An even better result for me on Elm

 Peg 15, Sunday, May 25
Just before I set off to fish John Garner's annual Invitation match I thought, for some reason, that I'd better make sure I had my licence with me. A quick look in the wallet where I keep my cards drew a blank - last year's was there, but none for 2025. Then I remembered that we don't get an attractive licence, complete with picture of a fish, anymore. Now it's just a print-out, and I thought that would be tucked into my mobile case somewhere. That's progress I suppose.

Last year's fishing licence.

This year's apology for a licence.

Unlike so many other match blogs I'm non-gluten and trying not to put on weight, so I can't regale you with stories of meeting mates at Little Chefs and gorging on fried bacon, eggs and fried bread. Instead, I mused, as I drove along, that compared with Steve Tilsley, who regularly moans on Facebook about having to drive through Turdes on his way to Decoy, that my journey takes me through slightly more exotic places - Banks end; King's Ripton; and Ramsey St Mary - all sponsored, I guess, by a bank, a king and a saint. Oh how lucky am I?

Another long walk
There were 17 ready to fish John's match on Elm Lake, and yet again (!) I had a long walk - down to peg 15, just two off corner peg 13 where I had finished third on Friday. Bob Barrett had been on 15 and didn't weigh, but I wasn't unhappy, as it's in an area about three-quarters of the way down the lake, which sometimes has an edge on weights. And I was on the bank I preferred - with a really strong West wind in my face. Lovely.

I had a feeder rod made up, and six different pole rigs out, biggest 3 gm, expecting to fish on a 2+1 maximum distance because I was certain that there would be fish near my bank. Then at the start the wind shifted slightly to blow from the left and I started on a fairly small but flat area to my right, only a few feet from the bank, and not in the deepest water. I dropped in with corn, and no loosefeed, and within five minutes had a 4 lb carp in my net. I often like to start without feed because that shows me where the fish are already naturally lying.

After a time the wind turned round to the left. It was stronger than
it looks here. The irises on my right was where a big fish weeded me. 😔

The inevitable foulhookers
I then potted in about five grains, followed it with my 1gm rig with Cralusso float (it has a thicker tip than my favourite Drennan Tuff-Eye), and promptly foulhooked one, which came off. That happened three more times, which told me that the fish were coming to the feed, at least, but apparently not really hungry. And as I'd been fishing right on the edge of the deepest water (it became shallower as I had plumbed out) I put in the deep water rig, assuming that some corn had fallen into the deep run.

For the next hour or so I concentrated on that deep swim, with corn, and took three or four good fish, best 12 lb, before changing to worm. That brought two smaller carp quite quickly. I took the trouble to mark my pole at the spot I was holding it, and reasted it on my pole sock arm, so I knew I was pretty accurate. Then the fish went, which was the pattern all day - a fish or two and then they disappeared.

Mike Rawson brings in an early carp.

Just one barbel
I'd been putting hemp and caster in closer to the bank, in three feet of water, just to my right, and first drop there with a bunch of four casters brought a barbel. They love hemp and caster. No more from there, which surprised me, and soon after that I saw swirls right against the bank to my right, where the water was no more than two feet deep. I put out a rig and had two massive bites which I missed - obviously liners.

  My best swim was this left margin,  
 easily fishable on a top two.

Now I've learned over the years that trying to catch those carp which are waving their tails at you is almost always doomed to fail, so I had just those two drops and went into the deeper water, where I did get another fish, this time on mussel. I like starting on corn, or pellet, and using mussel a little later, when I think the bigger fish might be more likely to take a bigger bait.

Into the left margin
Then it was into the left margin, which was a little easier now that the wind had dropped a little. I found a deepish hole right next to the reeds, and if I could get into that I would get a bite or a liner. I went on to mussel, and had a double-figure carp immediately. Then another, and then I decided to leave that swim alone for ten minutes. That was about the time I felt I was really "in the zone" for the first time this Spring.

In the zone
Being in the zone doesn't mean catching a fish-a-chuck. I means I feel I know what the fish are doing, and when to move, and when to start baiting again. I then moved out to the deeper swim on the right, and back again, and kept catching the occasional carp. I'd no idea what anyone else had, so I just concentrated on not messing up my own swims, and kept changing from the lighter corn rig to the heavier one with mussel, including a version of my special method, which worked best of all. 

I was a bit late catching Dick Warrener playing this fish!

