Jay lake, at Pidley, still loves me, Baby!

 Peg 19, Jay, Pidley, Wed, Mar 30
Thirty-Five of us turned out for the Over 60s Open on Crow and Jay Lakes, with some probably daunted by the forecast of probable heavy rain in the afternoon. In fact the rain held off but yet again I didn't get the lake I would have preferred - Crow - where my last two matches ended with a win and a second on the lake. 

Actually I don't know why I wanted Crow, since my last three matches on Jay have ended with a win and two seconds. But confidence is a funny thing, and once I'm sat at my peg I tend to assume that if I have a good result anywhere in the past it's because I had the best peg, not that I fished it well. And I remembered that the last time I fished Jay 19, a year or two ago, I ended with one fish and the angler on 18 had just two.

My peg 19 before the start, with peg 20 the first one you can see on the left.
 Roy Whincup always draws last and hadn't yet driven to his Peg 21.

I start right across
Still, conditions were good - a Northerly side wind, but very light, and I had no trouble fishing right across with 13 metres plus a half butt. Bread fished shallow brought nothing for ten minutes, at which point I saw Roy Whincup on 21 land a fish from the deep water in front of him. Food for thought!

A change to maggot shallow brought several liners, and three fish lost, all in the space of 20 minutes. I have to assume they were foulhooked. I then wasted another hour or two hoping that when the float went under and stayed under (as it did from time to time) I would hook another fish, but on the strike there was never anything there. So eventually, long after I should have rested the shallow swim, I changed to fishing to my left, just off a bunch of marginal reeds, where Allan Golightly had told me he had had fish in the past.

Allan Golightly with his final 28 lb from 45.
He put me on to fishing the reeds to my left,
where I found the deepest part of the swim.

A minor tragedy hits me
In went a few cubes of luncheon meat, followed by my rig, and within seconds I was playing a 5 lb common. Reaching for my lovely new four-metre landing net I picked up 12 inches of carbon attached to which was the net itself. Somehow I had managed to break the carbon end section, and what followed was several minutes which would have sent the other anglers into fits of laughter as I constantly adjusted the hold on the top two, and the elastic tension, until I could net the fish while kneeling  on the bank. (I didn't lie down prone as I didn't know if I would get up again with a fish in the net!) My left arm was out in front while my right arm, holding the pole, was stretched out way behind me. Most ungainly.

Luckily I carry a spare, stronger and heavier, landing net handle, but I later wonder whether that several minutes wasted cost me fish, because next drop to the reeds another five-pounder was quickly hooked, and landed safely. But that was the end of that session. After that everything I did in that swim drew a blank. meanwhile Roy Whincup was playing his eighth or ninth fish, so I had a look in the deep water in front of me on a top two.

Nothing there on corn, though I admit I didn't fish it with any confidence, nor right across again (where I had the odd liner) and since I had seen movement in the reeds behind me, in about 18 inches of water, I dropped the shallow rig in there. After one obvious liner I shallowed up to 12 inches deep with the maggot bait, and got a proper bite. The fish charged through the reeds, and how everything came free I still don't know, but eventually a four-pounder lay in the net.

How do carp do that balancing act?
That fish was hooked on the outside of the lip, which convinced me that the fish were only playing with the bait. My mate John Smith has a pond with carp and on more than one occasion when he has thrown in bread fish have somehow balanced a piece on their snout and swum around for ages - you can see the bread but not the fish. How do they do it?

Then I looked into the right margin, where a very big fish came off after a few seconds, and Mike Rawson came by to say he had eight tiny perch, but the angler to his left on 43 had some fish. At this point I reckoned Roy Whincup must have had over 60 lb. So I made the decision I should have made much earlier, to fish the deep water, on a top two.

I put in a few grains of corn, and carefully adjusted the float so I could tell when the bait was just touching bottom, and added two inches. .After no more than ten minutes I was carefully inching the bait along the bottom when it hesitated and dived under, and a 7 lb common ended in my net. Less than two hours to go, and I concentrated on this swim, which was about five feet deep. I found I had to put in a few grains, drop the rig on top, wait a couple of minutes, and then either lift it an inch, or drag it along, to get a bite.

Roy Whincup, winner of the overall match with
86 lb 14 oz. The fish all fought like demons.

I hop the bait along
When bites dried up I adjusted the rig to fish dead depth, and to hop the bait along the bottom, and had about another five fish like this, including an eight-pounder foulhooked in the tail, and including a small F1 and a 3 lb mirror from the right margin, which I fished to give the main swim a rest. Then the wind became much colder and the skies darkened and I, and other anglers, put on our waterproof jackets.

 Rain was in the air, but it never amounted to a downpour, and I managed another couple of fish before hooking a really big one with about 15 minutes to go. Somehow that one broke the hooklength, and tore the tip from the Tuff Eye float. It broke off at the body, and I have found it impossible to drill out the little bit left. So that float will be slung. I picked up a similar spare rig on a top two which I always have handy, and had time to hook another fish.

Within seconds I knew this one was foulhooked and it took me the rest of the match to get it into the net, hooked in the anal fin (that's the one underneath in front of the tail), and weighing about 7 lb. It seemed to me that Roy's catch rate had dropped, but he was obviously way ahead of me. He never fishes the really long pole, but always manages to catch fish, and is one of the most consistent anglers in the matches I fish.

Pete Holland - 57 lb 8 oz from the bridge
swim 47 for fourth on Jay lake.

The weigh in
I had seen the angler on 17, to my right, land two fish around double-figures (including one hooked in the tail) so was surprised that my 62 lb was top weight round to me, especially since the early swims had fished well in previous matches.

