Golden peg, but I can't make it pay. Cedar, Decoy

 Peg 25, Sunday, July 4
July the Fourth - American Independence Day, when everyone goes out and has a wonderful time. Things started brilliantly when I managed to pick out my own peg, 25, as the main Golden Peg. Pity the fish on Cedar didn't join in the jubilation. Not that I was fishless, but two hours after the start I had just two fish in the net - a small barbel from my right margin on dead maggots and a 4 lb mirror on a 6 mm expander at ten metres. And I found out later that actually that wasn't bad when compared with the rest!

Peg 25 - a bit hemmed in with bushes on either side.

Thirteen of us were on 14 to 26 on Cedar, with showers forecast and a hint of green algae in the water. And although Peg 25 is at the end of the lake where quite often the best catches are made, it had horrible margins.  A bush three feet to the right, and another six feet to the left. Possible barbel country, in among the roots, but it meant that my lines were limited.  And the swim had very little ripple for most of the match, while to swims to the right had lots. 

Anyway, 40 minutes after the two hour mark John Smith walked up from Peg 23, to say he had just one barbel, and I had just managed to nab two more decent carp on an expander at ten metres. It seemed that hemp was attracting the fish in, but they weren't feeding with any gusto - in fact I had lost about three, probably foulhooked. John said that Dennis Sambridge, on 24, the other side of the bush on my right, was catching 'a fish a chuck.'

Still very slow
A change to corn on the hook eventually brought another carp, about 7 lb, and then I went a long time without a fish. Mel on my left had netted a couple, but while I had heard splashing from Dennis, everything on the other side of the bush now seemed quiet. In fact Dennis told me afterwards that as John walked by he had just had two or three fish, like me, and that they then went quiet in his swim, like mine.

Peter Spriggs. He went over on one net, which
cost him the final frame place. That went to me. Hee hee.

Another look in the margin, where I had fed a load of dead maggots for the barbel, brought just one more, at 3 lb, on cat meat. I also had more bites - the float would slowly drop beneath the surface and keep going, but when I struck nothing was there These 'bites' were all exactly the same, so I am sure they were not liners from fish up in the water.

Fish come at ten metres
So it was back out to ten metres, and I pushed all my shot halfway up the line to give a slower sink, and two or three more fish came, at about 40 minutes intervals, the first as a heavy shower started. I put up my umbrella, and had three fish while it was erected, but the pole got in the way of the landing net, though I never lost any fish. so at the first opportunity I took the brolly down.

I spent most of the rest of the match fishing at ten metres, fishing with corn or expander over hemp, expanders, hard pellet and corn, to give them a choice (I'm big-hearted like that), with the odd look into the margins, which were as bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard, even though I spent 20 minutes fishing with mussel, which I was sure would at last get a bite of some sort (it didn't).

Kevin Lee, third with 89 lb 10 oz which included
this mirror we weighed at 15 lb 3 oz.

My theory on the liners
Now this is interesting! When I was out at ten metres I could get a bite only by having the bait just touching bottom, with the float a mere pimple on the surface. I had several liners like this, and occasionally a proper bite which resulted in a fish. When the wind got up I changed from expander to corn, and still got these little bites. It then became difficult to see the float in the ripple, so I added an inch, which put the bait on the bottom, and gave me more float to see. And I fished like that for 20 minutes without a single sign of a bite. 

As soon as I moved the float back down an inch to just touch bottom the bites started again. That convinced me that the liners were, in fact, from fish interested in the bait, and not from fish mid-water, as one would suppose. A couple of times I managed to induce a bite by lifting the bait an inch, but that didn't work as well as it usually does.

I finished with about four fish in the last hour, including the smallest at 1 lb 8 oz. I thought I might get a few more like that immediately, but he was obviously a lost soul. The match ended with me playing a beautifully-conditioned common of about 6 lb.

Dave Garner, second by  just a couple of pounds, took his
fish well out, being unable to catch in the margins.

The weigh-in
Mel, on 26, which is a noted peg, had really struggled, totalling 20 lb 2 oz. I admitted to about 60 lb and actually weighed 70 lb 13 oz, the heaviest net being 47 lb 8 oz. To my surprise Dennis didn't beat me, and I led down to Peter Spriggs, who (stupidly) went over in one net by 3 lb 8 oz and finished with 68 lb 14 oz. If he hadn't gone over the 50 lb club limit he would have beaten me.

Down to Kevin Lee, who had managed to winkle out several barbel, and a 15 lb 3 oz mirror among his carp catch, for 89 lb 10 oz. But the best two weights were on 16 - Dave Garner 107 lb 5 oz plus a broken rod and a broken landing net handle (!) - and Callum Judge in the corner peg 14 with a winning 109 lb 4 oz taken close to the bank in the deep water. Very few pegs seemed to have a shallow margin on this bank.

Callum Judge, winner with 109 lb 4 oz from corner peg 14.
Well done, mate (and so you should be!) 😝

I finished fourth and frankly was very happy as the weighing sheet appeared to show that the windward end had fished a bit better than my end.

A patchy result. 

Next match tomorrow on Cedar or Horseshoe - there's some  mix-up somewhere along the line, but it makes no difference in the long run. It's still a day's fishing.

A ground-breaking experiment

Dennis Sambridge has had some great results recently, and must think he can walk on water. In fact he has been so confident that he decided, at the end of this match, to see whether his electric trolley can also run on water without sinking.

Dennis Sambridge can catch big fish - but he can't walk on water, and neither can his trolley.

Accordingly when he returned to his car he pointed the trolley towards the end of Cedar, left the engine running, and turned to unlock his car. Seconds later he turned round to see his tackle trundling down the bank, through a hawthorn bush, and preparing to enter the water.

Showing a burst of speed which would have put Raheem Sterling to shame, Dennis hurtled down the bank, dived through the bush and managed to grab a handle as the trolley demonstrated that NO, it cannot run across water.

With Dennis lying prostrate on the bank gripping the handle, and the trolley threatening to pull him down into a watery grave, help came in the form of Superman. 

Enter Kevin Lee, who flew through the air and grabbed the other handle, encircling Dennis with his spare arm and throwing him up the bank to safety, while calling upon those hundreds of anglers present to form a human chain to rescue Dennis' now-sodden bags and tackle box.

Well, actually there were only two or three persons, but they did a superhuman job, such that the trolley, and almost everything from it, was handed back up the bank, except for the keepnet bar and a drawer from the box. And Yours Truly, arriving at the scene when all the excitement had finished, managed to retrieve said drawer with the help of Superman, though the contents were missing

If Dennis reads this, then remember, mate - your trolley cannot run across the surface of water. And probably, neither can you!