The fish were hot, and not really bothered, on Oak

Peg 22, Oak, Sunday, July 28
Oh, the heat! Now, I can tackle heat better than Winter's cold, but when Mel got to his end peg 16, in the far corner, and started tackling up, he felt definitely queezy. So he sensibly packed up, wheeled his trolley back, and went home, returning to us for the weigh-in 'cos he's a good 'un, is Mel.

That left Kev Lee as end peg, and he made the most of it, fishing up to the platform 17 on his right, and his first carp went 16 lb 4 oz! In the middle pegs on that Eastern bank, however, we were struggling for a bite, and several anglers afterwards said it was halfway through the six hours before they had a fish. Carp were motoring quickly around under the surface, though they were difficult to see properly - unlike on Yew, behind us, where the reflection of the far-bank trees allowed the fish to show up in their dozens!

I try mugging
Back to my swim (forgot to take a picture) and I tried mugging a few on pellet. Just one had a go, very close to my bank, and I felt the fish briefly before it came off, possibly not taken in the mouth anyway. When nothing else came to that pellet, tantilisingly dropped in front of many cruising carp, I turned to a banded caster, dropped into the area I had been feeding at 13 metres.

First drop in with caster, and the float sat sitting there, motionless. So I pulled it a few inches to one side...result! The elastic stretched out and I was playing a 6 lb carp. Five hectic minutes later it was in my net - foulhooked in a pectoral fin! And half an hour later that experiment also came to an end.

Mike Rawson, on my right, had his first fish within a few minutes of the start.

Still struggling
Next it was out to 13 metres on the bottom, and apart from a few surface-cruisers bumping into the float it sat there motionless.  Next try was out to the deep water on a long top two - same result on corn and cat meat - Zilch. Meanwhile Milke Rawson to my right had had two early carp on a feeder and I considered changing over. But first I glanced along the bank way down to my right, to see Kevin's orange elastic stretching out with a fish. 

Blow me, he's gone and got another one!

As Kev netted the fish it looked as if he was fishing about three feet deep. That would mean he was about a metre out from the 'tins' which now line Oak lake. So I went in there myself. After a fair time an 8 lb fish came from the left, on corn, also foulhooked! But they all count. Now almost halfway through the match and I could see both Kevin and Dick Warrener, on his left, landing fish after fish.

One or two fish!
The second half got slowly better, and a light cloud cover brought the heat down to a tolerable level. Cat meat and mussel brought occasional bites and very occasional fish to around 10 lb from the right hand margin, on a top three. And one more from the left.  But I had to bait with hemp and micros every time, or I didn't get a bite. Then a drop in right beside the lefthand keepnet, using my special method, saw two more come in on cat meat, though one of those was foulhooked.

The fish not foulhooked had come in pretty quickly for me - I've now got the hang of  feeling how much pressure I can exert, and when to keep a fish sliding towards the net without allowing it to turn round, thanks to Ben Townsend's tuition. But in the landing net they are so lively and more difficult to unhook. And today I was glad I had the keepnets a good three feet above the surtface, because several times fish leaped up vertically, and lifted themselves almost to the top of the nets before falling back in. I've never seen so many fish attempt that in one match.

ITMA - It's That Man Again (do you remember that radio programme?
If so you are even older than me!)

A late flurry

Now Mike had two or three quickish fish from his left margin, though he seemed to be able to get bites right against the tins, whereas I had had only one there - also foulhooked on maggot over a bed of deads! Then a late flurry gave me one or two more nice carp on mussel, and I am sure some bites I missed were 'proper' bites, as the mussel was shredded - so something had had it in its mouth. 

Seconds before the match ended yet another fish, almost certainly foulhooked, came off. I ended with about 11 carp, which I estimated at around 70 lb, having lost only two. Mike added one or two more but Dick and Kevin, down the end of the lake, seemed to have had a lot more than me.

John Smith with his best fish from
peg 27 - it helped him win his
section with a total of 72 lb 2 oz.

The weigh in
The message went round that Kevin had four nets in! And Martin Parker congratulated me for probably coming second (Spoiler - he was wrong). First to weigh in was Roy Whitwell, on corner peg 30, who had started fishing a pellet on bomb or feeder (not sure which) towards the aerator and found fish quickly. He ended with 127 lb 8 oz. 

John Smith on 27 thought Dave Garner on 28 had slaughtered him - Wrong again. Dave had 42 lb to John's 72 lb, and I thought John had probably beaten me, too. Three weighs later they came to me - my first "forty pound" net going 52 lb-plus! Then the last one, started about an hour from the end and not clicked properly, went almost 40 lb, total 92 lb 2 oz. 

Mike ended with 33 lb 14 oz, and I was surprised he hadn't had a late flurry, because he seemed to be fishing OK - perhaps not feeding often enough, though. Kevin told me he had to feed a dozen grains of corn and a dozen hard pellets before every fish. If he didn't feed he never had a bite. I found the same thing.

Kevin with his best fish - the first of
quite a lot from peg 18.