Sometimes I dropped down to the deeper water with another rig, and that always gave me a bite or two. I was very happy. However I did lose one carp through over-confidence...

A sad story
I'd hooked what was probably a fish of 12 lb-plus on mussel on my heavy elastic (probably 18-20), and after a couple of minutes I brought it round to the right, to bring it round into the shallow water, where it would have to come near to the surface. Round it came, and suddenly made a bolt for the irises just a couple of metres to my right. It stretched the elastic out more than it had done previously, and in seconds had embedded itself into the reeds. Fish lost and I had to winkle the rig out with my long hook, minus the fish and the hook, which was obviously somewhere down there in a reed root. Entirely my own fault!

That was really the only bad decision I made in that golden hour or so. The rest of the fish came in with hardly a splash, as I kept my pole low because it's always more difficult in a high wind. 

I am checked!
And it was about then - half an hour before the match finished that a curious coincidence took place - EA bailiffs came round checking on our licences! It was a bit surreal, as it's been a year or two since they checked mine, and I'd thought about the licence only that morning.

Actually I didn't have to produce it - I gave the bailiff my name, rank and number - sorry, my name and date of birth - and he confirmed in seconds that I had a licence. No problem, except that that broke my concentration and my purple patch ended.

Yet again, as happens too often, the last few minutes were very disappointing. I had a lot of liners, which I managed to avoid striking at, and I guessed that the water was getting colder. I did think, though, that some of the anglers here were quite capable of bagging three double-figure fish in that time if they really rocked up in someone's margin.

I had clicked my first net at 32 lb, the next at 36 lb, and the last about 36 lb, so I thought I probably had at least 100 lb.

Neil Paas was just weighing in
when I caught up with the scales.

The weigh-in

I took a long time to pack up, as I'd caught on five different rigs and still had the unused feeder rod to pack away, and I fully expected Trevor Cousins would have a big weight. He'd drawn peg 5, the same swim as he had on Friday, when he'd won. However today was never going to be a mugging day (he's so good at that), and indeed by the time I'd caught up with the scales he'd weighed just 48 lb 8 oz, which was second down to Neil Paas on 9. Roy Whitwell was leading with 82 lb 6 oz on peg 7, the majority caught on feeder.

When the scales got to Neil Paas someone actually said that he would be the winner. And after two nets were weighed he'd already beaten Roy, I think - but his last one held only a fish or two and he had a total of 100 lb 11 oz. I said I thought I might beat that. Next was Tim Bates (great to fish with him on the bank again - we had some real battles when he fished with Fenland Rods) in corner peg 12, and he had just 35 lb 2 oz, including some barbel.

Tim Bates (father of Alex at
Rookery Waters, Pidley)
had some barbel on peg 12.

Round to my bank, and Mel Lutkin on 13, in the corner where I had fished on Friday, had gone. I was told he had just one fish. To be honest I wasn't that surprised - those corner pegs often have, basically, only one possible shallow margin to fish in, as the margins towards the corner can be really higgledy-piggledy, and the end banks often look so inviting that you can waste a lot of time fishing there if the fish aren't there in numbers.

Mike Rawson - 47 lb 1 oz on peg 14.

Next to me Mike Rawson weighed in 47 lb 1 oz, which I thought was pretty good, and that he should be happy with that as he's having a good spell. Then my fish were weighed, and as usual I had understimated my weights, each net held about 40 lb, and I ended with 121 lb 2 oz. The only other weight near that on my bank was 74 lb 15 oz from Peter Spriggs on corner peg 24.

Peter Spriggs had bream in corner peg 24.

Peter said that he caught on about 2+2 and that his first 11 fish consisted of eight barbel and three bream. Those corner pegs really are so different to the rest of the lake. Anway I ended as the winner.

Marks out of ten
I was most pleased with the time I had spend "in the zone", and immediately after the weighing in finished I honestly thought that I would have had a good weight from any peg apart from possibly the corners. That's how pumped up I was. Watching the Guru underwater video with Steve Ringer and Andy Bennet has made me realise how important the way you feed is, and how important it can be to keep something falling through the water.

Of course I wasn't perfect, but I did change rigs and elastics three or four times during the match - something I'd probably sometimes not do when I should. And I'm working on having a selection of rigs ready for me to easily pick from during the match in future. Work in progress! I give myself 9/10 for a change. Next match Sunday on Yew lake which has not been fishing well for weeks. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Finally, thanks for the invitation, John.

