on Peg 2. That was a surprise to me. 

Steve grabbed my phone and took my picture. Thank, mate.

The captor of that 112 lb turned out to be regular Will Hadley, who had fished bread for half an hour without a bite, but had then changed to maggot on the deck at 13 metres. He said that the lillies to his left were not on the surface; but he was surprised when fish ran right through the area without once snagging him. Perhaps that lily bed has vanished.

Mike lost three big fish in his lilly pads, came fifth on the lake, and needed only 1 lb 1 oz more to have come third.

The early pegs on Crow.

The other end of Crow.

The first sheet from Magpie.

Second sheet from Magpie.

Continental payout
There's a Continental payout when more than one lake is used, so Will came first overall and I came second. Then the best second weight on either lake came third - which was Mark Waring on Crow 14, who weighed in 79 lb 2 oz, followed by the second on Magpie, Colin Walker on 34 with 25 lb 2 oz. Then the third on either lake were designated section winners by default. One of those was 91-year-old John Pratt!!

Two good weights did come from past me on Crow, on Pegs 14 and 22. And I was very happy at the end as I'd had a good day's fishing, which was more important to me than framing. And it's given me confidence to fish the feeder more often, because normally the pole is my first choice.

My next match is Sunday with JV on Lou's and Four-Island at Decoy. Four-Island is not popular with a lot of the anglers because the reeds have encroached into a lot of the swims. I haven't fished it for years, so I have no particular thoughts on it. On Lou's the dream draw is Peg 6, which offers a long chuck with a feeder to the far-bank reeds, which has produced some huge weights. But the pole also wins on this peg.  If the wind is South-West as forecast Pegs 1 to 6 will offer something of a back wind.

Then next Wednesday I am back on Pidley, with Magpie and Raven provisionally selected for the Over 60s Christmas match.

A possibly-undeserved envelope on Willows, Decoy

 Peg 25, Sunday, Dec 5
For years Peg 25 on Willows was the biggest flier on the complex, winning more matches than any other swim. But over the years it has lost some of its dominance, and I have a theory that as the fish have got bigger they no longer feel the need to hang round the two islands which adjoin this attractive swim. In the Winter, of course, fish can hole up anywhere, and often in different areas to where they hang out in the Summer. Even so, I was happy to draw it in this ten-entry JV match.

The wind was cool, from the North, and I started putting a maggot feeder over to the main island 30 years away, where there's a noted hole cut into the bank. Liners came immediately, but it took about an hour before I hooked a fish, which turned out to be foulhooked. However, it was about 5 lb and ended up in my keepnet.

The famous Willows 25. The hole to cast to is right above my side tray. The channel on the right is where I saw several big fish pass through.

I had also seen some very big fish cruise round to my right, in the narrow channel surrounding the small island, but when I flicked a maggot towards them they just ignored it. I had put a rig out, and was intrigued to see that as they cruised by they gently drifted to one side to avoid my line. I decided that they wouldn't take a bait...but I kept trying anyway, as they came past for a third time. 

My second fish, also foulhooked
When the pod of about eight had gone past I lifted out my rig...only to find a fish attached. That, too, was foulhooked, but it, too, ended up in my keepnet - about 7 lb. 

Back on the feeder, another drop-back 'bite' saw yet another fish foulhooked, and it was on four about five minutes, during which time I would gain a yard of line only to lose it again. Obviously a very big fish, as I saw it once, when it splashed on the surtface about 35 yards away. Then it came off. In the meantime Ernie Lowbridge, on my left on 24, had not had a bite on pole or waggler or feeder.

Then I had a proper bite, and in came another fish of about 6 lb, hooked in the mouth, and I was so surprised I asked Ernie if it counted! A change to a straight bomb and pop-up brought a bite which turned out to be a 1 lb F1 hooked in the dorsal fin. Then the wind moved round towards the East, and became colder.

