Thirty-Five of us turned out for the Over 60s Open on Crow and Jay Lakes, with some probably daunted by the forecast of probable heavy rain in the afternoon. In fact the rain held off but yet again I didn't get the lake I would have preferred - Crow - where my last two matches ended with a win and a second on the lake.
Actually I don't know why I wanted Crow, since my last three matches on Jay have ended with a win and two seconds. But confidence is a funny thing, and once I'm sat at my peg I tend to assume that if I have a good result anywhere in the past it's because I had the best peg, not that I fished it well. And I remembered that the last time I fished Jay 19, a year or two ago, I ended with one fish and the angler on 18 had just two.
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| My peg 19 before the start, with peg 20 the first one you can see on the left. Roy Whincup always draws last and hadn't yet driven to his Peg 21. |
Still, conditions were good - a Northerly side wind, but very light, and I had no trouble fishing right across with 13 metres plus a half butt. Bread fished shallow brought nothing for ten minutes, at which point I saw Roy Whincup on 21 land a fish from the deep water in front of him. Food for thought!
A change to maggot shallow brought several liners, and three fish lost, all in the space of 20 minutes. I have to assume they were foulhooked. I then wasted another hour or two hoping that when the float went under and stayed under (as it did from time to time) I would hook another fish, but on the strike there was never anything there. So eventually, long after I should have rested the shallow swim, I changed to fishing to my left, just off a bunch of marginal reeds, where Allan Golightly had told me he had had fish in the past.
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| Allan Golightly with his final 28 lb from 45. He put me on to fishing the reeds to my left, where I found the deepest part of the swim. |
In went a few cubes of luncheon meat, followed by my rig, and within seconds I was playing a 5 lb common. Reaching for my lovely new four-metre landing net I picked up 12 inches of carbon attached to which was the net itself. Somehow I had managed to break the carbon end section, and what followed was several minutes which would have sent the other anglers into fits of laughter as I constantly adjusted the hold on the top two, and the elastic tension, until I could net the fish while kneeling on the bank. (I didn't lie down prone as I didn't know if I would get up again with a fish in the net!) My left arm was out in front while my right arm, holding the pole, was stretched out way behind me. Most ungainly.
Luckily I carry a spare, stronger and heavier, landing net handle, but I later wonder whether that several minutes wasted cost me fish, because next drop to the reeds another five-pounder was quickly hooked, and landed safely. But that was the end of that session. After that everything I did in that swim drew a blank. meanwhile Roy Whincup was playing his eighth or ninth fish, so I had a look in the deep water in front of me on a top two.
Nothing there on corn, though I admit I didn't fish it with any confidence, nor right across again (where I had the odd liner) and since I had seen movement in the reeds behind me, in about 18 inches of water, I dropped the shallow rig in there. After one obvious liner I shallowed up to 12 inches deep with the maggot bait, and got a proper bite. The fish charged through the reeds, and how everything came free I still don't know, but eventually a four-pounder lay in the net.
That fish was hooked on the outside of the lip, which convinced me that the fish were only playing with the bait. My mate John Smith has a pond with carp and on more than one occasion when he has thrown in bread fish have somehow balanced a piece on their snout and swum around for ages - you can see the bread but not the fish. How do they do it?
Then I looked into the right margin, where a very big fish came off after a few seconds, and Mike Rawson came by to say he had eight tiny perch, but the angler to his left on 43 had some fish. At this point I reckoned Roy Whincup must have had over 60 lb. So I made the decision I should have made much earlier, to fish the deep water, on a top two.
I put in a few grains of corn, and carefully adjusted the float so I could tell when the bait was just touching bottom, and added two inches. .After no more than ten minutes I was carefully inching the bait along the bottom when it hesitated and dived under, and a 7 lb common ended in my net. Less than two hours to go, and I concentrated on this swim, which was about five feet deep. I found I had to put in a few grains, drop the rig on top, wait a couple of minutes, and then either lift it an inch, or drag it along, to get a bite.
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| Roy Whincup, winner of the overall match with 86 lb 14 oz. The fish all fought like demons. |
When bites dried up I adjusted the rig to fish dead depth, and to hop the bait along the bottom, and had about another five fish like this, including an eight-pounder foulhooked in the tail, and including a small F1 and a 3 lb mirror from the right margin, which I fished to give the main swim a rest. Then the wind became much colder and the skies darkened and I, and other anglers, put on our waterproof jackets.
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| Pete Holland - 57 lb 8 oz from the bridge swim 47 for fourth on Jay lake. |
I had seen the angler on 17, to my right, land two fish around double-figures (including one hooked in the tail) so was surprised that my 62 lb was top weight round to me, especially since the early swims had fished well in previous matches.
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| Jay 1-22 |
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| Jay 23-47 |
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| Crow 1-13 |
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| Crow 14-25 |
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