Not raving about Raven at Rookery Waters

 Peg 1, Raven, Wed, Jan 22
Wednesday and, after I showed the Fuhrer my wife an article which explained how much vitamin D we all ought to be getting, and the fact that it comes mainly from sunshine being outside, she unexpectedly signed my 10-hour pass. So I scooted off to the Pidley Pensioners, who were to fish on Raven and Magpie.

To cut a long, sad, story short I ended up with probably the last peg I would have chosen, apart from Magpie 28. I pulled out Raven peg 1 - not a noted peg in Winter. Indeed I can't remember it ever featuring in any result I have seen. Still it would be a day's fishing on Rookery Waters, so what's not to like?

Just to rub it in, Fate decreed that I should ask just two anglers where they had drawn. Ernie Lowbridge and Shaun Buddle were sitting together in the cafe, and delightedly informed me that Ernie had Raven 11 (a corner peg with considerable form) and Shaun had the famous Magpie 36. Of course nothing is guaranteed from any swim, but those were probably the first two pegs I would have chosen! 😞

No sun, and no raspbery ripple (except from the ducks).

Foggy on the way in

The dense fog which enveloped me on some of the journey to Pidley had miraculously lifted by the time I got there, and although it was cold, there wasn't much wind - not bad conditions. At my office for the day it was 14 metres to the far bank - farther if I wanted to go sideways towards vacant peg 2, on my right. But there weren't any reeds or stick-ups on the far bank anyway, so I started just to the left, towards the really shallow end of the lake and dobbed bread, about 18 inches deep, along the far bank, moving a metre or two every couple of minutes.

Blimey - within 10 minutes I was playing a 1 lb F1. Already I had 1 lb more than I had expected to catch! But that didn't last, and it was nearly a hour before the next fish came in. I've recently seen one of the Guru underwater videos, and was stuck by the fact that those carp seemed to be spooked by bulk shot hanging off the bottom, so for the rest of the day I put all my shot under the float.

The end of the lake, to my left, was very shallow, and I also found that even at only 18 inches deep the float didn't always settle properly - the weight of the bread should sink it to just the correct level. Presumably there was weed on the bottom. But I felt I had to keep trying it, and suddenly, out of the blue, the float dipped and I was playing a 7 lb common. Very gingerly, because I was using a light size 18 hook.

Chris Saunders was on 27, behind me,
and had to watch Mark Waring, two
swims to his right, catching fish while
Chris himself, struggled to 27 lb 6 oz
(which still beat me!)

A short purple patch
It took another hour for the next fish, but four, all around 3 lb, came in about an hour, then they vanished. I tried maggot in the deep water down the track and just over my margin, but never had a touch. Nor did dobbed maggot work. Back out on the bread and one more 3 lb carp came in, and with 20 minutes left I went out with maggot in the deep water just off the far bank margin. First cast another carp came in, and then the angler to my right had a fish. In the last 20 minutes he had at least two more, but my float remained resolutely still. 

I'd had about seven or eight liners all day, all at 18 inches, and when I shallowed up I had none. And as so often happens if I had a liner I never had a proper bite afterwards. It seems that once one fish had taken fright the rest could all suddenly see my line. I ended with eight fish, but had no idea what anyone else might have. I was also pleased that I didn't lose any.

 Mark Wareing's best fish in his winning
84 lb 12 oz  catch was about 8 lb.

The weigh in
I was first to weigh on Raven - 23 lb 4 oz which gave me third place in my section of seven, and I was happy with that, beaten by noted peg 5, and 11 (that was Ernie, the Fastest Angler in the West). Raven was won on end peg 28 by Mark Wareing, who dobbed maggots across in the shallow water, never fed anything all day, and ended with 84 lb 12 oz. Ernie was second on 11, dobbing bread at 16 metres (this swim is on the inside of a corner). I see peg 33 , opposite the island, won Magpie. My next match will probably not be until a week Sunday.

