The sun had got his hat on, on Beastie

Peg 24, Beastie
This JV match (my first of the Winter with the club) was supposed to be on Willows, but during the week loads of leaves fell, and clogged up a lot of swims, so it was moved to Beastie. Actually I like it when there are problems. I've had very few problems fishing through leaves or weed, and I've found that the reduced light level tends to bring fish on the feed. No matter - well apart from the fact that peg 24 on Beastie is a bogey peg for me. 

First good news was that a new platform has been installed on peg 24, and with the forecast being for sun and no rain a warm day was in store. Not good for fishing, though, as we had back wind on our bank, giving us calm water all day, while each end of the lake had ripple.No pegs were on the spit (9 to 17 inclusive) as the bridge is being renewed.

A nice new platform - but no Raspberry Ripple all day.
And the sky was actually blue!!!

Quiet
Not a lot happened in my swim - an hour of bomb and pellet and The Method saw not even a liner, though to my left Shaun Buddle had a couple of fish - I heard the splashing. A switch to a 4mm expander fished at 11.5 metres saw three small bream and a small F1 quite quickly, then bites fell away. By halfway through I had lost a 3 lb bream which leaped clear of the water and threw the hook, and hooked a few small roach.

Maggot on a top kit saw me at least getting bites, and I spent about half an hour catching roach and perch at the rate of one a minute to start with, until they stopped feeding. I hoped that carp might have come in, but no, though they were splashing around the lake, and swimming around with their heads out of the water, or drifting around like shars with the backs showing  And there still wasn't a cloud in the azure-blue sky.

Still  quiet!
Nothing seemed to be happening near me except that Lee Kendall on 18 was definitely catching well. I did, though go Back out to  11.5 metres, then added a section to 13 metres, and caught a 3 lb bream on  expander. With just over an hour to go I decided my only hope of catching carp was to look in the margins, altough the water semed to be dead everywhere. First drop, to my surprise, in the left margin, on an area of hard bottom I had found, saw a touch on corn, and next drop I hooked a near-10 lb carp, which just fitted into the 18-inch landing net, so I then changed the net to mky 20-inch model.

Half an hour later I had reverted to my special method, which showed me that there were definitely fish moving in the swim, though not apparently interested in my mussel. Then I did hit a fish, that was on for a few seconds before everything went slack - broken near the hook. This rig was an oldish one - 6 lb straight through, and there must have been a wind knot I had missed.

Mayhem
Ten minutes before the end a grain of corn was taken on my special method, and a fish about 12 lb created absolute mayhem. It jumped around two feet out of the water four times, and splashed violently on the surface before suddenly making for my platform at speed. If I'd had my landing net in my hand there was a brief moment when I could have scooped it out, as it seemed to be dazed for a few seconds just in front of my keepnets.

Lee Kendall with a big old humpy-backed
common carp that was weighed at
12 lb 10 oz in a light landing net - so
 it probably weighed around 15 lb.

But the fish started motoring again, and it took another five minutes before I had it in the net - about 12 lb. I've never had a carp like that before, behaving much like a trout. I'm amazed the hook didn't fall out. I guess their strange behaviour all over the lake was down to some sort of pressure change. Any way, I had no time to catch anything else, but on my right Sean Coaten was playing an eight-pounder as the match finished, so I guess they were starting to feed.

The weigh in

Pegs 26 back to 20 suffered from having no ripple, and you can see that my 27 lb 9 oz was around average for that area. If that 3 lb bream hadn't thrown the hook and the rig hadn't broken on that big carp I would probably have topped those pegs.  But If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans...

Lee Kendall won with 132 lb 3 oz, taken on maggot and worm (I presume on their own bu mainly together) and he fed four pints of maggots. His win wasn't a surprise - I guess if there had been a bookmaker there every angler would have had a fiver on Lee to win from that peg.

Marks out of ten
Probably 7/10 as it's difficult to make something happen when nothing is happening, if you know what I mean. I just wish I'd looked in the margins half an hour earlier!!!! Not sure hen my next mtch is. Probably somewhere on Wednesday.

THE RESULT

A wet and windy weekend on Damson and Oak

Peg 7, Damson, Sunday, Oct 20
I can definitely forecast that Micemass is around the corner - they've started foraging in my bins of pellets, and twice I've had a little surprise when they've jumped out of the top as I plunged my head in to cup some out. Luckily they've been very obliging and leaped onto the traps I've started setting.  Food for the magpies...

First fishing match since turning 82, Fenland Rods' last match of the season (The Les Bedford Memorial Cup) and what a welcome! The forecast was, for once, pretty good - good in the sense that they got it right, not good in what they said would greet us on the morning. But at least it wasn't raining much as we started. Peg 1, which has not produced good results in our matches recently, went to Roy Whitwell, and since he's good and it was the most sheltered peg on the lake, I feared the worst.

