When John, at the fishery, said it had been fishing 'rock hard' and Winter tactics would probably be needed that confirmed my intention to start on a feeder. BUT when I plumbed up my right margin before the match started the pole jabbed downwards as if something had tried to take my plummet. So my plan went out of the window...
Seventeen of us fished, with the weather fairly warm but showers forecast later. The swims at the southern end of this strip lake, near the car park, were sheltered from the South-Westerly wind and calm. These swims on Cedar often fish a little better than the others (nobody knows why), but I was happy to fish anywhere, as I always am on Decoy. It's such a fair venue when compared with so many other fisheries.
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| I forgot to take a picture of my swim, But this was the bush on my left, overhanging the margin. |
A brilliant start
Anyway, back to the start of the match, and following that plumbing up incident I started by dropping a piece of cat meat into the margin, but feeding nothing. I always start in a margin swim by putting in my hook bait before feeding. It was actually difficult to work out exactly where the put the bait as there were several different depths here, ranging from three feet down to 4.5 feet within a few inches. So I took pot luck, and pulled the bait up the levels until I could see the float.
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| Trevor with a barbel we weighed at 7 lb 7 oz. I didn't get any barbel. They seem to stay in certain underwater features, usually in the margins. |
Several minutes later a beautiful 15 lb mirror rested in my net! Hooked in the mouth.
Next drop an ten-pounder came in, and then a seven-pounder. Half an hour gone and I had 32 lb. Then a lull, so I reverted to my plan of fishing the feeder, cast a third of the way out (anglers were fishing opposite) which quite quickly produced three more carp around 4 lb each, on a small banjo with micros and a yellow washed-out Wafter.
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| Wendy with a 12 lb 12 oz common taken on feeder. |
To my left Alan Porter now started catching on a feeder, but Joe Bedford on my right, who had had two or three early fish on a feeder, now couldn't get a bite. They also petered out for me, so I went out to a top-two-plus-four, which I could manage fairly well in the wind, which had become colder and stronger. This produced four or five quick fish to 5 lb on expander and then corn, over pellet and hemp, the best spell I had all day.
When the gusts became too strong to present the bait perfectly out there I had another look in the margin. And as the wind was right to left fishing to the right was now much harder, so I looked to the left, near a bush which was growing out over the water. I put in maggots with a bait dropper, hoping for barbel, but although I had some tentative twitches my first fish was a 3 lb foulhooked carp. A couple of smaller ones eventually followed and I switched back to the feeder for one more, at which point the 'shower' started.
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| Alan Porter, on my left, with a fish hooked under that shrub between us. |
The 'shower' saw rain absolutely pelting down for 15 or 20 minutes, and lighting flashed on the horizon in front of me. Bob Allen, opposite, had it partly in his face and spent most of that time stood behind his umbrella. In the middle of it I hooked a seven-pounder on the feeder and suddenly realised my hood wasn't correctly positioned, and water was leaking down my neck, but I couldn't do anything about it because of the rod bucking in my hands.
When the rain stopped the wind died and I went to the long pole line for another two fish. Then the rain started again, but not as bad.
Alan had been catching on the feeder, switching to the pole occasionally. On the opposite bank, Trevor Cousins had also had fish on a feeder and was now fishing the margins, which I came back to. I got as close to the bush as I could, and first drop in with corn a ten-pounder hooked itself. I also lost a big fish when it made off with my rig, which broke a couple of inches from the elastic connector. I hate being broken, but I have no doubt that the barbless hooks soon drop out.
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| Steve Engledow on Peg 4 with his 92 lb for ninth spot. |
I adjusted the rig to fish the slightly deeper water, on the assumption that the fish might have moved all the corn and pellet about, and first drop in a ten-pounder made off with my mussel. It was a beautiful common. Back in and after a few more minutes its cousin decided it liked seafood and also landed up in my net. That was 20 lb in the last 25 minutes - a good ratio on the day.
As usual I was last back to the van, but missed only the first two weighs. John Garner had been on peg 6, two to my right, but there was a bush between us and I couldn't see what he was doing, except that I saw he had some fish long early on. He then came into the margins and weighed 138 lb 7 oz to lead up to me. He told me he had lost a fish he estimated at 20 lb because he couldn't get it into the net properly. Poor Joe on 7 had had a torrid time in the afternoon after that good start, and managed only 14 lb 2 oz.
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| John Garner, who has had a slow start to the season, bagged 138 lb 7 oz for second place. But he lost a twenty-pounder! |
My fish weighed 119 lb 12 oz, with Alan on my left, weighing just 67 lb 9 oz - much less than I thought he had. But it turned out that his fish were smaller than mine, on average. Peter Chilton on 16 had three nets out for 103 lb 8 oz, and Trevor next door weighed 107 lb 2 oz.
Then along to Peg 26, which is my favourite peg on Cedar as I have won there more than once, where Peter Spriggs thrashed us all with 175 lb 11 oz from the margins to his right. A good angler on a good peg...but you've still got to catch them!
That brilliant early start for me allowed me to hop over several other anglers and I finished third.
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| Peter Spriggs with part of his winning 175 lb 11 oz taken on paste and cat meat from the margins. |
The result
East Bank West bank
24 Shaun Buddle 71 lb 5 oz 3 Bob Barrett 46 lb 5 oz
As always I found that switching around, but not wasting too much time if it isn't working, pays dividends. You have to believe that there are fish in your swim. But you must accept that if you are presenting a bait properly and they are not feeding for you, then they are probably not feeding for others either. The secret is that presentation, and the feeding (for which the golden rule is: If in doubt, don't!). My feeding is haphazard. and my strength is in the presentation.
Next match is the Bedford Invitation tomorrow (Wednesday) held on Elm, where Les Bedford died after finishing a match two years ago. Both his widow, Wendy, and his elder brother, Joe, the organisers, will be fishing. Normally I would expect sport to be very similar to that on Cedar, but today is cold, and so it could it could be harder.
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