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.