I scrape around for fish on Elm

Peg 4, Elm, Sun, Aug 10
Ten of us fished this Fenland Rods match, which we pegged on the 12-peg West bank of the strip lake Elm, as JV Club were using the opposite bank to fish Cedar. Our peg 1 was left out, and corner peg 12 not drawn. My plan was to fish across with a feeder for a considerable time...a plan which was ditched after I'd managed one bream in the first 45 minutes. Actually I probably should have carried on, because Kevin and Roy both had good carp on their feeder later in the match.

My left margin, yet again, had bare
bank - not good in the sun.

But the lure of the pole overwhelmed me. And there is a point to make here - my lefthand margin was, yet again, bare bank, while John, to my left, had a nice big straggling bunch of reeds to his right, against his platform, that looked better than anything I had. 

To my right there was a nice-looking cut-out on a top-two, but it was full of snags, and Dick on peg 3 to my right was three times badly snagged up on his side of the little reed bed between us.

More bream
Anyway, I managed a bream on corn from the right side, out in the deep water in line with the edge of the  reeds. And when I half-heartedly had a look in the left margin, about 18 inches deep, I saw carp come in. Very exciting. With no extra cover they stayed about 90 seconds before dropping back into open water, but the second time they came in to my hemp and corn, followed by tipping water in from a height to let them know that something was happening, the float went down and an eight-pounder was attached!

My right margin - that little cut-out
was fishable on a top two, and
extremely snaggy. But I had the
majority of my fish there, out in line
with the edge of the reeds and grass.

So halfway through the match I had about 12 lb and that was actually doing rather better than either Dick or John. I'd also lost a big carp after playing it for several minutes, and it didn't seem foulhooked - it just wouldn't come in; then the hook pulled out.

Frustrating fish 
(cagey carp?)
The weather was getting warmer, with not much cloud, and only the occasional breeze - not ideal conditions. I probably should have gone back onto the feeder, but as so often happens to me I could see that fish were in the swim by the tiny movements of the float, so I stayed on the pole. Paste then brought two more 2 lb bream, and a switch to mussel brought one more carp from the bare-bank margin, and about three more from the right deep margin. I also briefly hooked several which came off after a few seconds - so annoying when I thought that most were not foulhooked.

John in action. All his fish came from the reeds to his right. Unfortunately my swim
 didn't extend that far. 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒

There was no pattern, and when I put a load of dead maggots into the lefthand margin, expecting that at least there would be some swirls or tails waving at me, there was nothing! Meanwhile John started to hook carp halfway through, and though he lost some he landed enough to make me think he had 100 lb. 

Dick Warrener on peg 3 had a good last hour or so.

Altogether I lost about ten good fish, but consoled myself with the fact that I had at least hooked them. I estimated I had about 50 lb to John's 100 lb; and Dick had a good finish, and I think he had about five or six fish, so he had probably beaten me. Earlier Allan on peg 2 had held up a good fish in the net to show me and Dick said that Allan had had eight, so that was probably beating me also. Oh, well. At least it was an interesting day's fishing.

The weigh in
Allan on peg 2 weighed 38 lb 14 oz - less than I had assumed; then Dick came in with just 33 b 15 oz. And that meant that my 46 lb 3 oz was now leading, with John the last to weigh in the section. Strange how the prospect of a brown envelope, no matter what it holds, becames just a little important as you weigh in.

John Smith with friend. He was third.

After John's two nets had been totalled he had 'only' 61 lb 10 oz, which astounded me. He had apparently lost one or two that I had assumed he had landed, and the others weren't quite as big as I had estimated. To his left Callum had beaten me with 54 lb, so weights were getting better, as they often do in these middle pegs, and unless John finished in the first three, I would go home penniless.

Then, as I think most of us had anticipated, both Roy and Kevin came in with bigger catches; Roy had several on a feeder in his 79 lb 12 oz; Kevin had fished several areas iof his pole swim, with hard pellet, cat meat, mussell - you name it - and had had a couple mid-match on the feeder. He won with 120 lb 7 oz, blitzing the rst of us.

Mike Rawson won the end section.

But that left John third, so I was fifth and won the section (probably underservedly) by default. Eight Quid Was Mine!

Marks out of ten
Afterwards I thought I had fished rubbish, but in reflection I honestly had difficult margins, and at the moment, in bright sunlight and little ripple, carp want cover of some kind if they are to come in to the margins. Also, I had lost several, and any two of those would have seen me frame. So I give myself 7/10, confident that at the moment I can put together a decent catch given better margins than I have had.

Next match Yew on Friday, where the carp often average nearly 10 lb each, so I can't afford to be on too-light elastics, as my mates don't take kindly to big fish ploughing through their swims on their first run. But I don't expect huge weights, as its been difficult on Yew lately. I blame the weather (not enough raspberry ripple).

THE RESULT

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