Funny the things you remember seeing on the way to a fishing match. Lots of Red Kite. More and more dead badgers - goodness knows how many there must be around here. And deer - both alive and dead; in fact I had my closest encounter on the way to this match on Willows, as I drove through Ramsey St Mary. I think it may have been a Chinese Water Deer, as it was a little over 18 inches high. It came out onto the road just a few yards ahead of me. I wasn't driving fast, and it stood there for a second before lolloping into some really high scrub beside the road, and I could still see it there as I drove past.
"Road Closed" signs have also been breeding, and seem to appear in any spot where the road ahead is actually open. Two weeks ago I passed one, and in this instance yes - the road was blocked about five miles farther on! Except that the barriers which had been laid across the road (for no other reason than to frustrate drivers, as the work was on the verge) had been laid, or knocked, down by an earlier frustrated driver, leaving a pathway through. Which I took.
But the encounter I will remember most was two weeks ago on a Sunday morning. The road to Ramsey was blocked at the spot in Upwood ahead of the corner whereI always turn left past the Peterborough gliding club. Coming from Ramsey St Mary was a huge, long, lorry; it would probably have held two shipping containers. The lorry stopped at the junction, preparing to turn right, as the road to the left was blocked.
I obviously stopped so it had room to turn, and the driver beckoned to me, so I got out of the van and walked to the lorry. Down the steps from the cab came the most beautiful tall, slim girl, with long hair and a smile that would have melted an ice cube at ten paces. With phone in hand, she wanted to check the best route to the A14. So I gave her one - along the road I had come; through King's Ripton; turn left; past the protest site (incidentally, the longest-running in the country at the moment) and follow the signs for the A14. I was able to scroll down her phone and show her the A14 just beyond Huntingdon.
Later I wasn't sure that the A14 was signposted from there, but to my relief on the return journey from Whittlesey I saw that it was. It was a surreal moment; certainly the biggest lorry I've ever seen on those roads. And the most gorgeous lorry driver you could imagine. I suspect that another road closure somewhere had diverted her from her original route. I hope she made it OK.
Nine of us for this Fenland Rods match on Willows 1-15. I was eighth out of the cocoa tin and honestly, peg 3 would have been my last choice. There's an aerator to the left, but I've never yet lknown it to hold fish; and the left margin against the reeds is very shallow indeed. The right margin is better, but the howling South-easterly would be coming from the right; in any case the sun would also be on the right, making it difficult to fish that way for a time. (It was).
I would have picked pegs 1, 5, 13, 14 or 15. as I've done well on all those in the past, or any peg in the ripple (you know me).
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| The main ripple was hurtling down from peg 15, but fading as it reached our pegs 3 and 1, though the wind turned slightly later on. |
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| Before the start - Mel Lutkin was pegged on the platform you can see in the background. |
When I got to my swim it was worse than I had feared. The wind gave pegs 15 to 5 a good ripple, but the island was shielding me from it, and the last four swims - 1 to 4, were almost calm, with a build-up of debris which was a bit of a nuisance, but not too bad - leaves, twigs and hundreds of feathers. I guess a sparrowhawk had made a kill recently (something I've never seen). This detritus was being blown past my swim, towards Mel on 1, drifting back along the island, hitting the main ripple, and coming back past my swim. All day. As we got ready there was a bit of a swell from the water rolling through my swim, but no proper ripple.
Mel was catching some of his fish towards the island in the shadow of the treees, and I wondered whether the fish were staying out of the bright sunlight. But the wind was so strong now that I couldn't present a rig properly past about eight metres into shadow. I also saw Mel lose one or two - perhaps the fish were finicky in his swim because of the absence of any surface disturbance.
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| Mel Lutkin plays a fish towards the end of the match. |
When the wind died down a little I could get good presentation for a few seconds, and took about four or five F1s in the next couple of hours on mussel, but with the match half over that was all I had - about 11 lb. But Mel had been catching fish steadily, and Callum had had some as well. He also had a most unusual catch - an eel - the first I've seen for at least 30 years.
