Commercial Matchman: Well beaten, but not downhearted

Cedar Lake, Decoy, Peg 3

This was a Saturday Open, fished by about 60, most of whom were practicing for the next weekend’s Winter League Final (half on Decoy, half on the drains). I wasn’t particularly happy with peg 3, as it was the peg where I came last on the lake in one of the Individual Winter league matches. At this time of year it can’t compete with peg 1 in the corner, and Danny Carlton, a local regular, confirmed that, as I had suspected, fish are currently tending to hang around peg 5.

I guess that almost everyone started fishing either on a ledger or feeder, or at 13 or 14 metres on the pole, as the fish seem to be in the middle of the four strip lakes. I started at 13 metres plus a half-butt with a pellet. The match started off badly for me – peg 4 on my left hooked a fish within 30 seconds of dropping in, only to lose it. I think it was foulhooked. Then he had two or three more fairly quickly, and lost some; the angler almost opposite on 24 also hit several fish quickly, also losing some. Meanwhile I had changed to maggot, as they were both clearly using maggot, but I still sat biteless.

I get a bite!

After about an hour I had a bite, and pricked a fish, probably foulhooked. Peg 24 was still taking the odd carp. An hour later I hit a big fish which broke me at the hooklength – it was probably also foulhooked. On went a new hook – an 18 to 0.12 nylon - but it was halfway through the match before I got a fish – a 1 lb tench on maggot. I put in some micro pellets and a few maggots, and while they sank I had a look in the deep water in front of me on a top two. Within 15 seconds I was playing a 2 lb bream...but I could find no more.

Back out I still couldn’t get a bite although I tried laying on, fishing dead depth and, and even tried up to half depth. In desperation I changed to using the lighter inside rig (a 0.25 gm TuffEye) on my long line, still feeding with a tiny pole cup or with a tiny amount of bait in the big cup when the wind got up. A few minutes later I got a bream, then another, then another. Then an F1 came in, hooked in the mouth, and I realised I might have a chance of getting a respectable weight, as pegs 4 and 24 had really slowed up. They both tried the feeder, but I don't think that brought any fish. In the last 90 minutes I had one more bream and two foulhooked carp of about 2 lb and 3 lb.

To my right pegs 1 and 28, in the corners, had had fish steadily all day. Peg 5 hadn’t been drawn, but I could see the angler opposite catching fish. As I was packing up Danny Carlton, who had been on peg 7, told me he had caught just four fish! So perhaps my nine weren’t too bad.

I was on scales, and you will see that although my weight was low, the fishing was patchy – some huge weights with much smaller weights beside them. Typical Winter fishing, with fish hanging around some areas and refusing to move. I weighed 17 lb 14 oz and my neighbour on peg 4 had 24 lb 15 oz – so I was within touching distance, and he fished a tidy match. Andy Geldart won the lake with 149 lb 3 oz from peg 22, which is the one opposite peg 5, telling me he had laid on 6 or 8 inches. He was still only third in the match! Andy won the same match last year on Yew 21. Put a class angler on a decent peg and he will always produce.

Gavin Millis with one of the big
barbel which have started to feed.

Andy Geldart with part of his
lake-winning 149 lb 3 oz.

CONCLUSION

Actually I was fairly happy. A good angler would have had more from my swim, but I don’t think I did anything spectacularly wrong. Most of my catch was bream and the only reason, I can assume, is that the carp weren’t there in any numbers.

The top five weights - amazing considering how consistently cold the
weather has been lately. There was a frost on the morning of the match.

When Jon Whincup had sat on peg 1, to my right, he told me he had tried fishing in the open water and never had a bite – he caught all his fish against the end bank. Today I spoke to the angler opposite peg 1, peg 26, and he also said he hadn’t had a bite in the open water, and had caught all his 94 lb 2 oz against his end bank as, I think, did peg 1. So it looks as if perhaps the fish at this end of the lake are tending to gravitate towards that bank.