A surprise result on Six-Island, Decoy.

 Yippee. I'm becoming tech-savvy. It's taken me only a week to work out how to trim a video on my phone and upload it onto this site. You see I forgot to take a shot of my swim this week, and by the time I had remembered, the battery on my phone was dead. So instead, here's a video of Dave Garner landing a big carp last week on Yew Lake in the wind. The carp had its mouth in a funny place! Pity I can't find out how to make it  bigger on the page. Bear with me for another week!

What was most impressive to me was the rod - an 11 ft Preston CarbonActive. What a rod. I'm tempted to get one myself.

Peg 3, Six-Island Lake, Decoy, Friday, October 29.
High winds and rain were forecast, but still 14  assorted idiots, sorry,  hardy souls turned up for this Spratts match. At the draw the wind was ferocious and the rain was light, but by the time we got to the lake the rain had virtually stopped, and the wind didn't seem quite as strong. It picked up later, though.

My Peg 3 wasn't one that I would have chosen, but the wind was slightly off my back. To my right Callum was on Peg 1, where Peter Spriggs won our Fenland Rods Pairs match this Summer, and this is a nice swim, with an aerator to the right. I had an island in front of me at 11 metres, and even in the high winds I decided I would be able to fish a pole there.

Callum Judge, on my right, was catching
when I couldn't get a bite.

Plan B already
My plan had been to start on a feeder, expecting things to be difficult, but as I was making up my pole rigs I felt that there might be fish already willing to feed, and when the match started I simply dropped in with cat meat at top two plus one, the swim being about four feet deep. It's rarely that I start on cat meat, but I was so confident that I put in no loose feed at all.

Most of the bushes and trees on this lake have been trimmed right back and I started looking around to try to make out where the roots were as they are always the starting points when you go into the margins. I glanced back to the float, and for a second I thought it had vanished, so I struck, but there was nothing there. Assuming I had imagined it, I re-baited and dropped in again.

Soon there was no doubt - a definite bite! And a 5 lb mirror came to the net. Next drop another bite, but this one, the same size,  was foulhooked, though I landed it. So I put in some cat meat and hemp with a bait dropper and turned to my second swim, a little closer in to my right - fishing with the wind.

That brought a 4 lb common on corn, and I persevered there - probably too long - for another two fish in the next half-hour. I thought I had made a fair start, but that the anglers from 10 to 15, with the wind at their backs, would be able to present the bait better than I could, and that the anglers from 4 to 9, with the wind in their faces, had probably got more fish in front of them than I had. Time would tell.

John Garner found a nice perch on peg 4.

Then it was back to the meat swim, and I alternated between the two for an hour, hooking about five fish which I lost, but landing another two, at which time I had probably 30 lb. Then sport dropped right off. Time for another change.

Plan C
My next move would have been out to the island, but just as I thought about that a mighty gust of wind blew over the pole roller, slamming the three sections on it into my rod holdall and snapping the Number Six section in two. The break was too close to the female ferrule to allow it to be telescoped, and I was now snookered.

So it was round to the right margin, on four sections, which was about 18 inches deep, and I decided to drop in just away from the bank, where the water was a little over two feet. I fancied I saw the float shiver as the bait fell, so changed to a piece of frozen corn, which was lighter. In the next hour about three more fish came in, though I had a lot of definite pull-unders, and lost another two or three, probably foulhooked I thought at the time.

Almost opposite me on Peg 19 Wendy Bedford
watched as I lost fish after fish. She ended with
23 lb 2 oz on her usual feeder.

Snap again!

The most effective rig was putting most of the shot right under the float and having just a Number 10 down the line. The bait was never taken while it was still, so I used to lift the float out three or four inches, and allow the bait to drift round towards the bank, at which time it sometimes pulled under. Meanwhile Callum was steadily putting the occasional fish into his net and I guessed I was behind.

I also managed to snap the Number One section, leaning over to grab the landing net which held a fish approaching 10 lb. So I had to change the rig over to a different top Two.

Terrible spell
When bites stopped there was about 90 minutes left, and I decided to fish in slightly deeper water, to my right, putting in half-a-dozen brains of corn and dropping in on top of them. Two or three 3 lb fish, and an F1, came in, with a couple on meat, before I had the spell from Hell.

I reckon I lost ten fish on the trot!  Some were in double-figures, as they leaped out of the water at times. The high wind must have loaded them with oxygen, and it was getting stronger.

The bait that finally stopped my terrible spell of lost fish.

They didn't act as if they were foulhooked, and in fact I got down to my top two on some of them, and could see they were hooked at the front end. A couple of the earlier fish had been hooked on the outside of the mouth, and when I came back, after losing the tenth one, with the barbule of a carp on the hook I decided they were simply playing with the bait, or at least not taking it confidently.

A momentous change

There were about 25 minutes left. Now the previous day I had had a conversation with Will Hadley, who mends my broken sections, and he mentioned that it seems that fish are wisening up, even more than usual, to baits that they might have been caught on. I now changed to mussel, in which I have a lot of confidence. The change was incredible.

Alan Porter took 23 lb 7 oz on Peg 12 - this
bank fished much worse than I had expected.

I put in three or four mussels cut into about three portions each, and baited with half of one, with the hook through the small round piece of gristle. Three bites saw me hook three fish, all hooked in the mouth, and all landed. That was over 20 lb in 25 minutes, and if the match had gone on another couple of minutes I am sure I would have had another. I estimated I had about 35 lb in each of my two nets.

The weigh in
Callum was first to weigh - 56 lb. He told me he had seen me lose a load, but that he had lost some as well, including three rigs. My first net weighed 39 lb and the second 48, giving me 87 lb 13 oz.

