A good last hour – Horseshoe, Decoy

Horseshoe, Decoy, peg 12

This was a Spratts club match, with 12 of us taking part. There was a real overnight temperature dip, and at 6 am there was not a cloud in the sky; by the time I left at 7.45 am the outside temperature was still only 7 Centigrade. And at the fishery the wind was a stiff breeze which wasn’t bitingly cold, but definitely cool, so I fancied my pre-match plan of fishing shallow was probably out of the window.

Peg 12 stuck to my fingers – not a peg I would have picked as the margins here are quite deep and the pegs 10 to 13 were open to the South-Westerly breeze, which was basically in our faces much of the time. I started putting in a little pot of hemp and pellet at 8 metres and had a look inside, with no result. Half-an-hour on the longer line brought a small bream and a roach. By this time Trevor, on 8, had two big carp in his net on a feeder, and Peter Harrison, next to me, had already had some F1s on his Method.

My swim. My margin fish all came from the right, almost under the tree.

A change to a banded pellet on Method brought a single F1 and after two hours that was all I had – 3 lb., while I estimated Peter next to me on peg 11 had 15 lb to 20 lb, and his catch rate started to increase. On my left Peter Barnes had just one carp, though soon he had another big fish on and as I had nothing better to do I took a few pictures of him landing it!

This one took Peter about ten minutes to land...and I wasn't catching anything anyway!

Two good-uns for Peter.
Note to self: Do not shoot
into the sun....

The fish is there somewhere (camera operator error?)

Meanwhile Trevor had switched to a pellet feeder and then to a pole shallow and then to a full-depth pole rig, so I guessed he had slowed. But I was quite downhearted, and was sure I was probably last, and could easily end bottom. So I started switching swims and methods to try to find at least one fish! The far-bank swim was weedy, and I had to cast about ten feet short with my feeder to avoid the rubbish, but as I was getting liners I kept going over there. At one point Peter next to me tried shallow, but never had a bite, so that made my mind up on that tactic.

I fall a long way behind

In the next three hours I managed another three on corn on the Method after I had spotted that Peter was using corn.All were around 2 lb to 3 lb, and a quick switch to the margin with a pole had  brought four hooked barbel in four casts on dead reds...only one of which I landed. Two snagged me (one in my keepnet) and one came off. But I had persisted in that area, moving out to the slightly deeper water to my right six feet from the bank, and three or four 3 lb carp and a couple of better ones on reds and on corn. So with an hour left I had only an estimated 40 lb, and was really getting hammered by Peter Harrison on 11 and John Garner on 10 who seemed to be playing a carp on pole every time I looked up. At this point I started on my second net.

Peter Harrison on the next peg to me caught steadily all day on The Method.

Suddenly things start
looking up

This one was around double figures.

I concentrated on corn, reasoning that Peter was catching on this, and suddenly I started getting bites close in to the side, in about four feet of water. Peter also caught there, dropping his Method feeder in almost under his rod tip. That last hour saw me, in fact, add 40 lb to my catch, all carp around 5 lb, and putting some feed in before each fish – if I didn’t do that I didn’t get a bite. I lost just one, in the last five minutes, and was playing a fish when the match ended.

I hadn’t bothered to click these last-hour fish as I hadn’t imagined they would keep feeding. But in the end  everything was OK, and I finished third with 81 lb 12 oz behind Peter Harrison on 113 lb 11 oz and John Garner, who had 100 lb. I was happy with that, after having been convinced I would finish way down the list.

Runner-up John Garner.

John Smith with friend (I have to take his picture
sometimes as I go to his house for a quick cup
of tea and a biscuit, if I am lucky, on the way home!!)

The result (note Mick on peg 2 did not sit on Ted's knee
on another peg 2 - Mick was actually on 1).
Another trip to Specsavers is on the cards!!

Next match is this Sunday on Elm, at Decoy. The forecast is for warmer weather, so perhaps the barbel will be out in force. It’s impossible, at this time of year, to pre-plan with any real confidence, but I have made up a 4.2 lb, 0.12 mm rig with a size 16 hook as a nod to the fact that the fish will start becoming more finicky any time now. I prefer to use a 4.2 lb rig straight through rather than adding hooklengths to a stronger rig, as it’s stronger than a hooklength rig (only the hook whipping as a weak spot), though of course more liable to degrade along its length. However I will use hooklengths in the Winter, which enables me to make a quick change to a lighter business end if the water is cold.