Thirteen out of 14 top 100 lb - Oak, Decoy

Peg 5
Fourteen or us fished this Fenland Rods match on Sunday, with the wind having died down somewhat from the previous two days. We were given the option of fishing on either side of this strip lake, and as rain was forecast the West bank was chosen giving us back wind. I have no doubt - and neither did some others, that the opposite bank, where there was a substantial ripple, would probably have fished better...but that's just an observation, as the conditions applied to everyone. I'm just happy to still be able to fish.

But I think it's fairer to have everyone facing the same weather conditions anyway. In fact my views on pegging are well-known - basically we should be fishing on every peg. Fishing three pegs apart, as some matches are pegged, is like pleasure fishing, but without the pleasure of being able to see and chat to, the angler next door. It's proper match fishing.

Not that I would welcome pegging like the Pound length used to be on the Witham - 12 yards apart, with the water often moving. It was called the Pound Length because that was about as much as you could expect.

Wendy had over 100 lb to my right, and all on a feeder.

Back to our match and "Mac Campbell" was called out followed by Mel drawing out Peg 5. It's not one I would have chosen - I would have picked Peg 1, or 10, 11 or 12, but I know that, in fact, every peg was capable of producing a good catch, with the fish mainly from 5 lb to 10 lb-plus. Our side of the lake was pretty calm, with ripple appearing occasionally about ten metres out. Generally the weather was cloudy with sunny intervals, but warm.

I'm well behind after 15 minutes
To my left was Dave Garner, fishing his usual waggler, and he started like a train - two fish in the first ten minutes while I was fishing hard pellet out at three sections, where the depth was a little over four feet. I had decided on the method that Tom Edwards says is the only way to win on this lake at the moment, and I was confident it would pay dividends. But when, after 15 minutes without a bite, I found myself 15 lb behind Dave Garner, and with Peter Spriggs to his left also netting a big fish,  the temptation to change was too much, and I went into the margins, where Dave was fishing.

I knew Dave would be fishing cat meat - I think he has shares in Coshida -  but I started on corn, to the left, feeding corn and pellet in about 30 inches of water. Soon a ten-pounder came in, but after a lull, with Dave still hitting big fish, I changed to cat meat. It was slow, but every 15 minutes I'd get a big fish. Potting dead maggots into a tiny hole to my right brought a carp instantly, but it was only 2 lb, and I figured that I'd be better chasing the bigger fish. Probably a wrong decision!

Our Chairman/Secretary/Dogsbody, John Smith,
shows the stamp of carp we all had in our nets.

Maggot in the really shallow margins to my left, where it was only inches deep, brought in a lot of very big fish, stirring up the mud, but although I took one fish there very quickly I wasted too much time trying for more. Afterwards Dennis Sambridge said he found the same thing - fish came in but wouldn't take a bait.

Cat meat sort of works
So I alternated between the left deep margin and the deeper water just out in front of me, where cat meat took an occasional fish over corn and pellet. I fed more than I normally would, finishing up using four cans of corn and about three pints of pellet, plus a pint of deads. However, John at the fishery would say that even that probably wasn't enough. The strange thing is that Dave, to my left, was catching more than me, but feeding only a small amount.

He would throw a few pellets out about ten metres, follow it up with his gear, with all his shot below the float, allowing the meat to sink naturally, and hit a fish within a minute or so. He really has it down to a fine art. Then he'd revert to the margins.  And he seemed to be catching faster than me all day, though of course he also had some bad stretches.

Mike Rawson had his biggest-ever match catch -
158 lb 14 oz, on Peg One. Nice One son...

I couldn't catch a fish unless I fed first. Perhaps carp were coming in and mopping up the bait I put in in the first minute. Certainly if I didn't get a bite in two minutes the chances were I wouldn't get one. The best thing I did was to lay on a good six inches - that was better than fishing dead depth.

Heavy rain for a short time
At three o'clock we had heavy rain for a few minutes, and as so often happens when rain starts, I was playing a fish,, so I got a small drenching before slipping on a waterproof jacket. Sport then seemed to slow down, and in the next half hour I had only one more.

I lost about five fish all day, some of which were foulhooked, but was otherwise pleased I didn't waste a lot of time playing and losing them. Meat seemed the best bait, and the bigger pieces seemed to bring bites more quickly than a smaller chunk. I was pleased to get some of the double-figure fish in very quickly by striking gently and persuading the fish to drift along in front of me, keeping the pole under the surface so the fish came to the top, and scooping it out before it realised what had happened. Unfortunately those fish were the devil to unhook when they woke up.

Others stretched the elastic out to the next pegs, and they tended to be the smaller fish, around 5 lb to 7 lb. I used my new Preston keepnet bar with four nets, and guessed I had about 40 lb in each net. yet again when the match ended I was playing a fish - I had it over the net four times but it seemed to be able to turn away at the last second. When I finally got it in, I saw that it was about 6 lb, but  foulhooked in the pectoral fin, which was why I couldn't bring it towards the net headfirst.

Our oldest member, Joe Bedford, prepares to weigh in
almost 150 lb. What a catch for someone aged 90.

The weigh in
Peg 1, and Mike Rawson was mighty chuffed (as he should have been) with 158 lb 14 oz - his best-ever match weight, taken on a shortish pole to the end bank on his right.. He said that when the rain came he simply stopped catching, otherwise he would have had even more. Dick Warriner had 145 lb on 2, but Tony on 3, who is our Club Champion, struggled to just over 100 lb. I assume he was fishing his favourite pellet, and possibly concentrated on fishing shallow for a time, which is what I think I saw him doing. even more. That made sense to me, because fish were cruising around all day.

