Jay in the wind...hold on tight!

Peg 13, Jay, Wed, April 16
I drove in to the car park at Rookery Fishery, in a good mood while listening to Jim Reeves on my CD. Opened the window, and Roy Whincup, who had obviously heard what I was playing, commented: "Music to slash your wrists to..." Blimey - just as well I hadn't been playing my Bing Crosby or Vera Lynn CDs!

And so to the draw, where I was told the entry to this Over-60s event was a record. In fact 53 turned up. I wanted a peg on Magpie, and promptly pulled out Jay 13, right in the howling wind. Had a mug of tea in the cafe, and by the time I had come out the wind had increased. And on the bank there were few decisions to be made since it was impossible to fish the far bank.

I've not fished Jay for some time, but Allan Golightly said the depth in front of the platforms was about four feet, so I took out my short tops, and the short Number Fours. Why do they call them Number Fours when they are the third section? I know it's a throw-back to when poles had a thin bit in the top which everyone threw away. but do they still make poles like that?

A picture of my swim before the start (before the wind blew me over).

Allan Golightly told me that in a recent match when 20 anglers had had 100 lb-plus, my peg weighed in 40 lb. Thanks, Allan. 😉

The bomb bombs
This won't take long. I started on a bomb cast to the far bank reeds about 14 metres away, but never had even a liner after 20 minutes. So it was on to the pole, just in front of the platform - to fish more than the top two plus two was virtually impossible. I used corn, putting some corn and micros in with a bait dropper because it would have been impossible to decide where loose-fed bait was going to finish up in that wind. And eventually I had two F1s in the net. By golly they did fight- the water must have been saturated in oxygen.

A heavier 1 gm rig should have given better presentation, and indeed the float sat nicely, but no more fish came from there. So it was into the shallower water. The margin to my right was virtually unfishable, facing into the wind, so I concentrated to the left. Unfortunately the margins were very bumpy - ridges followed by little holes, so I started just past the first drop-off, where it was fairly flat, I had two or three F1s, and a 3 lb carp.

Fish in the margins
Soon I had a look in the bumpy margins, and every now and then I would get another fish on corn. First drop with a small piece of cat meat, in a little hole where I had put in some luncheon meat, brought a 4 lb carp, but amazingly that was the only fish I had on cat meat,  The bites were almost all coming within a few seconds of the corn hitting bottom, so I strung out my shot and managed to keep the odd fish coming in.

I could see the angler on 16 catching steadily towards the end, but my catch rate didn't increase. Maggot took a fish or two, but corn was definitely better. And I couldn't catch more than a couple of fish in the same spot. Yet the wind wasn't cold, and I felt I should have caught more by the end of the match. I finished with seven or eight carp, best 4 lb, and about 25 F1s mainly around 1 lb 8 oz, but had a poor last half-hour when I had expected to do well.

I lost just three fish, which I as pleased about, in that wind, which threated to blow the landing net round in a circle. Only one of them was foulhooked.

The weigh in
The two anglers to my right had said before the start that they would probably stay on the rod all day, but I think they turned to the pole, fishing very close in, as I did. I beat them, weighing 66 lb 9 oz, but was told that Chris Saunders on 8 had caught 133 lb 1 oz. To my left Allan Golightly had 39 lb 14 oz, and the angler on 16 had 108 lb 4 oz, using chopped worm.

Surprisingly the competitors in the 40s didn't do particularly well. yet before the match I had walked up and had a look at thjose pegs. It was like fishing in a different world - they had back wind and could pole-fish across to the far bank easily. But they didn't have a lot of ripple, which can make a lot of difference. Magpie fished very well, with lots of weights over 100 lb, particularly in the low numbers. 

Not sure what I should have done to catch more - perhaps fished a lot longer, towards the next platform, and tried to find a flat piece of bottom in the margins. For Marks out of Ten I have to say that I am not sure. The others were almost all regulars and would have fished the lake many times recently. I probably should have started in the shallower water, but I still don't know why I didn't catch in the deeper water in front of the platform. The wind dictated what I was able to do - and that wasn't much. It really was a howler. But some great catches.

