Two matches on Willows

Peg 23, Willows, Wed, Sep 9
For a change, in this Spratts match I was given the one peg I really fancied. Peg 23 is often not put in, but it has an aerator to the right and the only time I ever fished there I won with fish from next to it. I remember, though, that it was very snaggy and every few casts I retrieved various-sized twigs and branches. It was the same this time, but there were fish there again.

The first minor problem was that there was a breeze coming in from the right, so perfect presentation was difficult. I used a 0.5 gm float, but afterwards I thought that a 1 gm rig would have enabled me to hold it in place more easily. 

A nice breeze at the start, but I needed to keep the bait close to that aerator.

I started out a metre from the aerator with a 6mm expander over micros and had a few knocks, eventually bringing in a nice roach. A shift right up to the pole holding the aerator saw a bite and the elastic shot out under the aerator; but with the pole dipped down well under the surface the 2 lb F1 came straight back, and into my waiting landing net.

My opponents were catching...
To my left there was splashing from both Neil Paas' and John Garner's swims, and the fish seemed to be bigger than mine. In fact they probably weren't, but the other bloke's fish always look bigger, don't they?

Over the next hour or so another half-dozen F1s up to 3 lb took corn but then there was a bit of a lull. Moving back out away from the aerator  and then back right to its edge saw one or two more, but mid-match I must have gone 90 minutes with only the occasional roach. Then bites started again, but it was slow work.

Hard work
I really enjoyed fishing for that one bite; lifting or dragging the bait to induce a take; and after a lot of work a fish would eventually come in. I didn't lose any, which was very satisfying, although those F1s were turbocharged.

In the last hour I saw swirls from 'proper' carp near the margins where I had put in a little corn and hemp. A couple of times I hit fish on cat meat, only to come back with a scale. Then a 3 lb mirror, hooked in the mouth (only just) came in, and I almost wish it hadn't, because I wasted more time trying for another. Without success. That was my only proper carp, but I lost another couple, foulhooked.

A late flurry
The last few minutes saw me go back to corn near the aerator and two more F1s were my reward. I wish I hadn't gone into the margins, because although the bites were finicky, I reckon I could have had another six or eight F1s fishing to the aerator. 

Peter Harrison had a mixture of 
sizes in his first net. The second
held three carp for 31 lb.

I thought I had about 40 lb. Right at the end Neil Paas had landed a fish which was definitely bigger than any of mine; about 5 lb. It was only afterwards that he told me it had been foulhooked. I guessed both he and John had beaten me.

The weigh in
Peter Spriggs had 57 lb from peg 1, which included some proper carp. Then Peter Harrison on peg 3 brought in his nets, and there were some good fish there - his last net held three for 31 lb; total 77 lb 6 oz. 

Next was Graham Ward on 15, who had feedered his way to 55 lb 3 oz, and they turned out to be the top three. As we moved round towards the higher numbers there were precious few carp - most were F1s.

Graham Ward's 55 lb 3 oz
was taken mainly on feeder.

To my amazement my 44 lb 4 oz beat both Neil and John, and Roy Whitwell on 29 was the only other person to beat me, with 47 lb 5 oz. So I ended fifth out of 12, and I think I could have finished an easy second if I hadn't wasted time in the margins.

Marks out of ten
Although I didn't frame I had managed to winkle out F1s among the twigs and branches. So I had made the right decisions, but should have carried on putting the occasional fish in the net. I wasn't to know that, of course; usually I can add bigger fish in that last hour. So I give myself 8/10 as I had put myself in the positon of actually coming second.

I have to miss the next couple of Spratts matches as I am in a bowls match for the next one, and radiation on my lung is beginning on Sept 21st for two weeks.