Next door Wendy took all her fish on a feeder - she has a dodgy shoulder and couldn't possibly play big fish all day on a pole - and also topped 100 lb. My catch weighed 177 lb 2 oz, but I knew Dave next door had thrashed me. In fact he had beaten me, and ended as winner, with 208 lb 4 oz - not as far ahead of me as I had imagined.

Dennis Sambridge, 85, and a veteran of the
match circuit, was runner-up with 187 lb 12 oz.

And so down the line where only Alan on 8 missed out on a ton. Dennis Sambridge on 12 was runner-up with 187 lb 12 oz, mainly to his left in the deep water on the corner of a reed bed. At 85 he's not the oldest member, but you's never, ever, guess he was that age. Nor would you guess Joe Bedford was 90! He is still able to haul in his own nets for weighing, and like a Good 'Un he also topped 100 lb with 149 lb 6 oz, and eighth place in this memorable club match.

And down to the corner peg 15, where Rob Allen was only one fish from beating me, weighing in 165 lb 15 oz for a well deserved fourth spot.

Winner Dave Garner with over 200 lb.

Dave attempts to show his best fish, weighed at
14 lb 14 oz. He didn't drop it, but the carp mat
was laid out if he had. 

So I finished third, and won something for the tenth match in a row. The run will obviously stop soon, and the next match on Six-Island could be it. Six-Island is  peggier than most of the other lakes at Decoy, partly because of the wind factor, which means one half is usually affected while the other half is calm. Give me the wild wind in my hair and the beating sun on my face... I'm getting all poetical now - did you notice?

A great club match - one of the best we've ever had.

Fun on a ‘flier’ – Magpie, Pidley

Peg 36

This was an annual invitation match, organised by Trevor Dew, for the Dun-No -More Cup. Nobody knows why it was called that, but Grebe AC  used to compete for it when I was a member. The club no longer exists, but as a former winner of the cup I get an invitation to fish it every year. I’ve missed it for about the last three years, but this year I was able to fish and meet up with some of my old Grebe mates. To keep the numbers up Trevor also invites other locals. So 22 of us fished.

 

A noted swim, but calm as a mill pond. Chris Saunders was third from the peg immediately opposite.

I draw the ‘flier’

It was a rolling draw – pay and draw at the same time – and heavens above, peg 36 stuck to my sticky little fingers. Now you will see that I’ve typed the word flier in apostrophes round it (they are those funny little marks hanging at the top for those of you not well versed in English). In Winter, when cold winds blow from the West or South it’s odds-on to either win or frame because it gives back wind, and for some reason fish often hang around that end of the lake, and the margins are nice, with a lilly bed out in front, within easy reach of a pole. If the lillies have died, the fish still hang around the roots. If the wind is Northerly, there’s shelter from trees on the far bank.

 

Adam Lowbridge -shows the stamp of fish on Magpie.

However I have seen that recently it hasn’t been dominating, and one look at the swim showed why – the lillies are now no more than about five or six metres out at the nearest point, offering safe refuge when these turbo-charged Pidley carp are hooked. And the margins have reeds just a top-two either side of the peg. Ian Frith was second on 36 last year, but told me he lost a load of gear.

I gear up with a bungee

So I put on the strongest elastics I could find, including one bungee (don’t know the rating) tightened right down. Tim Bates had confirmed that the margins are the place where I should find most fish, but the water was calm, except for waves caused by a family if ducks who had set up residence. In the bright sun I didn’t honestly fancy it to win unless the wind turned and gave us some ripple in this bay (it didn’t). The swims along the first arm had some ripple, and that included the island pegs 28 to 33-ish, which I though might fish better. They seem to be giving good weights in most matches at the moment.

 After putting in luncheon meat to the left margin I started shallow a little to my right, at about six metres, as fish were moving. Opposite on 25 was Chris Saunders, who I guessed would be fishing cat meat.

A good start

Nothing shallow for ten minutes, so I pushed up the float to fish about half depth. That brought three fish in three put-ins on banded 6mm pellet – a good start, as I now had about 11 lb in the first half-hour and I hadn’t seen Chris catch. But a couple of drops without anything made me look in the margins.

Weighing Chris Saunders on Peg 25. He's a wizz on cat meat. 

Fish were clearly there, but wouldn’t take a bait, and the next hour saw me land one about 5 lb, and lose another, probably foulhooked, when it shot straight into the reed bed. My long pole with the hook enabled me to reach in and get back the rig, minus hook. I then fished for half an hour out at six metres, on the bottom with pellet, but never had a touch. Then I saw Chris Saunders land a fish, so it was back to the margins with meat.

I suppose I had about ten in the next couple of hours, mainly on cat meat, but pulled out of several as I had to hold them so hard, and these fish fight extraordinarily hard for their size.  I then put in a big pot of dead maggot to the right margin, which brought three quick fish on a bunch of deads, then a lull. For the last hour I alternated between the two margin swims, trying hard not to foulhook fish, as one had stretched that bungee an unbelievable amount, and taken me out into the lillies, and I lost the whole rig. My long hook twisted around the elastic had enabled me to get that back intact, at least.

As so often happens the fish came late and I was playing a three-pounder when the match ended.  I guessed I had about 25 fish averaging around 4 lb, best 5 lb, which would give me around 100 lb.