Currently I'm on anti-biotics for a chest infection. Not sure when my next match is.

THE RESULT

Jay 1-22

Jay 23-47

Magpie 1-22

Magpie 23-36

Cedar in the cold. Brrr.

Peg 5, Cedar, Sunday, Apr 13
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Two days after I had been sweltering in the heat, the vote from the majority of the 12 anglers in this Fenland Rods match was to all fish on the West bank, with the cold. spiteful, wind at our backs. It was our club's first match of the yar, with the winner taking home the Club Cup.

I was happy enough with peg 5, as Cedar tends to fish slightly better in the pegs neaest the car park, though during the day the wind moved round to blow down towards the other end, and seemed to become colder. But for most of the match we had calm water in front of us. Again I had Dick Warrener on my left, but this time we both really struggled for a bite. I started on the pole, and at least got the rigs set nicely for the two margins and a swim at 11.5 metres.

The cold wind was behind us, but that meant calm water in the margin.

Fish to my right

After a couple of hours fishless I walked up to my old mucker and schoolfriend John Smith on peg 2, who had two carp and a bream for something approaching 20 lb. Next to him Allan Golightly had two carp, with the second one from the margins. So I went back to my office on peg 5.

Here I had a look on a very small shallow shelf to my left - about three feet deep - and caught my first fish - a 4 lb carp on two maggots. But it  was a solitary catch. A change to a feeder with a wafter brought a carp about 6 lb. Right at the start I had put some dead maggots down to my right - Lee Kendall had done this a year ago in a match in April, so I thought I'd now try that. I'd been topping up the swim, and now put out a rig there, baited with dead maggots. Nothing!

Bump!
Out to 11.5 metres with corn, and I started getting small movements of the float, mainly just as the corn hit bottom. I bumped three fish very briefly, so tried a shallower rig with a slow-sinking corn skin, convinced that I would get fish. But I never had a tremble of the float. So I persisted, and eventually hooked a good carp...which came off. That was the start of five fish hooked, and just one landed, about 6 lb. One of those I played for ages and had it almost in the net. It was about 8 lb but eventually pulled off. Another broke the hook - not had that happen very often.

Dave Garner, two swims down, plays a good 
carp on his waggler rod...

The margins seemed a better bet for me, and a big lump of cat meat over corn in the deep left margin brought a big carp which I played for ages before it came off. I just couldn't get it off the bottom. I stayed in the margins for the rest of the match, losing another fish or two but landing two or three others, all around 8 lb, and eventually it seemed that the dead maggots had, indeed, brought fish in. Meanwhile Dick had two fish in the last half-hour (his only ones), and I had my usual frantic end to the match, landing a couple more nearing 8 lb, on mussel.

...and eventually the fish succumbs. All his fish came in the second half of the match.

Lost fish cost me
By the end I had lost eight big fish, of which I had played five for a very long time. I think they must have been hooked somewhere near the mouth, but not properly. They certainly didn't appear to be foulhooked, and there was no juddering, which foulhooked fish often give you. 

It was some small consolation when, as we were weighing in, almost every angler said they had also lost several. Even Kevin Lee, who is used to landing these big carp, said he had lost four, including two at the net. The only conclusion is that those fish were just nudging the bait. Are they perhaps just waiting to spawn?

Dave Garner's best fish - around 10 lb.

The weigh in

John Smith was top down to me with 25 lb 3 oz. I thought I also had about 45 lb - but I was 15 oz short of John with 44 lb 4 oz.  After such a good start he must have been disappointed. Two pegs to my left Dave Garner, fishing his usual wagglers, got his first bite at 1 o'clock, and landed about seven fish in the afternoon for 47 lb 6 oz. This would prove enough for third place.

Roy Whitwell prepares to pull the net
 through the top ring. I would like to
see all fisheries making this compulsory.

Down towards the other end of the lake Roy Whitwell won with 82 lb 8 oz, of which all but two were taken on a feeder and wafter. Next to him Dave Hobbs, on peg 13, was second with 56 lb 7 oz. And on the end peg Stephen Thompson, who is currently painting my fence, and was a guest, had 25 lb 15 oz. He also lost five big fish.

