The first of two matches on Six-Island. And it rained!

Peg 6, Six-Islands, Sunday, Mar 23
The forecast was for possible showers, but this part of the Fens often misses them, so I half-expected a dry day. I was very happy with peg 6, in the far-end bowl, which tends to be the most consistent area of the lake. Fourteen of us fished Six-Island, with four on Four-Island, behind where I sat.

I had Roy Whincup to my right on 4 and Lee Kendall to my left on 8, and half-expected to get a battering. Lee went out on a pole to the tiny island in front of him, and he had three of the Daiwa silver serctions, which I thought probably meant he was out to 17.5 metres. I had my 16-metre extension in the van, but even that wouldn't have got me to within about four metres of my island, so I opted to start at 13 metres, in some deeper water to my left, keeping the 14.5-metre section as an option.

The wind was Northerly, giving ripple to the other side for most of the match.

A quick (ish) start
Within about 15 minutes I had missed a bite on a 4mm expander pellet over micros and a little hemp, and landed a 2 lb F1; then another came in; then I hooked a much better fish  This gave me the run-around for ages. Just as I thought it might be giving up, away it went - time and time again. I saw it several times - a big golden common about 8 lb. Then  the line went slack - the hook had actually broken. That's something I am sure has never happened more than a couple of times before in the 65 years I've been matchfishing.

Later I guessed the fish had been hooked in the snout, in the bone, which is how the hook came to break. Anyway, a lean period followed, and while a few fish had been landed opposite, now everybody seemed to be struggling.  I looked into another area nearer the bank, in about the same depth - four feet - but never had a look. So it was into the deep maregins.

Corn finds a few
The margin to my right produced most of the rest of my fish - an 8 lb carp foulhooked in the tail was next - lots of splashing and swearing, but it ended in my net. After the match everyone I spoke to had lost several foulhookers - they seemed to be coming to the bait, nosing it, but not actually sucking it in. And it looked awfully likely that they were praticing pairing up to spawn. I saw lots of pairs, nuzzling each other and always coming towards the margins. 

I assumed this fish, which played Roy Whincup for several minutes, was foulhooked!

Corn produced an occasional fat F1, and another carp or two, all from the right margin, and only two more fish came from the long line; both on corn. I was really struggling, and then the main rain fell. It fell for two hours without a break, until we packed up. Opposite me  on peg 15 Steve Tilsley had left his waterproofs in the van and got absolutely drenched. Lee had his umbrella up now, but I had left mine in the van because you can't take everything down to the swim. But my Goretex bib and brace and pole jacket kept me dry.

Once, as I stood up to net a fish, a pod of four really big carp drifted along in front of me - one huge fish followed by three slightly smaller. Surely the water is not warm enough for them to start spawning soon?

Lee fished to the island for a long time, but also had carp, I think, from the margins.

A final big fish

Another couple of nice carp, around 6 lb, suddenly took the corn. Cat meat produced nothing, even though I could see the dark shapes of big carp over my loose feed. So I put mussel on, and that worked - a big carp came in, in about 40 seconds. I was using short tops, and this had the big orange elastic through it. One short run and the carp was in my net before it knew what had happened.

When I unhooked the carp, which must have weighed getting on for 15 lb, the hook was on the outside of the lip - another fish which had just nudged the bait, but which had been unlucky. The last 20 minutes were disappointing, though I did have a 4 lb carp on when the match ended, and I landed that one.

Paul Faulkner was last to weigh (by which
time the rain had, thankfully, stopped).
He had72 lb 6 oz from peg 24.

The weigh-in
I told Lee I had about 35 lb to 40 lb, and he said he had about the same, but said he had lost 80 lb. He said they were coming off as he broke the pole down. Most of what he had he had caught dobbing pellet. I think I had lost probably about six fish. As soon as the match ended Steve Tilsley went back to his car for a change of clothing, as he was wet through (some compensation was that he won his section by double-default).

My fish went a very surprising 55 lb 4 oz, but I saw Roy had beaten me by 8 oz.Then Lee beat me by 1 lb 13 oz, and I was happy with that. In fact I ended beating only three on the lake, but the standard of fishing in this club is very high, so I didn't disgrace myself. John Knights, opposite me on peg 134, won with 94 lb 6 oz, taken mainly from his left margin. But the weights overall were quite tight.

Behind me on Four Islands, the self-styled "Kendall-Killer", Eddie McIlroy, beat Pete Molesworth into second place by winning with 44 lb 2 oz. Next match also on Six-Island is Wednesday, with Spratts.

Marks out of ten
I did try cat meat, but never had a touch - I think Chris Saunders had the same experience. But I should have tried other baits when I knew the fish were in the swim by the liners I was getting. I had worm and paste with me, and never tried them, nor maggot, except for one cast on the hybrid feeder. Probably worth 6/10. I was still in hard-frost-of-Winter mode, but now I need to be more positive.

THE RESULTS

Six-Islands

Four-Islands