Roy next door and round the bend (that's his swim, not Roy), totalled 86 lb 14 oz for the lake win, with Malcolm Roberts on 35 second with 83 lb. Pete Holland had Peg 47 by the bridge, which can be really good, and I watched him weigh in, assuming he would probably beat me. But no, his weight was 57 lb 8 oz, leaving me in third place on the lake out of the 23 fishing there. Another result I was very pleased with, especially since that would obviously give me a section prize.

Too many options

I had a chat with Pete Holland on the bank, and he said what I agreed with - some pegs, like 47, give you too many options. It's not that they confuse the angler, rather that such swims hold several obvious spots where the fish could be, and it's often not possible to fish all of them properly in the time available, because the fish can move from one to the other during the match. If there's just one glaringly obvious feature in a swim then it's either there or in open water, and much easier for the angler to target just those two areas.

Crow

Weights on Crow lake were similar, won by Rob Heath with 76 lb from Peg 4, which gave him second overall under the Continental system. My next match is likely to be Spratts on Monday, April 4 on Cedar, Decoy. Here's hoping the snow, hail and cold winds currently gracing our village will have moderated by then.

THE RESULT

Jay 1-22

Jay 23-47

Crow 1-13

Crow 14-25

My bogey peg on Six-Island, Decoy

 Peg 22, Six-Island, Sunday, Mar 27
I've drawn Peg 22 several times, but never had a really good catch from it. Yet it has a brilliant reputation...in Winter. Smug Whiting told me several years ago that it's a great Winter peg because it's the deepest swim on the lake, and I know it was producing good catches up to a couple of weeks ago, including one by Chris Saunders, who told me he fished out in front, in open water, at 11 metres.

But as far as the fish are concerned, it's not Winter. Gone are the days when they made for the warmest water in the deeps because the top layers were being cooled by frosts and wind; now they are moving about, into the sun-warmed top layers. That's my excuse reading of the situation on Sunday.

Peg 22, in a cool North-Easterly which died away later in the match.

I choose Six-Island

I started this 17-entry JV match by choosing to fish Six-Island rather than Four-Island, because it has shallow areas, and is not as sheltered from the sun as Four-island, and hoping to draw anywhere between Peg 4 and 18. I didn't fancy 22, but because we don't know everything about fishing, when I got there I opted to just put a little hempseed, pellet and a few grains of corn out at 11 metres (in the deep water), before having a quick early look on a top three nearer the bank. 

A great start

Second drop in there with corn, in about four feet of water, the float dipped and what looked like a 5 lb mirror slid into my waiting landing net. Ten minutes later I hooked a big carp which leapt clear of the water twice, causing Perry Briggs opposite on Peg 2, to look up quickly. Several minutes later he watched as this one slid, splashing, towards my net tail-first! It looked to be about 6 lb.

I mention what they looked like because in fact they weighed less than that - presumably they have not yet made up the weight loss that happens in Winter when they don't feed much (at least not in the swims I draw). 

Anyway, two blank hours followed, during which I spent a long time out at 11 metres, put out a bomb with a banded pellet, had several looks into the top-three swim, and had a drink of chicken soup (if that doesn't wok, nothing will). Then a quick, speculative drop to my left brought two F1s, and a look towards the platform on my left with maggot over a bed of deads resulted in a big fish hooked, and lost about 15 seconds later, probably foulhooked.

Roy Whincup found some better fish from Peg 18.

No fish in the margins
I spent most of the last couple of hours in the top-three swim, getting several liners that looked to be proper bites, trying worm unsuccessfully, and managing to land two smaller mirror carp and another four F1s, all on corn. I tried my 'special method' which didn't produce any fish but showed me that there were fish in the swim. I even tried in the margins, but it's only about 14 inches there, and I never had a sign of a fish.

On Peg 2 Perry Briggs started packing up early, and I saw him put what I think were just a few small roach back. To my right Roy Whincup on 18 used cat meat all day and took some nice fish about ten feet from the bank.

Dave Parsons - 6th on the lake with 66 lb 8 oz.

The weigh in
Chris Saunders won on Peg 6 with 128 lb 2 oz, all on 2+1 or 2+2, and all on cat meat. Ian Frith on 8 fished farther out at the start but came into the margins later for  93 lb 1 oz and second, with Roy Whincup third with 84 lb 1 oz. I came almost last with my 28 lb 4 oz. Four-Island produced two weights over 70 lb, and was won by Peter Harrison, who is a danger wherever he draws (he would probably have done well on Peg 22!).

A strange sort of day, fished in a North-Easterly which was cold for the first half of the match, but then it died down and the sun came out and it was much, much hotter. "Changeable" is what the forecasters would describe it as.

My next match is probably Wednesday on Crow and Jay at Pidley. But the forecast is not good...

THE RESULT

Four-Island

Six-Island

Hard going with fish sunning themselves in the sun on Damson, Decoy

 Peg 2, Damson, Decoy, Friday, Mar 25
A Spratts match, with Peg 1 the one we all wanted, and it went to Peter Harrison. The main draw over, we always draw for the Golden Peg, and Trevor invited Peter to do the honours...which he did, promptly drawing out Peg One! Embarrassed? Not a bit of it...

So off the 15 of us drove down to Damson. Well 14 actually, as Mick Linnell made the executive decision to drive to Six Island lake, where he unloaded his trolley and tackle from his car, and loaded the trolley up before he realised that the last of our cars were driving down to the strips and he'd been looking at last year's venue list. So he had to re-stack everything in the car, drive down to Damson, and repeat the whole operation. Joking apart, it was really hard for Mick, who is not in the best of health, as his swim 15 was just about the furthest from the car park.

By the end, we had a ripple. Peg 1 is to the left, with the aerator in front.