Roy Whitwell - winner with
82 b 8 oz, nearly all
  on feeder  or bomb.

Considering the last time Stephen fished at Decoy the strip lakes hadn't even been dug, I reckon he did very well - if he'd landed those five fish he would probably have been second. Of course many others were also in that position, including me! And afterwards we nearly all agreed that to have fished the opposite bank,  facing the wind, would have been very uncomfortable indeed. Though  I would still have preferred it - you can't beat a bit of Raspberry Ripple.

Dave Hobbs, second with 56 lb 7 oz.

Stephen Thompson after his first
visit to Decoy in over 20 years.

Marks out of ten
I ended fifth, but just one of those lost fish would have put me third. And the one that was almost in my net would have done that. That one appeared to be hooked in the mouth, but they must all have been slightly foulhooked. However I felt that I'd fed well enough to bring them into the swim in the first place. I had to feed then drop the bait in 30 seconds later - so the fish saw it sinking. It's surprising how quickly fish will come in; unfortunately they tended to stay in midwater, with just the odd one going down to root in the bottonm. That's how I saw it, anyway. Probably worth 8/10 again. 

THE RESULT

Beastie in the heat. Phew!

Peg 17, Beastie, Friday, April 11
Blimey - that really was hot. I'd put my thermal vest on because recently, despite the forecasters' insistence that it would be 'warm' during the day, the winds at Decoy have been unrelentingly cold. But by the time this Spratts match on Beastie Lake finished I was wilting in the heat.

Water like glass - not the best conditions for most of us...

With the water like glass at the start, a little ripple from a North-Westerly was welcome, and occasionally it changed to a South-Westerly (even though the forecast was for it to swing to the North East). I started on a bomb, then a feeder and  it wasn't long before I had a wrap-round and hit a fish. That came off after a second or two; then, as I kept reeling in, it was back on. Then it came off. I suspect I had firstly hooked a fish very lightly, or foulhooked it, and then foulhooked another as I reeled in. That second fish suddenly shot off so fact it broke the hooklength.

Feeder then pole
To my left Dick Warrener was struggling, and though I did land a four-pounder and one a bit larger, on the feeder, I changed, after an hour, to pole. Unbeknown to me, Trevor Cousins, on 23, had had mugged three big carp in the first 20 minutes. I could see lots of carp way over near the island, and put up a pellet waggler, but had no fish. So it was back to my pole. That brought a few F1s on the ten-metre line, on pellet and then corn, after which I looked down the margins, which were quite deep - mainly four feet.

Dick Warrener in action. Kevin Lee is in the background on peg 7.

Right against the boards I could find just a little less, but the bottom was full of rubbish - dead reeds, mainly, so I concentrated on a metre from the boards. Slowly I built up swims both sides with micros and a little hemp, though the left margin was best. The fish were mainly F1s on corn, with an occasional bigger carp. I found that switching swims after catching two was best - after that the fish must have spooked.

Mussel at the end
With about 90 minutes left I switched to mussel, which tends to get the bigger fish, and probably had one good fish every 20 minutes - never frantic sport. By the end I'd got two nets with about 45 lb in each, with my special method accounting for about six fish. I think if I could have found a swim that was three feet deep or a little less I would have had more. I was suprised how deep the lake was there, especially considering weve had virtually no rain for a month. It was a joy to use my short tops, which brought the fish in quite quickly, compared to longer tops.

A Fantastic Finish

Ten minutes to go, and I hooked a big fish in the right margin which I couldn't get off the bottom. When I landed it seven or eight minutes later it was hooked in the outside of the lip, which explained why it was so difficult to play. It was around 10 lb. I looked at my watch and there were two minutes left. On went a mussel; in went the rig; down went the float; and I was playing another big carp when the match ended. That, also, was around 10 lb. A fantastic finish.

Joe Bedford on peg 18, playing a fish hooked on feeder.

Dick had a good last hour, including one double-figure common from his margins. I'd also seen 94-year-old Joe Bedford on 18 land a couple, but had no idea what anyone else had. I was really knackered at the end, in the heat, and Joe told me later he'd made the same mistake - thermal vest and Long Johns. Yet again the carp seemed to want to be spawning, but surely the water is still far too cold?