THE RESULT

1 Peter Spriggs            57 lb                2nd
3 Peter Harrison          77 lb 6 oz        1st
15 Graham Ward         55 lb 3 oz        3rd
19 John Garner           31 lb 6 oz
21 Neil Paas               42 lb 3 oz
23 Mac Campbell       44 lb 4 oz
25 Mick Ramm            8 lb 12 oz
27 Bob Barrett           20 lb 5 oz
29 Roy Whitwell        47 lb 5 oz        4th
31 Mike Rawson        16 lb 15 oz
33 Trevor Cousins      42 lb 15 oz
35 Kevin Lee             37 lb 3 oz

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

FENLAND RODS RESULT

Here's the result from a Fenland Rods match I had to miss.

After the Spratts match I thought there was a very good chance that some big weights might come from the first half of the lake, as that had held all the better carp.

Yet again Roy Whitwell showed everyone else a clean pair of heels from peg 14. But I don't have any details.

Handicap match on Crow is another good'un

Peg 18, Crow, Pidley
Our Fenland Rods annual handicap  was again on Crow, at Rookery Fishery, with 14 taking part and the handicaps based on last season's overall Championship positions. That meant that Roy Whitwell was fishing from scratch, as did the guests, and the club members adding 10% per position behind him. All our members just love fishing this lake - great bank platforms and easy access.

Deciding tactics before the match - Three Wise Monkeys plus one angler!

Yet again I found myself next (with a gap) to Roy Whitwell, and he found himself next to me (!) There was a bit of a wind on, right to left, and I wasn't sure whether a long pole would be possible. In any case I had decided to start on a feeder while dropping small cubes of luncheon meat just into the deeper water of 3 ft-plus out at about five metres.

        A beautiful left margin.        

I had a fish on within five minutes, but it came off; and Roy had the same thing happened just afterwards. In the next hour I managed one F1, but I saw Roy's rod bending several times - he told me aftewards that he lost several of those. 

So onto the pole line, and I was surprised not to get bites immediately. In fact it took me the next two hours to land just six F1s, including one when I added a couple of sections of pole and went onto a line I hadn't baited. That should have given me an inkling that the fish were tending to stay well out (but the inkle didn't reach my brain). I hadn't seen much action as I peered along the lake from time to time, so I ploughed on.

A nice right margin which I neglected to
  try until the last 20 minutes of the match.  

Switch
A quick switch back to feeder saw an F1 from a spot right against the far-bank reeds, but no more. Yet Roy was getting the occasional fish there. He is just so accurate with his casting.

 Sport on the five-metre line picked up a little, and a look into the margins with 90 minutes to go saw my first proper carp, about 5 lb, on cat meat. The fish were stirring up the bottom, but for every one I hooked (which wasn't many), I lost two foulhooked.

Stupid!
I left the right margin until the last few minutes, which was stupid, as I hooked two fish there immediately, though both were foulhooked and while one came off the other broke my 7 lb hooklength. I an sure that if I had gone there earlier I would have had several of the better fish. As it was I think I landed just two from there.

I had had perhaps four to 8 lb from the left margin, but lost at least that number foulhooked, and by the end I thought I had possibly 60 lb. Roy had had a really good last hour in the margins on his pole.

The weigh in
No catch pictures as I was concentrating on working out the handicaps as I followed the scales. I convert the weights to decimals of 1 lb as it's quicker to work out the handicap figures accurately.

I was surprised how low the weights were compared with what we usually get here. Last year I had 157 lb and didn't win. Mel Lutkin had 92 lb, taken well out, while Kevin Lee won the match with 108 lb 11 oz, all taken on mussel on a long pole apart from two on the feeder. At that moment I realised I would probably have done better to have fished farther out for longer, and to start feeding there properly.

I ended with 66 lb 2 oz - fifth in the match. It was noticeable that the bigger fish came from towards the higher numbers. But afterwards I found out that hardly anyone apart from Roy and myself had managed much from the margins. I ended seventh in the handicap.

Marks out of ten. 
Worth only 5, because of the basic errors of not looking farther out for longer, and not looking in both margins earlier. It was a lovely swim, with great margins both sides, and I should have won from there, I am sure.

