Fish are becoming harder to find, on Willows, Decoy

 Peg 29, Willows, Sunday, Dec 4
Just nine idiots hardy souls fished this JV match, with several others having other unimportant commitments, like work...

Pre-match entertainment was provided by four roe deer wandering about in a nearby field. It's quite common to see deer around Decoy - more often they are smaller than these were, and Chinese water deer or muntjac. I also pondered that while kingfishers are common here, I haven't seen one for several matches, but red kite are plentiful, and I once saw an osprey.

I looked up my blog of a year ago, when we fished Willows at the end of Novemnber, in the cold, and it was won on peg 7, with the higher-numbered pegs fishing badly, and Smug Smalley, on the flier 29, not weighing in. So of course 29 stuck to my sticky fingers at the draw! There's an island at 13 metres out in front and to the left, and the margins in this swim are deep; but the water was clear and I didn't expect to catch any fish in the margins. 

Peg 29 - a lovely-looking swim. The island on the left was at around 13 metres.

There wasn't much wind, so although the temperature was forecast to be about 6 degrees, feeling like 3, it wasn't uncomfortable.

On the bomb
I opted to start on a bomb, with bread, cast past the island into the channel, but had no bites or liners. After 45 minutes I had a look on the pole, where I had been catapulting maggots over to the island, and Peter Harrison, next to me on 30, who had also started on the bomb, changed over at the same time.

Peter Harrison in action early in the match, landing his first carp.

Immediately I started hitting occasional roach, which almost all dropped off. I decided to carry on with maggots and hope that carp came in, but that didn't work. So I put a 4mm expander on the hook, and lo and behold, a 2 lb F1 obliged. A little later, now feeding expanders, a 3 lb carp came in. There were other missed bites, but they could have been liners, and several times I came back with a leaf on the hook. An hour later, having changed down my elastic, to land the roach, I hit something which really tore off.

That fish took several  minutes to land - it was only 5 lb, but hooked in the snout. No wonder I couldn't do anything with it. Meanwhile Peter, fishing out into open water at 13 metres, had landed four or five nice carp on maggots. His rig seemed to be at least a foot shallower than mine, and he told me afterwards he was fishing on the bottom, but I didn't find that depth out in front of me.

Eddie McIlroy on 25 won his section with 48 lb 7 oz.

Fish at eight metres
A little later the wind came up and both Peter and I came in to about 8 metres, where I found two carp around 6 lb and a 3 lb bream, on maggot, plus a few small perch. Forays into the margin with corn, and an attempt to catch on banded pellet to my left, where it was a little shallower, came to nothing. Then, 30 minutes before the end a big fish splashed over the far side and Peter put out a feeder. Five minutes later he landed  another carp - his last. I reckoned he had roughly twice as many carp as I had.

The weigh in
Nathan Boughen on 3 won with 108 lb 9 oz of carp, takern mainly on corn at 14 metres. I have a lot of faith in corn, but despite trying it several times I never had a touch on it. Runner-up was Rob Goodson on 24 with 74 lb 10 oz, taken on a bomb and bread cast to the island at the start, and then on pole.

                                                                     Gus Gausden and Eddie McIlroy won their sections.

Peter Harrison - 47 lb 15 oz from the peg next to me.

I come seventh

I weighed 28 lb 9 oz, for seventh place with Peter having 47 lb 15 oz. To be honest, at this time of year you can't beat yourself up about being beaten so badly, because the fish just won't move - you have to find them. It may be that I shouldn't have spent so much time on the island, but that's the go-to place to fish in this swim.

Later I thought that because the area over to my left, towards peg 28, was a little shallower, perhaps I should have given that a longer look.

Next match is on Lou's and Four-Island on Sunday. I've not fished either of them many times, but peg 6 on Lou's would suit me! In Winter it's regarded as the best peg on the complex, but you need a long, accurate cast to the far bank with a bomb or feeder. The margins are also nice.

THE RESULT

Fenland Rods Final results 2022

 Fenland Rods final results 2022

Below - so it's all readable.

Had trouble getting this onto the screen. Best I could do. 😖

Cool, clear water on Lou's, Decoy

 Peg 11, Lou's Lake, Decoy, Sunday, Nov 27
Seventeen fished this JV match, with 12 on Six-Island and six on Lou's. I was surprised how low the water level was on Lou's, considering the amount of rain we've had...and how clear it  was. I could see the bottom in 18 inches of water, a metre from  the bank, and if the day hadn't been so dull, I suspect I could have seen a lot farther out. I had forgotten my phone, so no pictures.

PS. If you can remember the song Cool, Clear, Water being released you're older than I am. It was first released in 1941, sung by Sons of the Pioneers. and was voted  by Members of the Western Writers of Ameruica as the third best Western song of all time. It was written for the film "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs". No, me neither!

Gus Gausden was round the corner to my left, on peg 9, and Ian Frith was on my right on 13. Rain came just before the start of the match, but it held off all day, though we never saw the sun. I found a small hole at eight metres, about three feet deep,  and started there on a 6mm expander, catching a small roach, then a gudgeon, and then a tiny bream. Meanwhile Ian Frith had caught two carp on a bomb cast to the far bank. A long while later I realised he had been using bread, which is allowed here from November to March.

