I mussel into the carp on Elm lake

Peg 13, Friday, May 23
Yet again a swim I didn't particularly fancy in this 13-entry Spratts match, and the longest walk down to a corner peg at the far end of the lake.  Thanks goodness I have a motorised trolley; even so I had to make two journeys because my bait bags won't all go on the trolley, and I had two cool bags as well (for casters and cat meat, since you ask). But I keep getting these long walks.

Yet again the surface here was calm, with only the occasional little bit of ripple when the West wind got up and turned slightly. It was one of those strange days when the wind blew my float back towards me, but the surface stayed calm. Dave Hobbs was opposite me, with a back wind which was probably no help at all to him.

Being positive
Not that I'm complaining - not when I see those pictures of poor sods being bombed and losing everything, including their family. Thank goodness I can go fishing and forget that side of life; otherwise it would drive you mad. And on the day the good news was that I had fish near me - I could see them. Cruising around and enjoying life. And in the corner the occasional reed juddered about, showing me that the fish were playing.

My right mrgin was flat calm for
almost all of the match.

Thinking I'd be positive I started on mussel in almost six feet of water, with the bulk well up, and blow me on the second drop a carp took the mussel as it hit the water - all 10 lb of it (the carp, not the  mussel). Immediately I shallowed up and soon had two more carp in the net, all taken shallow. Then I went deep near the end bank, and after about five minutes, with the bait just off bottom, the float dipped and I was into another carp. Forty minutes gone and I had 25 lb in my net.

This was taken about five seconds
after the right margin picture. 
You can see that to my left there was
some lovely raspberry ripple.

Casters next on the menu

Inevitably the bites tailed off and I had a look in the margin swim where I'd been flicking out casters. I didn't get any fish deep, but when I shallowed up and had a look in the margins next to the bank, where a load of rubbish had built up, I found some slightly smaller carp, all of whch came out from under the rubbish and took four casters on a size 14. Yet again the fish became cautious after three or four had Come To Daddy, and I scrapped around deep for an hour or so, catching just two more.

Dave Hobbs' pole bends as he battles a carp.

The middle of the match was dire. Opposite, Dave Hobbs had had a good spell fishing shallow and mugging fish, but now he, also, seemed to be struggling. I had no idea what those to my left had caught, as I've had a nasty crick in my neck for some months, and it's too painful to turn my head very far. A penalty one pays for getting old, I suppose. 

Carefully does it...that's when the fish is most likely to come off!

I'm a loser
Anyway, whatever I did I couldn't catch a fish on caster, mussel, cat meat or corn, I probably should have tried pellet, but to be honest fishing away from the bank meant fishing over silt that had threatened to engulf my plummet when I had plumbed up at the start. Nasty, oozy, gluey stuff it was. Even so I should have tried the feeder. BUT I did hook fish - about ten, which nearly all came off.

Up to that time I'd not lost a fish, so why did they suddenly go cagey on me? I'm not convinced that they were all foulhooked - I think some were probably just lightly hooked in the mouth. However, one was definitely hooked in the side - I know this because about ten or 15 minutes after I had hooked it, that fish lay in my landing net. It had first surfaced two swims to my left, in front of Bob Barrett,. I prayed that he was fishing his feeder down the margins, and I think he must have been. That gave me a definite indication that it was foul-hooked. Well, it would, wouldn't it?

Another one in the new Drennan landing net (picture courtesy of Roy Whitwell).

New net helps
But that fish felt like a sack of potatoes with an outboard engine. No way of  getting it to head towards the landingnet. It would come in sideways, flick its tail, and off it went again. I recently bought a new Drennan 20-inch landing net, which is slightly bigger than the old 20-inch model, and  it's proved invaluable for getting these awkward ones into it.  But that was the only high spot of a really bad two hours. It weighed about 12 lb.

I have an idea!
Then, with 90 minutes to go I had an idea - I used my brain. To my left, hiding behind the long grass, was a cut-out which I hadn't yet plumbed. Why? Just a senior moment which lasted several hours. When I dropped the plummet in it was definitely shallower, though I couldn't find any sizeable flat spot. Nevertheles I put in some micros and corn and went out into what I thought was the deepest spot.

 I soon had a liner and for most of the last hour I messed around, using corn or mussel, and catching a few carp, mainly around 4 lb or  5 lb, constantly adjusting the depth and fishing sometimes right up to the bank and other times out to the edge of the drop-off.

Just before the end I had a bad biteless ten minutes, so changed back to corn, and seconds before the final shout I had a bite, and was able to shout out "Fish On," as loudly as I could (a sort of gamesmanship, but also to let the others know I had heard the final shout.  Because they are very considerate of my deafness, and they always repeat the first and last indications for my benefit. Bless them - real mates.) That fish was about 4 lb, and I thought it brought me up to about 80 lb. I'd got 32 lb and 34 lb on the first two clickers, and 12 lb in the last net.

The winner! Trevor Cousins
mugged all his carp on a 
banded pellet.