Then round to the anglers with the wind in their faces, and they had all struggled, Peter Harrison being top with only 21 lb 12 oz. Peter is one of the best anglers in the club, so it had obviously been very hard.

Then over to Peg 10 in the corner, which everyone had fancied, and Peter Spriggs said he had about 50 lb. He should go to Specsavers, because he totalled 67 lb 8 oz! Then farther along Trevor Cousins had only one fish in his net with an hour to go, but ended with 45 lb 3 oz.

Trevor Cousins was fourth with 45 lb 3 oz, including this
gorgeous common which we didn't weigh, but
it was well into double-figures.

Pegs 16 to 23 didn't fish much better, and I ended as a surprise winner, with Peter Spriggs second. 

First out of the frame, in fifth place, was
90-year-old Joe Bedford. Watching him weighing in are his
sister-in-law Wendy and her son, Callum, who was third.

THE RESULT

1 Callum Judge        56 lb                   3rd
3 Mac Campbell        87 lb 13 oz        1st

4 John Garner            19 lb 1 oz

6 Peter Harrison        21 lb 12 oz

8 Mick Ramm            9 lb 8 oz

9 Mike Rawson        DNW

10 Peter Spriggs        67 lb 8 oz        2nd

12 Alan Porter            23 lb 7 oz

13 Trevor Cousins    45 lb 3 oz        4th

15 Shaun Buddle        DNW

17 Bob Barrett            24 lb 5 oz

18 Peter Barnes            10 lb

19 Wendy Bedford        23 lb 7 oz

22 Joe Bedford             26 lb 9 oz       

Next match is the last Fenland Rods match of the season - the Les Bedford memorial Cup on Damson, which was Les' favourite lake. The Club Champion will also be announced. Luckily I won't need that Number Six section, as the deep water on Damson can be reached on a top two. But with more fierce winds and rain forecast it could be very uncomfortable.

Usually the early pegs 1 and 2, which are sheltered, are favourite, but after yesterday I wonder whether I might be better off towards the other end, in the wind.

One man went to bag - went to bag a netful! Yew, Decoy

 Peg 22, Sunday, October 24
I was happy with Peg 22, having preferred anywhere from 16 to about 22 on recent results. But the strong, cool wind, and the time of year, made it very likely that the fish would be holding in certain spots. Peter Spriggs was drawn - not for the first time recently - in corner peg 16, which I don't think he had ever fished before, but I was able to tell him that it has produced big catches in the past. 

Just ten of the Fenland Rods were fishing this penultimate match of the season, with the strong, cold wind from the left..

My swim, with a shallow left margin and a deep right one.

Back to my swim and my plan to fish the first half-hour on the feeder came to an abrupt end when Dave Garner on my left hit a big fish just minutes after the start on his waggler gear. I thought he was fishing the margins - in fact I learned later that he was about 12 metres out. And almost at the same time Dick Warrener just past Dave was also playing a big fish, which I assumed (wrongly, again) was also hooked in the margins.

Onto the pole
So my feeder rod was swapped for a pole and I spent the next hour fruitlessly fishing my right margin, and then farther out, with both cat meat and corn, while Dave added another three big fish. As he was landing his third, about 90 minutes from the start, I hit my first carp, about 9 lb, which ended in my landing net. Half an hour later I hit another, which seemed very powerful, but with the wind buffeting the pole it was impossible to play it properly, or know, with the pole under the surface, how much of the 17 Preston yellow hollow  elastic was out. Suddenly it broke me. Probably foulhooked.

Then followed nearly three hours during which neither Dave nor I could catch another fish. Indeed I didn't see anyone catch one - not even the anglers in the other strip lakes adjoining us. During that time I tried the shallow margin to the left and had another look on feeder. Then I walked up to Shaun Buddle, who  said he had two fish, and then on to John Smith, who was fishless but said that Peter Spriggs had had a lot of fish. Even later another trip along the bank saw Peter Spriggs now having four nets in, and John came up and said he had two tiny perch on worm.

Dave Garner plays a double-figure foulhooked carp.

Foulhooked fish next door
Back to my Peg 22 and as I walked back Dave Garner was playing a fish, obviously foulhooked, and I stopped to take a video of the last minutes. It was over 10 lb. At the same time an angler on Oak was obviously playing a fish, and Mike Rawson on Peg 20 had also netted one. Perhaps they were coming on! PS. The video is apparently too big to be imported onto this page. Back to the drawing board!

Safely in Dave's net after a fight lasting several minutes.

 I sat down on my box, started a new swim at 2+2 with corn, and turned to see Mike into another fish on his feeder. I was about to get up for a picture when the pole bend round and a 4 lb carp conveniently hooked itself. That had the same effect as a goal on lazy Premier League attackers - suddenly some sort of success seemed possible. I really started to concentrate - a few grains of corn and a pinch of hemp went in each cast, and I stayed religiously in that spot...waiting...and waiting.

Within half an hour another fish came, then another, and while this was going on Dave added another three, bringing hid total to eight - possibly 80 lb as I thought as they seemed big. With half an hour to go I netted another eight-pounder, giving me five fish. All the bites were different - one took the bait stationary, another as it dropped, and another as I dragged the corn slowly along the bottom against the wind, in the direction of any undertow.

My playing 'system'
Then I hooked the bottom...which suddenly started to move. The fish plodded around for ages, refusing to make any long runs. I have a system of playing carp - when I see it has been at least a foot off the bottom for several seconds I guess it's starting to tire. Then plunging my top two right under the surface as far as I can and just holding it steady usually (sometimes) sees the fish not only drift slowly in towards me, but also rise to the surface. 

