I blow it on Six-Islands, Decoy

 Peg 14, Sunday, May 29
Eighteen fished John Garner's Annual Invitation match, and with a very cold, strong breeze from the North, and with previous winner Tim Bates drawing Peg 20, downwind of an island, where the water was sheltered from the wind, I made him favourite in my own mind to win. It was only later, just before the match started, that I heard he had accidentally left his five pints of dead maggots in the freezer. Oh dear! 😢

John, with the draw bag gets the draw underway while Bob Allen makes a note of our pegs
 (we have been known to forget!)

My draw on 14 put me, and three others (10, 11 and 12), right in the face of the wind but at least I assumed it would be too cold along our bank for the fish to be spawning. Actually I have happy memories of Peg 14 as it was where I once took what was then my best match weight - about 176 lb from memory - and I could remember where most of the fish came from. They came from the left margin, which was, and still is, much shallower than the area to the right, which drops down to almost four feet against the tree, which is only about five feet from the platform, meaning there's no long fishable margin that side.

A cool facing wind greeted us, and later I had to put on my fleece and my waterproof jacket as it became even colder, and rained.

I just wanted to beat Shaun
I had Shaun Buddle on 12 to my right. Shaun can't stop catching fish this season, and I thought I would be happy to beat just him, as I didn't fancy the swims on our bank compared to those which were more sheltered. The wind meant I gave up the idea of fishing long, though I had a feeder rod made up beside me. 

First probe was at three sections in front of me, in the deepest water, less than four feet, where I put in micros and corn. In the next 90 minutes this produced a carp of 6 lb, a smaller one of 3 lb and a couple of small F1s around 1 lb, as well as some roach, several of which dropped off. It looks to me as if the new owners have stocked the lake with F1s, as I don't remember seeing fish that small before, and they don't breed.

Mussel does the business
With 12 lb in my net I then walked up to Shaun, who said he had 18 lb, and he was fishing mussel right in the side almost under a small bush. That had been my next move anyway, so when I arrived back at my box on went a mussel. The next hour was frantic - first a foulhooked carp from the left margin which came off; then a fish around 14 lb, followed by about three more big fish around 10 lb and a couple of F1s, as well as one or two more lost. 

My big mistake

Shaun Buddle, next to me, was among the fish yet again.

I then made a massive mistake - because I was getting liners and what looked like proper bites (all of which I missed) I stayed there for another hour. Eventually I saw some sense and went into the deep water just to my right, where another good fish and a 3 lb F1 came in quickly. A little over half the match gone and I had over 60 lb. But yet again I stayed too long in that swim before changing back.

The switch to the left margin saw another carp, around 3 lb, and an F1 on corn and I stayed there far too long...again! The wind became colder, and we had some rain, and things were not looking good now that those big fish, which were still in the swim (I could see their vortices in the water), would not feed properly. Every time I fed corn or pieces of mussel they came in, swirled, and gave me liners. So frustrating,

Back to the righthand swim and I had about one more F1, another fish or two lost, and then the match ended. In the last half of the match I probably had about 12 lb.

A right Wally
I should, of course, have ignored both margin swims for a time and gone back to the first swim, where at least I had had fish early on, which was probably on a par with the rest of the field. I should also have tried switching baits - a worm produced just a gudgeon, and cat meat was ragged by roach, but I had paste with me, and maggots, and pellet, none of which I tried on the hook in that swim. Or I could have tried the feeder.

I also found that one or two fish had come from just beyond where I had fed, but didn't try a little farther on, next to a tree on my left, even though I had plumbed up there and marked it as a likely-looking area. Frankly I fished that second half like a Right Wally.

The weigh in

I assumed there would be many weights over 100 lb so was astonished when my fish, weighed at 85 lb 12 oz, was second best weight up to me, beaten only by Shaun with 88 lb 13 oz, who told me later that he had had three-quarters of his fish on paste. Obviously that cold wind had affected the fish all over the lake.

Mel Lutkin, who does so much for the Fenland Rods club, was third from Peg 25.

Round to the pegs from 16 onwards, who had a side wind (except for 24 and 25 which had back wind) and both Kevin Lee and Tim Bates both had over 75 lb, but not enough to beat Shaun. On 25 Mel Lutkin found fish four metres out from the bank to the tune of 81 lb 14 oz, with not a fish from the margins. That put Mel into third spot, leaving Shaun as the winner, and me an undeserved second. But I'll take that!

Afterwards several anglers told me that the small F1s had been a real problem, so I wondered whether putting in mussel had kept the larger fish interested while the smaller fish had dropped away. No matter - it's just another challenge when we next fish that lake.

Mussel
I buy them frozen from Tescos in bags at about £3.50. Leave them frozen until you get up in the morning. By the time the match starts some will be thawed, and any that aren't take only seconds to thaw in water from the fishery.