A fish lost
A switch to a bomb and a yellow wafter brought me a good pull very quickly, and a big fish hooked, but after 30 seconds the 10 lb line I had added, to make the drop longer, broke at the bomb end. I can't work out how that happened - I had caught two fish on that set-up last week. Next cast a 3 lb carp came in but then I went 45 minutes without a pull and had a quick look with corn on the pole on a 2+1.

Nothing there, so I followed Ian and had a look with maggot - Ian was now catching roach fast, fairly close in, and I followed suit, getting four or five very quickly on maggot before they suddenly disappeared. Ian was now catching roach farther out, but I couldn't find any. Next thing I know Ian is out on 14.5 or 16 metres of pole, and bagging occasional carp.

Three quick fish on banded pellet
At that moment I saw four or five carp come in and circle the spot, five metres out, where I had been feeding corn, and saw some others out towards the far bank. Of course I went straight in on the corn swin, but surprisingly I never had a touch. Some time after that I realised Ian was using banded pellet, so I did that at 13 metres and had three small carp in the first three drops before they disappeared, as did the fish which had been showing themselves.

I had put some dead maggots near the side, where U would have seen mud coming up if any fish had moved in, but I never saw anything.

The rest of the match saw another carp on banded pellet and one more on the bomb. I should have probably started on the bomb, soon changed to banded pellet, and had at least two swims on the go, as the fish were spooking in the cool, clear water...

The weigh in
Gus won the lake on 9 with 63 lb 8 oz taken on a 2+2 on expander and corn. Behind me on 5, Barry Webb fished over the reeds towards platform 6 for 60 lb 5 oz and second place. Ian had 52 lb 2 oz, saying afterwards: "Bites were few and far between." I had 25 lb for plumb last.

Over on Six-Island Lee Kndall had a superb 224 lb 15 oz from peg 9, in the corner, fishing 16 metres along the end bank, He put in a big pot of maggots at the start, and another partway through the match, but fed maggots every drop in a tosspot on his pole, which saw him getting through six pints. He included ten big barbel, and fished mainly bunches of three maggots on the hook.

My next match is with JV on Willows on Sunday. I have been making up some extra-long hooklengths, which will (theoretically) give me a longer fall of bait on a bomb hopefully enticing the fish which are hanging off the bottom.

THE RESULT

Lou's
3 Dave Parsons         33 lb 12 oz
5 Barry Webb            60 lb 5 oz        2nd
7 John Savage           43 lb 7 oz
9 Gus Gausden          63 lb 8 oz        1st
11 Mac Campbell      25 lb 
13 Ian Frith               52 lb 2 oz

Six-Island

3 Perry Briggs                        52 lb 13 oz     Sec (I think)

4 Eddie McIlroy                    102 lb 12 oz    2nd

6 Jim Regan                            39 lb 14 oz

8 Steven from Scunthorpe      70 lb 2 oz

9 Lee Kendall                       224 lb 15 oz    1st

11 Peter Harrison                      2 lb 8 oz

13 Ernie Lowbridge                99 lb 11 oz    Sec 

18 Roy Whincup                     28 lb 5 oz

20 Andy Bull                           26 lb 15 oz

22 Chris Saunders                    31 lb 6 oz

24 Steve Richardson               32 lb 13 oz

Am I on a roll?

 Peg 4, Oak, Decoy, Thursday, Nov 24
There was a moment in Sunday's match on Cedar (which I had forgotten about when I wrote my  blog) when my stars suddenly aligned in the heavens, and I was blessed with momentus moument monuommental a lotta lotta luck, with a capital L. My life took a turn for the better and I didn't realise it!

It started when I turned round to pick up a top two, with rig attached, and there it was...gone. I had used it earlier in the JV match, but now it was definitely missing. Nowhere to the right, nor left, nor behind; so it must be somewhere in the lake. Then I remembered clipping the roost with my foot a little earlier, but had thought nothing of it. The top two must have flicked up into the air and fallen in the water (as Spike Milligan used to say, on The Goons). I didn't hear it, but then I can't hear much anyway.

I went to my holdall, took out my special long-handled hook, and started dragging the bottom in the right margin. I dragged into the bank, lifted, and FIRST TIME my top two emerged from the water like the sword Excalibur. There is a god after all.

Then, next day, I went to one of my online poker sites, as I do most days, and although it recognised my login, I couldn't enter any of the tables. Now I know as much about Information Technology as I do about splitting the atom, but somehow, after a lot of blind alleys, I managed to find a chat line to a Poker Stars bod somewhere in the USA. And then, in a whirl of doubt, confusion and disbelief, I took a screenshot, changed it from a Png to a jpg (whatever they are), sent it to Poker Stars with my log files (don't ask) and was given a new site to log in to, which worked! Suddenly all was right with the world.

The dreaded draw
That was until the draw for the Spratts Christmas match on Oak. I've never done much good in the 20 years I've been fishing this event - never had a draw I really fancied. And this year nothing changed - I would have been happy with corner peg 1, which won this match last year, or anywhere from 9 to 15,  towards the end where the wind was blowing, or even 7 or 8 in the middle. Anywhere except 2 to 6. But the gods decided I had had enough luck for one week, and I was dumped, moaning, on 4.

Oak 4 - I had drawn it in an October match and struggled.