Dave had eight fish for nearly 60 lb on a waggler.

This fish did just that, and by keeping the pole as low as possible to one side the fish slowly drifted within reach of my landing net. I had a strong orange solid elastic on, which I am getting very fond of.  A couple of times the fish shied halfheartedly away from the net, but just holding it steady brought it over the net again without it apparently realising. I estimated it at 10 lb and with 30 lb on my clicker already, it went into my second net, just so the first net would be easier to lift out.

Twenty minutes to go...but I couldn't get another bite. So when the match ended I knew that Peter had beaten me, and also Dave, and probably some of those to my left in the high numbers. I hadn't fancied those swims, but on days like this, when water temperature has dropped, pegs which don't produce in the Summer can come up trumps.

The weigh in
On end peg 29 Callum waited nearly four hours for his first fish, about 4 lb, then added another 45 lb in the last 45 minutes fishing under a tree to his left. He said he had tried it earlier and had not had a bite there. But that switch gave him 48 lb 11 oz, which, surprisingly, led down to Dave on 23. His eight fish weighed only 59 lb 7 oz - much less than I had thought. 

Peter had his best-ever weight of 192 lb 14 oz.

...including this fish of 18 lb 15 oz.

I estimated I had 40 lb, and had resigned myself to ending down at least fourth, behind Callum, but when that last 10 lb fish weighed in at 14 lb 2 oz I began to wonder whether I might pip him. I needed 35 lb to do so...and the first net of five fish went 38 lb 12 oz. Sorry, mate!

I was pleased to see Mike on 20 weigh in, as he often puts his fish back to get home early (he is nearly an hour away). His 22 lb 11 oz gave him a well-earned sixth place. Shaun hadn't added to his two early fish, while John had added just a 2 lb carp (foulhooked) to his two tiny perch.

A bonanza

In the corner Peter now had five nets out. He had started out on 2+2 without a bite, but had fed down the margin to his right. His first drop in there saw the float immediately shoot away, resulting in a 12 lb carp in his net. Then, throughout the day, big fish came in - mainly two quite quickly followed by a quiet spell before another couple came in. He said he caught on all sorts of bait - pellet, corn, meat, paste, and included two barbel on corn.

We weighed the biggest fish in his last net at 18 lb 15 oz, and he ended with a magnificent192 lb 14 oz, which he thinks is his biggest-ever match weight. AND he was on the golden peg. So celebrations all round for Peter.

I was very happy to end up in third place, on the sort of day that so often sees anglers starting to pack up just when the fish come on.  A typical cold-weather match, in fact. Next match is Friday on Six-Island, which is on the shallow side so I am expecting it to be equally hard.

Then next weekend sees the last Fenland Rods match on Damson, to be followed by the presentation of cups and Pairs winnings, including the overall Club Champion, and the Handicap medals. and a quick AGM because we didn't have one earlier this year (Covid restrictions).

I get a peg I fancy! Beastie, Decoy

 Peg 16, Thursday, October 21
Fourteen of us fished this Spratts club match, my mate John Smith deciding not to fish because Beastie has several pegs which necessitate climbing down steps to the platform, and he has dodgy knees. The problem is that when you're holding your box you have nothing to hold on to, and if a knee gives way you're in trouble. That's one of the reasons Rookery farm Fishery at Pidley is so popular - no wooden platforms, just artificial turf spread on the bank, flattened next to the water, with a concrete front to stop the bank falling in.

So what pegs did I fancy on Beastie? Certainly 18 and 2, on which I won the last two matches I fished in the lake, plus 29 and 30, which are both 'feature' pegs, and possibly 4, 5 and 6, or 14 to 17 on the spit. Mike Rawson's name was first out of the bag, followed by 18! Soon after, Peter Barnes got 2, Mick Raby was given 30, and Peter Spriggs was allotted 29. Trevor Cousins got 17, and Martin Parker 14. Almost all my real favourites had gone.

Then "Mac Campbell," followed by an awed silence 😉: "Fourteen!" I was happy with that - I had a run of pegs I really didn't fancy early in the season, but when I get one I do like, I always seem to do better. I liked the idea of Trevor Cousins next door, as I could watch him closely - he's won more Spratts matches than anybody.

The start - sun and a nice, but cool, breeze from the West.

The wind was a cool Westerly which somehow circled round so that three quarters of us had it in our faces, with ours from the right. As the day went on it increased in strength.

A dodgy start
Oh dear. First cast with an empty feeder before the start landed perfectly within feet of the island 45 yards away,  right in Trevor's swim. One swim ruined already! 😡

At the start I went out on the feeder with a hybrid similar to a banjo, with micros and Method groundbait. I recently watched one of the Matrix underwater videos and was amazed that groundbait held together underwater better than micros. I always press the micros into the feeder as hard as I can.

First cast to the reeds (in my own swim) saw the hook come back covered in leaves. So the next one went shorter and after ten minutes a 2 lb F1 came. Followed by a 6 lb common, another F1 and another 6 lb common which immediately kited away to my left before I could gain any line. I had 40 yards of line out and Martin was only 20 yards away - disaster! The fish shot through his swim and  Martin lifted his pole, thinking he had a bite, only to find he had hooked my line. 

Martin Parker struggled all day and managed just three
carp in his 23 lb 3 oz total.

Martin walked towards me with his pole and eventually managed to shake the hook free and I landed the fish. But another swim ruined! 😡 Trevor bet that that wouldn't go in this blog. 😁 That was followed by a 1 lb fish coming adrift at the net, and  with an hour gone I decided to have a look on the pole line at 2+2, where I had found a small, but significant, hole a few inches deeper than the surrounding bottom. Eventually that produced a small bream on a 4mm expander.