Soon after, Ernie caught a fish of about 2 lb on a pole at about six metres, hooked in the mouth, and a little later had another bite which he missed. Today that was the equivalent of bagging (!) But my pole lines resolutely refused to give me a single bite.

Fish arrive again, but...
 With 45 minutes left I emptied some dead maggots into the narrow channel, and 30 minutes later saw clouds of mud coming up there. In went a bunch of live maggots, laying on about 12 inches, in the hope that the big fish would not be scared off by a vertical line down to the bait. But the float never moved. I changed to a bunch of deads (which I should have used in the first place, to match the maggots in the swim), but by then I think the fish had moved on.

Round to my left Carl White had caught two or three on a feeder, and Barry Webb on 19 had started to find fish on a pole, despite the fact that the accumulation of leaves in his swim must have made things very difficult. Then, when the match had only just finished, I saw Smug wheeling his gear up from Peg 29 to weigh in, and by the time I had half packed up the scales were round to me, so no catch pictures.

THE RESULT

The result sheet was faint and rain-spattered, so here are the weights as recorded:

3 Grandad            3 lb 6 oz
5 Steve Tilsley        25 lb 12 oz section
7 Jim Reagan        42 lb 1b oz    1st
15 Roy Whincup    28 lb 6 oz    2nd
19 Barry Webb        23 lb 14 oz

22 Carl White        13 lb 14 oz
24 Ernie Lowbridge    DNW
25 Mac Campbell     21 lb 14 oz    section
29 Smug Whiting        DNW
33 C Baldwin        13 lb 6 oz

Peg 5 produced 25 lb 12 oz to Steve Tilsley, with Jim Reagan winning on Peg 7 with 42 lb 10 oz. He took most of his fish on a pole at about eight metres on maggot, catching a 2 lb bream, a carp about 6 lb, and all the rest being big F1s of 3 lb-plus.

I ended with 21 lb 14 oz, which was fifth in the match, but it won my five-peg section. So, as has happened quite frequently in the last few months, the pegs at the 'back' of Willows, from 27  to 25, did not fish as well as the early pegs. To my left Ernie didn't bother to weigh his single fish. 

I had landed four fish, with three foulhooked, but my comment is the same as I would give if it had happened to someone else - You still have to land 'em.

Here's the result of the Jon Whincup Winter League match 
held on Beastie on the same day:

My next match is Wednesday on Pidley, with the Over 60s match on crow and Magpie. I'm not expecting many fish to be caught, as the wind at the moment (on Tuesday) is bitter. Then Sunday is the JV event on Lou's and Four-Islands, at Decoy.

Five hours for one bite - Cedar, Decoy

 Peg 8, Sunday Nov 28

In 63 years of match fishing I've packed up and gone home before the end of a match just once. And if I had been sitting on the opposite bank of Cedar in this match it would probably have been the second time.

Thirteen of us  fished this JV AC match, so we were able to all be pegged on the 13-swim Western bank, with the wind  from the left but slightly over our backs, and for the first hour or two it was quite comfortable. But then the wind swung round, more from our backs, but with an extra bite to it. And soon we must have all felt very cold, and mighty pleased we were not facing it.

Clear skies had resulted in a heavy frost, but at the start the sun gave us a little warmth.
Soon, however, the cloud came over, the wind grew colder, and frankly it was horrible.

It was obvious before we started that the heavy overnight frost would have hit catches. In fact the highlight of the first hour was Smug, on my right on 7, telling me that someone to his right had landed a fish! Then someone to our left hit a fish on pole, and we could see his yellow elastic streaming out. It was Chris Saunders, and he landed that fish and a little later hit another, which came off.

About that time Smug had a bite of his maggot feeder from a small barbel. The excitement! I had not had a bite on the maggot feeder, nor on the 13-metre pole, but Smug had a walk and found out that Lee Kendall, on Peg 2, had a 2 lb bream.

Steve Tilsley had a bite, and this 7 lb carp won him his section.