Chris Saunders, third with 114 lb 5 oz. Just look at the huge
 area you are given to fish from, covered with an artificial
 surface which means that no matter how muddy the banks get,
 you can always spread your gear out and keep it clean.
 No wonder this is such a popular venue.

The weigh in

I managed to get to see the last few weigh in. It’s noticeable that anglers now tend to stand just a little farther back than they normally would – trying to socially distance without being socially distant, if you get my meaning.

The sheet when I got to Adam Lowbridge on Peg 24 showed just two weights over 100 lb, but the weights were much lower than I had expected, including some DNWs. But I felt certain that someone, somewhere, would have had a really big catch, especially along the island from pegs 28 to 34, which I thought might have had ripple some of the time.

With Peg 2 leading, Chris Saunders then took second place on the weigh-sheet with 114 lb 5 oz. He told me he’d caught in the deeper water just beyond a reed-bed, which made me realise I should have had a look out from the absolute margin to the deeper water at some time, but I didn’t!!

Then round to the island, where Josh Pace had hammered fish to the tune of 208 lb 12 oz on maggot in the margins from Peg 31, and said that he had, indeed, had a bit of ripple at times. I was last to weigh -  94 lb, and with just four weights over 100 lb, it put me fifth.

The results

The winner, Josh Pace, with 208 lb 12 oz from Peg 31 on the island.

I went back to the cafe to photograph the results, and treated myself to a socially-distanced mug of tea (I know how to live the high life) while Trevor read out the results. Just top three were paid, but there were sections, and I managed to win my section – which had included winner Josh – by default.

So for a ninth match in a row I went home with folding, hoping I could perhaps draw a flier next day on Oak –peg 1, or 10, 11 or 12. But to be honest there are so many fish there, I was just looking forward to catching a few.

Pegs 1 to 15.

Pegs 16 to 30.

Pegs 31 to 36.

PS. I tried out my new Preston keepnet bar for the first time, and in a week or two, when I’ve ironed out any questionable points, I’ll give my eagerly-awaited verdict.

John on a hat-trick in the wind – Damson, Decoy

My old mate John Smith nearly got blowed off his box on Damson, but managed to hold on to his pole and all his necessaries to win his second Spratts match in a row. Oops, that’s probably put the kybosh on completing the hat-trick...sorry, John, I just didn’t think! 

I didn’t fish this match, cos I was saving myself for two matches in the next two days. But John reckoned he had never fished in just windy conditions. He was on Peg 13, first on the far bank, and found fish in the margins for about an hour – as you usually do here- on cat meat. They inevitably went off, and he managed to find more by fishing to his left (the gale was coming from the right) to the corner. Even then he caught next-to-nothing in the last two hours, but finished top with 84 lb 2 oz.

Smiling Peter Barnes took second with 71 lb 6 oz fishing a feeder close in with pellet and maggot from Peg 10. And organiser Trevor fished meat and pellet on the margins for 63 lb 15 oz, with Peter The Paste  fourth.

Happy with my catch on Oak Lake, Decoy

Peg 20

This was the first day after the heatwave, and a cold North-easterly greeted the 17 of us in this Spratts match. I was not unhappy with Peg 20, and it would have ben one of the 3 pegs I would have picked – 20, 21, and 22.

Trev does the draw - one bag contains our names, the other
holds the peg numbers. PS. What a fine pair of legs...

 The swim had a long, shallow margin to the right which goes out two metres from the bank, caused by bank slip, and a bunch of reeds to the left, where there is still a shallow margin – about two feet – but it drops down more quickly.

My right margin - you can see how the bank has
eroded away, giving only inches of water in the side.

The water on our side of this strip lake was calm, as the wind was over my right shoulder, and frankly I didn’t feel that fish would be feeding very well, so I started on maggot, putting some down the left margin. But before fishing there I potted a few grains of corn out along the right bank, in the shallows, and put out a bait for a few minutes, just in case fish were there. But I got no response, so it was down the left.

An early barbel

A 2 lb barbel came in quickly, and some time later a 6 lb carp. I hoped that more barbel  would bite, so persevered with maggot, but after a long spell with nothing I went out to a top-two-plus-one swim, with cat meat over corn and pellet. Although fish were moving all over the lake, just under the surface, I didn’t get even a liner here in 30 minutes. So it was back to the left margin, and but in the next hour or so I don’t think I had a fish.

Mick Linnell, former Oundle star, was on my left. This
was one of his best fish - probably over 10 lb.

Things weren’t looking too good, and I’d seen Mick Linnell, on Peg 22 to my left, and Bob Barrett, opposite on 12, take fish on a feeder. I had a feeder rod with me, but decided to persevere for the moment. Then, in the space of a few seconds, the wind turned right round through 180 degrees and blew into our faces; and over the next half-hour I managed another  three. They were all around 8 lb, and now I had 36 lb on my clicker, so started a second net, in case I had underestimated the weights.

Around this time rain started, which wasn’t too heavy, though it lasted for some time. There were a few flashes of lightning, and rolls of thunder, but those of us with umbrellas up managed to sit in the dry, and the wind wasn’t too bad. Aactually, when it started I was sitting in just a sweat shirt and playing a fish. I managed, after a struggle, to put on my Goretex jacket while hanging on to my pole, and landed that fish, before putting up my umbrella.

My umbrella attacks me...

