Fish have started to feed for me on Lou's lake

Before this match my wife and I played in a bowls competiton at the famous Potters. This was at the relatively-new Five Lakes complex where they hold occasional pairs events.

We played four games in the first round, all consisting of 12 ends. First game we won against a husband-and-wife team who won their other three games and went into the quarter-finals. Second game we lost against a husband-and-wife team who were obvious hot favourites, as they play at a very high level. After five ends we were winning; after eight ends we were just three behind, but then dropped a five, which was disastous and we lost. They won all four of their games.

Third game we won; and fourth game we lost by one shot against two superb men who were the only other team to win all four games. They went on to beat the hot favourites in the semi-final, and then won the final. So although we didn't make the quarter finals I felt we would probably have beaten most of the other teams there, and were unlucky to draw three of the best ones.

We will be going back in September for another bash. In the meantime I was in the team which have just won a triples league in my home club of Huntingdon. So we will have a cup to pick up eventually. Bryan Lakey used to say he wished I was as good at bowls as I was at fishing - now I probably am, but now Bryan will never be able to see me play...

Peg 14, Lou's, Sat, May 3
Ten of us turned out to fish on Lou's lake, and my 'committee' who decide what pegs to put in decided on 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14, leaving out the end peg 15 which has rather a lot of reeds within a few metres of the platform. Although peg 6 is the noted swim, I won last time from peg 14, and Wad-Y-Know, it came out for me again!

Peg 14 - reeds out in front, but that's where the fish are!

Thinking about bans
Last time I had most of my fish towards empty platform 15, but this time, because of the extra reeds, I found I would have to stand to see my float there. A thought then struck me - on some fisheries standing to fish is banned. Honestly! So is deliberately tapping the water with the pole, or swishing the big pole pot around in the water to empty it. I suspect those last two may be to ensure that anglers buy lots of pellets to attract the fish when they are thrown or catapulted in.

The standing ban is an attempt to stop anglers mugging cruising fish. Might as well state: "No fish to be caught"! And actually while tackling up I found that when I stood up I could see hazy black shapes in my swim, well below the surface. That made my mind up to start in the margins rather than on the feeder as I had envisaged. Ben Townsend has, in the past, hinted that if fish are feeding at a certain depth it's often worth looking out that depth of water to fish in. 

A great start
Well, it worked for me. I hooked on a small piece of cat meat, dropped it in on a short top about a metre from the bank, into three feet of water, and four seconds later the elastic was stretching. It stretched to the reeds in front of me, about seven metres away. I held hard and gritted my teeth...and the hook pulled out just as the reeds started waving. I rebaited, dropped in, and three seconds later was playing another carp. 

This one was about 5 lb and ended in my 18-inch landing net. But because I was having to get it in quickly it was very active, and after putting the fish into my keepnet I changed the landing net for a 20-inch model - much safer. Next drop - a three-pounder. Then another. And another. After the fourth fish I had an estimated 15 lb in my keepnet, and just 15 minutes had elapsed. What a start.

Things slow down
The whole of my swim was calm, though behind me in the low-numbered pegs there was a lovely ripple. I guessed that my fish would soon take fright, and they did. Things settled down, and I had to drop in a little to my right, against the marginal reeds. That brought more fish, though more slowly, and mainly between 2 lb and 3 lb. After almost two hours I estimated I had 50 lb...and I hadn't put in a single piece of loosefeed. 

As I wandered over to see John Smith, Dave Garner was playing a carp.

To give the swim a rest I wandered over to John Smith on peg 8, who said he had 26 lb on his clicker, but that Kevin Lee on 9 had more. Roy Whitwell on 10 said he probably had about 46 lb, all on feeder. I had seen him catch several on a feeder, and had thought about trying it myself. Meanwhile Allan Golightly said that Dick Warrener had had a lot of fish, though Dick told me later that they were very small - weighing only ounces.

A cold wind
The wind now started to get a little colder and back in my swim and I had to put on a hoodie. I started feeding micros out near the reeds, at about 8 metres, and corn tempted an occasional fish there. I lost two or three when they pulled off, and another snagged me in the reeds and I lost the whole rig. After having landed perhaps ten fish from that swim I had another look in the margins, and yes, there were some fish there again.

