It's deja vu (again) on Beastie at Decoy, plus the Open result

 Peg 21, Sunday, Jan 30
My last two matches on Jay Lake at Pidley have seen me on Peg 8; now the last two matches on Beastie have given me Peg 21. My previous visit to this peg saw me get a section by default with two bream and a carp for 8 lb. and the hard frost this morning  (I had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of my windscreen and started driving in -2 C) didn't fill me with hope that things would be any better.

However, all our spirits lifted while we waited for the start of the match, as the sun came out, there was virtually no wind, and it felt like a Summer's morning. Eighteen of us fished this club match, and it was great to see the car park lined with dozens of cars and vans of anglers fishing the Open, practicing for the Winter League Final.

The early-morning sun warmed us all, but when the breeze increased the temperature plummeted.

Peg 21 gives a big chuck to the island, and I started towards the far side reeds with a small hybrid feeder and a pop-up. First cast and I had a huge liner - the tip went round and stayed round, so I felt I had to strike, but there was nothing. Second cast the same. Then  Ron Cuthbert, on my right on 22 had a 3 lb carp on a maggot feeder (the only carp he had all day).

Two fish on the nearer pole line
After 50 minutes I decided I must have a look on the pole line - I started on the shorter line, in the deepest water I could find, on top-two-plus-three. with two red maggots. After a little while I hadn't had a bite, lifted the rig to check it...and found a 3 lb F1 on the end! A little while later in the same spot, feeding with a tiny pot, I got another tiny bite, from a carp around 8 lb. To make the minor adjustments to the rig I plumbed up using three maggots, which sunk the float, so I could adjust it to having the bait just touch bottom. I'm always happier in Winter having the most sensitive rig possible.

Andy Bull on peg 24 could catch only bream.

I try a Carter Special combination
There followed half an hour of nothing, and I went out to 13 metres, after putting in just a few maggots and half-a-dozen 4mm expanders. At the last match at Pidley, Peter Carter urged me to add a flouro pinkie to my maggot bait, so I thought I'd try it today.  Sure enough a single red and a single pinkie brought a 2 lb F1, and next drop a carp approaching 10 lb, which I played carefully on the size 18 hook in water so clear the fish kept veering away from the net.

Two blank hours
Then the wind started giving a ripple and the temperature dropped quickly, though it was a little behind me, from the right. I could present the bait OK, though, even with a ten-inch lash - only occasionally did the pole jerk the bait around. The next two hours were blank, as I did the rounds on pole and feeder, though I did hit a big fish on the shorter line which came off after about six seconds.

I did see Perry Briggs two swims to my right catch two or three fish quite quickly on a long pole line - possibly 14.5 metres. Then, with a couple of hours to go another F1 took the pop-up, and with just over an hour to go I went out to the 13-metre line again, having catapulted a few maggots out from time to time. 

That single red and a single pinkie brought another F1 and a carp around 6 lb. The float was really dotted down, and I also thought I saw it move two or three times without going under, so fish were around there somewhere. I kept putting in bait with a catapult. My thinking was that as fish were moving around and I was looking at catching only the occasional one, it was better to spread the bait over a larger area than try to concentrate them in one spot.

The winner, Perry Briggs, with his 57 lb 2 oz catch.

A great last 20 minutes
So I had a search around , dropping to the left of my main swim with 20 minutes to go, and hit another two 3 lb-plus F1s, which gave the tiniest bites imaginable - just holding the bait still as the float inched through the swim with the slight undertow. The float tip (about an eighth of an inch was showing)  just dipped down level with the surface.

Five minutes left and I went out again with the Carter Special, and after about three minutes, during which time I kept lifting the rig no more than an inch, and letting the tow take it, the float sunk again, and a bigger fish stretched the 13 hollow elastic. It was the best fish of the day, and I landed it after the match finished - all 10 lb-plus of it. 😀

The weigh-in
Smug on the scales was round quickly. I had seen John Hudson to my left fishing feeder, pole at about 8 metres, and right in the margins, so I guessed he had struggled - indeed he weighed 9 lb 6 oz. My fish weighed 50 lb 4 oz. Ron next door had a few bream on pole to add to his early carp for 13 lb 6 oz. But  Perry Briggs on 23 beat me with 57 lb 2 oz, and I ended in second spot. My area has been the one everyone wants to draw recently - pegs 21 to 24 - but I felt I had fished it well. If the fish had been rampant everyone else nearby would have caught loads.

I spoke to several anglers afterwards, and it seemed that if the cold South-Westerly started blowing into them their fish went off. Those who had a back wind seemed to fare better.

My next match is on Magpie and Raven at Pidley. That could be a grueller but the strong winds forecast could stir the fish up.

Result of our match on Beastie (ignore the cross).

Here the six results sheets from the Open, won by Liam Darler on Cedar 26. He found fish on a pole all round his swim, and had some on bomb and corn, and bomb and bread, casting to the aerator.:

CEDAR

ELM 

YEW

DAMSON

SIX-ISLAND

HORSESHOE