On the tenth day of Christmas - Ten anglers angling ( on Six-Island)

Half an hour before we start and - hello hello,
what's all this? Looks like the fish are 
already lining up in front of Peter Harrison!

Peg 13, Six-Island
Ten off us trundled down to Six-Island lake for this JV match, and it was a strange start. Beside me, on peg 14, Peter Harrison was testing a float before the match when an F1 took his bare hook. He must have thought it was heaving down there under the surface...but the match had been going for more than four hours before he had his next bite! Meanwhile Shaun Buddle was on peg 1, somewhere in front of the sixth island (which you can't see any more), also struggling for the first two-and-a-half hours on a pole before casting a feeder to where the island should be, and finding fish!

Down on my bank I was pleased with peg 13, where I won my section last time we were on this lake. But today was different. Peter Harrison on my left was sheltered from the strong Westerly wind, which was blowing down to pegs 9 and 10, and everyone would have favoured the swims at that windy end of the lake. Opposite me on 6 was Eddie McIlroy who had won from that peg last time, but today both he and I really struggled.

Steve Tilsley had a flying start with three carp on bomb
and bread, and another on a feeder, in the first hour.

Fish hard to come by
My first F1 came to a pink wafter on a banjo feeder after an hour, by which time Steve Tilsley on my right had had four fish, including a couple of lumps! On his right Chris Saunders had a slow start, with just one, I think. Then Steve went on to a pole and had a fish, before changing back to a feeder. That was the pattern of his day - catching perhaps one fish every20 minutes, but having to change from pole to feeder, or vice versa, after each one.

With threee hours to go I put a pot of dead maggots in the deep margin to my right, but never had a touch there on dead maggot. Then, with two hours to go I started flicking casters out in front of me, where I had had fish last time in this peg. I was absolutely certain that I would get a bite or two there, but no - despite looking there several times - nothing!

The sun made a brief appearance, lighting up the far bank. But it didn't stay long. 

I managed the next F1 on a bomb and wafter, then an hour later another on the feeder, and with 45 minutes left Peter Harrison had his first fish - a small F1. Immediately afterwards I had an 8 lb common on corn at about nine metres, but that was my last one, though Peter hooked two more, one of which fell off (!) 😒 Chris Saunders on 19, though, had a great finish on maggot, though he lost six foulhooked, and assumed they had come off bottom suddenly.

The weigh in
Shaun had done well on 1 - 43 lb 5 oz, almost all taken in the second half of the match over the island which doesn't exisit any more. Chris on 11 and Steve on 12 dfominated that end - Steve winning with 55 lb 4 oz to Chris' 42 lb 10 oz. My measly 15 lb 14 oz was sixth, with Peter Harrison weighing in just 4 lb 7 oz - that made me think that perhaps I hadn't fished that badly.However after talking to Styeve and Chris, and finding that they had caught on the pole mainly on maggot I wondered why I hadn't put maggot out in the longer swim!!

Shaun Buddle - second from peg
1 with 43 lb 5 oz mainly on feeder.

Chris Saunders - third (and
section winner) with 42 b 10 oz.

Next match, also on Six-Island, is our Fur and Feather, though I doubt there will be many rabbits and pheasants as prizes. Back in the late 1950s, when I started matchfishing a Fur and Feather was just that - rabbits and birds as prizes (though I'm not complaining, as it's many years since I last skinned a rabbit).

Steve included a nice hump-backed
perch in his winning catch.

THE RESULT

1 Shaun Buddle      43 lb 5 oz       2nd 

4 Carl White           10 lb 8 oz    

6 Eddie McIlroy      13 lb 13 oz

9 Ernie Lowbridge   22 lb 10 oz

11 Chris Saunders   42 lb 10 oz    SEC

12 Steve Tilsley      55 lb 4 oz      1st    

13 Mac Campbell   15 lb 14 oz   

14 Peter Harrison      4 lb 7 oz

20 Roy Whitwell    33 lb 10 oz    SEC

22 Barry Webb           DNW                 

End of the day and a fabulous sunset at Decoy.

In the bleak mid-Winter on Elm.

Peg 13, Elm, Sunday, Dec 8
The forecast obviously turned some people off - high winds and rain - and just eight turned out for this JV match on Elm and Cedar. Well, yes, there were high winds, though not gale-force, and there was rain - but I had my umbrella up, so I was dry (ish). Here Hee. Not that any of that helped, 'cos I ended up with not a fish after five hours. And it did feel like mid-Winter.

Peg 13 is in the corner of Elm - there were four of us on this bank, and four on the same bank facing the opposite way - into Cedar lake. And yes, it was cold. I fished a banjo feeder with a wafter for the first two hours with just three small liners, but to my left the Kendall Killer, Eddie McIlroy, was casting to a bed of reeds opppoite, where I had the majority of my fish two weeks ago when I won with 137 lb. And he was catching occasional fish...

