Catching up on Elm

Peg 11, Elm
I'm moving around the country more slowly now, but it's not my age (or at least it's not mainly my age). It used to take me 31 minutes to get from my house to Decoy; now it takes 50 minutes-plus. I feel guilty about the fact that my little van is spewing out pollution for 20 minutes more, but it's the fault of the local councils and various governments who wish to control our movements (literally).

Lt Gruber had a little tank. I have
a little van!

You see, my little village of Wyton is now a 20 mph area, so it takes me longer to get on to the main road, which is now a 40 mph area instead of the original 60 mph. Now, because of roadworks, I have to make a four-mile detour, and travel through the little villages of Bury and Ramsey in my little van, and there's a stretch of almost 2 miles which is now a 20 mph area, which I chug through in second gear. Then I whizz through Ramey Mereside at a startling 30 mph, avoiding the various assorted speed controllers, up to the railway crossing which is the start of another 20 mph section into Whittlesey. 

And when the schools are in residence it's another few minutes waiting for the children to cross the road, which I admit they do in a very orderly fashion; I'm sure we were never as well behaved at my school. But I never saw skirts that short at my school. Perhaps that's because it was an all-boys place. Though there were some funny lads there!

Back to the roadworks, which are because of, err, well, potholes and ordinary holes. I'm told that one reason (apart from the Fenland silt) is that the original tarmac applied when I were a boy, was hard, and water accumulated on its surface, and froze in the winter, causing accidents. Modern tarmac is porous (and cheaper), so the water seeps down, leaving the surface drier. BUT the experts who suggested its use didn't know (or care) that when that water inside the tarmac froze, it cracked the road. And it always will!! So my little van will continue to pollute for longer that it used to. That's progress.

My right margin looked very nice.

The match
And so to the  Fenland Rods match on Elm., where yet again I drew next to Roy Whitwell, who will be pleased to note that he has been given back his original name. I have the power, in this blog, to change names and ages at will, and have frequently been known to do so, with no lasting harm to the persons involved.

Anyway, before the match started I plumbed up, which always takes me at least 15 minutes. And when I dropped the rig down into the right margin, next to my platform, I felt it hit fish! A good sign, wouldn't you say? So that was where I started, on corn, and within minutes a 5 lb common carp lay in my little landing net. But no more followed, so I switched to feeder.

While I was doing that, Roy Wizard waved his magic feeder rod and within an hour or two had four carp, while I took just one, right across next to the far-bank reeds. Meanwhile Callum on my right had two or three, and I was behind.

It's disconcerting when Roy starts doing this early in the match!

A change was called for, so I baited two swims very lightly with hemp and casters - the right margin, and the deeper water a few metres away, also to thge right. I'd plumbed up the left margin and actually had a knock or two there, but the bank was bare, giving the fish no cover, and I never looked there again.

Switching carefully  between those two swims saw an occasional nice carp some to me, first on casters and then on corn, and the last couple of hours were best. And I didn't lose many fish, which was pleasing. In that time I had a patch where about three carp over 8 lb in 20 minutes, which was a nice end to the match. But Roy had kept catching carp on a feeder, and I guessed he had a lot more than me, while he said I had beaten him.

Dave Garner waved his little
 waggler and picked up
 63 lb 1 oz of these little beauties.

The weigh in
Mark Ramm, guesting with us this season,  had weighed in 83 lb 12 oz from peg 1, which was not fancied at all. I think he took several on feeder. That led the field down to me, with Callum lying in second place with     76 lb 4 oz. 

My nets went 100 lb 5 oz, and when Roy weighed I saw that his fish were, on average, a fair bit smaller than mine, which was why I thought he had cbeaten me. He totalled 77 lb 4 oz, leaving me as the winner and Mark second.

Marks out of ten

 I thought that this was one of my better matches, thought a glance st the result suggests I was near the best end. Nevertheless I give myself 8/10, and it gave me a lot of confidence in my hemp and caster feed. Next match on Lou's where, with the water level low, I wanted any peg except 1 and 2, where the margins are decidedly dodgy compared with the others, which have a lining of dense reeds.

