I give up!

The third of six Individual Winter Leagues on Decoy saw me on Lou’s Lake, peg 10, fishing towards the corner. It was windy, but not as cold as the forecast had been.

Mark Sawyer was on 6, which can be a flier, and we had our backs to each other, but round to my left I could see, if I turned a little, a young  angler I did not recognise, who turned out to be Zak Worby. He had a couple of fish early on, casting a feeder across to the reeds behind an aerator, and I had two carp about 3 lb casting towards the corner, about 30 yards, on a very small Method feeder and maggot. I couldn’t see what Mark was catching, but Zak caught steadily for the next couple of hours.

My sad story - last again!

Basically, that is the end of my story. The odd small roach came to the feeder, and I managed some more on a pole, together with a few tiny perch. I lost the feeder at one point, casting into the end bank instead of dropping it just short, and reverted to a pellet feeder, but never had another knock.

Mark Sawyer with his best fish.

Mark told me afterwards he caught mainly casting a feeder to his right, to the end bank, and he won the lake with 78 lb 3 oz, with Zak, whose fish died in the last two hours, second on 61 lb 6 oz. For the second match running I was last in the whole match, with 7 lb 8 oz.It’s little compensation to know that there are just three of us on a maximum 15 points, and that one of the others is John Whincup. At least he’s  been catching reasonable weights.

It was interesting that though the water was very clear the angler on 13 told me he had some late carp on a top two.

Zak Worby - second on the lake.

I know that all these blokes are better than me, but I am a little disheartened. Looks like my target now is to not come last overall in at least one more match! I was last back to HQ, as well...the hormone treatment for the prostate cancer has taken a lot of my strength away. This is normal, and some of my friends have found the same thing. Still, it was annoying to have to ask for help pushing my trolley up the slight slope back to the car, then have to sit for another  five minutes before packing my stuff away.

But everybody is so helpful and chatty – that’s why I love the atmosphere. Matchfishing is just great.

HORSESHOE

Results here (apologies for missing Willows last time - don't know how that happened).

BEASTIE

WILLOWS

DAMSON

Outclassed – Elm, Decoy

There was a full complement of 50 fishing this second Individual Winter League on Decoy, organised brilliantly by Tony Evans. But it was a terrible match for me.

I was on Elm 14, the peg which had won the lake the previous week. Today there was a very stiff Westerly wind into our faces, but it was possible to fish at 14.5 metres provided you faced directly into the wind. I spent two hours at 13 or 14.5 metres without a single bite, while Ray King, on my left, managed two small bream.

I came back to 8 metres, and then into the margin, where I suddenly hit two 2 lb F1s in successive put-ins off the bottom with maggot. But no more came. A few small roach from my shallow righthand margin were all that I could add; but they were down to a quarter-of-an-ounce, and I decided I could not possibly make a weight with them, with only two hours left. My last fish was a foulhooked roach from the left margin. Ray King was now catching odd net fish from his margins, including barbel, with his float virtually touching the grass, but I just couldn’t get a bite doing the same – so frustrating.

Ray King managed 29 lb next to me.

My 5 lb 8 oz was last in the match, and confirmed just how good theses blokes are – a different class to me; but I still enjoy going, so I won't stop until I have to.

Full results below - some brilliant weights.

Move along – nothing to see here. Raven, Pidley

Actually there was something to see – a tiny perch nestling in the corner of my keepnet, the result of five hours cold slogging on Raven Lake. I decided not to let him suffer the indignity of being weighed.

A nice-looking far bank at 13 metres. 

So much for commercials being like aquariums!

The best weights tended to come from the sheltered swims – 11 to 18, and the end of the Western arm 28 and 29 - though the first swims, 1 to 3, were also sheltered but failed to produce. 

The water was freezing cold in the strong North-Westerly. But it didn’t stop me being able to present a bait quite reasonably at 13 metres tight to the far bank. I also tried the edge of the far slope in front of the reeds at three feet deep, the drop-odd at six feet, and down the track at about 7.5 feet. But I had just the one bite all day.

Odd  carp and F1s were taken near me on the tip, but I never tried it, happy that if there were feeding fish there I would catch them. I didn’t. Half of the 26 failed to weigh, and several had gone by the finish. End of a cold story.