The wind was Northerly, from my right, but while the ripple was going in that direction in the early pegs, it was going from left to right at our end. The end bank must have set it rolling over and set it churning back in a Southerly direction. Very strange.

My left margin, with a ripple from left to right. But you can see, in the
distance the ripple at the other end, which was right to left.

My right margin looked lovely,  but produced nowt.

I was getting into the deep water over the far side, and the one time I ventured to within a foot or two of the platform on peg 12 I hit a snag immediately and had to pull for a break . Luckily it was the hooklength that broke. But I persevered on the feeder, changing the bait to maggot, and then eventually having a look on the pole line in the deep water near the corner. I thought I had two or three knocks there, but later put it down to submerged leaves hitting the line - I hooked three and also several other strands of weed from the bottom. The corner looked very inviting and I put a rig with a grain of corn right against the dead reeds which had built up there, and was surprised not to get a bite.

Shaun in action - I peaked out from
my umbrella to catch this one.

Behind me, Shaun Coaten started on a feeder then changed to pole and I know he had three fish - probably F1s, with the first one foulhooked, I guess he was using corn. I spent the lst hour or so on a Method feeder, but never had another knock. And I was glad when I'd had enough!

The weigh in
I didn't see it. I was too concerned with getting everything together and trundling back to the van. We'd had rain on and off all day, everything was wet, and everybody was cold,. But there were fish caught - and Eddie won with  ten for 66 lb, taken I think mainly on wafter. On Cedar Roy Whitwell had three on maggot on a feeder, and three on wafter for 46 lb 8 oz to win that lake.

Next Sunday we will probably be on Six-Island, the shallowest of Decoy's 11 lakes, but if there's a warmish wind it could fish OK. At least things can't get any worse for me. I give myself 7/10 because I don't think I made any big mistakes.

THE RESULT

            Cedar                                                                 Elm

7 Roy Whitwell        46 lb 8 oz   2nd     20 Peter Harrison        34 lb

9 Dave Parsons        32 lb 8 oz              18 Pete Molesworth   24 lb 4 oz

11 Roy Whincup      10 lb 13 oz             15 Eddie McIlroy       66 lb        1st

13 Shaun Coaten      DNW                     13 Mac Campbell         DNW                     

A few on feeder on Cedar

Oh, what a grey day!

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sun, Dec 1
You really need to be down towards the far end of the strip lakes at Decoy to have the best chance of fish, but I was happy enough with peg 5 in this JV match, fished on Elm and Cedar. Ernie Lowbridge was on my right, and Lee Kendall on my left, but since both were behind a bush I couldn't see much of them.  The day was murky, and cool, and we had some rain early on, but nothing bad.

Lee Kendall was behind that bush.

I started, like Ernie, on a pole fairly close in, but "there were nowt thurr" as they would say in Yorkshire (and some other equally remote spots in the UK where they talk funny.) A switch to a small banjo feeder and dead maggot brought two nice carp around 7 lb, but the bites were a long time coming. Lee had an early fish or two on a feeder cast right across to the platform opposite his peg 7, but I couldn't see how big they were.

Massive bites

In fact Lee told me later he used a wafter nearly all day, on a feeder and then a bomb, and was catching good carp, while my next four fish were F1s, waiting up to 30 minutes for a bite. And with an hour left that was all I had. I'd looked in the deep margins a couple of times, and I now made one last cast on the feeder. The rod tip never moved for 30 minutes and just as I was about to bring it all back the rod  flew off the rest and I managed to catch the handle before it descended into the deeps. It was another F1 - all the F1s gave massive bites while the two bigger fish were slower.

Ernie Lowbridge was behind that bush.

With that seventh fish in the net I looked in the right margin where I had been putting just a little bait. Ernie had had a couple on a feeder, I think, early on, and then a few on a pole - mainly F1s, and at this point I saw him net a fish that looked to be in double-figures, taken about 10 metres out.

A proper look in the margins
I had a quick look at ten metres, then back in the right margin, where I had earlier had a liner. With a few minutes left I had a look, for the first time, in the left margin. Now I found a shelf which I had not found earlier, so I dropped a grain of corn down beside it on a new 0.5 gm rig on one of my new, sparkling Cralusso floats, and I fancied that as it dropped I might have had a bite. There were only a few seconds left when I pulled the rig out, lay it in again, and watched the float dive under as the bait hit bottom.

The 14-16 elastic streaked out and almost immediately the whistle went. I shouted "Fish On." Twice. But Lee obviously didn't hear me as he obligingly shouted that the match had finished. I really did should quite loudly! I shouted back that he must be deaf, which was a stupid thing to do, really, as he would make mincemeat of me if he tried. But he's obviously an old softie...

Ernie took most of his fish on pole.