Excitement over...
That was the sum total of excitement for the day for most of us - the fish, mainly up to 2 lb, were lazing about under the flat-calm surface and it was hard going. Trevor on 8 started fishing a banded pellet shallow and added 15 lb in the first quarter of an hour before he started to struggle. At our end of the lake we all struggled for a bite. I had one early 2 lb F1 on maggot in the margins, where I concentrated at the start, assuming that the deep water would probably not yet hold many feeding fish. 

Peter Harrison's fish were a better average weight than mine.

A load of roach followed, plus about three more F1s, all on maggot, until I decided to abandon that bait as I could see fish turning up their noses at it. Two hours gone and I had about 8 lb, with Callum on Peg 3 having about two fish on a bomb, and Peter on Peg 1 just starting to find fish against his end bank. A worm brought me a four-pounder, and another two quick F1s, and I had a look in the deep water - seven-foot-plus, where I didn't even get a bite. So back to the margins, where I could see black shapes moving, and halfway through the match when Shaun Buddlle came down and said he had 15 carp. I had eight.

My special method saves me
Peter then had a good run, hitting some fish which looked to be around 3 lb, on corn from a swim against the reeds on the end bank. I decided to use my special method, which I haven't used for some weeks as the conditions haven't been ideal, and it worked, partly thanks to a little ripple which appeared late on. Gradually, with constant feeding of a few grains, I started to get fish from the margins on corn, then to rest the swim I went out to the deep water on a top two, and had four fish in four drops.

Trevor Cousins - the winner with 71 lb 5 oz.

Back to the margin, and while Peter's swim slowed down I had a good last hour, taking about 13 or 14 chunky little F1s for 20 lb, on corn, with Callum just getting the very occasional fish. I could have done with another half-hour as I had the fish lining up at the end.

The weigh in
Mike Rawson told  me, while I was packing up, that the four anglers who appeared to have done best were Peter, Trevor, me and John Garner. That proved to absolutely spot on. Peter was first to weigh - 63 lb 4 oz while I had 54 lb 7 oz. Weights dropped down to Trevor, who won with 71 lb 5 oz, all on banded pallet, with his spending the latter half of the match targetting cruising fish, which went down to two feet to take the bait.

Shaun Buddle caught just three fish in the second half of the match, after having 15 in the first half, which shows how difficult it was; and John Garner weighed in 46 lb 10 oz from the end bank, Peg 17, leaving me in third place. My feeding mid-match, when the fish started moving about, had let me down - they wanted it every 30 seconds or they moved away.

Peter Spriggs had the biggest fish in the match.

Next match Sunday - my wife informs me it is Mothering Sunday, but I simply cannot recognise it as important because my mother told me, when I was little,  never to get her anything as it was introduced from America after the War as a money-making exercise.  Funny how much influence she still has with me - I still use a lot of her sayings and even at the age of 79 I miss her a lot.

THE RESULT:

1 Peter Harrison         63 lb 4 oz        2nd
2 Mac Campbell         54 lb 7 oz        3rd

3 Callum Judge          18 lb 8 oz

4 Martin Parker          38 lb 8 oz

5 Peter Barnes              2 lb 15 oz

6 Dick Warrener         10 lb 2 oz

8 Trevor Cousins        71 lb 5 oz         1st

9 Mike Rawson           17 lb 12 oz

10 Bob Allen                9 lb 8 oz

11 Shaun Buddle         29 lb 3 oz

12 Joe Bedford             2 lb 6 oz

13 Alan Porter            26 lb 12 oz

15 Mick Linnell            18 lb 8 oz

16 Peter Spriggs         32 lb 4 oz

17 John Garner            46 lb 10 oz        4th

    

I winkle out a few carp in the sun on Raven, Pidley

 Peg 16, Raven, Pidley, Wed, Mar 23
It was strange driving to a fishing match without a load of warm clothes on - no thermals, heated vest, sweat shirt, fleece and thick jacket. In fact Graham Welton echoed my thoughts when he said: "I felt half naked."

I fancied a peg on Magpie in this 41-entry Over 60s Open, but No - Raven 16 was allotted to me. Actually Raven fished the best of the two lakes, though I didn't fancy 16 because the sun is right in front of you along that stretch...and there was a lot of it!  However with no ripple, the light in our eyes was bright, but bearable.

My home for the day. This was towards the end of the match, when the sun had moved round.

I had 13 metres plus a half-butt to some reeds in front of me, but the first 20 minutes, on bread brought not even a liner. A switch to maggot, with some catapulted in, brought a 6 lb-plus carp, then two more similar ones plus a couple of F1s in the first two hours. To my right John Shearer from Saffron Walden was struggling with just a couple of fish. 

I had a dirty bottom!
There was a lot of detritus drifting about, and the bottom was also dirty - several times I came up with twigs and leaves even though I was fishing about 14 inches deep in 18 inches of water. I also hooked a long underwater reed twice, luckily being able to grab the elastic and pulling hard enough to free the rig, losing the hook only once. The tree on the far bank to my left looked fishy, but it was overhanging, and a quick look there saw me hit an overhanging twig and snag the rig, which amazingly came free when I flicked the pole. So I had to fish out from the tree, rather than under it, and never had a bite there.

Ex RAF angling star Graham Welton is usually to be
found on the river and drains, but now they are out of
season he turns to stillwaters. It was great to see him again.

Then there was a lull and I took a 1 lb F1 on a top two in the deepest water first drop, on corn, but that was the only bite I had there. John then started catching fish right across, while I had a fishless spell.

Fish on bread, then maggots
 Eventually a switch back to bread right across brought another decent carp, first drop, but no more. Then a move to maggot brought another two good fish plus a couple of F1s, and I lost about three, almost certainly foulhooked. I had to fish within about two feet of the reeds, otherwise I never even had liners.