Old and a bit battered - the carp, not Dick!

The weigh-in
I had to pack away three rods, and lots of top kits, so missed Kev Lee's catch on peg 7. He'd had big carp on paste from his right margin, and just bream from the left, and had included a carp the weighers estimated at 15 lb. His total weight was 108 lb 7 oz, and he led round to me.

 My two nets went 95 lb 4 oz, but Trevor on 23 had 152 lb 7 oz - every fish mugged on a banded pellet. As I expected, he said that when the ripple came it was muchg harder to see the fish, even with his polarised sunglasses on. Trevor won, of course - he's so good at mugging. I couldn't see many fish close enough to do it, except at the end, when I was concentrating on the margins.

Marks out of ten
I finished third, and was happy enough. I did lose some fish foulhooked. The point is that I think the way I fed brought fish in, but they just didn't take the bait properly - I hooked three of the big fish on the outside of the mouth. I give myself 8/10. Next match two days later on Cedar.

THE RESULT

3 Bob Walker           41 lb 10 oz

4 Dave Hobbs            71 lb 5 oz         4th

5 Neil Paas                 39 lb 13 oz

7 Kevin Lee              108 lb 7 oz        2nd

15 Dick Warrener      36 lb 

17 Mac Campbell      95 lb 4 oz        3rd

18 Joe Bedford          34 lb

20 Bob Barrett           55 lb 6 oz

22 Mike Rawson       23 lb 13 oz

23 Trevor Cousins   152 lb 2 oz        1st

24 Martin Parker       42 lb

26 Mick Ramm         19 lb 12 oz

29 Roy Whitwell      54 lb 14 oz

30 John Garner       46 lb 9 oz     

Looks like Summer is a-coming on Beastie

Peg 5, Beastie, Sunday, Apr 6
Some big weights (over 100 lb) had come from Beastie Lake, at Decoy, on Thursday and Friday, which was surprising to me, as the weather had been bright, with that perishing East wind. But a lot of the fish, I was told, were bream, which partly explained it. 

My peg 5 has been good over the years, though the staff have recently pulled out a big old tree root, to the left of the peg, and when I plumbed up, the margins were all higgledy-piggledy. I decided that in that swim  I would target the deepish bit, about three metres from the bank, where the bottom was reasonably flat. The wind was from the North-East, and pretty cool. But there was rime on the grass at Decoy, I was told, at 6.30 am. Will these early-morning frosts ever end?

Cool, with that dratted North-Easterly over my right shoulder.

Nowt on feeder
To my left in this JV match was Dan Pettigrew who, like me, started on a feeder cast to the island. It took some time before he had a carp about 4 lb, while I was still fishless. Then he changed to long pole, as I did. Fish then started to show under the surface, and Dan took one on a waggler and two on a pole, though that took an hour or two. During that time I caught a 5 lb carp, a 2 lb bream, a 1 lb F1, and a roach - all on corn.

The middle of the match was a bit of a nightmare for me, because I managed only two more bream, from the right margin, while Dan caught several fish that all looked like big carp to me...and he was gettting them in in double-quick time. 

After the match I realised that several of Dan's fish were, in fact, bream that had spashed a lot! I was snagged twice, away from the margins (probably old branches), and lost my hook both times; thank goodness I have my long hook with me - that gives me a chance of getting most of my rig back.

Dan mugged some carp early on in the match.

Just liners
I foulhooked just one gudgeon from that deepish left margin. My right margin had a bush stump leaning out, and just off the end of that the water was about four feet deep. I kept getting liners on corn there, so had a look in the deeper water, where one of those late bream had come. There I had more liners. But no fish. 

Dan caught slowly but steadily in the afternoon...

With 30 minutes left I potted out a little hemp and micros to the long pole line and had five minutes there agin. Nothing. Twenty minutes to go and because Dan was catching fish in about three feet of water, right next to his left margin bank, I decided to try the only spot where I had three feet and a flattish bottom. This was on a top two about a metre to the right of my righthand keepnet. It was in a cut-out, sheltered from the wind, so it was flat calm, in clear water - very uninviting.