Not long after putting the umbrella up I was attacked by it! I was playing a fish, when it suddenly decided to collapse around me while I was just sat sitting there, and  I thought for a minute I had gone blind. It’s a Preston Flatback, and the clip to keep it extended had always felt a bit dodgy. Anyway I managed to land that fish and completed the re-erection safely.

 

Mick Raby shows the size of fish which now
 seem to be typical on both Oak and Yew lakes.

The rain stopped and then largely held off (though we never had a glimpse of sun because of the heavy cloud), but we did have another shower later.

Now I felt I had to take a look on a top two to my right, in about 20 inches of water, as fish were coming into the very shallow margins along the bank (though none of them would look at a bait). I had to lift the bait an inch or so, and suddenly the float would zoom under, and a fish would be on. Some of these I lost – I’m sure they were not foulhooked, because all day I hooked just one fish inside the mouth – the rest were all in the lip. I assume they were not feeding wholeheartedly – but I started getting fish, nearly all from 8 lb up to 12 lb.

One fish of 10 lb was foulhooked in the tail, and eventually – very eventually – I managed to get it into the net. But it’s annoying when fish are feeding and you spend such a long time landing just one.

The long line is hard

John Garner, to my right, also seemed to be landing a fair number of big fish, and he was catching some of them on the longer line. So I had a look there. That brought two on cat meat, but it took a long time, and I stayed to the right for most of the rest of the match, putting in bait before every fish but having to wait a fair while for a proper bite, even if the fish were giving liners. I was putting only about five fish in a net – and only four in one – so I didn’t exceed the 50 lb limit.

John Garner (on my right) with a fish we weighed at 13 lb 12 oz.

Now cat meat seemed to be working better, though after a couple of  fish a change back to corn was necessary to get a bite. I reckon when hooked the fish shouted out: “He’s using cat meat, fellows.” Or “He’s using corn.” Obviously sometimes the fish misheard and thought he’s shouted: “He’s watching porn,” because sometimes I got two or three on corn before changing.

A good last 40 minutes

About 50 minutes before the end I went back to the van for more nets and put in a fifth net.That took several minutes in total, making me realise I must get a quicker way of clipping nets in front of me.

 Out of interest  I tried dropping a bait down the left margin, which I hadn’t fed for several hours, using cat meat, and had a bite almost  immediately. This turned out to be the biggest fish of the day, which I estimated at 14 lb Ten minutes later , after losing a couple (more time wasted) another good fish came, and with eight minutes left on my watch a drop to the right with corn brought yet another good one, which I played carefully as it would be the last of the day. In fact there were a few seconds left after I landed it, and a quick drop back brought the last one, about 8 lb, which I was playing when the match ended.

I estimated I had about 40 lb in each net, giving me 200 lb. John to my right said he had 130 lb.

Trevor scrutinises his weight. The rest of us just look!

The weigh in

As usual I took a long time to pack up, and while my system for holding five nets in front of me worked well, each net has a bank stick attached, so I couldn’t take the bar off and lay it on the platform. Luckily John Garner helped me stab each net into the bank, but that takes time.

Had I miscalculated?

I was in time to see the weigh in from about the fourth angler, and saw that Mark Parnell had set the bar high with 181 lb from Peg 1. But as the scales went along the bank it seemed that six or seven big fish were weighing about 40 lb, and the fish seemed to me to be weighing light. I began to think with only about five fish in most of me nets they were going to weigh only 30 lb each.

The winner, - a very tired Bob Barrett with 229 lb 2 oz, all taken on corn,  using a feeder
dropped into the margins. He's done that before in our matches, and had great results.

Bob Barrett, on Peg 12 opposite me, had fished feeder all day, laying it down the margins, and totalled a magnificent 229 lb 2 oz, to lead at this stage. I couldn’t possibly beat that. One fish of his, which I thought might be approaching 15 lb, weighed less than 10 lb. It looked as if I was going to be embarrassed when I pulled out my nets, with perhaps less than 30 lb in them!

Peter Spriggs fishes paste - I don't think he ever
 has any other bait with him. But it always works!

We weighed John Garner’s biggest fish at 13 lb 12 oz and then it was my turn. The first net out – the last one I put in, which held just four fish – went 37 lb 12 oz, which settled my nerves somewhat. And three of the other four nets went over 40 lb, best 49 lb 10 oz, with the fifth at 38 lb 3 oz, giving me 210 lb 11 oz - my best weight at Decoy I think.  I couldn’t understand why my fish seemed to be weighing more than the others, but have to assume that they were just that little bit bigger, and that my estimates were reasonable. Phew.

Ted is always offered a peg close to his car - and
shows he can still catch plenty of fish aged 92.
 (That's) Ted's age, not the fish!

Mick Linnell has what I need

So to Mick Linnell, who totalled 181 lb 6 oz, and who was able to lay his keepnet bar on the platform with nets attached. They just unclipped from the bar when required – a system I simply must get for myself. Then past Trevor, who didn’t have a bite until 11.45 am, and who weighed 137 lb 10 oz. And along to Peter Chilton, who also had five nets, with a similar system, and who beat me by less than 2 lb, with 212 lb 9 oz.

Last to weigh was 92-year-old Ted, who went way over the 50 lb limit in his first net, and totalled 76 lb 4 oz, which would have been 90 lb – but it didn’t affect his position, and he said he’d had a good day. So that left me in third spot, and my eighth frame in a row. I think I should have tried harder on my long line earlier in the match, and should have used a special rig I have for that, which, on reflection, I am sure would have got fish interested. And I should have tried a bunch of maggots as a change bait. But you can’t do everything.

