An abysmal result while melting on Yew

Peg 16, Yew, Tues, June 25
Fate played me a trick at the draw for this Spratts club match. My name was first out of the bag, and before my peg was drawn Bob Allen asked: "What peg, Mac?" I replied, without thinking: "Sixteen".

Into the other bag dived Trevor (just his hand, not his whole body) and came up with: 16! Why did I tempt Fate like that? It's the longest walk, and the heat was already burning us up. Sixteen is a good peg (even I have won from it) but on a day like that I don't think it really gave any advantage.

When I got there the corner was completely filled with cut reeds, and actually I quite fancied it, because I had casters, and thought there might be carp under the floating reeds. There were carp all over the swim, drifting just under the surface, no naturally I tried mugging some (I had three shallow rigs ready). Not a chance, they either ignored the corn skin, pellet or caster, or had a look and turned slowly away.

It was HOT, with the corner completely filled with floating reeds,
which I thought would be holding fish galore!

Casters for me
Next I catapulted casters out to the edge of the floating reeds, fishing a banded caster shallow, and after a fair while I had a 2 lb F1. That was followed by several rudd around 2 oz each. Then a bottom bait of two catsers brought a 5 lb carp, but only the one.

Out to 2+2 in front, where I found a hard bottom in about five feet of water, and in the next three hours I managed to land three barbel, a 3 lb tench and half-a-dozen more F1s, plus two carp around 6 lb. I also lost two big carp, definitely foulhooked. With an hour to go the fish which had been basically sunbathing atarted to become more animated, and they started swimming a bit faster, coming towards the margins. I hoped they would drop down and feed so tried cat meat and mussel both sides, but never had even a liner. Ten minutes left and I went back out and had the last fish - a 2 lb tench.

It was a superb performance from Trevor in the heat -
260 lb 13 oz, all taken mugging on a long pole. 

The weigh in
Trevor Cousins on peg 25, towards the car perk end, absolutely blitzed it with 260 lb 13 oz, every fish taken mugging with a pellet on a long pole. By the end he was absolutely cream-crackered. And then I thought that I should probably have tried it when the fish started moving about towards the end. Second and third went to Peter Harrison and Dave Hobbs who had 153 lb 5 oz and 148 lb 13 oz, also taken mugging.

My measly catch, all taken on two casters, went 49 lb 4 oz, which placed me sixth out of the 12. 

Marks out of ten
Probably worth 4. I love fishing shallow, and when I asked Trevor what he'd had at the start he told me he had had only an F1 in the first 30 minutes. So if I had tried mugging farther out for longer I guess I would have had some of those cruising carp. But that first ten minutes, trying to mug fish close-in, put me off. 

Didn't like the heat, which didn't adversely affect me, but it did affect my phone, which stopped working and gave me the message that it was overheating. So I put it in my cool bag with the casters and cat meat and that cooled it down. I hope the temperature drops by my next match, on Sunday, on Cedar.

THE RESULT

28 Martin Parker         43 lb 14 oz

27 Mike Rawson        DNW

26 John Smith             26 lb 6 oz

25 Trevor Cousins     260 lb 13 oz     1st

24 Steve Engledow    DNW

23 John Garner           12 lb 13 oz

22 Bob Allen              54 lb 1 oz

21 Kevin Lee               84 lb 7 oz       4th

20 Dave Hobbs        148 lb 13 oz      3rd

19 Mike Ramm          16 lb 2 oz

18 Peter Harrison     153 lb 5 oz        2nd

17 Neil Paas               32 lb 1 oz

16 Mac Campbell       49 lb 4 oz 

The heat hits us all on Magpie

Peg 27, Magpie, Pidley, Sat, June 22
Summer had arrived at last, and I chose peg 27 on Magpie because acccording to Tim Bates in the shop "The bay is solid with fish" and I fancied using casters shallow next to the lillies. I was full of optimism, and my bait bags were full of casters, but the b*****y fish had gone on holiday! In the words of Victor Meldrew I Didn't Believe It.

This was Fenland Rods' annual rover, and my name came out fairly well down in the choosing order. Famous peg 36 had gone to Mike Rawson and 19, which has been yielding big catches to 14-metre poles fished shallow to the far-bank reeds, went to Callum. We had been given pegs 14 to 27 plus 35 and 36, and I had walked along the previous day, quite fancying the lower numbers for their margins. But I needed to practice fishing casters, and plumped for 27, which was also the shortest walk from my van. Given the heat during the day that turned out to be a bonus.

Not a lot of Raspberry Ripple on this part of Magpie Lake!

I start shallow

Afterwards I was pleased I did it 'properly'. I had two shallow banded rigs out (I use Connectadjusts, so can alter the depth at will), plus a left margin rig and a right margin rig, and a stronger meat rig. The bottom in front of me was so soft I ruled that out immediately. So I started caster shallow, catapulting casters to one of the lily pads because they were too far for me to throw casters in the light wind.

Fishing to the nearest lillies was out of the question, because you need to srike sideways at 90 degrees and hold the fish. So I had to go out to about eight metres, where fish were humping the lillies about.

The first fish, after about 45 minutes, was a small rudd. Lots of minutes later came the first carp - a near-5 lb common. I had Matrix Slik 18-20 in, and this  was just powerful enough to keep the fish out of the lillies, even though it was hooked only inches away from them. It's the elastic Ben Townsend recommended in a You Tube video taken on peg 36.

Lots of more minutes later an F1 took the banded caster, and ages after that, came another F1. Then I actually saw a carp hanging under a lily leaf, just sucking it, and hanging there for several minutes. It obviously wasn't interested in feeding on any bait I could offer.