Some fish on the pole
Meanwhile Trevor had been struggling, with a couple of small fish on the feeder and, with an hour gone, also looked at his similar pole line. We both had a few fish here, with mine coming on 4mm expanders to start with, then 6 mm, then corn. The fish were bream to 3 lb and carp around 4 lb. A quick look in the right margin didn't bring me any fish so it was back to the long line, which I fished until the sun in our faces made it impossible to see the float. I reckoned I had about 40 lb, with Trevor perhaps a little behind, but not much.

The right margin was well over four feet deep, while the left one was at least 18 inches shallower, and in the cold wind I didn't fancy that, so I persevered in the right margin, especially as the first drop there brought a 10 lb common carp foulhooked. But the fish here were few and far between, though they included three or four bream, best 3 lb, on cat meat or corn, and Trevor now seemed to be outfishing me, also fishing in his right margin. Callum had done well in that swim recently, also fishing his right margin.

Trevor Cousins fell behind me in the first hour, fishing feeders,
and never quite caught me up. He was second on 88 lb 1 oz.

I saw Trevor land four or five in a good spell, with the best looking like 8 lb-plus. Martin was struggling horribly and in fact took only three carp, plus a few bream.

The left margin produces!
With 90 minutes left and my right margin slow I decided to have a look after all in the shallow left margin, where I had been throwing a few bits of corn and some 6mm and 8mm expanders, even though I couldn't believe that there would be fish there in this cold wind. But I felt I had to make something happen.

First drop and a 3 lb bream came to corn. That was followed by a carp, then a slow spell, but I was certain that there were fish there. So I switched to my special method which I have hardly used this season.

My special method
I'm not saying what this method entails, because on the Maggot Drowners forum, which I know has some readers of this blog, I was told in no uncertain terms that it is impossible, and I have no desire to get into arguments which I cannot win. So I fish a method which is impossible!

First drop and the difference was remarkable - several carp over 5 lb came to cat meat, some of them hooking themselves, while Trevor had only the occasional fish. With 40 minutes left I put in a third net and promptly foulhooked an 10 lb lb carp on corn, which is unusual using this method, but no method is perfect. It took me around 15 minutes to get it in, hooked near the tail, so now there were only 20 minutes left, and I wasted five minutes reverting to a standard rig, fishing a few inches overdepth, without a touch.

Mike Rawson, fifth with 56 lb 5 oz,  included this common
we estimated at 15 lb from Peg 16, next to the bridge.

A big finish
I had mussels with me, which I often turn to at the end, but was certain that the fish would take cat meat again, on the Special, and they did - a 2 lb bream, then another big carp, and with two minutes left I dropped in again and a 10 lb carp immediately hooked itself.  Trevor had been putting the occasional fish in his net, but had had to go out to the long line again. The match was finished by Trevor shouting out something like: "Ahh, AAAHH, that's it and Mac's got a fish on." Saved me doing it.

That fish took ten minutes to land, because it was hooked in the outside of the lip, which always causes problems in getting the head of the fish up. Trust me, that fish would not have been hooked at all on a traditional rig. It also weighed about 10 lb.

The weigh in
No pictures from 24 round to the early pegs because I was late starting to pack up, but Peter Harrison on 3 was leading with 81 lb 10 oz. That was a very good performance, because Peg 3 faces East, where the sun starts behind you but while it moves round, a tree and high vegetation on a small penisula jutting out to your left prevents any sun shining on you at all in Winter. It gets very cold there when there's a wind in your face.

My last four fish weighed 33 lb 15 oz, including the bream.

I was surprised that the rest of the anglers in that bank struggled, with both 2 and 5 ending with  DNWs. Perhaps I was better off avoiding them! So round to the spit, where poor Martin on 14 ended with just 23 lb 3 oz - he's had a torrid season in the matches I have fished.

My catch went 125 lb 13 oz, with my first net, which I had estimated at 36 lb, weighing nearly 2 lb over the 50 lb club limit, but it didn't matter because I ended as the winner. Trevor came in second with 88 lb 1 oz, and he showed me where he had caught in his righthand margin - close to the corrugated piling.

Peter Harrison was a well-deserved third. On 29 Peter Spriggs eventually caught right against the grass to his right for 72 lb 3 oz and fourth.

So I ended with three wins in a row on Beastie, a lake I love because every swim is completely different. That's the thing with Decoy - every lake has it own character - you might as well be fishing a completely different fishery each week. Pity about the steps, though Horseshoe, Six-Island, Lous, Willows and the early pegs on Damson aren't much of a problem.

The wind had got up by the end of the match, but on our bank it was never really cold.

THE RESULT

2 Peter Barnes           DNW

3 Peter Harrison        81 lb 10 oz        3rd

4 Shaun Buddle        28 lb

5 Alan Porter            DNW

14 Martin Parker      23 lb 3 oz        

16 Mac Campbell    125 lb 3 oz        1st

17 Trevor Cousins    88 lb 1 oz         2nd

18 Mike Rawson      56 lb 5 oz

22 Bob Barrett         16 lb 1 oz

23 Wendy Bedford   35 lb 11 oz

24 Mick Ramm        16 lb 11 oz

26 Joe Bedford        18 lb 14 oz

29 Peter Spriggs      72 lb 3 oz        4th

30 Mick Raby          39 lb 13 oz

Next match on Sunday on Yew, pegs 16 to 30, where chairman John Smith is suggesting we use the end ten pegs 16 to 25, as that's where the best weights usually tend to come from, especially now it's getting cold. I agree.