Peter Chilton, second with 212 lb 9 oz - he's on fire at the moment!

Five nets (somewhere) at the end for me - but it's time-consuming taking them
off the box and sticking them into the bank. I need a simpler system, like
Mick Linnell and Peter Chilton have, with a quick-release system on a keepnet bar.

Three over 200 lb and  seven more over 100 lb - a good club match.

Thanks for all the organisation, Trevor.

Next definite match is on Magpie, Pidley, the weekend after this one, with old mates (that’s old as in I haven’t seem them for a while) from Grebe Angling Club, in the Dun No More cup – nobody knows why it has that name, but as I’m a former winner of the cup I’m entitled to fish it each year. I’ve missed the last two or three, and am really looking forward to it. Then next day back on Oak, for which I will Be Prepared!

A Topsy-Turvy match - Damson, Decoy

Peg 10
Overnight the wind changed from Westerly to North-East, and at the draw I was so cold I went to the van and put on a sweat shirt; then I went back and put on another! I fancied the first four pegs, which often seem to produce more, and better fish. Tony got Peg 2, and Kevin the last one, 18, in the corner, and the only one on the West bank.

Next to me, on 11, was Rob Allen, who said that the West bank tends to produce bigger fish, and indeed I know that on a lot of matches where the whole lake is used, these pegs from 18 to about 24, often produce the best weights. But thankfully our club doesn't use them because on some there are anything up to a dozen steps to negotiate down to the water. Peg 18 had just five steps and is a nice-looking peg...and today I think we all suspected that Kevin might do well.

A nice looking swim, with an island in front. But I fished the pole all day.

Nothing for me in the margin at the start
Like most, I normally start in the margins here, for the first hour. They extend out about six feet, down to about three feet deep before dropping steeply down to seven-feet plus. I started on a banded pellet, putting in 4mm pellets, but never had a take. I had expected fish to immediately attack the bait, as they usually do. In fact they always do - it's known for it. My margins were horribly bumpy, but even in the side, which was no more than nine inches deep, I could see fish moving, but I thought that the sudden wind switched could make the fish  tentative.

Mel Lutkin, who organises our annual presentation
evening, was on Peg 8, two to my left.

However, next door on my left John Smith started like a train, fishing right against a bunch of reeds to his left. and had six or seven fish that appeared to be over 1 lb in that first 15 minutes. I changed to expander pellet, with no result, and then to corn, which brought two fish about 1 lb and 2 lb.John was still taking fish and I estimated he had 12 or 15. I was a long way behind, and Rob on my right also had some fish. I could see several other catching, so I was in a terrible position already.


I concentrate on the margin
I had intended to go long, to top two plus two, at this point, but because John was still catching I put my head down and concentrated on my left margin, in a tiny hole on a top two, as the right was so shallow and bumpy. Paste, and then cat meat, brought occasional fish to 2 lb, and after two hours I estimated I had 20 lb, but John had two or three times that. Then came a terrible hour when I took only one 1 lb fish, and must have lost 15 or 20. I don't think any were foulhooked. A nightmare. And fish were moving about under the surface all day.

So I reluctantly swung to the right margin, on the edge of the drop-off, next to a bush, and had three small carp on a 6mm expander very quickly. Then nothing! A little over two hours left and I went out to the bottom of the drop-off at two sections plus a bit, but there was nothing there, either. So with a piece of cat meat I went out to top two plus two, without putting in any bait, and a 4 lb carp obliged!

Me with that 12lb 12 oz lump of a grass carp.

The next two hours I spent mainly on that longer line, and very occasionally a decent fish came in, so with a little more than an hour left I estimated In had a little over 40 lb.  John, I estimated, must have had well over 100 lb. Then a tiny little bite saw me hook the bottom...except that the bottom moved. Slowly and ponderously something took elastic, then drifted back in, and then went round in circles. It was ten minutes before I saw it - a long, lean fish.

It wouldn't expend any energy on fast rushes, so I felt I had to try to scoop it out when it came past. Three times I lifted the net under it, only for it to turn away and slide over the rim. Eventually, 15 minutes after hooking it, I got it coming towards me head-first for the first time and into the net it went. I had to shake it down the net before I could lift it out - a big ole grass carp.

We weighed it later at 12 lb 12 oz, and if it had been a deep-bodied common or mirror I reckon it would have easily weighed 18 lb-plus.

I end on the longer line
Meanwhile John had slowed up, though still catching the odd fish, and I also had one about every seven or eight minutes, though they were all 2 lb to 4 lb, and all on cat meat, as paste didn't get a bite. At one time I put out my pellet rig, but this produced only a roach. Two more very good fish came adrift, which was to cost me. The last fish came in with two minutes to go, and by now John had started to catch again, a few feet farther out.

Socially distancing at the weigh-ins.

I had by now realised that he had managed to find a good two feet of water against the rushes, while all my bank was bare, and shallow, except for the remains of little bushes. I think my bank had fallen in, to make the margins very shallow indeed, while the rushes had stopped that small piece of John's bank caving in.

The weigh in
I was convinced that I was probably almost last, as Rob on my right had had several good fish, and I wondered whether John had won, as he must have had two or three times as many fish as me. I reckoned I might have 70 lb, which is normally a poor weight on Damson in Summer. I'd seen Mel, on Peg 8, take several fish on the long line. And with fish moving off bottom all day, and giving liners all day, I assumed Tony on 2 would have had a big catch on his favorite pellets.