Down to the last two pegs and they both beat me - Dick Warrener had some lovely double-figure fish in his 108 lb 1 oz catch, taken on mussel and corn. But Kevin took top spot with 167 lb 9 oz, taken mainly on mussel, and we weighed that big one in at 16 lb 4 oz. Roy was second, and Dick third. That left me fourth - not a frame place (we pay only the top three), but I managed to nick the four-man section pool.

Back you go, old son.

Marks out of ten
Afterwards I thought I had done pretty well, with the top weights coming from both ends, but later I thought I should have tried paste, worm, or a different, firmer, cat meat, and I never tried corn again towards the end, when fish were in my swim but not biting. However I was chuffed I had those two early fish (though both foulhooked) while many others were still fishless. I had worked hard to get them. That made the difference.

I also took the trouble to bring out six different rigs, including the two shallow, even though it meant I would take a lot longer to pack up. But being able to switch from one rig to a similar, heavier or lighter one, brought one or two fish I might not otherwise have had. Also, I realised I had to feed before every fish, though towards the end I did have more liners.  So I think, in the end, I was worth 6/10.

Next match probably Sunday on Damson - my least favourite of the 11 Decoy lakes, though one on which I nearly always seem to do pretty well. It's a Funny Old Game. I will probably fish most of the time in the shallows - that is within four feet of the bank before it drops down sharply to at least seven feet.

THE RESULT

How about that for luck? Mel paid his pools, went home before the start,
came back to help weigh in...
and found he had won his section by double-default! 😂😂😂

It's a slow burner for me on Horseshoe

Peg 3, Horseshoe, Decoy, Sun July 23
Oh dear. First Golden Peg again - we had three for this Fenland Rods match - and it seems to be the unmpteenth time I've had a Golden Peg this year (and never won once). It's the Kiss of Death for me.

Honestly, Peg 3 was not a peg I would have picked. My favourite peg 1 wasn't in the draw bag; peg 13 went to Neil Of The Nene, a fellow-Maggot Drowner fishing with us as a guest for the first time; and the others I fancied (the swims, not the anglers) - 7 round to 10, on the corner - had already gone by the time my name was whisked out of the cocoa tin. 

Still, a day's fishing lay ahead of me, even though the wind was so cool I wished I'd brought a flask of coffee instead of frozen orange juice. Yet by the time we'd all tackled up I was so hot I was glad of the coldest of drinks. 

By the time we started the temperature had soared.

Straight onto the feeder
I did get a low-down from Roy Whitwell, who told me before I went to the peg that he's fished it recently and had fish on a feeder cast to the far bank, between two sets of lillies. So of course that was how I started, full of confidence after my win, helped by the feeder, on Friday on Willows. So out went the feeder, and half an hour later, after four casts and not a touch, that rod went behind me and out came my trusty pole.

I think we all felt, initially, that the sudden drop in temperature overnight would have affected the fish, so I wasn't surprised I was struggling so badly. I had put in three nets - not because I was confident of bagging up, but simply because, well, you never know!

A bad start
Out to about six metres on 2+2, with corn, and eventually two carassios came in - they look like an F1 except that they are more silvery and have a sort of compressed body at the tail end. A lot later, after a pointless try a section farther out, and more casts on the feeder,  I had an F1 on the shorter line. Two hours gone and I wandered up to John Smith on 7 who said he'd had a brilliant start which had then stopped as if someone had flicked a switch, and he had 15 lb or 16 lb. I had just 6 lb.

The bad news was that Roy Whitwell was catching fish on his feeder, cast to the far bank, every chuck, and he landed yet another while I watched. Later he told me had had 50 lb on it in the first half of the match.

Lots of splashing on my right as Dave Garner was into big fish early on.

Back to my office and eventually another F1 came in, a couple of roach had dropped off, and with more than  half the match gone I had about 8 lb. But I was way behind Dave Garner, on my right, who had had his first carp within minutes of the start on his waggler, and had added occasional fish, the biggest of which looked to be approaching 10 lb. I estimated he had 25 lb to 30 lb.

 I thought all Dave's fish were as big as this!

It's A Funny Old Game
To stop the roach nibbling at my bait I put on a 6mm banded pellet and immediately had an F1 - cracked it! But then...nothing. It's A Funny Old Game is fishing, a phrase which could catch on if someone uses it on TV one day!!  Then a feeder with a wafter, cast onto the pole swim brought an F1 first cast, with another second cast which came off. Then not a touch!

With two hours to go and about 12 lb in my net, I turned to the margins, which went from about 18 inches down to perhaps two feet just two metres from the bank. Using corn on the hook, in went hemp and some casters, to the left where there is a reed bed, and down went the float first time, and out went the 17 hollow elastic, and the lilles battered to and fro as the fish swam into them. But somehow everything came free and a four-pounder ended in my net.