THE RESULT

I work hard on Damson

Peg 12, Damson, Fri, Aug 15
This was a Spratts match, held on pegs 5 to 12 of Damson, and as usual Trevor did the draw. When Roy Whitfield's name came out it was followed by "Eleven". Now that's a good draw - there's a bush to the left, which has been trimmed down, and when it was much bigger fish would always be under it. There's a shallow spot next to the bank, and round that there's a deeper area which always seems to hold fish.

Me moan? Never.
I must have let out a groan when the swim went to Roy, because when my name came out Trevor asked me where I'd like to be drawn. I said "Ten" because that's the nearest swim to that little bush. But number 12 came out. Now what's the point of asking where I'd like to be drawn if I don't get it? It's like my wife asking me what we should do now, and I tell her...and again I never get it!

This was one of those days forecasted to be ultra-hot, but it didn't feel particularly hot to me, especially with a slight breeze into our faces.

Casters shallow it is
Damson always holds fish somewhere in the swim for some of the time (though today I had seen only one fish, while usually there are lots showing themselves before the match), and I had casters with me, so casters shallow it would be.

Ben Townsend started me off on Damson when I fished casters shallow with him earlier in the month, and we had so many fish in the first 45 minutes that I suggested we move. He assured me it would work on all swims on Damson and indeed I nearly always start off fishing a pellet shallow and usually get a fish or two straightaway. 

One tiny roach (almost)
Not today I didn't. I stuck with casters for about 20 minutes, with just one tiny roach on banded caster, and that fell off! Meanwhile Roy on my left had fish on a pole so I changed to corn down the side. Eventually I had a fish, a 1 lb F1, and I think Roy had hd seven or eight, and he then went on to his favourite feeder, cast to the island. I'd left my rods in the van, but I had no island to cast to in any case, so I blundered on.

Slowly I found F1s and then carp on corn, while feeding hemp and caster, but I had to come very close to the bank to get a bite, in my left margin. Of course I also went into the right margin, but waving reeds made it difficult to see every little knock on the float, and I'd left my hook in the van as well. No matter, I managed to knock some of the reeds down, out of my eyeline, and started to catch very slowly on both sides, mainly carp of 2 lb-plus.

There was a lot of splashing to my left as Roy found fish on the feeder.

Fish to 7 lb
I trundled on because I was catching the occasional fish of 4 lb-plus, with the best at 7 lb. I saw that John Smith on my right on peg 13, was catching good fish from the deep water. I'd got a rig ready for that, but carried on in the margin. Roy then had a purple spell on the feeder, hooking fish after fish within seconds of casting out. I should have gone out into the deep water at that point, but I only went out there in the last hour, by which time even John was catching hardly anything. Roy also started to catch a few by dropping his feeder down into the shallow margin.

My original rig didn't seem right so I put on a heavier float for the deep swim and managed to get just three or four carp on cat meat in that last hour. I don't think John  had any in that last hour. I guessed Roy had  twice as many fish as me, almost 200 lb; while I had something over 90 lb in my three nets.

The weigh in
The weights started in the 50s and 60s with Neil Paas totalling 105 lb 10 oz from peg 9. I'd seen Neil catching a lot of fish towards the end when I couldn't get a bite, as had Kevin next to him, so I was certain I was well down the list. 

Neil Paas sees his fish being weighed,
pen in hand. John Smith watches.

Kevin's four nets went 141 lb 10 oz to take the lead, and then Roy weighed in. His first net went  25lb, his next was 56 lb,  knocked back to 50 lb under Spratts' rules. Then disaster! His third net went just over 60 lb, and it was disqualified; his final total was 75 lb. And as he'd weighed in he told me that most of his fish were F1s, and not as big as I'd imagined, partly because this year the F1s are fighting so hard.

My three nets went approximately 34 lb,  44 lb and 27 lb, giving me a total of 107 lb 3 oz, and putting me a very surprised second with just John to weigh in corner peg 13. He said he'd had trouble losing fish, and rigs, in the reeds, but his total of 156 lb 10 oz won the match. Well done, John, who is almost (not quite) the oldest man there. He is pipped by myself, and Mick Ramm, who is just months older than me. 

So I ended third, which should have been fourth.  Roy would have been second (by ounces), but life's full of woulds and shoulds, isn't it?