THE RESULT

Yet again Mel Lutkin  was in the top three. He has a terrific 

set of results in this match over the years. Well done again, Mel.

Mel Lutkin

The Wizard
Roy Whitwell

Kevin Lee

Note: the weight in the Points column is the final handicap weight (in decimals of 1 lb). 

This determines the result of the medal placings.

Fish, and a miracle, at Beastie

Peg 13, Beastie, Decoy
Peg 13 can be a cracking swim, although last time I fished there I didn't do very well. After that match I read that Ben Townsend had had a lot of big fish on a feeder casting towards peg 8, which was unoccupied, as it was this day as wll. So I set up a feeder as well as the pole in this 13-entry Spratts match..

There was no ripple, while the swims on the other side of the spit had a good ripple. I started out at about 10 metres with corn, using my short top, and had a small F1. A look in the lovely-looking deep margin to my left didn't even get me a bite, so I moved to the shallow margin just to my right much earlier than I had intended to.

Swirling in my margin
I'd put in casters and hemp, and now I saw fish swirling somewhere beneath the surface. It's only two feet deep here, and I've had good catches in that shallow spot before. It didn't take long before a six-pounder was in the net on a short top, short number 3, and my number 4. Then I had a lot of liners, so got up to get another top out of my holdall, to use with one of my special rigs, which I was convinced would get fish.

Flat calm, so I was amazed when fish came into the shallows.

I sat down, attached the rig, put in the short Number three, and looked for my Number Four. Gone. It had been laying beside the platform when I got up, but it was now definitely gone, and I'd not got another with me. In fact I wasn't sure whether I had a spare at home.

A horrible feeling
Two years ago I spent hours and hours scanning the intrnet for spares for my Browning Xitan Z9, and especially the Number 4, without any success. I bought a whole second-hand pole off John Pratt in the end, which had hardly been used, to ensure I had spares. But I know I had broken a Number 4  since then, and had a horrible feeling I'd not been able to get it mended. So I was in deep mire.

I walked back to the van, over the bridge, and got my long hook. I spent half an hour using this trying to locate the section, but couldn't feel it. Kevin Lee came over for ten minutes and had a go, but he couldn't find it either. And by then I guess we had scared all the fish away. I decided to go home, as fishing for big carp with  tiny short tops seemed stupid. But I had a long Number three with me.

I decide to stay
Then I thought that in fact the short top with Matrix 18-20 elastic was probably my best bet for landing big carp anyway, and I hadn't tried feeder yet. So I decided to stay.

The feeder plopped out nicely just in front on peg 8, but in the next half-hour I never had even a liner. So it was back to my short top and long Number three, and the match was half over. That set-up enabled me to go to the deep lefthand margin, and first drop I had a 4 lb bream which hurtled out of the water when hooked. As they do. And eventually I saw swirls again in the shallow right margin.

My special rig
There I out out my special rig with corn over hemp and casters, and started to catch good carp, from 5 lb upwards. A couple of eight-pounders also came in, though two or three more came off because I just couldn't follow them out; they may have been foulhooked. I played one for a fair time only to see it pull off near the net. But generally I was landing fish hooked in the mouth in 40 to 50 seconds, thanks to the short top.

I think I may have overfed a little, as I was waiting for a long time for bites, even though I knew the fish were down there. I had one or two on cat meat, but none on mussel; I had an idea that a mussel was too big for them on this occasion.

The very last carp was the biggest at about 10 lb and this was in my landing net inside 30 seconds, just before the match ended. I heard some splashing from Kevin Lee's peg 15 and assumed that he would beat me; the rest I knew nothing about. I had clicked 37 lb for both my nets.

    Kevin Lee included this cracking    
 common carp in his 63 lb 8 oz.