Carp are getting hard to find on some pegs - Elm, Decoy

 I recently read a report of a couple in a car who, at night, rolled down a hill without realising it and crashed at the bottom into a hedge. Luckily neither was badly hurt. But what were they doing to not notice that the car was moving? According to the report they were 'cementing their relationship'! 

I mention this because I have been trying increasingly hard to cement my relationship with carp. I want to tell them, to their faces, how handsome they are, and I want to explain about the carp version of the Michelin Five-Star food I am offering - hemp, corn, worms, and the finest pellets. But recently the buggas haven't been listening, and have started staying away from me. However I keep trying, although as I get older I obviously get stupider, as my last match shows.

Peg 3, Elm, Decoy, Sunday, October 17
Nine of us lined up to watch the draw, and all 12 pegs were in. As I wrote in my last blog, I wanted anywhere from about Peg 8 to the corner on 12. Out came the low numbers, and my name stayed in the cocoa tin.  Pegs 11 and 12 were still there, and two or three more. I waited with 'baited breath'. Then out I came - Peg 5. I wasn't too unhappy, as I had been looking back on the results on Elm, and 5 had been reasonable - 2, 3 and 4 were the ones I really wanted to avoid. Pegs 11 and 12 were not drawn.

Peg 3 - overcast, with the mild wind blowing down to the higher numbers.

Down to the platform on Peg 5, and there it was...gone! Two nasty-looking stakes were all that was left, and the rule is that you must fish from the platforms (insurance and all that). No problem, I would have to move. Kevin and Mel, agreed, and said I could take the next peg along. That would have been 11 - but that caused a problem, because I was certain, in my own mind, that I would probably win from that. And I've been fishing long enough to know that if an angler moves and then wins, someone is going to be unhappy, especially if it's an end peg.

By now we could see that there was one other swim not drawn - 3 - and I decided to take that, on the assumption that it was not a rated swim, and that no-one would moan afterwards, and I fancied a challenge. So I set up and half an hour later Kevin wandered along from Peg 7 and said something I had just realised: we should have put the three undrawn pegs back in - 3, 11 and 12, and drawn my peg from them! But the die was cast, and I stayed put.

Allan Golightly on Peg 1 found some barbel
and just one carp.

Very slow start

I started on the feeder for half an hour without so much as a liner, then went out to about nine metres where, after another half-hour I got a bite which I missed. Quick looks into both margins without result and I was back out, where a 2 lb bream obliged on corn. A little later another nearer to 3 lb came in, then another. To my left Mel sat fishing a waggler and so far had not had a bite.

A switch to worm, which bream love, bought me a much harder-fighting fish - a foulhooked 8 lb mirror. Then two or three more bream, all around 3 lb, all on corn. Then a lull and I dropped my rig in a few metres to the left, and was obliged with another barbel - a five-pounder foulhooked. I was glad I had an 18/22 elastic in as it threatened to run through Mike Rawson's swim to my right.

Rain came down a few times, but it was never hard enough to persuade me to erect my umbrella.

Middle of the match and things slowed up. The next two hours brought another couple of bream, and then I lost two in a row. A change to a lighter elastic saw a third come off, and obviously the shoal spooked, as I never had another touch in that swim. I can't imagine why they came off, but every bite from the bream was just a tiny indication - several times I wasn't even sure I had got a bite. Very shy biters so perhaps they just hadn't taken the bait properly.

Callum with his best carp which we estimated at
around 14 lb. He came second with 73 lb 14 oz.

Four good fish from the margins
Next it was into the margins, and as I had a barbel I put in a load of maggots to the left, and this produced a run of small perch and eventually a smaller barbel.  I kept hoping that the feeding perch would attract a carp or two, but it didn't. Then a switch to the right margin with cat meat with 45 minutes left saw another 8 lb mirror, a 4 lb barbel and finally a 4 lb F1 on mussel in the last few minutes. During that time I missed several real dive-down bites, and Kevin later told me he had the same problem.

Mel, meantime, had hooked six fish and landed just three, while to my right Mike had, I think, just two fish. I had two carp, three barbel, and about ten bream, plus those tiny perch. That was more than I had expected from Peg 3.

The weigh-in
Allan in Peg 1 had just one carp and some barbel for 37 lb 7 oz. That swim has produced barbel in the past. I weighed 59 lb 5 oz, and I was surprised when it led down to Peg 9, where Dick Warriner had top weight on 76 lb 7 oz of mainly carp fishing 2+2 with corn, after trying cat meat and not having a touch. Next door on 10 Callum fished the meat on 2+1 for 73 lb 14 oz and second spot. I ended third.

Final thoughts
Actually I was more pleased with third from that unrated peg than I would have been had I won it from one of the higher numbers. But next time I have a problem peg I will remember to have a re-draw. Well done Dick and Callum to take the first two places.

The winner - Dick Warriner with 76 lb 7 oz from Peg 9.

Alan Smith was on Peg 7 fishing his second-ever match, on a waggler, and was disappointed to come last with 8 lb 11 oz - just three fish. But Mel Lutkin had only three, and I think Mike Rawson had two (when I asked him how many he had he showed me two fingers) so I reckon Alan did OK. He borrowed an old cupping kit from me, so understands the importance of accurate baiting, especially now the weather is getting colder.

THE RESULT

Next match is on Beastie, and the forecast is for cold and rain from the North-West, so pegs 14 round to 26 may be the most comfortable. 