Up with our umbrellas
Most of us put up our umbrellas immediately, with Kev on 5, Mike on 6 and me all stacking them vertically, to our left, against the strong Southerly wind. Starting on casters shallow  in the margins I couldn't believe what I caught - NOTHING! Normally you can get some immediately. So it was over to corn on the bottom, and slowly the bites started.

Snug as a bug in a rug - ready for the wind, and it certainly blowed!

Down came the rain but I was as snug as a bug in a rug because the wind drove it almost horizontally onto the Preston Flat Back umbrella. It's big at 50-inches, but three guy ropes, with the back stapled down and a storm guide screwed into a bank stick saw it rock solid. And the fish, from 1 lb to 2 lb, came slowly, but steadily.

A good first two hours

A little before the two-hour mark I had about 40 lb of F1s, and decided to start my second net. I'd forgotten to bring my keepnet bar, so had to use banksticks in the scaffold poles at the front of the platform. But I had to move the net I'd been using from the left one to the right one, and put the second net in its place.  

A bad move!

Moving the nets took only a minute, but when I sat down again and started fishing, the fish had departed for pastures new - probably along to Kevin on peg 5!  Strange how often that happens.

The next two hours saw me get just the very occasional fish - perhaps one every ten minutes, and I should have gone long into the deep water. On my right Dave Garner, who had had a bad start, was now catching what looked to be 'proper' carp out in the deep water.

Early action from Dave Garner on peg 8.

We go for walks
Callum Judge walked the bank and said he'd had a great hour on the feeder with 30 lb, before his swim had died. He was in end peg 13, so I assumed he would be in the running at the end.

Yes - it was definitely a carp!

With nothing much happening at my peg I took a leaf out of Ivan Marks' book and walked up to Mike, who was very despondent and said he'd not had a bite for the last two hours. Back I went to my swim.

Then a hiatus - the wind slewed round to be almost in our faces but the umbrella still protected me. Then - disaster. The wind turned even more, suddenly, and roared into the front of the umbrella, and I could feel the box rocking. 

I prepare for take-off
I looked round to see Mike on 6 holding on to the side of his umbrella for all he was worth. I did the same and obviously now had to try to take it down. But that wasn't easy. In a slight lull I jumped up (OK crawled around my building site) and grabbed the bankstick, which I still had to unscrew from the storm guide. With wet hands it was a bit hairy, and I could see the right hand side of the box lifting off the ground.

That could have been me, soaring high.

I had visions of  suddenly being hoisted up, Mary Poppins style, and being whisked over some surprised anglers fishing in a JV match behind us on Elm and Cedar lakes.

Now I could see the umbrella pole was bent over at about 30 degrees. Wet hands meant I took ages unscrewing the bank stick and luckily the umbrella pole had bent so much that the guy ropes had loosened and I was able to lift it up and collapse it, still with my feet on the ground! Mike and Kevin managed it as well, but Mike said he was going to pack up.

A sensible idea
The rain had pretty much stopped, but Mike's not in the best of health after his stroke, and I thought that was a sensible suggestion. If the rain came again we would have no protection except our waterproofs. In fact it did rain eventually, but only lightly, and I carried on fishing.

Going long, on cat meat on a 1 gm rig (the wind had died down a little and the float sat up beautifully), saw the occasional fish come in, and they were mirror carp, best just under 3 lb. Dave Garner seemed to be getting bigger fish than that and was catching me up. And soon lots of splashing cam from peg 5 - Kevin Lee was getting some good fish over 4 lb, and that carried on to the end of the match. I thought I'd perhaps got just over 60 lb.

Roy Whitwell fished feeder and pole
 on peg 1, weighing in 93 lb 4 oz.

The weigh in
Roy had found fish on peg 1 - over by 6 lb in one net he still weighed 93 lb 4 oz. Martin Parker had 65 lb 14 oz, and then the piece de resistance - Kevin Lee's 120 lb 4 oz; what a catch on a terrible day, and he had several fish over 4 lb in that last spell - fish I couldn't find. Well done, Kevin (not for the first time). His shallow-water fish came on paste and the deep-water fish on cat meat.

Kevin had some lumps from the
deep water.

Mike Rawson had obviously gone home, and would miss the end-of-season presentations after the match. Then I took my two nets to the scales - 64 lb 8 oz, down in fourth place. And to my surprise that was where I remained, with Callum on the end finishing with just 51 lb 11 oz, so I ended fourth, winning just my section, with the first three pegs dominating. And Kevin won the cup.

Marks out of ten
I should have gone long earlier, but when you're putting occasional fish in your net, and you get the feeling that most of the others are stuggling, what do you do? Probably should have tried the feeder, as some fish were caught on it. But in those conditions the tempation is to avoid getting up in the rain and pulling out your rod. Worth 7/10.

