Happy enough with peg 31 on Willows in this Spratts match, fished by 14, and using peg 1 and then 11 to 35 using just the odd numbers. I had Kev Lee on my left on 29 and Neil Paas on 33. Not much Raspberry Ripple, though, as this end of the lake is sheltered by a high bank behind and the island in front.
Before the start I was fascinated to see carp literally in front of my platform, drifting about right next to the bank, even though it's no more than eight inches deep there. And I didn't dare put a net in, because that would have spooked them. They were still there at the start and a grain of corn dropped into the slightly deeper water eventually brought...a tiny rudd. So I had to put a net in, but as far to the right as I could, where there was a little more water.
I spent time making sure the net was well out, ready to receive lots of lovely carp which would follow, in a procession. Not! I fed pellets and hemp into 18 inches of water to my left and the carp went and had a look and I saw lots and lost of rolling clouds of mud, but no fish in my net. And I spent almost 90 minutes trying to catch just one, in vain. Stupid of me.
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| Calm most of the day in the high numbers, and in my swim ducks became a problem. |
The next couple of hours saw me manage to catch just four or five carp from the deep margin to my left, on a small piece of cat meat, as they gradually started to feed. And they were much easier to net than the smaller F1s.
I was hampered badly by a family of ducklings - a mallard and six babies, who shot into my swim every time I put in bait, or even just moved my pole. They were incredibly quick at snatching at anything going into the water, and I was getting very frustrated as I had to stop feeding, even with a pot, as they always moved in.
Kevin was now hitting a lot of big fish, though he told me later he pulled out of 12! Neil was catching steadily on mussel, still well out from the bank. I should have gone about ten metres to my left, into a deepish hole I had found next to platform 30, but instead I had a brainstorm and put dead maggots just short of that, where two carp obliged me.
Then came a near-very-disaster. I went to the maggot swim, got a tremble on the float and struck. A fish was on. It wasn't very big and I gradually broke the pole down until within a minute I was down to my short top and short Number three (for some reason still called a short Number Four).
I had the landing net ready but suddenly the fish turned on the boosters and shot out towards the island. I was on an 18-20 elastic in the short top, which stre-e-e-e-tched until there must have been 20 yards out, and I couldn't immediately add sections because I had the landing net in my left hand.
I couldn't get the pole tip under the surface because of the power generated by the fish. Then the inevitable happened and I closed my eyes before everything went slack. When I opened them there was blood running down both hands and I assumed the float had come back and hit me. But no. The whole rig was gone. So it must have been the connector which flew back.
I then assumed that the fish was foulhooked, but it hadn't felt like a big carp as I played it, and if it was an F1 it must have been VERY big.
One of the fingers on my left hand had a small hole - it looked as though someone had fired a single BB shot into it, and something had skimmed across the top of my left hand, breaking the skin. I guess I was lucky. A visit to the van saw me put plasters on both cuts and I was able to resume, none the worse for wear except that I was one rig less, and had lost several minutes of fishing time just when the carp were feeding.
The last hour or so saw another F1 or two, plus another couple of nice carp come to a small piece of cat meat, and as so often happens. But there was never a time when I had a good session - all the fish came out of the blue, with no pattern.
Neil Paas weighed in 96 lb 2 oz, and I had 70 lb 8 oz. Then it was quite exciting, because Neil Paas was Golden Peg and would win a small fortune if he had won. Then Kevin Lee 's weights were added up and checked, and announced as...97 lb 4 oz, to take the lead by 1 lb 2 oz and save the Golden Peg for us all.
Our Fenland Rods match on Sunday was due to be on pegs 1-15, so those last two weights gave me hope that we would get some decent weights, although they often can't compete with the higher numbers.
I really shouldn't have kept concentrating on the fish near me for so long. I should have known that if you're going to catch a carp which is coming to your feed you're going to do it in a few minutes. After that I thought I fished quite well, putting in feed with a big pot every drop and then using a cad pot every cast as well. But all-round I am worth 5/10 because I lost so much time at the start; and the disaster didn't help. Could I have asked for injury time to be added?
Next match is on the Willows low numbers.
THE RESULT
13 Dave Hobbs 91 lb 3 oz 3rd
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