THE RESULT

RAVEN

MAGPIE

First (cold) match of the year on Six-Island. Grrrr

Peg 6, Six-Island, Sunday Jan 19
I must be getting old. I recently turned heating on in my bedroom - never done that before. And somehow it seems that I've also gone soft. Because when I was a little'un the Winters were much colder, and longer, and ice on the inside of a bedroom window wasn't even worth mentioning - almost everybody had it. Sunday was rather strange - obviously cold, about 2 degrees, but at the start of this JV match I didn't feel cold, thanks to my five layers of clothing. Then, soon after we started, a gentle breeze began to blow - nothing more than a breeze, but it was PENETRATING. And the gloom made it hard to see my float. Not a happy bunny.

No picture of my swim - so here is a pretty tree
from Wimpole Hall, lit up at Christmas.
 I know I must get out a bit more!

Didn't help that the wind was in the faces of Chris Saunders and myself, in from the left. I decided to stay on the bomb and bread, and feeder and pinkies, although Chris was wielding his 13-metre pole like a conductor's baton, and within an hour he'd had four F1s, while I had nowt. Then I simply had to change, despite the cold, and very eventually a 2 lb F1 took my two pinkies out at 13 metres. Half an hour later a 7 lb common came in, at which point I was so cold that I wandered back to the van to get my mobile.

Oh, we were shallow!
On peg 9, in the corner, Roy Whincup said he had ten small F1s on a maggot feeder, so I guessed he had about 20 lb. It was still cold, and I couldn't be arsed to take a picture of my swim, which was mainly cold-looking water, so I sat down and had another quick look on the pole. Minutes later a 3 lb F1 came in, but soon my pole was wobbling in my hands as I shivered violently, so I spent the last two hours 45 minutes switching from feeder to pole, without a bite. Chris had one tiny roach after the first hour, and we put it down to our swims being shallow - Chris had three feet, I had a few inches more.

I had actually plumbed at 13 metres to my left, and found almost another 18 inches...but no fish. But on the opposite bank (who had back wind) there were a few. But I was glad when I'd had enough...

Roy Whitwell - 72 lb from peg 22.

The weigh-in
We started with Roy Whitwell on peg 22, which can be very good in the Winter but not as good as it used to be. He'd had a good day fishing bomb and bread and then Method feeder and wafter for 72 lb, and never used his pole at all. He must also have been cold as the wind was in his face from the right. Kev Bell, opposite, said Roy had definitely beaten him, but Kev would be last to weigh.

Peter Harrison, opposite me on 13 had managed to get fairly close to the small island using 14 metres, and had picked up several F1s there. I'd left my 14.5-metre section at home, so the longest I could use was 13 metres plus a half butt, but I remembered previously using 16 metres on my peg, and still being well short of that island. Ernie Lowbridge on 11 took his 36 lb 2 oz mainly on bomb and bread, and Steve Tilsley in the corner used waggler, catching most of his F1s off bottom, on maggot, and totalling 54 lb.

Peter Harrison, opposite me, worked
really  hard on the pole for 23 lb 7 oz.

Ernie Lowbridge found some better fish.

On my bank Roy Whincup had obviously had a terrible second half (like me) and ended with 26 lb 10 oz, and my measly contribution was 12 lb 13 oz, just beaten by Chris. And so to Kevin Bell, who is about as good as estimator of weight as I am - far from being beaten by Roy, he took 82 lb 5 oz, also on bomb and feeder, from peg 1 for the win. Well done indeed.

Not worth rating my performance - I was just glad to get home without having frostbite. Though I would probably have done much better if I'd started on the pole. But nobody told me that!!!

THE WINNER - Kevin Bell, 82 lb 5 oz.

Steve Tilsley - third with 54 lb,
nearly all taken on his wagglers.