That fish took several minutes to land, but it was worth it, as it was in double-figures. I was on scales with Ernie, and stopped packing up when he was ready to weigh, but Peter Harrison and Lee were already with Ernie, so I followed for some pictures - unfortunately missing Lee as  I tidied up my gear a little before following the scales.

The weigh in
Ernie weighed in 42 lb 14 oz and then I was pleased to have at least kept in touch with him, with my fish weighing 40 lb 6 oz. But Lee, as he so often does, had whupped us all with 14 fish for 109 lb 4 oz, all taken on a wafter cast right across. The weights were a little better towards the far end, topped by Barry Webb in corner peg 13, with 59 lb 15 oz, taken mainly on a feeder, but with one very big fish near the end on a pole fairly close in. That seemed to have been the story of the day.

Weights were a little better on Elm, mainly in the 60 lb bracket, with Shaun Coaten winning from peg 10 with 86 lb 8 oz. Virtually all the anglers in the match said that casting right across to within a foot or two of the far bank, or the far-bank platforms, was the only way they could get bites for most of the day. So if the fish were willing to feed in the far margins, why didn't they feed in our side margins?

Peter Harrison - 47 lb  ll oz.

Chris Saunders 56 lb 5 oz for
 third on Cedar.

Barry Webb - second on Cedar - had his
weight boosted by a late 'biggie', as did
several other anglers on the day.

The Exterminator
It was noted that Eddie (The Kendall Killer) McIlroy did not turn up to do battle with Lee, who has now renamed himself the Eddie Exterminator. I will watch their confrontations, on the bank and in the cafe, with interest!

Marks out of ten

I had no way of knowing what Lee was using as bait, apart from asking him directly, but the idea of trying a wafter had crossed my mind. So why didn't I do it?  Lee had all 'proper' carp, with no smaller F1s. Also I had a bomb rod ready with a longer tail, but never tried that either. Still, I caught a few fish on a day when things were extremely difficult, in good company, so I give myself 7/10. Next match Sunday, probably on the same two lakes.

THE RESULTS

CEDAR

ELM

A warm wind works wonders on Elm

Peg 11, Elm, Decoy
Bert obviously kept some anglers away on Sunday's JV match. But there's something I cannot understand - I thought all the hurricanes and storms which cause so much chaos are always given female names (quite rightly). So what is Bert doing? Was Bert originally called Beatrice? Have his weather fronts changed overnight? There's no shame in that, but I think we should know!

Actually our side of the country didn't suffer like a lot of the rest, and the wind was just pretty strong - certainly not as fierce as the one last year when I got to my peg in a Spratts match and was so worried about being blown in that I went home. No, today was really rather nice once you got settled on your box - and the wind was warm; the sort of day when you expect fish to feed. It was warm enough to bring out the mice in my shed overnight, and two of them were placed on my back fence, before I left home, for the magpies.

Chris Saunders and Carl White organised us, in Roy Whincup's absence, and were repaid for their efforts by drawing the worst two pegs in the match - at the Southern ends of Cedar and Elm, with the wind blowing down towards the other end...towards me! Yes, I was very happy with peg 11, one from the corner, on Elm. Ernie Lowbridge was on 9, to my right (a peg he also fancied) but I couldn't see him properly, as he was hidden behind the tall reeds. The wind was down the lakes, but slightly over our right shoulder.

The left margin looked great, but I never actually fished it!
With the huge tow running from the bush towards me,
it would not have been easy, though I had a 3gm rig ready.

A slow start
I started on a bomb and bread, but after three ten-minute casts I had not had even a liner. I had seen Ernie playing a fish on his rod for some time, and watched to see whether he had a feeder on. He had, so I changed to a small banjo with dead maggots. That brought three smallish carp from 2 lb to 4 lb in the next 30 minutes, and then there was another 30-minute biteless session.

Suddenly I had more bites, casting just a little short of the far bank, and three more carp came in fairly quickly. Ernie got up and put a second net in, and decided to do the same. But first I walked up to him - he said he had six carp, and he was landing a seventh as I watched. Then it was back to my own swim, but the next 30 minutes were frustrating - not a fish, but I could see Ernie's landing net upending as he put more fish into his net.

I look in the margins, eventually
Then three fish came very quickly for me on the feeder. But I had had a feeling, ever since the start, that given the warm wind, the margins might hold fish (although they hadn't on Thursday). So after that third fish, which was about 5 lb, I went onto the pole, with the match now halfway through, and Ernie definitely ahead of me. I'd been feeding dead maggot into the left margin under the bush and corn to the right. First drop to the right, about four feet deep, saw the float move through quickly as there was a terrific undertow left to right, against the wind. But I thought I had a bite.