Surprises

John Smith's 86 lb 3 oz - half of what I thought he had caught!

I took my time packing up in what was now a very hot afternoon, and went back to the van, meeting and passing the weighers-in on the way. I got to Tony and asked him what he had weighed. I heard "...seventy seven." I asked :"One hundred and seventy seven?" "No - seventy seven. I struggled." You could have knocked me down with a fevver. If Tony had struggled, then John must have won. But then John told me: "Kevin had got five nets in!" So he was now huge favourite, as I hadn't seen anyone else with more than three nets in. And I was obviously well down the list.

Flabbergasted!
Trolley left at the van, and I walked back just in time to see Mel Lutkin weigh in    80 lb 12 oz and took a picture. Then to John and although he had three nets in the water, one was empty. He weighed in only two nets and had just 86 lb 3 oz. I was flabbergasted. My gast had never been so flabbered! I would have sworn my life away that he had approaching 150 lb minimum; indeed I had wondered why he hadn't gone back to his car for a fourth net.

A look at his fish as I took a picture told me that, in fact, a lot were smaller than I had assumed. But had I now over-estimated my weight at 70 lb? Were they weighing light?

Joe Bedford, who celebrated his 90th birthday last week,
 says he  still looks forward all week to his fishing.

First net was 39 lb, and the second 44 lb, for a total of 83 lb 14 oz. In fact I was lucky, because I had stopped clicking that second net with half-an-hour to go, assuming I wouldn't get anywhere near the 50 lb maximum. If I'd had a ten-pounder at the end it would have gone in there(!) Peter The Paste became Peter the Photographer for a minute, and snapped me with the grass carp - pity I didn't hold it so the tail showed!

I'm in third place up to me
I then looked at the weighing-in sheet, and saw that Peter Spriggs had also beaten me - by 5 oz, but I was third. Unbelievably, if the rest had struggled I had an outside chance of framing.

And so to Rob, next door, who said that, like me, he had struggled all day. But he did well to put 78 lb 6 oz in the net, mainly on the longer line. That big grass carp had swung it for me, though in the 15 minutes it took to land it I might have had another fish or two. I was still third.

The four on the North bank had definitely struggled, best being Dennis Sambridge with 55 lb 11 oz. And finally Kevin weighed his five nets - a magnificent 227 lb 1 oz, all except one fish taken on three sections on cat meat over pellet and corn, best fish about 9 lb, and the average weight of his fish was way above what anyone else had caught.

For once the low-numbered pegs on Damson didn't  dominate the rest of that bank.

Winner Kevin Lee had much bigger fish than the rest of us in his 227 lb 1 oz.

So I ended fourth, for a seventh frame in a row. Just one of those later lost fish would have pushed me to second. I should have gone long, as I had planned, much earlier.

Next match should be Thursday on Oak, though thunderstorms are forecast. Any peg on there will be OK for me - though the area around peg 9 and opposite on 20 have form, recent matches have seen the top weights come from the car park end.

I probably should have won - Beastie, Decoy; and we remember Bryan

Peg 13
A very strong South-Westerly greeted the 17 of us who fished this Spratts match on Beastie. But before the draw we did something perhaps more important - we held a minute's silence to remember Bryan Lakey, who fished with us up to about five years ago. Bryan was the only man to win the National Championship (on the Middle Level) and the Embassy (in Denmark), and with the winnings of the latter he bought a shop in Wisbech and turned it into a tackle shop.

I regarded him as a special friend - when he was on holiday before one National I used to check on his breeding gozzers at his home. And every Friday in Summer I used to pick up four pigeons, at 2/6d each, which we shared for our gozzers. When his daughter got married he trusted me with looking after his tackle shop all day. Not everything was priced and some locals probably got some real bargains that day!

When I had an attack of Vertigo while fishing he packed up and drove me home. A real, proper, mate. He moved to Market Deeping to be near his daughter three years ago and I lost touch, only to find his wife, Sheila, a few months ago, and then to be denied seeing Bryan, who had been in a care home for two-and-a-half years, because of Covid19 restrictions. He died because his body just gave out. He was 81. And the world I live in is poorer for his passing.

The draw
So on to the draw, and the first name out was Peter Harrison, followed by first peg out - 30, a bit of a flier and there were some groans in the watching , socially-distanced, group. The other pegs I really fancied went flying out of the bag - 2 to Rob Allen; 18 to Mick Linnell; and 9 to Mick Ramm. My dreaded peg 24 went to John Garner, with an appropriate comment from Trevor, who had obviously read my last blog.Towards the end came: "Mac Campbell - 13". I was not unhappy with that, as it has won a lot of matches over the years.

Peg 13 - facing Peg 8, where I could see Peter Spriggs catching carp.

A back wind greeted me at the peg, but because it was so strong we all had to be careful what we laid on the bank; even before the start my landing net, with handle attached, was blown in, though I managed to grab hold of the handle.

This swim has deep margins, with a very shallow plateau next to the platform, to the right, where matches have been won in the Summer in the past. Today it was the only part of the swim not to have a wave on it - it was basically flat calm, shielded from the wind by the bank. So I doubted that fish would be feeding there today.

First two hours
I started on top top plus two, with a 6mm expander over hemp and hard 4mm, and had a 1 lb bream, then a smaller one, and then a roach. But already Peter Spriggs, on 8 in the corner opposite, had caught some carp out in front of him. I persevered, but eventually had to come in to the left margin, next to tall reeds, which were blowing over the water, and making it difficult to fish against them. However, using corn I managed to find several bream to 2 lb-plus. A quick drop in to the right deep margin under an overhanging tree also brought a 2 lb F1.