The wind was fairly strong and forecast to increase, and it was cold. A feeder seemed the obvious starting method, cast across to the far side, as we were all on one bank. So I made up two rods, one with a feeder and one with a straight bomb. But I started by  trying a banded pellet, with a 1 gm float, at about ten metres, to get a feel for the swim. After 15 minutes I was biteless, and Alan Porter, to my left, took a carp on feedered maggot cast across, but I had a quick look in the side with corn, on a different rig. Nothing there so with 30 minutes gone I went to the feeder.

A nice start on feeder
To my right Martin Parker was fishing a pole, and persevered with that for a couple of hours. Within ten minutes of my starting on the feeder, cast 50 yards to the far bank,  I started getting liners. I was 100% certain they were from fish hanging around the bait (a washed-out yellow wafter in micros held together with PV1 Noir) - the tip would pull forwards slightly, hang there for a few seconds, then drop slowly back; then it would repeat. A liner from a fish just passing by doesn't look like that - usually it's a quick flick, or a straight pull which keeps going then jumps quickly back or causes you to strike (and miss).

Alan Porter, on my left, was in action early on freedered maggot.

On the fourth cast I got a proper bite and in came a 5 lb mirror. In the next 45 minutes three more came in, including a near-10 lb light-coloured mirror which put up a hell of a fight. I have found that these light-coloured carp (usually called ghosties) fight twice as hard as the brown ones. It's the same with rainbow trout - the light ones are harder to hook and harder to land.

Alan then got a couple more on his feeder and Martin had one on his pole, but immediately changed to a feeder as the wind made it impossible for him to hold out in his pole swim. To Martin's right I had seen Peter Barnes land two, and on peg 1 Callum had also landed fish on a pole and feeder. He was not in the Christmas match, which also featured a drawn pairs event, but was fishing as an individual. So there were fish in these pegs after all.

Changing bait colour

I carried on with the feeder, catching perhaps one carp every 20 minutes, without losing any. At one point, following a biteless 20 minutes, I changed to a pink wafter. I do believe that sometimes, somehow, fish become aware of a bait which is catching their companions, and avoid it, which is why so often a change of bait will work immediately. And yes, within two minutes the pink, cast across to the platform opposite, had tempted a fish well over 10 lb.

Martin and Alan both had more fish, either side of me, but I had no idea what the anglers in the higher numbers were catching, because there were bushes in the way, but assumed there would be some big catches down there. Casting accurately was impossible in the wind, but at least I was managing to land within a few feet of the far bank, which seemed the best area.

Another one for Alan - by now the sky has darkened and it was cold!

A hook-up?
One of my fish kited dangerously near to Alan, on my left, who was also playing one. Both lines came in towards the margin between us and a fish splashed on the top - obviously one of us had hooked the other's line. I got up, slackened off, walked up the bank, and said Alan could land the fish, which he did - at which point I suddenly realised my line was now not pointing towards Alan, but towards the middle of the lake. There was still a fish on my line! It was about 5 lb, and I managed to grab the landing net and claim it. Talk about luck!

After three or four fish on the pink, including two more extra-hard-fighting light-coloured fish, I swapped back to yellow, and with an hour left I had probably 14. Martin had been catching a few, but not as many as me, and suddenly, I saw he had changed back to a pole and he landed two big fish in quick succession. I hadn't had a bite for some time, so I took a chance and went back to pole. The eight-metre line with banded pellet didn't bring even a bite, but now Martin landed a third good fish, around 10 lb.

Martin Parker had a good spell on first changing from pole to feeder.

Back into the margins

Thirty minutes left and I decided to try the left margin with corn - I had been flicking corn down there all match - and I would give it just 15 minutes, and go back to feeder for the last 15 minutes if the margins didn't produce; it was a plan of sorts. Nothing came from right against the bank, so I dropped in two metres out and... a bite! The perpetrator was about 9 lb and very frisky. But eventually I got it in on the strong blue Middy elastic.

Callum - 82 lb 3 oz on feeder and pole from Peg 1.

I stayed in that swim, seeing two more tentative bites from fish playing with the bait. Once I struck and the corn was gone - a sure sign the fish were just holding it in their lips. Eventually another fish came in, and I netted it just as Bob Allen lit his 'banger' to end the match. It sounded like a  Boer war 12-pounder, and I definitely heard it! 

Unfortunately I missed the fireworks that followed as I was unhooking the fish and gingerly placing it in the third net I had ready to drop into the water - holding the net in the water in one hand, placing the net, with fish, inside, and then attaching the net to my bar. After all I hadn't expected to catch much, and had put in only two nets. The gods were playing tricks on me again...  

The weigh in

By the time we weighed in the sky was black and the rain was falling, but Bob Allen did a fantastic job recording all the weights and the team result, walking the bank while holding an umbrella above his head. 

Dick Warrener had one bigger than this somewhere in that bag!

Callum on 1 weighed in 82 lb 3 oz, beaten by Martin who had 83 lb 2 oz. I estimated I had 80 lb-plus, but both of the two  nets I had clicked at 40 lb went over out 50 lb limit! My final weight was 108 lb 10 oz, but I had dropped around 5 lb. Next peg, Alan Porter weighed 73 lb 4 oz after having a bad spell in the middle of the match.