A blur of shivering
The next couple of hours passed in a blur of shivering, until Steve Tilsley, two to my left, landed a carp, with Chris Saunders catching another fish.  We had no idea whether anyone else had anything. Then, with 25 minutes to go, Roy Whincup in corner peg 13, who was already packing his pole away, saw his top move round, grabbed hold of the rod and landed a 3 lb 3 oz carp. 

A minute later my own top jumped back and a 2 lb bream came in. Five minutes later, Lee Kendall told me, his single dead maggot on a feeder was taken by just his second fish - a 12 lb carp.

Put out of our misery
I had just drained the last of my soup when, mercifully, we were put out of our misery by the shout to end the match. In fact eight had caught fish, with Lee Kendall's two totalling 14 lb 6 oz for second, and Chris Saunders bringing three fish to the scales. We weighed his biggest carp at 14 lb 14 oz, and he won with 24 lb 11 oz, all taken at 12 metres on pinkies. Very well done, Chris in those conditions.

Chris Saunders fished the long pole all day for four bites - one fish which came off, a barbel,
 and two carp, best 14 lb 14 oz, He ended as a worthy (but cold) winner with 24 lb 11 oz.

Smug's 2 lb 6 oz barbel was the only bite he had, and it won my section, with my bream at 2 lb coming eighth overall, and winning nothing (!), while five did not have a single fish. We were glad to go into the cafe for the presentation - with some welcome Christmas cake free provided by the owners. Very acceptable, and many thanks. 😀

Heated underwear - who knew?
The first video I happened to watch after getting home was Jamie Hughes and Andy May singing the praises of Vulcan heated underwear. The heating runs off a small rechargeable battery which sits in a special pocket. Christmas is coming up, you know. Will Santa have seen the same video before he slides down my chimney?

Next match not until Sunday, on Willlows at Decoy, which has not been fishing well, but someone has to win. I had thought about fishing the Wednesday Over 60s at Pidley, but the wind is forecast to be WNW which will give a strong sidewind on most pegs. That wouldn't normally worry me, except that the default technique on Jay lake in this weather is to fish 14 metres across, dobbing bread into the far bank shallows, which I don't fancy in a strong sidewind.

Christmas Cheer for us all on Oak Lake, Decoy

 Peg 7, Oak Lake, Decoy, Wednesday, Nov 25
Sixteen of us were in Festive mood for this last Spratts match of the season - it's always followed by the distribution of prizes in the club house, and mince pies if we're lucky. And this year there was the added bonus of a four-man team event with every team  winning cash - a legacy of last year's part-completed season brought to a sudden stop by Covid.

The morning started off cool, with hardly any breeze, and my Peg 7 had a back wind - just about the only positive I could find before the match, because I would have chosen a peg a little farther down the lake. In fact the breeze became very cold, and by the end of the match the poor wretches sitting on the opposite bank, facing it, must have been shivering. I was reasonably warm, though, at the end, although my second and third keepnets lay unused on the bank.

Not much wind, but what there was was very cold.

As usual, this match started with a bang when Bob Allen fired up his rockets that could have been heard in Peterborough.

I start on the feeder
In Winter I like to fish the strips at 14.5 metres if I can, as the fish so often seem to hog the middle area. Peter Harrison, beside me on 5, did the same.  I started on a maggot feeder, but when Peter took his first carp after about 30 minutes, on his pole, I followed suit, baiting with two red maggots. I started by using a small pot on the pole to bait with, but after a couple of times doing that I found that it took so long, and I had to be so careful shipping out, that I put out bait in a bigger pot - just a dozen maggots and a little hemp.

The result was a small roach, and then a 3 lb carp foulhooked in the tail, which I played with my heart in my mouth, as I hadn't seen much else caught, and over an hour had gone.

Peter Harrison whupped me on Peg 5, taking about eight fish around 7 lb each.