Middle two hours
After two hours I had an estimated 25 lb but bites had dried up, and I had another look out at 7 metres, without a bite. So I put a heavier rig out to the deep right margin, with cat meat. Immediately I had bites, but didn't hit any of them, I pricked one fish momentarily and came back with a huge scale, so I knew carp were willing to be there. I persevered with cat meat but caught only three or four carp, to 3 lb, in that two hours, plus another couple of bream. With two hours to go I had a little over 40 lb. Martin Parker, behind me and facing the wind, said he had about 30 lb.

Like me, Mick Raby had a lot of bream.

Last two hours - Bingo!
I had seen Peter, opposite, land several more carp, so things were getting desperate and I decided I simply had to try the shallow water, which was less that two feet deep.  In went hemp, corn, and some handfulls of pellets, about eight feet from the platform and two feet from the bank, with water emptied from aloft to ring the dinner bell.

The Dinner Bell
This is a phrase used a lot on videos, in articles, and on TV fishing programmes. It's obvious what it means, and I am sure that the first person to ever use that phrase in relation to fishing was Tony wood, captain of Barnsley Blacks, in an article I did with him up on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal in the 1990s, prior to a National Championship there. Kevin Wilmot and I had never heard the phrase before, so we used it as the headline. Not a lot of people know that!

Within a minute of putting in bait into the shallow margin I fancied I saw a small smudge of smoke come up from the bottom. In went my rig baited with cat meat and I immediately got liners. Over the next half-hour I took about four carp on cat meat, and the rig did a lot of dancing about without diving under as it should have done. I felt that the fish were interested but not taking the bait properly.

The sheltered margin where I took most of  my fish.

So I had a look with corn, and got a proper bite, and a fish, immediately. They took corn much better than meat, and slowly I started quickening up, until I felt things were slowing down. I dropped the rig straight down beside the platform, and in two drops had a 3 lb bream and a 3 lb carp, but then no more.

So I started putting in bait just two feet from the platform, and this worked better, bringing a succession of carp, though none more than 5 lb. Meanwhile the wind was rattling  my spare tops and sections around, but somehow nothing ended in the water. Luckily it wasn't a cold wind.

Mick Linnell, on a very windy 18, had some good fish over 5 lb.

Twenty minutes to go
With just less than 20 minutes left on my watch I put in my third net (I should have had it in at the start of course) and in that 20 minutes the fish were lining up two feet from the platform, and I managed 17 lb, best about 4 lb, plus three lost. They were the only ones I lost, all hooked properly. The fish tended to come to the surface when hooked...and they were the three best of my day. I estimated them to weigh around 6 lb, 8 lb and finally 10 lb-plus. The biggest one I hooked ten seconds before the match ended, and lost 30 seconds after it finished. They cost me the match!

The weigh-in
I am pleased to say that I took my time packing up, without feeling ill, and had my gear back at the van by the time the scales came to the spit, where swims 9 to 17 are pegged. Peter Spriggs was leading on 8 with 117 lb, so the weights were not huge, and with Martin behind me admitting to 90 lb I thought I might have done OK.

Mick Ramm on Peg 9  had only one net in, as had Peter Barnes, two to my left on 11. They had both really struggled. I weighed 111 lb 10 oz, and was 1 lb 7 oz over Decoy's 50 lb limit in one net. Martin behind me did even 'better' - 100 lb exactly after being docked 7 lb, having taken only two nets to his peg, with others in his car (!) Next door, Mick Raby had mostly bream in his 66 lb 5 oz, and on my favourite Peg 18 Mick Linnell had some good fish - bigger than most of mine - for 66 lb 5 oz.

Winner John Smith with one of the better fish in his  126 lb 5 oz on Peg 29, taken on paste.

Martin Parker said that Peter Harrison, on 30, had had fish steadily all day (he could see Peter catching as he was at the other end of the lake). But Peter insisted that John Smith, on 29, had more than him. I was still second round to John, who had had his pole blown in, but managed to rescue it before it sank. He weighed 126 lb 5 oz for the win, mainly on paste from his deep right margin, with Peter Harrison on 30 in third with 115 lb 4 oz. So I ended fourth, but one of those lost fish would have put me third, just the last one would have put me second, and two of them would probably have won me the match. Ce'st la guerre. BUT it's the sixth match in a row in which I've framed, so I'm happy with that.

The result - fairly tight at the top.

Too much bait?
Afterwards John at the fishery told me that an Open (the previous day I think) was won on Peg 2 with 426 lb. The angler used eight bags of 6mm pellet and caught on hard pellet from both sides at two-plus-two. Another angler had had a big weight from my swim using 15 tins of corn. I'm sure that those sorts of quantities of bait, multiplied several times over in one match, do a fishery no good at all. If the fish eat it, it all comes out eventually. But it's still a cracking fishery.

Next match on Damson, where I intend to try to stick to hard pellet all day if I can. Then Oak next Thursday, where the fish are running big - we can expect several of 10 lb-plus. Now to tie up some banded rigs for Damson's shallow margins...

I miss the obvious– Magpie, Pidley

Peg 30 

Eighteen of us fished this Fenland Rods club match , and we tried a new way of deciding which pegs to fish. We each chose a peg from those allocated, and then the draw took place. Early on in the draw Tony Nisbett’s name was called and a peg drawn for him – Peg 2. A peg with form, and I immediately thought that he would be one of the favourites.