The weigh in

I guessed that Trevor would have been mugging fish all day, and he had - to the tune of 120 lb 13 oz taken on banded pellet. He said that when the sun was out he hardly caught a fish, and he caught almost all of them when there was cloud cover.

 Incidentally, I have a  ticket for the Vets National on Springvale, where no mugging is allowed. Now mugging is simply targetting fish you can see. So how can that be enforced? Are you not allowed to  drop your rig in anywhere near a fish that you can see in front of you? There's no standing allowed if you're fishing, either. Oh well, I will just have to hope I don't catch anything...

When he wasn't taking photographs
Roy Whitwell had a go at catching
fish, finishing second with 101 lb 7 oz.

Back to Spratts, and yet again Roy Whitwell had a good catch - 101 lb 7 oz taken largely on hard pellet. I've not fished hard pellet recently; I ought to do more of it. Dave Hobbs had, indeed, had a bad second half, and weighed in 44 lb 7 oz opposite me.

My 32 lb net went 39 lb 15 oz; the second 34 lb net went just over 41 lb, and the last two went 13 lb - total 94  lb 3 oz for third spot. Very happy with that considering I never had that lovely Raspberry Ripple. 

I couldn't let Mick Ramm go without
taking a picture of him and his
biggest fish, which must have
 weighed well into double figures.

Next match is Sunday - John Garner's Invitation Match, also on Elm, when the wind is forecast to be around 20 mph and there will be ripple to spare on some pegs. Actually I'd be happy with it in my face if it gave me that ripple effect.

Marks out of ten
All round I thought I scrapped around pretty well, and although I could have tried pellet, or perhaps worm, I honestly felt that if the fish were in a feeding mood they would take my mussel or corn. I had lost about ten - any one of those would probably have moved me into second, so I can't be unhappy - 8/10;  "This boy could do better but is improving."

THE RESULT

East bank                                    West bank

23 Neil Paas                  75 lb 9 oz  4th     1 Martin Parker        45 lb 10 oz

21 Mike Rawson           42 lb 1 oz            3 Wendy Bedford      9 lb 14 oz

19 Joe Bedford                6 lb 5 oz            5 Trevor Cousins    120 lb 13 oz  1st

17 John Smith                68 lb 8 oz            7 John Garner           57 lb 2 oz

15 Bob Barrett                DNW                  9 Roy Whitwell      101 lb 7 oz  2nd

13 Mac Campbell         94 lb 3 oz  3rd    10 Mick Ramm          42 lb

                                                                 12 Dave Hobbs         44 lb 7 oz

Fenland Rods result from Kingsland

 Here is the result of the match on Kingsland small carp lake, which I was unable to fish because I was at The Antiques Roadshow at The Shuttleworth Collection, Bedfordshire.

I don't have any details of the match, but thanks to Mel for emailing it over. I see they paid two sections of five, which seems very sensible to me when just ten fish.

As for the show, yes, they did decide to film me and my offering of a picture drawn by Clive Dunn (lance corporal Jack Jones) of Captain Mainwaring. I doubted at the time whether it would come over very well - they seemed to be more interested in discussing the Home Guard rather than the picture, or Dad's Army. HOWEVER the team there were very professional and it may well look much better on TV than I imagine. The picture certainly initiated a lot of interest from onlookers. 

It was expected that three shows would come out of the day - all to be transmitted some time after November this year. If we are notified of the date of transmission I'll post it here.

Big fish feed in the cold on Oak, Decoy

Peg 15, Oak, Thurs, May 15
Typical English weather - boiling hot the previous day, but when we arrived at Decoy for this Spratts match the wind was a bitterly-cold North-easterly. I spoke to Pete Molesworth, a member of the JV club, before the match, and his advice was: "Keep it simple; fish close to the boards." That was fine with me, though peg 15, in the corner, has hardly any boards (which have recently been installed to stop the bank from caving in) to the left.

Trevor did the draw and Shaun acted as scribe.
But both had to go back to their vehicles soon after
the start and put on some overtrousers because of the cold!

Eighteen of us fished, so we were on both banks, but the two end pegs on our end of the lake were calm, while the rest had a ripple on, which slowly grew bigger as the wind increased. Later, though, the wind moved round a little to the South, and it meant that when I fished the shallow margin to my right I was facing the wind...and believe me it felt like Winter!

A cold wind, but calm surface - that was my swim before the start
(though it felt ten degrees warmer here than in the early pegs).

I set out to fish the shallow margin, about two feet deep, or over the shelf, where it was about four feet. I had no fish for a couple of hours, but Mike Rawson had an early carp on his feeder opposite on peg 19, and dead opposite me, in corner peg 16 Bob Walker had a carp on feeder, and a barbel and a couple of roach on the pole. Then to my right Peter Spriggs landed a good carp on pole; I think he caught that just in fron of him, on 2+1. I was still fishless.

Peter Spriggs, on my right, somehow kept catching fish from his left margin.

