Fish are interested, but not hungry, on Six-Islands, Decoy.

 Peg 4, Wed, Mar 29
I ought to be taking over from Mystic Meg - I said I'd like peg 7, 8 or 9 for the JV match on Six-Island, and it was won on 8, with 7 and 9 not pegged. That's two weeks in a row for me - The New Mystic Mac. Think it suits me?

The forecasters didn't get it right, though. Before I left home I checked the local weather online, and it said Wind South moving round to SW. In fact when I got to peg 4, which faces South, the wind was roughly there, but even as we tackle up it moved round to South-East. Now fish like a wind with South in it about as much as Ed Milliband likes bacon in his sandwiches, and this cool South-Easterly kept weights down.

The temperature was also much less than forecast - 14 degrees feeling like 10 was the forecast; it was more like 6 feeling like 2. But at least for some of the time I had a Raspberry Ripple, thanks to the ever-increasing wind.

The pegs I fancied passed me by...
I had looked on in horror at the draw as all the pegs I fancied came out of the bag, and my name didn't. I just hoped I wouldn't get 22 again, and mercifully it went to Peter Spriggs, last out of the bag. My peg 4 can be good, but not, I fancy, as good in cold weather is in the heat of Summer. However, I was happy enough. It has an island at about 11 metres, but I didn't fish there as presentation would have been difficult in the wind, and I've never had much there in the past.

A fish plays John Garner - Mystic Mac says it was foulhooked!

I put out a quivertip rod with a bomb at the start because I hadn't finished getting my stuff together. A 1 lb F1 came on bread after about five minutes, by which time John Garner, on peg 17 to my right, had been playing a fish for about four minutes, hooked in the margins. I couldn't resist changing to the pole, and did that as soon as the F1 was in my net. John's fish turned out to be foulhooked, but he got it in.

I started at 2+2 and immediately saw one or two tiny touches, but it took 20 minutes to get a 2 lb mirror on corn over micros. I had primed a little cut-out in the right margin with corn, which was the deepest spot in my swim, and when no more fish came I had a look there. I remembered that last season in this margin swim I had a lot of strange bites on corn which I missed - all of them. And it happened again now - obviously liners. However I hit one, which turned out to be a foulhooked 3 lb mirror which took my hollow 13 elastic round the corner, but somehow or other remained attached until I netted it..

We had to keep switching swims
No more from that swim and that was the story of the day for me. John hit occasional fish, some of which were foulhooked and came off, and I saw him switching from the margins and the long pole, so obviously he couldn't get fish feeding properly. I then rotated from the 2+2 line to that right margin (which never did produce another fish), then to the platform to my left (where I also blanked) and finally to the closer left margin, where my first drop with cat meat saw a big bite which I completely missed. But it gave me hope.

Peter Spriggs was third from my bogey peg 22.

Cat meat on the 2+2 produced a foulhooked 4 lb mirror, and a few roach and a 3 lb F1 on maggot, and as I started top get touches in the left margin, about a metre from the bank, I fished mainly there for the last half of the match, getting little runs of liners now and then, and the odd fish.

Mussel came to the rescue
For or five nice plump F1s around 3 lb took mussel, corn or cat meat - there was no pattern,  and I lost about three fish which must have been foulhooked, I think. Then, no more than a minute from the end, mussel saw me catch my best fish, an 8 lb mirror. I got the feeling that they fish were more interested in the bigger baits, but not really hungry.

On my left Mike Rawson, now well recovered from his stroke and very welcome back, stayed on a feeder and towards the end started catching the occasional fish. Meanwhile John Garner had been hooking and losing the odd one, but he clearly had more than I did.

John Garner couldn't help foulhooking some very big fish
which came off. He ended fifth with 44 lb 10 oz.

The weigh-in
The weights were fairly  even all round, with only two having less than 20 lb. Neil Pass on peg 8 won with 61 lb 15 oz, and like everyone else had had to scrape around his swims to get that weight together. Round on 14 Trevor Cousins had 59 lb 12 oz for second. He took his first four fish on pole-fished bread off bottom - I had intended to try that but the strong head wind didn't allow me to do that with any confidence. Trevor had back wind, and  at one point felt warm enough to take a jacket off!!

Peter Spriggs, on my bogey peg 22, was third  with 50 lb 3 oz, mainly on cat meat with Peter Harrison again framing for the umpteenth match in a row, also on cat meat. I ended with 35 lb 9 oz, which was sixth out of 12, and I was happy with that. My next match is Sunday on Willows, a lake I like because it has some proper margins. I don't know which pegs are being fished, so my crystal ball will stay firmly in its pouch.

Second place for Trevor Cousins from peg 14.

The winner - Neil Pass with some cracking carp from peg 8.