Winter League final practice
I didn't see all the result sheets from the Open - doubtless Karen will put them up on the Decoy Facebook page for all the anglers practising for the Winter League final on Feb 22nd. A new peg 9 has been placed on Beastie - in the corner before the bridge, looking down to peg 8. Billie Smalley, an angler I do not know, but who has been getting big weights, drew it on Sunday and, I was told, never had a bite. So the carp are obviously not feeding at the back of the spit at the moment.

Most Winters they stay in the main bowl of Beastie lake, tending not to drift down towards peg 26, and often not even to famous peg 30 (the angler here had 20 lb-plus of bream on Sunday), and often not to the back of the spit. However, good weights - plenty of 40 lb-plus, topped by 125 lb - came from Oak.

My next match probably Sunday somewhere on Decoy, with JV. No cold breezes, thank you!

THE RESULT

Last match of the year, on Beastie

Peg 3, Beastie
Twelve of us turned up for this JV club match on Beastie, Decoy, and the hand that dipped into the bag before me belonged to Shaun Coaten. He drew out peg 26, and I immediately thought: "Poor Sod". Because I know that in Winter, especially when there's South in the wind (as there was today), the fish on Beastie often move up to the main bowl of the lake.

Looking towards the main spit, and the main bowl of the lake.

 I drew out peg 3, where the wind was in my face, and from the left, and was pretty happy with that, especially since I could see that those swims at the Southern end, to my left, were comparatively calm, while my bank had a big ripple on..

The swims to my left had virtually no ripple on them.

Hoods up!
To my right on 5 was Ian Frith, and even before the match started I was glad I had put on all my Winter layers, and we both had our hoods up. My tactics were simple - a bomb/feeder rod, with one main pole rig at 11.5 or 13 metres, and a couple of  'throw-away' rigs in case I felt it was worth looking in the margins later. But the water was very clear and I doubted whether they would be used.

I started on a bomb and bread to the island, about 40 years away, as did Ian, I think. He had a fish fairly early on, but I had just a small liner or two. A fish or two had topped halfway out, so I put the bomb there, with maggot bait, and eventually hooked a good fish that really bent the rod and turned out to be a mirror about 8 lb. But no more came from that swim.

A change to feeder
Sometime about then I saw Ian pole fishing and I saw that when he caught a fish there he soon changed to a feeder. That went on all day - one fish from a swim and he would soon change - and I found the same thing. So out I went to my long pole line between casts on the rod, and after about an hour I hooked a fish that threatened to take me round the end of the spit which runs alongside peg 3, on the left. But the 13 Preston hollow elastic held, and in came a seven-pounder, hooked in the tail!

Ian Frith lands a fish near the end of the match.
As I took this, an F1 nearly pulled my rod in.

Back out, and I changed from bomb to a very small Method feeder, which brought a small F1 from about 10 feet short of the island, and then a 6 lb common from right against the reeds on a small hybrid feeder because I felt it would hold the maggots in it better than the Method.

Ian had now had a fish or two, and I started switching from rod to pole. A roach or two and some gudgeon came on the long pole, nothing from a couple of brief looks on a short pole, then an F1 on the feeder. I now switched to a very small hybrid feeder, which eventually brought another two or three  F1s, from different spots near the island - never getting two fish from the same spot.

A good one lost
An hour before the end I hooked a good fish on the long pole, on double red maggot, but it came off after about ten seconds. In that last hour I had just one more F1 on the feeder, which pulled the rod off the rest just as I was taking a picture of Ian landing a fish. I just managed the grab the handle before the rod disappeared into the depths.

Peter Harrison - winner with 67 lb 1 oz.

The weigh in

I was on scales, so Ian and I did the honours. My fish weighed   36 lb 9 oz, but I guessed that Ian had about 50 lb, thanks to a little run of fish early on when I was struggling. Indeed, he weighed in 52 lb 11 oz, which topped our four-peg section. The top weights came  from Pete Molesworth on the main spit, peg  17, who fished a maggot feeder for 57 lb 3 oz, and Peter Harrison on 22, who fished dead maggots on a feeder cast to the island. He won with 67 lb 1 oz.

