Fifteen of us fished this Spratts match on Oak, using both sides. My peg 24 had a small bunch of reeds growing in the right margin. The depth in the side was a little over two feet, but I found a small second shelf in front of the reeds at about thre-and-a-half feet. Unfortunately I couldn't get a bite there early on, so went out to about nine metres. In fact I should probably have kept looking at that spot, seeing what happened later.
To cut a long, boring story short I eventually found a carp about 8 lb from the longer swim, but I can't remember what the bait was - probably mussel. Opposite, John Smith hooked three good carp early on, and must have been leading the match at that time, though I found out later that he had lost the third one.
To my left Roy Whitwell had a carp an hour or two after the start, and to my right Kevin Lee also took a long time to find carp, also out at about ten metres. I think he had about three, before suddenly coming into the side and catching some more good carp.
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| Kevin Lee, on my right, found fish early on in open water before coming closer in. |
My deep water was about five feet, and it looked as if that was where Kevin was fishing for his fish, so I concentrated on my deep water about three metres out, but got only liners. So it was back out, where two more good carp came in, and with an hour to go I had just those three, but Kevin must have had six or seven. Then fish came swirling right in the side for some micros and hemp I had put in, but I couldn't get even a liner there.How do they do that?
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| John Smith hooked three good carp very early on in the match. |
Then, as Kevin landed his next fish, I saw that he was fishing not as deep as I was...and still the penny didn't drop! He told me later that he, too, had found a second shelf and took all those fish there. But I carried on in the deep water instead of coming back up to my own reedy shelf. One more fish came just before the end from the deep water, and I ended with four. Roy, to my left, also had four, with one on a feeder and the rest on pole. Not a lot for six hours fishing for us.
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| Mike Rawson didn't weight in, but he definitely caught a fish. |
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| John Smith prepares to weigh. |
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| Dave Hobbs - 36 lb 9 oz, which beat me! |
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| Neil Paas, complete with his Nottingham Forest cap, was third. |
I lost three fish, but then probably everybody did. I've never known so many fish to be foulhooked or hooked on the outside of the mouth. It must be something to do with the way fish have fed this year. Perhaps the absence of a nice, settled warm spell has something to do with it.
I should have gone back to that little shelf. But the results show that everyone struggled, so I give myself 6/10. Perhaps I should have tried a feeder, but that's Roy's favourite method, and he had only one on it...and he's good! I finished ninth, and congratulations go especially to Kevin, plus Wendy amd Joe. What a pair they make. Next match on Six-Island on Sunday, where any peg from 6 round to 14 will do me.
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| Dick Warrener - 4th. |
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| Kev Lee with friend. |
THE RESULT
East bank West bank
28 Mick Ramm 13 lb 12 oz 3 Joe Bedford 52 lb 14 oz 5th
26 Roy Whitwell 35 lb 1 oz 5 Dick Warrener 53 lb 10 oz 4th
24 Mac Campbell 35 lb 2 oz 7 Mike Rawson DNW
22 Kevin Lee 96 lb 12 oz 1st 9 John Smith 43 lb 4 oz
20 Bob Barrett 32 lb 11 Neil Paas 70 lb 3 oz 3rd
18 Bob Allen 44 lb 3 oz 13 Martin Parker 35 lb
16 Dave Hobbs 36 lb 9 oz 15 Trevor Cousins 42 lb 3 oz
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