Next match was the next day with Spratts on Oak.

THE RESULTS

Ten of us fished. Mike had sensibly departed. Now to the presentations...

It's cup final day!

Ready for the presentation. L-R:  Big fish shield; Bedford Cup
 (presented by the Odd Fellows); Club Cup;
The Championship Cup; plus the three handicap medals.

Sartorial elegance in practice! As chairman
I prepare to hand over the main
Championship Trophy to Kevin.

For the first time ever the four main trophies went to one man - our treasurer Kevin Lee. What a season he has had. His biggest fish was 16 lb 9 oz. Here is the final result: (we give 15 points to the winner, 14 for second etc):

 

The handicap medals went to Martin Parker (1st); Mel Lutkin (2nd) and Dick Warrener (3rd). Well done all.

And come April we start to do it all over again.

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Peg 16, Oak, Monday, Oct 21

Oh dear. My name was first out of the bag in this 15-entry Spratts match, followed by "Sixteen", in the corner, which is one of my bogey pegs. I was not happy, and I might even have had a moan or two(!), because I have unhappy memories of sitting on 16 in a three-day Telford Festival, a few years ago, and coming last on the lake. My frustration was only partly diminished when the angler who had won the lake drew 16 the next day...and he also finished last. I've drawn it two or three times since then and always ended up unhappy. 😞

As I loaded my trolley I remembered there are sturdy reeds on the left which stop you fishing along the bank there, a bumpy margin, and a steep drop-off a few metres out, while the reeds on the end bank flop over and stop you fishing close to them. Definitely a bogey.

A revelation!

Then - a revelation as I started the walk to peg 16! Of course, Oak has since had the margins cleared out and the banks reinforced with tin. And so far this season I've had some good weights fishing near the 'tins'. I'd forgotten that. And when I got to my peg I was actually happy - a nice bunch of reeds to my right, and a spare platform on my left which I could fish to.

A nice-looking corner peg - wouldn't you agree?

The wind was down the lake, towards my corner, and slightly into my face - a good sign. Actually it was getting a little stronger and it was cool, and with the sun so low it would have been difficult to fish to that platform, so I never did. And I started out at a modest 2+1, in the deep water, in front, around six feet, with the depth anything up to a foot less as I plumbed out.

Into the deeps

That deep swim, fished with expander, yielded nothing, and neither did a switch to corn. Opposite me, Bob Walker on 15 had an early fish on feeder, and I watched as his next cast went to the end bank. Soon after, I turned to the bunch of reeds, fishing just beyond it,  where there was a hard bottom in about four feet of water.

The wind started blowing harder, and when my float disappeared momentarily under a wave I dismissed the idea I might have had a bite. When it happened again I was on full alert. And then it disappeared and didn't re-appear. The culprit was an 8 lb mirror!

Foulhooked

Immediately I put in a few grains of corn and went out to the deepwater swim in front of me on corn, where I hooked a fish which stretched the 17 hollow elastic out so far, and so brutally that I knew it was foulhooked. Several minutes later it was still foulhooked, and I never looked like landing it. Then the 6 lb hooklength broke. But at least I knew the fish would come in there.

Bob Walker, opposite on 15, plays one of his fish, taken from the margins. The wind was cool, and we never had sun all day - good conditions for the time of year.

Soon after losing that fish, I hooked a fish in the reed swim which immediately snagged me in the reeds, though I managed to recover the whole rig. Presumably foulhooked. Meanwhile Bob Walker had had two or three good carp fishing to his right, against the 'tins'.

First cast...

My first drop into the left margin, about a metres from the edge, saw a bite within seconds, which turned out to be a fin-perfect common carp about 10 lb. And from then on I alternated between the three swims, taking a couple more good carp from the right margin swim, on mussel, with Bob opposite also having one or two more.

In the last hour I went out to the longer swim, and found fish there, also on mussel, taking two, the first of which was a 3 lb F1. Once I had a bite on mussel, struck gently (as I do) and the bait was gone. So a fish must have taken it very tentatively, and I guessed that probably not many of the other anglers had been bagging. The wind was now quite cold. 

I think I had another two from the  deep left margin, and also saw a fish turn right against the tins. But when I tried fishing that shallower swim I never had a touch. So I finished with seven carp, for about 50 lb, having briefly lost two more foulhooked.

One of my old schoolmates, Mick
Ramm, included a big old 'double'
 in his 20 lb 4 oz catch.

The weigh in

I didn't get to see Bob Walker weigh in, but I wasn't surprised when I was told he was leading. I had seen him hook nine fish, but he told me he had lost one of those, finishing with eight for 74 lb 9 oz. My seven went 49 lb 15 oz, which put me into third place (just 4 oz ahead of Dick Warrener). And nobody else on my bank beat me, so I ended third. I was happy with that.