Cat meat takes fish
I changed the rig onto a stronger solid, orange elastic, and some more fish came - mainly F1s to 3 lb on Coshida cat meat, with the occasional 'proper' carp and I had very litle problem with the lillies. I reckon I had about 20 lb in the first half-an-hour, before switching to the right margin, using a strong solid red elastic (no idea exactly what it is), where there suddenly seemed to be more commons and mirrors, and fewer F1s. With my clicker on 40 lb I started on my second net and turned to the right margin

Yet again I found I couldn't catch in the shallowest area next to the bank, even though fish swirled there. I had to go a full metre farther out to get a proper bite.

I had a really good 45 minutes there, mainly on mussel, getting the carp in quite quickly, though nothing over 4 lb, and when things were slow I turned to my Special Method, which (as almost always) found fish again. Dave on my right also kept hooking fish. I wasn't sure how big they were, but I had a horrible feeling that with 45 minutes left he had almost 100 lb and I couldn't catch him up. 

...and yet another one for Dave Garner, all on his favourite waggler.

Prawn was a bit better
I also had a problem with fish, probably F1s, shredding the mussel, so I put on a piece of prawn, which is harder. This worked reasonably well - I waited longer for a bite, but no longer had the shredding problem. Then Dave put out his third net, which I thought was probably a bit late as he must surely have had 50 lb in each net.

There was suddenly a blank spell for both me and Dave, and the funny thing is that afterwards almost everybody said that around this time they stopped getting bites. Then with less than 20 minuts to go the fish came on again and I copped another three, including the best fish at 8 lb, before hooking what seemed to be an even bigger one. 

I lose it!
That big fish started to come in OK, and I was down to my top two when it suddenly went on walkabout and chugged off to the far bank with me gritting my teeth, before the line broke somewhere above the hook. Now there were literally three or four minutes left so I quickly picked up a similar rig, dropped it in, and a big F1 took immediately. With that in the net I had time for yet another before the match ended. 

With 20 minutes to go I had had 20 lb on the clicker for the second net and, so concentrated was I on catching fish, I didn't bother to click any more as I thought I couldn't possibly go over 50 lb. So I had no idea what I had there at the end. My estimate was 40 lb in each net - total 80 lb. 

Dave, first to weigh, had biggger fish
 than I managed to catch.

The weigh-in
Oh dear. Dave had three nets out and Kev Lee came along the bank and said John Smith also had three, as had Roy Whitwell, and as had Kev himself. And as Dave Garner was weighed (his fish - not him) I pondered on the fact that it looked as if my 80 lb wouldn't even get a section prize.

Then, to my astonishment, Dave's weight was announced as 68 lb 15 oz. I looked at his fish after the second net was weighed, and they weren't anything like as big as I had imagined. He had only one in that last half-hour after putting in his third net. Strange how often that happens.

Neil Of The Nene, fishing as an honoured
guest, said he had a good time with us.

I was next and with my recent suspected hernia I asked Roy to bring in my fish. We fish to a targetted 50 lb limit but, because some of the fish at Decoy are so big, we are allowing up to 60 lb this season, as an experiment. Over 60 lb, though, and the net is disqualified. No problem for me - my first 40 lb net went 46 lb. The second net went 50 lb 11 oz, which let me thinking that it was probably a good job that big fish broke me, because it would have gone into that net and possibly taken me over the limit.

So my total was 96 lb 11 oz and when Bob Allen and Allan Golightly couldn't beat that I knew that I had won my four-peg section and would at least take home a little brown envelope again - I've missed winning something in only one of my past 20-something club matches (but that run will end one day).

Roy Whitwell with his best fish.

Kev Lee - winner with 114 lb 5 oz.

Along to John Smith, who was 11 lb behind me, and then to Kevin and Roy on the corner, who both beat me. Kevin was winning his umpteenth Fenland Rods match with 114 lb 5 oz and Roy was second. Round to the higher-numbers and while everybody had had a good day, top weight there was Martin Parker on end peg 19 with 79 lb 15 oz, leaving me a VERY surprised third, which meant Dave won my section. And very well done to Kevin and Roy. 

Jason Lee - 46 lb 4 oz from peg 15.

Marks out of ten
I wondered whether I should have gone into the margin earlier. Probably yes. However I was pleased that I lost only three fish, all probably foulhooked, and managed to get the rest in fairly quickly, when they were feeding. The F1s seem to have an extra amount of energy this year - the bigger fish come in more easily.

I didn't try worm, and while I took one fish on paste I didn't put it on again - not sure why.  However I was pleased I had several different rigs ready - six in all - which lengthens the time spent packing away, but means that I can actually try something instead of sitting there wondering. 

Mike Rawson - a nice 45 lb 9 oz.

Pleased I tried prawn - that's a 'must' in my bait bag now. However a big lump wasn't taken - it had to be quite small, and it was the same with mussel - I caught only one on a whole, small mussel - the rest were cut in half. Looking back I could have won if things had gone just a little bit better at the end, or I had had a better first half. And I was beaten by anglers on what are regarded as good pegs. Probably worth 8/10.

Saturday sees myself and Martin at Westwood to cheer on the three local anglers - Ben Townsend, Jimmy Brooks and Adam Playford - in the final of Fish O'Mania. My next match is probably Sunday on Cedar, with Fenland Rods.