Mike Rawson playing one of his fish, taken in the margins of peg 36.

The halfway point

The match was now halfway through and with those four fish in my net, and my casters almost two pints lighter, I wandered up to Allan Golightly on 26 to see how he was faring in the heat. He had three, whilst Bob Allen, on his right was still blanking. 

In fact the only person I had seen landing a few was Mike Rawson, to my left on the island peg 36, and I reckoned he had half-a-dozen. That was the moment I decided that I simply had to have a look in the margins, and the response was almost immediate - two big fish hooked...and lost. Probably foulhooked. In the next hour I had a couple of F1s on corn, but after losing more foulhooked I altered tack completely.

Cracked it! 😁
I put on a 4mm cube of luncheon meat and dropped in down right beside the marginal reeds to my right, which had been twitching occasionally. First drop, and a 3 lb carp took the bait...in its mouth. Soon after, another came in. Bingo. Cracked it! No more there so I went to my left and dropped the bait down right beside the reeds there and Lo and Behold two F1s came out. All without putting in a single piece of loosefeed.

But all good things come to an end and after a long biteless session I came back to where I had foulhooked, and lost, the first two. Same thing happened - in went some pieces of meat and a few micros and some hemp, and the fish were there within a minute. 

Nightmare
A couple more came in, but then I had the Ultimate Nightmare: I hooked about 16 fish...and landed just one! I am sure that three or four were properly hooked, but they were fighting like tigers, and with the fish almost ready for netting the hooks kept pinging out. Afterwards several other told me that had happened to them - we reckon they were just hooked on the outisde of the mouth.

Dave Garner - back in action after an
operation on his back - 32 lb 3 oz.

A good last 20 minutes

Meanwhile Mike was still landing the occasional fish, and was way ahead of me. Then, with 20 minutes left, things changed. Three fish in three drops, all on meat, and all landed. Five minutes left and I drop in, get a bite, strike, and the fish screeches away into the nearest lillies only six feet away. And I am snagged. That was the end of my match, the worst possible end, of course, because that fish was lost, as was my rig. The only time a fish had taken me into the lillies.

The weigh in
The heat was now pretty intense, but two liberally-applied doses of suncream had kept my bare arms, and my face, from any sunburn. First to weigh was Dave Garner, on 35, only a short hop away from me, and I reckon he did well, using only his waggler, to get 32 lb 3 oz, because all his fish would have taken a stationary bait on the bottom, while I had to keep lifting my bait to get a bite.

Mike Rawson  on 36 had bigger fish than me.

On 36 Mike Rawson beat that with 34 lb 13 oz taken in the margins - another good catch in quite a good run he's been having. And when my three nets (catches are split at Pidley) went 37 lb 2 oz and Allan on 26 had 32 lb I actually felt a little sad that I was top weight in that four-peg section, and not Mike. (But only a little!)

Round to Bob Allen and he, also, was in the 30s with 35 lb 11 oz, Joe next door (aged 93) had stuck it out for 18 lb 9 oz, but his sister-in-law Wendy had not had a bite on her feeder. Things were looking dire. Dick Warrener had one carp and some 'bits', but then we came to Martin Parker, in the narrows.

Martin had cast a Preston ICS bomb with a banded 8mm pellet to the far bank and had had six fish in the first couple of hours. Then he put out paste on a pole and first drop had a carp. Naturally that meant he stayed on the pole for a long time - too long in fact, because he had one bite in the next couple of hours, which he missed. And it wasn't until Dick next door asked why he hadn't stayed on the bomb that he went back to it.

Joe (93) stuck it out to the end in the incessant heat for 18 lb 9 oz.

That move back to rod and line proved decisive and he ended up with 77 lb 9 oz. Callum on 19 was another in the 30s - 35 lb 3 oz, but Kevin Lee on 17 found fish out in front on paste and ended with 70 lb 1 oz. Then yet another '30' came to the scales - Mel Lutkin with 34 lb 4 oz, and last to weigh was Dave Hobbs, who had some ripple on end peg 14. I fully expected that Dave had caught well, but no - he struggled to 36 lb 10 oz.

Kevin Lee - runner up.

Callum Judge - almost beat me.

Dave Hobbs was one of eight of us to weigh
in a catch in the 30 lb bracket. 

That meant that Martin was first, Kevin second and, amazingly, with eight catches in the 30s, I was third with my 37 lb 2 oz. It also meant that Mike Rawson had won my section by default. A strange, difficult match an a lake known to hold good numbers of carp. I suspect that they haven't spawned properly yet. But it meant another frame place for me.

Marks out of ten
If I had not fished shallow I'm pretty sure I would have had more. But it was good practice for caster fishing. I had several 'bites' which I missed while doing that, but the fish weren't really interested. I stuck to my plan until I felt it wasn't working but I still had time to win. I didn't win, but I did enough to put myself in a position where I could have won given a bit more luck, and if those fish hadn't come adrift. So I think I'm worth probably 8/10. "Couldn't have done much better."

Next match Tuesday on Decoy, on Yew lake. No point in trying to guess where the best weights will be, as the heat is likely to result in a topsy-turvey match.

THE RESULT

I get a plum peg on Damson (geddit?)

 Peg 13, Damson, Monday, June 17
Has my luck suddenly changed again? I had never fished peg 13 on Damson, but every time I fish on Damson it seems to produce fish, and with 13 of us fishing this Spratts match, it would be in, and end (and corner) peg. So I said it would be my choice and when Bob Allen picked my name out of the bag, with Trevor about to pick my number out, Bob actually said: Peg 13.