A stupid oversight
John told me later he had put in lots of groundbait, plus pellets, corn and meat - almost every bait he had with him, and had been catching on meat, obviously on the bottom. I had lots with me but apart from trying cat meat in the deep water I never thought about using cat meat or luncheon meat across, and I didn't put in many maggots either. To my left I never saw anyone catch a fish all day.

I guessed that John had made up his early deficit on me, then two minutes from the end he hit a really nice fish, which he landed several minutes after the whistle - it looked to be about 10 lb. So the match ended and he and I agreed that it did indeed seem like Summer is just round the corner.

John Shearer, my neighbour on Peg 17,
came from Saffron Walden to fish. He took that
 big fish on his last cast of the match.

The weigh in
Chris Saunders had blitzed it round to us with 89 lb 10 oz from Peg 2, which has won or framed in several matches lately. That's the trouble when a good angler gets a good peg - and Chris doesn't let things like that slip though his fingers. I weighed 41 lb 2 oz and John next door 50 lb 2 oz - that last fish beat me. He finished fifth on the lake and I was ninth which I was pleased with from a peg I didn't fancy.

It's likely that we hadn't had enough sun to warm the water in Magpie, which is several feet deep, where top weight was 58 lb 8 oz, but it had warmed the shallows on Raven. 

Next match on Damson at Decoy tomorrow (Friday). Damson has shallow margins, and then a steep drop-off to seven feet-plus, so it's anyone's guess whether the fish will feed in the deep water. Cat meat would normally be my choice in the deep water, but I half expect to be putting maggots in with a bait dropper. Watch this space...

THE RESULT

Magpie 1-22

Magpie 23-36

Raven 1-22

Raven 23-29

 

A few bream show in the sun on Beastie, Decoy

 Peg 20, Beastie, Sunday, Mar 20.
I always leave home on a Sunday morning with a chuckle in my throat and a smile on my face after watching Match Of The Day, followed by ten minutes of Peppa Pig. Whatever the pig family does, they always end lying on their back, feet in the air, and laughing fit to bust. It's infectious.

But the smile was wiped away on Sunday when I discovered that my windscreen was covered in ice YET AGAIN. And things didn't get any better when I drew Peg 20 in the JV match. It's a sort of in-between peg, set back with 19 in a bay, and so often it can't compete with 18, and the pegs to the right, 21 to 25. 

The sun had his hat on at the draw! Andy Gausden puts Ian Frith's name on the scales sheet.

Bad memories!
I remember a Supercup match some years ago, fishing for Grebe AC, when my section was 18, 19 and 20, and I drew 20. Peg 18, which can be a real flier, won the match I think, and 19 beat me by ounces, so I came last in the section, which did my already-shaky reputation no good at all! It was the dodgiest section in the match, though I didn't expect any of the others to believe it...

Peg 20 - down five steps. Smug was sitting on 22, on the point on the right of the picture.

Sun!

On this occasion we had some sun with the North-Easterly wind, though that made it impossible to fish a little to my right, with the wind, when the match had started, because of its reflection on the water.

When 20 minutes on the feeder with a wafter produced not even a shiver on the tip, and seeing Andy Gausden on 21 get a fish on the pole, I went out to 13 metres, into the wind (cos it's easier than fishing sideways to it) and eventually, after nearly an hour, I hit a good fish on corn. After three or four minutes it came into the side and promptly snagged me on the roots of a cut-down bush just to my left.

Andy Gausden, to my right, overtook me in the last hour
and weighed 39 lb 3 oz of mainly bream.

I prodded about with my landing net, and just as I was prepared to give up, the fish came free, and ended in my net - an 8 lb carp. That was followed by a 2 lb F1, and another two fish which came off halfway in. Then a big bream which I had hooked leaped clear of the water and promptly shed the hook.

Bream on maggot
A swim at 2+3 into the wind didn't produce, but when I lay the rig out towards the right. where I had not put any bait at all, an F1 took the corn on the drop. A bream followed, and I changed to maggot, laid on the bottom about four inches, which produced another five or six bream in the next 90 minutes, and a big fish hooked on worm which also came adrift.. Andy seemed to be struggling, but as we approached an hour to go he started to catch fish.

Smug Whiting, third overall with 52 lb 6 oz on Peg 22.

A quick look in the margin with cat meat brought two liners and then a 3 lb F1, but nothing more. That was followed by another bream in the righthand swim, and with ten minutes to go I tried one drop in the margin with cat meat, and a drop with corn which produced the best bream of the day at 3 lb. Meanwhile Andy had had a good hour, and had certainly overtaken me. 

The weigh in
Our scales started at 18 where I was surprised to see that Barry Webb weighed only 26 lb 6 oz. I had 31 lb 11 oz, which came nowhere, but if a couple of the better fish had stuck I might have snatched the section. Andy Gausden on 21 won my four-peg section by default with 39 lb 3 oz, because Smug Whiting next door was third overall with 52 lb 6 oz, taken on a pole. On 24 Ian Frith fished at 13 metres with a pole all day, and corn,  for 69 lb 10 oz and second spot.

The winner was Lee Kendall on 17, who took about 45 lb of bream in the first four-and-a-half hours, before coming into the margins for the last hour and landing four lumps. He totalled 86 lb 7 oz, all taken on maggot. On peg 5 Chris Saunders fished cat meat all day on a medium-length pole, for 44 lb 12 oz of mainly F1s for fourth, and a section win.

THE RESULT

Pegs 1-17.

Pegs 18-31.