THE RESULT

2 Bob Allen                 34 lb
4 Mac Campbell         35 lb 9 oz
6 Mike Rawson          29 lb 4 oz
8 Neil Pass                  61 lb 15 oz    1st
10 Bob Barrett            DNW
12 Shaun Buddle        20 lb 9 oz
14 Trevor Cousins      59 lb 12 oz    2nd
17 John Garner           44 lb 10 oz
18 Martin Parker        12 lb 9 oz
20 Peter Harrison       47 lb 3 oz      4th
22 Peter Spriggs         50 lb 3 oz      3rd
25 John Smith            32 lb 6 oz

No - it's still Winter in the Fens on Elm lake

Peg 21, Sunday, Mar 26
OK. Let's cut to the chase - I blew out in this JV match on Elm in a strong, bitterly-cold North-Easterly. But I had a soupcon of satisfaction by forecasting, in my previous blog, where the best weights might be. I said I would like 15, 16 or 17; on the day the lake was won on 15, second was on 16, and 17 wasn't pegged. I finished last.

Thankfully Yammers pegged us on all with backwind on Elm, and Cedar (over our right shoulders) - some Ramsey anglers on Yew were facing the wind and must have been stiff with cold by lunch time. My peg 21 had a nice-looking right margin, where the water dropped to five feet right on the edge of two tufts of reed and the strong undertow was taking the water down that way. But facing that way meant turning into the wind, and when I fished there my hands were very soon aching with cold.

Two nice tufts of old reeds were to my right. I didn't need the umbrella, but it was mighty cold.

However I had promised myself I would be positive, and put in some cat meat and pellets in that margin, with micros in the left margin. But I then started, as did Steve Pell on my left on 22, on a feeder and corn. He had a 12-pounder first cast and a smaller fish three casts later; I had only two liners in an hour. 

One foulhooker
After an hour we both came in on the pole. Cat meat failed to get a sniff, but I had a bite on corn on the right margin, which turned out to be a foulhooked barbel about 2 lb. That convinced me that there must be others there and I put in maggots and stayed there for the next hour, getting just three tiny dips of the float and no fish.

 

Steve Pell, to my left, plays a good carp, hooked on maggot.

Now Steve started getting an occasional roach on 2+3 sections, and I watched carefully and could see him baiting with what were obviously maggots. So I tried maggot on the feeder, with no result. Somewhere around this time I walked up to Steve Tisley on my right and he had just two small bream.

Steve Pell now found some bigger fish - bream, barbel and what looked like better carp, so I also went out on the longer pole, about eight metres, with maggot. A few small roach came in, and some dropped off, so I changed down to an 8/10 elastic. Soon I changed to spread-out shot to give a longer fall, and this was better for roach. Then some better bream took the bait - fish up to 3 lb. But they were few and far between.

Mussel no good...
At one point, still trying to be positive, I put some mussel into the right margin, fishing with half a mussel, but that didn't produce even a liner. Halfway through the match Steve Pell had a nice spell with two or three good carp quickly and a run of bream and barbel. He told me afterwards that putting in dead maggots and pellet stopped his bites, which came back when he threw out live maggots. I was also putting in live maggots, but bites were a long time coming. 

Sloane Kane included several barbel on peg 14. 

I had six or seven bream of 2 lb-plus with five minutes left, when I fished short of where I had been baiting and an F1 made its appearance, together with two more roach - my best spell of the match (which isn't saying much).

The weigh-in
We started at the far end, corner peg 13, where Barry Webb had just two carp in his 43 lb 5 oz catch, the rest being mainly barbel taken from the end bank. Weights then got better, the winner being Peter Harrison, who just can't stop catching fish, on 15. He had fish on a feeder and wafter at the start, then on a long pole and also some in the margins. But his best spell came in the last hour or two on bomb and bread, giving him 140 lb 8 oz of mainly carp to 10 lb.

Dave Parsons was second on Elm with 121 lb 9 oz.

Next door, Dave Parson was second, most of his 121 lb 9 oz being taken on a long pole. Steve, on my right, hidden by a bush, had had a better second half, finishing with carp for 62 lb 6 oz, while on my left Steve Pell totalled 70 lb 2 oz,. My bream, one barbel, one F1 and small roach went 25 lb 12 oz. On to corner peg 24, where Peter Molesworth pole-fished to the end bank all day with corn for 116 lb which was third, of which more than half was barbel.

Behind us Chris Saunders went on to a waggler for four good carp which helped him to first spot on Cedar with 88 lb 12 oz.  He said that hard pellet was his best bait.

Overall winner Peter Harrison watches one of his three nets being weighed in.

Steve Pell had carp, barbel and bream...

John Molesworth's 116 lb catch was mainly barbel, from peg 24.

Should I have gone longer?
I don't know why I didn't catch carp or barbel among my roach and bream. I had intended to fish hard pellet, but never tried it. Perhaps I needed to go out farther on the pole. Like Steve I ended up feeding two pints of maggots. But sometimes, particularly on Elm lake, it can fish as if there is a brick wall between some swims. Not worth worrying about - I caught fish and had a decent day in that horrible wind.

