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.
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| By the time we started the temperature had soared. |
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!
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.
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| 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.
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| I thought all Dave's fish were as big as this! |
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.
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.
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| ...and yet another one for Dave Garner, all on his favourite waggler. |
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.
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.
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| Dave, first to weigh, had biggger fish than I managed to catch. |
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.
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| Neil Of The Nene, fishing as an honoured guest, said he had a good time with us. |
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).
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| Roy Whitwell with his best fish. |
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| 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.
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| Jason Lee - 46 lb 4 oz from peg 15. |
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.
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| Mike Rawson - a nice 45 lb 9 oz. |
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| We fished four-peg sections. |
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