Then a beam of sunshine broke through the clouds, orchestras started playing, and a heavenly chorus surrounded us. And we were sore afraid. And Trevor put his hand into his bag, withdrew it, looked at the milk bottlke top, and said unto us: "Thirteen!" Well that last bit is right, anyway, and it was now up to me to produce the goods.

Deep in the side
So down to peg 13, and I was surprised how deep it was in the side against the reeds - straight down to three feet, while other pegs I have fished on that bank tend to start at 18 inches. The wind was blowing mainly into the corner, though somehow the ripple was farther out, and the margins on the end three pegs were calm.

Nicely in the wind, but strangely a lot of the time our margins were calm.

 A quick plumb up and one side was a few inches deeper than the other, so I put up two margin rigs, plus a shallow rig, and the deep-water rig, which could be fished on a short top and short Number Three (though I actually used a long top as it was about seven feet deep).

Rejected!
The sun came out occasionally, and there were occasional fish just under the surface. When the match started I dropped a banded caster in front of one and after having a look, the fish turned smartly away. I immediately went to my basic Damson approach - corn over micros, and within a couple of minutes I was playing a 1 lb F1. That set the tone for much of the day.

Usually fish come into the peg immediately there is any disturbance, but today they didn't. However they were willing to feed near the bottom, and I would get two or three fish before changing from the right margin to the left. I only once had to go any longer than a short top and short Number three. Hemp definitely kept fish in the swim.

It was steady sport (perhaps one fish every three or four minutes) with fish to a little over 2 lb. I would have liked to catch more quickly, but decided to keep putting fish in the net. Then, after about two hours, bites tailed off, and the splashing from Bob Allen, on my left, stopped. The sun was out and I could see fish under the surface some way out, so had a go at fishing casters, shallow, hoping they would come towards me - and they did. 

Casters worked for me
That was when I added a section, and tried to drop my banded caster into the falling casters I had just thrown out. If I got it right I might get a fish, though most times I drew a blank. However, in the next 40 minutes I had about five carp, best 5 lb. Then those fish seemed to become cagey and I went back to the margins, half expecting to have to go out top the deep swim.

But careful presentation, just touching bottom, and lifting it every few seconds, saw tiny bites, resulting in a few more fish, which now were mainly mirrors and commons, with only the odd F1. And I kept on taking fish, but had to feed before every one. That seems a bit over the top when the fish are no more than 2 lb, but I heard very litle splashing from my left and I guessed things were hard overall. I tried a worm over caster, which took a small rudd, so that experiment was abandoned.

Mike Rawson - 33 lb 4 oz from peg 9. 
 He's having a good run at the moment.

The last ten minutes were my worst of the match - I had just one 1 lb fish, on corn. And frankly I was surprised to have been able to fish close in all day, so I couldn't complain at that. I'd used three keepnets, and estimated they were 32 lb, 42 lb and 21 lb for about 100 lb.

The weigh in
Trevor Cousins was on peg 1, and had Managed to mug only 46 lb 10 oz. But I wasn't surprised - it's a sheltered swim, which can be great in Winter, but I didn't fancy it in this match as there was no ripple. However, next to him Peter Spriggs weighed in with  114 lb 4 oz. I know it can be a good close-in swim, though I suspect Peter fished long for much of the time. And I didn't think I could beat that - although it's difficult to estimate accurately when the fish are smallish.

Peter Harrison - third with 69 lb 4 oz.

Peter's weight led the field down to me, and I got a bit jittery when my 32 lb net weighed 42 lb! However the 42 lb net went 45 lb, and the last one went about 36 lb. I had forgotten that I hadn't bothered to click the last few fish, simply because I was concentrating on catching them and guessed I wouldn't go over in the last 20 minutes. Anyway, the end result was 123 lb 3 oz, for the win. Very happy with that.

Steve Engledow was two swims from me, and
like me he included some slightly better fish.

Marks out of ten

I was pleased I had enough confidence in my ability to present the bait sufficiantly well to keep getting bites, and although I didn't go into the deep water I certainly had the 1.5 gm rig ready. I kept it simple, and was particularly chuffed I added a few fish in that spell on casters when, apparently, fish in all along the bank, became difficult to catch. So I'm probably worth 9/10, which is the best score I've ever given myself. I know I fancied the peg before the start, but you've still got to catch 'em.

Next match a rover on Magpie Lake at Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley. The pegs in the island will be taken first, I suspect. But I'm confident of catching a decent weight anywhere (Famous Last Words?

THE RESULT

1 Trevor Cousins        46 lb 10 oz
2 Peter Spriggs            114 lb 4 oz   2nd
3 John Garner              43 lb 2 oz
4 Dick Warrener          31 lb 15 oz
5 John Smith               67 lb            4th

6 Martin Parker           42 lb 12 oz

7 Neil Paas                  60 lb

8 Mick Ramm             22 lb 10 oz

9 Mike Rawson          33 lb 4 oz

10 Peter Harrison        69 lb 4 oz    3rd

11 Steve Engledow     60 lb 8 oz

12 Bob Allen              62 lb 14 oz

13 Mac Campbell      123 lb 3 oz    1st    

All good things come to an end on Oak

Peg 14, Oak, Sunday, June 16

The message was clear - You're Toast!

After 13 frames in a row, in club matches, I was told, by my breakfast, that things were going to alter for this Fenland Rods match. Yes. By my breakfast! Things are coming to something when your toast starts making faces at you...

I was happy enough to be fishing anywhere on Oak, on the lovely new strong, metal, non-slip platforms. And I had a plan. Actually that's a kiss of death for me, 'cos it hardly ever works. But I sallied down to my peg 14, next to the corner, (taking my trolley on the opposite side of the lake, because heavy rain and hail had stirred up some mud on the West bank), full of optimism.