At one time I felt that pellets might work, so put in some 6mm and 8mm hard pellets near the aerator, hoping that would stop the roach from taking them. That worked - but I never had a bite of any sort, so it was back to Plan F.
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| Callum had the same problem as me - so many of the fish we both hooked made a beeline for our keepnets. |
Then the wind got worse, and I started to get a proper ripple, though it was almost a side wind which made presentation still bery difficult.. But I managed to pick up an occasional fish on cat meat fished overdepth at about seven metres, just over a little shelf. One was a good double-figure mirror and the rest F1s apart from a 3 lb mirror. I kept trying mussel, but realised in wasn't heavy enough to hold bottom. Eventually, withh 90 minutes left I pushed the bulk shot on my heavy float down to 12 inches from the bait and started fishing cat meat 10 inches overdepth, which meant it was now holding bottom. The result was remarkable.
I started seeing all sorts of indications, and although the bites were slow and hesitant I started picking up F1s quite quickly. I soon got to 35 lb on the clicker and at 2.55 pm, with 65 minutes left, I started a second net. I had to come closer because of the wind, but there I found that mussel would work. In the next 20 minutes I had five more fish including another double-figure mirror. I was really flying.
Then, suddenly, I couldn't get a bite. The last 40 minutes were a nightmare - one from the deep water on the left where I'd not put in any bait. Then when I put micros and hemp in there fish started swirling and I thought I might start bagging again. No! I hooked just one and it came off. Unbelievable. And to make things worse Callum had a brilliant last few minutes. I was very despondent, as I imagined that in the nicer ripple some big catches would have been made.
Strangely, during that time I started picking up long twigs from the bottom on a lot of casts - something that had not happened before. Perhaps the increased wind was moving them through the water.
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| First to weigh, and the eventual winner with 69 lb 7 oz. Well done, Mel. |
Mel was first to weigh, and I imagagined he would have way over 100 lb. In fact his fish were smaller than I had assumed and his total was 69 lb 7 oz. My second net, which held fish caught in just 20 minutes (apart from one), went 22 lb and I ended witht 61 lb 13 oz, so I felt I at least had a respectable weight in the circumstances. Then, to my amazement, Callum had just 54 lb 11 oz. I assumed he'd also got much more. I managed to get a picture of the eel - about 1 lb 8 oz - before it made its escape from the weighing bag.
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| Callum's eel - too slippery to hold! |
Round in the higher numbers they's all caught nice carp, with Kevin Lee yet again framing with 65 lb 2 oz - mainly goood carp - for second spot, leaving Mel the winner and me third. A popular winner as Mel does as lot for the club. On peg 15 an unlucky Dave Garner had a great start, until he ran out of mussels; he ended with 47 lb 1 oz.
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| Dave Garner made a great start, but then the wheels came off. He ended fifth with 47 lb 1 oz. |
Marks out of ten
I was disappointed afterwards, but seeing the weights I have to say I thought I probably did OK - probably worth 8/10, though I could have tried worm in that lasy session in the margin. Still, I put myself in a position to win - it just didn't quite work out. And I actually felt I could have won from almost any of the the other pegs. That might be over-confidence of course!
As we were packing up an ice cream van came along the path, playing its jingle. It does that nearly every Sunday, and I've never yet seen anyone stop it and buy one. 😕A case of hope over experience!
Next match is Wednesday on Damson, when my short tops will be brought into action again (IO hope); then Sunday sees our Handicap Match on Crow at Pidley, which is a lake we all love, though open to the elements.
My consultant has agreed a ten-session radiation package on the biggest tunour on my left lung, which should shrink it, but cannot get rid of it. In the long term if the the smaller tumours on both lungs cause me problems chemo is not possible, but tablets can be prescribed to ease any symptoms. So far I have not had any noticeable problem, so the prognosis is good for the immediate future. Fingers crossed.
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