Lots of fish down our end on Cedar

 Peg 12, Cedar, Monday, Mar 25
You know when life gets annoyed at you - it keeps slinging stuff in your way, making sure nothing goes to plan. For instance, my wife and I spent a few days at the famous Potters bowling center in Norfolk. We entered the four-man team competition, which meant we would be paired with two people we didn't know. Fair enough, that happened to a few other couples. Looking forward to meeting our partners.

First day there and we go to check what team we're in, only to be told that one team of the 115 entered had pulled out, and that was our first-round opponents. So while we would get a walkover it mean we wouldn't get the minimum four games expected. Just our luck.

Then we met the other two members of our team. A lovely couple...who play only short-mat bowls and had played on a full-sized mat only once in their lives. A bit like throwing someone used to  pitch-and-putt course onto a full-sized 18-hole golf course. definitely the two least-expeienced bowlers in the event.

A win!
Somehow we managed to win one of the remaining three matches, but were thrashed in the other two (in one of which our opponents turned out to be the overall winners of the competiton in the last two years). No chance with two such inexperienced bowlers in our team. Which was a pity because both my wife and myself are capable of giving even very good bowlers a game. 

Home, and I saw that flowers in our pots were wilting through lack of water. How can that be so? After all that rain? It must have been the wind drying out the soil, and the sun was now beating down from a cloudless sky. I've got outside taps, but had turned the water off and drained the whole system when we had the heavy frosts at Christmas. So I  changed into my mucky gardening clothes, turned all the outside taps off again, screwed the drain tap back in, turned on the water under the sink and spent 20 minutes watering the outside pots. 

A hour later it started to b****y rain! Now that really is life taking the p**s.

The great Cedar of Lebanaon Whittlesey
So on to Monday's Spratts match, on Cedar, where the West bank was in surprisingly good condition for the 12 of us, which was a blessing. Trevor Cousins was on 2, and since Cedar traditionally fishes best at that end I made him odds-on favourite to win. What do I know?

Peg 12, next to the corner. The weather was mainly overcast with a strong, cool SSE wind.

I was on 12, started on a feeder and pop-up, and within 90 seconds Bob Allen on my right was playing a big carp hooked on a pole in the margin. Seconds later Dave Hobbs on my left in the corner was playing a carp on his feeder rod. Minutes later he had another...then another. Fifteen minutes gone and I was 25 lb behind!

Hardly had the match started before Bob Allen on my right
was playing a big carp, hooked in the deep margin.

I had a good look and saw Dave was fishing an orange wafter, so I changed. First cast over to the platform opposite saw the tip pull round and I hit a big fish that thumped a bit. Then it all went solid on me. Snagged! Nothing for it but to wind my hook round the line and pull for a break; luckily all I lost was the hooklength.

In the next hour I landed three nice carp myself, but in the meantime Dave had had several more on the feeder, casting only three-quarters of the way across, and had then changed to pole fishing dead maggot in his left margin, where he hit three or four more big fish quite quickly.

A fish in the margin

A switch to corn in the deep margin saw a bite immediately. I was on 13 hollo elastic, which is a nice all-round elastic, but it stretches a bit. I'd been playing this fish for a couple of minutes when it moved slowly towards Dave, on my left. I looked up to see he was now fishing the margin, towards me. In an effort to stop the fish fouling his line I held it hard, but it yomped inexorably towards Dave, who suddenly struck, and his elastic shot out. 

Dave's first good carp, taken on peg 13 in the corner on a feeder with orange wafter.

I had fouled him...or had I? No. He was now attached to an angry carp and I came back minus a hook. Not a good start in the margin. But the fish were there from time to time, as I kept getting occasional liners. A change to dead maggot saw me lose five foulhooked fish in a row. I was not a happy Easter Bunny. Dave kept striking, and was now missing some, and foulhooking and losing some, but also landing more than I was, including a couple more on the feeder.

...and eventually it is in the landing net and ready to be hauled up.