A refugee on peg 12
I  had a refugee on my right, on peg 12. Steve Tilsley was a refugee from JVAC, who were fishing Willows that motning. It's not that Steve, fishing as a guest of Mike Rawson, doesn't like Willows - it's that Willows doesn't appear to like him! On my immediate left, on 15, sat Martin Parker. Now Martin is a former Vets National Champ, and Steve is a former European Police Champ, and I reckon that sealed my fate. There was a gap of about 60 yards to Kev Lee on peg 9, which might or might not, be important.

The wind was behind us, leaving not much ripple on our side of the lake.

First cast on a Method feeder with a wafter, cast towards the far bank, saw me watch Steve catch a big carp on a pole at about 6 metres, while I sat gloomily waiting for even a line bite, which never came. When I lifted the rod to bring it back it was stuck. Some frantic pulling and jiggling about saw the feeder come free from the mud it which it appeared to be stuck, and I went onto the pole.

My float looked great
Eleven metres out, and the float sat there beautifully. Steve had another big fish or two on the pole and changed to a bomb and pellet and immediately caught more fish. My float still sat there beautifully. Basking in the sun. Meanwhile Martin had two or three big fish on a pole, and my float sat there beautifully, until it dived under, and up came 1 lb F1. Small fare compared to the double-figure fish either side of me.

After  catching on a pole Steve Tilsley went on to a bomb and pellet and caught straight away.

A carp

I'd been flicking casters out and now went on to a banded caster fished shallow. Up came a 1 oz roach! And about an hour later a carp at last - around 10 lb. But halfway through the match Steve must have had at least a dozen, on pole and bomb, and Martin four or five.

Martin had a least four fish before I had my first.

The margins disappoint

Two hours to go, and after fishing bomb and pellet for a long time, without even a liner, I came into the side, to the right, at roughly the same time as Steve, who was sitting absolutely parallel to the bank, so I did the same, dropping my bait in right against the tins, where fish started swirling after I put in hemp. Nothing! Yet Steve was now catching really well, as was Kev Lee - it seemed that every time I peered round to look at him he was landing a fish.

Another good-un for Martin Parker, on peg 15 in the corner.

The penny drops!
It took a long time for the penny to drop - Steve was fishing a three-foot lash, dropping in his paste a metre from the tins, and holding his pole against them , so it wasn't over the top of the fish. So I went out a little farther, and managed to find three fish there on cat meat and mussel, before coming in to the really deep water to my left, where I found two good carp in two drops, and another hooked on mussel seconds before the end of the match, which I landed. My total was the roach, the F1, and eight carp approaching double-figures. 

Steve had another two or three on bomb and pellet, and had a poor last 45 minutes. But I knew I had been thrashed. Martin appeared to have also beaten me, especially when he landed two tench in the last few minutes of the match.

The weigh-in

Kevin Lee's best fish was weighed at 16 lb 9 oz.

You wouldn't want to see a grown man cry, so I will summarise it by saying that there were two weights over 90 lb at the far end, and Kevin totalled 193 lb, including his best which we weighed at 16 lb 9 oz. I thought that Steve had probably beaten that, but he came agonisingly short with 190 lb 13 oz.

That dwarfed my 72 lb 15 oz, but I then had a nice surprise when Martin, who I thought had me well beat, weighed in just 69 lb, leaving me fifth out of the ten. A small compensation for ending my run of framing places was winning my three-peg section by default.

Marks out of ten
Steve told me that when he turned to his left, facing me, to fish the margins, he never had a single fish - all the margin fish came from his right. So perhaps that long gap between Steve and Kevin was a factor in their big catches. I felt that putting some casters into the margins, with the hemp and corn, did perhaps hold some fish, but I didn't try worm or paste, which I should have. 

Steve Tilsley  with part of his 190 lb.

Martin's last two fish were tench. 
Good to see them still in the lake.

With the big carp averaging 9 lb (four fish in the weigh bag typically weighed 36 lb) I needed only three more to come third (sort of Best Of The Rest). And I had a feeling that I should have been able to do that. So I give myself just 5/10. At least I stuck it out and never stopped concentrating. Next match was on Damson the next day, when I thought that peg 13, in the far corner, would be a good draw. Time would tell...

PS. The gap between 9 and 12 came about because we had a last-minute withdrawal. Dave Hobbs had to go to the hospital, where his daughter gave birth to a boy just two hours after arriving. I am happy to report that all is well! 😀 It is Dave's fifth granchild.

So there were eleven peg in the bag for the ten of us, and it was 11 that was not drawn.

A cool reception on Six-Island, but...

Sunday, June 9, Six-Island
More of the same for us in this Fenland Rods match - a cold wind, and no sun. It was the nearest I've been to Christmas in July for about 60 years, when it was all the rage with my girlfriends. The forecast was for 14 degrees, feeling like 13. But honestly it was more like five degrees in that wind...and it grew stronger.

All of that meant that it felt as if it was going to be hard, and my mood didn't brighten when I got drawn peg 4. When there were barbel in the lake, peg 4 was where you would probably find some of them - down in the right margin against the reeds. But they are not very common now - I don't even know if there are any left in Six-Island. Peg 4 was in the wind, but the island stopped most of the ripple. To my right on 16 and round the corner on 18 Kevin Lee (in shorts) and Dave Garner had mainly calm, but swelling water in front of thenm, but at least they were back wind.

Kev was soon in action with a big old elastic-stretcher.