THE RESULT

East bank                                            West bank

24 Peter Spriggs        74 lb 15 oz  4th    1 Joe Bedford              DNW
23 Allan Golightly       20 lb 2 oz            3 Wendy Bedford        DNW
21 Roland Butcher     13 lb 3 oz             5 Trevor Cousins      48 lb 8 oz   5th=
20 Dave Garner          23 lb 13 oz           7 Roy Whitwell        82 lb 6 oz   3rd
18 John Garner           26 lb                     9 Neil Paas             100 lb 11 oz  2nd
17 Dick Warrener       40 lb 1 oz            10 Callum Judge        48 lb 8 oz   5th=
15 Mac Campbell     121 lb 2 oz   1st     11 Kevin Beavis        DNW
14 Mike Rawson        47 lb 1 oz             12 Tim Bates              5 lb 2 oz
13 Mel Lutkin            DNW

I mussel into the carp on Elm lake

Peg 13, Friday, May 23
Yet again a swim I didn't particularly fancy in this 13-entry Spratts match, and the longest walk down to a corner peg at the far end of the lake.  Thanks goodness I have a motorised trolley; even so I had to make two journeys because my bait bags won't all go on the trolley, and I had two cool bags as well (for casters and cat meat, since you ask). But I keep getting these long walks.

Yet again the surface here was calm, with only the occasional little bit of ripple when the West wind got up and turned slightly. It was one of those strange days when the wind blew my float back towards me, but the surface stayed calm. Dave Hobbs was opposite me, with a back wind which was probably no help at all to him.

Being positive
Not that I'm complaining - not when I see those pictures of poor sods being bombed and losing everything, including their family. Thank goodness I can go fishing and forget that side of life; otherwise it would drive you mad. And on the day the good news was that I had fish near me - I could see them. Cruising around and enjoying life. And in the corner the occasional reed juddered about, showing me that the fish were playing.

My right mrgin was flat calm for
almost all of the match.

Thinking I'd be positive I started on mussel in almost six feet of water, with the bulk well up, and blow me on the second drop a carp took the mussel as it hit the water - all 10 lb of it (the carp, not the  mussel). Immediately I shallowed up and soon had two more carp in the net, all taken shallow. Then I went deep near the end bank, and after about five minutes, with the bait just off bottom, the float dipped and I was into another carp. Forty minutes gone and I had 25 lb in my net.

This was taken about five seconds
after the right margin picture. 
You can see that to my left there was
some lovely raspberry ripple.

Casters next on the menu

Inevitably the bites tailed off and I had a look in the margin swim where I'd been flicking out casters. I didn't get any fish deep, but when I shallowed up and had a look in the margins next to the bank, where a load of rubbish had built up, I found some slightly smaller carp, all of whch came out from under the rubbish and took four casters on a size 14. Yet again the fish became cautious after three or four had Come To Daddy, and I scrapped around deep for an hour or so, catching just two more.

Dave Hobbs' pole bends as he battles a carp.

The middle of the match was dire. Opposite, Dave Hobbs had had a good spell fishing shallow and mugging fish, but now he, also, seemed to be struggling. I had no idea what those to my left had caught, as I've had a nasty crick in my neck for some months, and it's too painful to turn my head very far. A penalty one pays for getting old, I suppose. 

Carefully does it...that's when the fish is most likely to come off!

I'm a loser
Anyway, whatever I did I couldn't catch a fish on caster, mussel, cat meat or corn, I probably should have tried pellet, but to be honest fishing away from the bank meant fishing over silt that had threatened to engulf my plummet when I had plumbed up at the start. Nasty, oozy, gluey stuff it was. Even so I should have tried the feeder. BUT I did hook fish - about ten, which nearly all came off.

Up to that time I'd not lost a fish, so why did they suddenly go cagey on me? I'm not convinced that they were all foulhooked - I think some were probably just lightly hooked in the mouth. However, one was definitely hooked in the side - I know this because about ten or 15 minutes after I had hooked it, that fish lay in my landing net. It had first surfaced two swims to my left, in front of Bob Barrett,. I prayed that he was fishing his feeder down the margins, and I think he must have been. That gave me a definite indication that it was foul-hooked. Well, it would, wouldn't it?

Another one in the new Drennan landing net (picture courtesy of Roy Whitwell).