The rain had held off except for a few spots, but the wind was considerable and halfway through,  I looked down the lake and could see nothing except feeder rods out with no-one on the pole. However towards the end I guess almost everyone came in to their margins on the pole.

 

A whopper
A  big fish hooked in the snout on dead maggot, on a stronger elastic, took me ages to land. That, and the tail, are the worst places to foulhook fish - but it showed me that the fish were attacking the bait without actually taking it in. Cat meat and mussel accounted for about four more, including one whopper of about 15 lb! And when the match ended I had just hooked a fish about 9 lb on mussel, using a version of my special method, which did eventually end up in my net.

Got to include a picture of Joe Bedford - 49 lb 4 oz
at the age of 92.

In the last 15 minutes Bob Allen, who had not had many more fish, went back on to the feeder and landed two more carp. But I had been thoroughly thrashed by Dave in the corner, who told me he had found a nice ledge, only inches wide, to his left, and had had most of his margin fish there, all on dead maggot.

The weigh in
I was surpised to see Trevor with just 33 lb 13 oz, and the weights getting better towards my end. Peter Harrison on six took the lead with 89 lb 1 oz, and then Peter Spriggs on 10 had 160 lb 10 oz, though he was 2 lb 12 oz over in one net. He took most of his fish on cat meat in the margins n the second half of the match.

Peter Spriggs almost won with his 160 lb 10 oz.

Down to me and I weighed 81 lb 1 oz, and Peter Harrison took my picture with that lump. Finally to Dave Hobbs,who, like Pete The Meat, had four nets in. As the last net was being weighed I wondered whether that 2 lb 12 oz that Peter Spriggs had forfeited would cost him the match, as this was going to be tight.

Bob Allen added the weights, checked them, and announced that Dave Hobbs was the winner with 164 lb 9 oz, and I took a picture of his with a lump like mine - it's not the same fish, honestly! Turns out that Peter's 2 lb 12 oz did not cost him the match after all. 

Me with estimated 15 lb lump.

Dave Hobbs with a different lump.

Marks out of ten
I ended fourth, and should not have come off the feeder when I did. But when Dave started to haul in fish from the margin I fell prey to temptation. And finding that fish were in the swim on that first drop (even though I lost it) meant I stayed on the pole from then on. I did rest that swim by going to the right margin, even though it was difficult into the wind, and in fact had two big bream there. My bare margins were a bit bumpy - I would have liked reeds to fish against. But I should have tried the feeder again occasionally, and I give myself just 5/10.

Nor sure when my next match is, but Tuesday Spratts are on Damson, and I expect to be there. 

THE RESULT

2    Trevor Cousins             33 lb 13 oz
3    Wendy Bedford            15 lb 8 oz
4    Steve Engledow           41 lb 15 oz
5    Bob Barrett                  71 lb 13 oz
6    Peter Harrison              89 lb 1 oz      3rd
7    Neil Paas                      69 lb 4 oz
8    Mike Rawson               26 lb 14 oz
9    Joe Bedford                  49 lb 4 oz
10    Peter Spriggs            160 lb 10 oz    2nd 
11    Bob Allen                   56 lb 4 oz
12    Mac Campbell `         81 lb 1 oz      4th
13    Dave Hobbs              164 lb 9 oz     1st

       

Probably should have done better on Six-Island

 Peg 6, Sunday, March 16
This is very late - been away for a week. Peg 6 on Six-Island was fine for me, even though the rain for the first four hours rain was in my face, from the left, but the fish have been down at that end of the lake for weeks. I had Pete Molesworth to my right in this JV match, and Peter Harrison on 7 to my left. There were also some pegs on Lou's Lake.

By the end of the match the rain had stopped and the sun came out!