Blimey, that was difficult - Yew, Decoy

I'm Sitting pretty
For years the pan in the outside gents toilet at Decoy has been wobbly. Sitting on it used to remind me of the old cakewalk at the visiting fairs. You needed a good sense of balance to remain in position to perform the required bodily functions. But now - Hallehujah. The new owners have fixed it and its as firm as the Rock of Gibralter, and much more comfortable. I'm impressed as they've been there only two weeks.

Peg 30, Wednesday, October 13

Now to the Spratts club match. Fifteen of us were on the strip lake Yew, and I wanted to avoid the first half-dozen pegs on each bank ie 1-6 and 25-30. But no, Fate gave me an advanced 79th birthday present in the form of Peg 30, in the corner. It's a lovely-looking swim - a tree to the right, with a pipe to the left protruding from the end bank. Lots of features. But it's not got a brilliant reputation, and the wind was down to the far end, where the preferred swims are.

At the start of the match the ripple was all at the far end of the lake.

No matter - I was up for the challenge. Now this won't take long (can I hear a sigh of relief?) Half an hour on the feeder brought just one liner, near the end bank. So I put out 13 metres of pole and dripped corn in a swim next to the end-bank reeds. Nothing. I'd been flicking corn into both margins, but there was nothing there. So it was out to 1.5 metres in front of me with an expander and then corn.

Bingo
Two hours after the start, and still fishless, I dropped a margin rig into a spot I hadn't fed, and Bingo., First drop the float dragged under and a 14 lb mirror came grudgingly to the net. At this point Peter to my right had just one fish while John Smith, nearly opposite on 3 had not had a bite.

A foulhooked barbel
An hour later in the reed swim I foulhooked a 5 lb barbel which brought about some gritted teeth but which I managed to keep out of the reeds with my Preston 17 yellow elastic, and that, too, ended in my keepnet. Since there were barbel around I put in a pot of maggot and hemp, and fished with a bunch of maggots, and took three quick...perch! About half-an-ounce each. Now the wind had moved from South to West and was in our faces on this bank, and it was cold.

John Smith didn't get a bite for more than three hours,
but managed 42 lb 5 oz for sixth place.

Another hour went by and now John had his first fish, while I took a 3 lb barbel from the reeds swim on corn, and half-an-hour later a 3 lb ide. Then a strange thing happened - carp suddenly started appearing in the corner to my left. Dozens of them. I could see their dark shapes moving about around the pipe, out to about ten feet past it, and back again. But they never came  as far out as me.

I dropped a rig in among them, more in hope than expectation, and I could see them swimming about just below my float, but I never had a single liner. I am convinced they were in that heightened state of awarenesss that happens sometimes and they could see the line and avoided it.

My second fish was this 5 lb barbel - foulhooked next to
the reeds which were 13 metres away!

The wind kept changing
Now the wind was almost from the North, so it had swung round almost 180 degrees, and then it settled back into our faces, but was still cold, and I doubted it would bring the fish on. An hour left and in desperation I dumped a pot of maggot and hemp into my left margin. In seconds carp started swirling over it, producing strong vortexes which swept the floating leaves back and forth and round in circles. But I never even had a liner - just one more tiny perch. Ridiculous.

Half an hour to go, and John was now landing his sixth or seventh fish opposite, and it appeared he was just flicking loose-fed corn over his rig on a top two plus one, and leaving the bait there, not moving it, so I did the same (in fact he was using 8mm expanders). Ten minutes later a 2 lb F1 obliged, and ten minutes after that a 4 lb common. The final action was a big fish which came off and left its calling card in the shape of a big, yellow-tinged scale the size of a 50p piece.

Trevor Cousins, winner on Peg 7 with 73 lb 14 oz.

Runner-up Shaun Buddle, 66 lb 9 oz.

The weigh in
Peg 1 wasn't used, so first to weigh was John Smith on 3. It had taken him around four hours to get his first bite, but he finished with about eight carp for 42 lb 5 oz, which I thought was a quite excellent performance from that peg on a difficult day. 

Wendy Bedford's best fish was
this 16-pounder, taken on a feeder.
Wendy framed in fifth place.

On 7 Trevor Cousins ended as the winner with 73 lb 14 oz - three on a tiny hybrid feeder with his favourite yellow Washter on a hair, and the rest at eight metres on the pole, putting in a small amount of feed, laying a grain of corn over the top and waiting for a fish. That was what John was doing, and what brought me my last two fish, and something I should have done earlier.

John Garner, fourth in Peg 16 in the corner.

Alan Porter in the corner peg 15 took the bulk of his 50  lb 2 oz in the margin for fourth place, while in the opposite corner John Garner weighed 54 lb 13 oz for third, also on the pole close in. Then Shaun Buddle, on 20 (which I had told him was usually a good swim) took 66 lb 9 oz for second. He told me afterwards that he had lost three times as many fish as he had landed!

Thoughts on foulhooking

Shaun had been fishing with paste which is heavy, and with a heavy bait when a fish brushes or sweeps against the line and you strike you're bringing the bait up almost vertically, so have a good chance of foulhooking the fish. With a lighter bait there's more chance of the hook being pushed away from the fish, and less chance of your hooking it. That's my take on it, anyway.

By the end of the match the wind was blowing 
straight into my corner peg.

Operator Error! Joe Bedford may be 91, but
I can assure you he has a whole head!
His three pretty fish were all the same size.
 Total 27 lb 9 oz.