Peter took two or three more carp, all around 7 lb, and then, at last, I hit a big one. The float just slowly drifted under and the 17 hollow Preston elastic stretched way out, almost to Peter's swim - and he was two swims away. But then the elastic came slowly back, and I could feel that it was a big fish. I had a problem breaking the pole down, and in fact at one point had to push it right out to 14.5 metres again and start taking the sections off one by one. But it worked., and in the landing net I estimated the fish at around 14 lb.

A schoolboy error costs me
Next drop and the float went down and another big fish pulled out the elastic. I immediately started to ship the pole back, tried to take off the bottom two sections, but couldn't do it immediately because of the pressure the fish was putting on the pole. It took me several seconds to take them off, and the fish came off. I should have just held it for 30 seconds, and shipped the pole back when the strain had been taken off it a little. A schoolboy error with fish that size.

An hour or more followed without another bite - I tried corn, and also had a look in the margins where I had potted in dead maggots. I also started another line at top-two-plus-three, with corn, but never had a bite. meanwhile Peter had had another three or four fish. Then a 2 lb F1 came to my feeder, but nothing else.

Oldest man was 90-year-old Joe Bedford, who framed in fifth place.

Approaching the last hour and out of the blue I had a bite on the pole which resulted in another double-figure mirror in the landing net. But, again, the fish seemed to have vanished. Suddenly other anglers started catching - Martin had a couple opposite me, and to his right Trevor Cousins had started catching on a feeder. Half an hour left, and I put the feeder out again, and got a real hummer of a bite - the rod was pulled nearly off the rest.

I lose a cluncker
I picked up the rod and felt an enormous power. The fish just kept swimming - I couldn't hold it. It went across to Martin and I had to call out a warning to him. Then it shot up to where Peter was fishing and turned just in time to avoid fouling his line. Then it went the other way - right across the lake again and almost to Trevor, who must have been 50 yards away. Just before ploughing into Trevor's keepnets it shot back to my side of the lake and threatened to shoot through Steve Engledow's swim, to my left.

I felt I simply had to hold it, and the rod bent absolutely double as I plunged it beneath the surface and refused to give line. Then the inevitable happened - the hooklength broke at the hook. Definitely the hairiest fight I can remember having, ever. Later I assumed that the fish must have been foulhooked - but how unlucky to have that happen when fishing a feeder!!! But whatever it was, it was bi-i-i-g.

Top weight in my team was Peter Barnes with  34 lb 12 oz.

Fireworks at the end (literally)
So when the match finished (signified by a five-minute display of Bob's coloured rockets that were very  impressive) I had just five fish, including the roach, and Peter on my right had about eight or nine, around 7 lb. The favoured pegs were to my left, so I was obviously out of the running, but assumed that Peter would be well up.

 Then Peter told me that someone to his right had caught "all day." That was Mike Rawson in Peg 1 - a swim which can certainly produce in the Summer, and when Mike sat down there at the start and we were discussing it I said I had in the back of my mind that it could produce in the Winter, but couldn't remember any details.

The weigh in
Mike kindly came down to help me get back to the van, picked up my rods and pole holdall, and as we approached his peg there came a shout of "hurry up" from Bob Allen, who takes down the weights but who likes to get away quickly. As we got there I said I wanted to take a picture of the winner, and Bob told me quite forcibly that I was in the wrong place, then, and that Shaun Buddle, who was almost opposite him,  would turn out to have won. 

Shaun Buddle would have won if he hadn't lost
seven big fish. In the end he was fourth.

Now Bob is probably the best angler I know at estimating weights of fish, and working out who has what before we start the weighing. He has beady eyes and, as they say in The Fens, 'he doesn't miss a fart that's let!' 

Despite his murmurings of dissent I got a picture of Mike, just in case Bob was wrong. To be honest, though, I now assumed that Shaun had probably won. The really good thing about that incident was that we knew we had the real Bob Allen with us, and not some clone substituted by aliens, cos no-one does "Hurry Up I Want To Get Home To Tea" quite like Bob does!