My next match is likely to be on Wednesday at Pidley, where I would like a peg on Magpie, and the water must be warming up a little by now, and I fancy the weights may be better on Magpie, which is shallower than Raven.

The barbel are feeding!

 Peg 18, Elm, Decoy, Thursday, Mar 17
A few weeks ago I tret myself (as they say in Wisbech) to a new Halkon Hunt Goretex pole jacket. It's not lined, so I intend to use it during the warmer weather, and will wear my padded Imax jacket when it's cold.

Last Wednesday the weather forecasters said the weather would be 'warmer', so I checked on the internet and for Thursday's Spratts match the temperature would get to 11 degrees, feeling like eight. BUT I took both jackets to the match and Boy, I'm glad I did. Peg 18 was almost facing the West wind  (which came in from the left) and although I didn't actually shiver, I had to zip the Imax right up and use a hood. If those forecaster thought it was warm, what planet are they from?

Peg 18. All my fish came from the margins just out from the stumps of two little bushes.

I wanted a peg towards the far end - about 9 round to16 or 17. The Winter League final produced 76 kilos (that's around167 lb) from Peg 17, which is almost opposite the famous Elm 9 - the most consistent Winter peg on the four strips. And all the top weights came from the far end. But I thought that 18, six from the corner, might produce a fish or two. 

I target barbel
Two anglers told me that 18 is a noted barbel peg. That sort of set the tactics for me, as Weather.com had forecasted the wind to strengthen from 9mph to 15 mph (with stronger gusts), which would mean that fishing at 14.5 metres would be almost impossible for the whole match, and experience has shown me that the big carp catches are almost always taken on long pole at this time of year.

Fourteen of us fished, and I started on a maggot feeder without any bites or liners. Then I went out to about 10 metres on the pole, fully expecting to get at least a touch on expander or corn, or two, but no. So it was inside on maggot. At this point I genuinely considered that the top weights would come from the far bank, where presentation was so much easier, and I though the best I could possibly do would be to come top on my bank.

Bob Barrett on 17 fished the feeder all day, taking
47 lb 13 oz of mainly barbel on a yellow wafter.

Plumbing up near the bank to my right had revealed two humps, opposite the stumps of a bush, with a hole between them at least a foot deep, with the depth a surprising six feet. I put in a bait dropper of dead maggots down there and within 20 minutes, fishing a 0.5 gram rig with a bunch of live maggots I had what I expected - a barbel, of nearly 5 lb. 

Three big fish lost
The wind never let up, so I concentrated on that area, with the occasional look on the pole up to 13 metres, and feeder, which never produced even a shiver of a bite. But in the next couple of hours three more barbel came in from the margin, and a carp about 10 lb plus one about 3 lb. I found it better to fish about a metre farther out from the hole, as the wind would blow the rig in towards the bank anyway. Unfortunately I lost three good fish, one of which was definitely a foulhooked barbel as I came back with a small shiny silver scale.

To my right Bob Barrett on 17 was also taking occasional barbel on a yellow wafter with some sort of hybrid Method feeder, with some coming from his margins. To my left Dick Warrener admitted to 16 lb halfway through the match, but the two to his left were struggling for a bite. Opposite, on Peg 11, next to the corner, Peter Harrison had a very good start, fishing a pole at about 14 metres in his back wind, though he said afterwards that some of the fish I saw him playing were foulhooked and got off.

Callum Judge also had mainly barbel from Peg 15. 

A 2gm rig works better!
As the wind became stronger I decided to put on a 2 gram rig - something I used to do occasionally in rough weather, but have neglected to do recently. It enabled me to keep the bait in the place where I was getting bites more easily than the lighter rig. That produced a barbel first drop in, and a carp about 7 lb a little later. Then a smaller carp came in, and in the last hour three more barbel ended in my net, best around 5 lb-plus, though another big fish came off.

Interestingly every fish I hooked gave a tiny bite, while I must have missed at least a dozen good bites where the float really shot under. Were they roach (I caught three), or fish slashing at the bait with their tail? I used live maggots because they are a little heavier than dead ones, but tipped them with a dead one of course.

The weigh in
Opposite me Peter Chilton on Peg 6 totalled 68 lb 14 oz after being almost 10 lb over the club's 50 lb limit in one net. He ended second, behind Peter Harrison on 10 (97 lb 8 oz) and Peter Spriggs on 7, roughly  opposite me (66 lb 4 oz). Peter had mainly barbel from his margin. The end pegs from Peter Chilton onwards all produced reasonable weights, round to me, where I weighed 51 lb 12 oz for fourth spot. I was happy with that. The anglers on both banks at the car park end struggled, with three DNWs and John Garner the best of the bunch with 9 lb 2 oz.

Next match Sunday on Beastie with JV club. Will I be able to just take my pole jacket? Or will I need the Imax again?

THE RESULT

24  Trevor Cousins     DNW                        2 Mick Rawson         DNW

22 Shaun Buddle        DNW                        4 John Garner             9 lb 2 oz

20 Dick Warrener        18 lb 3 oz                 6 Peter Chilton          68 lb 14 oz    2nd

18 Mac Campbell        51 lb 12 oz   4th       7 Peter Spriggs          66 lb 4 oz     3rd  

17 Bob Barrett            47 lb 13 oz                9 Alan Porter              18 lb 14 oz

15 Callum Judge        46 lb                          10 Peter Harrison        97 lb 8 oz     1st

13 Peter Barnes          31 lb 4 oz                  12 Bob Allan                 47 lb

I draw away from the fish on Yew, Decoy

 Peg 22, Yew, Decoy, Sunday, Mar 13
"Best peg on the lake" Gus Gausden told me as I picked out 22. Well, err, yes, for much of the year, but for the last few months, while that cold wind has been blowing, the fish have been holed up at the far end of Yew. I had looked at the Winter League results and definitely fancied the pegs at the far end (10 to about 20). In fact Yew was won on Peg 15 in that match with 67 kilos, followed by peg 16 (52 kg), 18 (32 kg), 13 (30 kg), 1 (18 kg), 26 (16 kg) and 20 (14kg). My Peg 22 was next to last with 4 kg. So it was the far end pegs that dominated.