The weigh in
The weights in the early numbers were much lower than  I had imagined, with Neil Paas leading with 52 lb. My first 37 lb net went about 49 lb, and the second about 43 lb; total 92 lb 12 oz, which was leading. Kevin hadn't beaten me after all - he had 63 lb 8 oz. But in the 20s two catches eclipsed mine - Peter Harrison on 23 had 99 lb 12 oz, and Roy Whitwell on 29 won with 102 lb, with several taken on a pole to the left point of the reeds. So I ended third, which slightly helped eclipse the loss of my section.

Marks out of ten

I was kicking myself, because I'd lost well over an hour because of the lost section. But I obviously made a decent job of the second half, using what I had pretty well. The one thing I should have done was to fish casters shallow in that right margin, as I am sure I would have snared one or two more carp. So I give myself 8/10. And I still can't work out how I managed to knock the section in. There was not much wind, and it wasn't pointing downwards. 

John Garner. He's the man who
takes my picture for me
when I catch something
worth photographing!

Bob Barrett with two friends
from peg 18, against the
bridge going over
to the famous spit.

Peter Harrison picks out his third net.
This was before he performed his miracle!

A miracle
I'd followed the scales round, took some pictures, and still had to go back to pick up my nets which were drying on the bank. Then Peter Harrison drove past and stopped, asking me whether I would like him to try to find my section with his rake. Would I like it? Is the Pope Roman Catholic?

He came down, threw out the rake and brought in an old tin can and a long piece of wood from a tree. Second throw he brought in another tin can and another piece of a tree.

Third throw, well out, and he brought in...my section! I couldn't believe it. Suddenly I went from despondent to ecstatic. Thanks. Peter. I ought to get one of those double sided rakes myself; better still, don't lose a section! It was The Miracle At Beastie!

Next match on Crow at Pidley in our Fenland Rods Handicap. I was third in our Championship last season so I add on 20%. I love Crow, and will use luncheon meat as usual. 

The winner, Roy Whitwell.

THE RESULT

3 Neil Paas                52 lb 2 oz

4 Mike Rawson         19 lb 9 oz
5 Trevor Cousins        42 lb 7 oz
13 Mac Campbell      92 lb 12 oz   3rd
15 Kevin Lee             63 lb 8 oz
17 Mick Ramm            4 lb 14 oz
18 Bob Barrett           68 lb 4 oz     4th
20 Peter Spriggs         64 lb 5 oz
22 Dick Warrener       48 lb 9 oz
23 Peter Harrison       99 lb 12oz   2nd
24 Graham Ward          4 lb 8 oz
29 Roy Whitwell      102 lb            1st
30 John Garner           42 lb 12 oz

I lose more than I land on Cedar

 Peg 14, Cedar
Yet again I wasn't served up with any Raspberry Ripple. But it's a nice swim, in the corner of Cedar lake, at Decoy, and I had a reed-covered end bank to fish to. So that's where I started, in this 13-entry Spratts match. I went out on a pole to 11.5 metres, just away from the reeds, with an expander. Then a grain of corn, and after 20 minutes I had a bite, and hit a fish!

Peg 14, with some ripple in the background!

I held the carp hard, but after 30 seconds it snagged me several feet away from the reeds, and eventually the hooklength broke. Not long after that I hit another carp, in the same spot, and this one took me right out to the middle, almost into Dick Warrener's swim (he was two pegs away) and eventually shed the hook. That was the end of bites in that spot, so I went out in front of me. 

I lose so many
In the next hour or so I took four carp from there, on corn, but all the time I was putting hemp and casters into the margins to my right, where the water was only three feet deep, and also a couple of metres farther out into the deeper water. That deep swim produced quite a lot of bites to corn, but most of the fish came off. They didn't seem to be foulhooked, though. The inside swim was just as good, but again a lot of fish were lost. 

It was a mystery why they came off, but I know that at one point I had six nice carp in the net and had lost ten. After 14 I lost count. And at one point, after losing a fish which I had seen to be well into double-figures I put down the pole and walked up to see Dick Warrener on 16. I remember telling him I must have lost at least 20 carp.

