A very difficult match - Six-Island, Decoy

Peg 10

I’ve never fished peg 10, and although it’s a corner peg, and some mates said it was a good draw, I can remember seeing only two really good catches from it over the years. There's a lovely-looking bay to the right, but it looks much better than it is. It’s frequently beaten by peg 9 opposite and the pegs to the left. The weather was warm with hardly any wind, and 14 of us fished.

I wasn’t ready when the match started (I never am) and before I had started Kevin, on my left, was playing a big fish, which turned out to be foulhooked. Within a short time had had another, both from about 9 metres, probably on meat.

I fancied starting at 9 metres to the reeds on my right, and first drop on a 6mm expander I had some indications which looked like liners. Second drop was the same, so I potted in a small amount of pellet and hemp. But when I prepared to ship out I looked up and the area I had baited was covered with debris – floating twigs, reed stems etc. For the first half of the match this stuff drifted in and out of the righthand part of my swim, so I had to look elsewhere.

Callum Judge was third on peg 24.

A terrible start

I went out in front of me, and eventually hooked a 4 oz carp, and then a 2 lb tench. Nothing else came so I had a look inside, and after a long time hooked two F1s from the right margin – about three feet from the bank. Kevin had added some more fish, but with two hours already  gone I now had the magnificent total of about 7 lb.

Fish were moving in the reeds all day long, probably thinking about spawning – lots were hanging just below the surface wit their head against the reeds. So I wasn’t surprised when I couldn’t catch close-in, or in the bay to my right. So out to 9 metres again and two or three F1s and two 4 lb carp came in during the next couple of hours on corn, and another couple from the deep margins on meat.

I was getting lots of what looked like liners, but the fish (when one eventually took the bait) were nearly always F1s or carp. They were definitely playing with the bait for minutes at a time. And things were made more difficult by the debris, which had now left the first swim and was now floating back and forth along my margins.

Winner Tony's best fish was 15 lb-plus. It ran
 round the back of the aerator, but amazingly
it  turned round and swam back to Tony!

A good fish at last

I now had about 20 lb with 75 minutes to go. Out to 9 metres and I hooked a big fish which turned out to be a 10 lb mirror hooked on the OUTSIDE of the mouth. So I was now convinced that the fish were not in a proper feeding mood.

With about 30 minutes to go there was a sudden spurt, and three more fish came in, on meat, for about 10 lb. Then the match finished. Kevin on my left was well ahead of me, though he had struggled for the second half of the match. Opposite Mel on 9 had a good start but his sport also tailed off.

The weigh-in

Top weights came from the straight which runs North to South, pegs 18 round to 25. It’s normal for one arm of the lake to fish better than the other, and there were two factors which could have affected us – heavy rain the previous day, and a Fish O’Mania qualifier on that day also, with Six-Island having been fished. I weighed 42 lb 14 oz, for ninth place.

Tobny Nisbet was top with 124 lb 9 oz on peg 24, which won the match, but as this was a handicap the positions for the medals were different, and Tony ended as runner-up in that. John Garner was second in the match with 102 lb 4 oz, but won the Handicap event, fishing from peg 18 to bare bank to his left towards peg 19. I think that having a bit of bare bank, which the spawning fish (or near-spawning fish) were not interested in was probably the key in a lot of swims, and that will be the case on  many of the lakes at the moment.

Top weights were towards the car park end.

Kevin on my left had 70 lb, and Mel opposite had 50 lb, and I finished next to last under the handicap system. Some anglers told me they lost as many fish as they landed; I lost just three, and using my Special Method was able to avoid foulhooking a lot.

I was actually quite happy

Although the result was not top-drawer I was actually quite happy, and don’t think I could have got a lot more out of the swim on the day. I tried flicking expanders to the fish which were cruising under the surface, but they were either ignored or inspected and rejected. I tried slapping a 6mm lassoed hard pellet for a time, but never had any thing, so I doubt whether those fish were willing to feed.

Next match on Lou’s lake. The hot peg is 6, where the really big weights are usually taken on feeder or pellet waggler. They are not what I’m best at, but I probably won’t get it anyway! I think it likely that the fish will be in full spawning mode by then, so anything could happen.