THE RESULT

We fished four-peg sections.

Our own version of 'Bake-Off' on Willows, Decoy.

Peg 5, Willows, Fri, July 19
Forecasters promised us the hottest day of the year, and they had a point, though it seemed hotter a few weeks ago on Magpie. Nevertheless by the time us nine Spratts stalwarts started at 10 o'clock it was getting uncomfortably-hot, and when the match started the aerators were still spinning round, sounding like the Niagra Falls just a few yards away. Half an hour later they stopped, and the sudden silence was out of this world...

I would have picked pegs 1, 3 or end peg 17, but 5 had nice-looking margins, and Trevor reminded me that I had had this same swim several weeks ago (I checked later, and it was in May and I was third). Usually I can remember how I fished different swims, but nothing clicked on this occasion - I blame the heat.

Not many pictures this week, so here's my front garden...

Chocolate-coloured water
The aerators had coloured the water, and you could see streams of brown silt moving along, while the surface flotsam and jetson showed that a fair current had been set up. So after I had slarred suncream over my face, arms and (most importantly) the backs of my hands, I decided to start on a feeder across to the far side, as far as possible from the silt-laden margin current I could see. Unusually, I hadn't seen a single fish under the surface.

Out went a Method feeder with a 6mm black pellet, and I started catapulting out a few casters to six metres, hoping to catch shallow later. But within five minutes I realised that I had no idea where they were being taken by the moving water, so I stopped that and within a minute or two the rod tip went round and I was into the first fish of the day - an F1 of at least two ounces! Next cast a six-ouncer came in, and next cast one of 8 oz. Twenty-five minutes gone and I had about 1 lb in my net.

Nobody else I could see seemed to be catching much, and after the fourth F1, of about 1 lb, I discarded the manky old black pellet and put on a gleaming orange choc wafter. That worked even better, and I was getting a fish every five minutes or so. Roy Whitwell, two to my right, was also netting fish on a feeder, but I'm not sure what Trevor on 7 was doing, as the grass between us was so high. 'Holes in the ground' these lakes may be, as described by those anglers scornful of commercial stillwaters, but featureless they are not!

After an hour or two a gentle breeze wafter across the water, soothing all 

our fevered brows.  Oh I'm getting all poetical!

A little Raspberry Ripple
Now the heat seemed to abate a little, and a little breeze from the South gave a slight ripple which kept dying away. But heat-wise it was now just a lovely Summer's day. Two hours gone and bites slowed a little - and after a few minutes without a take I would pot in some hemp and corn to the platform 4, on my left, ready to switch to pole, but then I'd get another F1, or, occasionally,  a 2 lb carp. Eventually I had two casts without fish, and made the switch to pole.

Roach and perch obliged from platform 4, then a 2 lb-plus bream, and then I hit something big. It turned out to be a scale, which gave a fair fight before succumbing to my artful playing technique. I now knew that carp would come in to the margin, and proceeded to waste about the next 40 minutes there, with next-to-nothing to show for it. Eventually I dropped a strong rig with cat meat into the deep margin to my right, where the bottom seemed frm, and had a liner - the signal for me to stay there for a time.

I move towards the bank
A couple of F1s came to cat meat, and I then dropped down to my near left margin, where I had been putting corn, and a double-figure common was the result. But I wasn't fooled into staying there, and now alternated - feeding one and dropping in the other. One or two F1s were the result, and I had a look in the shallower part of the right margin, closer to the bank, where a couple of 4 lb carp were present. 

I had 35 lb on my clicker, but guessed that I had probably missed some, so I started on my second net. Stupidly the next nice F1 came in and I put it straight injto the first net again. So I moved that to the left, out of the way, and put the second net in front of me. Next fish was about 6 lb hooked in the tail! The next few minutes were a bit splashy, but it ended in my landing net.

Now right against the reeds
Broken reeds were a nuisance - drifting around the swim, and a couple lay across the right margin about a foot from the bank. I wondered whether they gave the fish some sort of confidence, because normally you wouldn't fish behind them - you'd clear them away, and the fish might move. I am sure that just a few whisps of reed are good, and in fact on Head Fen fishery I used to stick a bank stick horizontally into the bank, on the surface, and let the rubbish drift into it to provide some sort of cover. Sometimes I pulled up grass and dropped it into the water.  Many times it worked.

So I now dropped in behind the two surface reeds, right next to the bank in my right margin, in about two feet of water, and seconds later was playing another double-figure carp. That had a happy ending, and I after a short bitless spell in both margins I put mussel on the hook.

Hemp and caster the key
This, combined with mainly hemp and casters for each feed, kept bites coming, though no more double-figure fish. Now Trevor was fishing a waggler cast right across to the island - it was landing in exactly the same spot each time, and he was feeding pellet. However I saw him catch only a couple of fish, and guessed he was enjoying fishing that way. Trevor has won more of our matches than anyone else, and often stays on a less-productive method simply because of the challenge of catching like that. He told me afterwards that yes, he had just been enjoying himself.