Another old mate, Martin Parker, 
was fifth with 43 lb 5 oz.

Marks out of ten

There are always difficult decisions to make, aren't there? Afterwards I found that several fish had been taken on a feeder. But I had decided, in that swim, to stick to pole, which is my strength. Even so, I know I should have taken the feeder rod out of the bag to try the occasional cast, even if just to rest my pole swims.

We weighed Neil Paas' best fish at
14 lb 3 oz, taken from peg 28.

Trouble is it takes longer to pack up, as I always have several pole rigs ready - one for each swim and a couple of spares.  And, yet again, I didn't try paste at all, even though I had it ready to use. Nor did I try hard pellet. However, top on my bank wasn't too bad - good carp were taken all along the lake, so it's not as if all the fish were down at our end. I award myself 8/10, because apart from not trying other baits I made no obvious mistakes that I could think of.

Next match Sunday - my first of the Winter with JV club - is on Willows. I'd be happy with 1, or from 15 to 24. Peg 25 can be a flier, but it can be difficult. The nice thing about JV is that I'm not always last to pack away. 😁

THE RESULT

East bank                                                   West bank

30 John Garner       27 lb 8 oz        

28 Neil Paas           39 lb 12 oz                    3 Peter Harrison       39 lb 3 oz

26 Shaun Buddle    33 lb                              5 Peter Spriggs        22 lb 1 oz

24 Martin Parker    43 lb 5 oz        5th        7 Trevor Cousins      33 lb 5 oz

22 Mick Ramm        20 lb 4 oz                    9 Bob Barrett            DNW

20 Dick Warrener    49 lb 11 oz     4th        11 Roy Whitwell,    61 lb 10 oz  2nd

18 Mike Rawson    DNW                            13 Dave Hobbs        DNW

16 Mac Campbell    49 lb 15 oz    3rd        15 Bob Walker        74 lb 9 oz     1st

Scraping the barrrel on Horseshoe, Decoy

 First, apologies for the lateness of this blog - a two-day attack of Vertigo has been the culprit. Anyone know how to stop them? It was my second in less than three months.

Now, a late-late result from the Spratts match that took place on Yew on Oct 3.

Peter Harrison won from peg 14 with 92 lb 11 oz of carp to 9 lb taken close in; Second was Peter Spriggs, peg 24, with carp to 8 lb and barbel to 5 lb from the margins. Third was Dave Hobbs, peg 5, with 53 lb 5 oz of carp to 11 lb on meat and mussels.

RESULT

East bank                                                West bank

                                                                            1 Bob Walker        21 lb 3 oz
28 Bob Barrett        DNW                                   3 Roy Whitwell      18 lb 14 oz
26 Mick Ramm       3 lb 1 oz                              5 Trevor Cousins    40 lb 14 oz
24 Peter Spriggs     66 lb 13 oz          2nd           6 Shaun Buddle      30 lb 8 oz 
22 John Garner     28 lb 11 oz                             8 Bob Allen            DNW

20 Neil Paas        52 lb 1 oz                 4th         10 Dick Warrener    5 lb 10 oz 

18 Dave Hobbs    53 lb 5 oz                3rd         12 Mike Rawson    DNW

                                                                            14 Peter Harrison   92 lb 11 oz    1st  

NOTE:       John Garner won £1 from Bob Allen!  

  

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Peg 19, Horseshoe, Saturday, Oct 12

Ten of us were on Horseshoe for this penultimate Fenland Rods match of the season, and I didn't really fancy peg 19, as I've seen, in the past, some JV Winter match results on Horseshoe where these high-numbered pegs have seen really good anglers blow out. Still, it's not Winter yet, although we've had some cold nights, so I was (as always) hopeful.

Now this won't take long. The Decoy team have been working on this swim, having taken out a load of the lillies which grew so profusely earlier on, and the swim looked quite nice. There were very tall reeds immediately to the right, which gave me some shelter from the wind, and the rain which fell later. 

A slow start

To the left there were still some small patches of lillies, and I reckoned that fish would be hanging around them, close to the margin somewhere, However, I started out at about eight metres, with corn, just over a sparse line of lillies, but to my surprise I never had even a liner.

Suddenly, after about half an hour I fancied I saw a flash in the left margin, and came in there, on a top two, with corn, using my special method, which usually tells me if there are fish about. Sure enough I had a small touch, then a proper bite, and a good fish was on. But almost immediately it had run into lillies, close to the bank, and I was stuck fast.

Reeds to the right, lillies just beyond, and a small patch of them in
the bottom of the dark reflection, just above the marginal grass to
the left. The wind got up, and it rained, but all-round it wasn't too bad.