In went half-a-dozen grains, followed by my 1 gm rig set about an inch overdepth, and I had a definite bite...and a fish. It was about 4 lb, and was followed quickly by another, about 7 lb. I stayed in that swim for the rest of the match, feeding a few grains of corn, some casters, and sometimes a little hemp, before each cast. And the fish responded - fighting hard in the highly-oxygenated water.

The right margin - Ernie Lowbridge was hidden somewhere behind
those reeds two swims away. My fish came from one to two
metres out from those brown reeds.

Changing the shotting
I had to change the presentation a little from time to time - adding two or three inches, or holding the rig back and then letting it run for a couple of feet, or moving out a metre or so, to about three metres from the bank. Sometimes the fish took the bait as I held the rig back, just when the bait hit bottom. I never went more than about ten minutes without a bite, and with 20 minutes to go I had landed about 15 from that swim, all on corn, and not lost any. They ranged from 4 lb up to about 8 lb.

Soon after I started catching on the pole I saw Ernie put put his pole. I assumed he started catching there, but in fact he told me afterwards that he never had a single fish in his margins.

At one point I pushed the bulk shot down, leaving just one small dropper six inches from the hook, thinking it would steady the bait, allowing the fish more time to take it...but I never had a bite like that, and had to push the bulk shot back, 18 inches from the hook, with two small droppers, to start getting bites again. I also tried with the bait off the bottom - again, not a touch. They wanted it on the bottom. I felt that casters were keeping the carp in the swim, so tried them on the hook - not a touch! I put in my third net with just an hour to go, when the fish were coming in regularly.

You had to be very deliberate
The wind, although not fantastically strong, was strong enough to slow me (and no doubt everybody else) down. You had to make sure that there was nothing loose on the bank to blow away, and every time I laid down my pole sections (I was fishing 2+1, with just a Number Four to add if the fish raced off) I had to make sure they were in exactly the same spot, protected from being blown away by my net bag.

I hadn't been able to use my side tray, which has a hinged lid, because the wind would definitely have blown it open like a sail, so I had to use a very small tray I carry with me, and keep the rest of the bait in my bait bags - that also slowed me up considerably. I will put a spare tray (with no lid) I have at home into the van.

I lose a fish
Towards the end I hooked something that felt very heavy, but it just wouldn't come to the surface when I pushed the pole down below the waterline. It didn't feel foulhooked, and kept coming in towards the bank before trundling off again. It played me for about ten minutes before the 6 lb hooklength broke, and it was only later when I began to suspect I had hooked it in the snout, and not in the lips. Soon after that I hooked something that was definitely foulhooked, and it came off after 15 seconds, leaving me with a scale.

Ernie Lowbridge watches intently as
his catch is weighed.

The last fish was my biggest of the day at almost 10 lb, and I had just unhooked it when the match ended. Ernie said he thought I had 200 lb because I had "caught fish all day." But the fish on the feeder had been much smaller, and I'd had those long bitless sessions in the morning. I knew I had at least 100 lb in my three nets, but you don't need to click in JV matches, so I don't!

The weigh-in
The net I started just an hour before the end held over 48 lb, which was pretty good going in the wind, and I totalled 137 lb 6 oz. Ernie looked to have as many as me as he weighed in his three nets - all taken on a feeder - but he fell just short, with 131 lb 5 oz. On peg 5 Shaun Coaten said he had 20 carp, all taken on a feeder, and fell agonisingly short of Ernie - by 3 oz! So I won Elm lake.

Ernie's 131 lb 5 oz catch from peg 9 was
taken on a feeder and maggot.

Cedar Lake

Over on Cedar lake Lee Kendall was fishing a club knockout round against Ian Frith, which Lee won by        92 lb 7 oz (all taken on a feeder) to 47 lb 9 oz. But he also had the Kendall-killer to contend with, in the shape of Eddie McIlroy (no relation to Rory McIlroy, who is World Class). And that particular battle also went Lee's way, though afterwards Eddie (who weighed in 86 lb 15 oz)  insisted that one day he will beat Lee again (!).

Shaun Coaten - 131 lb 2 oz from peg 5.

Cedar Lake was won by Peter Harrison with 104 lb 9 oz on the pole, leaving me overall winner - I think that's the first time I have won a JV match. Very happy in that company. I know I was in a good area, but as they say: 'You've still got to catch them'. And I'd probably had somewhere around 100 lb in the last two-and-a-half hours, which is good going by my standards, especially in that wind.

Marks out of ten
I have great faith in casters for carp when the water is clear, and I got through about three-quarters of a pint. I never did look in the dead maggot swim, for which I had a 3gm float made up as the tow was from the bush towards me. I really should have gone with my instincts and tried the pole much earlier, because I'm better at pole fishing than on the feeder, and I should fish to my strengths.

