Six-Island tempts me into messing it up!

Peg 12, Six-Island, Sunday, June 29
We drew at the car park for this Fenland Rods match at Decoy so we could see where the wind was, to make pegging fair...but there wasn't much. So we used the same pegs as the previous week, and I was happy with 12, which I know has shallowish margins. 

Eleven of us fished, and the day was nothing like as hot as had been forecast. Mel, who has suffered badly in the past on the really hot days, decided not to fish, but came to the draw and the weigh-in. At the end he said he would have had no problem, because it had been just nicely warm! 

The left margin. I eventually caught just in
 front of the bush. The cut-out next to me
proved to be my undoing, though!

Foulhookers early

I started out in front of me at 2+1, on a pole with corn, and quickly foulhooked two big carp which both came off. I'd pinpointed a swim to my left, near a bush and about a metre from the bank, so in went a little pot of micros, and I carried on fishing in front of me. In the next hour I managed an 8 lb carp, foulhooked in the fin, which I landed, and two F1s. Then I had a wander up to Roy Whitwell, to my left on 14, who was feedering.

 I had just one fish to the right,
 in front of the small outcrop.
I should  have tried there again!

Roy reported just three small F1s, though he said that Callum on 4 had been catching fish from the very start. So I went back knowing that at least I wasn't last, as Dick came up and said he was struggling. It took another hour or two to latch on to a few more small F1s, including one from the right hand side, and then I went to the bush, about eight metres away.

A steady patch
Slowly I found fish, and started catching F1s at about one every five minutes on corn or occasional cat meat. Not quick, but it was steady sport for 90 minutes, and between the F1s was an occasional 'proper' carp from about 6 lb to 8 lb. There was no ripple, and the bites were tiny, but I had the rig set just right, and missed very few bites, though I did lose one big foulhooker.

Stephen Thompson is the latest addition to our aaglers, and he had a good start opposite on peg 6 when I was struggling.

Allan Golightly on peg 8 fishes to his bush.

Stupid!
With an hour to go I made a stupid decision. Carp were coming into my left margin, where there was a big cut-out, and I decided to try for them. I then fell into the trap of takng on the challenge of catching them...and failed. I had liners, I foulhooked a couple, and I think I caught just one. I tried in the shallowest area, and in the slightly deeper spot roughly in line with the main margins. 

Meanwhile I saw lots of spashing in the hour from Roy's swim, and Dick on peg 10 said that he also started catching fish late in the match. I guessed, at the end, that I had shot myself in the foot and would probably be last in that end of the lake, as opposite me Stephen and Allan had been catching fish when I wasn't.

Allan watches his fish being weighed.

Stephen brings in one of his nets.

The weigh in
Callum Judge on 4 had 94 lb 15 oz, and since he was Golden Peg he was very happy, as he was leading round to our bank, where Dick weighed in 62 lb 15 oz, which I thought would beat me easily, as I estimated I had about 50 lb. But in fact my fish went 74 lb 13 oz, though that catch was well eclipsed by Roy on 14, who had ended with 106 lb 15 oz after turning to the pole

.

Callum with his 94 lb 15 oz. Callum fills in 
our weighing-in sheet - all neat and readable!

Then, on 22 near the car park, Kevin Lee weighed in 123 lb 2 oz for the win, with Martin Parker on 25 jumping over Callum (not literally, as Martin is nearly as old as I am) with 97 lb 8 oz for third place. I finished sixth, beaten by 1 lb 2 oz by John Smith. But at least I won my section (by default).

Marks out of ten
I should have kept putting fish in my net instead of being distracted by the big fish I could see coming into the cut-out. It's not the first time someone has fallen for that...and I doubt it will be the last. I am annoyed that I seemed to be feeding that bush swim perfectly - a small cad pot of micros plus about four grains of corn at a time. How could I have been so stupid? 

And once I made the decision to target those big carp I should, at least, have gone out from the bank into the deeper water within minutes of failing to catch in the shallows. I probably shouldn't have moved in the first place. Worth a measly 5/10.

Next match on Damson, where I will enjoy fishing the shallows on a short top plus one. Easy fishing, and the fish are getting bigger on that lake. They've gone from 6 oz to 2 lb-plus in a few years, with some bigger ones.

THE RESULT