The lower numbers seemed to have a lot of F1s in their nets, while myself and John had a lot more mirrors and commons. I put mine down to using hemp and caster, but perhaps the carp were just more concentrated towards our end.

Marks out of ten
I deliberately left my rods in the van because I took my hardcase containing my short kits. I would probably have tried a feeder in the side if I'd had a rod set up, but it's so easy to confuse one's self, and I used about five different pole rigs anyway. I'd always intended to concentrate on the pole shallow, which is why I left the rods behind. The bottom line is I enjoyed it, and third place in that club is pretty good, so I give myself 7/10. Next match was the next day on Elm.

THE RESULT

5 John Garner            50 lb 8 oz
6 Trevor Cousins        66 lb 3 oz
7 Bob Barrett              32 lb 4 oz
8 Mick Ramm            35 lb 14 oz
9 Neil Paas               105 lb 10 oz
10 Kevin Lee            141 lb 10 oz        2nd
11 Roy Whitfield        75 lb
12 Mac Campbell    107 lb 3 oz           3rd
13 John Smith          156 lb 10 oz        1st

 

And then there were six...

Peg 18, Phoenix, Float Fish Farm
This was Fenland Rods' first time on Phoenix, at Float Fish Farm, who were happy to let us have the whole lake. Many thanks. However, just eight signed up, and I got a message on the morning from Callum  that his wife was ill, so we were down to seven. Martin Parker turned up and had a funny turn, so the tackle shop got him a chair.

When I say a funny turn I don't mean like Tommy Cooper's funny turm ( Man: Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a pair of curtains. Doctor: Don't be silly. Pull yourself together). No, Martin definitely didn't tell any jokes. But he seemed to slowly get better and drove to his peg after the draw. Kevin Wilmot had given me the eight swims he thought would best suit us, but now we were fishing just 1, 5, 11, 18, 17, 20 and 31, with Martin on 31.

Fifteen minutes later I had a phone call from Martin's wife, Sheila, to say that Martin had rung her saying he again felt unwell. I went round and Martin was in his van at the wheel. After a conversation we decided that he was well enough to drive home, and I watched him drive away. A short time later he rang to say he was home, feeling a bit better. And then there were six of us...

The message from above
Someone had very kindly written"18 FLYER" on my platform. So at least I knew I was on the correct peg; some of the pegs on some of the lakes here seem to be missing, probably overgrown. But where should I fish?

Frankly  it would have been more helpful if the 'someone' had written something like: "Fish feeder with orange wafter within a metre iof the far bank to the right against the reeds, or fish the right margin with paste. In the last hour go to the reeds in the left margin" They would, or course, have to have written it very small to get it on the paving slab, of course, but I needed information, information. Only half a message; typical!

Thanks for nothing!

A cool wind

No matter. Conditions largely dictated my tactics. The cool wind was into me slightly from the right, and as 18 is in a corner it was very kindly blowing a little debris into my swim. It wasn't too bad when I got there, but as the wind picked up the debris started piling up. 

This won't take long. Fish were waving to me from the far bank, so I started on a feeder and for half an hour I had liners; then they stopped and I hooked a fish...which came off. After 90 minutes that was all I the action I had had so I wandered up to Frank on 27, who had two carp on a feeder from well short of the far bank. He said that Mark Ramm on 29 had had several fish on a pole. I went back to my nightmare.

It looked lovely before the start!

By now the left margin was really afloat with debris, but I had another half hour on the feeder, without a bite. I felt I had to try the pole so I went out to about four feet of water to the right, as there was scum close to the bank. Here there was a huge undertow, left to right, but I put on a 1 gm float and was able to hold back and in the next hour or so I had two or three small carp. 

Eventually I felt I had to try to the left, about ten feet from the bank to avoid the rubbish, but the undertow was so strong the float just whizzed back to me. I put the float up the line, and next cast was snagged; next cast I hooked a piece of carpet or something, covered in weed. Next cast snagged again. I gave that up.

