I leave it late on Cedar; and the Beastie result

Peg 3, Cedar, Decoy
I was happy enough with peg 3 in this Fenland Rods match, until I cast out to clip up to the far bank, and realised it was all bare bank over there. I would rather have had reeds, giving cover to those big ole carp I was hoping to catch, but there you are...

Martin Parker plays his first fish. The wind was cool and from the North,
but later turned round a little to the East.

About 8 lb, and into the net. That was Martin's biggest fish.

Martin Parker on my left was casting to within inches of the reeds opposite him, and had a carp within the first hour; and Whitwell the Wizard on my right had a couple, I think, in the first two hours. I had nothing until I cast several metres away from the far bank, and caught a 2 lb-plus bream on an orange wafter. An hour or two later another bream came in, but Roy Whitwell had another two or three.

Nowt on the pole
A spell on the pole at about 10 metres using pellet saw not a bite for me, but Roy was now catching occasionally. In the deep margin two more bream came to my corn, and I lost a couple of big fish, possibly foulhooked, and had some liners I was sure were from carp. I wasted too much time there, and with a little over an hour to go, with just those four bream in the net, I tried the 10-metre swim again. To my amazement I had another bream, and then a carp of 8 lb. 

 Roy Whitwell had a slow start casting to the 
far-bank reeds, but caught better
 when he shortened his cast.

The bites out at 10 metres were tiny, but more followed and I netted about four smaller carp and an F1. Meanwhile Roy had more carp, now casting often only halfway. I think he ended up using hard pellet in his hybrid feeder. But he had peg 1 vacant to his right, giving him plenty of water, and had been able to go a fair way towards the platform opposite on 26. I think he ended on the pole in the margins.

Almost last?
That last hour was by far my best and I wondered if they would have been there if I'd gone bacl onto the l9ine earlier. Martin had only the occasional fish in the second half. And I had no idea what any of the others had. I guessed I would probably be almost last, as Roy obviously had over 100 lb and I estimated mine at 30 lb.

Carp in one of Roy Whitwell's three nets.

The weigh in

Sure enough, Roy had 108 lb 7 oz, which easily won. The rumour was that Mike Rawson had caught an 18 lb carp. I weighed in 34 lb 6 oz, with Martin having just 15 lb 15 oz. Weights were much less than I had imagined, and that big carp by Mike weighed 12 lb 1 oz - funny how everbody else's seems bigger! It's now in the lead for the Biggest Fish  cup we award at the end of our season. Callum Judge fishing on 13, in the corner, was second with 44 lb 12 oz.

Mike Rawson carefully picks out his best fish.

Here it is - 12 lb 1 oz and heading our Big Fish trophy list.

Marks out of ten
I can't blame myself for expecting to catch carp in the margin, as I am sure they were coming in at times. I was just pleased that I could spot those tiny bites out in the waves, and as a consolation for coming sixth out of 12 I won my four-peg section by default. I give myself 6/10.

One thing I experienced was that the Sonubaits expanders that don't need pumping  were not as nice to put on the hook as the Spotted Fin ones whhich I tried (pinching them underwater to get them to sink).

Next match is Saturday on Magpie, Pidley. I wonder whether I can catch shallow now that the water is a little warmer? Otherwise it's probably small cubes of luncheon meat.

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Here's Monday's Spratts result from Beastie lake - I see weights are definitely picking up, and the carp appear to be moving all over the lake now (though those pegs from 22 to 24 seem to hold fish all year ropund). I had to miss this to play a bowls match. We played the league leaders, who have lost only three games out of nearly 30,  losing by just two shots - a good result for my team. I have signed up for Summer bowls again - no leagues, we just draw for teams each time we play.

3 Dave Hobbs            67 lb 15 oz

4 Trevor Cousins        35 lb 4 oz

5 Roy Whitwell          84 lb 8 oz      5th

7 Rod Melnyk            17 lb 15 oz

13 Graham Ward        32 lb 9 oz

15 Neil Paas                48 lb 14 oz

17 Mick Ramm             9 lb 8 oz

18 Peter Spriggs        102 lb 12 oz    2nd

21 Mike Rawson         33 lb 13 oz

22 Bob Walker            37 lb 6 oz

23 Peter Harrison      140 lb 4 oz        1st

24 Kevin Lee              93 lb 11 oz       4th

29 John Garner           94 lb 13 oz       3rd

30 Bob Barrett            27 lb 13 oz

Two matches to forget on Cedar and Six-Island

The weather has really been confusing the fish...and me. Cold and windy, then hot and calm, then cold and windy again. I'm now going and expecting to still be fishless after the first three hours.