Mike Rawson was a long way away on the
opposite bank, But even at that distance I
could see that this fish was a real big'un!

A fish from the deep margin
But then...a fish - on corn over micros to my right in the deep water about five feet from the bank. It was a carp around 8 lb. There followed three hours without a fish in the net, though I did foulhook three on a pole, which came off. 

That eight-pounder took absolutely ages to land. I though it must be foulhooked in the snout, because it just kept plodding around. But no, it was in the mouth. meanhile several anglers had gone back to their vehicle for extra trousers, jumpers, or jackets. It really was cold. I tried several casts on a feeder with wafter or corn but had nothing more than a tiny liner.

The nearest we could get to see
Peter's best fish properly at
the weigh in - it was
probably near 15 lb.

During that fishless spell Peter Spriggs found carp in his shallowest swim, just a metre from the bank, using paste. I think he had about five, and lost a couple. I Came in close and had just a couple of liners. I had not tried farther out, though I could have fished out a fair distance even in the wind; instead I had a look to my left in the margin, where there was about four feet of water. And almost immediately I had a liner or two, just before the bait hit bottom. 

Two more
Then a carp took a grain of corn and this came in quite quickly - all 10 lb of it. Only a few minutes later mussel took an even bigger fish - a lovely silver common that was in beautiful condition, and around 13 lb. But that was my lot. I just couldn't get a bite anywhere until five minutes from the end when I hooked a great big carp from the deep left margin which leaped right out of the water and seemed to be hooked in the mouth. But seconds later the hook came out. So I finished with three fish and reckoned Peter Spriggs had about nine - so possibly around 100 lb.

Peter Harrison, 3rd with 101 lb 7 oz.

The weigh-in
Bob Barrett, on peg 1, led with 78 lb 5 oz, all taken on feeder, down to Peter Harrison on 7. He had 101 lb 7 oz, and Peter Spriggs didn't have 100 lb as I had assumed - he totalled just 68 lb, and had lost four. My three fish went 31 lb, beaten by Bob Walker opposite me, who took two or three late carp in his margin and ended with  57 lb 14 oz.

John Garner was Golden Peg, and
 was unlucky enought to lose
a near-20 lb carp when it
dropped through the
bottom of his landing net!

The winner - Shaun Buddle,
133 lb 12 oz. Note how seriously
he took his job as weight recorder!

Then came some much better weights on the East bank, topped by Shaun Buddle on 21 with 133 lb 12 oz, all except one taken out on a 2+2. That was the moment I realised I hadn't even tried out there towards the middle. What a terrible mistake on my part.

This was Kev's best fish - well
into double-figures.

Kevin Lee - second with  127 lb 11 oz.

Kevin Lee had six fish with an hour to go, then went out on a pole to 2+3 and found fish immediately, weighing 127 lb 11 oz for second spot, with Roy Whitwell framing yet again with 91 lb 15 oz, taken on a variety of baits on pole and feeder. So I finished nowhere.

That cold wind must have affected the fishing, after the hot spell. But well done to the anglers who found the fish in the end - it was not easy anywhere on the lake. And he weights were really quite tight.

Marks out of ten
My swim was calm for a lot of the match, but no calmer than Bobn Walker's swim oppoiste on 16. However my mistake was not to try farther out. Afterwards almost every angler I spoke to had caught most of their fish well out, and they couldn't catch in the margins. I kept seeing Peter Spiggs taking fish from his left margin (he said facing to his right left him so cold he gave it up). But I should definitely have tried well out. I can't think why I didn't. I give myself 5/10, which is generous. 

Off to Antiques Roadshow this weekend, to show a picture by Clive Dunn of Captain Mainwaring. I bought it 50 years ago in a charity auction. Of course none of the main characters in that Sit-Com are  still with us. I'll let you know the comments. My next match is John Garner's invitiation match on Elm next weekend.

THE RESULT

East bank                                    West bank   

30 John Smith        77 lb 11 oz              1 Bob Barrett        78 lb 5 oz        5th
28 Roy Whitwell     91 lb 15 oz  4th       3 Dave Hobbs        42 lb 8 oz
26 Kevin Lee         127 lb 11 oz   2nd      5 Mick Ramm         7 lb 4 oz
24 Dick Warrener     26 lb                        7 Peter Harrison   101 lb 7 oz    3rd
22 Trevor Cousins    73 lb 2 oz                 9 John Garner        77 lb 9 oz
21 Shaun Buddle    133 lb 12 oz  1st      10 Neil Paas             77 lb 7 oz
19 Mike Rawson      37 lb 1 oz                12 Joe Bedford        24 lb 9 oz
18 Wendy Bedford  36 lb 4 oz                 13 Peter Spriggs       68 lb
16 Bob Walker         57 lb 14 oz              15 Mac Campbell      31 lb

A nightmare finish for me on Crow Lake, Pidley

Peg 5, Sat, May, 10
Things were looking up for me in the days before this match - a good game of bowls, when I seemed to be able to get them exactly where I wanted them; then the pelargoniums I have nurtured all Winter reacted to the sun and started blooming... well, blooming marvelously. Then I found myself all tackled up and ready to go in this Fenland Rods a good 20 minutes early, which is unheard of for me. We fished alternate pegs - 2 down to 24.