Into the last 45 minutes and I had 20 lb on the second clicker, and didn't bother to click any more. Dave Hobbs came down - he has a bad back and can't fish at the moment - just in time to see me hook and land a nice fish around 8 lb-plus. A few more F1s went in the net, plus a five-pounder, and seconds before the end I hooked a big 'un. Match ended and I shouted "Fish On." Five minutes later  I shouted "Fish Off" as the hook pulled, it was definitely foulhooked.

 Roy had a good start with small fish on the
 feeder. But then things slowed up. He told 
me he had only five mussels with him,
  but caught four 'proper' carp on them.

The weigh in

I found on Wednesday that I had what I am sure is a hernia, left a message for our excellent surgery, but unusually they didn't contact me (probably because of that worldwide Microsoft outage). No matter - the bulge disppeared overnight but I am staying very careful. Could it have happened as a result of my pulling out hefty nets of fish? Actually no, because almost always someone else does it for me. That's what mates are for.

The result was that I packed up even more slowly than usual, having started late because of that last fish and having a rod and six different rigs to pack away. The weighers-in had got to Roy before I was ready to join them, and I was astonished to see that John Garner was leading with only 55 lb, which included a fish estimated to weigh 14 lb. Trevor set a record, I suspect, by ending last with 19 lb 14 oz, but he wasn't bothered about that. Next the weighers came to me.

My weigh (apologies to Frank Sinatra)
I was asked what I had clicked for my second net and answered honestly: "Twenty Pounds, but I didn't click the last half-hour". Roy lifted out my net and stumbled off the platform before putting the fish into the bag. There looked to be a lot more than 20 lb - and there were. The scale showed 48 lb 4 oz, and there were a few scornful noises made. But I had said I had stopped clicking, hadn't I? 

"So what have you clicked for the other net?" asked Trevor. I answered: "About 35 lb." Roy grunted his way to the weigh bag, carrying my net, and Trevor gave me an old-fashioned look as he read out, slowly: "Fifty. Two. Pounds. And something."  Cue my embarassed face, not for the first time. Then I remembered I had put  a 2 lb F1 into that net which should have gone into the other one. That stopped me weighing the 'ton', but 98 lb 4 oz was enough to win.

On peg 1 Dick Warrener had no clear water for much of the time - scum had built up there and at times he couldn't get his cat meat through it, and had to clear an area with his landing net before dropping in his rig. Even so he managed over 30 lb.

The scum in Dick's peg started to clear after the match!

Marks out of ten
For a change I felt I hadn't made any bad mistakes. The F1s on the feeder were small, but I just carried on putting something in my net, which is usually good advice. I wasted too much time next to platform 4, but otherwise thought I had done pretty well from a peg that wouldn't have been among the favourites to win. So I give myself a near-record 9/10. 

Next match on Horseshoe on Sunday. I understand the lillies have been cut, but the roots are still there. Not sure whether that would make them good bets. Friday saw 200 lb-plus from 13, and 199 lb from 1, while Roy Whincup struggled to 69 lb on 19. A fellow Maggot-Drowner, Neil, will be joining us as a guest, so there should be 13.

THE RESULT

1 Dick Warrener        31 lb 10 oz
3 Bob Allen               33 lb 3 oz
 5 Mac Campbell       98 lb 4 oz         1st
7 Trevor Cousins        19 lb 14 oz
9 Roy Whitwell         52 lb 11 oz        3rd
11 Mike Rawson        30 lb 6 oz
13 John Garner          55 lb 9 oz         2nd

15 Mick Ramm         30 lb 12 oz

17 Martin Parker       46 lb 14 oz

  

End peg on Lou's lake does me proud

Peg 14, Lou's Sun, July 14
Just happy to be fishing, and I had no idea whether the shallower areas of Lou's lake (named after previous owner Di's daughter Louise) ie: the higher numbers up to 15, would hold fish. I said to Dick Warrener before the match: "This peg will either be very good, or not very good at all," which would probably qualify for a John Cleese award for "The Bleedin' Obvious.'"Anyway, I had a vacant platform each side (which I could reach) but reeds about seven metres out, which I obviously had to avoid.

There was a nice ripple at the start in the early swims behind me, with the wind from the North which, not for the first time, was not what those pretty little things on the TV had forecast. It should have had West in it - though with the trees  on our opposite bank it wouldn't have given us a ripple anyway! Ten of us sat on the lake, with peg 6 the known flier, occupied by The Honourable John Smith, our previous Secretary/Dogsbody, who did so much for the club in the 20-odd years he ran it.

Allan (right) picked our names out of the Cocoa tin, then Mel picked
out one of his balls  and handed it to Dick Warrener (centre),
who held them until the draw was finished.

Lots of rigs
I picked out two shallow rigs - one for caster and one for pellet - plus a light margin rig and another, heavier; and three rigs for farther out, including a hair-rigged one (which I didn't use). It was quite warm. In fact on the previous Thursday I'd taken cold orange juice to drink and wished I'd taken coffee, while today I'd taken coffee and wish I'd taken cold orange...