My catch comes into perspective when I think of the interview did about 25 years ago with Billy Hughes, winner of the National on the Welland in the 1950s with about 22 lb, and a man who devastated the North-Western match scene in partnership with Benny Ashurst. They were the team who first found the effectiveness of casters, and for their pains they used to have to pay tax on their winnings (I saw the tax form).

Well, in over 70 years match fishing at the highest levels, Billy's best-ever weight was 26 lb of roach from the Cam! Makes you realise how lucky we are...

And another bright spot
Last Sunday I left my keepnet bar on Beastie, peg 20. On Tuesday, before the Spratts match I went to the peg but it had gone; so on Wednesday I bought another from Alex Bates at Pidley. Actually on my phone was a text, which I hadn't yet read, from Roy Whincup, who said it had been handed to him at the Over 60s match at Pidley that morning by one of the Ramsey anglers.

So many thanks to that angler, and to Roy. I now have a second keepnet bar which I think I can place with a deserving angler who probably hasn't got one. I have someone in mind...one good turn deserves another.

Next match Wednesday on Six-Island, The wind is currently forecast to be South-Westerly, so I would like pegs 7 to 9, please!

THE RESULT

ELM

CEDAR

Time, now, for big baits? Cedar lake, Decoy

 Peg 2, Cedar, Tuesday, Mar 21
There are times, occasionally, when the highlights of a day are not the fish we actually catch (or don't catch). This was, for me, one of those days.

Soon after our match had started, with me in peg 2, nearest to the car park (a swim I actually really fancied) a car came past. Minutes later I spotted the snowy-white hair of someone walking along on Oak lake. Not on the water, but on the bank! It could only be Peter Maskell, who used to work, with me, at EMAP, publishers of the angling magazines and books I was brought up on and later worked for.

I yoo-hooood him, and he came over. This was his first angling trip since a heart by-pass last year, and he was kind enough to say that reading this blog was the one thing which kept him bouyed up after his op. The one thing which stimulated his waning desire to get out on the bank again. That really chuffed me. One of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

Another strong wind
There was a strong wind blowing and after a short discussion we agreed that back wind on Elm would be OK, and I suggested he try peg 8. In the event that turned out brilliantly for him, but I didn't know that until later. He offered to give me a few mussels as I had left mine at home. A pity I didn't take him up on that immediately, because I was still in Winter mode - small baits needed to get a bite.

I start on a maggot feeder
Back to the fishing, with 11 competing in this Spratts match and the wind over our right shoulder. I started on a maggot feeder cast to the far bank, but after 45 minutes my sole capture was a tiny roach. A switch to a bomb and bread, cast well over and to the end bank on my right, brought nothing after another 45 minutes. Meanwhile Peter Spriggs, on 4 to my left, had caught three on bomb and bread. The highlights of this spell were hooking a reed on the far side and walking round to free the feeder  (don't you feel a fool doing that?), and then spotting the flash of a kingfisher against the far bank.

Peter Spriggs lands his first carp on bomb and bread, well muffled up against the strong wind.

I had been flicking maggots to my left into the deep margin, looking for barbel, with a few on to the shallower shelf. So a change to that swim was called for, and almost immediately I had a real dive-under bite...and brought in a 2 lb barbel foulhooked in the dorsal fin. A quick switch to the shallower shelf, about three-and-a-half feet deep, brought an immediate bite and a 3 lb barbel came in. But after that - nothing. I had been sure that more barbel would follow, but no.

A switch out to 11.5 metres where I had been pinging 4mm pellets saw just a tiny liner or two on hard pellet and corn, and two fish briefly hooked which came off. I also had the unusual experience of twice striking and feeling some resistance but not actually hooking anything. I am sure this was carp taking the corn in their lips, as the corn had gone each time.

Half the match now gone and Martin Parker came along to say he had three good carp and a few barbel and bream. Peter Spriggs, meanwhile, had landed another three or four fish on a bomb.

Martin Parker had a good last-half of the match,
celebrating his recent birthday (not allowed to say
which) with 95 lb 1 oz for fifth place.

An ide

Another look in the deep margin brought a 1 lb ide, but after wasting the best part of an hour there I again tried bomb and bread. A drop-back saw me hook, and eventually land, a hard-fighting common of about 8 lb. Next cast the same thing happened - another eight-pounder. I suddenly felt that the wind had become warmer and things were changing, and a big fish turned in front of me about 15 feet out. So I put in a few grains of corn there and immediately got some small liners.

 As the severe undertow moved the float from left to right it occasionally dipped slowly, but never enough to strike at. Peter Spriggs on 4 also swapped to the pole at this time, and was soon playing a fish.