There are nice margins on my bank, but I started on a bomb and corn cast towards the island, without even a liner. Then out to about 8 metres with expander, still with no fish. Pete found an F1 right in the side, fishing ti his left (ie towards me) so I came in to the deep water just off the margin. Immediately an 8 lb carp took my dorn, but I spent a long time there withoutfurther result. Then two F1s came in two drops from the very shallow water against the bank, I had cracked it! But Nope...

Pete had his brolly up for the first four hours, and started to get better
fish towards the end of the six-hour match, after the rain.

In the margins, eventually

So out to 8 metres again and occasionally an F1 would come in, plus another nice carp.Pete, meanwhile, was catching just the odd fish down the side, while Peter Harrison started taking fish well out. Then he came into the side, at the same time as I did. I found a nice flat spot on a top two to my left and first drop took another F1. Some liners came then, and I suddenly reaslised that Peter, who was back out, away from the margin, was using cat meat.

So in the last hour I gave cat meat a try, taking one carp, the  another on mussel, from the deep water just off the margin, and two or three more F1s. The mussels had been frozen and thawed ou several times and, to be honest, were a bi manky.  In the last half hour Peter suddenly had a good spell, with some carp around 5 lb. Meanwhile Peter had a grandstand finish on the cat meat.

Peter Harrison on Peg 8 had a good spell on cat meat fished
in the deeper water. You can see how good the
margins look along this bank.

The weigh in
Weights down to me were not good. I thought I had around 50 lb and Pete Molesworth said he had, also. In fact he weighed 49lb 12 oz, thanks to that late run, and I had 47 lb 12 oz. To my left Peter weighed in 93 lb 7 oz, and said that actually he had not had a touch of any kind in the margin. To his left Eddie McIlroy on 8  ws just behind with 86 lb 9 oz.

But the star performance came from Steve Tilsley opposite on 10, using mainly corn, who totalled 168 lb 2 oz for the win, on a pole, leaving Peter second and Eddie third. Dan Pettigrew on 18 was the best of the rest - fourth with 76 lb 13 oz. I came 7th, missing my four-peg section win by double default  by just that 2 lb.

Shaun Buddle won Lous lake from peg 1 on the pole, with 63 lb, with most taken close to the end bank, against the reeds..

Marks out of 10
I give myself 6. I should have tried the meat earlier, and even though I had a feeling that the better carp were in the slightly deeper water I stayed too long in the shallow margins. Next match was Monday, March 25 on Cedar, where I will have cat meat and decent musell ready. I lost a couple of nice carp, probably foulhooked, but it's still annoying.

Eddie McIlroy - 3rd with 86 lb 9 oz.

Peter Harrison - 2nd with 93 lb 7 oz.

THE RESULT

Six-Island 1-9

Six-Island 10-25

Lou's

Wot, no rain? Back on Six-Island

Peg 14, Friday, Mar 15
There was good news...and not-so-good news at the Spratts club draw at Decoy. It was great to see Mick Ramm back on the bank, sporting his two bionic hips. As I have mentioned many times before, Mick and I were in the same class at St Peter's Shool, Wisbech, in the late 1940s, and no doubt we both quailed at, and suffered at, the hands of, Old Ma Thompson, a teacher I can only describe as wicked.

No-one who was ever in her class will ever forget the delight she displayed in caning poor little six-year-olds who didn't really know what was happening and who wouldn't have ever been rude to a grown-up, anywhere. But we both survived, though I suspect that many more had their chilhoods scarred by that hariden. Strange that her husband 'Rocky' Thompson, the headmaster, was a lovely man...

Then Trevor updated us on Peter Barnes, who has had a horrendous time with his chemotherapy, and has said he didn't expect to be able to fish with us this year. Peter said he keeps up to date with the club by reading this 'comedian's' blog. Blimey, he must be in a bad way...  Hasta las Vista, Baby! We really miss your smiling face, Peter, so I will have to put up with photographing these ugly buggers till you get back.

Peg 14, with another pesky bush peventing me fishing further along that margin.

