Two days ago, and I've been fretting over the fact that I almost - almost - helped my partner to win the Pairs event; but one man's disappointment is another's delight. In this case there were four others who benefitted.
Ten of us fished as five pairs, with Peter the Paste on peg 1. He was lucky enough to have the Golden Peg drawn for him and unlucky enough to have me as a partner. We fished two sections of five, with points counting, and weight in the event of a tie.
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| My corner swim 10. Most fish came from the reeds near the overhanging bush. |
My corner Peg 10 has produced some big weights in the past, with Dave Garner (on Peg 13) having about 175 lb the last time he fished it. The aerators were left on all day so when I started out at 11 metres with an expander the rig flowed beautifully, just like the Trent used to. But, incredibly, I didn't get a bite. An hour like that, and as I had seen Alan, opposite on 9, and Kevin, to my left on 11, each get a fish in the margins, I dropped into my left margin, where I had been feeding live maggots.
Eventually the roach moved in, and with three or four in the net I carried on hoping the carp would move in, but they didn't. I then dropped in there with cat meat. But still nothing came. So while I pondered on my next move I dropped the rig close to the platform, on a top two, and within seconds the float zoomed under; missed. Eventually, after I had put in some meat and hemp, a 5 lb carp came to the net; but no more. It seemed to be fairly slow all round so far as I could see.
So it was out to the reeds at 10 metres to my right, with my favourite 0.5 gm Drennan Tuff Eye float and a strong elastic to keep fish out of the reeds, and in the next couple of hours I managed to connect with several carp, from 1 lb to about 8 lb, all on corn and feeding just a few grains at a time with a cad pot. By now the sun was boiling hot, but my umbrella shielded me from the worst of it. Those opposite, though, now had it plumb in their faces.
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| Kevin was to my left, but I couldn't easily see what he was catching. Most of his fish came from the margins |
Two or three big fish, and some smaller ones, which I am sure were all properly hooked, came off, which cost me dear in the end. Strangely the fish up to 3 lb took me longer to net than the bigger ones. It was slow, but steady, and I couldn't see Alan, opposite, catching at all.
I had decided to keep putting fish in the net, but at 3 o'clock I had a small roach. With about 45 lb in the nets that was the signal I needed to move into the left margin again. The fish came in readily when I fed, but liners were a nuisance, though I managed five hooked properly, which added about 25 lb to my weight. Then there was a lull and with two minutes left I hooked my last fish - only for it to come off and leave me with a scale - the only one I believe I foulhooked.
My mistake was not to have fed the right margin at the same time. If I had I am sure I could have swapped over instead of having to wait until the fish came back into my left hand swim.
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| Dave Garner - second with 96 lb, all taken on a waggler, mainly in the margins. |
Peter, my partner, won his section handsomely with 150 lb 15 oz, and I was first to weigh in my section - 77 lb 8 oz. Kevin, who I had seen net some fish towards the end, beat me (by about 5 lb), as did Dave on 13 who had 96 lb for second overall. Then Dick weighed in his first net at 42 lb, and needed about 35 lb to beat me. It was going to be close...and the scales eventually showed just over 36 lb. He beat me by 1 lb 4 oz, and I came fourth in section.
It was close - Kevin and Callum totalled four points with 171 lb 10 oz to win, with Dave and John Smith, our secretary/chairman also on four points with 169 lb 1 oz. My partner Peter told me had had almost 50 lb in the first hour, then a slow middle match, and a bumper session towards the end. And I didn't feel quite so bad about losing a few when he told me he had lost more fish than he had put in the net...
Most fish seemed to have come from the margin, which made me think that perhaps I should have been ready to have some quick looks there earlier. But when you're putting fish in the net it's difficult to work out how long to spend looking elsewhere.
When I looked at the overall result I was horrified to see that if I had caught just 1 lb 5 oz more I would have had three points, and Peter and I would have won with four points but a greater total weight. So apologies to him (but since he picked up the £100 Golden Peg money perhaps he will forget it).
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| Dick Warrener sneaked in front of me by 1 lb 4 oz. Overall it was a good, tight match considering the heat. |
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| Mike Rawson was on the other end of my section. |
There was a little unwanted drama at the end, in the huge heat, when John managed to wheel his gear back to the car but then collapsed, rolling on the ground in the baking sun and being sick. I take a large bottle of frozen orange juice with me at this time of year, and had some left which was still cool, and he eventually managed to take a swig.
A few minutes later he was able to crawl to the car, take another drink, and slowly recover while we loaded up his car. I am sure it was not sunstroke - he had the sun in his face - but just the heat. He is only a few months younger than me and, like me, has been weakened by cancer. But us Ol' Fen Tigers don't give in!
I always go home with him after Decoy matches, to 'Judy's Cafe', where his wife makes me a mug of tea which has miraculous healing properties when consumed by tired and weary anglers. So I can report that by the time I had left, full of tea and biscuits, John was much better, and I was well enough to still feel annoyed that just one of those fish I lost would have propelled me to the dizzy heights of Pairs Champion 2021. C'est la vie.
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| The result. For the pairs results read straight across. |
Next match tomorrow (Wednesday) on the strip lake Elm, which has virtually no shade, but is sheltered from any North breezes by a high bank. Temperatures are forecast to be around 30 C again so I will be taking my umbrella for shade. With the ground so hard I will also need the umbrella bar. Not looking forward to it, but once I'm fishing things never seem so bad!
AN EARLIER RESULT
Here's the result from Willows, a match I had to miss last week, won by 91-year-old Joe Bedford! And a picture from the match.
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| Trevor Cousins with an 11 lb 5 oz grass carp. |
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