Thrashed! – Elm Lake, Decoy

Fifty of us fished four lakes in this individual Winter League and Elm 10 stuck to my fingers. It was, I guess, one of the pegs most of the anglers there would have wanted, as last year Elm 9 provided the winner of the first two matches in this series, and it has been a noted area all season. There was hardly any wind, the weather was mild – and I could fish 14.5 metres comfortably (that’s the maximum length allowed on the strips here).

John at the fishery suggested looking at about four sections, fished shallow with maggot, while Jon Whincup’s advice was to fish as far out as I could, with pellet, and that’s how I started – a few expanders and micros potted out to 13 metres plus a half-butt, giving me the option of adding a metre if the fish backed off.

Even before I had my rig in the water Wayne Shepherd on 9, to my right, had a three-pounder in the net. I looked like a barbel to me. Minutes later he foulhooked a barbel and landed it. That made me wonder whether he was using maggot, and after 45 minutes without a nibble I changed to maggot, but fished a little to the right, towards peg 9. It was several inches deeper here.

Cedar produced top weight of 144 lb 5 oz.

Meanwhile Wayne was steadily, though slowly, adding fish to his net – about one every 20 or 25 minutes. After two hours I managed to land a 4 oz bream! An hour later I landed a 4 lb barbel, and a little later another 4 oz bream, all on maggot. A change to pellet brought a hooked fish which came off after a few seconds – it was definitely foulhooked as I hit it well off bottom, although I was, at that time, fishing on bottom. I tried off bottom for a while, with no result, and gave it a good half hour four sections out with maggot, also without a touch.

Surprisingly Six-Island, which is on the shallow side,
fished very consistently, won with 118 lb from peg 9.

Eventually I foulhooked a 5 lb mirror, which I landed. But Wayne, and all the other anglers I could see, were now catching good fish more regularly, while I fell further and further behind. Even the anglers on the opposite bank were now catching. I considered putting out a leger, but I was presenting the bait perfectly and would have had to cast to almost the same spot anyway, as 14.5 metres is getting on towards the middle of the strip. I also tried corn, a standard Winter bait.

My lightbulb moment

I knew that, in the past, peg 9 had always had the edge on those around it, but today there seemed no reason why I couldn’t catch. Then it happened!

With just two minutes to go Wayne was playing a very big fish – around 10 lb, and as he landed it I went out to 14.5 metres and put my expander bait in about two metres closer to his swim than I had been fishing before. It was still less than halfway to his peg, but not a place where I could have reasonably fished all day, as it would have been too close to him, and I had a spare peg to my left.  It was even deeper here – I estimate a foot deeper than in front of me.

Shed a little tear for me, surrounded by fish.

Within seconds, almost before the pellet had hit bottom,  I had a bite and hit a good fish, which came off after a few seconds. And that was my match finished – except that I now had an probable explanation of  why I couldn’t catch – the fish in this area were hanging about in the deeper water.

Wayne weighed 72 lb, and confirmed that he has caught them all on maggot, using a tiny pole pot to put in no more than about eight maggots at a time.  Rob Goodson, nearly opposite me, won the lake with 85 lb.

Beastie fished very hard.

My 9 lb 8 oz was last on the lake, but I was heartened by that last incident – I knew I had been fishing OK all day; and in Winter strange things can happen, after all Jon Whincup was last in his section and two from last on Beastie, a lake he knows like the back of his hand. So I just look forward the the next match on Sunday, although I would like to try to fish Elm 9 one day, just to satisfy myself that I can catch fish.

Not a good start to the New Year – Jay, Pidley

Twenty-one of us turned up for the first Over 60s event of 2019 on Jay. I had been looking at results of matches on Jay from the previous three weeks and it seemed that the best weights were from 1 to 6, 11, 16, and the mid-to-late 30s. I drew 25, with just Jim Garratty on this length with me, two swims to my right.

Peg 25 - a light wind blew from the front right, but it was so cold.

The wind was a light North-Westerly, into us from the right, but it was bitingly cold, and Jim was suffering from the cold even before the start. I dobbed bread at 13 metres for half an hour, with no result, the looked at the bottom of the near shelf with maggot. Three small perch came immediately, then a near-3 lb carp. Foulhooked, which I landed. In the next hour a few more small perch came, plus a 2 lb carp properly hooked, and an 8 oz goldfish. Then nothing. I tried across again, then down by the platform, then back to the deep swim, where I hooked a big fish.