I persevered with corn for another fish, about 10 lb, and then had a bite or two on cat meat. But I had had the tin in my bag for a long time, and it was very soft and hardly held on the hook. If only I had had harder cat meat. Then I thought I ought to walk round to Peter and cadge some mussels, but I didn't!

In the last 75 minutes I kept getting those tiny movement of the float and managed just three more carp, on corn, including one about 13 lb foulhooked in the pectoral fin from the deep margin. Peter was now catching fish quite quickly and I estimated he probably had 15, while I had six. I then had a big fish right into the side, but probably held it a little too hard on the 13 hollow elastic, and the hook pinged out. Match almost over...

Just before we finished Peter Maskell came back, having packed up, and said he had had 22 big carp on mussel, and gave me some. First drop I had a fish on, but it came off and there was a scale on the hook. Match now definitely over...

Peter Spriggs managed to keep snicking fish out while
I couldn't catch anything. He ended with 122 lb 10 oz for third.

What a return

I was over the moon for Peter - what a return to fishing after his bypass; but he made me realise I had not been positive enough. I should have a) tried the hybrid feeder early in the match, and b) I should have tried different baits later - worms, 8mm hard pellet, bunches of maggots, paste made of micros - and I should certainly have had hard cat meat and gone over and cadged some of his mussels. When the water is towing that fast a heavier bait or bigger might have been what the fish would have taken better. I shan't make that mistake again, now that Winter seems to have completely gone.

The weigh-in

I was first to weigh and the scales went 60 lb - much more than I thought I had, but not enough to frame. Peter next door weighed in 122 lb 10 oz for third, saying that he had taken fish on the pole "on everything". That set me wondering why I hadn't caught more on corn in the last 90 minutes. Perhaps I had feed too much corn and other baits would have stood out.

Winner Peter Harrison had more barbel and bream in his catch than carp.

Peter Harrison won with 145 lb 13 oz on peg 8, almost all taken on a Method feeder and pellet on the far side. Second was John Garner on corner peg 13, almost all taken on cat meat fished to the end bank. That definitely made my mind up to use  it, or have it ready, in forthcoming matches.

So I ended seventh, with a definite Could Do Better verdict. Next match Sunday On Elm, and Wednesday on Six-Island - completely different lakes.. But cat meat will reign supreme! I hope.

A gorgeous golden common for Trevor Cousins...

And a scale-less mirror for second-placed John Garner on end peg 13.

My best-ever compliments

Peter Maskell's mention of my blog gave me a real lift. But the two  biggest compliments I ever had were many years ago. I used to do a lot of amateur acting, and after one play a professional adjudicator told me: "Your voice is a gift from the Gods".

Then, a few years later after another play (I forget which one) a man who was the boyfriend of a professional actress, and who had a great knowledge of the theatre, gave me his verdict . He said quite simply: "You remind me of Richard Burton". No-one will ever top that!

THE RESULT

2 Mac Campbell         60 lb
4 Peter Spriggs         122 lb 10 oz        3rd
5 Neil Pass                  96 lb 13 oz        4th
6 Martin Parker          95 lb 1 oz
7 Bob Barrett             40 lb 5 oz
8 Peter Harrison       145 lb 13 oz        1st
9 Steve Engledow      34 lb 12 oz
10 Dick Warrener       37 lb 3 oz
11 Bob Allen              14 lb 9 oz
12 Trevor Cousins      91 lb 4 oz
13 John Garner         125 lb 12 oz        2nd

   

Not what I was hoping for on Beastie

 Peg 20, Beastie, Decoy
My favourite record of all-time was (and still is) The Everly Brothers singing 'All I Have To Do Is Bream'. It came out in 1958, just before I left school, when bream fishing was all the rage on the Fen drains. I sometimes used to catch them. Later in life I used to catch even more. I was lucky enough to see the song sung really well in Peterborough last week in the show Rave On - a tribute to proper music from the 50s and 60s with the emphasis on Rock 'N Roll, and of course The Master himself, Buddy Holly.

But it wasn't bream I was after on Sunday, fishing the JV club match - it was carp, of course. Then, bugga me, all I could catch was...bream! And not a lot! Certainly not enough.

Peg 20, devoid of Raspberry Ripple for most of the day!

Now, to be honest I doubt if there was an angler in that match who wouldn't have put peg 20 very low down on their list of fave pegs. Nineteen and 20 are set well back in a big bay, and although you can win off any peg at Decoy, in Winter, when carp tend to hug the island and the main bowl, with some in the back of the spit,. those two, plus 26, 28, 29 and 30 are not swims I would run to (27 is not used). Still, I had a job to do - and this won't take long.

A bream, eventually
The wind was over our right shoulder, and I had no ripple until the last half-hour. Out on a feeder, short cast and long cast without a liner; on to 11.5 and 13 metres of pole using corn, and not a bite. So after about two hours I had a look in the left margin, where Rob Goodson had suggested, before the start, that I try, and suddenly I had a bite, which I missed. After missing three I left the next one for a good two seconds before lifting into a 2 lb bream.