New net helps
But that fish felt like a sack of potatoes with an outboard engine. No way of  getting it to head towards the landingnet. It would come in sideways, flick its tail, and off it went again. I recently bought a new Drennan 20-inch landing net, which is slightly bigger than the old 20-inch model, and  it's proved invaluable for getting these awkward ones into it.  But that was the only high spot of a really bad two hours. It weighed about 12 lb.

I have an idea!
Then, with 90 minutes to go I had an idea - I used my brain. To my left, hiding behind the long grass, was a cut-out which I hadn't yet plumbed. Why? Just a senior moment which lasted several hours. When I dropped the plummet in it was definitely shallower, though I couldn't find any sizeable flat spot. Nevertheles I put in some micros and corn and went out into what I thought was the deepest spot.

 I soon had a liner and for most of the last hour I messed around, using corn or mussel, and catching a few carp, mainly around 4 lb or  5 lb, constantly adjusting the depth and fishing sometimes right up to the bank and other times out to the edge of the drop-off.

Just before the end I had a bad biteless ten minutes, so changed back to corn, and seconds before the final shout I had a bite, and was able to shout out "Fish On," as loudly as I could (a sort of gamesmanship, but also to let the others know I had heard the final shout.  Because they are very considerate of my deafness, and they always repeat the first and last indications for my benefit. Bless them - real mates.) That fish was about 4 lb, and I thought it brought me up to about 80 lb. I'd got 32 lb and 34 lb on the first two clickers, and 12 lb in the last net.

The winner! Trevor Cousins
mugged all his carp on a 
banded pellet.

The weigh in

I guessed that Trevor would have been mugging fish all day, and he had - to the tune of 120 lb 13 oz taken on banded pellet. He said that when the sun was out he hardly caught a fish, and he caught almost all of them when there was cloud cover.

 Incidentally, I have a  ticket for the Vets National on Springvale, where no mugging is allowed. Now mugging is simply targetting fish you can see. So how can that be enforced? Are you not allowed to  drop your rig in anywhere near a fish that you can see in front of you? There's no standing allowed if you're fishing, either. Oh well, I will just have to hope I don't catch anything...

When he wasn't taking photographs
Roy Whitwell had a go at catching
fish, finishing second with 101 lb 7 oz.

Back to Spratts, and yet again Roy Whitwell had a good catch - 101 lb 7 oz taken largely on hard pellet. I've not fished hard pellet recently; I ought to do more of it. Dave Hobbs had, indeed, had a bad second half, and weighed in 44 lb 7 oz opposite me.

My 32 lb net went 39 lb 15 oz; the second 34 lb net went just over 41 lb, and the last two went 13 lb - total 94  lb 3 oz for third spot. Very happy with that considering I never had that lovely Raspberry Ripple. 

I couldn't let Mick Ramm go without
taking a picture of him and his
biggest fish, which must have
 weighed well into double figures.

Next match is Sunday - John Garner's Invitation Match, also on Elm, when the wind is forecast to be around 20 mph and there will be ripple to spare on some pegs. Actually I'd be happy with it in my face if it gave me that ripple effect.

Marks out of ten
All round I thought I scrapped around pretty well, and although I could have tried pellet, or perhaps worm, I honestly felt that if the fish were in a feeding mood they would take my mussel or corn. I had lost about ten - any one of those would probably have moved me into second, so I can't be unhappy - 8/10;  "This boy could do better but is improving."

THE RESULT

East bank                                    West bank

23 Neil Paas                  75 lb 9 oz  4th     1 Martin Parker        45 lb 10 oz

21 Mike Rawson           42 lb 1 oz            3 Wendy Bedford      9 lb 14 oz

19 Joe Bedford                6 lb 5 oz            5 Trevor Cousins    120 lb 13 oz  1st

17 John Smith                68 lb 8 oz            7 John Garner           57 lb 2 oz

15 Bob Barrett                DNW                  9 Roy Whitwell      101 lb 7 oz  2nd

13 Mac Campbell         94 lb 3 oz  3rd    10 Mick Ramm          42 lb

                                                                 12 Dave Hobbs         44 lb 7 oz

Fenland Rods result from Kingsland

 Here is the result of the match on Kingsland small carp lake, which I was unable to fish because I was at The Antiques Roadshow at The Shuttleworth Collection, Bedfordshire.

I don't have any details of the match, but thanks to Mel for emailing it over. I see they paid two sections of five, which seems very sensible to me when just ten fish.