...and some of them were definitely big carp.

Surprise, surprise!
More in hope than expectation I dropped in a rig with corn, and seconds later had a bite! Which I missed. Next drop and a 10 lb carp was stetching the green 16/18 Matrix elastic. It turned out to have been hooked under the chin, so I assumed it was just luck.  But it had taken me much longer than normal to land because of that. Just a few minutes left, and I decided to experiment with a mussel. On it went; down went the float; out surged  another big carp.

I landed that one - about 8 lb - with only a minute left, and I was left wondering why I hadn't at least tried in that spot earlier. I reckon I'd had 18 lb of carp in 18 minutes, and could possibly have had a big catch if I'd started just an hour earlier. At least I've learned the lesson that even though the water is ice cold and the wind from the East and also cold, there's a chance that big fish will start feeding in the afternoon if I can find the best depth.

The weigh in
I was on scales with Dan, who weighed 68 lb 1 oz - much less than I had thought. I had 32 lb 14 oz and to my right Roy Whincup who, like me, had had a late run of fish, weighed in 53 lb 1 oz. The rest of our weight board saw weights vary down to 17 lb, with the back of the spit not fishing well at all. The top two weights came from the 20s. I finished 11th out of 16.

Marks out of ten
Although I should have done better, I felt I hadn't made any real big mistakes - just hadn't gone positive early enough. And I was pleased that for a short time I felt I was back in Summer mode in that last 20 minutes. I'm rarin' to go now, and will be checking all my long and short tops - I take them all with me and choose them according, to begin with, to the depth. 

I prefer the short tops for playing fish because they don't bend much. But sometimes the elastic is too short for the size of fish, so then I can put that rig on a long top. As for marks, I'm happy with whatever I care to give myself. Say 6/10. 

Hey, Mac, that's a bit mean!!

Was my journey to Cedar really necessary?

A bit of a topsy-turvy week for me. On Saturday, as I drove back from Nottingham, the clutch on my van started to slip. I'd put my foot down when in third, fourth, or fifth gear and the revs would shoot up but the speed would stay the same. Then the revs would drop and I'd have to nurse the accelerator gently to put on speed. I  decided not to risk fishing the match on Sunday. Then on Monday I 'phoned my garage.

It's worth mentioning their name here - Benstens Motors in St Ives, who have given me brilliant service for years. But their response when I explained my problem was not encouraging: "We're very, very busy. I don't know when we could get round to looking at it. But could you bring it in and leave it?" Yes, I could!

I've found, over the years, that leaving it, with no target date for the repair, is a good stsyem. And by golly it worked this time. Monday afternoon: "Yes, it's the clutch. A new one will cost you (a small fortune) and eight pence." "OK" I reply. "But it could be several days." "OK."

I cancel my Spratts Thursday match early Wednesday afternoon. An hour later I get a phone call: "Benstens Motors here. Your van is ready." Unbelievable service.I manage to get to the garage 15 minutes before they close, and my Wednesday match is back on! Here is what happened...

Peg 21, Cedar, Thursday, April 3
The forecast was for a strong Easterly wind, and bright sun, so I fancied a peg on the West bank, facing the wind, which would hopefully give a big ripple along that bank, though I honestly didn't think much would be caught in those conditions. But there's also the advantage of the sun warming the water on that side of the lake. My name was first out of the bag: Peg 21...on the East bank, back wind.

As I expected the ripple at first was all on the other side, though during the match it veered slightly to the South and gave us on this bank a bit of a ripple at times, though a lot of the time the wind was a real nuisance - cold, and blowing my pole sections around my peg.

Forgot to take a picture of my swim, so here's my front garden...

A VERY slow start for everyone

The water was like ice, and in the first hour the only fish I saw landed were two small ones to Roy Whitwell, opposite on peg 5, on a feeder or bomb. Then Mick Ramm, on 7, landed a big fish from the margins. I think it was his only one - he weighed 9 lb. Halfway through the six-hour match I saw Kev Lee on 16, to my right, landing a fish on a pole.  After he landed it he seemed to fish the margins, so I assumed that's where his fish had come from.

