The day after the miniature blizzard saw a very heavy frost, and the fields were white as I drove to Whittlesey for this 14-entry Spratts match, with at least three deciding not to turn up after the previous day's debacle. The wind was much lighter that the previous day,with a fair amount of sunshine. But the wind was still cold, and my peg 29 saw it almost directly in my face.
So while those on pegs 22 to 26 had the sun on their faces and a backish wind, Alan Porter on Peg 30, and myself, had to don our thick overjackets and put up our hoods. Not that anyone could complain about Pegs 29 and 30, as they are two of the best on the complex. But I doubted, in my mind, whether the fish would come into the margins with that cold wind on their backs.
My two favourite pegs on Beastie are 2 and 18, but they went to Peter Harrison and Martin Parker respectively.
HERE SHOULD BE A PHOTO OF MY SWIM, BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE IT!
Phil Ringer once described peg 29 as the best feeder peg on the whole complex, so I started on the feeder cast over towards the aerator, about 60 yards away. It took 45 minutes before I had a fish, which wrapped the rod round just as I poured out a cup of hot soup. Never fails, does it? That fish was about 5 lb, but another half-hour saw no more bites, so it was out with the pole at 11.5 metres.
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| Peter Harrison with part of his 104 lb 7 oz from Peg 2. |
That long line didn't produce either, and after about two hours I walked up to Alan, next door, who also had just one fish. Mick Ramm on 25 had had a good carp in the first few minutes, so I thought that perhaps the carp would be willing to follow the wind down to our end of the lake after all. But not so far!
The bream show
Back to my swim and I continued to pot in some expanders and corn, and eventually a 1 lb bream obliged. For the next 90 minutes I took the occasional F1 and more bream, the best at 2 lb, which had spawning barnacles all overs its head and back! Considering how cold the water is, I was very surprised.
A change was called for and when I saw Alan take another fish on feeder I followed, and quickly hit a 6 lb common. Then a switch to fishing under the overhanging bush on my left saw a bite missed first drop in with maggot, and another missed next drop. But on the third a 3 lb F1 obliged. So I concentrated on this swim, but when roach started to take the maggot bait I changed to corn and immediately had some more F1s and two carp around 8 lb, fishing dead depth. But the rig had to be in one particular spot, just on the edge of a small drop-off.
When bites dried up I went back out to 11.5 metres but the bream seemed to have disappeared, though I did get a bite on worm which I pricked. The only way here to get a bite had been to fish about an inch overdepth and to let the bait drag over the bottom very slowly.
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| Terry Tribe was top of the five pegs on the West bank with 45 lb 5 oz. |
A good finish
The last half-hour, though still cold, saw some more F1s from the bush swim, best over 3 lb, then a final 4 lb mirror. The match ended and I took the pole holdall back to the van, in time to photograph the first weigh, which was Peter Harrison with 104 lb 7 oz on a pole, for second place. I still had a lot of packing to do onto the trolley, so went back - missing Trevor Cousins' magnificent 149 lb 11 oz, taken on feeder, and on pole a few feet from the bank, which is very snaggy here. So I missed taking his photo - but he wins so many I am bound to get him later in the season. Between them was Mick Raby, third with 62 lb 2 oz.
I was surprised that the weights round to me were not particularly large, and my 53 lb 4 oz was enough for fourth, which I was chuffed with as I felt I had winkled out as many fish I could in that cold wind. Alan on 30 had about half my weight. Some of the anglers reported catching on big lumps cat meat, so I will have to bear that in mind for my next match on Sunday on Elm lake, as there are lots of barbel there.
But yet again my fish were smaller than those landed by most of the others, Trevor estimated his biggest fish at well over 16 lb, and I saw Peter's catchm which contained a lot of fish approaching 10 lb or more.
My back still played up, slowing me down after the match (but not during it) and it looks as if I will have to accept that I will be last to get everything away in future. But it's a small price to pay if I can keep fishing matches.
Result in peg number order:
2 Peter Harrison 104 lb 7 oz 2nd
3 John Garner 12 lb 12 oz
4 Mick Raby 62 lb 2 oz 3rd
5 Trevor Cousins 149 lb 11 oz 1st
14 Bob Barrett 22 lb 14 oz
16 Sean Buddle DNW
18 Martin Parker 34 lb 4 oz
22 Mick Linnell 42 lb 11 oz
23 Terry Tribe 45 lb 5 oz
24 Bob Allen 8 lb 11 oz
25 Peter Barnes 8 lb 14 oz
26 Mick Ramm 19 lb 4 oz
29 Mac Campbell 53 lb 5 oz 4th
30 Alan Porter 26 lb 9 oz
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