Happy with my draw (!)
I was happy with peg 14, and as last week's (failed) Golden Peg, I drew for this one, and pulled out John Garner. Well, I pulled out his milk bottle top! Next decision was to wheel my trolley down by peg 2 and right round the lake, as the bank from peg 23 down to 16 was ankle-deep in mud in places (as it often is). I once had my best-ever match weight of about 176 lb on peg 14, mainly from the left margin, but on this occasion the wind, which was over my back from the left (how did I manage that?) was too strong to be able to fish that properly after the first hour. And I had a bush only a top-two away to the right.

The best margin spot (to be honest the only one) looked to be under that bush, but I started with a banjo feeder and a pink wafter cast to the middle. Before long I had an 8 lb common carp, and I was away. Bob Barrett on 13 was casting to the island and also had a quick start. An F1 came quickly but then I had a long period without any more bites so had a quick look on my 2+3 pole line. The 0.5 gm float sat there in the waves just beautifully, and I was certain that something would come along and pick up the 6mm expander. But NO. Not a sausage, not a touch. 

Bob Barrett, on the other side of the bush, kept putting occasional fish into his net, all on feeder and pellet.

A good spell
So it was into the margins, which were also blank, and then back on the feeder. That produced five F1s in about 40 minutes, but suddenly those bites dried up. So it was back inside, under the bush, with corn, and I thought the float was twitching as it settled. That happened several times and gradually the twitches became proper bites...except that when I struck there was nothing there. I became convinced that F1s were knocking and slapping the bait.

A change to maggot produced another 8 lb carp first drop in, but then I had just the dips and dive-unders. Then in came a 5 lb carp foulhooked in the pectoral; fin, and a 3 lb F1 hooked in the side of the head - a clear indication that they weren't taking the bait properly. The next hour saw another carp and a couple of F1s, and I cleverly changed from the bunch of four or five deads I had been using on a size 12, down to a size 16 with two maggots, assuming the F1s would perhaps take a smaller bait.

John Garner had 6 lb knocked off his weight. 😞
He took his fish on pole but lost a couple.

That change down to two maggots immediately brought a roach, another roach, and a perch. So I cleverly put four maggots on the hook, which would obviously attract the carp and F1s. Nope - roach took this bait, but they had never taken four maggots on a size 12! Doesn't make sense. 

A bad finish
With an hour to go a 5 lb carp took the maggots on a size 12, but the last hour saw just liner after liner, on maggot or corn, and not a single fish. I am sure there were lots of carp down there, but I wasn't clever enough to catch them. On peg 11 Mick Ramm eventually found carp close-in, right in front of him, and looked as if he had caught up Trevor Cousins opposite. Later I remembered that before the match Mick said he had had several fish splash in front of him, but I saw only two all day in front of me.

A triumphant return for Mick Ramm to the match scene...

The weigh in

As we had half-expected the top end pegs didn't fish as well as our end. John Garner started the ball rolling with 56 lb, knocked back to 50 lb, taken on the pole. Then came Trevor Cousins, who had started well on bomb and corn, capaulting corn out into the fierce wind, though he said: "I think most of that corn finished up in Horseshoe!' Five carp in the last half-hour from the margins on a pole catapulted his weight to 85 lb 1 oz, but he was sure that Mick Ramm's late burst had overtaken him.

In fact Mick had just 81 lb 14 oz, and Bob Barrett, to my right had 55 lb 12 oz for third, all on a feeder and pellet, which would have been fourth if John Garner hadn't gone overweight in his net. I managed 45 lb 12 oz, which nobody else could beat, and I ended fifth, with top honours to Trevor and Mick, followed by Bob and John.

Bob Barrett - third, with every fish taken on his usual feeder gear.

From then on weights gradually got lower as the scales went along the bank, with a grass carp of about 8 lb boosting Dave Hobbs to 28 lb 8 oz on peg 25. There are just a few left in the lakes, and must be at least 15 years old now. But they didn't do as well as the barbel, which were stocked around the same time.