Then I got a big surprise - only two anglers past Alan broke the 50 lb mark, led by Peter Harrison on 10 with 98 lb 3 oz, and I had won! The only explanation I have is that the wind was one of the first cold ones for a few days, so the fish at our end of the lake, which was slightly sheltered, were more inclined to feed. Except in front of Peter Harrison, who could catch from a bucket of concrete!

Just some of the prizes - plus a tin of sweets for everybody.

The presentation

Trevor is very clever - the prizes he brings out are all around the £50 mark, so there's no 'special' winning prize, and I was very happy with a voucher for a restaurant near Wisbech, where I can take the wife. Yet again Trevor had done a fantastic job over the season and with the prizes, everybody got something really good, and he has our grateful thanks.

The full results

Everybody got a prize (except Callum, who wasn't eligible on this occasion), and a tin of sweets, and Karen at Decoy had laid on the most beautiful, hot, roast potatoes and sausages for us. Finally the team event went to Peter Harrison and Martin Parker with a 181 lb 5 oz total, while myself and Bob Barrett ended runner-up (but every one of the seven teams won money).

THE FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESULT

1 Callum Judge            82 lb 3 oz        4th

2 Peter Barnes             50 lb 9 oz        7th

3 Martin Parker           83 lb 2 oz        3rd

4 Mac Campbell        108 lb 10 oz      1st

5 Alan Porter                    73 lb 4 oz            5th

6 Joe Bedford                   20 lb                  15th

7 Peter Spriggs                 27 lb 5 oz          14th

8 Dick Warrener               50 lb                    8th=

9 Mike Rawson                44 lb 11 oz        10th

10 Peter Harrison             98 lb 3 oz            2nd

11 Bob Barrett                 34 lb 11 oz         11th

12 Wendy Bedford          27 lb 15 oz         13th

13 Trevor Cousins           53 lb 15 oz          6th

14 John Garner                31 lb 2 oz          12th

15 Bob Allen                    50 lb                   8th=

Next match is Sunday on Six-Island with the JV club. It looks like I am on a roll...The wind is forecast to be SW, with rain, so 10 to 23 will be back wind. I'd rather like peg 11. Are you listening up there?

A confidence-builder with the JV club on Cedar

 Peg 5, Sunday, Nov 20
This was my second JV AC match of the season, and I wasn't particularly taken with Peg 5, as Martin Parker had fished it the previous Wednesday in the Spratts match and I believe he didn't catch a fish for the first four hours, finishing with three carp for 25 lb 3 oz, which was 10th out of 12. I would have preferred being from 7 down  to corner peg 13, or opposite.

BUT when I plumbed up I got a surprise - I had put on the rig from Peg 2 on Wednesday, and when I put it out to ten metres this swim was 18 inches shallower! Now that didn't mean it would hold fish, but at least it was different - I didn't realise it was that shallow in this area. So my plan to start on the feeder was now questionable. The wind was a stiff, cool breeze over my back - seven on my bank and seven opposite.

All match the wind blew onto the far bank; by the end it had died away.

My plans abruptly change
In fact I started in the left margin, the right margin being out of commission at that moment because the sun made it impossible to see. In any case I like to try rigs early on, to get them working right in my mind. The left margin was deep a metre from the bank - five feet or more, and just an inch or two shallower as I dragged the rig towards the reeds. I fished with corn for a few minutes, adding a No 12 shot to get the float dotted well down, and was finally happy that the rig was OK, even though I hadn't had a bite.

I was about to put out the feeder when Peter Harrison, on my right on 3, landed a fish. He was fishing a pole well out at about 14 metres, so that made my mind up - I went out with a banded pellet. I fished at only 11.5 metres, keeping the 13-metre section behind me. My GTI holdall has given up the ghost (another one is on order), so I'm using a smaller holdall- standard size - which is not long enough for my Browning sections, and I couldn't easily get the 14-metre section in, so I left it at home.

Fish on banded pellet
I went out to 11 metres, potting in 4mm pellets and a few micros, and fishing a banded 6mm, feeding each time with a pot on the pole. It didn't take long for me to get liners, but the first proper bite came after about 15 minutes - a 5 lb common. I fished there for the next couple of hours, taking perhaps one fish every 20 minutes. Two foulhookers came off, and it was interesting that I had to keep changing the shotting.

At one point, still getting liners, I came off bottom, and they stopped. Then I went back to full depth and pushed all the shot up under the 0.75 gm float, giving a long, slow fall. This brought a fish first drop, but then nothing. That happened several times - I would change the shotting and get a fish, but just the one. When the band came off I stuck on a 6mm expander and got a fish first drop, but then no more, so I put on another banded hooklength.

Steve Tilsley on 9 shows his biggest fish. It probably
weighed around 13 lb.

Jim catching on a bomb
Meanwhile Jim Regan, hidden behind a bush to my left, was landing fish, but I couldn't see his pole sticking out. Eventually I realised he was fishing a straight bomb, out in the middle, and with about seven fish in the net I also put out a bomb, with a yellow wafter.

That brought a 2 lb F1, then a fish foulhooked and lost, and then a 2 lb barbel. Opposite me Chris Saunders had just landed a small roach - his first fish. They had the wind in their faces on that bank, and must have been very cold - at this point, even with the wind on my back, I had to put on my Imax jacket.