I felt that I fished the right margin pretty well - I would feed, have a quick drink of coffee while the feed got to the bottom, and then drop my rig in, holding back so I didn't overshoot the feed, but rather let the bait drop and then run the rig through the area where the loose-feed was lying (hopefully). I lost only those two late fish on my 16-18 elastic, and think I am probably worth 9/10. One of my better days, and I was chuffed that Ernie didn't manage to catch in the side.

Next match probably Sunday with JV, again on Elm and Cedar. You might think we would get fed up fishing Decoy every week, but with 11 lakes, and with such changeable weather conditions, no two days are ever the same. 

THE RESULT

ELM

CEDAR

Not what we hoped for on Yew (and a late result from Elm)

DICK Warrener always reckons that when I don't fish he does better. So do I have special powers I am unaware of? Certainly when I watch England play football they don't play well (but I suppose everyone in the country could claim that!)

Anyway, Dick did himself proud in Spratts'penultimate match on Elm two weeks ago, which I missed, taking most of his winning 73 lb 4 oz catch on a bomb and a wafter, feeding nothing, and including  fish to 9 lb . Runner-up was Trevor Cousins, peg 15, with carp to 10 lb with three caught on a 4mm expander off the bottom,  and two on a bomb and bread.

Third-placed Shaun Buddle included barbel in his 37 lb 1 oz - great to see they are still willing to feed this late in the year. So the four pegs at the Northern end took the top four places, but everyone caught double-figures. 

Result:

East bank                                        West bank

24 Bob Barrett           16 lb                         2 Neil Paas             15 lb 3 oz

22 Mick Ramm         10 lb 13 oz               4 Peter Harrison     20 lb 10 oz

20 Peter Spriggs        27 lb 9 oz                6 Roy Whitwell       20 lb 4 oz

18 Dave Hobbs          23 lb 12 oz             8 Mike Rawson        17 lb 11 oz

16 Martin Parker       26 lb 4 oz                10 Dick Warrener    73 lb 4 oz    1st

15 Trevor Cousins     38 lb 2 oz  2nd       12 John Garner        31 lb 14 oz  4th

13 Shaun Buddle       37 lb 1 oz  3rd

And so to the last match of our season...

Peg 7, Yew, Friday, Nov 23
It all started off so well - Decoy manager Karen Gracey refunded us our peg fees for this Spratts Christmas match, as her Christmas present, and Trevor pegged us all so we'd have the spiteful Westerly wind at our backs. Bob Allen started us off with our traditional fireworks (so loud even I could hear them)...and then it all went pear-shaped!

To be honest three hard frosts had always threatened to derail this last match of the year, when we always have prizes to choose from, drawn teams when we all win something, and everyone goes home happy. And the fish, having not read the script, refused to play ball.

IF I COULD WORK OUT HOW TO GET A VIDEO OF MY SWIM TO UPLOAD TO THIS PAGE IT WOULD BE HERE.

For the first time ever in Spratts history only two anglers out of the 15 of us caught fish. Bob Allen won from far corner peg 15 with four carp for 43 lb 10 oz taken on  a feeder - two on a wafter and two on sweetcorn. Trevor Cousins on peg 12 had one fish early on, on bomb and bread, to complete the sorry-looking list.

Winner Bob Allen with just four fish for 43 lb 10 oz from peg 15.

Here's the weigh sheet:

Several of us, including me, had some liners early in the match, and in the last 30 minutes most of the anglers in the higher numbers started to get liners, with several fish being foulhooked and lost. 

Our brilliant organiser Trevor Cousins -
second  on a day when most of us were
water-whacked! Thanks for all your hard
work during the year, Trevor.

Just before the match started the wind didn't seem too cold, and I looked forward to a comfortable five hours. Like most, I tried the bomb, maggot feeder, and pole long and short. But soon after the start the wind turned towards the North, giving us almost a side wind, and it became VERY cold, and of course just before we finished it died down...

Things got better when we were back in the cafe - Karen had prepared her spectacular roast potatoes for us as another very welcome surprise.

 Then the prizes were chosen (the last 13 by drawing), sweets handed out, the team money awarded to everyone, and Trevor had our grateful thanks for all his hard work doing the booking and getting the prizes. But yes, despite the result, we all went home happy. Looking forward to next year...

TARGETMAN

Neil Paas won more matches than
anyone this year. So Bob Allen made him
our TARGETMAN
 (like Superman  but not as well dressed!)

Prizes, vouchers, and sweets for everyone to end the year.

Bread and casters set me up on Six-Island

 Peg 13, Six-Islands, Decoy
"It's a funny old life" (as Jimmy Greaves would have said, if he'd thought of it).  One day I'm playing bowls like a beginner, the very next day and I'm rolling my woods in to the jack like I was born to do it. And with a team-mate we thrashed a couple who should on paper, have thrashed us. So my bowls luck had changed, and then fishing followed. Even the slugs have stayed away...