John Smith was so overcome when he
was drawn on flier peg 6 that he
 started  curtseying, and insisted
on shaking hands with Dick.

First cast and I went out to 13 metres with the shallow caster, because fish were moving around there just under the surface. And blow me, within seconds a pod of three or four appeared; I dropped the rig back in nearby; and one second later I coulodn't see the float, and I was attached to a 2 lb carp. The 14-16 elastic stretched too far for my liking, and I instantly realised I would have to beef it up to avoid the next one taking me into the reeds in front of me.  

I was using my long tops because the previous match saw me lose several on the short tops, and I worried that the elastic on the short tops might have been too tight.

Into the margins
But the next 20 minutes didn't bring any more takes, and all the fish I could see were on their own, so I had a look near the best-looking of the margins, to my left. That eventually brought only a roach on corn, and I moved to target the platform to my right, also with corn, at about 18 inches deep, nine metres away. Can't remember which elastic I had on - probably 16-18, but I found carp about an inch off bottom, drifting in towards the bank. The first hooked fish shot out to the far bank and I was lucky to steer the pole high enough to get it up and through the reeds, pulling  to my left. It was hairy, but once free of them I broke down to the top as fast as I could and grabbed the puller bead.

That fish came in, as did the second, but I then went to my holdall and took out a stronger  elastic. Not sure what is was - I'd marked the tube with "Big Red". It was a hefty-looking elastic, probably 20-plus. In went some hemp and corn next to the platform, and the next fish came in OK, as did the next couple, provided I could throw the pole back quickly enough. But the next one really messed me up.

My swim, with the reeds only about six or seven metres away.

Snagged!

That bigger fish stretched the elastic about three yards, which took me into the reeds in front of me. Snagged! I could see the float, and the fish was just inches below the surface. I messed about for several minutes, still snagged, and eventually had to reach for my extending hook and wind it round the elastic several times. Then I pulled, expecting a break, but amazingly the rig slowly came free and the fish was still attached! And the reeds were now bent over and lying on the surface. 

After that effort I was knackered, and luckily so was the fish, which was around 5 lb, my best of the day, and ended up in my net. A quick look in front of me in the deeper water, which was about three feet, with caster, saw me hook a carp, very quickly, but that came off somewhere towards the far bank, the other side of the reeds, and I thought it was too risky to carry on there unless I was really desperate.

In fact I was snagged on reed roots in the margins several times, each time managing to free the rig with my extending hook, though once I did loose the hook on my rig.

Back to the platform
Then it was back to the right platform, and I tightened up the elastic (which was through a puller bung at the end of the Number Two section) by pulling out about a foot, and tying a knot to prevent it pulling back up. I tied it loosely, and afterwards was able to untie it. Anyway, that worked, and provided I struck lightly and pulled the fish towards me fairly gently, I could quickly get most of them within range, at which point I could take off the top two. The occasional one briefly went into the reeds but none of them snagged me.

I pulled the elastic out from the puller bung and 
shortened it with a loosely-tied knot.

When bites there slowed I came closer to me, where I had been dropping cat meat, using the heavier margin rig, usisng my special method. Here I used a short top and short Number Three, with 18-20 Matrix Slik, pulling about a foot out of the side puller, and holding it with my right hand on the Number Three. That was because the first fish pulled the elastic back after I'd increased the tension. I was able to drop the bait in like that, and play the fish to the net, all without having to leave hold of the pole.

 

I switch between swims

A half mussel took about two fish, but a whole mussel didn't work, and I got the impression that the fish were taking only smallish baits. I switched between the two swims to the end of the match, barring a quick look in the left margin, which didn't bring me anything. 

The left margin - nice-looking, but barren for me.

Dick Warrener on peg 12 came up to me halfway though the match, and said he had hardly a fish, which was unusual because he's been doing well lately. But he said Roy on 10 had had a good start on the feeder. I showed Dick the rig I was using - probably about 12 lb straight through (or it might have been 8 lb Maxima). I'd rather not get bites because the line was too  thick than lose fish. There's a school of thought that says the fish can see thick line, so they avoid it. Who knows? Certainly I had fewer liners than I might normally expect.

Coffee was part of my tactics 😀
I had my back to Martin Parker, behind me, but I had seen him land a few fish as I looked around while having coffee. I deliberately waited about a minute after putting in loosefeed, to reduce the chances of foulhooking fish, by having a drink, and I think I lost only about six or seven fish all day. 

I had spent a fair amount of time adjusting the elastics, etc, and in fact had to laboriously thread that eight-inch strip, hanging out of my long top, up the Number Three section every time I added the top two, so my catch rate was never fast and furious. But I carried on putting a fish into the keepnets perhaps once every six or seven minutes. 

The last half-hour was bad - I carried on in the cat meat swim for about 20 minutes too long, with no bite. As soon as I went back to the platform swim with corn I had fish - hooked four in the last ten minutes, and lost three of them. My worst spell of the match

Allan Golightly almost took his
section by default with 43 lb 4 oz.

