A fish-for-fish battle with Dave - Willows, Decoy

Peg 31
Eleven of us – a depleted field – fished this Fenland  Rods match on the temperamental Willows lake. We had been given Pegs 16 to 35.

We adopted a system our club has used before. Each angler selected a peg to be put in the draw. Then our names were drawn, and a peg number. It works pretty well, but it did result in four pegs together, from 22 to 25, and three together from 29 to 31, with Joe Bedford on his own round the corner on 34.

To be honest I would have preferred almost any peg other than 31, because in my mind it is likely , always, to be outfished by 29 and 30. There’s a hole between those two pegs, right under the bank, and I’ve won from both pegs, at this time of year, by fishing in that hole. But Mike Rawson on 29 and Dave Garner on 30 never found it – and there’s no guarantee, of course, that it would have held any fish. In addition 29 is regarded as a ‘flier’, fishing just off the island with feeder or pole.

My swim - flat calm all day. Peg 25 is behind the small island.

However, 31 is in the back of the lake, which often produces the best weights. And conditions were very pleasant – hardly a breath of wind and a flat calm surface. My  target now was just to beat 29 and 30.

A slow start
There’s no obvious feature on 31, except fishing to the platform on 32. I found a little hole towards that platform, about eight metres out from the bank and started fishing there on an 10-metre pole and expander, without a touch. A switch to out in front of me with corn didn’t bring anything, either. Then Dave on 30 landed a double-figure fish on his normal waggler set-up and cat meat.

Dave Garner next to me plays a double-figure carp.

I hadn’t intended to fish cat meat as early in the match as this, but felt I had to make the change. Within five minutes the float dipped and I landed a 2 lb F1, after a kerfuffle because I had forgotten to put up my landing net! Never done that before.

Dave then landed another big fish and I landed another two-pounder, after having messed about with the shotting from just touching bottom to dragging several inches of line along and inducing a bite. In fact from then on every fish I had came to that tactic – lifting the bait never brought any reaction, but dragging the rig slowly until the float was down level with the surface, and then lifting it slightly to move the bait, occasionally brought a bite.

We catch fish together
Next fish was almost 10 lb, and  then I had another. Strangely, from that moment, several times  Dave and I, after having waited for ages for a bite, found ourselves playing fish at the same time. It was as if fish were swimming round together.

 An early fish safely in the net.

There was a terrible lull in the middle, for about an hour-and-a-half when we couldn’t catch, and about this time Bob Allen walked round – fishless on Peg 23, but he said that Peter Spriggs, on the end peg on the opposite side of the lake, 16, had about 60 lb. He also suggested I fish to the platform on 32, which I had already plumbed up for. So in went hemp and casters, hoping for barbel.

Yet another good-un falls for Dave's magic cat meat.

In fact I had only two tiny twitches there, though there was excitement at one point when a huge cloud of mud came out from under the platform. So fish were interested, but not hungry, presumably. I’m right-handed, and it’s awkward fishing along the bank to the right, so after half an hour I gave up.

Nothing thing in the margin

I had to try the margin, but that was also fishless, and a switch to corn fished on the 10-metre line eventually brought some more F1s, and a 4 lb mirror. Back to cat meat, and two more good fish came in, over 7 lb, and one or two smaller fish – all tempted by dragging the bait. I found it best to put in loose-fed corn (not a lot) which seemed to bring fish in, and gave me tiny liners even if I didn’t get a proper bite. In fact most of my bites came from about three feet farther out or closer in than I had put the loose-feed – not right on it.

 With an hour to go, after another slow spell,  I had to have another look in the margin, fishing a bunch of maggots over maggots, hemp and corn. I actually briefly (about half a second) hooked something big, which came off, almost certainly foulhooked.  Dave hadn’t had a bite in the margin.

Not many fish, but they weighed nearly 50 lb.

In the last half-hour Dave landed no fewer than four fish on cat meat, fishing just off the end of his rod with meat – two barbel and two carp, and with minutes to spare I landed my last fish – a 4 lb mirror, on meat.

I wasn’t sure what Dave had, but I estimated my catch at between 50 lb and 60 lb, and thought Dave had more. It had been a pleasant day, not cold for the time of year. The sort of day when, like Winter, every fish had to be fished for separately, if you get my meaning. There was no question of cracking  the method and getting two fish quickly.

The weigh-in
I had seen 90-year-old Joe on 34 land four fish on a feeder, and that was probably all he had – as he weighed 11 lb 12 oz. My fish went 67 lb 10 oz, and I was surprised that Dave totalled just 49 lb 5 oz. I had heard splashing at times, but hadn’t looked up, and assumed it was Dave landing fish; in fact it was probably fish jumping in the lake.

Runner-up Kev Lee had 92 lb 12 oz.

So round to flier 25, where John Smith, who had lost a hearing aid there a couple of weeks ago, had an eight-pounder first cast then not much else until the last half-hour, when he found some fish close to the island at six metres. He totalled 39 lb 11 oz. I fancied all the pegs from 22 to 25, and they all weighed in, with Bob Allen finding Peg 23 very snaggy, but catching 21 lb 13 oz, all taken in the second half of the match, and I believe most were barbel.

Peter The Paste - winner with 151 lb 15 oz.
Peter was fishing as a guest but he intends
 to join the club as a full member next season. 

On 22, Mel Lutkin found 32 lb 14 oz, but the top two weights came from 18, where Kev Lee found fish in his right margin with meat (couldn’t catch a  fish to his left) for 92 lb 12 oz. And Peter Spriggs,  fishing as a guest, after taking a fish on top-two-plus-two moved to his left margin, with paste, and never looked back. His winning weight was 151 lb 15 oz.

The full result (positions 1 to 3 marked for our points system).

I ended third, and was pleased with that, because it looked as if our half of the lake was the most difficult.

Next match Horseshoe on Tuesday. I love Horseshoe, as the early and late pegs have some of the best margins on the complex, and the banks are nice and level. I’m not bothered where I draw, though the wind, forecast for SSW up to 19 mph, is likely to be blowing into pegs 9 round  to 20. But if it’s not cold and it doesn’t rain too much  I’m happy to face the wind.