Then the weights collapsed - just as if a brick wall had been built to Peter's right. Joe Bourn on the next peg didn't weigh, while Lee Kendall on 24 took just 4 lb 7 oz to the scales, mainly small stuff!!. And as I had feared, Shaun Coaten had caught just two roach, and the famous pegs 29 and 30  both produced less than 10 lb. As I had expected, there had been virtually no ripple on these swims.

So I ended fourth, and was pleased with that, in that sort of company. Next match might have been in the regular Friday Old Codgers event at Decoy, on Jan 3rd,  but it's our 54th Wedding Anniversary, and my wife may have other ideas. So it will be on Sunday, somewhere on Decoy. It's difficult, obviously, but there still has to be a winner...

THE RESULT

In the bleak mid-winter, fishes do not bite...

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sunday, Dec 22

I'm dreaming of a day's fishing
Just like the ones I used to get.
When the bream are biting,
And carp are fighting
Until they end up in my net.

Sorry about that - I must stop listening to Bing Crosby. You see, I've had three DNWs in the last six or seven weeks, and it reminds me of the 1960s, in our Winter Leagues. Colin Clare, chairman of the East Midland Winter League, used to stand up at the draw before the sixth match and read out a list of all the anglers who had fished the first five, usually on the Nene, Ouse, and Fen drains, and still not caught a fish. And that was entirely because of the c-o-l-d.

Anyway, I DNWd the latest JV Fur and Feather match, and the weather didn't help. The forecast at 9 am was for high winds, and 4 degrees, feeling like minus 2. Which it was. But thankfully Roy Whincup moved the match from Six-Island, where the wind would have made it almost unbearable for some -  when a big gust came I could feel the box almost lifting up - to Elm, Cedar and Oak, so we had the wind at our backs.

Bad start...and it got worse
I started off with bomb and a wafter cast across, and had liners on each of the first six casts, but they never developed into proper bites. On my right Ernie Lowbridge cast a small Method feeder across to the far bank and within minutes he was playing an 8 lb-plus carp. But then he struggled for a bite, while my liners stopped and Ernie turned to his pole, taking two more carp and two bream.

I did actually hook three carp on pole and maggot, all of which came off within seconds, probably foulhooked as the maggots were all intact. Two were out at 11.5 metres and one was in the side. To my left Yammers and Roy Whitwell also failed to land a fish (though Roy lost a skimmer at the net) and Cedar lake was won by Ernie, on peg 3, with 29 lb 9 oz, who took his pole-caught fish on a 4mm expander over micros, and said he lost four foulhooked. Why didn't I try an expander? I blame the cold - it froze my brain.

John Knight - winner of this match and of JV's overall knockout.

The overall match was won by John Knight, who fished maggot feeder on Oak, peg 3, for 97 lb 4 oz, taking almost all his fish from the middle of the lake, rather than the far bank. He also won the club's overall knockout, beating Lee Kendall, who was runner-up on Oak with 51 lb 6 oz, but who was almost 'Carled' by Carl White next door on 9, who took 47 lb 11 oz to the scales.

Lots of prizes for those of us stupid enough
 to go out in those freezing gale-force winds.

Elm was won by Joe Bourn with 47 lb 12 oz taken on bomb and wafter over the far side. I didn't take any pictures - I was on scales and it was still cold and windy.

Afterwards we all received a prize, and although manager Karen Gracey wasn't at the prizegiving, we thanked her for all her help during the year (especially the roast potatoes!) My next match is with JV next Sunday. If I DNW again it will be a hat-trick!

THE RESULTS

OAK

ELM

CEDAR

On the tenth day of Christmas - Ten anglers angling ( on Six-Island)

Half an hour before we start and - hello hello,
what's all this? Looks like the fish are 
already lining up in front of Peter Harrison!