That left margin comes good
With less than two hours left the bomb seemed to be my best bet, but bites were so slow coming I had a look in the left margin, where I had been throwing in a few grains of corn. That was a good move, as I found fish there. There was no pattern except that I only got a fish if I had just fed (corn and a little hemp). These fish were a bit bigger - around 8 lb, and I caught five or six on a size 16 Kamasan Animal hook. I have a horrible feeling that these are no longer made. But they never bend, in my experience.

With 15 minutes left bites had petered out here so I tried mussel (which I should have done earlier). This brought bites immediately, but the fish were shredding the mussel and not taking it properly. The float would pull down slightly and stay there and if I struck I would come back with still a little bit of mussel hanging on the hook. I felt I had to stick to mussel for the last five minutes and indeed at last a fish was on.

That last one was just in the net when the whistle went - 6 lb, and foulhooked! I told Jim I estimated I had 70 lb to 80 lb. Opposite, Chris Saunders had his first carp with about an hour to go and I believe he ended with three, on the pole.

The weigh in
I committed a faux pas, forgetting that the first three weigh in, and I was third. As I took the holdall back to the van Peter asked me: Are you not weighing in?" (meaning was I not helping with the scales?) I replied "Yes", thinking he meant weighing in my fish. Suddenly I realised, and apologised to Gus, who was also helping, but he just said: "That's OK." A very friendly club is JV.

Jim Regan's fish weighed 105 lb 14 oz, taken mainly on a rod and bomb. You can see
the quality of the carp - it's fabulous fishing for this time of year and we are so
 lucky to have a fishery like Decoy on our doorstep.

Back with the scales (with my phone at the ready for pictures) my fish weighed 97 lb, which, not for the first time, surprised me. But Jim's fish went 105 lb 14 oz, for the win, and very well deserved. I ended second, which I was very happy with in that company, with Barry Webb in the car park corner on 30, third with 75 lb 15 oz.

It's the first time for a long time that I have been pegged in an area, on the strips, where the best weights have come from, and getting a good catch in those circumstances gives me confidence. The results show that the fishing towards the far end was indeed hard, with Roy Whincup, who is hardly ever out of the frame, struggling for 15 lb.

Landing the fish
Afterwards at the presentation of the pools money, Andy Gausden politely mentioned - with tongue in cheek - that I seemed to have taken a long time landing my fish even though I have recently had a session with ben Townsend on landing fish quickly. He must have spent a long time watching me instead of his float (!).

Actually Andy was largely correct - I didn't land most of the carp very quickly. I wasn't bagging, so I did take my time, losing just two or three obviously foulhooked. However several times I almost got the fish in very quickly, but missed with the landing net. I was quite happy that I almost got it dead right a few times, and in any case three of the fish I did land were foulhooked. My landing net is of carbon, and fairly light and very strong, Ideally perhaps I need one of those extra-light, flexible, landing net handles, but you also need a very light net to go with them, unless you have the muscles of Arnie. 

My muscles are from Tescos!

Result on my West bank

Result on the East bank.

Next match is Spratts big Christmas presentation match on Oak at Decoy, on Thursday, with 15 fishing all down the same bank. Trevor does an enormous amount of work for the club and getting the prizes for this match, helped by Rob Allen, and we are grateful to them. I'd like peg 9 or thereabouts, please, lads!

My new edge (and fishing the feeder on Cedar)

To win at matchfishing you have to have an edge - something no-one else has. Ivan had a natural ability; Alan Scotthorne has meticulous preparation, Andy Power has some sort of Paul Daniels magic...but I have socks.

Here they are: The secret weapon that will propel me from local pools fodder to local legend. 

I know they sort of work cos last week I wore just one - I needed a very thin sock over my foot blisters so I could pull on my boots. And I hooked enough fish to probably win the match, but lost most of them. If I'd worn the other sock I would have landed every one and would have been invincible. But in fairness to my fellow competitors I will probably be wearing thicker socks during the cold weather, and leaving the magic socks at home  - after all it wouldn't be fair to everyone else to wear them both!

Peg 2, Cedar, Wednesday, Nov 16
Twelve of us in this Spratts match, from 2 to 12, so I had the end peg. The wind was into our faces from the right, but not too strong and not too cool. I had calm water at the start of the match, while most others had ripple, but I doubt that made any difference. The fact was I started on the right method but didn't persevere, and paid the price.

Peg 2 looked quite nice, with a small bush overhanging the left margin.

First 30 minutes on a hybrid feeder with maggot saw liners but no fish, and I was itching to get onto the pole in the margins, where Lee Kendall had slaughtered fish from Peg 7 last Sunday. But while I was feeding the margins with 4mm pellets I went out with a banded 6mm pellet on the pole at 11 metres. Immediately I had what were probably liners, and eventually landed a 3 lb common. I was confident I would now start catching.

But just at that moment the wind got up, and became cooler, and I never had another touch there in the next 30 minutes! So it was into the left margins with a 6mm expander over 4mm hard feed pellets and I had a good bite missed and then a good fish hooked, and lost after about a couple of seconds.

Mike Rawson had fish on a feeder early in the match.