I hook the mussel through the tiny round piece of gristle that looks like an eye. I then cut the mussel in half, diagonally, trying to ensure that the two black 'lips'  round the end stay fairly compact. If there's a piece hanging loose roach and smaller fish try to tug it.

HOWEVER Shaun fishes his mussels whole, which I am happy to do if it's a small specimen, but I'm not confident doing that it's it's big and fat.

Any that are not used MIGHT be OK once more if they have not been left in the sun, provided you re-freeze them as soon as you get home. In my experience once is the maximum number of times you can re-freeze them and use on the hook. However when they go mushy they are fine when cut into pieces and fed as loose feed.

THE RESULT

2 Bob Allen                     34 lb 3 oz
3 Kevin Beavis                17 lb 14 oz
4 Dick Warrener              40 lb 4 oz
6 Dave Garner                 39 lb 7 oz
7 John Garner                  50 lb
8 Martin Parker               DNW
9 Peter Spriggs                59 lb 12 oz
10 Callum Judge              38 lb 13 oz
11 Roland Butcher           35 lb
12 Shaun Buddle             88 lb 13 oz        1st
14 Mac Campbell            85 lb 12 oz        2nd
17 Allan Golightly            16 lb 2 oz
18 Joe Bedford                24 lb 8 oz
19 Kevin Lee                   80 lb                 4th
20 Tim Bates                   75 lb 4 oz
22 Trevor Cousins           62 lb 10 oz
24 Mick Rawson             17 lb 5 oz
25 Mel Lutkin                 81 lb 14 oz        3rd

Next match

Next match Wednesday on Damson at Decoy, which is an unusual lake, unlike any other. Shallow margins drop down to eight feet only about five feet from the bank. The shallows used to fish well for an hour at the start, but recently that's not been the case, possibly because the fish are now bigger and have wised up.

Plan A in operation on Oak, Decoy

Peg 22, Tuesday, May 24
Firstly I must refute the monstrous allegations that I moaned about having peg 22 drawn for me. Fourteen of us were fishing this Spratts match, on both banks of Oak, using alternate swims, and I simply said that I would have preferred a swim towards the Northern end of the lake - 11, 13 or 15 on the West bank or 16, 18 or 20 on the East bank, cos that's where the best weights came from on Sunday. I may have used choice and unprintable language, but me moan? Never (well hardly ever).

But peg 22, which I had fished on Sunday when I came fourth, was where I was imprisoned for the day, with a big bunch of irises preventing me from fishing the margins to the left. Not that I'm moaning, of course. Afterwards some anglerrs said they had fish spawning in their margins, but although there were a lot of swirls in mine I doubt if they were actually spawning there.

Peg 22 and those irises are still there. But the wind (and rain and hail) was in our faces.

A better margin
When I fished on Sunday Allan Golightly was on 21 to my right, and although we are allowed to fish halfway to the next platform when there's an angler there, it would have been stupid for us both to do that, as we would have been fishing the same spot, so I fished about a quarter of the way along. Today Peg 21 was unoccupied so I could fish right up to the platform if I wished. However with the facing Westerly wind, and rain forecast, I plumbed up just halfway along and found a lovely flat area about two feet deep.

Two feet is always a good depth to fish in Summer if you can find it, so that was my first option, and with the top weights on Sunday taken fishing up to four sections, that would be my second swim. And it started well  - I baited a swim at 2+2 out with micros and hemp, and then had a drop in the margin, also on 2+2, with corn. First drop I had a liner, so I knew there were fish there. But although attracted by bait, would they feed?

To my right on 20 Dick Warrener shows me a big mirror,
while he is dreaming of the fight he had with it.

Fish!
The answer came quickly - Yes. First fish, a common carp, was about 3 lb, the smallest of the day, and soon afterwards another came in at 8 lb. Then more liners so I went out to the long swim where a small piece of meat brought in another eight-pounder, followed by two lost fish on corn, which made me wary of going out there again  immediately.

Micros and a little hemp went in the margin swim, and I followed it by cupping in a couple of cups of water from a height to make a splash, and that brought two more good carp. I was surprised how warm they were - they felt lovely when I unhooked them, as the wind was quite cold. Dick Warrener from 20 came up after about an hour, and said he had three fish, while I had five. 

A bad spell for Dick
A little while after he went back he had a really bad spell for about two hours, while I started catching well - he said he should have come up to me for advice, and as it's a club match that would have been fine. I think the key was to bait with the big pot, then follow it up with about six grains of corn in the small cup, followed by my lowering the bait - a single grain of corn, straight down on top of it - not laying the rig out in a line.