The weigh in

Martin was first to weigh - 75 lb 14 oz. I thought: "I think I have 80 lb, so I probably won't be last." Then on round, and I was astonished at how low the weights were, with John on 6 having 45 lb. He said a lot of fish went into the reeds right beside the platform, so I assumed he had lost some.

Kevin had two double-figure fish, but  still managed only 51 lb, and Roy's ended with 54 lb 15 oz. I weighed in 102 lb 1 oz, and ended as a very surprised winner.

Kevin Lee had two clonkers from peg 9.

Marks out of ten

I have to assume that I had the best peg on the day, as I was so far ahead of most. But I was pleased I lost so few fish. It was a very unusual swim, and I felt I had solved the main problem of the reeds. I had fed the best part of a pint of casters in with the hemp and corn, and I am convinced that helps keep carp in the swim for longer. Perhaps I should have tried a small bait like cockles, or worm, or even paste in the cat meat swim when bites dried up at the end. The key, I thought, was taking almost every corn-hooked fish off the bottom.  A better angler would obviously have had more, but I think the fish were going 'iffy', so I think I'm worth 8/10.

Roy Whitwell watches his 54 lb 15 oz being weighed.
 I think he was one of the two Golden Pegs.

I'm now working on the problem of strong fish pulling elastic back through the puller bead when it's been previously pulled out to uncrease the tension. I've started by putting two Matrix puller beads on a couple of my tops to see if that does the trick.

Mel Lutkin pulls out his net for weighing.
This part of the lake was flat-calm all day.

Next match Friday on Willows, which I love - I usually catch out on a long pole early with pellet, but find fish in the margins later. Not sure where the pegs will be, but if it's from 1 to 25 I'd like peg 1, or 24, or anywhere in Deadman's Bay, 16 to 23. Depends on the wind; at the moment the forecast is for SSW, which means the whole lake is likely to be fairly sheltered, with the wind into peg 1 or blowing past 24/25.

THE RESULT

Difficult decisions on Six-Island, but the fish were there!

A video of my swim, with Bob practicing a bit of spinning for pike before the match 😁😁

Peg 8, Crow, Thurs, July 11
Many years ago, when I was 19 and worked for the Wisbech and Marshland Rural District Councils in the rates department, auditors swooped in for a spot check on the tills which I was in charge of. At the end they announced that everything was OK - the tills were just 2 pence short. At which Dave Davis, Number One in the office, went bannanas. 

"Tuppence short?" he shrieked. And, with a wink to me, he said: "That's terrible - we shouldn't be a single penny short. We must check it!" And he made the auditors double-check the money while we stood and watched. After which, red-faced, they agreed that it was correct 'to the penny.'

 It was the same Dave Davis who gave me some of the best advice I ever had, when the Treasurer appeared to take a dislike to me (alright, I know, that's not difficult). "Show some sense of urgency," he said, quietly. In other words: 'Sell yourself.'

What a pity he's not manager of the England football team, who seem unable to understand (as does their manager) that the first thing to endear yourself to fans is to look as if you really, really, want to play well. Play well and they'll forgive you (sort of) if you lose. But winning by luck (which is what certainly happened in the semi-final against the Netherlands) is not what the fans want.

A difficult decision
It's very like fishing - we almost all judge our matches by how well we fish, not just by the result. However, in this Spratts match on Six-Island it was difficult to decide whether I deserved to frame or not. You see, at the draw when asked what peg I'd like I said 'Nine,' but when 8 came out I said: "That's fine." It's produced a lot of fish over the years and I remember winning from it more than once.

Then slowly, as the match progressed, it became clear that it was going to be a difficult day. The West wind gave us a ripple at the start, and I managed to nick four or five small F1s on a five-metre line on corn in front of me, followed by hooking a much better fish which dived under the platform and snagged me. Possibly a barbel.

Bob had carp a long time before me.

Using my short kits
I was using my short top kits, which may not have been the best decision because the water was deeper that I have found on the opposite bank - something well over four feet. Still, I stuck with the short kits and when I had a look in the margins, where it was just as deep next to the bush on my right, I hooked another big fish, which I played for a time before it came off. I remember Ben Townsend (who has qualified for the Fish O'Mania final by the way) saying that he uses longer tops for the really big carp because of the extra elastic. Perhaps I should have switched over; but I didn't.

Two-and-a-half hours gone and I had about 3 lb in the next, and Bob Allen, on my left, had caught a carp on feeder and then started catching fish against the end bank on mussel. I turned to my feeder rod, put on a Method feeder and 8mm pellet and cast out.

A fish!
Before I had laid the rod on the rest it was bending and bucking in my hand, and a carp was on. It came in quite easily...and then turned on the turbo-chargers. Out it went to the island, the it kited round almost into Bob's swim, before coming in and repeating the exercise. Nightmare. It was a 12 lb common hooked in the tail. I know that because very eventually it ended in my landing net.

Next cast in came a four-pounder and next cast a 2 lb F1 nearly pulled the rod in. Then nothing...

