I manage to catch some fish on Kingsland

Peg 2, Kingsland Small lake, Sun, May 18
Just nine of us were able to fish our Fenland Rods event on the small carp lake at Kingsland. Some of the platforms are obviously new, they are now numbered, and all have concrete steps down to them. Even so I have to take extra care going up and down them; but I was able to take my time setting up, and was ready well before the start, helped by the fact that I deliberately left my rods behind, intending to stick with the pole and enjoy myself.

I've been having some poor results recently but I love Kingsland, and was really looking forward to this match.

I was drawn on peg 2, Number One having been left out because it's close to the bank of reeds which is now running along about 12 metres in front of peg 17 on the end bank. I would have liked peg 1, but perhaps it would have been so good it would have been unfair. The lake appears to be about four feet deep maximum, and there was an occasional mid-sized carp visible before the start. However, even in the bright sun I saw only a couple more until the last hour.

Hot, with no wind, but fish still fed. This platform is obviously new. Note that
the reeds appear to have noved out from the end bank (or some have been cut).

Cat meat then maggots

As always I put out cat meat, to about 2+2, with no bait (this can attract small fish) and was surprised not to get a touch. Eventually I started throwing out maggots and fishing shallow, and bumped a couple of nice fish, causing me to change to a 13 hollow elastic. That brought me some small rudd, and one carp about 2 oz. So I fished the same swim at full depth, and it appeared that there were carp underneath the rudd as I had fish of 2 lb and 3 lb. 

But then I had only the occasional small rudd. So after nearly two hours I had about 6 lb in my net. But opposite on peg 15 Roy Whitwell was now landing fish after fish - every time I looked up his elastic was out. Two pegs to his left Kevin Lee had also landed some fish, fishing about three sections out. I then saw him fishing the margins, so I tried my left margin, putting in hemp and some groundbait with a few grains of corn.

That immediately produced carp around 2 lb and I had a good run for an hour or more on cat meat, all fighting like absolute demons, and taking me far too long to land them. Later I found out that Kevin had, in fact, had only two tiny carp, on paste, from the margins, and had gone back to 2+2 with cat meat, where he had all his fish. Roy was still bagging, and it was obvious they would beat me as they had already got a big start on me.

The sun now was really hot, with hardly any wind, and I started to enjoy it - sun has been a bit of a novelty recently.

A better fish
To rest the left margin I dropped on on a top two, to my right margin close to the platform, where there was a big drop-off about 12 inches deep, and the best fish of the day came there - about 7 lb, to a mussel. It felt really heavy during the short fight, and when I came to take the hook out it had thrashed about so much that it appeared to be lassoed around the body, and it took me a minute or two to untangle it. I never did see whether it was hooked in the mouth, as by that time the hook had come out.

I probably spent too long to the right (although it also produced a fish of 5 lb) and when I went back to the left sport had slowed. Out to the long line, and all I did was foulhook a carp that came off. Now I also started losing fish from both margins - I probably lost 25 or 30 , some of which, I am sure, were properly hooked. But I kept putting the occasional fish in the net, best no more than 3 lb, while to my right Mike Rawson seemed to be catching better fish than me, on meat out at 2+2. 

Shallow and short for a time
Then I started to see fish swimming along near the margins, and I started feeding maggots to the left margin, hoping the carp might come shallow. In fact they did, and I hooked and landed  four or five before hitting a bigger fish that gave me a real run-around. I started to get fed up playing it (Roy told me afterwards that he was so frustrated that he started hitting fish and immediately stripping the elastic right back with the side puller, risking pulling out. At the end he said his arm really ached). My big fish suddenly made for the little cut out to my right where there was a bit of rubbish sticking up; and it snagged me!

A minute later it was still visible, flapping about on the surface, so I gingerly made my way up past the building site I had created with my gear, and went up the bank to get my 12-foot long hook. But by the time I had fished about in the water with it the fish had gone and I got back my rig minus the size 16 hook. Back in the shallow swim and the fish had now gone.

A better finish
The last 30 minutes was better, in fact I started a third net, just to see what I could catch. Corn in the right margin was the method now, and I had about nine fish which weighed 17 lb, still losing the odd one. I am sure hemp got the fish feeding; and if they hadn't fought so hard I could have had a lot more. I can't remember fish of that size fighting so hard - they must be getting ready to spawn. 

Dave Garner had 69 lb 8 oz on a waggler.

The weigh in

I was first to weigh - 91 lb 3 oz, which I thought would be well down the list, as there are clearly a lot of carp  in the lake, and conditions were not bad. But I was slow packing away in the heat and I didn't catch up with the scales until they were weighing Roy.  A look at the sheet made me blink in astonishment - I was in fact top on my bank. But Kevin had weighed 180 lb, with every fish taken on cat meat. Roy totalled 144 lb 13 oz, although losing 6 lb over two of his nets as the limit on Kingsland is 50 lb. And when last man Dave Garner weighed 69 lb 8 oz I realised I had done much better than I thought, and was third overall.

Marks out of ten
It sounds strange, but I haven't been used to aiming for big catches recently, and it was a bit of a surprise that I was getting a lot of touches at times. Lots were liners, but on the whole I managed to wait intil I sensed that the fish had taken the bait properly. So although a better angler would have had nore fish, I give myself 7/10, and will be more positive in the weeks to come. I perhaps should have used bugger lumps of cat meat - most were taken on the small lumps from the Co-op cat meat satchets, but na big lump did work well when I put one on. 

I should have gone into my magin much earlier - a lesson I must remember from now on. Interestingly the two best fish came in more quickly than the two-pounders. So if I'd managed to find the better fish I could have ended with double my weight.

Dick Warrener

Good to see Dick Warrener come down to watch the weigh in - he's been experimenting by trying to cut his finger nails with an electric saw. The experiment was not a success. But he hopes to be back on the bank in the next couple of weeks.

My next match is Friday on Elm at Decoy, with temperatures forecast to be up to 28. No idea how I will fish.  I'd like the East bank around peg 15 or 16.

MUSSELS
Just seen a photograph of frozen cooked mussels on Facebook posted by Woodside Fishery (wherever that is), stating that mussels are banned, that lots of them in the water may rot, and stating that uncooked mussels may hold bacteria harmful to freshwater fisheries.

Now any fishery can make whatever rules it likes, but I have never heard of anyone putting in large numbers of mussels as loose-feed, as that obviously reduces your chances of a fish taking your bait. I tend to fish half a mussel and just put in the other half, as do all the anglers I know, with many not putting in any mussls at all.

In addition, who would want to fish with uncooked mussels when cooked are so easily available from Tescos, and so much firmer? Did the fishery realise that the photo was of cooked mussels?

THE RESULT