Peg 6 on Cedar was my office for the day (again) in Thursday's Spratts match. I'd drawn peg 5 in a recent JV match and also remembered drawing 6 a few weeks ago, when I'd had a bream on the inside. Both of those matches saw the four pegs towards either end fish a bit better than the middle. The platform on peg 8, which has been leaning over, had been quickly repaired - Karen is doing a great job keeping up to date with these things.

Lots of sun, with the cold wind at the start warming up,
and allround it was quite a pleasant day.

When asked, at the draw, which peg I'd like I said peg 7, because I know there's a nice shallow shelf to the right, and hoped that after recent sun, the fish might move in  their in the last hour. But I had Martin Parker there. And neither of us had much in the first three hours, though I think Martin had one on a feeder; I had nothing. Kevin Lee on 8 was the first to catch a fish, after about ten minutes...and he never had another one all match!!

Martin Parker had a fish fairly early on a feeder cast to the far bank.

The fish were  frisky, but into the net it went, eventually.

There wasn't much ripple, though the backish wind was fairly strong, and there was lots of sun, and the water was very cold.  A feeder produced nothing for me, then a look inside to the left, in the deep water, which had produce dbream previously, saw me catch a bream, and then a 4 lb carp, and a then smaller one on cat meat. 

The last 90 minutes saw three more bream come in, all around 3 lb-plus, and a bigger carp abouy 8 lb, and I was playing another bream when the match ended. But Martin had suddenly found some carp out on 2+2, and had a good finish. And that lovely shallow area I had fancied didn't produce even a bite. So what do I know?

Martin's second-placed catch of 41 lb 5 oz.

The weigh in
Roy Whitwell found fish on his feeder yet agin - he should be known as Whitwell the Wizard! And he added a few towards the end on a pole, to win with 47 lb 12 oz. Martin was second with 41 lb 5 oz. Roy said he thought I had won - probably because he saw me landing those bream and assumed they would be carp. 

I ended with 32 lb 5 oz for fifth, which would have been more if I hadn't lost a bream which jumped well clear of the surface when I hooked it and looked to be well over 4 lb!

The Wizard weighs his winning catch.

Marks out of ten

I thought I had done OK - at least I caught some fish. I know that there were carp in the swim towards the end. They came in when I fed micros and hemp, and I saw some definite liners. It's not my fault they didn't take my bait!! 

I was probably worth 7/10, with Martin doing exceptionally well to frame from his middle peg. Next match is Fenland Rods first of the year. The motor has gone on my trolley so I will take even longer than usual to set up and leave the bank. 

THE RESULT

1 Neil Paas             37 lb 10 oz      3rd

2  Graham Ward       6 lb 5 oz

3 Trevor Cousins    35 lb 8 oz        4th

4 Bob Barrett          29 lb 2 oz

5 John Smith           16 lb 10 oz

6 Mac Campbell      30 lb 5 oz

7 Martin Parker       41 lb 5 oz      2nd

8 Kevin Lee                DNW

9 Roy Whitwell       47 lb 12 oz    1st

10 Bob Walker            DNW

11 Mike Rawson      15 lb 3 oz

12 Dick Warrener     21 lb 11 oz

13 Mick Ramm        8 lb 2 oz

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Peg 13, Six Island (yet again) for me in Fenland Rods' match. I've done well from it several times recently, but always with bigger carp in the last hour and always close in on my right hand side, on a top two, because there's a bush a few feet farther long the bank. But honestly, I would prefer almost any of the other pegs on that short stretch of bank, because all of them have a reasonable stretch of reeds somewhere along the margin, while peg 13 has mainly bare bank, and in shallow water at this time of year the fish are reluctant to come in close into shallow water without that reed cover.

Yet again a strong cool wimd, though it was over my left shoulder.

One peg I would almost always always go for, in any conditions, is opposite on 6, which has really nice margins, offering some shallow water. But Martin Parker drew that, and also the Golden Peg. I fancied he might do well. I had to push my motorless trolley, and was knackered by the time I'd got everything to my swim, and didn't fancy putting out a feeder, so I fished pole all day.

Foulhookers early

Bare bank and grass in my right margin. That's
Dave Garner on peg 12, who had just one fish.

Yet again I sat there fishless after three hours. I'd lost two good fish early on fishing pellet out at 2+3,and I asssume both were foulhooked. A look to the right in my margin saw me not get even a knock; then a switch towards the bush on my left saw me catch a fish! An F1 about 2 lb. The wind was really strong, from the left and slightly behind me, and good presentation was not easy.