Short tops for me
Like everybody else I fancied the pegs towards the end of the bay - 7 round to 12 on the opposite bank, where the wind was strongest. I wondered whether the cold, though, would put the kybosh on those pegs. Time would tell. I decided to use my short tops with short Number 3s, as this lake is not very deep.

I started off very simply and negatively - putting in half-a-dozen 6mm pellets and fishing a 6mm expander, out at about 6 metres, but to the left because of the wind from the right. And it wasn't long before I had a bite - I was very surprised. It turned out to be a 1 lb F1. Then - excitement when Kevin hooked a big fish which went all over his swim before snagging in a reed bed to his right. He had to walk over and pull for a break.

Soon after that, Kevin  hooked another and that was a proper carp, which ended in his net. To my left Peter Spriggs was fishing probably paste, at about six metres, and I know he had fish in that first hour, while I had about four, and with seven F1s in my net and 90 minutes gone, bites tailed off.

To my left Peter Spriggs, under angry grey skies, plays an early F1.

A marginal move
Next move was to look in the right margin, which was three feet deep (deepest part of my swim), and  I had some bites which came to nothing. A change of rig to a float with a finer tip eventually brought me another F1. Clearly there were fish there, but it was taking me a long time to catch each one, using corn.  Then I hooked a 4 lb mirror - I saw it quite clearly as I was about to net it, but it suddenly dived into the net and snagged me and it came off. I might have said a naughty word.

Peter had had a decent start, and I wasn't sure whether he had carried on catching, because fishing to the right meant I had my back to him. However I could see Kevin hooking fish steadily, some of which came off, foulhooked. I lost about four foulhooked, but landed a 3 lb miror among a few F1s.

 John Smith came up about halfway through and said he hadn't had a fish on peg 6, so I then realised that catching fish of any size was paramount, and I was happy to keep finding those F1s. But boy, were they fighting. Afterwards, everybody agreed that the F1s were turbo-charged, and when you hooked one it felt like an eight-pounder.

Several times I had, embarrasingly, to add sections when a 2 lb F1 charged along the bank and threatened to snag me in the marginal weeds. I assume it's because the wind has heavily  oxygenated the water.

A move to the left (not to Labour)
With a little over an hour to go, and probably about 30 lb in my net I went out to the long swim again. First drop and a 3 lb F1 came in on corn, but then not a bite. So I had a look in the left margin, using corn and cat meat. There were fish there, as I had some liners, and then an eight-pounder came in on cat meat. I was hopeful that I'd get more, but presentation was so difficult in that wind. Peter had a fish or two on paste, and I tried it now in the right margin. Within seconds a fish was on, and within seconds it came off and a scale fluttered back to me...

Back to the left and another F1 or two came to corn, and with 20 minuts to go I made an Executive decision to try dead maggots. In went a big pot, and out went five deads on a size 12 on a top two. In that last 20 minutes I had the best spell of the match - four F1s all taken by fishing just overdepth and pulling the bait very slowly across the bottom. Probably should have tried it before!

Like me, Mel Lutkin had mainly F1s, but added four
much better carp in the last half-hour, for his 51 lb 3 oz.

The weigh in
After I had weighed in I was leading with 54 lb 4 oz. Hardly surprising, since I was the first to weigh! I was certain Kevin had me beat, and I assumed that Peter on my left had carried on catching fish while I was fishing the right-hand margin, so I asked him if he had got 80 lb. You could have knocked me down with a feather when he said he had only one net, and about 25 lb (or it might have been 35 lb - strong wind messes my hearing aids up). In fact his fish went 33 lb 10 oz. John on 6 had a nightmare - he had his first fish 15 minutes before the end, and had just one more, and didn't weigh. I think he was a little despondent (!) 😒

On 7, Mel Lutkin had four fish on a feeder early on, and a good last hour with four nice fish on mussel for 51 lb 3 oz. On fancied peg 9 Callum had, I think, just four fish which he didn't weigh, and on the opposite bank they had also struggled. Dick Warrener was the best there with 41 lb 6 oz - he's having a good spell.

Dave Garner, on peg 18, shows his best carp before returning it.

Round to Kevin Lee, where Dick Warrener made the observation: "Blimey, it's like Palm Beach round here." And it was - many degrees warmer. And Kevin, current club champion, did the inevitable with a winning 70 lb 7 oz, taken mainly on paste, leaving me in second place.

Marks out of ten
I thought about trying worm, but after having had my corn mashed while still on the hook, and mussel ragged by something pulling it to bits, I decided against it. Of course I should have given it a try. And I perhaps should have tried a bunch of maggots, dead or alive, earlier. However, I felt all the time that I was doing the best I could, on what felt a difficult day to me, even though Kevin seemed to be doing far better than me. As so often happens, he hadn't got as much as I thought he had - those F1s gave the impression he was playing double-figure carp! So I give my self a fairly generous 8/10 for not panicking and for just grinding out the occasional fish when I could.

Next match Sunday on Oak, with 11 my choice, but anywhere from 11 round to 20 being acceptable. At the moment, after the banking, it seems to be a very fair lake, which could be won from anywhere. Unfortunately the forecast is for more cold winds, so weights could be low.

THE RESULT

New for this season, we now fish sections of three or four.

An ill wind, but it blows me good on Cedar

 Peg 20, Cedar, Fri, May 7

PS (OK, I know PSs should be at the end!)  I've used larger type than normal, as the person who actually reads this (apart from me) has requested it. Hope he can still see his float alright...