A great catch 
Anyway, Mike weighed 83 lb 1 oz and was obviously chuffed, because irrespective of the result it was a cracking weight on the day. Peter Harrison weighed 57 lb 2 oz, a little less than I had assumed, and my five fish weighed much more than I had assumed - 34 lb 3 oz. The biggest fish must have been almost 16 lb. I actually finished seventh with that.

I took a picture of 90-year-old Joe Bedford with his five for 44 lb 15 oz and we made our way round to Shaun on the other bank. His catch totalled 51 lb 4 oz, so he hadn't won. But he told me that he had lost seven big fish, which would be why Bob thought he had. Then on to Trevor, whose last-hour purple patch on the feeder had brought him 70 lb 10 oz.

Mike's red letter day
No-one else could  beat those weights, so that left Mike as the winner of our biggest match of the year, and his first Spratts match win. Now Mike has nearly an hour's drive to Decoy, and on the way he used to like to stop for a Costa Coffee. But Covid suddenly meant that he had to order his drink by using an app on his mobile, and that created a problem, 'cos something went wrong the first time he tried it, and now Costa was off the menu.

Mike's first Spratts win - 83 lb 1 oz of beautiful Decoy carp from Peg 1, which was at the
other end of the lake from the pegs most of us fancied.

How fortunate, then, that one of the prizes was a coffee-making machine, which can make Costa Coffee, and Mike had first pick of the prizes!! He is now the proud owner of it, and will be making his Costa at home before he leaves in the morning, and bringing it with him. That's Success.

PS. Just as well I don't hanker after a Costa Coffee because I would have no idea how to even download an app to my mobile, let alone use it. If I need something like that doing I get my 14-year-old granddaughter to do it for me. 

The full results, including the four-man teams.

Different baits
Afterwards Terry Tribe, who has been in hospital poorly sick, came to see the presentations, and he asked why I hadn't used worm as a change bait over the maggot swim. I have worm with me, from my own wormery, and agreed I should have done so. In fact all sorts of baits took fish - Mike used maggot on a feeder, insisting that a flourocarbon hooklength was the reason he did so well. 

Joe Bedford had used hard pre-drilled pellets for his fish, while Trevor had used double sweetcorn, and Shaun had taken some on paste and others on pellet. So although the water must have been cold, the fish were obviously not feeding only on small baits.

The presentation
The new owners of Decoy did us proud, with lovely hot potato wedges, and mince pies. Everyone had a substantial prize, and the team winners were announced as Mike Rawson,. Steve Engledow, Shaun Buddle and Wendy Bedford (who caught her one fish 15 minutes before the end of the match). 

I've taken so many pictures of Trevor smiling with a winning
catch that I thought I'd offer a different side - his backside.

I forgot to take a picture of the prizes, but did remember to remind everyone of Mark Parnell, who we lost this year, and of Ted Lloyd, who at nearly 94 simply can't now summon up the energy to come to the matches. And without exception we all thanked Trevor for doing us proud yet again - this is the most friendly club you could ever imagine, thanks entirely to Trevor, who books all the matches and then runs them with no problems of any sort. We are very lucky.

I then wolfed down the last of the potato wedges, followed them with two mince pies, and made my way to Judy's cafe, where a cup of tea awaited. And so ended a great season with Spratts. I'm booked in Sunday to fish with JV club on Cedar, but I am not looking forward to it if the forecasts of Zero degrees and high winds are correct. Here in the Fens there's nothing between us and the North Pole.

THE RESULT

30 Peter Spriggs            8 lb 13 oz                    1 Mike Rawson            83 lb 1 oz    1st
28 Alan Porter             34 lb 1 oz                      3 Mick Ramm               22 lb 2 oz
26 Wendy Bedford        8 lb 12 oz                    5 Peter Harrison             57 lb 2 oz    3rd
24 Martin Parker          20 lb 12 oz                   7 Mac Campbell            34 lb 3 oz
22 Trevor Cousins        70 lb 12 oz    2nd         9 Steve Engledow          13 lb 1 oz
20 Peter Barnes            34 lb 12 oz                   11  Joe Bedford            44 lb 15 oz    5th
18 Shaun Buddle           51 lb 4 oz    4th          13 Bob Barrett               7 lb 14 oz
16 John Garner            11 lb 6 oz                     15 Bob Allen                  17 lb 11 oz

Fenland Rods Championship results

 Here is the final points table for the Fenland Rods AC Championship., Fifteen points are given for a win, 14 for second etc. All matches count.

