Commercial Matchman: A good match for me - hot sun, cold wind! Oak, Decoy.

Peg 1, Tuesday, June 1
Peg 1 was not a peg I would have particularly picked out, but I was happy, because I just love the challenges every new day's fishing sets me. That applies even to the swims I really don't want, because swims change from season to season, week to week, day to day...even hour to hour. And Peg 1 was a challenge!

My swim, with the wind coming from the left, pushing in the scum, but with the ripple somehow avoiding my little corner. I fished near the bush on the right, about ten metres out. The aerator is about 17 metres away.

The North-Easterly was blowing into my corner of this strip lake, from left to right, but this swim and the one opposite, 30, were calm. Almost as if the wind was hitting the bushes on the end bank and blowing back to calm the waters. And there was scum in my corner - not the sort who nick your fishing tackle, but thick brown scum on the surface, so thick only a lump of meat would go through it. Lovely - I love scum because carp and barbel will feed underneath it. Except in this match...

Sixteen of us fished this Spratts club event - odd numbers from 1 to 15 down one side and even numbers from 16 back to 30 on the other. And it was hot, except that when the sun went in the wind was cold. Seconds later the clouds would move and it would be boiling hot again. But I was happy - only yards from the van and I was all set up well before the start. Luverly Jubbly.

Martin Parker displayed the best pair of legs!

Early fish
Fish were cruising around under the surface, so I started with a small float with all the shot underneath it and four feet of line to four dead maggots. First drop in, in front of a cruiser, saw the bait sink and the float dive off five seconds later. Fish on! Fish straight off! Next drop in the same happened. Next I landed a three-pounder, hooked in the mouth; then another lost.

Then unaccountably, hardly any fish could be seen in my swim; yet down on peg 16, Trevor Cousins carried on mugging fish until he had 90 lb in his net he told me afterwards. Meanwhile back in my swim I had a quick look in the lefthand margin, which was a good depth at about four feet, and also near the edge of the scum to the right, using cat meat, without result.

The ten-metre line produces
So it was out to 10 metres, where a big bush overhung the water. I reasoned that right under the bush would be snaggy with fallen twigs and branches, and since I decided to start on a light bait - corn, which would drift a little - I kept to the edge of where the branches extended. Even so I picked up several small pieces of weed and leaf during the match. The black tip on the 0.5 gm Tuff Eye float was swapped for an bright red one, to show up in the dappled shade - shady one second, but lit by bright sunlight the next second. My light margin rig was also a 0.5 gm Tuff Eye, but with an orange tip - I do this so I don't accidentally pick up the wrong one.

Mick Ramm with a 12 lb 11 oz fish
that looked like it was 15 lb.

Out went a handful of hemp, some 6mm hard pellet, and some corn, in a big cup, followed by my rig. Within five minutes I was into a fish, an 8 lb mirror. I stayed there for the next two or three hours, picking up perhaps one fish every 15 minutes. Almost every fish followed my either dragging the rig back towards me an inch at a time, or lifting it for an inch - no more. I did lose three foulhooked, but by halfway I had about a dozen fish for about 70 lb. Then bites tailed off.

Into the margins
To my left Peter Spriggs had had a slow start fishing a top-two-plus-one (that's what it looked like), and now he started catching fish in the margin. That was signal for me to start putting in maggots to my left margin, which produced two fish very quickly, but then things slowed down. I was getting liners but no proper bites. I had a mugging rig handy, baited up, and if a fish came into range I'd change over and flick my dead maggot bait in front of it, but they all veered off.

John Garner took over 100 lb and didn't even frame!

About this time the wind changed through almost 90 degrees and was now coming almost straight in. This broke the scum up, and it almost disappeared, leaving an attractive-looking swim in the corner to my right. A quick look here brought nothing, so I decided to go out again, to 10 metres, and to come back to the corner and fish it really seriously, if the 10-metre swim didn't produce. But it did, and another half-dozen fish to 10 lb came in. They fought prodigiously hard.

A problem with my last fish
At one point, after two more lost foulhookers, I came back to the left margin for a single 2 lb F1, and with less than 20 minutes left went out long again. Immediately a near-ten-pounder slowly dragged the float under as it drifted under the branches. Eight minutes left and I went out again, to immediately hook another - but it was about 6 lb, foulhooked in a fin, and it was the devil's own job to get it into the net. When I did, the match ended even before I could unhook it.

Joe shows two fish for 19 lb.

That now presented a problem - I had three nets in, all without about 40 lb, but I thought the last one might have had 43 lb, and this might bring it over our 50 lb maximum. Eeeny-Meeny-Minny-Mo, and I put it in the last one on a hunch, rather than grope around putting in a fourth net and leaving the fish in the landing net while I did it.

I was very happy with how the day had gone, particularly as Mike, opposite on 30, had only one net in. And for a change, with no rod to pack away, I was on the quick side packing up.

Shaun Buddle, 3rd with 111 lb 10 oz.

The weigh-in

I was first to weigh. The first net I had clicked at exactly 40 lb went 46 lb 14 oz! second I had clicked at 41 lb went about 49 lb 12 oz! I am terrible at estimating. The third did go over 50 lb by about 2 lb, so I had made the right choice. Total 146 lb 10 oz. That led round to Trevor, who had four nets for 161 lb 12 oz for the win (my lost weight not being important), leaving me second. He added to his early mugged fish by catching the rest in the margin to his right.

Quite a lot of fish were taken on feeder, and they were all big ones. I heard of just three barbel being caught in the whole match. Perhaps it was just too hot for them.

The carp seemed to be weighing light - one that looked to be at least 15 lb went 12 lb 11 oz. Then we realised that although they are in good condition, and fighting-fit, they will have lost weight after going through the spawning process which, on my viewing on Sunday, was energetic to say the least! I saw no sign of them spawning today in my swim.

Trevor, eventual winner, lifts out one of his four nets...

I think my foulhooked fish were not avoidable - I saw Peter next door lose several. And all-round I thought I fished OK - it seemed that most other anglers caught in their margins, while I couldn't get them to feed there, despite putting a full pint of maggots into the left margin in an hour. A lot reported catching on cat meat, whereas I didn't get one on it.