Fish play with the bait
No more bites came there, so I moved into the righthand margin with corn. By this time Mike Rawson on 3 and Dick Warrener on 4 had had several fish,. In fact Dick came up to me and said he had about six for 30 lb. But I was certain I'd catch on corn, and carried on with the pole. In the next hour I had a lot of very tiny touches - the float would lift up and then drift under the surface and hold there for several seconds, but when I struck there was nothing there.

Those tiny touches, definitely fish playing with the bait, went on and on, and eventually I had a 4 lb common. However I simply had to do something else, so with the match more than half over I went back on the feeder, but with a yellow wafter on a hybrid feeder holding a mix of micros and method groundbait. I have seen a very intersting underwater You Tube video showing that groundbait held better on a Method feeder than neat micros, so I use both. Around this time we had a short shower, but that was the only rain.

Mike in action after about 90 minutes. You can see that there is now a big ripple.

Should have done it earlier
In the next 90 minutes I had four fish, best 7 lb, casting a little short of the far bank. Dick didn't seem to be catching much, and I then saw he had changed to pole - a sure sign he was struggling. But he landed a fish from the margin, Later he told me it was a bream. 

Dick Warrener - fourth with 40 lb 13 oz from Peg 4.

Then I hit a strange-feeling fish - I couldn't retrieve any line after striking, and got the impression it was foulhooked - how do they do that on a feeder? What felt like a sack of potatoes kited round to the right, 40 yards away, and was almost up to the next platform before the hooklength unexpectedly broke. But I'd landed four others on that rig, so why it broke is a mystery.

Half and hour to go and I couldn't resist having another look in both margins, using corn and expanders, but never had a touch. Ten minutes left and another cast with the feeder brought a 3 lb F1. By now my tiny brain had worked out that I should have taken note of how Dick had been catching in the first 90 minutes, on the feeder, and done it much earlier. I'm sure I would have had several more fish. That may be a lesson that stays with me during the winter.

The weigh in
To my amazement I weighed in 35 lb 11 oz, which just beat Mike, and was only 5 lb (one fish) behind Dick, who eventually came fourth. Better weights came  farther down, in the wind, where Alan Porter on 9 was way ahead of everyone else with 105 lb, all taken on a Method feeder cast right across, using white chocolate-flavoured wafters. 

Peter Barnes - all his fish came to a feeder.

Peter Harrison on 10 was runner-up, with John Garner, in the corner on 13, taking fish, which included barbel, from several swims, including towards the end bank, against a reed bed. His biggest barbel must have been well over 4 lb. I have been told that several around 9 lb have been landed this year on Elm and Cedar, with a ten-pounder to an angler from Doncaster. I reckon some of those I lost last week must have been in that category.

Winner Alan Porter with his 105 lb 3 oz of carp taken on white wafters.

So I ended sixth, but was not unhappy, as it gave me a bit of confidence that I CAN catch fish on a feeder. Next match with JV is also on Cedar on Sunday. There's a temptation to say I will fish a feeder...but experience tells me I must wait until I see the swim. However, I must not stay too long on one unproductive method - at this time of year fish tend to stay put, and you have to find them rather than try to bring them to your feed.

John Garner with a very nice barbel from corner peg 13.

THE RESULT

2 Mac Campbell            35 lb 11 oz
3 Mike Rawson            35 lb 8 oz
4 Dick Warrener            40 lb 13 oz        4th
5 Martin Parker             25 lb 3 oz
6 Peter Barnes               29 lb 3 oz
7 Bob Allen                   12 lb 13 oz
8 Trevor Cousins          25 lb 7 oz
9 Alan Porter              105 lb l3 oz         1st
10 Peter Harrison         61 lb 12 oz        2nd
11 Bob Barrett              35 lb 14 oz
12 Peter Spriggs            9 lb 9 oz
13 John Garner            59 lb 3 oz          3rd    

Another nightmare on Elm lake

 Peg 3, Elm, Sunday, Nov 13
A day I'd prefer to forget - the ultimate "He Could Have Done Better" report from the headmaster, and I had plenty of those!

The weather was perfect for the first JV Club match of my Winter Campaign, with 18 of us fishing on Elm and Cedar, at Decoy  - a light South-Easterly breeze with no sun, and not cold. I started on a maggot feeder which gave several bites, one small lost fish, but nothing in the net. Half an hour later I went out to 13 metres with a banded 6mm pellet and in the next 45 minutes the result was one 1 lb F1 (and I didn't know that was on).

Great conditions - overcast, mild and with a light wind.

Barbel in the margin

So into the margins, where I had been flicking corn. They were deep margins - well over six feet, and with a bush either side they screamed barbel. Sure enough, after about 30 minutes I hit a big fish from the right side. The hollow 17 elastic was set really tight - but the fish hung on for a couple of minutes, staying resolutely on the bottom, before the hook pulled. Obviously a barbel.

The elastic hadn't felt right, so I put the rig on a solid 13 and tried again in the right margin. Soon another big fish was on, and after a minute or so, even though I had attached a third section, it made a dash for my platform which I couldn't stop, and snagged me there. Hook gone.

Another change to a solid 17 and this time, even with a third section attached, a big fish was under that platform within half a second of being hooked. The power was incredible; obviously another barbel. I stayed in the right margin, but halfway through the match the score was: Barbel 5 - Me 0. The next two had pulled out. But the elastic felt as good as I could get, so I kept that on.