Marks out of ten

I am determined to try to use more change baits this season. As Syd Meads told me once - better to try something that sit there doing nothing new; and I know that when he fished the first Woodbine final on Coombe Abbey (as I did) he actually took cockles! 

Tooday I tried mussel and red corn, but I think I should also have tried feeding expanders, as a change from corn, on a short line in front of me - that would possibly have brought in carp and F1s and avoided the roach. Still, you can't do everything, and just two or three more F1s (my best was over 3 lb) would have pushed me to third spotl. So I give myself 6/10.

Next match is back on Six-Island on Sunday with JV. It's my favourite lake at Decoy, and this was my first match there for months. I don't care about the wind or rain - just give me something between 7 and 11.

Dave Hobbs, with that big ole grass carp from peg 25.

THE RESULT

2 Dick Warrener        6 lb 13 oz
4 Mike Rawson        10 lb 4 oz

6 John Garner           50 lb            4th

8 Trevor Cousins      85 lb 1 oz     1st

11 Mick Ramm         81 lb 14 oz    2nd

13 Bob Barrett          55 lb 12 oz    3rd

14 Mac Campbell     45 lb 12 oz

17 Steve Engledow  34 lb 9 oz

18 Bob Allen            32 lb 3 oz

22 Neil Paas             13 lb 5 oz

25 Dave Hobbs        28 lb 8 oz 

 

Wet, Wet, Wet, on Cedar

 Peg 7, Cedar, Sunday, March 11
Very late in posting this, as it took me days to dry everything out. It was raining when I went out to the van to drive to the JV match, raining all the way to Decoy, raining at the start, raining all day, raining at the end, raining while weighing in, and raining on the return journey home. As I drove through Ramsey St Mary I saw a light on in a garage, and as I drove by I could see in the main door. There was someone inside obviously working, on something that looked suspiciously like an ark. Them old Fen Boys have an instinct for this sort of thing!

I was pretty chinkered after the draw - for the umpteenth match in a row I managed to end up with the wind in my face on Cedar while half the others, on Elm, had it behind them. How do I do it? Anyway, I managed to get my umbrella up, in a fashion, but the North-Easterly was cold and the rain was,err, wet.

Too wet to get my phone out to take a picture of my swim. It was mainly water anyway, but with a bush fairly close to me on the right which meant I had not a lot of margin on that side.

The match itself was forgettable. I couldn't be bothered to get a rod out of the bag, because at the start fishing at 13 metres was definitely on, because the wind wasn't too strong. One foulhooked carp of 5 lb taken at 11.5 metres on corn started me off. Then followed a couple of fishless hours during which I had a look in the left margin and the right margin. But soon the wind blew harder and beat upon that umbrella, but it fell not!

However the left margin was now out for me, as it meant facing the wind, so the right margin prevailed and with an hour to go I had added two more carp and two bream. I was difficult, because the only place I could get a bite was under the bush, which I managed to hook only once. Meanwhile, behind me facing West, Pete Molesworth had found carp on corn in his margin, and to his left I saw Ivy Tilsley netting a fish or two towards the end.

An umbrellaless Ian Frith - winner on peg 1 with 115 lb 5 oz.

With 30 minutes left I started a new swim at 2+3 and first drop a 3 lb bream came in. I was certain more would follow, but they had gone (if they had ever arrived)! I never had another bite, and by the end I was hoping that I would soon feel I'd had enough. To my right three anglers had sat all day with no umbrella...and they all beat me.

The weigh in
Wet! And there was now an inch or two of water lying on much of the bank. Ian Frith on 1 had 115 lb 15 oz to win the lake, with several taken on feeder early on and most of the rest of long pole dotted around in front of him. On 3 Ron Cuthbert was second with 98 lb 12 oz on a pole. I had a measly 23 lb 6 oz - last on the lake, but I was successful, at least, in surviving that horrible, horrible day. And some consolation is that I was in the middle of the bottom three on the lake.