Now I understood!
Then I realised that the undertow wasn't an undertow - it was the result of the spinner near peg 16 being on, and creating a big flow, like the Trent. That explained why rubbish was gathering next to the bank to my left, where the flow was less, but just under the surface I could see leaves in front of me flowing fast to the right. So it was into the right margin about  metre from the bank, as the scum there had cleared, where at last I found fish.

Casters the answer for me
Putting hemp and caster into two feet of water saw a nice final 90 minutes with four small barbel and a dozen carp, nearly all on a bunch of casters. Nice fishing. If I'd started there I might have been able to get somewhere near Roy Whitwell's winning 126 lb 7 oz from peg 11, taken on mainly bomb to the far bank mud after a slow start.  A day or two later Kevin told me that the hotspot in my swim was, indeed, in that left margin.

When the scum cleared I fished there and found fish.

Conclusion
I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Phoenix. It obviously holds fair numbers of fish after last year's problems  on some of their lakes, and the banks are nice, and the margins look good. If only I had been able to fish my left one! But that's fishing. Well done Roy, who had never fished there before. Mark Ramm was second, and I was third, winning my three-peg section by default. Better than nothing. Next match on Damson with Spratts.

THE RESULT

1 Allan Golightly           4 lb 6 oz
5 Stephen Thomson        DNW  (had a carp and a barbel)
11 Roy Whitwell        126 lb 7 oz         1st
18 Mac Campbell        41 lb 11 oz       
27 Frank Snow            17 lb 11 oz
29 Mark Ramm           68 lb                2nd

A cold wind on Six-Island

Peg 11, Six-Island, Thurs, Aug 6
I had a day's coaching from Ben Townsend last week - he was brilliant as always. It was on casters shallow, and mugging, and I left with confidence sky-high. Then the next Spratts match, in which I could put my new skills into operation, saw a strong Westerly side wind on Six-Island, and it was cold and got colder. I had to put on my hoodie and pull the hood up; then I added my Goretex jacket. Definitely not casters-shallow weather.

Still, peg 11 has a good-sized patch of irises growing to the right, so I did loosefeed casters there for almost two hours, hoping that carp might at least be interested as the wind was left to right. Meanwhile, using my short tops,  I went out with the short top plus two and a bit, which even at that short distance didn't allow me to present a bait perfectly on the pole because of the wind.

As soon as the match finished the wind died
away - as it does! That's when I took this.
The better fish came from that cut-out, but 
not next to the reeds.

A VERY slow start
To cut a long, sorry, story short, after two hours I had two tiny roach on corn (one hooked under the chin). Dick Warrener on my left had a good carp on feeder and had added at least a couple of other fish, and Bob Barrett on my right had also landed at least two or three net fish. I at last tried a banded caster shallow for a time. but never had, nor expected, a take in that wind. Because the carp don't like it up 'em, you know. Things were not going to plan.

My dilemma
I now had a dilemma - I just couldn't see me catching anything, and I wondered whether I weigh in my 2 oz at the end of the match, or give a DNW? It might even be an FOH, as that is now being spotted on various weighing-in sheets. Would my reputation be lowered by an FOH? Would that tell the whole story of the rotten conditions? Or should I actually FOH ? Decisions, decisions.

Success
Then Dick landed another decent fish, and I knew he'd hooked it fishing a top two, so I did the same. On went a small piece of cat meat and I dropped it out just to the right. And miraculously, after no more than 30 seconds the float went under and I was playing a fish. For a long time.

Even longer than that.

It would not give up, and then after about ten minutes I saw it was big...and I had only my 18-inch net put together. So another five minutes went by and gently I spoke to the mirror carp and eased it head-first into the net. Success. And then I saw it was hooked in the snout, which was why I couldn't get its head up. And it was about 10 lb! I changed immediately to my 20-inch net!

Dick found fish on a feeder, then pole.
Note the line of interested geese on
the bank overlooking the lake.

The left margin
A move to the right, under where I had been throwing casters, brought a 2 lb F1 on corn. But nothing else. The match was now half over and I had about 12 lb.

A look in the left margin , where I had put in hemp and micros three or four times, saw a liner or two, and I concentrated there, and eventually took three or four small F1s. I was also snagged twice, probably on an old tree root, and lost a hook. I fancied that the fish might now come on better. But there was only about 90 minutes left and I had 20 lb, while Dick obviously had much more. I had no idea what anyone else had, except that Bob on my right had landed a few more.