Peter Harrison on 24 plays an early carp on the bomb, probably with bread.

Two more bream came fairly quickly, before they vanished, so it was back on the long pole where the result was a 3 oz carp. In the lest two hours I managed another bream from the left margin, one from the right margin, and finally on on 2+2, 15 minutes from the end, in front of me. I also managed to foulhook a big fish in the margin which never made a strong run but which wallowed around like a sack of potatoes before coming off; probably hooked somewhere in the belly, I guess.

Peter struggles to lift his biggest fish, taken on the pole. I had plenty of time to take pictures!

Meanwhile on my right Peter Harrison was picking up a fish approximately one every 40 minutes, on a bomb and corn, and the long pole. He finished with about eight, including the last one foulhooked,  to my six bream, which went 16 lb 2 oz and left me bottom apart from two DNWs. To my left, on 18 Yammers  was also catching bream, but included two big carp on the pole, the best one we weighed at 15 lb 4 oz.

Yammers (John Savage) included two good uns...

Occasional liners
Occasionally, on the pole, I got liners - slow dips of the float - which showed me that there were fish of some sort around. and definitely not roach.

 Afterwards Ian Frith, who won our half of the lake with 90 lb 6 oz on peg 23, said he caught almost all his fish on a hard 4mm pellet. He fished two swims at 14.5 metres, tapping and pinging pellets over the right hand one, where he took almost every fish. In the left hand one he put pellets and corn, and managed only one there, plus another foulhooked. 

I wonder whether the fish preferred just the pellets, or whether they just happened to prefer that place in the lake? My liners suggested that while carp were willing to come into my margins they didn't want to feed there.

...including this 15 lb 4 oz beauty.

John Molesworth won on 5 with fish on a feeder and then on pole in the margins, for 134 lb 11 oz. Next door on peg 4 Tony Evans fished mainly pole I think, long and then in the margins, for his second-placed 127 lb 7 oz. I think they both also used hard pellet.  My next match is on Tuesday on Cedar with Spratts and, because one must learn lessons, I will definitely be looking at fishing hard pellet. A 4mm looks small to me, but I will start on that. Rain is forecast, so I will have an excuse for starting with my usual moan again.

THE RESULT

There's a first time for everything (Oak, Decoy)

 Peg 13, Monday, March 13
In 65 years of matchfishing I had never gone to my peg and not fished...until Monday's first Spratts match of the season.

I fancied peg 13, and even more I fancied the fish would feed after 24 hours of a strong warm South-Westerly wind had warmed the water. Actually 'strong' was not the word to describe Monday's breeze. 'Howling' would have been better - certainly one of the strongest winds I have ever been out in. In fact when I was at work I often used to arrange a day off work in gale-force winds like that, and take myself to the Great Ouse Relief Channel at Downham Market where. with a bit of luck, if there were white horses on the water, the big roach and bream would line up to take my bait. I've had many happy hours on the banks there in a gale.

Nearly blown over
On Monday I took my main holdall containing landing net handle, feeder arm etc, plus my rod holdall, and a bait bag down to Peg 13. But after walking past the first three or four pegs I was suddenly almost taken off my feet. That happened three times, and I dropped my gear to the ground to consider what I should do. The back wind was over our right shoulders. 

The platforms here are over the water (and none too big) so normally to get off your box in a wind like that you would swivel round so you could step off the back of the box, straight on to the bank. But I have to have a seat on my box, so I have to stand up and shuffle round between the box and the edge of the platform. 

I thought there was a real chance I could be knocked off balance by these massive gusts, so decided to head off home (discretion being the better part of valour), though not before watching a hat being pushed into the middle of the lake and eventually sinking. I had to hope there was not a Spratts angler hanging beneath it.

The others fished on...
The other ten anglers stayed, though, and had some cracking sport, especially considering the problems that wind must have caused. Peter Harrison continued the great run he is having on peg 7, winning with 124 lb 14 oz of carp to double-figures fishing bomb and bread, the bread being fished just on or just off bottom. And he was a total of 11 lb over the club's 50 lb limit in two of his three nets!

Runner-up was Neil Pass next door on 6 with 108 lb 13 oz, taken on The Method with corn, his best carp being 9 lb. John Garner was third, fishing the same way on peg 11, taking fish to 8 lb in his 81 lb 13 oz.

I spoke to Shaun Buddle next day, who had 70 lb 8 oz for fourth from peg 8, and he said that it was definitely a bit hairy at times in the wind, and admitted that he had been in danger of falling in once. So I probably made the right decision. Next match is Sunday with JV on Beastie, then Tuesday with Spratts on Cedar.

