Our penultimate Spratts match, and there had been a drop in the overnight temperature. The NW wind was cold, and Trevor was able to peg us so it was on our backs, mainly over our left shoulders. And it turned out to be fairly typical cold-weather fishing.
There are 12 pegs on this side of the lake, with the higher numbers often having a slight edge. But in the first hour it was the low numbers, to my right, who started catching occasional fish. There was more ripple towards that end, and Martin Parker, on peg 5 to my right, had three fish early on. He told me later it was on bomb and bread punch. To his right I also saw Kevin Lee and Trevor Cousins land carp.
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| Cold and bright, and not much ripple at our end to start with. |
On my left was Roy Whitwell, who has magic feeders in his box, but today after a couple of hours he had not had even a liner. Around that time I had three fish on bomb and sweetcorn cast to the far bank - they were a 2 lb F1, a 2 lb barbel, and a nice 8 lb mirror carp. To be beating Roy on the next peg was a novel experience for me...but it didn't last.
Eventually his little method feeder and red wafter found good carp and he had about four in the next 90 minutes, the best of which looked to be around 10 lb. I also saw Mike Rawson, down on peg 10 land a couple of fish. But for the next 90 minutes I never had a touch on bomb, so changed to a tiny Method feeder and red wafter and that brought two 3 lb carp, one of which took when the rig had been out for almost 30 minutes, and I was confident of getting more if I was patient.
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| Roy Whitwell plays his first fish - more than two hours after we started... |
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| ...and it was a nice big common carp. |
But then I managed to snag my feeder over near the far bank. I walked round with my long hook and tried to hook my line and perhaps free the feeder, but I couldn't move the hook properly - it felt as though there was line down there. Roy had my rod and said he felt one quiver from my sweepings, but I never found my line and Roy had managed to pull and break the line close to the feeder by the time I got back to my peg. I re-tied the rig with a new feeder but no more fish were forthcoming. 😔
By now Roy had seven or eight fish, and said that Mike was also catching, but with the match ending at 3 o'clock, in the gathering gloom, we had to finish just when the fish were biting. John Garner on corner peg 12 had two or three late on the pole, and Dick Warrener on 11 did the same. I put a pole out but didn't stick at it long enough.
Yet another for Roy, in the last hour of the match, he ended with seven or eight.
The weighing started at peg 1, where Peter Spriggs, who is always well up in the field, had two fish for 3 lb 8 oz. I have long considered Elm peg 1 to be one of the least consistent pegs on the complex. Matches have been won from there (even by me) but generally it's not a peg you would run to. Actually it's right near the car park, so if you did start to run to it, you'd not be able to stop in time, and you'd take a dive headfirst into the lake. Which might manage to stir up the fish a bit!
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| Roy Whitwell - second with 41 lb 12 oz. |
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| John Garner had a late spurt on pole. |
Then Roy weighed in 41 lb 12 oz, and to our delight Mike Rawson on 11 managed to top that with his 43 lb 9 oz, all taken on feeder and ordinary pellets. This won the match, leaving Roy second, Martin Parker third, and John Garner fourth...and me nowhere. Well done, Mike.
Marks out of ten
I still can't work out why I should have those two good session, with those huge blank hours in between. But since Roy had hours at the start without a touch I must assume it's down to luck. However I will now concentrate on feedering in my Winter matches, unless conditions are warmer and good for the pole. I was probably worth 6/10 for this match, but should have tried worm (on which which Rod Melnyk, peg 9, had three fish late on, on the pole), or bread, both of which I had with me.
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| Mike Rawson had three bream in his winning 43 lb 9 oz. |
My next match is Sunday on Beastie, which will probably be very difficult because of this early stretch of cold weather. In a couple of months, when the fish are used to it, things might be a bit better.
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