Decoy trim my bush! Elm Lake

Peg 12, Elm Decoy, Saturday, August 7
My luck continued the day after my third-placed performance on Six-Island Lake, when corner Peg 12 was drawn for me on Elm, eliciting a groan from the others, as I had won a Spratts match on that peg about three weeks earlier. Thunderstorms were forecast, and at the start we had sun and the wind was much, much less than it had been the previous day, though it became quite cool at times. 

 Peg 12 on Elm, The water had a greenish tinge, but there was a nice, steady, warm wind.

But a surprise awaited me when I got to the swim - the bush under which I had caught fish had been trimmed back. It was still in place, but no longer hanging several feet over the water, which was fine with me as the roots would still hold fish no doubt. But it meant that I couldn't easily pick out the exact spot I had caught fish in, and it also meant that the angler on 11, the other side of the bush, could now fish much closer to my peg.

Callum is on a run
That angler was Callum Judge, who has really been in form this season, and he started like a train! I put out a feeder, but within 15 minutes Callum had landed two good fish from his lefthand margin, near the roots of that bush, and I couldn't resist changing to the pole. However I had the presence of mind to start feeding regular small amounts of corn into a swim about eight feet from the bank, to my left, in front of some pipes. I did that for two hours.

Callum was soon into fish taken from the margins his side of the bush.

I had plumbed up to try to find the hole I had caught in previously, under the bush, but now that I was able to do it more accurately I found that there wasn't a hole. In fact there was a hump in the bottom, several inches high, and I had actually caught beyond that. I put in a few grains of corn, dropped in on top, and immediately had a 5 lb carp. But then I couldn't catch a fish - for an hour! 

Getting thrashed
Callum, though, carried on catching good fish, with a couple that looked to be around 10 lb; and at the end of the first hour I still had just that solitary fish and I thought Callum must have 45 lb. In fact he told me later that at that point he started using his second net, and at the weigh in there were only 35 lb in that first net. Still, I was way behind and didn't look like catching up.

But as my margin swim was only about ten feet from where Callum was catching I carried on, and slowly started to contact fish, though they were only around 3 lb. After the second hour I estimated I had perhaps 30 lb, and Callum was still way ahead of me, catching fish that all looked to be 8 lb-plus. At that point I had a quick look in the swim I'd been baiting near the pipes.

The pipe swim produces
First drop in with corn and I landed a fish which wouldn't come off the bottom and turned out to be a 3 lb barbel. Hoping to get a carp I changed the bait to an expander, and promptly foulhooked something that came off seconds later, with my 18/20 elastic stretched to about 20 yards. So back on the corn, and the next fish was indeed a carp, about 4 lb.

I took about four more fish and rested that swim, still feeding corn, and now hemp and 6mm hard pellets, and took a fish from the margin again. After an hour the fish suddenly started to get bigger - up to 8 lb. I foulhooked one more (I assume) and it snagged me in the branches of a tree about 20 yards away growing on the end bank, Having no other option I simply had to pull the elastic back and eventually it shot back...complete with float, shots, and minus just the hook How lucky was that?

Still smiling - Dick with part of his catch (one
third of which was back in the lake.)

A minor tragedy for Dick
About that time Dick Warriner came up to borrow the hook I bring with me. Three or four years ago one of his nets, containing fish, had fallen into the water and he had lost every fish. Now it had happened again! He'd put in a third net, screwed a bank stick into a net containing about 40 lb, and stuck it into the bank at the side of him. Unfortunately the bank stick had slowly fallen down, with the inevitable consequence. Again he retrieved the net, but not the fish. It didn't cost him a frame place, but it is always unsettling when something like that occurs.

Catching Callum

I thought I was catching Callum slowly, and lost hardly any fish, which always helps! Then he shouted out that a foulhooked fish was in danger of coming through my swim, so I took the opportunity to drop a meat rig into the left margin, which was not attractive as it had a difficult, bumpy slope. However while the rig rested there it gave a little shiver as if a fish was interested in the bait. So I tried the pipe swim with cat meat and took a 10 lb mirror. 

Alan Golightly had 83 lb 3 oz. He lent me a fleece
before the start, which I put on a couple of times when
the temperature dropped..

After that I fished meat for a couple of minutes, and if I didn't get an offer I swapped to corn, which brought a carp more often than not. My catch rate was now definitely rising, provided I kept feeding little and often.  I alternated between the two swims until the end of the match, catching another couple of barbel, best 4 lb, one F1 of about 3 lb, and lots more carp to almost 10 lb. Yet again I couldn't catch with a stationary bait - it had to be lifted or dragged.

I had one or two slack spells, during which it seemed that Callum, who now had a second swim about five metres out,  always struck into a good fish - most disconcerting - and I was convinced he was well ahead of me. I started on my fourth net at 3 o'clock and was putting a 10 lb fish into it when the match finished, and I had 40 lb on my clicker for that net.

So ended a most enjoyable match for me, though I was certain that Callum was ahead of me.

Dave Garner, who would make a good butler,  holds an umbrella aloft
to shelter Callum as he writes. The rain stayed away all match,
and started as we began to weigh in!

The weigh-in
On Peg 1, where there was much less ripple than at our end Kevin Lee, after a slow start, had found fish against the end bank, near an overhanging bush, and had weighed in 151 lb 11 oz. Four pegs along Peter Spriggs had weighed 160 lb 13 oz in the deep margins on paste, against the end of the reeds, and I though that Callum probably could match that.

John Smith, though, had five nets out, which would obviously beat me - but no. He had changed nets at about 35 lb, because it's much easier to take them out than if they have a full 50 lb in them The result was that he had four nets at about 35 lb, plus one smaller - total 156 lb.

Dick's best barbel, which probably weighed almost 5 lb, though
 I have this year weighed fish from this lake up to 7 lb 12 oz.

Dick weighed 90 lb 6 oz, ruing the loss of 40 lb. Then Callum brought up his four nets, and to my amazement they totalled only 126 lb 6 oz, which also surprised him. The general opinion was that the fish were weighing 'light', so I thought my estimated four nets at 40 lb might be optimistic. 

Pulling in heavy nets is debilitating for me, so Dick obliged (he's but a spring chicken). My last '40 lb net' went 44 lb; the next almost 49 lb, and the next two about 42 lb each, for a total of 178 lb 11 oz, and I had won. I tend to underestimate the weight of my fish so I stop clicking at 40 lb, and will continue to do so. If a system works why change?

Look at the difference in size between 
my fish and Callum's (right).

Our retiring chairman John Smith can 
catch fish with his eyes closed...

Conclusion
There are 11 lakes at Decoy, and though the four strips - Elm, Cedar, Oak and Yew are similar the other lakes all present different problems. And because it's almost always windy in The Fens, with the wind liable to come from any quarter and liable to sudden changes in direction, no two days are ever the same. The previous day the wind had probably set the fish feeding but it made presentation difficult, while today everything slotted into place - a nice steady blow, warm water and plenty of cloud to lower the light levels. Every day is different, even on the same peg!

THE RESULT

I'm mighty pleased that on a peg I fancied I was able to take advantage and win. Lets hope that they keep coming along. Next match on Yew in a week's time. My pick would be Pegs 20 or 21. Fingers crossed...