A cool wind greeted the 12 of us who turned up for this Spratts match, and I was happy enough with my peg, facing the Westerly wind. So often I've been back-wind with calm water while those on the opposite bank of the strips have had a lovely Raspberry Ripple. I was to somewhat regret that later, though, as the wind blew stronger and colder and I had to don my Goretex jacket (and if I'd had a jumper in the van I would have put that on as well).

Yet on the opposite bank some were in shorts, and it must have felt like being in Florida, while on our bank it was like Skegness - Bracing! And even the fact that I was Golden Peg didn't warm me up.

Looks lovely. But the headwind soon increased to a mere gale!

I chose to use my long tops as I had about five feet of water just in front of me - shelving up a few inches as I went out farther, as is usual on the strips. But I started on a feeder, because frankly it didn't seem fishy and, recently, playing to my gut feelings has been pretty good. And what a start - within a minute of casting out the Method feeder with an orange wafter the rod wrapped right round.

Great start
Fish On...three seconds later...Fish Off, and the rig came back with the hook, but minus the band! Afterwards I thought the fish must have picked up the wafter without getting the hook, and simply pulled it off. But next cast when the rod wrapped round the fish stayed on - a 5 lb carp. Next cast and the rod went round almost before I'd put the rod on the rest, How do they do that with a Method feeder with the bait in the micros? Anyway, that one stuck, and in the next 45 minutes I had two more. 

At that point my clicker showed 18 lb, and bites stopped, so after giving it another 30 minutes I picked up the pole, having to cut the lash between float and pole tip down to about three inches because of the head wind. Opposite me, Dick Warrener, basking in the sun, had soon gone on to a feeder and I saw him land a couple. Now he, also, changed over again to pole. And first drop down at 8 metres with a banded pellet on a 1 gm float rig, I foulhooked a fish which came off. That's one reason I tend not to use a banded pellet rig on a pole. But I kept with it and next drop a 2 lb F1 came in. 

Dick Warrener strains as a big fish hurtles away. But Dick won...eventually.

Then another pause and I went over to another rig, with corn for some more small F1s and a 3 lb common. I'd been dropping corn into the deep water to my right. The wind had been moving around - soemtimes right into my face, and sometimes from the right or the left. Now it had settled, for a time, into a Southerly, from the left, but still a little in my face. At this point I put on my jacket, but was still cold.

Bream for an Old Fen Boy!
The corn, fished on the bottom, brought three nice bream, best over 3 lb, but no carp. It was time for a look in the left margin, just out of the deep water. To my surprise I immediately had a missed bite and then a small carp. There were still a couple of hours to go, and I put in some hemp and cat meat, and sure enough the fish liked it. Unfortunately they gave me mostly liners, and I hooked and lost about four, but landed another four.

Then another foulhooked fish - I thought. It made two strong runs towards the next platform, but then it came back andafter a couple of minutes when it just sulked deep down, it came up - a double-figure mirror.The next one played me for several minutes, and I never got it off bottom - definitely foulhooked, and then the hook pinged. I think that was probably a 'double' as well.

At times the wind died away a little, and calm water appeared on the opposite bank, and I could see signs of fish just under the surface. Trevor Cousins, who had been trying to mug fish when he could, had three carp in about 20 minutes, and if the wind had stayed like that I don't doubt he would have had more, but it blew up again, and basically also meant that I could fish only close to my near bank, because good presentation was almost impossible otherwise. Even then it was difficult fishing into the wind because it was so strong, and it was pushing the rig towards the bank. A two-inch lash was necessary to hold the bait somewhere in position.

Martin had some good'uns from 13 (see below).

The fish tease me
On went a mussel, and I had a sort of repetition of the first cast of the day. I would get a bite, strike, and definitely feel a fish, but wouldn't make contact. Yet the mussel, which is fairly fragile, would still be on. Even stranger, it happened with corn, with the corn coming back sort of crushed and cut about, but still on the hook. Obviously being held in the fish's mouth. Dick, on peg 7 now had a good spell on the pole and I saw him land a few which looked like 'proper' carp.

More liners, and I fished corn, and meat, off  bottom, yet had hardly a touch, and certainly no fish. An hour to go, and a change to corn in the left margin, laid on several inches, brought two good carp, while cat meat brought two more, the right margin not, now, producing even a bite, Those four fish went into my second net, with 38 lb clicked on the first, and those four adding perhaps 28 lb - I admitted to possibly 65 lb.

The weigh in
I'd had six rigs ready to use, and had used four. I even had a shallow rig ready, but the wind made it pointless; and I had a heavier rig (which I didn't use) ready for fishing the 8 metre line. (Why didn't I pick that up?) Packing those away took time, and I caught up with the scales after they had weighed in the six on the opposite bank, where Kevin Lee led with 72 lb 11 oz. He couldn't catch in his margin, taking all his fish farther out, mainly on cat meat. Dick Warrener had managed to beat Trevor Cousins on the next peg, and was currently second on 67 lb 15 oz.

John Garner with a mirror we weighed at 14 lb 8 oz.

A Senior Moment for Martin
Martin Parker, my travelling mate to Vets Nationals, had a real Senior Moment at the start - he'd drawn peg 14, in the corner on the East bank, but went to peg 13, in the corner on the West bank. When it was pointed out at the weighing-in, he said he'd had a brainstorm. And in case anybody querried that, I pointed out that Martin definitely has a brain - the Surgeons confirmed that when they removed a tumour which was pressing on it, in January. On a serious note, Martin said that after the op he has never felt better! Anyway he has been fishing better since then, and today had 60 lb 6 oz. A remarkable operation! (Club match, and no question of disqualification. We are just glad Martin is still able to fish).