I was able, easily, to reach the lillies with my long landing net handle with a hook on the end, I dug the hook down, found the lilly stem, twisted the hook round it, and brought everything back - except the fish. Determined not to have that happen again I changed from the 17 elastic to a stronger one, and pulled out about ten inches of elastic from the puller bung, and tied a temporary loop. Now the elastic was very tight.

Another one lost

Half an hour later I had another bite, and this fish, instead of moving straight out, went straight across the swim, pulling me with it. I hadn't time to fix the Number three section, and even if I had I'm not sure it would have done any good. Because there were lillies only a few feet to the right I held the fish hard, and the hook pulled out.

Seconds after I walked over to Roy Whitwell's
swim he was playing a carp on his feeder rod.

Behind me Roy Whitwell was on peg 1, which I like, and  I immediately had a walk over to him, in time to see his feeder rod pulled right round, and him land a carp of about 4 lb. He said he had about 12 lb to 14 lb, and that Kevin Lee, on peg 10, had landed several carp, but almost everyone else seemed to be struggling. Before going back to my swim I walked up to Dave Garner on 17, and he hadn't had a bite, and said that Mel Lutkin on 15 hadn't had anything, either.

Yes - that one was safely landed.

Back to my swim, fairly heavy rain started, and after another fruitless look in the original long swim, next to lillies, I went out into open water in front of me. In the next couple of hours I managed to hook three carp in that swim. The first was coming in nicely but I started to break down too early, and as I lowered the pole the fish shot into that bed of lillies to my right and pulled off.

A fish!!!

Next drop and another fish was on, but I knew it was foulhooked. However, it ended in my net - a little less than 3 lb. Half an hour later I had changed to maggot and a fish hooked itself, obviously a carp. The elastic stretched to the right as the fish charged down the centre of the lake, and I thought I now had a chance of landing another. No - the hook pulled out!!!

But as this fish had taken maggot I decided to put in a few more, and stick to maggot until the last few minutes. So in went some more and I wandered up to Dave Garner again. Again, he said he'd not had a bite, but Mel on 15 had a carp. Now we fish three-man and four-man sections in this club, so I decided to fish for my three-man section. On maggot. And around this time the rain stopped.

Small roach and bream

That worked after a fashion, and some small roach and three small bream, best 10 oz, came in, though several roach dropped off. I was still using  a 13 elastic - far too strong for the roach, but I thought I would have a chance of landing a carp provided it wan't foulhooked (which I now began to suspect all the others had been).

A few minutes from the end I went back into the margin, saw one swirl, but never had a touch. And that was my day done.

                                                     The weigh in

Kevin was the obvious winner with 
68 lb of carp, F1s and carassio...

Roy on peg 1 eventually moved from his near margin to a little cut-out in the bank a section farther away, where he found two feet of extra water! And that was where he took the bulk of his  49 lb 2 oz. Next door Martin Parker included a carp around 12 lb in his 14 lb 3 oz.

I caught up with the scales in time to see Kevin Lee weigh in his winning 68 lb, which included a pike about 6 lb. Horseshoe occasionally produces the odd pike - a 17-pounder came out a few years ago landed, I think, by Tony Evans.

...and a surprise 6 lb pike!

On peg 11, next door, Mike Rawson had 18 lb 4 oz for fourth place, only 3 oz from third-placed Dave Hobbs, who had weighed in 18 lb 7 oz from peg 5. Then the scales came to my section of three, the last to weigh.

My section

Mel Lutkin still had just the one carp, 2 lb 14 oz. Dave Garner had had just one bite, 20 minutes from the end, from a carp of 4 lb 7 oz on half a mussel. Finally, my decision to fish for the section paid off when I weighed in 6 lb 3 oz for the section win. Without those small maggot fish I wouldn't have won anything. And the winner was Kevin Lee, who was on the fourth Golden Peg. Four were drawn at the start - three at our £50 cap and the last at £27, which is what Kev won. Well done, Kev.

Mike Rawson was fourth with 18 lb 4 oz.

Marks out of ten

I have to assume, realistically, that the pegs we were in, on the South bank, weren't holding many feeding fish. And at least I'd hooked five carp, though they might have all been foulhooked. So since the decision to stick to maggot in the open water had produced at least a small brown envelope, I give myself 7/10. Not sure what else I could have done.

Pike

Mike Rawson said it was the first match he'd fished in which pike counted. But after I got home I sat and thought about it, and remember coming second in an East Midland Winter League match on the Forty Foot with the help of a 3 lb pike. So they must have counted  at some time, though under the very early NFA rules pike definitely did not count. Mind you, neither did eels, catapults were banned, and you weren't allowed to even break the surface of the water in front of you before the start of the match! How ridiculous.

