The Power of Paste on Damson

I'm a bit behind but will catch up when I can!

Three matches have gone since I was last with you, the first of which was a Fenland Rods match on Damson, Decoy. I drew peg 13, in the far corner, and end peg. It's much fancied, but I know, having fished it recently, that there's hardly any of the swim less than three feet deep, which makes it a better bet in cooler weather than in the heat, when fish like to be well up in the water or graduating, at some time, towards the shallows. Still, I expected to catch a few.

My swim was calm all day. The reeds out in the water to my right held fish at the start, but eventually I got fed up with disentangling my rig from them!

As is usual on this lake, fish were showing around the platforms as we were setting up, and for once I managed to catch a few early - six in the first half-hour, from 1 lb to 2 lb, on a banded 4mm pellet. That may now sound like a good start, but believe me, it can be a lot worse on Damson, when the fish play hide-and-hide!

Fish in among the reeds
There are thick reeds in both margins, and to the right a few are growing farther out in the lake, which is where I eventually managed to get a string of bites. Three sparse reeds were set in a triangle, and i got bites right in the middle. The problem was that the fish kept charging through the reeds when hooked, and I had to keep using my long hook to get my rig back. I had perhaps a dozen on corn before deciding I simply had to try to the left.

On a short top plus short Number Three (why do so many firms call it the Number four when it's the third section?) I had an occasional fish, but two swims to my left there came lots of splashing as Kevin Lee netted fish after fish. If I leaned back I could see he was fishing in his left margin, where a bush used to stand - and the roots are still there. A little channel runs round the edge of the roots and it always seems to hold fish. It doesn't always win of course, but with an angler of Kevin's calibre in it, it was odds-on he'd have a few...

My paste swim was in that gap between
 the net and two reeds leaning out.

Paste was the answer
Mussel found a fish or two for me. but I got a lot of liners. So, although it's years since I used paste properly, I tried it on this occasion. The result was miraculous, and I had a terrific half-hour when the bait was in no more than a few seconds before I was attached to a fish. Three or four were  3 lb upwards. I envisaged  adding 60 lb an hour for the second half of the match...but as quickly as the bites had started, they vanished. And I couldn't work out why paste was better than cat meat or mussel or corn.

One reason it may have worked well was that I was rolling my paste in the micros, or making the paste by just squeezing the micros together. That would probably look more convioncing among the micros I was feeding. I will try that again.

The last two hours brought only about six more fish. Nothing on the feeder dropped in the side or cast towards the corner. Nothing on worm. I found out afterwards that Roy Whitwell had had a lot of his fish on feeder cast out into the deep water halfway across the lake. A lesson learned.

Roy Whitwell framed yet again!

The weigh-in
In peg 1 John Smith had, like me, lost his fish towards the end, but weighed in 116 lb 5 oz. Roy Whitwell yet again had a super catch - 151 lb 3 oz on peg 3. But Kevin bossed us all on peg 11 with 168 lb 4 oz to win. I think paste did the damage - I know he won the pervious match here on paste. I had 99 lb 7 oz for fourth and a section win by default. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. And it showed me the power of paste.

Kevin Lee's winning 168 lb 4 oz
was almost all small carp.

My 99 lb 7 oz included four or 
five better fish to 4 lb.