As for the show, yes, they did decide to film me and my offering of a picture drawn by Clive Dunn (lance corporal Jack Jones) of Captain Mainwaring. I doubted at the time whether it would come over very well - they seemed to be more interested in discussing the Home Guard rather than the picture, or Dad's Army. HOWEVER the team there were very professional and it may well look much better on TV than I imagine. The picture certainly initiated a lot of interest from onlookers. 

It was expected that three shows would come out of the day - all to be transmitted some time after November this year. If we are notified of the date of transmission I'll post it here.

Big fish feed in the cold on Oak, Decoy

Peg 15, Oak, Thurs, May 15
Typical English weather - boiling hot the previous day, but when we arrived at Decoy for this Spratts match the wind was a bitterly-cold North-easterly. I spoke to Pete Molesworth, a member of the JV club, before the match, and his advice was: "Keep it simple; fish close to the boards." That was fine with me, though peg 15, in the corner, has hardly any boards (which have recently been installed to stop the bank from caving in) to the left.

Trevor did the draw and Shaun acted as scribe.
But both had to go back to their vehicles soon after
the start and put on some overtrousers because of the cold!

Eighteen of us fished, so we were on both banks, but the two end pegs on our end of the lake were calm, while the rest had a ripple on, which slowly grew bigger as the wind increased. Later, though, the wind moved round a little to the South, and it meant that when I fished the shallow margin to my right I was facing the wind...and believe me it felt like Winter!

A cold wind, but calm surface - that was my swim before the start
(though it felt ten degrees warmer here than in the early pegs).

I set out to fish the shallow margin, about two feet deep, or over the shelf, where it was about four feet. I had no fish for a couple of hours, but Mike Rawson had an early carp on his feeder opposite on peg 19, and dead opposite me, in corner peg 16 Bob Walker had a carp on feeder, and a barbel and a couple of roach on the pole. Then to my right Peter Spriggs landed a good carp on pole; I think he caught that just in fron of him, on 2+1. I was still fishless.

Peter Spriggs, on my right, somehow kept catching fish from his left margin.

Mike Rawson was a long way away on the
opposite bank, But even at that distance I
could see that this fish was a real big'un!

A fish from the deep margin
But then...a fish - on corn over micros to my right in the deep water about five feet from the bank. It was a carp around 8 lb. There followed three hours without a fish in the net, though I did foulhook three on a pole, which came off. 

That eight-pounder took absolutely ages to land. I though it must be foulhooked in the snout, because it just kept plodding around. But no, it was in the mouth. meanhile several anglers had gone back to their vehicle for extra trousers, jumpers, or jackets. It really was cold. I tried several casts on a feeder with wafter or corn but had nothing more than a tiny liner.

The nearest we could get to see
Peter's best fish properly at
the weigh in - it was
probably near 15 lb.

During that fishless spell Peter Spriggs found carp in his shallowest swim, just a metre from the bank, using paste. I think he had about five, and lost a couple. I Came in close and had just a couple of liners. I had not tried farther out, though I could have fished out a fair distance even in the wind; instead I had a look to my left in the margin, where there was about four feet of water. And almost immediately I had a liner or two, just before the bait hit bottom. 

Two more
Then a carp took a grain of corn and this came in quite quickly - all 10 lb of it. Only a few minutes later mussel took an even bigger fish - a lovely silver common that was in beautiful condition, and around 13 lb. But that was my lot. I just couldn't get a bite anywhere until five minutes from the end when I hooked a great big carp from the deep left margin which leaped right out of the water and seemed to be hooked in the mouth. But seconds later the hook came out. So I finished with three fish and reckoned Peter Spriggs had about nine - so possibly around 100 lb.

Peter Harrison, 3rd with 101 lb 7 oz.

The weigh-in
Bob Barrett, on peg 1, led with 78 lb 5 oz, all taken on feeder, down to Peter Harrison on 7. He had 101 lb 7 oz, and Peter Spriggs didn't have 100 lb as I had assumed - he totalled just 68 lb, and had lost four. My three fish went 31 lb, beaten by Bob Walker opposite me, who took two or three late carp in his margin and ended with  57 lb 14 oz.

John Garner was Golden Peg, and
 was unlucky enought to lose
a near-20 lb carp when it
dropped through the
bottom of his landing net!

The winner - Shaun Buddle,
133 lb 12 oz. Note how seriously
he took his job as weight recorder!

Then came some much better weights on the East bank, topped by Shaun Buddle on 21 with 133 lb 12 oz, all except one taken out on a 2+2. That was the moment I realised I hadn't even tried out there towards the middle. What a terrible mistake on my part.