Next match the Les Bedford Memorial on Damson, Decoy, on Sunday. I won it last year, and I've been sorting out the appropriate rigs, though rain is forecast for most of the day. 

THE RESULT

Things are now difficult on Beastie, but we still sally forth.

Peg 22, Beastie Lake, Decoy, Friday, Oct 11
We had to laugh. Mike Rawson doesn't like peg 24 on Beastie, and all of us in this Spratts match knew that. It doesn't treat Mike kindly, yet he keeps drawing it. So before the draw some of the cruellest in the club told Mike he would get it again. Actually even  that was a bit optimistic, because we didn't know whether our organiser Trevor had even put it in the bag.

So the draw commenced. Eleven of  us, and Mike's name wasn't out first; nor second. My name came out and then "Twenty-two". It wasn't one I would have picked. I would have preferred a peg facing the wind, because that far bank, where 22 was, would be calm in the back Westerly wind. And the draw went on until ten names had been plucked from the bag and only Mike was left. Sure enough - Mike Rawson - Twenty-Four! Lots of head shaking and unrestrained laughter - but to his great credit Mike just smiled ruefully, walked to his van, and drove round to his bogey peg. Life's not always very fair.

Bright sunshine
And yes - the water was calm, with bright sunshine, which threw a dark shadow on the water if you put out a pole. Plumbing up showed nearly five feet of water about 12 feet from the bank, and only a little more than three feet well out. I know that these pegs in the early 20s can produce big catches, usually on a long pole, so that was how I started.

Flat calm on our side of the lake - you can just see the beautiful
Raspberry Ripple in the background, in front of the spit.

Three hours later, having fished up to 13 metres out, and having tried a feeder from halfway to the island right across the full 50 yards, I had two F1s in the net, a small bream, plus half-a-dozen tiny roach, or a total of about 7 lb. On the spit to my left, where there was a beautiful big ripple, I had seen Mick Ramm playing a carp within two minutes of the start, while to my right Bob Barrett must have had well over 20 lb on a feeder with his usual banded pellet.

Actually, for an hour  after I put in some dead maggots, just off my platform, to the left, big swirls of mud kept coming up. Obviously fish were rooting around, but could I get a single bite? No. So frustrating. I tried live maggots, dead maggots, expander, cat meat and corn, but all were ignored. Then the mud stopped coming up and I had to think out my next move.

Getting desperate
Out went my feeder again while I had a coffee; the tip went round; a fish was on; seconds later it came off! Not my day. Now, with two-and-a-half hours left I had seen Mick get another fish or two, and he was fishing the margin. So into my margin I went, more it hope than expectation. I couldn't easily fish to the right - the sun was now in my eyes there, but the water was in deep shadow, so seeing a float was very difficult. No - I turned to my left, where there was vegetation overhanging the water.

There are no reeds along this bank, so as that vegetation  was the only cover I dropped in there with a grain of corn - it was a little over three feet deep. I used my special method, because if I can't catch in that I can't catch on anything. Second drop and plump, hard-fighting F1 came in - about 2 lb.Success. And for once it really was.

A nice bonus
Feeding with corn and hemp before every drop, and constantly working the bait, more F1s came in - about one every five minutes, provided I was within a foot of the overhanging stuff. Any farther and I couldn't get a bite. And there was an early bonus in the shape of an 8 lb mirror carp. 

To my right Bob seemed to be struggling, but my fish came slowly but steadily, though I had to increase the lash and try to keep the pole shadow from falling on the clear water. After about 12 or 15 fish, bites slowed up and I went out to about six metres, where I had put in a few grains of corn and some micros. 

First drop there, and another F1 came in. Then nothing, but the rest had helped, and occasionally I found more F1s in the margin swim, with a couple on a 6mm expander. One more carp took the bait - about 4 lb - before the match ended. I thought I had about 50 lb, possibly more. I never had a fish from the 11.5 meter or 13 metres lines, despite fishing them for a long time early on.

Then four minutes from the end, the wind changed and gave us on this bank a lovely ripple - far too late, of course!

The weigh in
I was first to weigh - 54 lb 12 oz, with Bob Barrett confirming that he had had  a terrible second half, after battering me early on,. He ended with 34 lb12 oz. As I packed away, the scales went round the lake, and I caught up with them as they went to the three pegs on the spit, which had had ripple all day.

Mick Ramm had a couple of really nice
carp in his 43 lb 13 oz from peg 17.

There, Trevor had really struggled, with just one carp in his 20 lb 7 oz catch, the rest being F1s. Then to Mick Ramm, who had two really good carp in his 43 lb 13 oz, and at that point I looked at he board and saw I was leading! The clearing water and bright sun had obviously really spooked catches. On peg 30 Dave Hobbs later told me that he didn't get a fish for the first three-and-a-half hours, but ended with 46 lb 4 oz.

