When my name was drawn out Trevor asked what peg I'd like. I said "Fifteen, or 16 or 17." And he promptly pulled out 15 for me, on the far bank, followed by raucous laughter from some of the less sophisticated members of the club. I just ignored them.
My left margin was quite deep. There
wasn't much wind at the start, but as
always it increased during the day.
Actually my thinking was pretty good. The wind was Westerly, blowing into the far bank, and woulkd probably be giving us a fair raspberry ripple later in the day; in addition that prevailing West wind has gradually damaged the East banks of all the strip lakes, and in several places the margins that side are noticeably shallow - down to 18 inches in some small spots. And that area of Elm has always been pretty good.
Anyway I sallied forth, and to my delight found that there was a cut-out to my right that looked to be shallow. Indeed it was - little more than 12 inches near the bank. And I fully expected to see fish in there before the match ended.
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| Most of my fish came less than a metre out from the corner of the reeds. The water near the bank was 12 to 18 inches deep, but no carp came in there all day. |
After half-an-hour, with no proper bites, I went out shallow with a banded pellet; but still nothing. An hour had gone and I was fishless, while to my left John Smith had landed a carp, on his short line, that looked to be approaching double-figures.
The wind then became colder, and Bob Walker walked past me back to his van for his jacket, saying he was freezing. The anglers opposite, in the lower numbers 1 to 12, all had back wind and hardly any ripple.
I wasn't too worried at that stage about being behind John but decided, after another look on the long line, that I would have to come in closer. At the far end of the cut-out there was about three feet of water right against the reeds, rolling down to about four feet a metre out, then dropping down into the deep run which was about five-and-a-half feet. I put some hemp and micros close to the reeds, with corn on the hook. Assuming the bait would roll down the slope I dropped a hook with a grain of corn into four feet of water and ht a carp. It didn't seem foulhooked, but I played it on the Preston 17 hollow elastic for ages, and eventually the hook pulled out.
That four-foot swim became my banker for the next three hours. Bites never came quickly, but I found that by changing the bait frequently I could get occasional fish - a 1 lb F1 and then good carp up to 7 lb. I also hit one fish which didn't take out much elastic but which just would not come in for ages. That was a 2 lb barbel - how they fight! I also made a swim in the deep water only a couple of metres away from where I had been catching fish, and as soon as I dropped in there I had a carp. But I had only a couple there before moving back.
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| John Smith was on my left and had a good carp before I had a fish. |
Several different baits
Mussel, corn, worm and paste all took fish until I had about 60 lb. When bites slowed I put dead maggots into the really shallow swim, and followed it up with a rig baited with a bunch of deads. But I never had even a liner; never saw any clouds of mud; never saw a swirl there. I saw John land another couple of big carp, but I wasn't sure how many he'd had - he wouldn't need many at that size to beat me.
My left margin was much deeper - just over four feet near the platform but beyond that it became bumpy, and in one spot there was a hole - just as if someone had dug out a few spadefulls of soil. I found a small flat spot at five feet, put in some micros and hemp, and had a 4 lb carp immediatel, andd one a little later; but no more. I should have gone out to the deepest water, even though I'd not put bait in there, for a quick look. But I didn't!
I looked at my watch with just a few minutes to go; dropped in the four-foot swim again with mussel; and had a bite. This proved to be the best fish of the day at around 10 lb, and it was my last. I had clicked 39 lb for the first net and hadn't clicked the last couple of fish in the second net, but thought I had 40 lb there - total estimate 79lb.
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| Mick Ramm's last carp was 11 lb 7 oz. |
In corner peg 13 Bob Walker had 34 lb 4 oz. I'd not been able to see him because of the reeds, but I'd looked at some recent catches on Elm and seen that peg 13 had fished quite badly recently, so I thought Bob had done alright.
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| Martin Parker was third, 66 lb 5 oz. |
So our bank had fished best - you can't overstate the importance of that raspberry ripple.
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| Peter had plenty to laugh about - 99 lb 1 oz and the win. Well done, Peter! |
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