Interesting that although I won overall, I had won only three matches, while Kev Lee won seven, and Peter Spriggs won nine. Dennis Sambridge, who is not now well enough to fish, also won three.

My first pick-up with JV club

 Peg 2, Six-Island, Decoy, Sunday Nov 21

I'm  not superstitious, but whenever I see a pair of magpies, or one on its own, I always say: "Good Morning, Mr Magpie." It's only polite, bringing bad luck if you don't. And in the first three miles on the way to this match I said it five times. Seconds later I saw something for the first time in my life - a Parliament of magpies.

No-one knows exactly what causes them, on occasion, to get together, but there must have been at least 15 in and around a bush beside the road. Quite a sight. I mentioned it to several of the anglers when I got to Decoy, and none of them had ever seen it.

Reg Barker, the crack Wisbech matchman, would actually turn his car round if he saw a magpie on its own while he was going to a match, and look for its partner! Now that is superstition...

I also repeated a notable sighting of four policemen together (rare in most of the country except at minor traffic accidents). There's been a protest outside a research establishment near me for months, and almost every time I drive past the temporary road signs, tents, cars, campervans, distracting notices, flashing lights and portable toilets, there are policemen there, sitting in a car or standing round it, or marching down the road to keep the peace, which is not difficult when everyone is still in their tent.

The match is moved 
Then on to Decoy, where the JV match had been moved from Cedar to Six-Island. There was a cold North-Westerly blowing right into just three swims - 1, 2 and 3, Number 1 was not taken, and I was allotted number 2, with Ron Cuthbert, a long-standing angling mate, on 3, to my left. All the other 12 anglers had either a backwind, or one roughly from the side. 

At the start there was just a cool breeze, into Peg 2, but it soon picked up.
Lee Kendall on 22 is opposite, just to the right of the island.

I started on a bomb with a grain of corn, without a bite in half an hour. Then on to 13 metres to the island in front of me, facing a little to the left, where I had three quick bites on two maggots, all of which I missed. They must have been roach or liners. But then even they vanished and within a short while the wind, which was then slightly from the right, picked up and I couldn't fish at 13 metres properly.

Some big fish had rolled way over to my right, in front of Roy Whincup on 25, and he was fishing a maggot feeder in that area. I saw him  land one early fish. He had a long, 12-inch hooklength, rather than the short one so favoured now by so many, which made sense when he told me afterwards that it enables him to pull the feeder after a short while, so the hook bait then lays where the released maggots are lying. Pulling a feeder less than a foot is actually quite difficult, as most anglers will realise.

Lost fish
I put a pole rig out a little to my right on five sections, where I had plumbed up to find that a gradual slope down  meant that this area was about eight inches deeper than the track in front of me. It was also facing almost right into the wind, which made it easier to control the pole, but was a lot colder than fishing to the left. 

Lee Kendall was opposite me and took just two for 12 lb 2 oz.

Putting in no more than about eight maggots at a time, and fishing just touching bottom, with an 18 hook, brought me a 2 lb F1. Then a look out in front of me at the same distance, but with a shallower rig, brought another, foulhooked in a fin. It was the only bite there, in the shallower swim.

That gave me the idea that perhaps the fish were off bottom, so I went out to the right, off bottom, and promptly hooked a 6 lb mirror, which didn't fight an awful lot before finishing in my net. Next drop I foulhooked a big fish which left me with a scale the size of a florin. Next drop I lost another, to find that the maggots had gone, so perhaps it was hooked properly.