I was very happy with peg 13 in this JV club event, even though it's the longest walk - the walk to my peg was fine - and I like this end of the lake. The wind was Westerly from the left, quite strong (it got stronger) and cold. I had Steve Tilsley to my left, with Shaun Buddle and Ernie Lowbridge to my right and together we made up one section.

My pole is pointing directly at Eddie McIlroy on peg 6, sitting in the sun.
The wind was sligtly behind us on our bank, and was cold.

Bread works at the start

I started with bread on the pole at 11.5 metres, without putting in any feed at all. On the opposite bank Chris Saunders landed a smallish carp quite quickly, but I didn't see any other fish landed in the first half hour. I thought I had a tiny touch a couple of times, then two definite bites which I missed, but the bread was still intact. Liners - so I came off bottom, with no more bites. 

I tried out at 13 metres, and if the wind hadn't been as strong I would have gone back to the van and brought my 14.5-metre section out, but clearly I would have had only a few seconds being able to properly present a bait near the island.

Fish!
Back on the bottom, and at last I hooked a 3 lb-plus carp; next drop,  and another came in. Then I hooked one very briefly before it came off. There had been splashing from Steve's swim, so he was definitely catching one or two. After a pause I put out a bomb with bread and immediately had a take from a 2 lb F1. 

Eddie, hooded against the cold, plays a fish
caught on feeder and a wafter.

Then came a long biteless session on the bomb, and then trying expanders on the pole, I wandered up to Steve, who had five fish to my three. Opposite me Eddie McIlroy on peg 6 was now catching fish on a feeder, and I changed to a hybrid feeder with dead maggots, which brought four F1s in four casts. Then followed an hour-long spell when I couldn't get even a bite - and Eddie also stopped catching.

Nowt on maggots
A look in the margin where I had been putting maggots brought just two tiny perch. After the match it seemed that almost everyone had the same experience - expecting to get at least a few bites from roach, but catching only small perch. To my left Steve now went on to a waggler, which brought a carp or two until the wind died away and he couldn't drag the corn bait from left to right. His stationary bait didn't work.

After another biteless spell on the feeder, I went on to a short line in front of me, in about four feet of water, where I had been flicking a few casters. I had just a pint with me, and thought just possible carp might come to them in the clear water.

Casters do the business
I had no fish for some time, but was almost certain that the float had shuddered a few times, so I stayed with it, using a size 16 on 6 lb line. Then a definite bite, and finally a hooked 5 lb carp on two casters. Then another, and then an obvious foulhooked fish stretched the 14-16 elastic right out, splashed on the surface in the middle in front of peg 12, and the hooklength broke.

I then put on a new hook - size 12 to 7 lb, but never had a touch for the next 20 minutes. A change back to the size 16 on 6 lb line saw three bites in the last ten minutes - and over 10 lb put in the net.

The weigh in
Eddie McIlroy had obviously won our eight-peg area in the bottom bowl, but I missed his weighing in of 89 lb 13 oz. He said that right at the end he was amazed, in the cold wind, so see fish come into the margins where he had just put in a little left-over bait. Seeing a big silver common in the swim he dropped in a bait, waited, struck at a bite...and hooked the double-figure fish, which gave him a real fight. But he landed it.

Eddie told me afterwards that most of his feeder-caught fish came to a wafter. It was enough to win, and he had this message for Lee Kendall, should Lee decide to fish next Sunday's match: "The Kendall-killer is coming after you!!" I imagine Lee will be afraid...very afraid.

Dave Parsons, second on peg 8 with 53 lb 9 oz.

Next to weigh was Dave Parsons with 53 lb 9 oz, and as Ernie Lowbridge was about to weigh in on peg 10 he asked what I had. I said about 30 lb, though I had not clicked the last few fish, and hadn't even looked at my clicker. Ernie gave me what my grandmother would have said was "an old-fashioned look" and said I'd been catching all day. I thought a visit to Specsavers should be considered!

Amazed!
Anyway, both Ernie and Shaun Buddle had a little less than 30 lb, and I was amazed to weigh in 46 lb 15 oz. Steve was last in the section, and said he had just over 45 lb. He's a better man than I am, Gungadin - he weighed 46 lb 7 oz, leaving me as section winner by 8 oz. I am really sorry, Steve. 😂

Steve Tilsley (no relation to Ivy) with
his 46 lb 7 oz (beaten by 8 oz by me 😀). 

Roy Whincup won the top end with 50 lb from peg 1 and was third. So I was fourth and happy with my section win in such company. I was obviously in one of the better pegs.

Marks out of ten
Afterwards I realised I hadn't even tried corn or worm, and worm could well have got me bites in the caster swim. However I was happy I had changed from bomb to feeder (using the Preston interchangeable system), and had changed back to a size 16 when the size 12 hadn't worked in the caster swim. So I was probably worth 8/10.