THE RESULT

1 Bob Barrett                     24 lb 14 oz

2 Martin Parker         DNW
3 Trevor Cousins               57 lb 14 oz

4 Steve Engledow             55 lb 4 oz

6 Neil Pass                      108 lb 13 oz       2nd

7 Pete Harrison               124 lb 14 oz         1st

8 Shaun Buddle                70 lb 8 oz            4th

11 John Garner                 81 lb 13 oz         3rd

12 Bob Allen                    29 lb 10 oz

13 M Campbell      FOH   (that was what was on the weighing-in board!)

14 Peter Spriggs                56 lb

The fish are still bunched up, on Yew, Decoy.

Peg 11, Sunday, March 12
My day with JV club started brightly - I sailed through Pondersbridge, which has been closed for Yonks, and arrived all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Then I drew peg 11 on Yew, which I really fancied, as I had weighed in the winner of the Winter League from around that swim, and he told me he had fished at 13 metres. And when I plumbed up I found that at 13 metres there's a drop-off of several inches - that looked good to me.

The wind was quite strong, over our right shoulders, but not too cold, so I carried my optimism down to my peg - then Chris Saunders said that some of us might not get even a bite because of the cold snow water in the lake. That brought me down to earth...

But I'm an optimist with new spectacles (after three visits to get them put right) so I cast out my bomb and bread to the far bank; then I cast out my bomb and sweetcorn; then I put out my pole at 13 metres; then I realised three hours had gone and I hadn't had a fish.

A strong wind greeted us, with hardly any sun. Here Jim Regan plays his only fish of the day.

Chris Saunders gets fish!
To my left Chris had had two nice big carp after a couple of hours on the pole, with Jim Regan on my right having an F1 on the bomb. Away to our left on 15, in the corner, Barry Webb had started well with fish on a hybrid feeder cast right across. Actually virtually everyone had started casting right across with bombs or feeders, but it seemed that, as we had half expected, the early pegs were struggling. So was I!

So do I!
Then, hallelujah, my feeder rod bent round and a near-10 lb carp came in. Not long after that another, about 7 lb, took the bait within about 30 seconds of the lead hitting bottom. I reckon they do that just to annoy us! Then I hit another good fish, which somehow came adrift. Not a happy bunny. 

Chris Saunders on 12 nets his first carp of the day - a real big'un.

Back on the pole at 13 metres,  but I never had a bite there. Back on the bomb, which landed a beautiful three feet from the platform opposite (where I had had my two fish) but the tip never moved, and when I picked up the rod I found out why - it was snagged solid.

I wound in, pointed the rod at the water, and walked backwards; and after a full minute of straining the rig came back...including the hook! I couldn't believe that the line had not broken. But the hook was straightened, so I had to change it, and put on a six-inch hooklength. 

A barbel
No bite on the next cast, so I added another six inches of nylon, giving a one-foot hooklength, which seems to be better, lately, than the shorter one. That brought a 3 lb barbel on corn. 

The high numbers start bagging...
With an hour to go both Barry, and Sloane Kane on 13, were now catching on the pole closer in, while Chris had a fish on the bomb. Then Chris added two or three more, and Sloane had a purple patch (he told me afterwards he'd had six big carp in the last 40 minutes), which persuaded me to try closer in, with corn, with just 15 minutes left. 

Barry Webb - second with  85 lb 15 oz, but he lost a huge fish
which would have easily won him the match.

No bite with the shot spread, so I pulled them all down to within eight inches of the hook, put out corn and a few micros, and sure enough, another nice carp, around 8 lb, was my prize. I had no time to get back in, and was annoyed that I hadn't made the change earlier. But while I know fish will come into the margins in the afternoon, I hadn't expected them to be cruising along the 2+3 line. Why would they do that?

The low numbers struggle

Sure enough the early pegs had struggled - Roy Whincup had a 3 lb ide at the death, while both Steve Tilsley and Ernie Lowbridge said they not had even a liner. Peter Harrison was top at that end with 29 lb 10 oz  on maggot. I weighed 27 lb 10 oz, for fifth spot, behind Peter.

Chris had 35 lb 13 oz for third, with Sloane the winner with 93 lb. Barry lost a huge carp he said must have been at least 16 lb or 18 lb, which would have won him the match, but he ended second with 85 lb 15 oz. So I won my four-peg section by triple default!! Has my luck changed? 

Winner Sloane Kane  fished the bomb and feeder to start with and ended catching on the pole.

THE RESULT

Bread dominates on Six-Island, Decoy

Peg 2, Sunday, March 5

Last time, I said I'd like pegs 8 round to 13 or thereabouts in Six-Island lake, so of course I drew 2! However, I was told that peg 2 won the lake in the Winter League final, with the top weights from 22, 25 and 2 - all in the Northern bowl. So I skipped down the bank, singing. Well, sort of. You have to be careful if people see you skipping nowadays.

