A few on feeder on Cedar

Oh, what a grey day!

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sun, Dec 1
You really need to be down towards the far end of the strip lakes at Decoy to have the best chance of fish, but I was happy enough with peg 5 in this JV match, fished on Elm and Cedar. Ernie Lowbridge was on my right, and Lee Kendall on my left, but since both were behind a bush I couldn't see much of them.  The day was murky, and cool, and we had some rain early on, but nothing bad.

Lee Kendall was behind that bush.

I started, like Ernie, on a pole fairly close in, but "there were nowt thurr" as they would say in Yorkshire (and some other equally remote spots in the UK where they talk funny.) A switch to a small banjo feeder and dead maggot brought two nice carp around 7 lb, but the bites were a long time coming. Lee had an early fish or two on a feeder cast right across to the platform opposite his peg 7, but I couldn't see how big they were.

Massive bites

In fact Lee told me later he used a wafter nearly all day, on a feeder and then a bomb, and was catching good carp, while my next four fish were F1s, waiting up to 30 minutes for a bite. And with an hour left that was all I had. I'd looked in the deep margins a couple of times, and I now made one last cast on the feeder. The rod tip never moved for 30 minutes and just as I was about to bring it all back the rod  flew off the rest and I managed to catch the handle before it descended into the deeps. It was another F1 - all the F1s gave massive bites while the two bigger fish were slower.

Ernie Lowbridge was behind that bush.

With that seventh fish in the net I looked in the right margin where I had been putting just a little bait. Ernie had had a couple on a feeder, I think, early on, and then a few on a pole - mainly F1s, and at this point I saw him net a fish that looked to be in double-figures, taken about 10 metres out.

A proper look in the margins
I had a quick look at ten metres, then back in the right margin, where I had earlier had a liner. With a few minutes left I had a look, for the first time, in the left margin. Now I found a shelf which I had not found earlier, so I dropped a grain of corn down beside it on a new 0.5 gm rig on one of my new, sparkling Cralusso floats, and I fancied that as it dropped I might have had a bite. There were only a few seconds left when I pulled the rig out, lay it in again, and watched the float dive under as the bait hit bottom.

The 14-16 elastic streaked out and almost immediately the whistle went. I shouted "Fish On." Twice. But Lee obviously didn't hear me as he obligingly shouted that the match had finished. I really did should quite loudly! I shouted back that he must be deaf, which was a stupid thing to do, really, as he would make mincemeat of me if he tried. But he's obviously an old softie...

Ernie took most of his fish on pole.

That fish took several minutes to land, but it was worth it, as it was in double-figures. I was on scales with Ernie, and stopped packing up when he was ready to weigh, but Peter Harrison and Lee were already with Ernie, so I followed for some pictures - unfortunately missing Lee as  I tidied up my gear a little before following the scales.

The weigh in
Ernie weighed in 42 lb 14 oz and then I was pleased to have at least kept in touch with him, with my fish weighing 40 lb 6 oz. But Lee, as he so often does, had whupped us all with 14 fish for 109 lb 4 oz, all taken on a wafter cast right across. The weights were a little better towards the far end, topped by Barry Webb in corner peg 13, with 59 lb 15 oz, taken mainly on a feeder, but with one very big fish near the end on a pole fairly close in. That seemed to have been the story of the day.

Weights were a little better on Elm, mainly in the 60 lb bracket, with Shaun Coaten winning from peg 10 with 86 lb 8 oz. Virtually all the anglers in the match said that casting right across to within a foot or two of the far bank, or the far-bank platforms, was the only way they could get bites for most of the day. So if the fish were willing to feed in the far margins, why didn't they feed in our side margins?

Peter Harrison - 47 lb  ll oz.

Chris Saunders 56 lb 5 oz for
 third on Cedar.

Barry Webb - second on Cedar - had his
weight boosted by a late 'biggie', as did
several other anglers on the day.

The Exterminator
It was noted that Eddie (The Kendall Killer) McIlroy did not turn up to do battle with Lee, who has now renamed himself the Eddie Exterminator. I will watch their confrontations, on the bank and in the cafe, with interest!

Marks out of ten

I had no way of knowing what Lee was using as bait, apart from asking him directly, but the idea of trying a wafter had crossed my mind. So why didn't I do it?  Lee had all 'proper' carp, with no smaller F1s. Also I had a bomb rod ready with a longer tail, but never tried that either. Still, I caught a few fish on a day when things were extremely difficult, in good company, so I give myself 7/10. Next match Sunday, probably on the same two lakes.

THE RESULTS

CEDAR

ELM