Another move

I had been throwing casters right into the reeds on my right, a metre from the bank, expecting carp to be hanging around there but I'd not had a bite there. Suddenly I saw a carp waving its tail at me right in the middle of the cut-out to my right, not where I'd been feeding. Then I remembered that previously when I've had this swim, that was where I have caught carp. So I started dropping casters down into that spot.

In business

I had a shallow rig handy, with a banded caster, so dropped that in, right among the carp I could see. Nothing. So I deepened the rig and put it out farther, into deeper water. Nothing as it sank, so I threw some casters around it. After doing that two or three times the float suddenly vanished and I was into an F1, but at least  I was in business.

In an attempt to get the bigger carp I could see from time to time I put on another rig, baited with four casters on a size 14. That was better, and I soon had a bigger carp. My best tactic was, as before, to let the bait hang just off bottom, and feed around it. Eventually a carp would take the bait. In that last 90 minutes I had three or four more carp from 4 lb to 8 lb, plus three or four nice plump F1s over 2 lb, all on casters.

A last minute fish?

Just as time was called the float dived under and I was attached to a fish which screamed away. I shouted "Fish on."  Two seconds later I shouted: "Fish Off" as the fish made a beeline for Kevin Lee's keepnet on the far side. A scale was on the hook - the only fish I lost. I'd clicked 38 lb and 19 lb. 

 

I asked Dick why he had only one net in, because I thought he had over 70 lb. But he then told me that he had only one carp - the rest were F1s. They are fighting so hard this year - it's has been easier to land the bigger carp.

Trevor Cousins on 24 finds himself hooked to a half-ton island.

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now as Trevor does battle.
Video courtesy of Roy Whitwell.

The weigh in

I was amazed to be top weight round to me, and astonished that Dave Hobbs on peg 6 hadn't weighed in. The cold wind must have had something to do with it. My nets weighed 42 lb and 27 lb - total 70 lb 11 oz, while Dick had just 35 lb 7 oz. Those casters must have made the difference.

Neil Paas said he had about 90 lb, but he said that Mike Rawson had more. In fact Mike weighed in 47 lb 10 oz. There was a bush between them and Neil had obviously heared a lot of splashing as Mike landed his F1s.

Neil weighed in 91 lb 4 oz, and as I watched the weighing, it was definitely not as cold  there - shielded from some of the wind by the high bank. John Smith on 15 said he had calm water all day. It's the shallowest swim on the lake, and the fish didn't seem to want to feed there in the wind. John said he had 8 lb to 10 lb, in the last hour, but didn't weigh them. 

Roy Whitwell, peg 25, second, 98 lb 15 oz.
That's an ice cream man standing
behind him, hoping for a sale.

Peter Spriggs won from peg 20, which had some shelter from the wind. He had 103 lb 9 oz, with Roy Whitwell on 25, at the car park end, second on 98 lb 15 oz. That left me fourth.

Winner Peter Spriggs with
his third net.

Marks out of ten

On reflection I do think that the cold wind blowing down to our end affected the fish after so many weeks of hot or warm temperatures, so I was pleased with fourth, and believe that the casters helped sort out the few bigger carp I had. I give myself 8/10, and was happy not to lose any fish except that last-second one. 

I wasted the first two hours fishing too far out; I should probably have concentrated on the deep water, just off the bank. much earlier. But you can't win them all. Next match on Float Fish Farm on Phoenix on Sunday. They now provide all nets for matches. I've never fished the lake but Kevin Wilmot has given me some advice. The forecast is for 30 degrees, with light winds, so my casters fished shallow might be good. Whatever the result it's a day's fishing...

