It's another bad day for bream at Ferry Meadows

High water levels and heavily coloured water have plagued the matchmen right from the turn of the year.

On Sunday it was no better. A very respectable turnout for the latest match on the venue saw water levels rise over 12 inches making some pegs all but impossible to fish and of course putting the fish off the feed.

Top rod with a modest 35lb 7oz was Geoff Grant. He caught a few bream on the feeder from peg 66.

Runner-up was Neal Truman with 15lb 15oz with the rest of the field struggling for bites.

Already we have seen two very poor results from the venue in big matches and the weekend brings the prestigious FeederMasters Qualifier to the city lakes. Prospects do look much better, so let’s hope for the sake of the Peterborough & District AA, and indeed those taking part, that at long last we see the bream on the feed and some big weights recorded.

SUPERCUP

The ever popular Angling Times/Bait Tech Supercup event got under way at the weekend with no real shocks for local clubs taking part.

JVAC were drawn at home to Rookery Waters and as expected took them to Decoy Lakes on the Horseshoe Pool.

In the end they ran out comfortable winners but Rookery still had the pleasure of claiming bragging rights on the individual front as Steve Roslyn took the honours with a fine 115lb 9oz net of carp from peg one.

After a slow start on the feeder and pole he switched to a long pole line down to the right-hand margins and that’s when his match really took off.

He caught for the rest of the match on sweetcorn over micro pellets, netting carp to 6lb.

JVAC rods Guy Dew and Ian Frith came in second and third respectively with weights of 105lb 9oz and 86lb 1oz.

JVAC have a very good record in this event, having made it to the finals on several occasions and with a good draw in the next couple of rounds I would expect such a strong squad to go a long way.

The second Rookery Waters team took on Huntingdon-based Cromwell Lakes on the Raven Pool in the same event and this was a very close encounter.

The teams drew on points with Rookery going through on weight.

Rookery carded a total of 305lb 12oz with Cromwell on 275lb 4oz.

Individually Wayne Shepherd did the business for Rookery Waters topping the leaderboard with 92lb 4oz.

OVER 55s

I fished my first match for several months on Friday wetting a line in the Decoy Over 55s open on Six Islands.

Suffice to say I had a poor start to this year’s match campaign, not ever troubling the scalesman.

Meanwhile all but opposite me was matchwinner Jay Richardson, who came good in the last couple of hours on the long pole with pellet to finish with 85lb 7oz from peg 15.

Gordon Parker took the runner-up spot from peg three fishing maggot on the pole close in for 82lb 9oz, followed by Stan Dow with 82lb 2oz from peg 18.

FENLAND RODS

Back on Six Islands on Sunday in the Fenland Rods fixture saw me draw peg 14 and thankfully lady luck was with me for a change as peg 15 was not included in the match.

After a very poor start, I decided to persevere with the left-hand margin for the rest of the day.

Feeding quite heavily with micro pellets and red maggot, the carp and barbel eventually turned up and I won the match with 91lb 8oz.

It was tight at the top though with Les Bedford putting in a fine display of feeder fishing from peg one to come close with 89lb 14oz, followed by Matt Lutkin catching on paste for 86lb 4oz. Then came Bob Allan with a level 80lb.

JVAC

The Beastie Lake at Decoy is running into top form as seen in the results from the JVAC club match on Sunday.

Out in front from peg 29 was Ron Cuthbert, who fished a shallow rig with pellet all day to finish with 111lb 14oz.

Close behind on peg eight was Andy Knell with 110lb followed by Mike Mitchell on peg 15. He caught in the margins with pellet before switching to cat meat to record 106lb 7oz.

RAMSEY

There was a good turnout for the Ramsey club match which should have been on Lou’s but with a good attendance Four Islands was also brought into play.

Indeed that’s where the winner came from. Ricky Young took the honours from peg 10 with a fine 177lb. He fished up to the island catching most of his fish shallow with pellet.

Jay Richardson put in yet another fine performance, topping Lou’s and taking the runner-up spot in the match with 166lb.

Third with 141lb 1oz was Josh Pace on Lou’s peg two followed by Harry Young with 132lb 8oz from Four Islands peg four.

DECOY OPENS

There were two Decoy Open matches at the weekend.

Danny Carltonwon the Saturday match on the Willows with a net of carp taken on paste for 158lb 11oz from peg 16.

Nigel Baxter came in second from peg 35 catching on pellet for 117lb 9oz, then came Richard Thomas on peg 25 putting a level 92lb to the scales.

A much bigger match on Sunday saw the Yew Lake swing into form.

Leading the way in this one was Shaun Coaton, who fished the edges all day with maggot for 127lb 8oz.

Runner-up was Tom Edwards fishing similar tactics to the winner for 100lb, then came Ben Bright with 94lb 9oz.