The perfect elastic on the day
The Middy blue 18-22 elastic was perfect for these fish, which were mainly around 8 lb, and I was landing them fairly quickly. They kept biting, even when a hailstorm hit us. When that happened I couldn't see far, so started another margin swim nearer the platform, (which I had always intended to do) on a top two, using the same rig. First drop in the hailstorm a fish nearing double-figures came in, and I kept dropping in here to rest the longer margin swim. I had a fair number of liners, but resisted the temptation to strike unless the float went straight down and stayed there.

John Garner, on 26, had 131 lb and didn't even frame!

The four-section swim out in front of me never yielded another fish, though I tried it a couple of times, and by three o'clockish, after a  couple of heavy showers, and several more fish, all around 8 lb, I went back to the van for more nets, having used three. That last hour was probably the best hour, as in the next 40 minutes I  had another five fish around 8 lb each. I had just one fish foulhooked, which bade me goodbye and left me with a scale after a few seconds.

Then the weather altered, and we had our first glimpse of the sun, which came out to mock us with just minutes left.

My last fish - a conundrum
I hang a watch in my Nu-Fish side tray, and with it showing about ten minutes left I had another good carp, which left me with about six minutes on the clock to get another, which I duly did.  One minute left on the watch and I dropped in again, and within seconds the pole was nearly wrenched out of my hand as a fish hooked itself. I thought it was probably foulhooked and would come off. I sighed, dropped the top two down to the surface, and gritted my teeth as I looked around, to see Martin Parker, opposite, did not have his pole out. 

Peter Spriggs, top on the West bank with 172 lb 15 oz.
Notice how the sun came out especially for him!

Had the match finished (I didn't hear any shout)? To my right both Dick and Peter Harrison on 18 were playing fish, so I shouted to Alan Porter on my left: "Are we finished?" I couldn't hear his reply, but opposite, Joe Bedford signalled that it was over. So was that fished hooked before or after the end? I will never know, but I did what anyone else would do - I played it in (not foulhooked after all) and put it in my fifth net. As you do.

The weigh-in
Bob Allen did a superb job on Peg 3, on the opposite bank, taking 166 lb 2 oz, with every fish on paste.  On Peg 5 my mate John Smith couldn't catch, so asked himself: "What would Mac do?" (I used to ask myself 'what would Ivan do?'). That led to him using mussel for the first time, (which I had introduced him to) and to his delight it worked to the tune of 95 lb 8 oz, with every fish falling to mussel, a bait I didn't need to use today, though I had some with me. Top weight on that bank was Pete The Meat on 13 with 172 lb 15 oz, but on 16, the corner peg on my bank, Shaun Buddle said he might have 200 lb.

Shaun Buddle - 191 lb 13 oz using a whole mussel on the hook. He ended second.

Shaun actually weighed in 191 lb 13 oz, also taken on mussel, mainly from a swim  just out from the shallow margins, towards the corner. I also admitted to about 200 lb, which I would have had if one net hadn't been 1 lb 13 oz over our club's 50 lb limit. The total was 199 lb 14 oz, leaving me as the winner, with almost 70 lb of that taken in the last hour.

  

Me with 199 lb 14 oz, all except one fish taken on corn.

Playing those big fish made my back ache...but it was worth it. Next match is John Garner's invitation on Six Islands at Decoy. This L-shaped lake is likely to fish better in one arm than the other according to where the wind is. But I'm on a roll, and promise not to moan at my peg (at least not out loud).

THE RESULT

28 Trevor Cousins          119 lb 10 oz            3 Bob Allen            166 lb 2 oz  4th
26 John Garner          131 lb                       5 John Smith           95 lb 8 oz

24 Alan Porter                  86 lb 1 oz               7 Mike Rawson        DNW

22 Mac Campbell          199 lb 14 oz  1st        9 Joe Bedford          39 lb 11 oz
20 Dick Warrener            81 lb 4 oz               11 Martin Parker       39 lb 8 oz
18 Peter Harrison           116 lb 12 oz            13 Peter Spriggs       172 lb 15 oz  3rd
16 Shaun Buddle           191 lb 13 oz   2nd    15 Bob Barrett           65 lb 13 oz

The fish play hide-and-seek on Oak, Decoy

 Peg 22, Sunday, May 22
Eleven fished this Fenland Rods match, on pegs 16 to 30, on the Eastern bank of this strip lake. Before the match started John Smith told me he thought the swims at the far end (the lower numbers) would fish best as the South-Westerly wind was blowing into that corner, and apparently Peter Spriggs had won the Friday Old Codgers match on Yew lake, the strip next door, from that end.

I still thought that the pegs around 21 would dominate, as they have good, shallow margins, and are noted swims, so I was very happy with 22, even though on the left side there was a patch of irises which meant only the righthand side offered me a margin, with Allan Golightly on the next platform, so it was really half a margin.