Pete Molesworth - second on Elm 19 with 82 lb 11 oz.

Ivy (Sorry - Steve) Tilsley had a good finish on Elm on the pole mainly on maggot, to win with 114 lb 7 oz. And I give myself 7/10 for not making any reall gaffes. I thought I fished a tidy match...in the circumstances. 

Next match Six-Island with Spratts, on Friday, where I hope there's not as much mud, though I know that from 23 down to 16 can be really muddy even in a normal Winter. Looking forward to that, hoping I get in the main bowl, round the corner. 

PS I checked my rod bag on Thursday, ready for the Spratts match, only to find an inch of water in the bottom. How did that get there?  I never even unzipped it for the Cedar match...

THE RESULT

Cedar

Elm (they had back wind!)

Has my luck partly turned for the better on Yew?

Peg 20, Yew, Decoy
Just call me Goldenballs Campbell – first of all peg 20 was drawn for me in the first Spratts match of the year. It’s probably the most consistent peg on Yew, and had provided the lake winner in the Winter League final two weeks previously. THEN Trevor went and drew the Golden Peg – Number 20! My luck has obviously turned (!)

We were fishing the East bank of Yew, sheltered from the light but biting easterly wind. But that meant that we all had flat calm water at the start, though later some ripple appeared in the higher numbers at the car park end. Like all the banks, there was mud, but nothing like as bad as that either side of Oak, which has been sheeted along the banks to prevent any further erosion. The poor sods who were pegged there in the Winter League final had found the mud up to the tops of their trolley wheels.

Rain, Rain, go away…
That was not the fault of Decoy, who had intended to start the work in October, but who were continually hampered by the rain – hardly a day has passed since Mid-October when rain has not fallen. Sean the owner can’t do anything with that mud until it has hardened a bit. As I write we’ve had two days without rain, which is the first time I can remember, for months. Anyway, I carry a length of polythene in my trolley bag, so I put my bags on it behind the platform.

Bob Barrett, next to me, had this fish on within a few minutes. The water was calm,
but out of the shelter of the trees the wind was a biting Easterly.

Give it time

I used to be a semi-pro stand-up comedian, but sometimes I would sing at concerts, and having a bass voice one of my songs was Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud (The Hippopotamus Song). So far I have refrained from belting out as we walk down the bank (but watch this space).

A good start for some

On end peg 27 Peter Harrison started on 16 metres (according to Trevor who was next door), and soon had fish. That caused Trevor to cast his bomb or feeder halfway across, and he, too, started to catch fish.

On the next peg along Steve Engledow put a piece of corn on a margin pole rig, dropped it down, without putting in any loosefeed, and soon had his first carp. Meanwhile, towards the other end, I started on a bomb and corn, and sat sitting there without even a liner while Bob Barrett, to my left, had two early fish on a feeder. Then Shaun Buddle, on my right, had a fish on pole, and John Garner, on his right wound a fish in on his rod.

A switch to pole saw my fish still AWOL, but then the float dipped, at 11.5 metres, and a 2 lb F1 came in, hooked on corn. At least I would weigh in. But it took ages before I had another bite, and that came off after one second, definitely foulhooked, as I thought I had missed it, and had  then hit it nearer the surface.

Shaun Buddle carefully plays a fish on his brand-new short Daiwa top!

Shaun had another fish or two before I managed a good one – a 7 lb mirror. Much later another came in, and then I hit a really big fish which eventually snagged me about three metres out from the bank, in open water. That rarely happens at Decoy, so it was a massive surprise to me…and it cost me dear.

Suddenly, in the afternoon, the sun came out, and I looked up to see Shaun and John both playing fish, as was Bob Barrett, and while they were doing that I had my next carp, about 5 lb. I expected to see more elastics stretching out after that, but that five-minute purple patch was never repeated, except that John Garner kept winkling in the odd fish.

