I draw away from the fish on Yew, Decoy

 Peg 22, Yew, Decoy, Sunday, Mar 13
"Best peg on the lake" Gus Gausden told me as I picked out 22. Well, err, yes, for much of the year, but for the last few months, while that cold wind has been blowing, the fish have been holed up at the far end of Yew. I had looked at the Winter League results and definitely fancied the pegs at the far end (10 to about 20). In fact Yew was won on Peg 15 in that match with 67 kilos, followed by peg 16 (52 kg), 18 (32 kg), 13 (30 kg), 1 (18 kg), 26 (16 kg) and 20 (14kg). My Peg 22 was next to last with 4 kg. So it was the far end pegs that dominated.

Still, when we got to our swims on the far bank the conditions were brilliant - the wind wasn't too cold, and we were sheltered by the bank and trees behind us. There was a nice big swell, as well. So I made the decision to start on the pole instead of the feeder and bomb I had had in mind.

Before the start - a warm wind and a nice swell. It was so warm I took off
my insulated Imax jacket and a fleece (and later had to put them back on).

Uncanny
Then something uncanny happened - the whistle blew to start the match and at EXACTLY that moment the wind almost doubled in strength. Not a few seconds before, not a few seconds later - bang on the whistle! Never seen that before.

I tried the pole out at 11.5 metres, then 10 metres, but when a gust of wind blew me round to the right, so I was facing Steve Tilsley, I saw that he was now facing the angler on his right for the same reason. That was the moment we both turned to our feeders.

Not long after, Steve landed a near-double on his hair-rigged bread, while all I had on bread was a couple of tiny liners. A change to two grains of corn, then one grain, still didn't bring me a fish. Then Chris Saunders, on my left, hit a fish on pole which eventually came off. Meanwhile we could see Peter Harrison on corner peg 15 landing several big fish in the first hour, and later the swims to Steve's right started catching.

The three of us sat fishless for ages, with the wind getting colder and Chris losing another. With an hour to go I had been all over the place - bomb, maggot feeder also with worm, long pole when conditions allowed, and short pole because there had been a big undertow to begin with. Steve lost a big fish on his feeder, foulhooked in the tail, and Chris lost another. 

Ivy Tilsley plays a big fish. Unfortunately it was hooked in the tail and the inevitable happened.

Four hours gone and I'm still fishless

Forty minutes left and as the wind was dropping slightly I went out to 11.5 metres with maggot and slowly inched the bait back across the bottom towards me. When it had moved about three metres I thought it might have gone under, struck, and lo and behold, my elastic streaked out and a nine-pounder came to the net. Then Chris had a seven-pounder which stuck, and lost another, and Steve got another three fish including a 1 lb perch. Ten minutes to go and a pristine 2 lb mirror also went into my net.

The match finished and Chris said he'd fish on for a minute or two because he thought he'd hook another fish. Sure enough ten seconds later he hooked one...and that one came unstuck as well! Just not his day...

"Hold it up to the camera so it looks bigger". It weighed about 1 lb.

To Steve's right the second half of the match had seen several more fish landed, with Barry Webb on 19 having the lion's share and opposite him Lee Kendall on 13 had started to find fish on a feeder. Peter Harrison on 15 had a torrid time after the first hour, though.

Sod's Law
The fish were clearly coming on at the end, and the wind died away giving perfect fishing conditions:  The Law Of Sod, which we are all familiar with. Ian Frith on peg 6 didn't get a bite until an hour to go, but ended with five fish, including a barbel and an ide, for 31 lb 6 oz.

The weigh in
Somehow Roy Whincup had managed to winkle out 29 lb 12 oz on a feeder from peg 28, and take a golden coin from Chris Saunders, who had lost four fish but landed one at 7 lb 6 oz, and this weight was top on our bank down past us. My total was 11 lb 1 oz, which was only 1 lb 3 oz away from winning my four-peg section. Ivy Tilsley totalled 21 lb 4 oz, and I think it was the the angler next to him on 20 who told me afterwards that he had lost fish after fish, presumably foulhooked.

Barry Webb's third-placed 69 lb 14 oz from Peg 19.

Barry Webb on 19 had 69 lb 14 oz, top weight on our bank, but beaten by Lee Kendall with 82 lb 15 oz and Peter Harrison with 77 lb 8 oz. Almost opposite me were two DNWs so I thought I had made a reasonable fist of my swim after all.

A silly mistake
It was after the match finished that I made a silly mistake. Packing up saw me really struggle and by the time I had got me stuff back to the van I felt very weak, and should have asked one of the other anglers to wait until I was packed away and driving back (which they would have done in a heartbeat). But I never thought about it, and eventually I was left on my own to get the last items in the van, change my boots, and drive back, which I did in first gear because I felt quite ill and couldn't even be bothered to change gear. 

A visit to the toilet, though (my first one since my colonoscopy) saw me emerge bright and perky. However, next time I won't be too proud to have a word with someone. I'm now back on iron tablets, which should get me going again.

Peg 1-15, on the West bank.

The rest - 16 back up to 30 (which is opposite peg 1).

Next match is Spratts on Thursday on Elm, with peg 9 traditionally the outstanding peg here in Winter , and any from 9 round to about 16 on my Wish List. The top weights in the Winter League were: Peg 17 (76 kg); 14 (45kg), 9 (33 kg), 10 (25 kg), 15 (21 kg) and 12 (19 kg).