So powerful
The second half of the match was similar - one barbel took me to the platform to my left and broke me. Others pulled out, but I did land one of 2 lb and another of 4 lb on a bunch of maggots, which also brought a couple of small perch. I know the barbel here are big, and I suspect  all the ones I lost were well over that four-pounder's weight.

I don't recall barbel ever being quite as powerful as that (and I have caught them from the Severn)  But with the recent rain the water must be saturated with oxygen, and last year I saw one weighed at 7 lb 12 oz, so I am fairly sure they were big buggas!

Chris Saunders, a JV regular, with 64 lb 14 oz from Cedar 1.

Nine now lost
A quick re-look at the 13-metre line brought nothing, but when I came back, into the left deep margin, a 3 lb carp obliged, By now I had lost nine  fish, including one foulhooked. I knew they were almost all barbel by the way I was getting liners, and by the way they gave the bite - the occasional slow pull just an inch down, occasionally followed by a proper screamer of a bite. But it's possible even some of those were not proper bites, and that the fish were hooked outside the lips.

Forty minutes to go, and corn in the left margin brought a big fish that was obviously a carp - when I lay the pole tip under the surface and held it, the fish came to the top. Barbel don't do that. 

Anyway, that fish ended in my net and was well over 10 lb. I then had a brilliant idea - try mussel. Sure enough this brought another big fish which was obviously a foulhooked  barbel as I came back with a small scale.

Next drop with mussel and a big fish was hooked, which plodded around, deep, in a strange way - not quick enough for a barbel, so perhaps a carp foulhooked. No - it was another 10 lb-plus carp, hooked in the mouth, and it ended in my net. Fifteen minutes left and immediately another fish took the mussel. 

I have a watch on my side tray, so I know I played that fish for ten minutes, without it ever getting off the bottom. Then the hook pulled, and I sighed (as you can imagine)!!!!  That was my last excitement for the day. I assumed I would be last on the lake. And I still don't know what I did wrong to lose all those fish.

Lee Kendall had some big ole carp in his winning 199 lb 8 oz weight. 

The weigh in
In fact I wasn't last with my six fish for 34 lb 8 oz - top on the lake was Ernie Lowbridge on peg 20, to my left, with 70 lb 14 oz. If the nine fish lost but probably properly hooked had ended in my net, at an average of only 4 lb (and I think some were much bigger), I could have won the lake. So I didn't disgrace myself after all. Like Manchester United I made the chances but...

On Cedar, behind me, Lee Kendall had an incredible last hour, taking 83 lb in that time and ending with 199 lb 8 oz on Peg 7, fishing a 6mm expander on the hook over 4mm hard pellets under the bush to his right. The weights were a bit better on Cedar than on Elm. My next match is on Cedar on Wednesday.

One big blister and one small one, which has now grown.

Bites I didn't miss!
One unusual problem I had before the match was looking after two blisters which had formed on my foot on Thursday, with another on my knee - the result of some sort of bite. 

I lanced the feet blisters Saturday night so I could get my boot on (covering them with a plaster), and also the one on the knee. But while I was moving about fishing, the plaster on the knee was moved away from the blister. I tried to adjust it several times, but it always rode up.  I was worried the fishing trousers would be dirty and infect the bite, but afterwards the blister seemed to be OK, and had dried up fairly well. 

I once had a similar bite in Tenerife which the doctor thought might have been a spider. But how can a spider bite me three times while I was playing indoor bowls???

THE RESULTS

Camera operator error on this Elm result!

Cedar

The wind bloweth and the rain wetteth us on Damson

First, a correction. John Garner, who won last week's Spratts match on Yew 13 with 57 lb 14 oz, fished a pole not far out, in the deep water, and NOT on the feeder, as I wrote. His car companion Neil Pass, who fished opposite, did fish the feeder for 53 lb 4 oz and second place.

Peg 3, Damson
I was happy to get peg 3 in this Spratts match - the peg where Kevin Lee had won the last Fenland Rods match, mainly fishing the feeder over to the far side. So I had the feeder rod by me, but started on a top two in the side, as so often the fish will feed there at the start, before moving away.  The wind  was into us from the left, and rain was forecast at some time. As the match went on it picked up considerably.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. And it got worse once the wind and rain picked up.

To my surprise my banded pellet fished shallow didn't get a touch for five minutes, so it was over to a grain for corn fished on the bottom, in about two feet of water, two feet from the reeds, to my right. That did bring two F1s between 1 lb and 2 lb, in the next ten minutes. But it soon became obvious that the fish were not going to go on a feeding spree today.

I persevered with corn, and had a look under the tree to the left, but the strong wind made any decent presentation very difficult. However, I began to see movements on the float when I went back to the right, so I knew that fish were there. That was when I made a crucial decision - I freeze my left-over bait, and now put a piece of corn on which I had thawed the previous day.

A little 'secret'
Freezing the corn makes it squishy, and the kernel tends to fall out, leaving a very light bait, but one which will hold on the hook perfectly well, and I have used it for F1s in the past. This bait brought several more indications, and when I dropped it a few inches farther out, so it was off bottom, I had a proper bite, and another F1. A second came immediately afterwards. 