I try a waggler
Fish were turning near the island. Now for the first time I realised that the island was nearer to my peg than to peg 11 opposite, And a 16-metre pole would have got me almost right across, except that I had left my 16-metre section at home! So I put out a little pellet waggler, fished 18 inches deep, and cast it to a metre from the island. Where it sat, unmoving. Until I picked up the rod and found it was snagged, presumably on a long, underwater root.

Another one on its way to Bob's net, probably taken on mussel.

I pulled, and the line broke and the little float wafted slowly round the island. So I rigged up another waggler, cast out, and then realised the fish had stopped moving there, and the water by the island was dead, and all the ripple had gone as the wind had changed. Story of my life.

Losing fish 😖
So it was back to the short swims, which were flat calm. I never did try well out, because Martin Parker kept trying and I didn't see him catch much. And in the margins I started getting knocks on cat meat. Some might have been roach; some were definitely liners (showing me that carp were there) and some were probably bites. And in the next three hours I kept hooking big fish, and losing more than half of them. OK, a couple might have been foulhooked, but most weren't.

That was when I wondered whether the shorter elastic was just a little too harsh. I changed from 14-16 Matrix Slik to 16-18 and even to a 20-22 and then back, but the result was mainly the same. I landed five good fish, from 6 lb to over 10 lb, but must have lost eight or ten, and Bob on my left now seemed to be having a good spell. 

Mussel was ragged on the hook, and a small piece of prawn brought a good carp. The roach didn'r seem to touch that, as it's hard and had no protrusions, so I tried it again and again, but still had only those infuriating knocks and liners, probably all from carp, which kept coming off, in both margins.

Of course I should have got out a nice easy elastic on a long top - something like a 17 hollow. But I didn't. And by the end I was frustrated. Dick on peg 13 said I had done well, but I thought that although I had over 70 lb, Bob Allen on 9 had probably doubled my weight. And because lots of fish had been showing near the surface I said Trevor on peg 3 had probably mugged 150 lb. (Spoiler - I was talking crap!)

My second-best fish - the best one leaped out
of my arms and straight into the water!

The weigh-in
Two rods and five or six tops to pack away, and the scales had got to Martin on 6 before I had a look at the sheet. To my amazement Trevor round the corner on 3, had only 46 lb. I could now see that the ripple which has moved from us was now down that other end, blowing from the car park. And it's in that last two hours when you need the ripple, so I wondered whether those pegs (not yet weighed) would have bagged. Trevor said that fish hadn't been showing in his swim at all.

Roy Whitwell struggled on peg 18, finding
mainly only fairly small fish.

My eight carp and a few small F1s went 75 lb 11 oz, and I had another shock when Bob weighed in just 55 lb 9 oz. Turned out that his fish were mainly much smaller than mine. So I lead round to peg 15, where Peter Spriggs had 81 lb 1 oz. Then in the ripple the first two, John Smith and Roy Whitwell, had struggled. But the last three to weigh, closer to the car park did much better, with Peter Harrison's 96 lb 13 oz from peg 22 winning, Peter Spriggs was second, and Neil Paas on 20 third.

Mark Ramm, with exactly the same
weight as I had, 75 lb 11 oz.

Mark Ramm on 25 had exactly the same as me - 75 lb 11 oz, to share fourth place, so we split the last frame money.

Marks out of ten
I honestly did show a sense of urgency, though there was nobody to witness it. And being the best weight at that end of the lake is worth a couple of points, I suppose. But I should have changed tops after losing the first couple of fish. It might not have nade a difference, but who knows? On the other hand I felt I was tempting the carp into the swim, with mainly hemp and micros, and getting them to at least have a go at the bait. I suspect they were very lightly hooked indeed, which is why they came off, but the extra elastic could have helped. And I needed only one of those lost fish to have come second. 5/10.

Neil Paas - runner-up with 79 lb 11 oz.

Next match Sunday on Lou's, which has decent margins. Peg 6 is the Winter flier, but it often needs that 50-yard cast to the far corner reed bed, with the inevitable possible problems. Still, it's also a nice pole swim. Having said that, I'll be happy anywhere, even in the shallower pegs from about 13 to end peg 15. And then there's the England game to watch afterwards. If they just try from the first minute I'll keep watching. If not, online poker calls...

Peter Harrison, winner with 96 lb 13 oz from peg 22.

THE RESULT

2 Mick Ramm            18 lb 12 oz
3 Trevor Cousins        46 lb 10 oz
4 John Garner            61 lb
6 Martin Parker         52 lb 11 oz
8 Mac Campbell        75 lb 11 oz      4th =
9 Bob Allen              55 lb 9 oz
11 Mike Rawson        43 lb 5 oz
13 Dick Warrener      58 lb 14 oz
15 Peter Spriggs        81 lb 1 oz        2nd
17 John Smith          39 lb 7 oz
18 Roy Whitwell      24 lb 10 oz
20 Neil Paas             79 lb 11 oz        3rd
22 Peter Harrison     96 lb 13 oz        1st
25 Mark Ramm        75 lb 11 oz        4th =