Fun in the frost on Jay, Pidley

Peg 8, Wednesday,  Jan 12
I was not looking forward to the Over 60s on Magpie and Jay, as a heavy frost was forecast. And boy, was it heavy! My van was covered in ice; the temperature shown on the van dashboard as I drove to the match was 0.5C; the fields were all white; and as I drove past Jay to the draw I could see ice on it. As well as that, my record on Jay in the Winter has been dismal; and Peg 8 on Jay was drawn for me!

I met Will Hadley outside the shop and he said that 5, 6 and 7 are good Winter pegs; and in the past he has said that Peg 11 has a good Winter record. "There are fish in your area," he concluded.

Peg 8 faces the corner - more than 16 metres to that bank, so I placed my box across the righthand corner of the platform, facing the overhanging reeds, which I could reach with 13 metres. That meant I couldn't use my keepnet bar, but I managed with two banksticks.

Peg 8 - covered in frost, but no ice. I fished to the reeds on the right at 13 metres.

Steve Tilsley was on Peg 1, and his swim was covered in cat ice. But I know from fishing the Fen drains in Winter that often the fish hole up under the ice, and the person in free water nearest to the ice often catches.

Back to my swim, and I was late starting, thanks to casting a bomb into a tree on the opposite bank and having to walk round with my long hook to free it. Not an auspicious start! 

First fish takes 45 minutes
It then took me 45 minutes to catch a fish, about 2 lb, on bread dobbed right across, about 18 inches deep in two-and-a-half feet of water on a 16 hook. There was no bare bank opposite, so I had to fish a couple of feet away from the reeds, because some were lying in the water. I managed to hook an overhanging reed one time, but thankfully got the rig back in one piece, though tangled. A switch to maggot brought another carp about 2 lb, and next drop a carp of 3 lb. I'd cracked it...

Actually I had sort of cracked it, because I caught fish steadily for the rest of the match, but they were mainly less than 2 lb. During a slow spell I saw Shaun Buddle, to my right on 5, land a good fish, and saw he was a little deeper than me, so I added a few inches. That worked better immediately.

Shaun Buddle was to my right, and had bigger 
fish than I managed to contact.

Just one fish from the margins
I had been told that the previous Saturday Josh Pace had caught well on Peg 9, to my left round the corner, fishing the margins. So I felt I had to try there. The deepest part of the swim appeared to be right against the reeds, and I kept flicking maggots there for the first hour or two.

First drop when I tried in that margin swim behind me brought a 1 lb F1, but no more, so I soon reverted to the far-side swim, knowing I had a back-up of sorts if the far swim failed. Again first drop at 13 metres brought another carp. At one time I lost two fish in a row, and thought it may have been because they were bigger and I shipped back too quickly, using 13 hollo elastic. I was a bit more careful after that.

Three maggots were slightly better
I kept hooking pieces of reed and weed, even off bottom, and some of the hooked fish snagged big reeds which were floating, but none came off. A change from two maggots to three seemed to bring better bites, and I ended with about 35 fish, mainly between 1 lb and 2 lb, with about four pushing 3 lb. Those two fish which came off when shipping back were the only ones I had lost. Another quick look in the margins to rest the far swim yielded nothing.

The weather had been good, though even the tiny breeze was cold, and I wore the padded Imax jacket all day. The water was clear, and it appeared that if a fish splashed when I hooked it, as a few did, that spooked them for five minutes. So I got into the habit of switching to a swim a little to the right, where the fish were even smaller, but at least it meant I was putting fish into the net.

I had not put a single maggot into the far side swim, and that has really given me confidence to fish maggot  like bread - without putting in bait.

Steve Tilsley's second net - his first held fish  even
bigger than these. All were taken on dobbed bread.

The weigh in
I walked up to see Steve Tilsley weigh and was astonished to see his first weigh - 60 lb-plus of fish which were nearly all 5 lb-plus. His second net was similar, giving him 114 lb 1 oz, which won the lake. He fished bread all day on the far bank.

Shaun on Peg 5 also had better fish in his catch, and I wondered whether bread would have taken better fish in my swim. I decided that it probably wouldn't, because I could have expected at least the odd better fish to take maggot. Top anglers fish here in the Winter with maggot, after all. 

Back to my swim and the angler on 11 said he thought I had 100 lb - which I obviously  hadn't. That also made me wonder if his fish had also been bigger than mine. My first net weighed 31 lb 1 oz and the second 31 lb 4 oz - total 62 lb 5 oz, which was fourth out of the 16 anglers on Jay. Unfortunately that angler, Pat Neal, on 11 beat me by 15 oz, for third, and took the section. But I had had a really good day.

 Magpie produced much better weights than the anglers had anticipated after that frost, won with 84 lb on Peg 1.

Will Hadley, who gave me the low-down on my peg before the match, finished sixth from
Peg 47, and won his section by default, with 42 lb 10 oz, including this whopper.

Here are the full results: 

Jay 1-23

Jay 24-47

Magpie 1-22

Magpie 23-36

Next Over 60s is on Crow, where I have had two good matches, and Raven, where I (again) have a dismal record fishing across to the far bank. But after this match I can't wait to have another try at fishing across with maggot if bread doesn't work.

Next Sunday sees me on Cedar (and possibly Yew) at Decoy. The forecast is for very mild winds. I'm having a good run, so bring it on!