Then a great start - first drop with a 0.5 gm float and a 4mm cube of luncheon meat saw the tip a bit too high in the water. But a No 11 shot added saw it dot down perfectly about 9 metres out. There was a light facing wind, giving a nice ripple. Within seconds it had dipped and I found myself playing a 5 lb carp. What a start. With that fish safely in the net I went out again and promptly hooked a 1 lb F1; then a two-pounder. And after 30 minutes I had about 12 lb to my name.

When we started there was a lovely ripple in the ENE wind.

Blowing in the wind
Then things slowed down (as they so often do) and the wind, which was in my face and slightly from the left (as I had expected) got up quickly and soon it was really strong. At that point I should have just changed to a heavier rig, which would have enabled me to go out further if I needed to. I think I could have fished there even though the pole would have been blowing around. But I didn't!

No, I stayed in the same spot, with the same rig, and caught the VERY occasional 2 lb F1. To my left Allan Golightly was struggling, and to my right Dick Warrener had had a fish or two, but was also struggling. A look in the margin saw another F1, and then a bigger fish about 3 lb. Now almost half the match had gone and I reckoned I had about 20 lb - I thought that was good compared to what the anglers each side had, but I had no idea about the others as they were too far away for me to see properly.

Up the shelf
A move, in the really nasty wind, up the shelf at about 5 metres brought three or four quick F1s, and then I had a look in the margins. First drop with a mussel saw a big fish foulhooked and I came back with a scale. Then the odd F1 and I went back to the five-metre line. Beside me my bomb/feeder rod was all ready to cast, but I never even picked it up. I was regret that, later.

I miss bite after bite
That five-metre line then produced a series of bites - perhaps 25 or 30 - one after the other...and I missed every one. Almost every time the luncheon meat had ben talken off the hook. Corn brought one fish, then I had to change back to meat to get a bite. They must have been F1s and I wasted far too much time there.

Into the margins

So it was into the margins with an hour to go, and there I hooked, and landed, about three better carp and a big F1, on mussel or cat meat. That was followed by five big fish all lost in five drops - every one foulhooked. Even so, I thought I could add another 30 lb in the time left.

But in the last 20 minutes I landed just one 6 lb carp, and an F1, for an estimated 50 lb total. I had seen Mel on peg 1 land a couple, but I was sure I had beaten those either side of me on what I thought was a very difficult day.

Dave Hobbs had most of his 59 lb 14 oz
from peg 20 on bomb or feeder.

The weigh in

A bit of a shock - Mel on peg 1 weighed in 63 lb 3 oz, which had obviously beaten me. The next two had struggled, but my 57 lb 3 oz easily beat Allan in peg 7 who had just four fish for his 15 lb 1 oz. Then the better weights started - Martin Parker, my Vets National travelling partner, had fished mainly a feeder for  68 lb 14 oz. and on peg 16 Roy Whitwell had caught most of his winning 90 lb 1 oz on a bomb or feeder. Our current Champion Kevin Lee had struggled, though - five fish for 25 lb 13 oz.

On the next peg Dave Hobbs had beaten me with 59 lb 14 oz, also nearly all on a feeder. Then my mate John Smith was on peg 22. Halfway though the match he had wandered up to Mike Rawson on 24 and said that for two pins he would pack up and go home. He went back to his peg and caught a fish, and had a good late spell in the margins, ending with 73 lb 14 oz for second spot! I ended sixth out of  the 12 who fished.  

His best fish, taken from the margin.

John Smith - 2nd with 73 lb 14 oz.

Winner was Roy Whitwell, 90 lb 1 oz.

Marks out of ten

I must have had a brainstorm. I can't think why I hadn't gone out farther with a heavy rig. It would have been difficult but it now appeared that a lot of the fish taken were well out. And why didn't I try the feeder? It was all rigged up and ready to go. I've won on Crow on the feeder in the past! I had become so preoccupied in trying to hook those pesky F1s I knew were in my swim, instead of trying something else. I was worth just 2/10. Next match Thursday on Oak, Decoy, where the Feedermasters event ten days ago was won from peg 20 with 305 lb.

THE RESULT

Oh dear, problems for me on Willows

Peg 9, Wed, May 7
I said I didn't fancy pegs between 6 and 12, and blow me I get put right in the middle on 9 (though it was also the Golden Peg). Not that I don't think I can catch fish there (though I would normally prefer a higher number), it's because rubbish tends to collect along that bank. You are facing roughly East, and any wind with East in it blows surface rubbish along both sides of the lake, towards that bank. Roy Whitwell had drawn peg 10 in a match the previous Friday, and had trouble with surface rubbish all day. 