This was Kev's best fish - well
into double-figures.

Kevin Lee - second with  127 lb 11 oz.

Kevin Lee had six fish with an hour to go, then went out on a pole to 2+3 and found fish immediately, weighing 127 lb 11 oz for second spot, with Roy Whitwell framing yet again with 91 lb 15 oz, taken on a variety of baits on pole and feeder. So I finished nowhere.

That cold wind must have affected the fishing, after the hot spell. But well done to the anglers who found the fish in the end - it was not easy anywhere on the lake. And he weights were really quite tight.

Marks out of ten
My swim was calm for a lot of the match, but no calmer than Bobn Walker's swim oppoiste on 16. However my mistake was not to try farther out. Afterwards almost every angler I spoke to had caught most of their fish well out, and they couldn't catch in the margins. I kept seeing Peter Spiggs taking fish from his left margin (he said facing to his right left him so cold he gave it up). But I should definitely have tried well out. I can't think why I didn't. I give myself 5/10, which is generous. 

Off to Antiques Roadshow this weekend, to show a picture by Clive Dunn of Captain Mainwaring. I bought it 50 years ago in a charity auction. Of course none of the main characters in that Sit-Com are  still with us. I'll let you know the comments. My next match is John Garner's invitiation match on Elm next weekend.

THE RESULT

East bank                                    West bank   

30 John Smith        77 lb 11 oz              1 Bob Barrett        78 lb 5 oz        5th
28 Roy Whitwell     91 lb 15 oz  4th       3 Dave Hobbs        42 lb 8 oz
26 Kevin Lee         127 lb 11 oz   2nd      5 Mick Ramm         7 lb 4 oz
24 Dick Warrener     26 lb                        7 Peter Harrison   101 lb 7 oz    3rd
22 Trevor Cousins    73 lb 2 oz                 9 John Garner        77 lb 9 oz
21 Shaun Buddle    133 lb 12 oz  1st      10 Neil Paas             77 lb 7 oz
19 Mike Rawson      37 lb 1 oz                12 Joe Bedford        24 lb 9 oz
18 Wendy Bedford  36 lb 4 oz                 13 Peter Spriggs       68 lb
16 Bob Walker         57 lb 14 oz              15 Mac Campbell      31 lb

A nightmare finish for me on Crow Lake, Pidley

Peg 5, Sat, May, 10
Things were looking up for me in the days before this match - a good game of bowls, when I seemed to be able to get them exactly where I wanted them; then the pelargoniums I have nurtured all Winter reacted to the sun and started blooming... well, blooming marvelously. Then I found myself all tackled up and ready to go in this Fenland Rods a good 20 minutes early, which is unheard of for me. We fished alternate pegs - 2 down to 24.

Then a great start - first drop with a 0.5 gm float and a 4mm cube of luncheon meat saw the tip a bit too high in the water. But a No 11 shot added saw it dot down perfectly about 9 metres out. There was a light facing wind, giving a nice ripple. Within seconds it had dipped and I found myself playing a 5 lb carp. What a start. With that fish safely in the net I went out again and promptly hooked a 1 lb F1; then a two-pounder. And after 30 minutes I had about 12 lb to my name.

When we started there was a lovely ripple in the ENE wind.

Blowing in the wind
Then things slowed down (as they so often do) and the wind, which was in my face and slightly from the left (as I had expected) got up quickly and soon it was really strong. At that point I should have just changed to a heavier rig, which would have enabled me to go out further if I needed to. I think I could have fished there even though the pole would have been blowing around. But I didn't!

No, I stayed in the same spot, with the same rig, and caught the VERY occasional 2 lb F1. To my left Allan Golightly was struggling, and to my right Dick Warrener had had a fish or two, but was also struggling. A look in the margin saw another F1, and then a bigger fish about 3 lb. Now almost half the match had gone and I reckoned I had about 20 lb - I thought that was good compared to what the anglers each side had, but I had no idea about the others as they were too far away for me to see properly.

Up the shelf
A move, in the really nasty wind, up the shelf at about 5 metres brought three or four quick F1s, and then I had a look in the margins. First drop with a mussel saw a big fish foulhooked and I came back with a scale. Then the odd F1 and I went back to the five-metre line. Beside me my bomb/feeder rod was all ready to cast, but I never even picked it up. I was regret that, later.