Next match is Thursday in the big Spratts Christmas match on Yew. I think 15 will be fishing, so we'll probably be on pegs 1-15, and I'd like anywhere from peg 10 to 15. I won it last year, so miracles are possible!

THE RESULT

No Yewltide welcome for me

 Peg 23, Yew, Sunday, Nov 10
Not been a good week - the mice are refusing to throw themselves onto my traps, and suddenly I've started playing indoor bowls like a beginner. Though there is one bright spot - I've contacted Cralusso and they say they have managed to find some of their Capri and Spirit in-line floats which tackle dealers don't appear to stock any more.

I like these  Cralusso floats because you can change the tips, and I have only a few left of my favourite Drennan Tuff-eyes. The new Drennan AS models, also with interchangeable tips, seems nearly all either too small or their tips are too fine. I'm not a fan of very light floats for fishing on a long pole - fishing six feet deep at 10 metres in a strong Fenland blow with one seems pointless when you can't swing the rig back because it keeps blowing away from you. So 0.5 gm is my go-to size in most instances when fishing long, and 1 gm in a big blow, while I have floats in 2 gm and 3gm made up in my holdall.

Bryan Lakey made his name fishing for bream, but in his early fishing days he used to make headline winning matches on the Fen drains with roach - and he used huge porcupine quills for that. He convinced me that a heavily-weighted float often has lots of advantages, and I'm too old to be persuaded otherwise!

I had a lovely-looking margin swim down to peg 22. But I heard of only
 one fish caught in the margins on our lake - a tiny perch.

Nothing much to report
Not a good match on Yew for me - 18 of us fished the JV match on Yew and Oak. I was happy enough with my swim halfway along the lake, but  to cut a long (five-and-a-half-hour), dispiriting story short, I ended with one 8 lb cap, hooked 30 minutes from the end, on a pink wafter with a hybrid feeder, for plumb last on the lake. 

Chris Saunders, to my left, plays his second, biggest carp.

On my left Chris Saunders had two carp on a pole, and on my right Ernie Lowbridge laboured on a pole for most of the day for two or three big ide, and F1, and a few small roach, on maggot.

Gus Gausden won our five-peg section with
two carp, a caraasion, and a tiny perch.

Most on feedered maggot
Past Ernie, though, everyone seemed to have caught a carp or two on feedered maggot, topped by John Knight on 19, with nine carp on maggot feeder and hybrid feeder (not fished together!) and dead maggot, for 80 lb 3 oz. 

 Dave Parsons won Oak with 111 lb 10 oz, mainly on a feeder, from corner peg 15. The next JV club match is on Six-Island and Horseshoe - I fervently hope to avoid pegs 14 to 20 on Horseshoe!

My next bowls match is tonight, in a strong pairs league, when I hope my touch will have returned. I suspect my team will finish bottom of the league, probably without winning a game, but we like to make the stars work for their win...just like fishing!

The results (pictures below)

Yew - not good in the middle section (where I was 😒).

The result from Oak - it fished a little better than Yew (but Not A Lot!).

Ernie Lowbridge - third

Roy Whincup - second on Yew.

...including this cracker.

John Knight - 80 lb 3 oz...

I scrape a frame place on Cedar (without losing a fish!)

Peg 16, Cedar, Wed, Nov 6
I slug it out with the mice

Had a problem with mice, and while most of the traps are catching the little blighters, one trap has had its bait consistently taken without being set off. But I've just found out the culprit. Not a clever, dainty, mouse - a slug!! A slimy three-inch brown slug. Blimey - not content with devouring my hostas, they've started on the garage. Honestly, they get everywhere - I've even got slime trails on my bib and brace, which are hanging up on a nail. War has been declared...

And how many times can you die?
Also saw an interesting article in my local Hunts Post: "On May 11, 1812, for the first and only time in history, British Prime Minister Spencer Percival was assassinated."

So he was assassinated for the first time - just the once. And I've been wracking my brains to try to think of someone who has been asassinated twice. No, can't do it. My education is clearly lacking. 

The match
HOWEVER, my pre-match investigations before the Spratts event on Cedar did tell me that peg 9 has been fishing well (though on a feeder), and that the Southern end of the lake, next to the car parking, has been very poor. So I was happy enough to get 16, which is well down the lake, and opposite 11, while Neil Paas had been drawn 18, opposite peg 9. The light wind was cool and soon became definitely cold - so much for the forecasters consistently telling us that the weather is mild for the time of year. No, it wasn't!

It soon became obvious that there were going to be no big catches, At our end we sat for a long time, until Mike Rawson on 9 had a big carp on a pole, and then Neil landed one, foulhooked on a pole. I had started with a bomb and bread to the platform between us, with not even a liner. I probably should have persisted on the rod, but with the water so calm and fair numbers of carp splashing and cruising around, I fancied the pole.

Hood up in the cool wind, Neil nets one of his six or seven carp.