More fish lost
Then next drop I foulhooked yet another and lost it, and the maggots were intact. Then all bites there ceased, and I spent the next couple of hours altering the depth, in vain, and trying in the shallower water, with corn. Not a sign of a fish, but I was getting colder and colder, even with my padded Imax jacket on. Then, out of the blue, a five-pounder came in, and with an hour left I tried laying on a bit more, and that brought another fish about 6 lb. I then saw Roy landing a fish, but I'd seen Ron on my left catch only one, and Lee Kendall opposite land just two.

Trying to work out what Lee did

Lee's first fish came to the pole, and I saw him then go straight down the margin to fish next to the platform in the next swim. Soon he went out to his island, and I wondered whether he had caught the fish on the island, but rested that swim for a few minutes after catching his fish, or whether he had caught the fish in the margin, had one more quick look, and rested that swim by going out to the island. No way of telling. (Later he told me he had caught it in the margin).

Barry Webb on 18 took a 12-pounder early in the match on
Peg 18, but caught only one more in the next four hours.

Half an hour left and I was so cold that I packed away three of the four rigs I had out, because I was on scales, which warmed me up a little. I then picked up the bomb rod, baited it with two maggots, and flicked it into my pole swim. Within a couple of minutes the rod jagged round and another six-pounder lay in my landing net. Then the match finished.

What I should have done
Next day I thought I should have tried a piece of worm, which can often work in the Winter. I didn't try the mussels on a rig with a bigger hook because in these conditions I tend to think that fish will take only a small bait. But looking back, five minutes trying would not have hurt me. My excuse is that the cold freezes my brain!

The weigh in
Ron and I were appointed to weigh, but Lee Kendall came over to help, bless him, and I had managed to pack up most of my gear by the time we started. I was first to weigh - 28 lb 14 oz - to which Lee said: "Well done, Mac. I've got only two fish." Then Ron brought in his net and he also had only two, for 8 lb 12 oz.

Roy Whincup stuck to a maggot feeder all day on Peg 25, ending
with 54 lb 8 oz for second place, taken on a good-sized size 20 hook.

Round to 4 where Steve Tilsley, a former European Police Pole Champion, who I met many years ago when reporting on the Police National, had caught just six roach, and didn't weigh. But on this bank, from 4 to 9, Ron and I both remarked how much warmer it was - it felt ten degrees warmer. He there was a 45 lb 8 oz from someone I didn't recognise, down on the weigh sheet as Spalding Raver. I doubt that's his real name!!!

The winner
Opposite, Ernie Lowbridge on peg 11 won with 64 lb 1 oz, mainly taken on a top two plus two. The wind was blowing into these pegs a little from the left, but they, also, were much warmer than where we had fished, as a high bank and trees gave a bit of shelter. After weighing Ernie, with the weighing well advanced, I felt able to ask to take a picture or two. 

Round to Roy Whincup (no relation to Jon) and he had a lot more fish than I suspected. He fished the feeder all day, in the vicinity of the sunken island, and said he had three early on, then a big lull, and then a better spell towards the end. He finished with eight or nine fish for 54 lb 8 oz and second place. He must be one of the most consistent anglers locally, as so often he finishes in the frame.

THE RESULT

Happy with fourth place in  only my second match with the club. Mustn't peak too early or they could ban me!!

I ended fourth, went back to the cafe for the presentations, and with three in the main payout I won my section, bringing me my first brown envelope from this club, which I was very happy with in the circumstances, as there are some fine anglers in JVAC.

A brown envelope - always the target but never the
most important  part of the day.

My next match is the Spratts Christmas match on Oak, with the wind forecast to turn to South-Westerly on that day, and not as strong as it was for Sunday. So I wouldn't mind facing it, on pegs 16 to 20, or opposite on 11 to 15.

From now on I am likely to fish the Wednesday Pidley Over 60s matches, or the Friday Over 50s on Decoy (or both), with JV on the Sunday.