Damson is the most unusual lake on Decoy - capable of producing very big weights on occasion, but every time I've fished a match there the same thing has taken place. Basically you get approximately the first hour when fish feed well, and then, suddenly, they stop. It happened in this Spratts match, with almost everybody reporting that their fish fed for the first 90 minutes before going into hiding.
Seventeen of us fished and a stiff wind was into my bank, from the right. My best margin on peg 8 looked to be to my right, with reeds and an overhanging tree, but the wind was so strong that I just couldn't get any sort of presentation there - the rig was immediately blown towards me and into the side. In fact I had only one fish there all day.
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| Overcast , and the stiff wind eventually swung from the right front to head on. |
A decent start
I started fishing the shallow margins, to my left, as there are usually fish willing to feed on the inside line, and indeed fish from 1 lb to 2 lb came to a 4mm suspender fished over 4mm hard pellets. Within 40 minutes I had 20 lb, and then they slowed a little. Next to me on 7, Mick Raby started catching fish - carp to 3 lb and two or three barbel - on cat meat in the deep water. This was about seven feet deep at three sections. Now he dragged his rig back to lay on the slope. I estimate he was two feet overdepth, and that several shot were on bottom. But it worked for him and he had a really good spell. I should have done the same thing, instead of taking just the occasional fish from the margins.
A try with banded pellet saw a bite, from a fish foulhooked on the outside of the mouth, so I discarded that idea. After 90 minutes I estimated my fish at 30 lb, and then they stopped. The wind seemed just a little colder, but nothing else seemed to have altered. For the next two hours I hardly had a fish, but I couldn't see anyone else catching well, so I went out to the deep water and had two or three more, on cat meat. The next 90 minutes saw me scratching for the occasional fish with pellet, corn, and cat meat, and I had a short spell in the margins when I hooked a fish I estimated at over 5 lb. I caught a brief glimpse of it before it dived down and snagged me.
Oops!
The margins are so shallow that my nets went out a long way, and I suddenly realised that I was now playing a keepnet! Slowly it lifted to the top and I scrambled around bringing it in until I could release my hook. Unfortunately it was not, now, attached to the fish. Back out, and with 30 minutes left both Mick and I started catching again. Half-a-dozen more to 3 lb came in before the whistle blew.
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| The first ten pegs produced the top eight weights. |
The result
Pegs 2 and 3 produced the top two weights, John Garner including a 12 lb grass carp and a carp of 10 lb in his winning 114 lb 8 oz, with Terry Tribe next to him on 93 lb 6 oz. To my right Mark Parnell managed to keep adding fish to his net through my bad spell, and at the end he told me that he had had fish in his left hand margin, towards the tree that I couldn't fish to properly. He was fourth on 91 lb 4 oz, with Peter The Paste on his right third with 93 lb.
To his right Peter Harrison had a poor day - rather different to his match a fortnight ago, at Decoy on Yew 15 in the Over-50s (he weighed in 336 lb...and was only second! Top weight from Peg 12 was 419 lb).
Back to Damson, and I ended seventh with 64 lb 12 oz, beaten both sides, as Mick Raby ended with 79 lb 4 oz. I think if I had moved into the deep water earlier I might have run him closer.
John Smith on peg 16 told me had had had almost all his 50 lb 9 oz in the first hour, and hardly a fish since then. The four pegs on the end bank, which had had a slight back wind, suprisingly didn't fish at all well. As I said, a strange water, but always an interesting one.
Not sure about this growing old lark!
I have to admit that packing up was a real trial, and it seems to get harder every match. It's the bending and packing everything away that makes me feel unwell, although sitting on my box then eventually gets me back to normal.
I blame Old Age (which I didn't actually sigh up for), and possibly the Goserelin for the prostate cancer, which gives me a hot flush approximately every two hours at night, which invariably wakes me up, and also during the day. These make me feel really weak. I had thought I might have been able to finish the course about now, but the Covid19 meant that the expected face-to-face consulation with my specialist was done over the phone, and he insisted I carry on for at least another six months, until the next meeting.
My mates are brilliant
However, my mates are all brilliant, and will give me any help I need if I ask for it. But like everyone, I try to remain independent as long as I can. Since lockdown I've not been able to go to my twice-a-week special exercise class, but I honestly think that the physical exertions on the bank are just as good.That's what I tell 'Er Indoors, anyway.
Next match Sunday, on Six-Island, when the forecast is for less wind, and some sun. I'm concentrating on cat meat, but I suspect that, with the changeable weather, it will not be a bonanza. Watch this space...
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