The bait was just hanging off bottom, and it seemed the fish were taking their time to play with the bait, before eventually taking it properly. I was counting, as I usually do, and both those fish took at around 100. I carried on putting in just a few grains, and baiting with the frozen corn, and soon had a better F1 over 2 lb. Ninety minutes had now gone, and I had to see a man about a wee problem, then walked up to John Garner, on my left. He had just one fish!

Mike Rawson shows the size of fish we were catching.

Back to my swim, and I had three hooked in the side of the face - the fish were definitely hitting the bait several times before taking it. Eventually I went out to the deeper swim, on a 2+2, and had a 2 lb mirror first cast, laying the bait on the bottom - it was too rough to present a still bait at that distance off bottom. But the next half-hour didn't bring another fish there.

I was using a 1.5 gm float there - heavier than many would use, but it held beautifully in eight feet of water. Still, if it wasn't working, I had to do something else.

I act on a whim (as you do)

Next. halfway through the match, with possibly about 20 lb in the net, I had a cup of coffee and rang my Dearly Beloved We Are Gathered Here Together, to tell her I was still alive and the life insurances would not yet be needed. The feeder rod was ready to be used - on my right Peter Barnes had had several fish on a feeder, and I thought I might be getting behind. But on a whim, when I had finished the call,  I decided to give the right margin another 10-minute look.

In went just three grains, followed by my bait, and yes, the fish were still there, but I got the impression that they were moving up and down the very steep shelf, so kept moving the rig around. Again, I was having to count to 100 before the float would give a proper bite. But occasional fish kept coming. Then the rain started! It really pelted down, but although Peter Barnes had put up his umbrella, I decided against it, because some gusts were getting pretty strong. My Imax jacket and Goretex bib and brace kept me dry, but it was a bit miserable at times.

A change of float helps
Up to then I had been using a fairly thick-tipped float in the margin, dotted right down, but now the rain made it impossible to see it. So I changed to my favourite Drennan Tuff-Eye, which has a very thin antenna. This was set to show about half an inch above the surface, but when the corn sank, it took the tip down, leaving a quarter-of-an-inch showing. This worked fine, and I could read the bites better, and a couple of better mirror carp came in, plus a couple more F1s. I kept on putting in just about three grains at a time, hoping not to excite the fish too much.

I lost about six fish, which were probably foulhooked. To my right Peter Barnes now had an occasional fish on feeder, but I guessed that towards the end of the lake, in the higher numbers, where the wind was blowing, they probably had good catches. I was now expecting an indication about 18 seconds after I dropped in, but I still had to count past 100 before the fish gave a proper bite. Very slow, but at least it was interesting.

All hands to the pump as Martin Parker weighs in.

I nearly picked up the feeder rod (!)
Several times I was about to pick up the feeder rod, but seconds later I would get a proper bite, or a fish. So I kept on the pole, and when the heavy rain stopped it was very pleasant. I then flicked in a dozen maggots, followed it with a bunch of three on the hook, and took a nice F1; but next drop a half-ounce roach was my prize! 

I looked at the watch on my tray, and with eight minutes to go I took a chance and put in hemp and some corn, hoping for perhaps two more fish...and immediately Peter Barnes shouted to me, and waved his arms around to say the match had finished! That watch was slow - it must have lost a few minutes since the last match. I was annoyed with myself, because I felt that the fish were about to feed properly. Must remember to correct it before Sunday's match with JV on Elm lake.

The weigh in
I was amazed to see Bob Barrett weigh just 15 lb from fancied peg 1, with John Garner on 12 lb on 2. My net, which I had estimated at 40 lb, weighed 45 lb 2 oz, and next door Peter Barnes had 34 lb 13 oz. I didn't photograph him because I assumed that much better weights were to come.

Peter Harrison -a hard-won 28 lb 5 oz from Peg 6.

But as we walked along the catches were in the teens or 20s, and it dawned on me that it had been hard here as well. Martin Parker had three nets in, but had split his fish and totalled 32 lb 12 oz. Even Peter Spriggs, Trevor Cousins and Peter Harrison, who are our must consistent members, had catches in the 20s. 

Finally up to John Smith, who was Golden Peg, and who someone said had been catching fairly well, but even John, on end peg 12, could manage only 40 lb 2 oz...though he said he had lost a fish at the net which must have been around 5 lb or 6 lb. Oh dear - that would have beaten me, but lost fish don't count 😂 and I ended as the winner, with John second, and Peter Barnes third. Next Spratts match is  Wednesday on Cedar.

Although the forecasters are saying it's mild, I will soon have to start wearing my heated vest, as those Fenland winds don't half cut through you. I can't remember who wrote the poem "Welcome, Wild North-Easter" but sure as hell he didn't live in Whittlesey!!

It was still blowing a hooley down on Peg 12 when John Smith weighed in 40 lb 2 oz for second.

THE RESULT

1 Bob Barrett            15 lb
2 John Garner           12 lb 13 oz
3 Mac Campbell       45 lb 2 oz          1st
4 Peter Barnes          34 lb 13 oz        3rd
5 Alan Porter            12 lb 4 oz
6 Peter Harrison       28 lb 5 oz
7 Martin Parker        32 lb 12 oz        4th
8 Peter Spriggs         20 lb 2 oz
9 Trevor Cousins      21 lb 13 oz
10 Bob Allen            16 lb 4 oz
11 Mike Rawson      17 lb 12 oz
12 John Smith          40 lb 2 oz         2nd