I like a hard bottom

There was a nice hard bottom a metre or two from the left bank, and I had a small liner or two, but no fish there, nor farther out in the deep water (about six feet). So I went out to 13 metres, where the depth was about five feet, and eventually took a 2 lb carp on corn. With so little action all I was putting in was a little hemp and a few grains. An occasional fish cruised in towards the side, and I dropped a piece of mussel in front of one. The fish slowly dropped down. 

Now usually a fish will either ignore the bait, or will scarper immediately. As this one seemed to take an interest, I perked up a little. Hours later with no more fish, Neil had had a couple more and I tried a mussel on the hook, laying the rig out. The float jagged as the bait was still sinking, I struck, and had a fish on which came off after a second or two. Possibly a strong liner, or perhaps the fish had the bait just in its lips.

Hardly text-book
Immediately I pushed all the shot up under the float, so had a mussel sinking six feet, very slowly. Hardly text-book, but on the third drop I had a bite as it got somewhere near bottom, and a 12 lb common was on. I had on my smaller, 18-inch landing net, because it's usually easier to unhook fish in them than larger nets. But I had a problem with this one - the line seemed to have been trapped round a fin and it then ran under the fish.

I couldn't work out why I couldn't find the hook. Suddenly I realised the probable answer - the hook had come out, hooked the bottom of the net, and the fish was laying on it. and I coulkdn't move the fish to reach it.  Never had the problem before, so after sliding the fish into the keepnet, and now seeing the hook in the net, I put on a larger net. But the mussel slow-sinking experiment had run its course, and I had no more touches.

Over in corner peg 13 Martin Parker found a couple of big carp fishing shallow.

Corn skin produces one

Neil had now had couple more carp, and I had seen Martin Parker in the opposite corner, take two fish shallow. So I put on a shallow rig with a corn skin, which sinks really slowly, not feeding anything. Only minutes later a fish hooked itself, and this one really gave me the run-around. It just wouldn't come off bottom, and it must have taken ten minutes to land, and I was glad I'd put the larger net on.

In the last 45 minutes I went out to 2+2 with mussel and had two more carp around 8 lb, while Neil also had a fish or two, and Peter Spriggs , opposite on 11, hooked two in the last ten minutes, but lost one. So I finished with four good carp plus the smaller one for an estimated 38 lb. To my right in the corner peg 14, Dick Warrener had managed just two bream.

The weigh in
As I had feared, the early pegs hadn't produced - Peter Harrison had 2 lb of roach and the next three on that bank never had a fish, while Mike Rawson put his big carp back without weighing (I don't like that, as it skews the results a little). My 39 lb was top weight round to me, but Neil had about six or seven (slightly smaller) fish for 47 lb 6 oz, on expander pellet or corn, and won, leaving me second out of the 14 competing.

  Neil Paas - winner on a difficult day with  
47 lb 6 oz from the next peg to mine. 

On peg 4 Dave Hobbs, who was golden peg, had 37 lb 13 oz on feeder and pole in the first 90 minutes and never had a single bite after that! And on 26 Roy Whitwell had no carp in his 4 lb 14 oz, which was a real surprise. Once Winter sets in that peg 26 is probably the second-best swim on the complex (after Lou's 6) and has produced many big catches from alongside the end-bank reeds. Clearly the fish have not yet moved into  their traditional Winter haunts.

Marks out of ten

It was one of those days when loose-feed  didn't seem to make any difference, though I do believe that hemp brings fish in to investigate, though it probably doesn't encourage them to feed now the water is cold. On peg 22 Trevor Cousins took all his 35 lb just hanging a grain of corn a foot off bottom, well out (though he did catapult a few pellets out occasionally, hooping that the fish would come and see what was happening).

I felt I had certainly not overdone it with the feed (I think that at time it can actually scare fish away) so I give myself 8/10. I'm not sure why our bank fished the best of the two, though I did notice that Peter Spriggs opposite seemed to be fishing at about four feet near his margins, while mine were nearer to six feet, so perhaps the fish wanted to feed nearer the deepest water. Next match Sunday with JV club on Yew - things will probably be the same. The secret is to land every fish you hook.

THE RESULT

East bank                                                 West bank

26 Roy Whitwell        4 lb 14 oz                  1 Peter Harrison     2 lb 3 oz
24 Dave Hobbs         37 lb 13 oz    3rd        3 Bob Allen            DNW  
22 Trevor Cousins    35 lb              4th        5 Bob Barrett         DNW
20 John Garner        15 lb 5 oz                    7 Bob Walker         DNW
18 Neil Paas            47 lb 6 oz        1st        9 Mike Rawson     DNW
16 Mac Campbell    39 lb               2nd     11 Peter Spriggs     28 lb 10 oz
14 Dick Warrener      4 lb 8 oz                  13 Martin Parker     19 lb 15 oz