There were 11 on this lake and five on Four-Island, next door, in this JV club match, with Lee Kendall opposite me on 22, so at least I would see someone catch loads of fish (he always does). There's an island in front of 2, and I could reach it with 13 metres; and there's deeper water to the right - probably the deepest swim on the lake.

Flat calm at our end of the lake, and some of those reeds are overhanging,
which you can't see from the front. That's Lee Kendall opposite, on 22.

A good start
Within five minutes I had a 2 lb F1 on bomb and bread, and soon afterwards Lee took two good carp on pole-fished bread to the island (the other side of the island, obviously). So  I switched to pole and in the next hour had a carp of about 6 lb on bread just touching the deck. It took a long time to land on hollow 13 elastic, so I change it to a solid 17. No more bites, and bringing the bait off bottom didn't even produce a liner.

In the next hour Lee took another three or four fish, and I had two more, laying the bread hard on the deck near the island  which surprised me as I had expected fish to be off bottom. I'd put corn out towards the deeper water on the right, and this produced two nice F1s, but Lee had already added another few fish. To my right Perry Briggs on 25 was struggling - I saw him lose a big fish probably foulhooked, and land a couple of roach.

A long time later I managed another good carp from the island, and then cleverly managed to hook an underwater snag right over. Using my trusty long hook I was able to bring the pole back to a top two, twist the hook round the elastic, and pull for a break. The float is still there - a lovely red top just showing above the surface.

Roach in the swim, and OOOPs!
I put on a lighter rig because it was handy (big mistake) and now tried in the margin to my right under a bush with corn and then, finally, to the left with maggot, both on a top five. This maggot swim saw a bite from a nice roach which came off, and then another. So I changed from the 17 solid to an 8 elastic. This brought a couple of nice, quick, roach and I though that if I could carry on like that for the last 40 minutes I could add a few pounds.

Round the corner, where Barry Gibb was on peg 6, there was
a wind, but so cold that Barry couldn't hook maggots on properly.

Next drop saw a better fish on, and I shipped slowly back and took off the top two - another big mistake. The fish, which I thought might be a couple of pounds, suddenly put on weight, and decided to pay Jim Regan a visit on peg 18, about 50 yards to my left on the opposite bank. The elastic stretched mightily, past platform 3, and before I was able to add the three sections I'd removed together (another big mistake) the hooklength broke. My last chance of a last-ditch proper carp had gone. So had the roach, as I never had another bite!

The weigh in
I was first to weigh - a surprising 31 lb 4 oz, dwarfed by Barry Webb's 90 lb 13 oz from peg 6. He'd been catching on maggot, mainly from the deep margin to his left. just over an inviting tuft of grass, until his fingers became so cold he couldn't hook on a maggot. So he changed to corn and carried on bagging.

To his left Rob Goodson on peg 8 and Tony Evans on 9 were catching fish-for-fish for the first half of the match, fishing bread off bottom in open water. Then Rob carried on catching, at 16 metres, while Tony's swim dried up and he had only two fish in the second half of the match, with only one against the inviting-looking end bank. Rob fished his bread from six inches off bottom to just two feet deep, for a winning 154 lb 4 oz.

Rob Goodson - winner with 154 lb 4 oz, all taken on bread fished off the bottom.

A fantastic pole
I handled Rob's new Guru pole at the Winter League final - it felt very strong, but unbelievably light. A real beauty, and it comes with 16 tops! Even I might be able to handle it at 16 metres.

Lee Kendall must have had as bad an afternoon as I had, because he weighed in 51 lb 12 oz - much less than I thought he was going to catch after that good start. Perry, on the end bank, didn't weigh in.

On Four-Island, Ian Frith on 10 had a good finish in his right margin, winning that lake with 73 lb 12 oz. On 8 Eddie McIlroy found F1s up in the water, and said he ended by slapping his bait shallow, just as he might in the height of Summer. He said he could actually see fish coming up to the surface.

Next matches are Sunday and Monday, on Yew and Oak. Hoping the forecasted freezing spell will have eased. Bread is allowed until March 31, so I expect everyone will have it with them. You can't beat Hovis Soft White for texture.

THE RESULT

SIX-ISLAND

FOUR-ISLAND

I think I may have cocked it up, on Jay, Pidley

 Peg 17, Wednesday, March 1
Twenty-five of us fished the Rookery Waters match for the Over-60s, on Jay and Crow lakes. I drew Jay 17, a swim I'd never fished before, where the Northerly wind was slightly over my left shoulder, but a bank on my left gave good shelter, and in any case the wind never seemed to reach the 14 mph forecast.

My swim had bare bank opposite, which I wasn't delighted with, because at the moment the carp seem to be hogging the areas around cover, like lillies or reeds, I needed 14.5 netres to get the rig across to the far bank, and although that last section is a real hassle to push out with my dodgy shoulder, I managed.