I miss bite after bite
That five-metre line then produced a series of bites - perhaps 25 or 30 - one after the other...and I missed every one. Almost every time the luncheon meat had ben talken off the hook. Corn brought one fish, then I had to change back to meat to get a bite. They must have been F1s and I wasted far too much time there.

Into the margins

So it was into the margins with an hour to go, and there I hooked, and landed, about three better carp and a big F1, on mussel or cat meat. That was followed by five big fish all lost in five drops - every one foulhooked. Even so, I thought I could add another 30 lb in the time left.

But in the last 20 minutes I landed just one 6 lb carp, and an F1, for an estimated 50 lb total. I had seen Mel on peg 1 land a couple, but I was sure I had beaten those either side of me on what I thought was a very difficult day.

Dave Hobbs had most of his 59 lb 14 oz
from peg 20 on bomb or feeder.

The weigh in

A bit of a shock - Mel on peg 1 weighed in 63 lb 3 oz, which had obviously beaten me. The next two had struggled, but my 57 lb 3 oz easily beat Allan in peg 7 who had just four fish for his 15 lb 1 oz. Then the better weights started - Martin Parker, my Vets National travelling partner, had fished mainly a feeder for  68 lb 14 oz. and on peg 16 Roy Whitwell had caught most of his winning 90 lb 1 oz on a bomb or feeder. Our current Champion Kevin Lee had struggled, though - five fish for 25 lb 13 oz.

On the next peg Dave Hobbs had beaten me with 59 lb 14 oz, also nearly all on a feeder. Then my mate John Smith was on peg 22. Halfway though the match he had wandered up to Mike Rawson on 24 and said that for two pins he would pack up and go home. He went back to his peg and caught a fish, and had a good late spell in the margins, ending with 73 lb 14 oz for second spot! I ended sixth out of  the 12 who fished.  

His best fish, taken from the margin.

John Smith - 2nd with 73 lb 14 oz.

Winner was Roy Whitwell, 90 lb 1 oz.

Marks out of ten

I must have had a brainstorm. I can't think why I hadn't gone out farther with a heavy rig. It would have been difficult but it now appeared that a lot of the fish taken were well out. And why didn't I try the feeder? It was all rigged up and ready to go. I've won on Crow on the feeder in the past! I had become so preoccupied in trying to hook those pesky F1s I knew were in my swim, instead of trying something else. I was worth just 2/10. Next match Thursday on Oak, Decoy, where the Feedermasters event ten days ago was won from peg 20 with 305 lb.

THE RESULT

Oh dear, problems for me on Willows

Peg 9, Wed, May 7
I said I didn't fancy pegs between 6 and 12, and blow me I get put right in the middle on 9 (though it was also the Golden Peg). Not that I don't think I can catch fish there (though I would normally prefer a higher number), it's because rubbish tends to collect along that bank. You are facing roughly East, and any wind with East in it blows surface rubbish along both sides of the lake, towards that bank. Roy Whitwell had drawn peg 10 in a match the previous Friday, and had trouble with surface rubbish all day. 

But as Peter Harrison on 11 said, it was at least a day's fishing! So  I put a smile on my face and hoped the wind would be kind, although there were plenty of leaves and those inch-long brown willow catkins floating around in the middle. Nope! By the time the match started they were drifting towards me. Peter started well out, among a few leaves, and has one or two good carp early on...though I actually had an even better start.

The rubbish wasn't too bad before the start, and at least it was a warm day.

What a start, though!
The margins are about four feet deep here, and I fished towards the platform 8 on my left. A small piece of cat meat, from one of the silver pouches, brought a 1 lb F1 first drop. Then another...and within 15 minutes I had five for about 8 lb. 

After that great start I had visions of really bagging, but when I went to drop in again it was impossible. A gust of wind had carried rubbish - leaves, catkins and floating twigs - right along that bank and several metres wide. It had all happened in seconds, and it happened many more times during the day. I dropped in just in front of me, where I could gently lower the bait (a 4 mm expander) in between the rubbish.

That front swim yielded a foulhooked carp immediately, but it came off. However, it showed me that the better carp were willing to come in towards the margins, so I persevered.

I had a few more F1s there there before I had to move again. I also had to put the bulk shot well down, which I dislike doing when the fish are clearly off bottom, because otherwise the light wind made it impossible to drop the bait into clear water. Putting on a grain of corn helped, but with underwater rubbish drifting along and giving false bites, and the float being pushed along, it wasn't easy.