But as Peter Harrison on 11 said, it was at least a day's fishing! So  I put a smile on my face and hoped the wind would be kind, although there were plenty of leaves and those inch-long brown willow catkins floating around in the middle. Nope! By the time the match started they were drifting towards me. Peter started well out, among a few leaves, and has one or two good carp early on...though I actually had an even better start.

The rubbish wasn't too bad before the start, and at least it was a warm day.

What a start, though!
The margins are about four feet deep here, and I fished towards the platform 8 on my left. A small piece of cat meat, from one of the silver pouches, brought a 1 lb F1 first drop. Then another...and within 15 minutes I had five for about 8 lb. 

After that great start I had visions of really bagging, but when I went to drop in again it was impossible. A gust of wind had carried rubbish - leaves, catkins and floating twigs - right along that bank and several metres wide. It had all happened in seconds, and it happened many more times during the day. I dropped in just in front of me, where I could gently lower the bait (a 4 mm expander) in between the rubbish.

That front swim yielded a foulhooked carp immediately, but it came off. However, it showed me that the better carp were willing to come in towards the margins, so I persevered.

I had a few more F1s there there before I had to move again. I also had to put the bulk shot well down, which I dislike doing when the fish are clearly off bottom, because otherwise the light wind made it impossible to drop the bait into clear water. Putting on a grain of corn helped, but with underwater rubbish drifting along and giving false bites, and the float being pushed along, it wasn't easy.

But the worst of the rubbish never got right in front of the swims either side of me. Just as it looked as if it would clear my swim a gust down one of the sides blew it all back again!

It wasn't long before Peter Harrison was into carp.

When my left margin became fishable again I put in some micros and hemp, and spent five minutes in the front swim before going over that bait. Blow me! When I turned left to drop into that baited swim it was covered like a carpet. 😞😞😞😞 Nowhere could I lay a rig in sideways, so I had to carry on dropping the bait straight down, in front of me on a short top and one.

Eventually it got too much - trouble was it was racing
through my swim at times, like the Trent!

I go on a walkabout
Halfway through, I couldn't fish anywhere properly, so I had a walk up to Roy Whitwell on 3 and John Garner on 1. Roy said he had about 26 lb, but John had more. I thought I had almost 30 lb, and with the swim having had a bit of a rest I went back. In the next hour the rubbish started blowing more towards Neil Paas on 7, but it was never particularly bad there.

It took more than an hour before I had any reasonably-clear water I could fish in, and in that hour I had one foulhooked gudgeon and one roach. I got the impression that those to my left had stopped catching much, but Peter on my right had had several more nice carp, and he was way ahead of me.

With 90 minutes left, determined, now that there was a little less rubbish, to try for a 'proper' carp, I put in a big pot of dead maggots and went over the top with corn. That brought a 4 lb mirror, and I was in business. Not big business  - I rebaited with hemp and micros and about ten minutes later had another 4 lb carp on mussel. Changing the rig for a special, 3gm rig with which I fish my special method, brought three more fish and another foulhooked monster which came off.

I ended taking carp on a 3gm float and
mussel in the right margin.

A good finish
With 15 minutes left, and with mussel on the hook, I hooked the fish I had hoped for. I saw it on the surface, and it must have been at least 8 lb, and looked to be hooked in the mouth, though it fought wildly as if it was foulhooked. After I had played it for several minutes the hook pulled, and I think I sighed: "Oh, dear." I now think that it was perhaps hooked just on the outside of the mouth.

Straight back in and another big fish took the mussel, and I was still playing it when the match ended. Luckily the hook held; it was in the mouth; and it went into my net. That fish was also around 8 lb. If only I had had another five minutes left...

Always a pleasure to see Mick Ramm.
We went to school together in 1948!

The weigh in
John Garner on 1 said that after I left he had just five fish. and he weighed in 56  lb 14 oz. Roy hadn't added much, either - he had 33 lb 1 oz. Peter Spriggs dropped a real boo-boo, having 61 lb in his second net, which was, under the club rules, completely disqualified. If it had counted he would have been second.

Both Neil and Peter, either side of me, beat my 62 lb 11 oz, but not by much, and I felt pretty satisfied. Dave Hobbs on 12 also beat me, and only Kevin Lee on 16 could top them - he won with 99 lb 7 oz, taken from his right margin on paste, though the other weights were pretty tight. So I finished fifth.

Marks out of ten
Of course where there is rubbish there tend to be fish, so I have to say that there were enough fish in our end of the lake for good catches to be made. However, afterwards I was so certain that I had fed well, and got the best out of my swim, that I felt that I could have framed from almost any other swim in that match (possibly not peg 3, though).

Fifth out of 13 is nothing to shout about, but I feel I was worth 9/10 again, considering the frustrations. Next match on Crow at Pidley on Saturday, and I am confident of being able to get the best out of my swim. I shall be concentrating on luncheon meat at the start, and probably staying all day on the pole. It depends on the wind, which is currently forecast to be 10-13 mph ESE, in our faces and perhaps a little from the left. So I may have to go up to 1 gm to get decent presentation, but I will have a feeder rod made up, just in case.