I was sure that I saw an occasional shiver of the float as something brushed against the line; and when I struck at one of these I hit a big fish, probably foulhooked, which came off after 15 seconds. Annoying, because there's always the chance of landing a foulhooked fish, whetever the size, and I really needed something else  to put in the net.

The left margin looks nicer, but it meant fishing into
the wind, which was quite strong for most of the match.
That's Mark Ramm, fishing his first match with us.

Roach

A short spell with maggot saw me catch about 1 lb of roach (always hoping F1s would muscle in on them), but the thought of the bigger fish saw me drop back, with corn, to the left margin. Then a 3 lb F1 did come in, and I 

wasted more time there, fishless. Nothing in the right margin, though I had several big liners, showing me that there were carp there.

With 15 minutes left and the wind having dropped a little I went out almost to my original line, at just over 2+2 and an 8 lb  carp obliged very quickly, but nothing in the last ten minutes. I'd no idea what others had caught, except that Callum on peg 11 had defnitely had fish on both feeder and pole. To my right Dave Garner, former club champion, had one 3 lb carp. It really was dire!

The weigh in

Three wheels on my wagon

 (remember the New Christy Minstrels, in 1965?)

I missed following the scales because of having no motor to help me along the bank. Even that was better than John Smith, who had a wheel fall off his trolley when halfway back to his car. He cobbled something together, but had to drive his car back towards the heap of luggage he'd left on the bank of Four-Island lake. Allan Golightly generously took the wheel home to put it together.

Kevin Lee on 17 found carp, mainly in his left margin, in the second half of the match, and won convincingly with 72 lb 13 oz, with Whitwell The Wizard second on peg 9, which has been fishing quite badly, with 40 lb mainly on feeder. And Martin Parker was third, 38 lb 13 oz from peg 6, including fish from the shallow margins.

My meagre effort was 12 lb 12 oz, which amazingly was eighth out of 13. I tried worm, but didn't try 6mm expander in the margins, nor mussel, which did tempt fish for one or two of the other anglers. So I give myself 4/10, partly down to mental fatigue brought on by old age. That's my excuse, anyway! Next match Sunday on Cedar, where I would like a peg towards one of the ends, please.

PS. My trolley trouble is caused by failure of the electronics box, about which I know as much as I do about splitting the atom. Unfortunately the man who was going to have a go at mending it suddenly went down with severe back trouble, so I'm left high and dry and motorless at the moment. But the extra physical exertion is good for warding off diabetes, I am assured.

Some undeserved luck for me on Beastie

Peg 17, Beastie, Sun, Apr 5

I fancy Roy Whincup tut-tutted and shook his head when he saw I had drawn peg 17, on the spit, in this JV club match. Roy had sat there on Friday and won the lake with a little over 100 lb, but he was good enough to tell me how he had fished - a feeder to the aerator then into the left margin. Next thing, when I am at my peg, Roy walks down to me - he had drawn next door on 18, next to the bridge.

The wind was already strong, but Roy said it had been worse than that on Friday (a day when Lee Kendall lost three Number fours, two of which were blown in). During the day it did get distinctly stronger, coming from the front/right, and it was very difficult to get decent presentation on a pole rig to the right.

A bit rough for those of us facing the wind!

I started on a maggot feeder towards the aerator, and within a few minutes a plump 2 lb F1 was nestling in my net; I had chosen to use the small net because of the wind. In the next hour just two gudgeon came to that tactic, so I had a look on the pole, using a 1.5 gram rig. I gave up fishing to the right very quickly, and had a look in the left margin, where it was about five feet deep, but with a nice hard bottom two metres out.

Two bream

That margin swim brought two bream and and a 3 lb F1 in the next hour, but then I went almost three hours, fishing a small piece of cat meat or a grain of corn, with nothing except two gudgeon, foulhooked on the cat meat! I also went on the feeder, with a hybrid and wafter without result - not even a liner.  However I was sure that there were fish around as every few minutes when I was on the pole the float would dip, and even in the big waves I was sure it was a bite, or a liner.

I was using short tops, which definitely stiffened the pole in the wind, and I made a mental note of that for future reference. 

A swim farther out

I'd seen Roy catch on both feeder and pole, fishing to his right margin, where I fancied there was just a little shelter from the very worst of the wind. To my left Peter Harrison had struggled, but then he had three or four fish fairly quickly, fishing farther out than I had been doing. So I had a look out at four sections, and first drop with a small piece of cat meat (in silver sachets from the Co-op), the float slid under and I was playing a common about 9 lb.

