A strange match in the heat – Yew, Decoy

Yew, Peg 24

A light East wind was forecast, but for much of the match the surface of this strip lake was almost flat calm, and it was warm to begin with, then very hot when the cloud moved away. Before the match Nigel Baxter, who was fishing the Tuesday Open on Beastie, and knows the lakes as well as anyone, told me I would probably need a swim at the far end to win. I fancied 15 in the corner, but would have been exceeding happy to get anywhere from 11 to 20. So 24 was not ideal, but the fish in Yew are big, and anything could happen.

This is what greeted us - oh for a nice ripple!

I made a mistake not getting my feeder rod out of its bag, but after I had driven to the lake and started to get my tackle out of the car I needed to go to the toilet, so that put me a little behind – but it’s no excuse. Seventeen of us fished.

I started by putting a bait-dropper of dead maggots at top two at the bottom of the shelf, and started at 9 metres on pellet. It was a nasty, glary day, and I had to put my sunglasses on to see the float properly. After a few minutes, and a few liners from fish swimming just under the surface, I got what looked like a proper bite, hooked a fish, but it quickly came off, probably foulhooked. After half an hour I went onto the maggot over the loose feed, fully expecting barbel, but never had a touch.

Martin Parker, on my right, found occasional big fish in the deep margins.

Getting desperate

So it was back out on the pellet, then half an hour shallow, then back on the maggot, and after two hours I had not had a fish! Peter Harrison, to my left, had had two or three on a Method, and Martin Parker to my right had had a 10 lb carp four sections out. Then I saw him fishing close in to the reeds and catch a fish, but he looked to be fishing five feet deep. Which was the depth of my maggot swim, where I had not had a bite.

Eventually I decided to get out the feeder rod, but first I decided to try something which felt ridiculous at the time – cat meat in four feet right beside the reeds. I hadn’t fed anything, so more in hope than expectation I dropped in on top two to my left...and within a minute I had a tearaway bite which I assumed was from a barbel. In fact it was a 10 lb-plus carp, which eventually finished up in my landing net.

                                                    Cat meat works

Martin shows the typical size
of fish caught by everyone.

Mick Raby, in the  corner on 16, had
 the biggest fish - estimated at around 13 lb.

For the next two hours I stuck to cat meat close in, but managed only about one bite every 20 minutes; however, three more were 10 lb, and three F1s and a barbel also obliged. Peter, to my left, was now taking fish steadily, about every 15 minutes, and was clearly beating me by miles. Martin, on my right, also seemed to be hooking fish more quickly than me, but I think some may have got off.

Then the wind (what there was of it) turned round briefly to the North which brought a tiny amount of ripple, but from 2.20 pm to about 3.15 I went biteless, and in desperation was just about to get my feeder rod out of the bag again when I had another try just past where I had been fishing in my right margin. Immediately this produced a barbel on corn, and then another double-figure carp on corn, followed by yet another – a 12 lb common – and a near-5 lb barbel, both on cat meat. Then the match ended.

All day long small fry were hitting the float and the line in the margins (but not farther out), and smashing into the bait as it was sinking. If I had corn on the hook they wiggled it all over the place, which was why I eventually tried cat meat. This they still attacked, but they were so small they couldn’t damage it much. In retrospect I should probably have tried two pieces. Once I put on a big dendra expecting barbel, but fry were grabbing the end and pulling it about, and I soon gave that up.

Concentration as Peter and Trevor do the honours.

The weigh-in
I estimated I had 80 lb, and in fact weighed 87 lb 1 oz for fifth place. Peter Harrison to my left was second with 126 lb 6 oz, with one fish taken on the waggler and the rest on the Method on banded pellet and then sweetcorn. Some came casting the feeder into the near margins towards the neighbouring platforms. Winner was Trevor Cousins on 13, who took his fish in both margins on pole – three sections to the left in four feet of water, and top two to the right in two feet, using corn and cat meat (not together!) - after spending the first 45 minutes on the waggler trying to catch the fish which were showing on the surface all over the lake.

A near-5 lb barbel for Mick...

...is carefully returned

On Peg 15 in the corner, a swim which has been fishing really well,  John Smith had a terrible match, catching his first fish at 2,30 pm, then not getting another bite until 3.45 pm, when he took four fish in the last 15 minutes. He was very dis-chuffed and went home without weighing in, to put the kettle on so I could join him for a cup of tea when I had finished.

 Mike Rawson on 3 didn’t get a bite until 1.30 pm, then put a feeder down into the margins and ended with  63 lb 14 oz. Meanwhile 91-year-old Ted Lloyd had two fish beside the reeds on peg 1 early on which he said weighed at least 20 lb between them, soon added another couple of smaller ones, but couldn’t keep them coming that fast – however he ended fourth with 89 lb 6 oz. Man of the Match?

The result - better than we expected after the first two hours.

Ted - 91 and still catching them!

The Winner!! Trevor...again.

My conclusions

Mike Rawson took all his fish
in the last two-and-a-half hours.

Peterborough's Mick Linnell -
complete with dazzling smile.

I enjoyed fishing in the sun, for a change, and will have to make some adjustments to my plans now – a cool bag for the cat meat for a start. I certainly should have tried the feeder, and the special paste I have made up, to see whether it deterred the fry; but all round I was happy to beat Martin on my right. I lost only two foulhooked fish all day, and landed a couple that were foulhooked, including one of the barbel, which was hooked in the nose and played me for a long, long time!

I realised after I was home that the sheet was marked wrongly, as Ted was fourth, I was fifth and John Garner sixth. Next match Sunday on Six-Island, when the wind is likely to determine which swims fish best, then Monday on Elm. I don’t mind where I get pegged here.

Former Division 4 National
Champion Terry Tribe  took
most of his fish on a feeder

Wendy's first match with the club.

One thing – now that the ground is firm I find the Frenzee trolley much easier to push than it has been this Winter. Hopefully it will help me to keep competing for another year or two. It was also good to be able to wear just shoes rather than heavy thermal boots and Goretex bib and brace, which together make walking much more difficult.