THE RESULT

1John Garner             56 lb 14 oz

3 Roy Whitwell         33 lb 1 oz

5 Peter Spriggs          16 lb 1 oz (net disqualified)

7 Neil Paas                65 lb 5 oz         3rd

9 Mac Campbell        62 lb 11 oz

11 Peter Harrison      67 lb 12 oz        2nd

13 Dave Hobbs         64 lb 7 oz           4th

15 Bob Walker        35 lb 15 oz

16 Kevin Lee           99 lb 7 oz            1st

18 Mick Ramm        44 lb 9 oz

20 Bob Barrett            DNW

22 Mike Rawson      31 lb 14 oz

24 Dick Warrener       27 lb 4 oz

25 Trevor Cousins     61 lb 7 oz

Fish have started to feed for me on Lou's lake

Before this match my wife and I played in a bowls competiton at the famous Potters. This was at the relatively-new Five Lakes complex where they hold occasional pairs events.

We played four games in the first round, all consisting of 12 ends. First game we won against a husband-and-wife team who won their other three games and went into the quarter-finals. Second game we lost against a husband-and-wife team who were obvious hot favourites, as they play at a very high level. After five ends we were winning; after eight ends we were just three behind, but then dropped a five, which was disastous and we lost. They won all four of their games.

Third game we won; and fourth game we lost by one shot against two superb men who were the only other team to win all four games. They went on to beat the hot favourites in the semi-final, and then won the final. So although we didn't make the quarter finals I felt we would probably have beaten most of the other teams there, and were unlucky to draw three of the best ones.

We will be going back in September for another bash. In the meantime I was in the team which have just won a triples league in my home club of Huntingdon. So we will have a cup to pick up eventually. Bryan Lakey used to say he wished I was as good at bowls as I was at fishing - now I probably am, but now Bryan will never be able to see me play...

Peg 14, Lou's, Sat, May 3
Ten of us turned out to fish on Lou's lake, and my 'committee' who decide what pegs to put in decided on 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14, leaving out the end peg 15 which has rather a lot of reeds within a few metres of the platform. Although peg 6 is the noted swim, I won last time from peg 14, and Wad-Y-Know, it came out for me again!

Peg 14 - reeds out in front, but that's where the fish are!

Thinking about bans
Last time I had most of my fish towards empty platform 15, but this time, because of the extra reeds, I found I would have to stand to see my float there. A thought then struck me - on some fisheries standing to fish is banned. Honestly! So is deliberately tapping the water with the pole, or swishing the big pole pot around in the water to empty it. I suspect those last two may be to ensure that anglers buy lots of pellets to attract the fish when they are thrown or catapulted in.

The standing ban is an attempt to stop anglers mugging cruising fish. Might as well state: "No fish to be caught"! And actually while tackling up I found that when I stood up I could see hazy black shapes in my swim, well below the surface. That made my mind up to start in the margins rather than on the feeder as I had envisaged. Ben Townsend has, in the past, hinted that if fish are feeding at a certain depth it's often worth looking out that depth of water to fish in. 

A great start
Well, it worked for me. I hooked on a small piece of cat meat, dropped it in on a short top about a metre from the bank, into three feet of water, and four seconds later the elastic was stretching. It stretched to the reeds in front of me, about seven metres away. I held hard and gritted my teeth...and the hook pulled out just as the reeds started waving. I rebaited, dropped in, and three seconds later was playing another carp. 

This one was about 5 lb and ended in my 18-inch landing net. But because I was having to get it in quickly it was very active, and after putting the fish into my keepnet I changed the landing net for a 20-inch model - much safer. Next drop - a three-pounder. Then another. And another. After the fourth fish I had an estimated 15 lb in my keepnet, and just 15 minutes had elapsed. What a start.

Things slow down
The whole of my swim was calm, though behind me in the low-numbered pegs there was a lovely ripple. I guessed that my fish would soon take fright, and they did. Things settled down, and I had to drop in a little to my right, against the marginal reeds. That brought more fish, though more slowly, and mainly between 2 lb and 3 lb. After almost two hours I estimated I had 50 lb...and I hadn't put in a single piece of loosefeed. 

As I wandered over to see John Smith, Dave Garner was playing a carp.

To give the swim a rest I wandered over to John Smith on peg 8, who said he had 26 lb on his clicker, but that Kevin Lee on 9 had more. Roy Whitwell on 10 said he probably had about 46 lb, all on feeder. I had seen him catch several on a feeder, and had thought about trying it myself. Meanwhile Allan Golightly said that Dick Warrener had had a lot of fish, though Dick told me later that they were very small - weighing only ounces.

A cold wind
The wind now started to get a little colder and back in my swim and I had to put on a hoodie. I started feeding micros out near the reeds, at about 8 metres, and corn tempted an occasional fish there. I lost two or three when they pulled off, and another snagged me in the reeds and I lost the whole rig. After having landed perhaps ten fish from that swim I had another look in the margins, and yes, there were some fish there again.