Since I can't find out how to caption a video, this was my swim at the start:

The wind got up quite strongly soon after the start, and it was cold enough at times to have some of us put on extra clothing, except for the last 90 minutes, when it warmed a little. That cool wind, I am convinced, was the reason the shallow margins didn't fish well along most of the bank. 

My plan
My plan was based on a Facebook entry by Tom Edwards, from the Boston area, who in my opinion is one of the very best commercial match anglers in the UK. In a recent match on Oak he said that 'hard pellet short and then the margins is the only was to win on Oak.' So I started on  a banded 6mm pellet in the deep margin, on a top three, and missed a bite first drop. The plan was working!!

Nope, the plan came unstuck when, five minutes later I foulhooked a 2 lb barbel which threatened to snag me under platform 20, stretching the 13 hollow elastic to its limit before ending up in my landing net. So immediately I put out another rig on stronger elastic with maggot bait to lure more of those pesky barbel which were lining up along the bottom and waiting for my bait to descend.

On Peg 24, on my left, John Smith hooked several
good fish on a waggler, but landed only two, the
others obviously foulhooked as he came back with scales.

So I waited, and waited, and waited a bit more, for that bite, which never came. So I went back to the pellet rig...and promptly, in the next hour, foulhooked about five big fish which came adrift, plus one that didn't. That's always been my fear with using hair rigs on a pole - the bare hook is the problem.

The shallow margin
So I had to look in the margin to my right, before I had expected to, which was about six inches deep next to the bank, running down to about two feet before falling at least another two feet in a sheer cliff-like drop. I chose to fish at 18 inches, dragging the rig back until the corn touched bottom, and Yes! An 8 lb common was my reward.

Meanwhile Allan Golightly on 21, to my right, had landed two or three fish that looked to be at least 10 lb (though other anglers' fish always seem to be bigger than they are), including  two which I think he said were foulhooked. Everyone had the same problem - probably fish that spawned last week and are waiting to do it again. 

In the next 90 minutes two more came from my shallow swim, plus another couple lost on the banded pellet in the deeper swim. From then on I alternated between corn in the deep swim and the margin, where fish, frustratingly, would come to loose feed - I could see the swirls - but although I had several good-looking bites they must have been liners.

To my right Allan Golightly spent time in the
middle of the match fighting two good fish for ages,
both foulhooked, but he landed them.

My theory
Every time I put bait in the deeper swim I had liners, but also two more carp around 8 lb. I am convinced that fish were coming to feed but were not really interested, as putting my rig in a spot where I hadn't put in feed gave me the occasional liner, but always from fish just under the surface. 

Then, with 45 minutes to go I tried mussel - and first cast, even before it had hit bottom, my bait was taken properly and another eight-pounder came in. The tight Middy blue elastic 18-22 (I think)  was perfect.

Small pieces of meat
Callum Judge, three swims to my right on 18 had been catching on 2+2 and now carried on taking fish fairly regularly - perhaps one every 20 minutes and I guessed he would win easily. He told me later that, not for the first time this year, he had been catching on very small pieces of cat meat but had fed just three biggish pots of pellet, micros and a little hemp all day.

One more came to mussel before my match ended and I finished with eight carp and that barbel. I had lost eight foulhooked, and two which I bumped in the margins.

Martin Parker (who has a complete head) with
had two double-figure carp in his 63 lb 2 oz.

The weigh-in
The weighing started at Peg 30, at the car park end, where Dave Garner brought 52 lb 13 oz to the scales. Dave hardly ever ends up out of the frame, so clearly I wasn't the only one who had struggled. The weights that followed were all in the 50s and 60, top being Pete The Meat on 2 with 64 lb 9 oz.

Those weights, when I saw them for the first time, astonished me, as I tend to think that everyone else will be bagging up when I am having trouble, and Oak can produce some very big weights. More head-shaking when my comparatively-meagre 68 lb 9 oz topped the weights down to me. I really had assumed that I had been banjoed by almost everyone.

Beyond me Allan Golightly was two decent fish away from beating me, with 52 lb 15 oz, and Martin Parker was even closer to me with 63 lb 3 oz, including two that were well into double-figures.

Callum Judge was the first of the last three to weigh,
ending as winner with 119 lb on a very difficult day.

Far end pegs ruled
Then came the final three, at the windy end of the lake, and as John had forecast earlier they took the top three places, with Kevin Lee catching 101 lb 10 oz on 2+1 and Callum winning with 119 lb on 2+2 and his meat. Kevin told me that he had just two fish in the margins - a small barbel and a small carp.

Kev Lee  prepares to take his runner-up  101 lb 10 oz to the scales.

James Garner (son of Dave on Peg 30) somehow managed to take 
several fish from his shallow margins in the last two hours.