Still, when we got to our swims on the far bank the conditions were brilliant - the wind wasn't too cold, and we were sheltered by the bank and trees behind us. There was a nice big swell, as well. So I made the decision to start on the pole instead of the feeder and bomb I had had in mind.

Before the start - a warm wind and a nice swell. It was so warm I took off
my insulated Imax jacket and a fleece (and later had to put them back on).

Uncanny
Then something uncanny happened - the whistle blew to start the match and at EXACTLY that moment the wind almost doubled in strength. Not a few seconds before, not a few seconds later - bang on the whistle! Never seen that before.

I tried the pole out at 11.5 metres, then 10 metres, but when a gust of wind blew me round to the right, so I was facing Steve Tilsley, I saw that he was now facing the angler on his right for the same reason. That was the moment we both turned to our feeders.

Not long after, Steve landed a near-double on his hair-rigged bread, while all I had on bread was a couple of tiny liners. A change to two grains of corn, then one grain, still didn't bring me a fish. Then Chris Saunders, on my left, hit a fish on pole which eventually came off. Meanwhile we could see Peter Harrison on corner peg 15 landing several big fish in the first hour, and later the swims to Steve's right started catching.

The three of us sat fishless for ages, with the wind getting colder and Chris losing another. With an hour to go I had been all over the place - bomb, maggot feeder also with worm, long pole when conditions allowed, and short pole because there had been a big undertow to begin with. Steve lost a big fish on his feeder, foulhooked in the tail, and Chris lost another. 

Ivy Tilsley plays a big fish. Unfortunately it was hooked in the tail and the inevitable happened.

Four hours gone and I'm still fishless

Forty minutes left and as the wind was dropping slightly I went out to 11.5 metres with maggot and slowly inched the bait back across the bottom towards me. When it had moved about three metres I thought it might have gone under, struck, and lo and behold, my elastic streaked out and a nine-pounder came to the net. Then Chris had a seven-pounder which stuck, and lost another, and Steve got another three fish including a 1 lb perch. Ten minutes to go and a pristine 2 lb mirror also went into my net.

The match finished and Chris said he'd fish on for a minute or two because he thought he'd hook another fish. Sure enough ten seconds later he hooked one...and that one came unstuck as well! Just not his day...

"Hold it up to the camera so it looks bigger". It weighed about 1 lb.

To Steve's right the second half of the match had seen several more fish landed, with Barry Webb on 19 having the lion's share and opposite him Lee Kendall on 13 had started to find fish on a feeder. Peter Harrison on 15 had a torrid time after the first hour, though.

Sod's Law
The fish were clearly coming on at the end, and the wind died away giving perfect fishing conditions:  The Law Of Sod, which we are all familiar with. Ian Frith on peg 6 didn't get a bite until an hour to go, but ended with five fish, including a barbel and an ide, for 31 lb 6 oz.

The weigh in
Somehow Roy Whincup had managed to winkle out 29 lb 12 oz on a feeder from peg 28, and take a golden coin from Chris Saunders, who had lost four fish but landed one at 7 lb 6 oz, and this weight was top on our bank down past us. My total was 11 lb 1 oz, which was only 1 lb 3 oz away from winning my four-peg section. Ivy Tilsley totalled 21 lb 4 oz, and I think it was the the angler next to him on 20 who told me afterwards that he had lost fish after fish, presumably foulhooked.

Barry Webb's third-placed 69 lb 14 oz from Peg 19.

Barry Webb on 19 had 69 lb 14 oz, top weight on our bank, but beaten by Lee Kendall with 82 lb 15 oz and Peter Harrison with 77 lb 8 oz. Almost opposite me were two DNWs so I thought I had made a reasonable fist of my swim after all.

A silly mistake
It was after the match finished that I made a silly mistake. Packing up saw me really struggle and by the time I had got me stuff back to the van I felt very weak, and should have asked one of the other anglers to wait until I was packed away and driving back (which they would have done in a heartbeat). But I never thought about it, and eventually I was left on my own to get the last items in the van, change my boots, and drive back, which I did in first gear because I felt quite ill and couldn't even be bothered to change gear. 

A visit to the toilet, though (my first one since my colonoscopy) saw me emerge bright and perky. However, next time I won't be too proud to have a word with someone. I'm now back on iron tablets, which should get me going again.

Peg 1-15, on the West bank.

The rest - 16 back up to 30 (which is opposite peg 1).

Next match is Spratts on Thursday on Elm, with peg 9 traditionally the outstanding peg here in Winter , and any from 9 round to about 16 on my Wish List. The top weights in the Winter League were: Peg 17 (76 kg); 14 (45kg), 9 (33 kg), 10 (25 kg), 15 (21 kg) and 12 (19 kg).

Mike does the double

 After winning Spratts' final match of last season, his first Spratts win, Mike Rawson went and won the club's first match of this year. Thirteen fished, all pegged on the West bank, and Mike was drawn peg 11.

He started on a maggot feeder but had nothing after an hour so changed to hair-rigged bread. That resulted in some huge liners so he put the bread directly on the hook, and his first four carp on that set-up weighed over 39 lb! Another blank spell followed and a change back to maggot feeder brought a barbel and some smaller carp.