On my immediate right Martin Parker hooked three carp while fishing shallow. I learned afterwards that he lost one of those. Almost three hours gone and after trying long I also went shallow, fishing a corn skin, which sinks slowly. Lots of fish were moving around under the surface and I tried dobbing a little pod of  three of four as they drifted past.

Mick Ramm about to land his only fish - but it weighed 9 lb!

A fish!
I dropped the corn skin right on the noses of those cruising fish; the elastic shot out, and I was in! I played that fish for several minutes, on the 17 hollow elastic, but it wouldn't come off the bottom. I got back to my top two and still the fish refused to come anywhere near the surface - not even when I stuck the pole under the water and just held it. Normally a carp will start to rise up, but not this one. Very strange.

Then it made a slow, determined run along my right margin and I felt it burrowing into the reeds, and farther under the bank. There must be an undercut there. The fish was still on, but not moving. I tried for two or three minutes to poke around with my long hook, but everything was solid, and eventually I had to break the line above the float, which was now out of sight.

More foulhooked?
After the match I came to the conclusion that the carp was probably hooked in the snout, which is just about the worst place to hook a fish apart, possibly, from in the tail. Anyway, I hooked three more fish shallow, on corn skin, and two came off, while one broke the 6 lb hooklength as I held it to try to stop it ploughing through the swim of Neil Paas, only about ten metres to my left on peg 22.

I think those fish must also have been foulhooked. Then the surface fish became fewer and fewer and I reverted to fishing on the bottom.

I tried several times with corn or cat meat in the left margin, and with cat meat I had some unusual liners - the rig started moving to my left, just as if the water had started moving, and the float dropped very slightly, but I never felt anything when I struck.

The last hour
Less than an hour left and I was still fishless. The sun now made it difficult to see anything in the left margin, so I had yet another look to the right. Success! With 45 minutes left I had a definite bite on corn, and in came a 6 lb carp. But no more in that swim. Now the sun had moved a little and I went back to the left margin, and sure enough I had more of those strange liners. But just once the float gave a little jag; I struck; and a fish was on.

Peter Spriggs was 4th from
 peg 13 with 31 lb 11 oz.

This on gave me a bit of a run-around, but eventually a 3 lb-plus barbel was in the net. My match was over, with just two fish in the net. I think that most fish were caught either shallow, or in the margins, though Bob Barrett on 8 had two on a feeder, the biggest of which was around 14 lb.

The weigh in
Mike Rawson was on what was perhaps the worst peg on the day - peg 1 which was sheltered to some extent, and not as nice-looking along the end bank as the one opposite. He didn't have a fish, and surprisingly was the only one. But many had only two or three fish for six hours fishing. That's how difficult it was.

Peter Harrison - second with 41 lb 10 oz.

There were exceptions - Shaun Buddle on 10 won with 63 lb 9 oz of carp from the margins on a size 16 with a small piece of cat meat. The two far corner pegs produced the 2nd (Peter Harrison) and 4th (Peter Spriggs), with Roy Whitwell on peg 5 in third spot.

On my bank Kev Lee had three; Trevor Cousins three; Martin Parker two, myself two for 10 lb 6 oz, Neil Paas two, John Garner two (I think) and Dick Warrener one. A match to forget. And that Easterly wind will still be blowing on Sunday when I fish with JV - I don't know which lake we will be on.I'm not expecting much from any of them.

THE RESULT

East bank                                    West bank

26 Dick Warrener      6 lb              1 Mick Rawson       DNW

24 John Garner      14 lb 10 oz      3 Joe Bedford          6 lb 12 oz

22 Neil Paas          14 lb 13 oz      5 Roy Whitwell      36 lb 3 oz  3rd

21 Mac Campbell   10 lb 6 oz       6 Mick Ramm          9 lb

19 Martin Parker    14 lb 14 oz      8 Bob Barrett         16 lb

17 Trevor Cousins  17 lb 2 oz       10 Shaun Buddle   63 lb 9 oz  1st

16 Kevin Lee          17 lb 13 oz      11 Dave Hobbs     18 lb 14 oz 5th 

14 Peter Harrison 41 lb 10 oz  2nd 12 Peter Spriggs  31 lb 11 oz 4th