In the corner James Garner, who rarely fishes our matches now was third with 92 lb 7 oz, thanks partly to a good last two hours where he managed to magic some fish out from his margin. If James fished all out matches I have little doubt he would end as our Club Champion - I've never known him to have a poor weight. 

THE RESULT

So I ended fourth, in the last frame place, and I'm back there Tuesday, where I suspect we will fish both banks, and that means that some of us will probably have two full margins to fish in. The wind is forecast to be North-Westerly so the far end may be favourite again. 

Three days on different fisheries

 Friday, May 13, Fields End, Doddington, near March

No matches in the week, so John Smith and I went to Fields End, where I wanted to practice fishing banded pellet and paste, neither of which I do much of.

I take these occasional practice sessions seriously, so took just pellets of various sizes and paste, plus a little leftover hemp which I had frozen, and half a tin of cat meat which had been frozen inside the tin of hemp. And surprisingly - being as how it was Friday the Thirteenth - it went fairly well for me.

I started on a pellet waggler cast about 30 yards in this old irrigation reservoir, and had a 2 lb chub first cast. Four more followed, plus a small carp, until they disappeared. I spent the next hour or two catapulting out just four or five 6mm pellets at a time, but apart from liners and a couple of small roach, I drew a blank. So it was on the pole on four sections, in the deep water, on banded pellet.

This was also difficult, and I had about two small carp; then another session on the pellet waggler brought an immediate near-4 lb ide, which came in like a wet rag. Meanwhile John was taking carp around 4 lb or 5 lb on a top two on his paste. I resisted the temptation to come inside, where I know there are usually plenty of fish, until the last couple of hours. 

Those last two hours saw me start catching quite well on a top two using paste over micros and hemp. I tried Sonubaits One-On-One mix, but it seemed a bit flaky, though I did catch on it - fish up to 4 lb. My home-made paste based on Trigger (a basic boilie mix) did much better, as the various ingredients I have added made it stick on the hook really well, even when wet. First drop with cat meat brought a fish, but then it stopped working and paste was King.

John clicked over 150 lb, while I had perhaps 60 lb, but I left feeling that my confidence in paste was now sky-high, and I spent much of the next morning experimenting. I had been particularly impressed with John's bowl of Supercrush groundbait which made up a nice paste, but I haven't bought any yet - I have four different balls of paste in the freezer for when the occasion demands.

All-round a good day for me, even though the banded pellet didn't work very well. 

Sunday, May 15, Kingsland, Coates, Whittlesey

I forgot to take my phone to this Fenland Rods match, so no pictures. Eight fished and I drew Peg One, the swim in the first corner you come to on the small carp lake. I've always fancied it as there's a big reed bed just to the left (about eight feet away) and in front of the swim. It looks carpy because of the snags, and on this occasion there were hundreds of carp in the swim just to my right - spawning.

I've never seen so many carp together splashing about - they were there until half an hour before the end of the match, drifting in to the side in just a few inches of water. They came in pods of six or eight, and sometimes on their own. I could have netted dozens, and while it was an amazing sight it meant that I couldn't fish the margin, while everyone else seemed to be doing so, and I resigned myself to probably coming last.

A fish first cast
First cast and I managed to drop a floating expander into the mouth of a cruising carp (surface fishing is allowed here, and is very popular with pleasure anglers). Then the fish seemed to go off the loose feed I had put in, though I did see a sad sight...

Four carp were coming up for my floating pellets, but couldn't seem to actually take them in - they were just pushing them all over the swim with their snouts. Then I realised that they all had deformed mouths, and that led me to wonder whether some of the 'liners' I would get were fish that couldn't take the bait in. Food for thought. I spent half an hour trying for another on the surface but then had to give up. The other anglers didn't seem to be bagging.

Fish on corn, and problems
Anyway, I soon went to potting in half-a-dozen grains of corn three sections out, in about three feet of water, and dropping my bait on top. The thinking was that since there were lots of fish around I didn't need to attract them - just tempt one at a time to be curious enough to come in to the dropping bait and perhaps have a go. That worked and brought me a lot of bites, a lot of hooked fish, and some catastrophes. I would hook a fish, play it for a few seconds on my thick orange hollow elastic, but when it came to a certain spot opposite my lefthand keepnet it would suddenly put on a remarkable turn of speed and make for the reeds in the corner.

Time after time I had to grit my teeth and hang on, but more often than not the fish either pulled off, broke the 6 lb line at the hook, or snagged me in the reeds and came off. I was reluctant to use a 10 lb rig I had made up as I didn't want a fish to snag itself in the reeds with that attached. I've never had that elastic stretched so far.

I break a section
I lost about five rigs, and each one meant that I had to get off the box, pick up my special long hook, and try to at least get the elastic back. I managed that, and sometimes got the float back as well; but one time as I moved around the box I must have pushed against my Number Three section and it broke clean in half. Luckily I always carry a spare short Number Three, but it's still annoying.