My fish went 33 lb 3 oz, which left me eighth and since I beat the two anglers to my right I was satisfied with that in the circumstances. Next match on Elm, pegs 1 to 12, on Sunday. I'd like anywhere from 8 to 12. Then to Beastie next Thursday, where Trevor Cousins has threatened to take out Pegs 2 and 18, where I have won my last two matches on Beastie. See if I care, Trevor!!!  😜😜😜 

THE RESULT

30 Mac Campbell           33 lb 3 oz
28 Peter Spriggs              20 lb 11 oz                   3 John Smith            42 lb 5 oz
26 Mick Ramm                9 lb 9 oz                       5 Bob Barrett            32 lb 7 oz
24 Wendy Bedford          48 lb 14 oz    5th          7 Trevor Cousins      73 lb 14 oz    1st
22 Peter Barnes               17 lb 13 oz                  9 Bob Allen            16 lb 10 oz
20 Shaun Buddle            66 lb 9 oz    2nd           11 Joe Bedford            27 lb 9 oz
18 Mick Raby                  36 lb 1 oz                      13 Mike Rawson            DNW
16 John Garner                54 lb 13 oz    3rd          15 Alan Porter            50 lb 2 oz    4th

A-roving we did go on Beastie, Decoy

The learner driver had just finished his driving test (as he thought) and leaned back in his seat to see the driving examiner smiling and nodding happily. "Now," said the examiner, casually, "What would you do if you were driving and Mr Fog came down?"

The learner was keen to humour the examiner, so thought he'd reply in the same, jocular vein: "Well, if Mr Fog came down I'd place Mr Right Leg on Mr Brake and press. Then I would take Mr Left Foot and place it on Mr Clutch and press while taking Mr Left hand and taking hold of Mr Gear Change, moving it to a lower gear. Then I'd release Mr Left Foot and place Mr Right foot on Mr Accelerator Pedal."

The examiner look straight at the  learner driver, and never moved a face muscle. He remained poker-faced for several seconds. 

Then he said, in a slow, posh voice: "For the removal of doubt I will repeat the question:

"What - would - you - do - if - mist - or - fog - came - down?"

                                                **********************************

Peg 2, Beastie, Decoy, Saturday, October 9
There was plenty of mist or fog (or both) as I drove to Decoy on Saturday, with a virgin following me in a van behind. That's a virgin match angler, you understand - Alan Smith from my village has been fishing with me a couple of times and thought he'd like to fish a match. So he guested in this Fenland Rods roving match on Beastie, the oldest lake on the complex.

Eleven of us had our name drawn out of the cocoa tin, and Callum Judge drew out the first milk bottle top  to see who would have first pick of the pegs 1 to 17. He drew out his own, and promptly picked Peg 17, next to where Peter Spriggs had had 180 lb a few weeks ago. 

My lefthand margin, with tall reeds flopping over.

Soon after, Alan's name came out and Allan Golightly and I agreed that Peg 5 was a good choice for Alan, who knew nothing about the lake. It had a good reputation, with a tree on either side to fish to, and the island to cast to on a feeder. Alan has no pole - just a feeder rod and a waggler rod. Allan chose Peg 1 for himself, and I was about the sixth name to be drawn.

I love Peg 2
I had several options left I would have been particularly happy with - 2, 6, 8, 13 and one or two of the pegs still left on the spit facing the main lake - that is the four pegs 14 to 17. There was no wind to suggest that the fish might prefer one area, so I took peg 2. It's one of my favourites, and the swim where I had my first ever 100 lb. Bryan Lakey was sitting behind me at the time and was as chuffed as I was, because 100 lb then (about 20 years ago) was a very good weight - perhaps equivalent to 200 lb now. Not rare, but not common.

My best spot in the right margin is just hidden by the 
reeds growing next to the platform.

Anyway, since then I have never fished it without framing, and the last time I fished Peg 2, some years ago,  I had 160 lb, only to be beaten by Peter Parlett who weighed in a superb 180 lb on Peg 30. Peter, sadly is no longer with us and the clubs he fished with are poorer for his passing.

You will see from the pictures that Peg 2 is fairly hemmed in, with tall reeds flopping into the water just to the left and rather sturdier reeds a few metres to the right. I didn't put Alan here because it's not possible to fish accurately to the margins with a waggler. He would have been hooking the reeds. He would really have needed a pole to get the best out of this swim.

The mist (or fog) remained quite dense until just before the start when the Sun put his hat on and came out to play. There was hardly a breath of wind - a beautiful Autumn day.

My tactics (in a nutshell)
I started, as always in this swim, at 13 metres looking for bream. And fishing a 4mm expander on a size 12 hook and dropping in just half-a-dozen loose ones from a tiny pole cup, and found a 1 lb bream within two or three minutes. Immediately I potted in about a quarter of a large pot of pellets and hemp - enough to keep the bream there I hoped as I am just as happy catching them as carp. Soon after, though, came a 6 lb carp, and next drop a 3 lb bream, followed by a foulhooked fish lost.

We didn't weigh my best fish - it was probably 15 lb-plus.

So I rested that swim, putting in some more feed, and had a look in the left margin at 2 pole sections plus two, right in among the floating reeds, about two feet from the main stems. Soon after, an 8 lb carp came in, and immediately I rested that swim and went to the right margin at 2+3, using corn. It took a few minutes, but a near-10 lb carp obliged and I immediately swapped back to the left margin, and continued doing this swap over. Fish came slowly - perhaps one every 20 minutes.

A change of elastic
The Yellow Preston 17 elastic worked well, but I was nervous about fish taking me round the reed beds, or into them, so I changed to Matrix Orange Slix (rated 18-22 I think) which is so much softer than it sounds, and I felt that was perfect.

Two hours after the start, with an estimated 35 lb in my first net a huge carp came from the left margin. I landed this much more quickly than I did the six-pounders, and estimated at probably 15 lb-plus, so had to put it into a second net to avoid exceeding the club's 50 lb limit.

Callum had first choice of swims and made
it pay with 88 lb 13 oz for second spot.