Then the wind started to blow harder and very much colder. "Baltic" one angler has described it on Facebook, and several of our anglers walked back to their cars for a jacket. From then on I concentrated on the right margin, taking perhaps one 3 lb carp every ten minutes, but losing another couple. Then I went to the left margin, which had not yet produced a fish, and when I put in hemp and micros the fish turned up there as well. One of the first ones I hooked was a foulhooked five-pounder which snagged Mike Rawson's pole rig.

Thanks, Mike
With our two rigs now hooked together Mike sportingly clambered off his seat and walked down to me so I could land the carp. Thanks, Mike. Then I had to go and get my jacket from the van, and about that time bites dried up quite markedly, and I had only three or four in the last hour. Mike had a better end to the match than me, landing four or five.

Mike Rawson plays a fish towards the end of the match. Both of us had almost
flat-calm water all day - that ripple in the background never came our way.

For much of the time I was fishing a short top and a long Number Four (the normal third section), but as soon as I could after hooking a fish I would take off the long section and slip in a short number four. This made it easier to grab the elastic and land the fish. The elastic was mainly the strong orange, probably about an 18-20. 

The fish were really sprightly, and caused me a lot of problems trying to unhook them. One almost jumped oput of my keepnet three times - and the top was two feet above the surface. If I hadn't had the landing net laying over the top I am certain it would have jumped out completely. I guess they will spawn soon. In fact Kev had them appearing to spawn (or attempting to) in his swim before the match started, but the cool wind appeared to put paid to that. At the end I had clicked nets of 40 lb, 40 lb and 23 lb.

Then just before the match finished the wind became warmer and the sun came out - talk about Sod's Law.

One of Mike Rawson's late fish - 
bigger than any I had.

The weigh in
I was surprised that the anglers with ripple hadn't got big catches - 57 lb 1 oz was the best from pegs 1, 3, 5 and 6. That famous peg 6 tends to produce best in Winter when the fish congregate in the far corner about 60 yards away. Callum didn't try a feeder there, I understand. But after seeing the results of the Feedermasters match which was taking place on six of the other lakes I wondered whether he would in fact have found fish in the corner on a feeder.

There were 100 lb-plus catches all round the lakes in that match - 300 lb from Oak (where nine of the 10 anglers had over 100 lb, the other DNW-ing); six over 100 lb on Horseshoe (best over 200 lb); four over 100 lb on Beastie; two over 100 lb on Cedar; one over 100 lb on Elm (five over 80 lb); and four over 100 lb on Yew (best 156 lb). And all on feeders!

John Smith took an early lead with 121 lb 2 oz.

Back to our match and it appeared to be a race between John and Kevin (pegs 8 and 9), with each thinking the other had won. John weighed in 121 lb 2 oz, taken in or near the margins, and Kevin congratulated him immediately. In fact Kevin had almost topped that but fell just short with  119 lb 2 oz including a fish he thought might weigh 12 lb, and some others nearing double-figures. I had nothing approaching that size.

Kevin took almost all his 119 lb 2 oz on paste.

Roy Whitwell's catch rate must have fallen when that wind blew harder,  because  he  weighed  in 86 lb 14 oz. I was sure I could beat that, so was looking at third place. My first net went 45 lb, and the second 53 lb (!). Someone said I needed 24 lb to win, so everyone looked carefully as my last net was taken out. In went the fish and round went the numbers - 26 lb and a bit, and I had won. Total 124 lb 13 oz. Just one fish had done it for me.

Marks out of ten
Looking back I don't think I made any big mistakes. But yet again I didn't try enough change baits like paste or worms. However I think I fed properly - after the first two hour I fed micros after every fish, and I'm convinced that brought the fish back into the swim quickly after I'd hooked one. 

I took all my margin fish using my special method, and I did notice that when I put the pole out those black shapes under it immediately disappeared, so I increased the lash to over two feet; I think that helped. Unusually I'm giving myself 9/10.

Next match on Willows on Wednesday. If we are fishing the lower numbers any number round to about 25 then anything over 15 will suit me, or peg 1. Of the rest, I don't fancy from about 6 round to 12. But what do I know??

THE RESULT

Our annual Pairs match, on Horseshoe.

Peg 15, Sunday, April 27
This was our annual Fenland Rods Pairs match, with the top seven in last year's Championship table paired with the seven beneath them...or it would have been if Joe and Wendy hadn't been under the weather. So we ended with six pairs, and I fancied my peg 15, as there are more lillies on that side of the horseshoe-shaped lake, though they are hardy showing yet. 

The top seven, which included me, were drawn in the high numbers. The weather was a bit overcast, with a good breeze coming into my face from the right. And after two hours I had two F1s, a 3 lb bream, and a 5 lb carp in the net - around 12 lb, all taken about six metres out on a 4mm expander or corn over micros. Then there was a lull and I walked round to see what the others had caught. 