But the worst of the rubbish never got right in front of the swims either side of me. Just as it looked as if it would clear my swim a gust down one of the sides blew it all back again!

It wasn't long before Peter Harrison was into carp.

When my left margin became fishable again I put in some micros and hemp, and spent five minutes in the front swim before going over that bait. Blow me! When I turned left to drop into that baited swim it was covered like a carpet. 😞😞😞😞 Nowhere could I lay a rig in sideways, so I had to carry on dropping the bait straight down, in front of me on a short top and one.

Eventually it got too much - trouble was it was racing
through my swim at times, like the Trent!

I go on a walkabout
Halfway through, I couldn't fish anywhere properly, so I had a walk up to Roy Whitwell on 3 and John Garner on 1. Roy said he had about 26 lb, but John had more. I thought I had almost 30 lb, and with the swim having had a bit of a rest I went back. In the next hour the rubbish started blowing more towards Neil Paas on 7, but it was never particularly bad there.

It took more than an hour before I had any reasonably-clear water I could fish in, and in that hour I had one foulhooked gudgeon and one roach. I got the impression that those to my left had stopped catching much, but Peter on my right had had several more nice carp, and he was way ahead of me.

With 90 minutes left, determined, now that there was a little less rubbish, to try for a 'proper' carp, I put in a big pot of dead maggots and went over the top with corn. That brought a 4 lb mirror, and I was in business. Not big business  - I rebaited with hemp and micros and about ten minutes later had another 4 lb carp on mussel. Changing the rig for a special, 3gm rig with which I fish my special method, brought three more fish and another foulhooked monster which came off.

I ended taking carp on a 3gm float and
mussel in the right margin.

A good finish
With 15 minutes left, and with mussel on the hook, I hooked the fish I had hoped for. I saw it on the surface, and it must have been at least 8 lb, and looked to be hooked in the mouth, though it fought wildly as if it was foulhooked. After I had played it for several minutes the hook pulled, and I think I sighed: "Oh, dear." I now think that it was perhaps hooked just on the outside of the mouth.

Straight back in and another big fish took the mussel, and I was still playing it when the match ended. Luckily the hook held; it was in the mouth; and it went into my net. That fish was also around 8 lb. If only I had had another five minutes left...

Always a pleasure to see Mick Ramm.
We went to school together in 1948!

The weigh in
John Garner on 1 said that after I left he had just five fish. and he weighed in 56  lb 14 oz. Roy hadn't added much, either - he had 33 lb 1 oz. Peter Spriggs dropped a real boo-boo, having 61 lb in his second net, which was, under the club rules, completely disqualified. If it had counted he would have been second.

Both Neil and Peter, either side of me, beat my 62 lb 11 oz, but not by much, and I felt pretty satisfied. Dave Hobbs on 12 also beat me, and only Kevin Lee on 16 could top them - he won with 99 lb 7 oz, taken from his right margin on paste, though the other weights were pretty tight. So I finished fifth.

Marks out of ten
Of course where there is rubbish there tend to be fish, so I have to say that there were enough fish in our end of the lake for good catches to be made. However, afterwards I was so certain that I had fed well, and got the best out of my swim, that I felt that I could have framed from almost any other swim in that match (possibly not peg 3, though).

Fifth out of 13 is nothing to shout about, but I feel I was worth 9/10 again, considering the frustrations. Next match on Crow at Pidley on Saturday, and I am confident of being able to get the best out of my swim. I shall be concentrating on luncheon meat at the start, and probably staying all day on the pole. It depends on the wind, which is currently forecast to be 10-13 mph ESE, in our faces and perhaps a little from the left. So I may have to go up to 1 gm to get decent presentation, but I will have a feeder rod made up, just in case.

THE RESULT

1John Garner             56 lb 14 oz

3 Roy Whitwell         33 lb 1 oz

5 Peter Spriggs          16 lb 1 oz (net disqualified)

7 Neil Paas                65 lb 5 oz         3rd

9 Mac Campbell        62 lb 11 oz

11 Peter Harrison      67 lb 12 oz        2nd

13 Dave Hobbs         64 lb 7 oz           4th

15 Bob Walker        35 lb 15 oz

16 Kevin Lee           99 lb 7 oz            1st

18 Mick Ramm        44 lb 9 oz

20 Bob Barrett            DNW

22 Mike Rawson      31 lb 14 oz

24 Dick Warrener       27 lb 4 oz

25 Trevor Cousins     61 lb 7 oz