I have never, ever, in 65 years fishing, hooked fish with such strength. I have to assume that as they were willing to feed, the fish I was hooking were full of the fishy equivalent of testosterone and ready to spawn, though none of them seems to hold spawn. Perhaps they had just done so.

I had tried cat meat but it was nibbled away by the little carp about 1 oz each, with just one coming on sweetcorn - and that was foulhooked! But to my right I knew Kevin would be using cat meat, and he was catching now. I resisted the temptation to put in a load of bait to bring a bite as I know that would just bring in the tiny fish.

If that sound arrogant, then all I can say is that there's not point in getting experience over many years if you don't take notice of previous lessons learned.

Ready to pack up
After an hour and a half I had 25 lb, then bites tailed off, and then they came back and the same thing happened - lost fish. I was so fed up that with 50 lb in the net I got up and had a walk to Dave Garner in the famous Peg 17, on its own, who said he had 120 lb on cat meat, but had lost fish in the same reed bed. Back to the swim and after another couple of lost fish I was seriously thinking of packing up, so had a walk to Kevin Lee, who had 90 lb. That short walk settled me down a little.

Back to my swim and I did the only thing I could - I got out the strongest solid elastic I had - Middy blue (think it's about 18-20) and cut off a foot to tighten it right up. That did the trick! The last two hours brought about another 50 lb, though even then a couple took me into the reeds in the left margin and I lost the hook. I could see them wallowing in the reeds before they came free - only about 4 lb.

The weigh-in
I had just got into a rhythm when the match ended and was amazed to see the weights up to me - much lower than I had assumed. Kevin Lee on Peg 3 to my right had 170 lb 4 loz, and I know he had a lot from the margin, and my 105 lb 11 oz was second with just Dave Garner to weigh. He had a magnificent 204 ln 3 oz on cat meat, leaving me third. You could have knocked me over with a pole float.

Result: 

1 Mac Campbell        105 lb 11 oz        3rd

2 Allan Golightly        79 lb 6 oz

3 Kevin  Lee                170 lb 4 oz       2nd    

4 Peter Spriggs            84 lb 11 oz 

5 Martin Parker            50 lb 8 oz

6 Callum Judge            83 lb 12 oz

7 Dick Warrener            41 lb 5 oz

17 Dave Garner            204 lb 3 oz        1st

Monday, May 16, Elm Lake, Decoy

I got into a bit of a Tiswas, thinking the match was on Oak (that's next week) so when 21 came out for John Smith I told him he was on a flier. In fact 21 on Elm is not at the end I would have chosen - I would have picked anywhere from 8 down to 12 and the opposite bank from 13 back to 17. Peg 6 came out for me, and I didn't expect to win from there. Still, I was going to enjoy myself.

Calm water near our bank for a lot of the time, but a nice ripple later.

There are barbel on Elm, so after putting some micros and corn out to five sections of pole I started inside on maggot over deads and hemp, to my left, which was the most comfortable side as the sun was in from the right. The cool wind was behind or from the right most of the time. I got liners immediately, but they wouldn't turn into proper bites. Eventually a 3 lb carp came in, then a bream about 2 lb.

More bream

I concentrated on the bream and four more came in, with the last one of about 3 lb doing a passable imitation of a leaping trout. But no carp. To my right Peter Harrison seemed to be struggling for a fish, sometimes fishing long and then closer, and eventually in the margin.

In the middle two hours of the match two carp about 4 lb came from my long swim on corn, then an F1 from the margin on maggot, and finally another 3 lb carp on the long swim. I now had 22 lb. To my left ninety-something Joe Bedford had had four quick fish on a feeder, which left me wondering whether I should have used one. Another three came in later, but I felt that perhaps things would get better in my swim on the pole line.

Bob Barrett was on 23 - the worst end of the
lake, but had one very big fish in his 26 lb 1 oz

Ninety minutes left and the sun had moved round sufficiently far for me to look in the right margin, where the shallow swim didn't yield any bites when I had a quick look there. So it was into the deep water about six feet from the bank. And there I had a bite (which I missed) on corn over corn.

My best-ever carp?

A little later and all hell broke loose when I hit the next bite. I thought at first I had hooked a bream, as a fish came slowly towards me. Then it sort of stopped and took a deep breath, and plodded off towards the middle of the lake. I was on hollow 10/12 elastic and in no time it was stretched out about 35 yards - I know this because the fish splashed almost in front of Bob Allen who was opposite - he looked up and probably didn't realise I was attached to a fish which was about to jump into his keepnet.

