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