Peg 13, Six-Island
Ten off us trundled down to Six-Island lake for this JV match, and it was a strange start. Beside me, on peg 14, Peter Harrison was testing a float before the match when an F1 took his bare hook. He must have thought it was heaving down there under the surface...but the match had been going for more than four hours before he had his next bite! Meanwhile Shaun Buddle was on peg 1, somewhere in front of the sixth island (which you can't see any more), also struggling for the first two-and-a-half hours on a pole before casting a feeder to where the island should be, and finding fish!

Down on my bank I was pleased with peg 13, where I won my section last time we were on this lake. But today was different. Peter Harrison on my left was sheltered from the strong Westerly wind, which was blowing down to pegs 9 and 10, and everyone would have favoured the swims at that windy end of the lake. Opposite me on 6 was Eddie McIlroy who had won from that peg last time, but today both he and I really struggled.

Steve Tilsley had a flying start with three carp on bomb
and bread, and another on a feeder, in the first hour.

Fish hard to come by
My first F1 came to a pink wafter on a banjo feeder after an hour, by which time Steve Tilsley on my right had had four fish, including a couple of lumps! On his right Chris Saunders had a slow start, with just one, I think. Then Steve went on to a pole and had a fish, before changing back to a feeder. That was the pattern of his day - catching perhaps one fish every20 minutes, but having to change from pole to feeder, or vice versa, after each one.

With threee hours to go I put a pot of dead maggots in the deep margin to my right, but never had a touch there on dead maggot. Then, with two hours to go I started flicking casters out in front of me, where I had had fish last time in this peg. I was absolutely certain that I would get a bite or two there, but no - despite looking there several times - nothing!

The sun made a brief appearance, lighting up the far bank. But it didn't stay long. 

I managed the next F1 on a bomb and wafter, then an hour later another on the feeder, and with 45 minutes left Peter Harrison had his first fish - a small F1. Immediately afterwards I had an 8 lb common on corn at about nine metres, but that was my last one, though Peter hooked two more, one of which fell off (!) 😒 Chris Saunders on 19, though, had a great finish on maggot, though he lost six foulhooked, and assumed they had come off bottom suddenly.

The weigh in
Shaun had done well on 1 - 43 lb 5 oz, almost all taken in the second half of the match over the island which doesn't exisit any more. Chris on 11 and Steve on 12 dfominated that end - Steve winning with 55 lb 4 oz to Chris' 42 lb 10 oz. My measly 15 lb 14 oz was sixth, with Peter Harrison weighing in just 4 lb 7 oz - that made me think that perhaps I hadn't fished that badly.However after talking to Styeve and Chris, and finding that they had caught on the pole mainly on maggot I wondered why I hadn't put maggot out in the longer swim!!

Shaun Buddle - second from peg
1 with 43 lb 5 oz mainly on feeder.

Chris Saunders - third (and
section winner) with 42 b 10 oz.

Next match, also on Six-Island, is our Fur and Feather, though I doubt there will be many rabbits and pheasants as prizes. Back in the late 1950s, when I started matchfishing a Fur and Feather was just that - rabbits and birds as prizes (though I'm not complaining, as it's many years since I last skinned a rabbit).

Steve included a nice hump-backed
perch in his winning catch.

THE RESULT

1 Shaun Buddle      43 lb 5 oz       2nd 

4 Carl White           10 lb 8 oz    

6 Eddie McIlroy      13 lb 13 oz

9 Ernie Lowbridge   22 lb 10 oz

11 Chris Saunders   42 lb 10 oz    SEC

12 Steve Tilsley      55 lb 4 oz      1st    

13 Mac Campbell   15 lb 14 oz   

14 Peter Harrison      4 lb 7 oz

20 Roy Whitwell    33 lb 10 oz    SEC

22 Barry Webb           DNW                 

End of the day and a fabulous sunset at Decoy.