And so round to Dave Hobbs, at the windy end of the lake on 16, and he had made it pay with 85 lb. Not sure how he caught them, but I know that early on he was, like me, fishing out, and I suspect he came very close in when the wind blew harder. Next I took a picture of John Garner's best fish - 14 lb 8 oz - in his 50 lb 10 oz.

My '38 lb' net went 47 lb (!) and the second net 30 lb - total 78 lb 4 oz, which held me in second place to the end. I was happy with that, even though Dace Hobbs had saved the Golden Peg for the lads,since just one of those several lost carp could have won me the match. Trevor told me had had just seven carp mugging them, but he could only do it when the wind died away a little and he could see bow waces of fish moving just under the surface, as the water was well-coloured. It simply wasn't worth trying shallow, I felt, in that very difficult head wind..

Bob Allen was on peg 26. Towards the end, when the wind went
to the South his sheltered swim didn't have much ripple, but the
 wind made still made presentation difficult - a lethal combination.

Marks out of ten
Afterwards I realised I hadn't tried paste or worm, and that I should probably have use much heavier rigs in that wind, which at it strongest was VERY strong. I should have started on a 2 gm, and should probably have used similar-sized rigs in the margin. I've actually got a big old Topper Haskins float carrying about 6AA shot  rigged up in my box which I put together specifically for peg 18 on Beastie in a strong Southerly, when the wind is blowing under the bridge.

However I made a good choice to start on the feeder, which I don't often do, and I made several changes quite quickly instead of having just another cast or two, which I am prone to do. So all-round not a disaster, though I was surprised to end as runner-up, just 7 lb short of winning. So I think I'm worth 6/10. My 11th frame in a row. Only small club matches, but some very good anglers among them.

Mystic Mac?
Next match Sunday on Six-Island. With Westerlies forecast I'd obviously fancy the end of the main bowl - say pegs 7 or 8 round to 14 or 14. Yet 24 and 25 at the car park end are always possible winning pegs. If I knew what was going to happen I would be called Mystic Mac!

THE RESULT

West bank                                                            East bank

26 Bob Allen          30 lb                            1 Steve Engledow     32 lb 14 oz

24 Mick Ramm      32 lb 12 oz                  3 Kevin Lee                72 lb 11 oz    3rd

22 Mike Rawson    34 lb 2 oz                    7 Dick Warrener        67 lb 15 oz     4th

20 Mac Campbell   78 lb 4 oz    2nd        9 Trevor Cousins      55 lb 8 oz

18 John Garner       50 lb 10 oz               11 Roy Whitwell        59 lb 5 oz

16 Dave Hobbs       85 lb            1st        13 Martin Parker       60 lb 6 oz

Ray Mumford helps me catch on Crow.

Peg 15, Sat, June 1, Crow Lake, Pidley
Sometime in the 1980s I did a feature with the late Ray Mumford on a lake in West Drayton, Middx, fishing for a day with just one pint of maggots. He had an excellent catch of roach, and some tench, and I later did one catching barbel at Kingston-on-Thames with him (when he again did the business). Ray had a reputation as being quite eccentric, and that became obvious when, on a club carp lake at Godalming, Surrey he insisted that he tie my hook on the line, rather than let me do it. (We never had a carp and I caught what the club said was the only tench in the lake).

But he could be charming, as I found out when he and his wife, Bridgette, stayed with us overnight at our house in Wisbech. And he could be very funny. However it is the explanation, on that blazing Summer's day at West Drayton, about competing fish I remember best. He told me: "If there are 20 fish in your swim and you put in 19 maggots that at least one of those fish ends up having expended energy trying to get one. So next time you feed, that fish will be even more determined to compete with the others.

"Put in ten maggots, and at least half of the shoal will be looking for bait for the next few minutes. But put in 21 maggots and it may be that every fish gets one, and that sense of competition is diluted." Well, it made sense to me than and still does. Trevor Cousins tries to mug fish a lot of the time in our Spratts club matches, and he has told me more than once that very few of the fish he successfully mugs are on their own. Almost always he need two or more fish to be swimming along to mug one successfully, the sense of competition coming out in the carp. Ray's lesson stood me in good stead in this match...

Peg 15, about halfway along Crow. Don't think we saw the sun all day.

Definitely unfishy
It was on Crow and took place in a Northerly wind, and at the start it wasn't just cool, it was actually cold. The overcast day made it all feel as if it was going to be hard, and Ray's lesson would be needed, as it felt decidedly 'unfishy.' The original entry of 15 had been cut following a telephone call the previous afternoon - Joe Bedford (aged 93) had injured his shoulder knocking in a fence post! What can you say? He comes to matches with his sister-in-law Wendy, so we were two short.

I started, as did many, on a feeder, with luncheon meat, cast to the shallow water near the far bank, about 40 yards away, but in the next 30 minutes I had just one tiny liner. Dave Hobbs on my right had three in that time and I changed to a pole. 

I had spent a long time plumbing up (must have been a plumber in a previous life) and found that while the drop-off was about a top-three out, in front of me it was cut-back a little, creating a small semi-circle of water about three feet deep. So I started there and immediately found a strong tow right to left, against the wind.

I find fish off bottom
I had decided to concentrate on luncheon meat, because it's so easy to vary the size of bait, and used my short tops because the water here is quite shallow. So because it didn't feel that the fish would be feeding madly, in went just half-a-dozen cubes, and my bait. Even before I had a bite Dave had more fish on a feeder, but by dotting the float right down (almost overshotting it) and holding it in the wind, against the flow, I found F1s averaging a little under 2 lb just off bottom. 