 I hadn't bothered to add the short Number Four, and actually ended holding just the short top to land the fish. With five feet of rig it wasn't ideal, but I got away with it. I didn't fancy moving to get my short top out of my holdall in the wind, as it was so easy to dislodge the gear behind me, which was wedged down to stop anything blowing away, so I carried on regardless (now there's a good name for a film!)

I try a bigger piece of cat meat

No more came from that swim, though, so I went into the left margin again. But I was never sure exactly where my hemp and corn was finishing up, as the wind was so strong. Still, I fancied I could see occasional movement on the float, and I wondered if the wind was creating an undercurrent  next to the bank and moving my bait around.  So in something approaching desperation I put on a really big piece of cat meat, sure that this would hold bottom, though not confident at all, and Wad'y'know, I had a bite!

That turned out to be another carp, about 8 lb, and now there were just about ten minutes left. On went another big piece of cat meat and I missed what looked like a good bite even before it hit bottom. Next drop saw another bite and another good fish on; seconds later the match ended. 

It was several minutes before that fish was in the net, played on 14-16 Matrix Slik, and its tail was hanging over the edge as I pulled the net in. It must have been at least 12 lb.

The weigh in

Playing that fish had made me even later than usual packing my stuff away, and I had no idea what anyone had weighed when they weighed me (or rather my fish) at 39 lb 12 oz. Then Roy told me he had over 70 lb. And it wasn't until the money was paid out that I found I had won my five-peg section by default, as Roy ended second and I had beaten Peter Harrison (pleased  about that) and the two to Roy's right. Kev Bell won the lake from peg 30 with 78 lb 15 oz.

Nine fished Horseshoe, won by Ian Frith on 13, fishing to the bank on his right! That's unusual, as it's a very short stretch of bank, but peg 12 wasn't it. He used casters and took all but three of his fish there. Chris Saunders weighed two carp for 25 lb 13 oz, and the biggest was weighed at 17 lb 13 oz!

Marks out of ten

I was pleased, afterwards, as although I finished well down the list, I feel that anyything won in a JV match is a feather in my proverbial cap. But later I realised that I was lucky in that I hadn't thought about the underwater turbulance enough. I could have used paste, and I should certainly have tried heavier lumps of cat meat earlier. I didn't try worm, either, nor a bunch of maggots - anything would have been worth trying. I did try mussel, which was probably too light, and it never brought me a bite.

My excuse is that in these high winds, when the platform is over the water, it takes time to stand, turn round, and carefully walk back, over pole sections, landing net handles, and assorted bags, to get stuff, and it wasn't possible for me to have everything with easy reach. But at least I had two rods made up, and several top kits, so I had done my best before the match started to give myself several options.

Bearing in mind the conditions I have to give myself 5/10, and say I was lucky to look around and pick up that first big lump of cat meat. But everybody has luck at some time (even when it's perhaps not deserved). Next match Friday on Cedar when I think I will concentrate on my short tops sgain (though I always have a few long tops with me as well).

Dastardly Damson!

Peg 8, Damson, Wed, Apr 2
What rotten weather we can get in the UK.  The forecast was for mild 4mph winds strengthening to 7mph in the afternoon. But at the draw it was a really cold wind that greeted us, and Dick Warrener and myself agreed it was around 10 mph; by the end of the match it was sunny and quite hot. No wonder the fish are confused.

With 14 of us fishing this Spratts match the peg we all fancied was 14, on the end bank sheltered from the NW wind, and that fell to Dick. I was drawn peg 8, and didn't really know what it might be like. In fact it was s-l-o-w at the start, except that Neil Paas on 6 had four on a feeder cast to the far bank, in the first half hour. My bait was icy cold when I touched it.

It was too cold to take pictures at the start - but
this is what it looked like by the finish!

Slowly I realised that with the wind putting a nice ripple on pegs 6 down to 1, my swim had hardly any ripple, unless I cast towards the far bank about 60 yards away, while pegs 10, 11 and 12 had a cast to the island.

Usually on Damson there are fish to be caught in the shallow margins, but not today. It took me half an hour to get one, to my right, on maggot. Then things slowed up (!). I tried a hybrid and corn towards the far bank; then a bomb; then it was back on the pole, which produced several tiny roach and one carp from the deep water. which was, surprisingly, only six feet deep. 