In the bleak mid-Winter on Elm.

Peg 13, Elm, Sunday, Dec 8
The forecast obviously turned some people off - high winds and rain - and just eight turned out for this JV match on Elm and Cedar. Well, yes, there were high winds, though not gale-force, and there was rain - but I had my umbrella up, so I was dry (ish). Here Hee. Not that any of that helped, 'cos I ended up with not a fish after five hours. And it did feel like mid-Winter.

Peg 13 is in the corner of Elm - there were four of us on this bank, and four on the same bank facing the opposite way - into Cedar lake. And yes, it was cold. I fished a banjo feeder with a wafter for the first two hours with just three small liners, but to my left the Kendall Killer, Eddie McIlroy, was casting to a bed of reeds opppoite, where I had the majority of my fish two weeks ago when I won with 137 lb. And he was catching occasional fish...

The wind was Northerly, from my right, but while the ripple was going in that direction in the early pegs, it was going from left to right at our end. The end bank must have set it rolling over and set it churning back in a Southerly direction. Very strange.

My left margin, with a ripple from left to right. But you can see, in the
distance the ripple at the other end, which was right to left.

My right margin looked lovely,  but produced nowt.

I was getting into the deep water over the far side, and the one time I ventured to within a foot or two of the platform on peg 12 I hit a snag immediately and had to pull for a break . Luckily it was the hooklength that broke. But I persevered on the feeder, changing the bait to maggot, and then eventually having a look on the pole line in the deep water near the corner. I thought I had two or three knocks there, but later put it down to submerged leaves hitting the line - I hooked three and also several other strands of weed from the bottom. The corner looked very inviting and I put a rig with a grain of corn right against the dead reeds which had built up there, and was surprised not to get a bite.

Shaun in action - I peaked out from
my umbrella to catch this one.

Behind me, Shaun Coaten started on a feeder then changed to pole and I know he had three fish - probably F1s, with the first one foulhooked, I guess he was using corn. I spent the lst hour or so on a Method feeder, but never had another knock. And I was glad when I'd had enough!

The weigh in
I didn't see it. I was too concerned with getting everything together and trundling back to the van. We'd had rain on and off all day, everything was wet, and everybody was cold,. But there were fish caught - and Eddie won with  ten for 66 lb, taken I think mainly on wafter. On Cedar Roy Whitwell had three on maggot on a feeder, and three on wafter for 46 lb 8 oz to win that lake.

Next Sunday we will probably be on Six-Island, the shallowest of Decoy's 11 lakes, but if there's a warmish wind it could fish OK. At least things can't get any worse for me. I give myself 7/10 because I don't think I made any big mistakes.

THE RESULT

            Cedar                                                                 Elm

7 Roy Whitwell        46 lb 8 oz   2nd     20 Peter Harrison        34 lb

9 Dave Parsons        32 lb 8 oz              18 Pete Molesworth   24 lb 4 oz

11 Roy Whincup      10 lb 13 oz             15 Eddie McIlroy       66 lb        1st

13 Shaun Coaten      DNW                     13 Mac Campbell         DNW                     

A few on feeder on Cedar

Oh, what a grey day!

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sun, Dec 1
You really need to be down towards the far end of the strip lakes at Decoy to have the best chance of fish, but I was happy enough with peg 5 in this JV match, fished on Elm and Cedar. Ernie Lowbridge was on my right, and Lee Kendall on my left, but since both were behind a bush I couldn't see much of them.  The day was murky, and cool, and we had some rain early on, but nothing bad.

Lee Kendall was behind that bush.

I started, like Ernie, on a pole fairly close in, but "there were nowt thurr" as they would say in Yorkshire (and some other equally remote spots in the UK where they talk funny.) A switch to a small banjo feeder and dead maggot brought two nice carp around 7 lb, but the bites were a long time coming. Lee had an early fish or two on a feeder cast right across to the platform opposite his peg 7, but I couldn't see how big they were.