Sometimes I would touch the bait on the bottom by letting the float go, and then lift it by holding it back in the wind. Bites often came within a second. So two hour after the starts, when I had 15 fish, never feeding more than a few cubes at a time, I reckoned I had over 20 lb. That little semi-circle seemed to hold the fish, as fishing past it produced nothing.

Dave seemed to be ahead of me, however, and he was still on the feeder. No idea what he was using - probably wafters. I considered changing back to a feeder, but as I was putting the occasional fish in the net, and Allan to my left was struggling, I kept on the pole. Next move was to pick up one of the other five rigs I had ready (I had even assembled a waggler but never used it) and come up onto the shelf just to my right, to see if there were fish closer to the bank. And there were.

Still on 4mm cubes of luncheon meat, and feeding just half-a-dozen at a time, I had a nice spell with several quickly, and then they tailed off. I kept looking in the really shallow water to my left, with corn, but never had even a liner there. Eventually I went back to the front swim where I had a few more, using the same rig, including one 5 lb common, but then had bite after bite, only to strike and find that my meat was gone. Allan said afterwards he had the same problem - they were even nicking his pellet out of his band!

Into the margins
So I had, now, to look in the margins to my right. The wind was increasing and it was easiest to fish back wind. Corn picked out a 3 lb F1 and then a 'proper' carp of perhaps 5 lb. I could see swirls there, but the fish wouldn't feed properly. Hemp brought fish in, but they were cagey, and in the last couple of hours I had only two or three more carp around 4 lb on cat meat, and a big F1 on mussel.

Dave Hobbs on my right took an early lead over me, but seemed
to suffer a bad spell mid-match, though he finished strongly. 

When I'd had a fish in the shallow water I should probably have immediately gone back to the front swim and kept putting F1s in the net - not quickly, but just enough to keep ticking over. Dave had had a bad spell mid-match and was now fishing in his margin. In fact it was because I saw him land two or three nice carp from his margin that I stayed there too long. I should have rested it - I have this theory that sometimes the fish, when finicky, will stay away when they know there's a rig in the swim, but will eventually return if it's taken out.

Mel Lutkin was the first to overtake leader Kevin Lee,
who had drawn the Golden Peg, by just 3 lb. Nice One, Mel.

Afterwards I found out that he had a nice two feet of water right against a bed of reeds, while my immediate margins were less than a foot deep, and at two feet (a couple of metres out) there was no feature to hold the carp. So when the match ended I wasn't playing a fish as has happened a lot recently , and had probably only three in the last hour. I was not a happy bunny. I estimated that Dave had perhaps 100 lb-plus, while I had an estimated 70 lb. I'd lost about three foulhooked, but that was probably not as many as most of the other anglers.

The weigh in
Kev Lee on 1 was golden peg, and when I saw he had weighed in 72 lb 5 oz I suspected I would probably be out of the frame even if I beat him, since the higher-numbered pegs tend to produce the better weights a lot of the time. However, the wind was blowng down to 1, so perhaps the other end had struggled. Who knows?

Shaun Buddle brings up his last net, which put him in the lead.

Peter Spriggs on 3, who has won so many of our matches, had a disappointing 41 lb 2 oz, and I was told that Mel Lutkin had caught fish "all day" so watched that weigh-in with interest. Well, he'd hardly caught all day, but had a good catch, fishing at nine metres with half a mussel, and indeed had overtaken Kevin Lee with 75 lb 3 oz, and most importantly, he had saved the golden peg.

Shaun Buddle, though, eclipsed both Kevin and Mel with a good last hour, taking fish from the edge, and had exactly 82 lb. Dave Hobbs hadn't had 100 lb after all, but totalled 73 lb 9 oz, so already things were close at the top. Then I weighed in and Callum Judge checked his calculations and asked when we had last had a tie at the top? I'd also got exactly 82 lb...

Amazingly no-one else beat that, with Dick Warrener on 23 coming closest with 78 lb 2 oz on luncheon meat for third, leaving Shaun and I tied as winners. So another unexpected frame place for me. I'm on a roll. Next match on Cedar at Decoy on Friday, where I expect to have to use my long tops as the water is deepish, and the extra elastic is better when you hook one of those turbo-charged double-figure carp I shall be targetting.

Still overcast and cool, as Dick Warrener watches his catch being weighed
by Kevin Lee. The result was 78 lb 2 oz, putting Dick into third place.

Marks out of ten
I felt I made the right choice in using the short tops, and chose a good array of rigs in the strong wind, though I never used the heaviest one I had ready for fishing out at 13 metres. The meticulous plumbing paid dividends, but I spent too long in the shallower water because I could see the swirls of fish coming in, and was having liners on my special method. The fish weren't feeding properly, and if I hadn't had a bite within a minute, knowing the fish were there, I should have done something else. 

My rule of thumb should be that if the fish are there I should get a bite within a minute, or give it best. I gave in to temptation (not for the first time) so I think I was worth 7/10. Simply put I could have had more. But Ray's advice was so important on a day like this. And well done to Shaun - a nicer bloke it would be difficult to find.

A true story
Ray Mumford was always outspoken, which was probably the reason he was never picked to fish for England. He told me about the time he was a delivery man for the London Evening Standard - he would go and load the papers into his van amd deliver them, as fast as he could, to local shops. He said it was an easy job, but the others on that shift used to do as little as possible (I'm not sure exactly what they had to do, but Ray was not impressed).

One day he turned up for work to find all the others sitting outside drinking coffee from their flasks. "What's going on?" asked Ray.

Answer: "We're on strike."

Ray: "How the hell can you be on strike? You never do any bleedin' work!"

THE RESULT