My first frame of the year – Six Island, Decoy

The forecast for this Spratts club match was for sun early, then cloud with a steady WSW wind, and possible showers. In the event there was no rain, and the forecast was correct. I would have liked a peg facing the wind, which was cool but not bitterly cold – so 25 and 1 round to 9 would have suited me. In the event I pulled 12 out of the bag, giving me a back/side wind from the left and between the two islands in front of 11 and 13.

Unfortunately both those pegs were taken, so I had to content my self with open water. Rather than start on a feeder, as I would have done if I’d had a feature to cast to, I started on pole at 13 metres. Sport was slow (actually non-existent) all round, but then Peter Harrison to my left hooked a carp on feeder after about 45 minutes, and soon I managed a 4 lb mirror on a 4mm expander.

Peg 12 is between the two islands.

There’s a high bank behind these pegs 10 to 15, and it’s awkward pushing the pole back up the bank. In fact it must have taken ten minutes before I managed to get another nugget of micros back into the swim, and I had to use the big pot to do that. I tried to use the short butt to protect the end section from the bank, but eventually decided to take it off and to break down. A long time later I managed a roach on pellet, had one or two more tiny knocks, and decided to start another swim at five sections, about 8.5 metres.

A bait dropper got the maggots down to the bottom

I put in maggots with a bait-dropper as there was a definite tow against the wind, and had half an hour here catching roach – nice ones around 2 oz or 3 oz, hoping that carp would come in. Eventually I hooked a better fish...and it came off. Then, slowly, things picked up and a 6 lb carp and a smaller F1 took my four maggots.

Opposite, on peg 7, John Garner had had an early fish on the feeder, then a long blank spell at about 9 metres, then two fish from his margins. Then he started catching fish at 9 metres, and I watched as he baited his hook, to try to see what he was using. I thought I saw him push his hands together and then bring them apart – and I guessed (correctly,  John told me afterwards) that he was using a baiting needle with cat meat.

My lovely 10 lb golden mirror.

A change to a small piece of meat, from a sachet, brought a fish within seconds, but this also came off. So I changed to a heavier rig with a size 12 Animal hook, and tried again. This brought two or three F1s. With a couple of hours to go I had a look inside, where I had been throwing in some micros and corn, and first drop saw me hook, and land, a beautiful 10 lb golden mirror. Peter, to my left, was catching the very occasional fish on feeder, and Mick, to my right, eventually found some fish casting a feeder towards the end bank to his right, in peg 10.

Runner-up John Garner.

The margins produced...

For the rest of the match I concentrated down my deep margin swim  to the right, taking another three or four F1s and a couple of smaller carp, and a final look to the left margin saw three more F1s on corn, even though I had not put any bait there. The F1s were nearly all 3 lb or 4 lb – really good weight-builders, and they brought me to an estimated 50 lb. I estimated John, opposite had at least 80 lb.

The weigh-in

Peter Spriggs, on peg 1, had 108 lb 12 oz to win. His took his fish at 8 metres and 11 metres on Paste and expander. John, opposite me, had 91 lb 7 oz, and although he had a look in the margins towards the end, never took another fish there.  Amazingly I was third with 52 lb 10 oz. So my first frame of the year! You can see that the weights were then quite close, so those last three F1s from the unbaited swim really boosted me.

The result (obviously!)

In the margin I used my special little method and that told me that when I had a quick look early on in the margin there appeared to be no fish there. But later, even though I wasn’t getting proper bites, I could tell that there were fish there, swimming around. Later still, towards the end, when I started catching, the fish were playing with the bait but not taking it properly, and I had to wait for a second or two before striking when I got a proper indication. Nearly all the fish had the hook inside the mouth, which led me to believe that they were sucking it in and blowing it out, and if I was lucky I struck when it was inside!

Peg 18 can be a flier, but Rob there apparently struggled until the last 45 minutes, when he took almost all of his 35 lb 3 oz - a lesson in sticking it out to the end.