By halfway I had four fish on the pole; then the sun came out and small carp started basking in the reeds to my right - sunning themselves, but not interested in any food. To rub it in, Dick now took off his jacket and sat there, happy in the sun while most of the rest of us still had our hoods up.

Four more small carp came on corn in the margins. By now the sun was really hot, and more fish came to the surface, lying there immovable. I had two bites in the last five minutes, both missed.  A terrible day by Decoy's standards, but what do you expect at this time of year?

Dick worked hard on small fish for
his winning 42 lb 15 oz.

The weigh in
I thought that with eight fish I'd not done bad, and later realised that seven carp and F1s was probably as much as anybody else had caught from the margins. The first three pegs all had over 20 lb, and I can't put that down to the ripple - they are three of the best in the club. 

Trevor Cousins in fact mugged all of his 24 lb 9 oz, except for one roach, on a long pole in the last two hours. With reeds opposite at about 16 metres he could see fish just under the surface in their reflection, which I couldn't - but he managed top catch them on pellet shallow (which I sure I wouldn't have been able to). I weighed in 13 lb 11 oz for ninth, but Dick whupped us all with 42 lb 15 oz, and he lost some time walking about when his back started to play up. Well done, Dick - a hard-fought win for you.

Next match on Beastie on Sunday, which is my last with JV club as Fenland Rods begin their season the next Sunday. The water must still be cold, though Friday saw some decent weights from Beastie with one over 100 lb. If we don't get a frost it might not be too bad. But wind is forecast from storm Dave; nothing new there, then!

THE RESULT

1 Peter Spriggs            27 lb 15 oz        2nd
2 Trevor Cousins        24 lb 9 oz           3rd
3 Roy Whitwell           24 lb                  4th
4 Peter Chilton            19 lb 13 oz
5 Graham Ward        DNW
6 Neil Paas                 21 lb 5 oz
7 Mick Ramm              4 lb 3 oz
8 Mac Campbell         13 lb 11 oz
9 Mike Rawson          DNW
10 Peter Harrison       19 lb 13 oz
11 Martin Parker     DNW
12 Bob Walker          21 lb 11 oz
13 Bob Barrett            7 lb 13 oz
14 Dick Warrener      42 lb 15 oz            1st

A right royal thrashing on Cedar

Peg 5, Cedar, Sun, Mar 29

Ten of us were on Cedar in this JV club match, and nine on Elm. The wind was yet again quite strong and cold, but mercifully over our right shoulders, though we had rain halfway through. I started on a maggot feeder cast to the far side, and had one or two liners. But after about 25 minutes, with Dan Pettigrew on my right having one on feeder, I changed to a hybrid feeder with a hard pellet; then a yellow wafter; then a pink one.. 

Yet again cold, dull, and very windy.

After three hours Chris Saunders on my left had had one carp on the pole, and Dan had had half-a-dozen or so; and I had had a few roach on pole and maggot (as had Chris), but no sign of anything better.

Dan Pettigrew lands his first carp.

 I was casting my feeder right to the far bank, which is where Dan had been casting, and then a shorter cast brought a 5 lb carp on an orange wafter. Later a near-3 lb bream came from the deep margin to my left on pole, and that was my last fish, though I hooked a lost a good fish ten minutes from the end on my hybrid feeder.

Chris Saunders plays the first of his two carp.

Dan Pettigrew with part of his
second-placed 84 lb 19 oz catch..

In the last hour Chris had another carp, on cat meat on pole, and ended with just those two. Meanwhile Dan had been picking up the occasional carp and I reckoned he had about 12. He never had a good spell, and was having to wait for 20 minutes for most of his takes; sometimes giving up and trying the pole, though he never had a fish on it.

On corner peg 13 Roy Whitwell found three carp on a hard pellet, and a change to an orange wafter brought more, though he had a long blank spell when someone in the match on Oak started walking up and down the bank, and then decided to pack up two hours from the end. Roy never had a fish while that was going on, but he ended with a winning 90 lb 6 oz, with Dan second on 84 lb 10 oz, and my 8 lb 14 oz was next to last.

  Roy Whitwell took all of his  winning   
90 lb 6 oz catch on the feeder.

The verdict

This happens at this time of year - the carp are still gathered in some spots, and I don't think I fished badly. The lesson is that if you do start finding fish, don't do anything rash; Dan was patient and thoroughly deserved his second spot. Well done, Dan, and winner Roy.  The Elm result is also below.

My next match is on Thursday on Damson, where fish might be in the shallow margins in numbers if the weather has been warm enough. Otherwise it's out on a top two or beyond, into eight feet of water.