 As the scales came along the bank Mick Linnell was leading with 68 lb 5 oz, but Mike's fish went just 68 lb 3 oz...until someone queried the fact that Mike seemed to have more fish than Mick. The additions were checked...and Mick Linnell's was found to have been given 10 lb too much, so Mike was declared the winner. Well done, mate. The weights were patchy, slightly favouring the Northern end where rthe wind was blowing in.

The (amended) result.

I couldn't fish this match. My next is Sunday on Yew, with rain forecast on and off all day and a Southerly wind. But I'd like a swim near the far end - from 11 round to 20, please.

I just miss out on Four-Island, Decoy

Peg  8, Four Island, Sunday, Mar 6
I can't remember who wrote the poem "Welcome, Wild North-Easter", which we learned at school, but sure as hell he didn't live in Whittlesey!

To be fair the North-Easter, from somewhere between the Arctic and Siberia, that greeted the 20 of us from the JV club at Decoy wasn't wild, but but it was cold, and the fish didn't like it either. I found it coming into me from the left on Peg 8, which I had never fished before. But I had seen Chris Saunders catch there a few weeks ago next to the reed bed on his left, and he told me that his best spot had been just over the far end. I would have preferred to be pegged on the other lake, Six-Island, where 15 were pegged, but c'est la vie. (that's French for It's A Bugga).

My home for the day, though I would have preferred to be on Six-Islands.
The lake winner John Emmerson, is on the opposite bank. Six-Island is over to the right.

A poor start
That wretched wind made it difficult for me to present a bait properly just over the far end of the reed bed, and I decided to start fishing a pole a little to my right at ten metres, towards another reed bed, using maggots. This lake is deeper than most at Decoy - almost five feet in the side and I had six feet out on my ten-metre swim.  After two hours I had one roach and another which had dropped off, on maggots, and a small F1 on corn. Then it was time to switch to the lefthand reed bed.

Maggots there brought me two tiny roach, which I didn't fancy catching all day, so I potted in about ten grains of corn out towards the far end. Immediately a four-pound common took the bait, but another twenty minutes in that spot didn't bring even a liner. A switch closer to me, still beside the reeds, brought an immediate F1 about 2 lb on corn, but nothing else, and that was the pattern all day - one fish at a time from each swim.

I spy fish!
Then, about three hours in, the sun came out, the wind seemed to be a little warmer, and three F1s drifted out from the reeds on my left. I could see them clearly; and suddenly I could see another three or four farther out in the ripple. I had three maggots on the hook and flicked the bait out to the pod in front of me, and a 2 lb F1 took the bait immediately. 

Ian Frith took this near-double on Peg 2 on Six-Island 
 from about halfway to the island, on corn (I think).

Obviously the fish were up in the water, so I quickly took a top two with a shallow rig attached out of my holdall, baited with maggot and prepared to drop it in beside the reeds. Honestly, in the two minutes it took me to do that the sun went in, the wind got colder, and I never saw another fish anywhere in the swim. I wasted 20 minutes trying shallow, before going back to dropping in anywhere I had put in bait.

An enjoyable time with a few F1s
A move back out to my original swim brought nothing, but when I took off a section and dropped into an area I hadn't baited, a 3 lb F1 came in. Back to the reeds and a 4 lb mirror took corn, and then two fish in two drops out in the original long swim - the only time that happened all day. I had to keep switching round from laying two to about six inches of line on bottom - the fish wouldn't take off bottom.

Three or four more F1s of 1 lb-plus came in the last half-hour, all on corn, from the last swim I had tried, and when the match finished I'd had an enjoyable day and probably had 20 lb-plus. I like that type of fishing - looking for one fish at a time, putting in just half-a-dozen grains of corn at a time. Of course I had no idea how the 15 anglers on the main Six-Island had got on, except that the angler on Peg 18 there had gone home a couple of hours earlier.

The weigh-in 
Opposite to me on Four-Island I'd seen John Emmerson land a couple of fish on feeder, including one very big fish after the match had finished. He weighed 39 lb, followed by Smug Whiting with 30 lb 6 oz  from Peg 6, facing the wind. I know he caught several fish from the platform to his right, which was sheltered a little by an island. Now Smug weighed my fish and said he thought they might beat him, but No - 29 lb 13 oz for me, which was third on the lake (just 9 oz out of the money). Those F1s must have weighed more than I thought.

Four-Island.

John Emmerson in fact came second overall by 1 oz - beaten by Barry Gibb on Six-Island 11 with 39 lb 1 oz (obviously) all taken on a feeder cast to the island. And afterwards Smug reckoned I would have caught on a feeder cast out towards the reed bed on my right. I'm not sure, as I could fish there with a pole fairly comfortably most of the time, and was happy with my presentation. But John had certainly done better on a feeder, so perhaps I should have tried. The trouble is that the swim screamed out "pole."

Six-Island - weights were lower than had been hoped for. (I blame the North_Easterly).

I hope to fish next Sunday on Yew, but no fishing during the week for me - in an attempt to find out why I am anaemic my doctor has prescribed a barium meal, and a Covid test at hospital, and I must then isolate until Friday, when I have a colonoscopy. That's a bit of a bummer...

A last-minute rescue act on Jay Lake, Pidley.

Peg 46, Jay, Pidley, Wednesday, Feb 2
Light rain was forecast all day, but still 32 turned up for this Over 60s match on Magpie and Jay Lakes. I paid a brief homage to my lucky mascot, Peppa Pig, before leaving home (Peppa appears at 7.25 actually), anticipating a nice, sheltered peg on Magpie with the South-East wind over my back. Somewhere between pegs 6 and 12 would be nice...