THE RESULT

3 John Garner            26 lb 8 oz

4 Mick Ramm            21 lb

6 Dave Hobbs                DNW

8 Peter Harrison        28 lb 4 oz

9 Kevin Lee               54 lb 4 oz          5th=

10 Bob Barrett           38 lb 12 oz

11 Mac Campbell      70 lb 11 oz        4th

12 Dick Warrener        35 lb 7 oz

13 Mike Rawson         47 lb 10 oz

14 Neil Paas                91 lb 4 oz         3rd   

15 John Smith            DNW

18 Graham Ward         28 lb 10 oz

20 Peter Spriggs        103 lb 9 oz         1st   

22 Martin Parker         54 lb 4 oz         5th=

24 Trevor Cousins      31 lb 8 oz

25 Roy Whitwell        98 lb 15 oz         2nd

Spratts on Yew (didn't fish); Vets National (crap)

Martin Parker and I couldn't fish the Spratts match on Yew because we were in the Veterans' National on Lindholme, North Lincolnshire. But here's the result. fished on the East bank.

16 Peter Spriggs        107 lb 4 oz      1st
17 Dick Warrener        68 lb 5 oz     3rd
18 Grahan Ward          53 lb 11 oz
19 Bob Barrett            29 lb 3 oz
20 Trevor Cousins      23 lb 12 oz
22 John Garner           61 lb            4th
23 Dave Hobbs          58 lb 6 oz
24 Kevin Lee            19 lb 9 oz
25 Mick Ramm            DNW
26 Peter Harrison      27 lb 10 oz
28 Mike Rawson       43 lb 14 oz
30 Roy Whitwell       97 lb 3 oz       2nd

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Veterans' National, Lindholme

Honestly the best bit about this visit was the B&B we were in, at The River Don Tavern and Lodge. It's about 20 minutes North of Lindholme Fishery, where about 75 of us old, wise, and wrinkled anglers over the age of 65 were meeting the next day.

The room, which was extremely comfortable, cost us £80, with breakfast left in the room for us. That's fine since we wanted an early start, and Lindholme has a cafe. There was more breakfast than we needed. And we had an evening meal on the Tuesday - two main meals (more than we could eat); two deserts; and four drinks...less than £40. Brilliant value for money.

The previous day
The match was less palatable. We'd watched a weigh-in on Bennies lake the previous afternoon, mainly pegged on one of the spits in the 50-60 area, and I was appalled at the weighing. The scales were at zero when the bag holding the fish was put on them, so every catch was overstated; perhaps they do this to increase the weights?

Fish were rolled down the net, and a big one was left flapping on the grass before it was weighed separately. Not for me!

The match
On the day it was chaos for us because of the narrow access between Loco and Bennies, and since we both had a walk to our swims it was just as well that we had two motorised trollies in my little van; but they have to be dismantled to get them in, so we had to get all Martin's tackle out, assemble the trolley, and load it on the bank, among cars and vans trying to be parked. Then Martin had a 100 yard walk to his swim on Loco and I had to negotiate cars and vans to get nearer to my swim on Bennies.

My peg 39 on Bennies was  only about an 80-yard walk, described to the angler on my right as being in on a part of the lake "where you've got no chance, mate!" Whoever said that was right. The bank was bare, and the margins inches deep, so no cover. 

The fishery is stuffed with F1s so I tried shallow, with no fish at all, and eventually went into deepish water well out with corn for F1s, with a couple at the end on a feeder, and a total of 9 kilos (about 20 lb). The anglers to my left had 8 kilos and 7 kilos, while the angler on my right had a good half-hour spell when he had a few F1s on the feeder and weighed in 18 kilos. The angler on his right was one of just four in the match to not weigh in. Danny Sixsmith won the lake on one of the favoured pegs with 45 kilos, on worm at 2+1.

I would probably have done a little better if I'd used a feeder for longer, but I was fishing to win the lake, and thought my best bet was to concentrate on the pole. It's all ot nothing in a match like this.

Martin had 11 kilos on Loco lake but lost five big fish. However the angler on his right had 68 kilos, so Martin was not very happy. At least we got home unscathed. The match was won, as expected, on Strip Lake with 90 kilos-plus, one of many big weights taken on a short pole on maggot fished shallow, with F1s the main target.

We're lucky at Decoy
It confirmed my view that we are so lucky to fish Decoy, where there's not a single area where an angler has no chance of doing well, whatever the conditions. And there are lots of proper carp there. 

I was told that next year's match is at Westwood, near Boston. If that is the case we will travel separately so won't have to stuff everything into one van. Next match was on Six-Island - that write-up is coming up soon.