But the hook held and over the next few minutes I would strip back the elastic so the fish was about ten feet away, then it would turn and go and have another look at the far bank. Backwards and forwards we went, with the fish playing me quite expertly. Then, though I could hardly believe it, the fish started to come to the surface for a few seconds and I thought I might possibly land it after all. I could see it was a mirror.

My big fish was really broad across the shoulders and 
looked about 17 lb. Sorry about the anguished look on my face!

My juggling act

My problem was that the fish was so big it wouldn't be possible for me to scoop it out as it cruised past. And indeed I had to lay it on the surface and literally juggle it into the net because when its head was well into the net a lot of its body was still outside. Then just as I started to lift the net the fish came alive again and threatened to drag the net out of my hand. But luck was on my side and it came in.

When I looked at it in the net I was astonished how broad it was across the shoulders - I estimated it at 17 lb. So I had 39 lb in the first net.

Not finished yet

Minutes later I foulhooked another fish which shot off for the far bank but came off and trashed the float. I took the opportunity to change the 10/12 hollow elastic for a 13 solid, put on another rig and dropped in again - less than 15 minutes left. Now Peter Harrison was starting to catch fish as well.

John Garner, fourth with 81 lb 10 oz, with a barbel.

Ten minutes later a 3 lb carp took my corn bait. Two minutes left and I dropped in again...and hooked another biggie. This one didn't go quite so far as the first, but it insisted it wanted to pay a visit to the platform on my right, which was unoccupied. It must have reached it eight times, but always came back to me. That was landed several minutes after the match finished and was about 10 lb - a common.

The weigh in and a change of name

As I had thought, the best weights were all past me to the left, at the Northern end of the strip lake. Peter Spriggs won with 95 lb 6 oz from Peg 10, not on his usual paste, but on cat meat. So now he's not Peter The Paste, he's Pete The Meat! 

Winner with 95 lb 6 oz, and no longer Peter The Paste,

Peter Spriggs will henceforth be known as Pete The Meat!

Happy to come second - Shaun Buddle.

Alan Porter, third with 86 lb 3 oz from Peg 17.

Peter Chilblain Chilton shows just how big some of the barbel have grown.

RESULT

24                                                                            1

23 Bob Barrett        26 lb 1 oz                                2 Trevor Cousins        32 lb 9 oz

22                                                                            3

21 John Smith          29 lb 7 oz                             4 Peter Harrison            50 lb 12 oz

20                                                                            5

19 Bob Allen            30 lb 12 oz                             6 Mac Campbell            59 lb 10 oz

18                                                                            7 Joe Bedford            41 lb 2 oz

17 Alan Porter          86 lb 3 oz      3rd                   8 

16                                                                             9 John Garner            81 lb 10 oz    4th

15 Peter Chilton        60 lb 9 oz                              10 Peter Spriggs        95 lb 6 oz        1st 

14                                                                            11

13 Shaun Buddle      91 lb 6 oz     2nd                   12 Martin Parker        26 lb 10 oz

Shaun Buddle was second in corner peg 13, and I was happy to be sixth and top weight on our end of the lake. with 59 lb 10 oz, but we didn't weigh that big carp. My previous best, weighed, was 16 lb 8 oz. I think my position was the best I could have expected from that swim. But it seemed that almost everyone else had barbel, while my tactics of targetting them had brought unexpected bream. It's a funny old game.

I scrape a frame on Willows, Decoy

 Peg 4, Friday, May 6
Willows is the most temperamental of Decoy's 11 lakes, but I like it as it has better margins than many of the others - some genuinely shallow margins rather than shallow areas where the bank had fallen in, which has happened on the famous strip lakes. And for this 12-entry Spratts match (reduced because some members were fishing the Old Gits event on another lake) pegs 1 to 19 were used. I fancied 1, because it has form, 2 or 3 because they are either side of the aerator, 11 because it has recent form, or 15 on the point which can be a flier.

I was a bit disappointed with 4 when I got to my peg as the Westerly wind meant that these lower numbers were pretty calm compared with about 10 upwards, who had ripple. But as the match went on the wind turned towards the South-West and eventually we had some nice wind on the surface which was welcome in the bright sunshine.

Bright sunshine and calm water in my swim before the match started.

A good start on feeder
I started on a hybrid feeder with micros, and maggot on the hook, cast across 30 yards to t5he island, and within ten minutes had a take from a 2 lb carp which nearly pulled the rod off the rest. Seconds after recasting a 2 lb bream took the bait, and in the next 25 minutes two more carp came in. The whole time I had been catapulting 6mm pellets out to 11 metres, where I had deposited a pot of micros and hemp.

I should probably have kept on the feeder, because Alan Porter on 9 told me afterwards he had all his fish on a feeder, but after just one 10-minute wait I had a look shallow on the pole at 11 metres, quite confident that, after an hour of feeding lightly, carp would be feeding; but my banded pellet never had a touch. So it was down on the bottom in the same swim. John Garner, to my right, was on a long pole and told me he hadn't had a bite.