Neil Paas brings his first net to the scales from peg 16.

Finally to Neil Paas - a good angler on a good peg, who did the business with 63 lb 6 oz, to win. Well done, Neil. Nowehere was easy today, so The Boy Done Good! And I ended second. Next match was the next day, on Horseshoe, where Bob Allen had found out that five anglers had been pleasure fishing there and had left without any of them having had a bite!

Neil had quite an assortment
of sizes in his net...

...but this beauty was the biggest,
on a difficult day.

Oh, and Mike Rawson had struggled, taking a carp about 3 lb but not weighing in.  So he wasn't laughing and, to be fair, neither were we,. It's rotten getting a peg you really don't fancy and coming back with nowt. I know - I've done it literally score of times on natural waters, which can be so unfair. On commercials at least you know there are fish there. Perhaps he would do better the next day.

Marks out of ten
Probably worth 8/10. At least I found some fish in the calm, clear water. But I'm still not sure why I couldn't catch one or two of those which were stirring up the mud earlier on. I still have a lot to learn! I must remember how close those fish stayed, all day, to the vegetation.

THE RESULT

3 Roy Whitwell        44 lb 13 oz        4th
4 Dick Warrener         5 lb 7 oz
5 Bob Walker            21 lb 3 oz
15 Trevor Cousins     20 lb 7 oz
17 Mick Ramm         43 lb 13 oz 
18 Neil Paas              63 lb 6 oz            1st 
22 Mac Campbell     54 lb 12 oz         2nd
23 Bob Barrett          34 lb 12 oz   
24 Mike Rawson        DNW  
29 Bob Allen            18 lb 11 oz (all bream)
30 Dave Hobbs         46 lb 4 oz        3rd

Warmer weather was just the tonic on Yew lake, Decoy

Peg 18, Yew, Sunday, Oct 6
Two weeks ago I sat shivering in a match on Willows, dressed in my normal Summer clothes. Blow me, this Sunday, complete with long Johns, thermal vest, thick lined shirt, sweat shirt, hoodie, smart new Decoy Lakes woolly hat, and Imax Winter jacket, when I'd got to my peg I had to take some of them off!

The weather at first looked like being coolish with not much wind (no Raspberry Ripple on my swim) but after about an hour it became almost perfect - overcast (and how!), but warm and windy (later very windy). The sort of day when, 50 years ago, I would have taken a day off my holidays to mog off down to the Relief Channel, behind the tractor factory at Downham Market, where there would be white horses on the surface, and with a bit of luck the bream or big roach would be feeding. The rougher it was the better it always was.

A nice-looking right margin - picture taken after we finished.

Inside information

As I took the long walk today down to peg 18, Dave Hobbs told me he had been there the previous Thursday, and had had barbel to the left, towards platform 19. Unfortunately that platform today held the imposing figure of Mel Lutkin, but knowing that barbel might be around I decided to rely on maggots in the margin to start with. However, the first half hour was wasted casting a bomb and maggots around, without so much as even a liner, and at that point it looked to me as if things were going to be decidedly difficult, as the wind hadn't yet picked up.

So into the right margin, near the reeds, went about ten dead maggots, followed by my 0.5 gm rig, with 16 hook and two red maggots. I couldn't believe how deep the lake was here - I reckon it was almost eight feet - about ten inches less than the length of my top two. I gazed at the float as it sat there, with a tiny drift against the wind, realising that the rig was probably too light, and the elastic, a No 13, was also probably not heavy enough. Second drop and I could hardly believe my eyes when the float dipped. A strike and a sack of potatoes pulled the elastic out several metres.

Beautiful!
Honestly, whatever it was on the end played with me for almost 15 minutes, after which the sack turned miraculously into he most beautiful golden mirror carp you have ever seen - about 10 lb. I found it difficult to net, as I'm not used to having an eight-foot rig to content with. Thank goodness for pullers. Then with it finally in the net, I thought I really ought to up the elastic.

Mel did this several times in the first three hours...

But I didn't - and the next fish, next drop, was a barbel at least 4 lb, which took also a fair few hairy minutes to land, after which I changed for a similar rig, but stronger, on 17 elastic. By now Mel, on my left, had found BIG carp out at about ten metres, on cat meat (I stopped fishing and watched him bait up to confirm that, but don't tell him!) The new rig had a strong size 12 on, but it didn't work and I wondered if the heavy hook was to blame. 

I then got up to shake hands with my best friend, and wandered up to Roy Whitwelll, who had had three carp on a feeder. Mel had another fish or two and was beating both of us.

Out into open water
I soldiered on and eventually that heavier rig paid off, and in the next hour another barbel came in, and a big old F1, before I decided I simply had to follow Mel out to the open water, as he'd had another three carp. It looked as it he wasn't feeding anything. I started on 4mm expander over a little hemp with 4mm feed pellets and micros, at about eight metres, and sure enough the float seemed to disappear, The wind had now picked up and the tow was really pronounced, so I wondered if the 0.75 gm rig had caught on the bottom. No - it was a 10 lb carp.