Then the wind started to blow harder and very much colder. "Baltic" one angler has described it on Facebook, and several of our anglers walked back to their cars for a jacket. From then on I concentrated on the right margin, taking perhaps one 3 lb carp every ten minutes, but losing another couple. Then I went to the left margin, which had not yet produced a fish, and when I put in hemp and micros the fish turned up there as well. One of the first ones I hooked was a foulhooked five-pounder which snagged Mike Rawson's pole rig.

Thanks, Mike
With our two rigs now hooked together Mike sportingly clambered off his seat and walked down to me so I could land the carp. Thanks, Mike. Then I had to go and get my jacket from the van, and about that time bites dried up quite markedly, and I had only three or four in the last hour. Mike had a better end to the match than me, landing four or five.

Mike Rawson plays a fish towards the end of the match. Both of us had almost
flat-calm water all day - that ripple in the background never came our way.

For much of the time I was fishing a short top and a long Number Four (the normal third section), but as soon as I could after hooking a fish I would take off the long section and slip in a short number four. This made it easier to grab the elastic and land the fish. The elastic was mainly the strong orange, probably about an 18-20. 

The fish were really sprightly, and caused me a lot of problems trying to unhook them. One almost jumped oput of my keepnet three times - and the top was two feet above the surface. If I hadn't had the landing net laying over the top I am certain it would have jumped out completely. I guess they will spawn soon. In fact Kev had them appearing to spawn (or attempting to) in his swim before the match started, but the cool wind appeared to put paid to that. At the end I had clicked nets of 40 lb, 40 lb and 23 lb.

Then just before the match finished the wind became warmer and the sun came out - talk about Sod's Law.

One of Mike Rawson's late fish - 
bigger than any I had.

The weigh in
I was surprised that the anglers with ripple hadn't got big catches - 57 lb 1 oz was the best from pegs 1, 3, 5 and 6. That famous peg 6 tends to produce best in Winter when the fish congregate in the far corner about 60 yards away. Callum didn't try a feeder there, I understand. But after seeing the results of the Feedermasters match which was taking place on six of the other lakes I wondered whether he would in fact have found fish in the corner on a feeder.

There were 100 lb-plus catches all round the lakes in that match - 300 lb from Oak (where nine of the 10 anglers had over 100 lb, the other DNW-ing); six over 100 lb on Horseshoe (best over 200 lb); four over 100 lb on Beastie; two over 100 lb on Cedar; one over 100 lb on Elm (five over 80 lb); and four over 100 lb on Yew (best 156 lb). And all on feeders!

John Smith took an early lead with 121 lb 2 oz.

Back to our match and it appeared to be a race between John and Kevin (pegs 8 and 9), with each thinking the other had won. John weighed in 121 lb 2 oz, taken in or near the margins, and Kevin congratulated him immediately. In fact Kevin had almost topped that but fell just short with  119 lb 2 oz including a fish he thought might weigh 12 lb, and some others nearing double-figures. I had nothing approaching that size.

Kevin took almost all his 119 lb 2 oz on paste.

Roy Whitwell's catch rate must have fallen when that wind blew harder,  because  he  weighed  in 86 lb 14 oz. I was sure I could beat that, so was looking at third place. My first net went 45 lb, and the second 53 lb (!). Someone said I needed 24 lb to win, so everyone looked carefully as my last net was taken out. In went the fish and round went the numbers - 26 lb and a bit, and I had won. Total 124 lb 13 oz. Just one fish had done it for me.

Marks out of ten
Looking back I don't think I made any big mistakes. But yet again I didn't try enough change baits like paste or worms. However I think I fed properly - after the first two hour I fed micros after every fish, and I'm convinced that brought the fish back into the swim quickly after I'd hooked one. 

I took all my margin fish using my special method, and I did notice that when I put the pole out those black shapes under it immediately disappeared, so I increased the lash to over two feet; I think that helped. Unusually I'm giving myself 9/10.

Next match on Willows on Wednesday. If we are fishing the lower numbers any number round to about 25 then anything over 15 will suit me, or peg 1. Of the rest, I don't fancy from about 6 round to 12. But what do I know??

THE RESULT