Our 50 lb limit
 I have asked several times whether that 50 lb limit could be amended because there are now a lot of fish well over double figures, and it's so easy to estimate a fish at 14 lb when it might be 16 lb and so go slightly over the limit.  It happens to all of us - and it seems so unfair that fish have been caught but not counted. I will always aim for 50 lb maximum because I can't lift out more than that. But I have seen anglers who rarely frame lose weight, which saddens me greatly. The reply has always been 'No: It's 50 lb!'

However, others brought up the question at the draw for this match and it appeared afterwards that our limit, for this match at least, was put up to 55 lb at that time - but I didn't hear that. I have no idea if that will carry on. In any case I will still aim for 50 lb per net.

Back to my swim, and at this point John Smith on Peg 8 came up and asked what I had. I said: "About 50 lb" and he nearly fell in. He hadn't had a fish, and said the others between the two of us were all struggling - Dick on 4 hadn't had a bite.

Kevin Lee's best fish, from Peg 14, weighed 16 lb exactly.

After another bream or two, best 2 lb, sport fell away and I had a look at 2+1 in front of me, as I remembered that I had had fish there previously. At that point Allan Golightly on 1, to my left, said he had around 50 lb. 

The twitch  works
It took some time, but just as I was thinking about going long again the fish started to oblige. As with both margin swims, I had a lot of liners, which assumes that fish are off bottom; yet the only way I could catch fish there was to fish several inches overdepth and to slowly twitch the bait along. 

This twitch brought another fish well into double-figures on corn, and half-a-dozen fish from 4 lb to 7 lb including three in three casts on mussel. Then came a lull and as it was getting difficult to see the float in the left margin, because of the angle of the sun, I put in maggot close in to the end bank on a top two; but that brought only a roach, a perch, and a lost carp. A bunch of six maggots in the swim in front of me brought just one 3 lb barbel, and then sport tailed right off.

A change to meat
A change to cat meat on the hook and putting some meat in brought another fish or two and with half an hour left I literally said to myself: "I'll give it another few seconds before going back long". I carried on twitching the bait, closer to my keepnets than I had before, until it was no more than a metre away...and just as I was going to lift the rig out the float pulled under. That was the start of a manic 20 minutes which brought over 20 lb - four carp - all close in, and about two metres away from where I had been putting my bait! They all went into a fourth net.

Mike Rawson's 30 lb 4 oz from peg 9 next to the bridge.

Ten minutes left and the fish vanished as suddenly as they had come. I reckoned I had 35 lb in each of three nets and had no idea what had gone into the last net as I hadn't clicked them. I had really enjoyed it - the fish had never really been feeding well, except at the end, and I felt I had worked hard for every one.

The weigh in
Allan Golightly must have had a terrible afternoon as he weighed 46 lb ll oz, after saying he around 50 lb halfway through the match. My fish weighed 135 lb 14 oz. Dick had found fish eventually on 4, finishing with 28 lb 1 oz, and Alan's first match ended with 15 lb 10 oz - two carp and some bream.

It obviously wasn't very easy along here, so I rate his first match a success. He's now got some idea of the atmosphere, and he followed the scales around, talking to the anglers he had never met before. If I had to hazard a guess at why he didn't catch more I would say that he probably didn't feed enough.

Here's my reasoning...

Small fish will stay in one spot picking out feed for hours on end - roach shoals will hang around for ages. But big carp are a) not shoal fish and b) will not stay long in one place. They come in, eat, and get out again - you can see that when they come into shallow water and wave their tails at you. They rarely stay there for long. It's probably an instinct to not stay in one place, to avoid predators. 

When a matchman has a superb day catching fish in one place it's not because fish stay there feeding all day - it's because he's feeding sufficiently often to get carp which are swimming nearby to come in and investigate. You need only one fish in your swim to have a chance of catching it. And in warm weather carp in particular are prone to swim about here, there and everywhere. You can see them on the surface come into the bank, stay perhaps a minute or two, then drift out again. That is exactly what is happening under the surface.

You so often, on difficult days, need to keep feeding to ensure that there are fish coming in, because they probably won't stop for long.

The result of my last 20 minutes on quite a
difficult day - 20 lb-plus.

I haven't yet asked Alan how much he fed. I fed a big tin of hemp, nearly three tins of sweetcorn, about a pint of pellets and nearly a tin of cat meat. By modern standards that's actually not a lot, though it's more than I usually feed. For this match I never put in more than half a big pot of bait at a time - I just kept it going into all the swims I was fishing.

Up to John Smith in the corner, and his best fish we weighed at 16 lb 14 oz. Interestingly all the fish we are now weighing turn out to be heavier than our estimates - yet two months ago they all weighed lighter than we guessed. Obviously they are gobbling food ready for Winter (when we will be unable to catch them because they are not hungry).

John Smith struggled on Peg 8 at the start - but this 16 lb 14 oz
common carp was some consolation!

Round to the 'spit' and I was pleased to see Mike Rawson weigh in on Peg 9, which can be difficult because you have so many options there - including the channel under the bridge where big carp pass through. Hook one of those and you need your wits about you to stop them charging back under the bridge and breaking you.

Then the four pegs from 14 to 17 weighed, where top was Callum on 17 with 88 lb 13 oz, some of which were taken right in the side. He was closely followed by Kevin Lee with 84 lb 1 oz. So I ended as the winner, but I was more pleased with how I fished than with the result.

Mel Lutkin with 52 lb 3 oz. He organises our Christmas dinner
and presentation night. We have decided this year not to have one
because of the problems with Covid. But thanks for all you have done, Mel.

THE RESULT