Massive bites

In fact Lee told me later he used a wafter nearly all day, on a feeder and then a bomb, and was catching good carp, while my next four fish were F1s, waiting up to 30 minutes for a bite. And with an hour left that was all I had. I'd looked in the deep margins a couple of times, and I now made one last cast on the feeder. The rod tip never moved for 30 minutes and just as I was about to bring it all back the rod  flew off the rest and I managed to catch the handle before it descended into the deeps. It was another F1 - all the F1s gave massive bites while the two bigger fish were slower.

Ernie Lowbridge was behind that bush.

With that seventh fish in the net I looked in the right margin where I had been putting just a little bait. Ernie had had a couple on a feeder, I think, early on, and then a few on a pole - mainly F1s, and at this point I saw him net a fish that looked to be in double-figures, taken about 10 metres out.

A proper look in the margins
I had a quick look at ten metres, then back in the right margin, where I had earlier had a liner. With a few minutes left I had a look, for the first time, in the left margin. Now I found a shelf which I had not found earlier, so I dropped a grain of corn down beside it on a new 0.5 gm rig on one of my new, sparkling Cralusso floats, and I fancied that as it dropped I might have had a bite. There were only a few seconds left when I pulled the rig out, lay it in again, and watched the float dive under as the bait hit bottom.

The 14-16 elastic streaked out and almost immediately the whistle went. I shouted "Fish On." Twice. But Lee obviously didn't hear me as he obligingly shouted that the match had finished. I really did should quite loudly! I shouted back that he must be deaf, which was a stupid thing to do, really, as he would make mincemeat of me if he tried. But he's obviously an old softie...

Ernie took most of his fish on pole.

That fish took several minutes to land, but it was worth it, as it was in double-figures. I was on scales with Ernie, and stopped packing up when he was ready to weigh, but Peter Harrison and Lee were already with Ernie, so I followed for some pictures - unfortunately missing Lee as  I tidied up my gear a little before following the scales.

The weigh in
Ernie weighed in 42 lb 14 oz and then I was pleased to have at least kept in touch with him, with my fish weighing 40 lb 6 oz. But Lee, as he so often does, had whupped us all with 14 fish for 109 lb 4 oz, all taken on a wafter cast right across. The weights were a little better towards the far end, topped by Barry Webb in corner peg 13, with 59 lb 15 oz, taken mainly on a feeder, but with one very big fish near the end on a pole fairly close in. That seemed to have been the story of the day.

Weights were a little better on Elm, mainly in the 60 lb bracket, with Shaun Coaten winning from peg 10 with 86 lb 8 oz. Virtually all the anglers in the match said that casting right across to within a foot or two of the far bank, or the far-bank platforms, was the only way they could get bites for most of the day. So if the fish were willing to feed in the far margins, why didn't they feed in our side margins?

Peter Harrison - 47 lb  ll oz.

Chris Saunders 56 lb 5 oz for
 third on Cedar.

Barry Webb - second on Cedar - had his
weight boosted by a late 'biggie', as did
several other anglers on the day.

The Exterminator
It was noted that Eddie (The Kendall Killer) McIlroy did not turn up to do battle with Lee, who has now renamed himself the Eddie Exterminator. I will watch their confrontations, on the bank and in the cafe, with interest!

Marks out of ten

I had no way of knowing what Lee was using as bait, apart from asking him directly, but the idea of trying a wafter had crossed my mind. So why didn't I do it?  Lee had all 'proper' carp, with no smaller F1s. Also I had a bomb rod ready with a longer tail, but never tried that either. Still, I caught a few fish on a day when things were extremely difficult, in good company, so I give myself 7/10. Next match Sunday, probably on the same two lakes.

THE RESULTS

CEDAR

ELM