I was given peg 30, on the island, and was not unhappy with that, though I would have preferred 31 to 34, as I’ve always done well there. Peg 30 is hemmed in by tall reeds either side, so I couldn’t see Dennis on my left or Wendy, on my right, but I could see some on the lower numbers, opposite. And early on I saw Dave Garner, former Club Champion, came through on his way past me – to Peg 34. This is another peg with form, as there’s a lovely hole down to the right margin which always seems to hold fish, and Dave was sure to find it.

Bright sun and an Easterly greeted us, the wind turning to the West later. Most of my fish came from the left, where straggling reeds and awkward reflections made it difficult to control the rig and see the bites.

So two good anglers on good pegs, but I had a job to do.

Very slow at the start

It was slow – two fish in the first hour in the deep right margin on corn; then  two fish in the next hour on luncheon meat to the left margin; then two fish in the third hour on expander out at about eight metres. However, those opposite seemed to be struggling as well, though Dennis, on my left, had caught some fish, evidenced by the splashing and bright orange elastic cutting through the water. And James Garner, on Peg 9, was also into fish – I estimated I’d seen him playing 15 fish in that first three hours. So he could be winning.

Joe Bedford was 90 last week, and fit as a fiddle
(he took my rods down to the bank at the start).

In fact, although I had only six at the halfway point,  I’d hooked a lot more - probably 15 or so, some foulhooked, and some not. And every time I put in bait, fish would come in and give liners. I tried fishing off bottom, but didn’t get a single indication, which told me the fish were interested in the bait, but not taking it properly.

So halfway though, and I had only six fish. One problem was that the swim was sheltered so the margins had had no ripple at all after the first few minutes (when the wind came from the East despite the forecast for Westerlies).  So I decided to concentrate, for a time, on  the reeds to my left, with luncheon meat, and slowly began to catch. Cat meat brought a couple, but the changing  light, and the reflection of the reeds, made seeing bites difficult – the best bites were not the sharp pull-downs, but the ones which started with a nibble or two and then slowly sank under. So I got off my box and took out a new top to which I fixed a very special rig I have made up. This worked well.

Sport picks up

James Garner - I thought he'd made a terrific
start but he lost a lot of fish, as did most of us.

Suddenly I was hooking and landing fish, mainly on cat meat, and realised that they seemed to be in the slightly deeper water, only about 18 inches from where I had been fishing, and right under some overhanging reeds, which made things difficult. That should have been a clue to re-plumb and find out where the loose feed was rolling down to. But unaccountably I didn’t do that. Now I suspect that the fish were congregating at the very bottom of the shelf, particularly as I didn’t catch a single fish in the shallow margin.

Anyway, I plodded on, with sport getting better, even though I was still losing fish, including a six-pounder hooked in the tail which eventually weeded me and came off. The best one was a lovely golden ghostie, with the proper ghost marks on its head, of about 8 lb. Quick looks on the long line and to my right produced only a lost foulhooker to my right, so I kept to the left margin, and found that very small cubes of luncheon meat were now doing better that big cubes of cat meat. And two fish of 4 lb each in the last five minutes (I was playing one when the horn sounded) concluded my match.

Kevin Lee (left, and Dick Warriner do the honours.

I had James down as a possible winner, as he had been hooking  fish steadily in the first three hours while I struggled, and I assumed he would get even more in the afternoon.  I knew Dennis, to my left, had a few, but had no idea whether Tony, on fancied Peg 2, had many, as I’d seen him land only one fish. But with the fish averaging 3lb-plus, and typically going to 5 lb, you don’t actually need many to get a decent weight.

The weigh-in

The weigh-in started at Peg 24, where Dave Garner had, in fact, fished the deep hole to his right, and said that his waggler rod was able to haul fish out which would have been lost in the weed. His three nets went 130 lb 6 oz, which I knew was way ahead of me. Wendy weighed in 53 lb 12 oz, all on her usual feeder, and that later made me think that the feeding  fish were, indeed, in the deeper water.

My three nets went 94 lb 4 oz, but they were eclipsed by Tony’s 128 lb 4 oz, taken on pellet on a longing line, not in the margins (!). And so on to James, and I was amazed to see him weigh in just 89 lb 15 oz – he told me that he, also, had lost a lot of fish, which I hadn’t realised. Then round to Kevin Lee on 12  and Dick Warriner on 13.

Dave Garner, winner with 130 lb 6 oz
 from Peg 34, on cat meat.

Dick’s very first bite was at 10 minutes to 1, and Kevin had his first bite five minutes later.  Kevin had then had two good hours, but caught only one more in the last hour, ending with  82 lb 3 oz. Although these pegs in the early  ‘teens’ have not produced as well as the early pegs and the island pegs, they do have nice margins, with good cutouts either side, and Kevin caught mainly on the point of the reeds.

Kev Lee had a good two hours from 1 pm,
but a really terrible last hour, with just one fish.

So I ended third, giving me several framing places in a row, which I can’t be unhappy with, as the vast majority of these club anglers are quite capable of winning any of our matches.

A tight match, with no fewer than two of the 18 taking between 50 lb and 100 lb.

My next match is on Beastie at Decoy, where the winner can come from absolutely anywhere. My favourites are 18, 2, 30 and 9, with 24 being my bogey peg - I simply cannot put together a weight from there. Then on to Damson at Decoy next weekend. It's not my favourite lake, but I usually manage to scrape together a decent weight.