Calm to start with, then a cold wind came in from the right, but it
veered round at times into my face, making presentation difficult.

To my right Allan Golightly had a couple of carp, and on his right Roy Whitwell was struggling, though he said that fish were being caught to his right, where my partner for the day Dave Garner, was pegged. Dave said he also had about 12 lb to 14 lb. On my left Mel Lutkin hadn't had a fish, so I though I was doing reasonably well.

The wheels come off
Then the wheels came off and in the next three hours I managed a couple of gudgeon and a roach or two, and I lost a foulhooked carp  before having half an hour trying to snatch some little roach in the margins, using maggot. I had a few, after changing my elastic down, but still managed to bump a couple of better fish. I assumed they weren't really hungry. The wind had been very awkward all afternoon, constantly changing direction, and when it was in my face I had to go down to a four-inch lash to keep the bait in position (not that it did me much good).

Mel Lutkin in action late in the match.

With half an hour to go I saw Mel get a carp from the margins, and then  another. Meanwhile I had staked everything on getting carp in my left margin, and sure enough with 15 minutes left I bagged one on mussel - it was about 6 lb (the carp, not the mussel). Next drop I foulhooked one - either that or the scale put up a hell of a fight for 30 seconds! And there was still time for yet another six-pounder. Quite a finish.

Mike Rawson - second to weigh. He
had 20 lb 12 oz, and is having a better
 season following his mini-stroke.

The weigh in
Callum on peg 1 had flat calm water almost all day and struggled to 26 lb 12 oz, while on peg 2 Mike Rawson weighed in 20 lb 12 oz, mainly taken late in the match. Then came Dick Warrener, who before the match had said he intended to have a real good look alongside the reeds to his right. I said I'd prefer to concentrate on the area next to a tree stump, but Dick thought it might be too snaggy, However, that was where he caught all his fish - 60 lb 2 oz of them, which won the match. So I had apparently unwittingly helped the opposition. 😒

Dave Hobbs weighs in his 51 lb bag.

Then the weigh in became quite exciting, with the next three all having similar catches. Dave Hobbs weighed in 51 lb, but thought that John Smith, on his left, had beaten him. No - John fell just short with 49 lb 9 oz. And next to weigh was my partner in the Pairs event, Dave Garner, who was a little despondent, believing that both Dave Hobbs and John had beaten him. In fact they hadn't. Dave took 52 to the scales, worth two points in this points match. Well Done, Pardner!

Dick Warrener was
top  with 60 lb 2 oz.

John Smith with lump!

My six-peg section
Then it was round to our section, and when Roy Whitwell weighed 31 lb 9 oz I thought I had been really thrashed. But then it turned out that Allan hadn't managed to catch much more after his early carp and he totalled 23 lb 7 oz. If I could beat that I would at least avoid coming last in the section.

My carp were bigger than I thought, and with the 1 lb or so of roach I had 30 lb 4 oz. Just one more bream would have given me the lead in my section. It then turned out that Mel had lost his last carp and had only one to weigh - 6 lb 15 oz. But in the next swim Martin Parker had had several early carp on a straight leger followed by a dire second half - for 46 lb 7 oz, with Kevin Lee also admitting to about 46 lb.

Kevin, fishing the same swim as he had had last year in this match, had again lost some big carp, but ended with 48 lb 6 oz for one point, giving his team the minimum 2 points, because he was teamed up with Dick Warrener. Well done both of them!

The overall result. My scribbles on the right are the team placing.
Sections are by default.

More excitement

Then there was more excitement. My measly fourth place, worth 4 points, teamed with Dave Garner's 2 points gave us (obviously) six points - the same as Roy and Dave Hobbs, so total weight would count...and they beat us into second team place with 82 lb 12 oz to our 82 lb 4 oz. Tight, or what? 

The team result - a clean sweep for Dick Warrener and Kevin Lee.

So ended a close match, though we all agreed that the fish were waiting to spawn, which kept weights below what we might have hoped for. My next match was on Lou's Lake, after my wife and I had been to Potters for a bowls tournament. Watch this space.

Marks out of ten

Actually I thought I had fished quite well - it was obviously a hard area. I kept everything tight and didn't overfeed. Right at the end I know carp had arrived in my swim, and I thought that two in the last 15 minutes, both landed, was as much as I could hope for. I give myself 8/10. I probably should have tried a change bait like worm in the long swim.

PS About four weeks ago almost a pint of maggots escaped in the back of my van. I reclaimed lots of them, but obviously not all...they have metanorphised into blubottles. Hundreds of them! But not a single one has hatched out in the back of the van - somehow they have all ended up in my cab, and twice a day I have had to leave the doors open so they can fly out. Hundreds of them! I've not mentioned it to my nearest neighbour, but if he mentions a surprise plague of flies I shall have a Senior Moment and forget about a certain incident. After all it was a month ago... 

Bluebottles? How unusual. Must be the hot weather.