Calm in  my corner at the start  - the reeds were too far away for me to reach with a pole.

Action to my right!
I started on a bomb with bread, cast right across, because Steve Tilsley, on 11, told me he'd had three good carp in the last half-hour from the far bank when he'd fished this swim a month ago. So out went my bomb, and about a minute later I looked to my right, to see Trevor Watson on 14 playing a carp. hooked right across to the far bank reeds. He played it for several minutes - either foulhooked or a big fish. When I saw his catch at the end, there was a fish there almost 10 lb, and he told me he'd had 15 lb in the first half-hour. So it was a good fish, and I couldn't resist the temptation to swap over to pole quickly.

I should have started on bread, but wasn't confident that it would survive all the pushing through the water and the jigging about getting my final pole section on, so I started on maggot.

I get the first carp
In the first few minutes I had two or three indications - possibly liners - and then a roach. A little later I got the carp I was hoping for - about 5 lb. But after that, although I persevered for over an hour, also using bread (which stayed on) I had no more bites. A switch to 2+2 with maggot over a little groundbait and dead maggot brought about five little perch and roach, but then even those bites petered out.

I'd lost my original size 16 hook on a snag near the platform, and had put on a size 18 Kaizan. To be honest that was probably a mistake with carp the target, as they are a little 'springy'. Trevor now seemed to be struggling, and the angler to my left on 19 had, I think, just one small fish.

I was certain I would get bites on sweetcorn just over a shelf to my left, only a foot from the edge of a thick reed bed, and fished it for over an hour. I definitely had six bites which must have been liners, but no fish. After another try on the bomb, long pole over the far side again, and in the maggot swim, with no result,  and with about an hour to go, I wandered up to Steve Tilsley on 11, just in time to see him strike and hook, and land, a 2 lb carp. I asked him how many he had, and he said: "I've not been counting them." So I  knew he had more than I did, fishing about 11 metres out with maggot.

Trevor Watson - 35 lb 8 oz from peg 14. That big carp must have
been the very first one he hooked, two minutes after the start!

So back to my swim, and as I passed by, Trevor Watson said he had two carp and five F1s.

Would I find fish at 11 metres?
When I got back I plumbed up a swim 11 metres out and it was exactly the same depth as I had been fishing the groundbait and maggot. I saw no reason why there should be fish there when they wouldn't come in a few yards to where I had been fishing, and there was no obvious feature - the bottom was pretty flat, with just a gentle rise to the far bank - no drop-offs at all.

There was about 45 minutes left when I put in about 30 red maggots with a big pot, followed it up with my rig...and seconds later was playing a 2 lb carp! A few minutes later I had another, and  three more in the next half-hour, Eight minutes to go and my sole hearing aid (the other one is being repaired) gave up on me - condensation in the tubing. I decided to carry on, but keeping an eye on Peg 19, as I couldn't now hear anything, and certainly not the final hooter.

Disaaaster
Two minutes later I hit another fish, and this was bigger. Eventually it was coming protestingly towards the landing net, and I could see it was about 7 lb. Almost over the net and the hook pulled out! The fish was half in and half out, but unfortunately the bit which was out was the head - one flap of the tail and it shot over the rim before I could lift it. I may have said a naughty word... Would it have stuck on, say, a size 16 stronger hook? Who knows, but I shouldn't have risked it.

Peg 19 was also landing a big fish at this time, and he shouted something out, which must have been that the match had finished; meanwhile Trevor Watson was also landing a fish. I was sure that if I had gone out to 11 metres earlier I would have found fish feeding, as both anglers later said that the last 90 minutes had been best.

The weigh in
Mark Waring on 9, fishing 16 metres towards his right bank, won with 62 lb 10 oz, all F1s except for two carp. Last year I drew peg 8 twice, and came second each time, also with almost entirely F1s. They must inhabit that corner in the Winter.

Steve was second on the lake with 49 lb 8 oz, with Trevor on 35 lg 8 oz, while I finished next to last with 15 lb 14 oz. But these blokes know the lake so much better than I do, so I wasn't too upset.

The angler on 19, whose name I cannot read from the weigh sheet (definitely not Shaun Buddle, as has been reported elsewhere) said that his last three fish, taken in the last 20 minutes, had weighed about 17 lb. His total was 31 lb 10 oz. How important it is to keep fishing right to the end. And how important it is to search you swim at this time of year, which I didn't do!

The whole match was won by Will Hadley on Crow 4, fishing 11 metres on the pole with maggot. My next match is with JV on Six-Island lake at Decoy. With a North-Westerly forecast I fancy the big end , around pegs 8 to 13, but temperatures are forecast to be low, so it may not be very pleasant, as there's no shelter and the wind blows across the fens direct from Scandinavia. Brrrr.

THE RESULT

Jay 1-22

Jay 23-47

Crow 1-13

Crow 14-25