Nope; peg 46 on Jay came out, but I wasn't unhappy as the bridge peg 47 wasn't in. However, there were two slight downsides - I know that this stretch from 39 to 47 needs a full 14.5 metres to get to the other side, while a lot of other pegs can be reached with 13 metres; and the wind would definitely be sideways, from our right.

End peg, with the bridge 20 yards away to my left.

Rain all day

I decided against putting the umbrella up, though I did see one angler who had done so, and while the rain wasn't a great hindrance by the end of the match anything left out was soaked as the rain never stopped. I kept things simple - a shallow rig for the far side, a deep 1 gram one for down the track, and a lighter one in case I had a look in the margins.

 I know 1 gram is very heavy for most people, but Bryan Lakey convinced me of the advantages of using a heavy rig, which can be just as sensitive as a lighter one. Although he was known as a bream angler/leger specialist he actually made his name winning match after match on the Fen drains catching roach with huge peacock quills to defeat the wind.

A great start
First drop on the far side, using 13 metres and a half-butt with punch bread, saw the float disappear and a 4 lb carp come in. I then fancied I saw a few twitches of the float, without it ever going right under, so I knew that were still fish there, and in fact lost two a few seconds after hooking them, possibly foulhooked. But another hour on the bread produced nothing. A switch to three maggots immediately brought a six-pounder hooked in the nose, which gave me a real run-around, and then a bigger fish around 8 lb. In the next hour I unaccountably lost two more halfway in, then landed another four-pounder.

I was trying out a Matrix hollow 10/12 elastic, which is really stretchy, but this allowed me to get the pole back on the rollers quickly. Using a stronger elastic, such as I tend to use on Decoy, where the fish can be much bigger, causes problems in that department, but it has the advantage of not allowing huge fish to run straight through the next swim. In any case, on this occasion I had no-one on 47 to my left, and no-one on 45 and 44 to my right.

Down the track
Then the wind got up, threatening to break my pole, and I decided I had to have a look down the track with maggot. Before the match Steve Tilsley had told me had had about 17 lb from my peg a few weeks ago, with nothing from the far side, but that down the track had given him a few fish. The key advice was that he thought that groundbait had attracted fish in, and he had also lost some foulhooked. So he assumed the groundbait had at least made the fish curious enough to come into the swim.

I had started the match by putting some Sweet F1 groundbait in the deepest area I could find, five sections of pole towards the bridge, with my back to the wind. So now I dropped in here and soon missed a bite, then hooked a carp of about 1 lb. But fishing this swim meant the reflections were very awkward, so I made the Executive decision to start another swim more in front of me at four sections, which allowed me to let the rig drift a couple of feet to the left, after which I slowly pulled it back into the wind. This brought some small perch. one 3 lb common, and some very small touches on the float.

Fish from the margins

Another look right across was fruitless so, with 90 minutes left, I had a look in the margins. First drop into about four feet of water brought a chunky 1 lb carp, then two more came off. I know the elastic was a bit tight -the result of snipping off a few inches now and again at the connector end. So I changed it for a slightly looser elastic, but two more came off before I came really close to the bank (which meant turning right round on my box), where I managed to land four or five more about 1 lb.

Lucky Old Me with lots of fishies.

With 30 minutes left I went to the track swim and yes, there were fish there. A rudd, then carp of 2 lb and 4 lb graced my landing net before I hit another big one. Thirty seconds later the match ended and I shouted "Fish On" to Ray Myring, on my right. The elastic on this rig was Preston 13 Hollo, which was also rather too tight - the four-pounder took only about six feet from the pole. But this last fish bettered that...

Definitely foulhooked

Seconds after I had shouted to Ray, with the pole tip underwater I was horrified to see my fish splash the OTHER side of peg 47, almost under the bridge 20 yards away. I couldn't believe that the 16 hook would hold under that pressure, but it did! Clearly the fish was foulhooked.

Ten or 15 anxious minutes later a tail appeared about ten yards away, and my hook was definitely in it. I had visions of Alex, having weighed everyone in, standing behind me with the scales urging me to hurry up, or - worse- telling me the fish would be disqualified. But he never appeared.

At least five minutes after that, with my heart in my mouth I managed to manoeuvre the fish to my right by pulling lots of elastic via the puller bung, push the net in front of it with my left hand, and persuade it to dive down into the landing net. You must all know the procedure, which needs luck to succeed. So the fish was mine - all 10 lb of it! Lucky, I know, but you've still got to get 'em in! And the hook fell out in the net...

The weigh in
Mick Cox on 2 came over while I was packing away and said he had had just four fish for 22 lb, and that Steve Tilsley on 5 had weighed only 12 lb. That was a surprise to me as that stretch had fished really well when I was on 8 a few weeks ago.

Jay 1-24. Steve Tilsley fished peg 5 but obviously had a doppleganger on Peg 20!!!

Alex soon came round with the scales, and said something about 44 lb. My hearing aids are playing up (the rain always affects them anyway) and I didn't hear him properly. But later I realised he must have said I needed 44 lb, as top weight to me was 43 lb 14 oz. Good old Alex tipped my first net into the weigh bag and, without my asking, pulled out the second net and did the honours. Thanks, mate. Anyway, they all weighed 47 lb, which was top weight on the lake and second overall to a 50 lb on Magpie which surprisingly, considering the fact that the weather was not cold, fished very hard. I was a happy, but damp, bunny.

Jay 1-47. I was placed second overall under the Continental System.

My next match is on Sunday on Six-Island at Decoy. The wind direction will probably determine where the best area is. A nice warm Westerly and my favourite Peg 9 will do me nicely. And of course I will watch Peppa Pg before I leave home.

Magpie 1-22. Weights here were much better than on the other half of the lake.

Magpie 23-36.