I lose my best fish

I played the fish for two or three minutes, and had broken back to my top three when it suddenly powered off to the corner, which was 30 yards to my left, and broke me at the hook. That made me wonder whether it was foulhooked.

I added a few more perch, and at the end tried at the bottom of the far shelf, with maggot, but never had a sniff. Meanwhile Jim, who said he was fishless after two hours, had long ago packed up. And it became really cold – I was shivering so much that on a top two in the side the float was dancing in the water as I tried to hold it on a tight line.

My fish weighed 6 lb, for last of those that weighed in, but seven didn’t. Round the corner to my left Alan Owen, who has a very good record here, won with 51 lb. He told me he put in only micros, and took his fish mainly at the bottom of the far shelf on pellet, bread and maggot. I also heard that he could see fish swimming along the far bank, while I never saw a sign of a fish all day. A case of an excellent angler on a decent swim on the day, I guess.

Winner Alan Owen, 51 lb.

The lower numbers produced three of the top four weights.

 I suspect I should have fed micros, but once the perch came in I hoped they would attract carp – as indeed they did. And I should have fished across, in the deep water, properly, feeding micros instead of maggots...though other angler caught solely on maggot. Fish are annoying creatures!

The best weights tended to come from the lower numbers again, with the 40s, facing the road, again disappointing, as they have for weeks.

Sunday see the first of the six-match Decoy Individual Winter League series. Not looking forward to it if, as forecast, another Beast From The East visits.

First visit to Floatfish Farm – Wagtail

Thirty fished this New Years Eve Open, and I was on peg 20. I was told that the hot pegs on Wagtail are on 22, and opposite on 11, which are in corners with a large, wide reed bed running down the end bank – plenty of cover for the fish if they wish to get out of the main lake.

Peg 20. Wagtail is about 80 yards across.

Basically I had four fish in the first 70 minutes, on a straight bomb with hair-rigged corn. After another 20 minutes biteless I went out to 13 metres on the pole, with maggot, and caught a 4 oz roach immediately. But that was the only roach, and just four or five gudgeon and a dozen tiny perch were all I could manage between then and the end of the match, alternating between the lead and pole.

Last in my section on my first visit, (pegs marked green), but not disgraced

My fish weighed 12 lb 3 oz which was sixth out of the eight on my lake, but since Rob Goodson on my left managed only 8 lb of bits I wasn’t unhappy. The angler on my right on 22 had about ten carp, taken mainly in the first 90 minutes, for 16 lb 14 oz. The lake was won by Phil Aldridge, opposite, who seemed to be taking most of his 39 lb 11 oz on the pole. It’s years since I spoke to Phil, and didn’t realise it was him, otherwise I would have walked over when the match finished to say hello.

Better weights came from Horsehoe and Two Island. I had a word with some of the regulars afterwards and got an idea of where the favoured pegs are, for future reference.

Impressions

Two-Islands, won by Stan Dow.

I’d never even seen the lakes, which are near Stanground, Peterborough, and as it appears to be still a working gravel pit complex it wasn’t surprising that the track was very muddy. The lakes have  proper margins, with plenty of reed cover, and I guess in Summer it all looks very inviting. For this match it appeared that anglers could ask to be placed on a lake of their choice, though by the time I got there (8.30 after being told the draw was at 9 am) I was almost last and was placed on Wagtail, which was put in on the morning.

Horseshoe - overall winner was Jay Richardson.

For the results I had to find Dale and Elaine, the owners, who were on the bank having a natter to some of the regulars – and actually that was probably preferable to going back to the shop, which was by the side of the muddy track. They both made me very welcome indeed, and told me about some of the lakes. I found out a bit more from the anglers there, most of whom I knew.

Overall I guess it’s work in progress, and as the lakes are not carp-only, and contain bream, tench and all the other stillwater species, I can see why it’s popular with pleasure anglers. Another reason for its popularity is that you can drive to every peg, so no need for trolleys.

My next match in Wednesday, Jan 2, on Jay at Pidley.