Then a big fish snagged me in open water a few feet from the bank, and I had to pull for a break. I whipped another hook straight on, so the rig was now a few inches shorter. I also put that rig on a stronger elastic - orange bungee, which was much better in the wind.

Yet another one for Mel, all on cat meat, and I don't think he fed at all.

Things go pear-shaped

In the next couple of hours I alternated between the margins and the long swim, at about eight metres, and took another couple of carp, one at 4 lb and another in double figures, plus another 3 lb F1, all on cat meat. Then things went pear-shaped and a foulhooked fish broke me, and so I whipped on another hook again. OOPS - the rig was now unusable - too short for the deep water. So I put on a similar rig, which was really much too light. I paid the price of that.

I kept feeding and looking in my left
margin, but the float never flickered.

What followed was a long poor spell catching about two carp, while Martin Parker on my right on 17, started hammering big carp in the margins. He must have had six while I sat fishless, because my rig was too light, and was being pulled around by the wind and the tow. Then I did what I should have done earlier - I changed it for a heavier float, which had to be on a longer-than-normal rig, and settled on a really heavy 3gm jobbie! That worked absolutely perfectly.

On goes a bolo float
It was a bolo float, with a thick 4mm or 5mm diameter tip, but it sat perfectly still, albeit with a piece of the body showing, so it looked like the sort of buoy you'd tie a boat up to. Hmmm. Probably needs a bit of trimming down, I decided. But before I could bring the rig back the float shot down; the pole tip came up; the elastic stretched out; and a double-figire carp came in. Just like that! I'd cracked it! And I actually sort of had.

On went a No 3 Stotz to trim the float down, and I dropped it back out. Minutes later I landed a big F1, on cat meat. A glance at my watch showed six minutes left, so I dropped it out long again. Nothing. Two minutes later I brought it in and dropped it in the marginal swim. Nothing. A minute to go and I fed hemp and pellets out long, dropped the rig over it, and seconds later the float went down and the pole bent round. Seconds after that the match ended and I shouted "Fish On."

Three carp for 37 lb for Martin.

Martin's hearing aids
Martin Parker next door then started shouting something to me - probably hadn't heard me shout. Now Martin has just aquired some top-line hearing aids - the sort you can adjust on you phone, and I guess he can, like me, answer his mobile without even touching it - the call goes straight throught to his hearing aids. You can adjust them for "In a restuarant", or "In noisy conversation". Wouldn't surprise me if he has a  "Listen To The Fish Talking" mode on them. But later he told me he wasn't wearing them anyway - he'd got his old ones in.

The 3gm Spitfire
Bolo float that got
me out of jail.

Whatever! I didn't care 'cos that last fish was the biggest - we weighed it later at over 13 lb. And the old bolo float had got me three fish in the last half-hour. I hadn't seen what Mel had caught in the last couple of hours, but assumed he had probably beaten me as he'd had such a good start. And I guessed Martin had probably overtaken me in the last couple of hours. I thought I had about 90 lb.

The weigh in

Roy Whitwell - second from
peg 21 with 96 lb 4 oz.

Well behind again, partly thanks to landing that last biggie, and having assorted discarded rigs and elastics to pack away, I got to the scales in time to see Roy Whitwell weigh in. Top weight was Dave Hobbs, the first to weigh in, with 99 lb 7 oz from corner peg 30. He'd had six on a feeder and six more in the corner on a pole, where he said he had only about four feet of water! I assumed that a lot of fish had been caught in those early pegs, but after Roy had weighed his 96 lb 4 oz I looked and saw that he was second with, surprisingly, no other weight recorded over 33 lb 8 oz.

Another surprise was when Mel weighed in just 41 lb 10 oz. He must have had an horrendous second half after such a good first half. Then my three barbel and about nine or ten carp weighed 94 lb 1 oz, and Martin overtook me with 98 lb 11 oz, so I finished fourth - worth just my three-peg section (by default). And overall it was a great day's fishing on Decoy.

My three lovely-to-see barbel.

Mel Lutkin - 41 lb 10 oz, and I
think they were all on cat meat.

Marks out of ten

I hadn't been positive enough from the beginning, expecting things to be pretty bad, and in fact I'd put in only one net at the start. Then I'd stuck with a rig I knew was much too light in that depth of water. When the weather became very mild I should have adjusted by expectations, and I know I should have won - I needed only one more fish. So I give myself 5/10 - the only two fish I lost were, I am sure, foulhooked. But I think I fed well - not too much at a time. Next match on Beastie on Friday.

THE RESULT