The last hour was better - two carp and two barbel on a bunch of casters or cat meat, with only about three lost. I assumed that they must have been foulhooked, but later I strongly suspected they had almost all just been very lightly lip-hooked. I put this down to the fact that with no ripple and some sun, they were very finicky. And two or three of the fish I landed were, in fact, hooked on the outside of the lip.

Roy Whitwell, 2nd with 93 lb 14 oz.

Still, in was an interesting and enjoyable day, won by Neil Paas who caught all his fish close in on hard pellet, for 103 lb 6 oz, and the top weights were tight.

 I ended sixth with 67 lb 13 oz, and just three of those lost fish would have won me the match. I think that the hemp and caster got the fish interested; I was happy enough to at least have probably hooked more fish than anyone else in the match, in a swim that was flat calm almost all day.

90 lb 15 oz for Peter Spriggs.

Peter's best fish was at least 12 lb.

Marks out of ten

I give myself 8/10 for using the casters and hemp, which at least brought fish into the swim while the nearest angler, Dick Warrener, was really struggling for bites. And as they say (or would have done if they'd thought of it): 'Tis better to have hooked and lost than never to have hooked at all.' Next match is Beastie after the Bank Holiday.

THE RESULT

East bank                                West bank

26 Bob Barrett        21 lb 14 oz        `  1 Roy Whitwell           93 lb 14 oz  2nd

24 Rod Melnyk       50 lb                    3 John Garner            51 lb 13 oz

22 Mick Ramm      17 lb 3 oz             5 Peter Spriggs        90 lb 15 oz        

20 John Smith        91 lb 14 oz  3rd    7 Mike Rawson        34 lb 2 oz

18 Neil Paas          103 lb 6 oz  1st    9 Peter Harrison         52 lb 7 oz

16 Dick Warrener   29 lb 13 oz          11 Trevor Cousins      91 lb 1 oz       4th

14 Mac Campbell    67 lb 13 oz    

A match to forget in the sun on Lou's lake.

Peg 1, Lou's
Fenland Rods match on Lou's lake, fished by 12 with pegs 7 and 15 left out. I didn't fancy my peg 1, because there are no nice marginal reeds. The day was hot, and our end had hardly any ripple. I fished for five hours and 20 minutes, catching about 20 tiny roach and perch out at 11 metres, in two feet of water, on maggot.

Hot and airless. And no raspberry ripple. 😒

I kept going out to the end bank with meat, corn or pellet, but never saw a sign of carp, though the occasional one was splashing way over to my right towards corner peg 6. Beside me Mike Rawson had the other peg I didn't want, but he managed a carp on a feeder halfway through, and I think ke had another after that.

Mike Rawson lands a carp on feeder. I tried it and never had even a liner. 😒

Big carp kept rolling about in the mud in my right margin, in about eight inches of water, and it looked as if they were actually scooping it up. I couldn't make out what they were doing - Peter Spriggs told me the next day they were almost certainly eating bloodworm, which I hadn't thought of. Anyway, I had tried for ages to get a bite there, but didn't. To our right Dick Warrener had half-a-dozen carp, and I saw a fish or two being landed to his right.

Then, with 40 minutes left, a fish stirred up the mud in my left margin, which was only inches deep, and I put a grain of corn a little farther out into about a foot of water. First drop and a 5 lb carp took it. Success. In the next 30 minutes I took two more; my fish weighed 16 lb for almost last. A match to forget, won by Roy Whitwell on peg 14, taken mainly on the pole, and his 85 lb 14 oz was way ahead of everyone else. Well done, Roy.

I am sure the fish wanted some sort of thick cover above them to have enough confidence to feed in the margins, Even so I was surprised I couldn't get any carp towards the end bank, where there were sparse reeds, and I kept trying in about 18 inches of water; the margins there were only inches deep and I never saw any movement there.

THE RESULT