A bust float
However, I did hit another fish. For the first few seconds it hardly moved, then it shot off like a bullet from a gun and back came the rig, complete except for the fact that the Tuff Eye float tip had broken off. These are not made for carp fishing, but I have used them, and their predecessors the Tipo, for years, because there are four different-coloured tips and they can be interchanged. However, once the tip has broken off at the body it’s impossible to get another in, so that float is already in the dustbin.

I had been looking in the margins every now and again, but had just the odd liner from fish passing  by (which was annoying, as John Garner was taking his fish from the margins). But then a new long-swim rig, still baited with corn, tempted a carp about 8 lb.  I played it carefully, as I had seen Shaun ping out of about three fish, but it ended in my net, and with 15 minutes left another fish was on.

A good 'un
This fish quickly launched itself clear of the water twice, and it looked to be a good ‘un. It took me a couple of minutes to think that perhaps it was foulhooked, and another ten minutes to see that it was hooked in the tail. It came to the net about eight times – tail-first of course – before it was close enough for me to get the net right underneath it. Thankfully the water was clear, and yes! As I lifted the pole the fish dived down, straight into the landing net. And yes, it was at least 10 lb. But there was no time to catch another. Match over….

I had six fish, but Bob had eight or nine, as did Shaun, and John Garner must have had more than a dozen.

Peter Spriggs - 39 lb 8 oz from peg 22. You can see that
the bank here was still in reasonable order, despite all the rain. 

The weigh in
I was surprised to see the best weights down to be had come from from the first three pegs at the car park end, but I don’t believe that there were any more fish up there – it was down to the quality of the anglers. Peter Harrison had taken 70 lb 7 oz, with Trevor Cousins not far behind, followed by Steve Engledow. 

Bob Barrett on my left had just 34 lb 11 oz - much less than I had assumed. My six fish went 44 lb, and Shaun's eight or nine only just beat me - 46 lb 3 oz. 

The another surprise - about eight of John Garner's fish were barbel, which of course are smaller than the average carp on Yew, and he weighed 48 lb 2 oz for fourth place, the first three pegs taking the first three spots. I finished sixth out of the 12. That one fish which snagged me must have been approaching double-figures, and would in fact have put me third - it needed to have weighed only  5 lb 2 oz to have overtaken Shaun, John and Steve Engledow.

Great to see Martin Parker back on the bank after
an operation on a tumour pressing on his brain.
 (The surgeon confirmed he has got one!)

Marks out of ten

I give myself 5, because I had intended to hand-feed a maggot swim, which could easily have attracted barbel, but I never thought about it! On the plus side I spent some time getting the float very sensitive in the calm water, and every fish came to a tiny dip which I would never have seen if I hadn't got the float dotted down to a pimple. I did try maggot and soft pellet on the hook, and was surprised not to get a touch. 

Carp were showing occasionally on the surface, and I wondered whether dobbing maggot or pellet shallow would have taken any, but I had no confidence because of the clear water, with no ripple. And bread is (so I found out), not now allowed - the closing date was Feb 29, not March 31 as I had understood, so mine stayed in its bag.

Next match is Sunday with JV, currently on Elm and Cedar, but with the East bank of Cedar so muddy it looks as if we may be facing that East wind, which I do not fancy.

Look at those lovel barbel in John Garner's net. They must have
been in Decoy for 15 years and are still doing well.

THE RESULT

27 Steve Engledow           49 lb 1 oz       3rd

26 Trevor Cousins            66 lb 14 oz     2nd

25 Peter Harrison             70 lb 7 oz       1st  

24 Dick Warrener             38 lb 8 oz

23 Bob Allen                    25 lb 9 oz

22 Peter Spriggs               39 lb 8 oz

21 Bob Barrett                  34 lb 11 oz

20 Mac Campbell             44 lb

19 Shaun Buddle              46 lb 3 oz

18 John Garner                 48 lb 2 oz       4th

17 Mike Rawson              13 lb 13 oz

16 Martin Parker              34 lb 1 oz