My old mukker Martin Parker was on my left.
Like me he prefers to stand for a catch picture - 
he can kneel down, but getting back up...!

I put in a few grains of corn, and after 20 minutes had a take from a 2 lb F1. That was followed by several more, two or three more bream, and a couple of carp to 4 lb. I carried on putting in just half-a-dozen grains each drop, and topped up the swim with micros and hemp. And after three hours I estimated I had 30 lb, and had lost a couple foulhooked.

'I hooked it on a snail'
To my left Martin Parker didn't seem to be catching much, but then I saw him having a rare old tussle with a fish which he eventually netted, and it looked to be about 8 lb. I said it was a nice fish and he replied; "I hooked it on a snail!" I assumed he had been using hemp with snails in, which is commonly seen now in tackle shops. So, knowing my hearing is dodgy I replied: "Hooked it on a snail?"

Martin's reply was strange (to me): "No, I hooked it on a snail." "Hooked it on a snail?" I asked again. "No", he said, and stood up and pointed to his backside.

Immediately I realised he must have said "Hooked it in its tail." Such are the unexpected gems of conversation enjoyed by those of us deaf buggas.

Alan Porter, fifth with 42 lb 12 oz, all taken
on a feeder - he couldn't get a bite in the margins.

Fish on mussel
When bites dried up I had a look in my left margin, a rather attractive area next to a tree, and immediately had liners on corn and cat meat. A change to mussel brought three fish to 5 b, and then I hit a really big fish, which felt like a sack of potatoes; then the sack shot acrss the lake like a torpedo and within two seconds had taken the whole rig. After that bites dried up again, even on cat meat and maggot, and I looked at the right margin, next to a bunch of reeds.

Four hours gone and I had over 40 lb. Normally at Decoy I expect to catch as much in the final two hours as I have had in the first four hours. So even though bites had dried up I confidently expected fish to show in the margins, and first drop on corn in the right margin brought a foulhooked fish which was probably a barbel - a small silver scale was attached -  plus a roach or two. But then four or five foulhooked fish in succession showed me that the carp were actually in that swim.

A purple patch for John
However, try as I might, I couldn't do any  more than take the occasional small carp and F1, and in that last  two hours, when I had started a second net, I managed a paltry 12 lb. Yet to my right John Garner had a great last 40 minutes, taking five or six good carp on cat meat right in among some reeds to his right, and clearly overtaking me. Three of my final fish came in the last ten minutes, so perhaps they were coming on.

John Garner overtook me in the last half-hour. By keeping his pole low until he was ready to net,
he landed all the fish he hooked in that last frantic session of action.

The weigh-in
Bob Allen  on end peg 19 weighed 69 lb 14 oz, all taken on paste, which couldn't be beaten by the next few pegs. I caught up with the weighers when Mike Rawson was weighing and took a picture, just to show that he can still catch a few. Next door Alan Porter took his feeder-caught fish to the scales and was awarded 42 lb 12 oz.

Mike Rawson on Peg 10 had bream, which have showed well
on all the Decoy lakes this year. After the match he managed
to retrieve Joe Bedford's pole section which had slipped in - a feat
he has performed for several anglers in the past couple of years.

 John Garner, next to me, weighed in 60 lb 11 oz and I managed 53 lb 9 oz, but Trevor Cousins, fishing mainly to his left on Peg 1, did the lot of us with 87 lb 10 oz to win, with 49 lb 13 oz in his first net - how's that for estimating? So I came fourth behind Bob Allen and John G.

Afterwards I kicked myself for not trying a change bait - worm, paste or expander. I had them all with me and it would have taken only a few minutes to try them all. But Hey Ho, I'd had an interesting day, with nothing giving itself up, and every fish hard-won.

Next match probably Sunday week on Kingsland small lake, where weights can be huge, if you can avoid the millions of small carp which attack most baits dropped in the margin. They only give up and scarper when the big carp move in. Another interesting day ahead.

THE RESULT

1 Trevor Cousins        87 lb 10 oz      1st
3 Martin Parker         25 lb 10 oz
4 Mac Campbell        53 lb 9 oz         4th 

6 John Garner           60 lb 11 oz        3rd

7 Mick Linnell         19 lb 13 oz

9 Alan Porter            42 lb 12 oz

10 Mike Rawson        9 lb 6 oz 

12 Bob Barrett         18 lb 6 oz

13 Peter Spriggs      26 lb 5 oz 

15 Joe Bedford        13 lb

17 Callum Judge     38 lb 1 oz

19 Bob Allen           69 lb 14 oz        2nd

 

John Garner with friend.

Trevor Cousins, winner on Peg 1 with 87 lb 10 oz.