My bogey peg on Six-Island, Decoy

 Peg 22, Six-Island, Sunday, Mar 27
I've drawn Peg 22 several times, but never had a really good catch from it. Yet it has a brilliant reputation...in Winter. Smug Whiting told me several years ago that it's a great Winter peg because it's the deepest swim on the lake, and I know it was producing good catches up to a couple of weeks ago, including one by Chris Saunders, who told me he fished out in front, in open water, at 11 metres.

But as far as the fish are concerned, it's not Winter. Gone are the days when they made for the warmest water in the deeps because the top layers were being cooled by frosts and wind; now they are moving about, into the sun-warmed top layers. That's my excuse reading of the situation on Sunday.

Peg 22, in a cool North-Easterly which died away later in the match.

I choose Six-Island

I started this 17-entry JV match by choosing to fish Six-Island rather than Four-Island, because it has shallow areas, and is not as sheltered from the sun as Four-island, and hoping to draw anywhere between Peg 4 and 18. I didn't fancy 22, but because we don't know everything about fishing, when I got there I opted to just put a little hempseed, pellet and a few grains of corn out at 11 metres (in the deep water), before having a quick early look on a top three nearer the bank. 

A great start

Second drop in there with corn, in about four feet of water, the float dipped and what looked like a 5 lb mirror slid into my waiting landing net. Ten minutes later I hooked a big carp which leapt clear of the water twice, causing Perry Briggs opposite on Peg 2, to look up quickly. Several minutes later he watched as this one slid, splashing, towards my net tail-first! It looked to be about 6 lb.

I mention what they looked like because in fact they weighed less than that - presumably they have not yet made up the weight loss that happens in Winter when they don't feed much (at least not in the swims I draw). 

Anyway, two blank hours followed, during which I spent a long time out at 11 metres, put out a bomb with a banded pellet, had several looks into the top-three swim, and had a drink of chicken soup (if that doesn't wok, nothing will). Then a quick, speculative drop to my left brought two F1s, and a look towards the platform on my left with maggot over a bed of deads resulted in a big fish hooked, and lost about 15 seconds later, probably foulhooked.

Roy Whincup found some better fish from Peg 18.

No fish in the margins
I spent most of the last couple of hours in the top-three swim, getting several liners that looked to be proper bites, trying worm unsuccessfully, and managing to land two smaller mirror carp and another four F1s, all on corn. I tried my 'special method' which didn't produce any fish but showed me that there were fish in the swim. I even tried in the margins, but it's only about 14 inches there, and I never had a sign of a fish.

On Peg 2 Perry Briggs started packing up early, and I saw him put what I think were just a few small roach back. To my right Roy Whincup on 18 used cat meat all day and took some nice fish about ten feet from the bank.

Dave Parsons - 6th on the lake with 66 lb 8 oz.

The weigh in
Chris Saunders won on Peg 6 with 128 lb 2 oz, all on 2+1 or 2+2, and all on cat meat. Ian Frith on 8 fished farther out at the start but came into the margins later for  93 lb 1 oz and second, with Roy Whincup third with 84 lb 1 oz. I came almost last with my 28 lb 4 oz. Four-Island produced two weights over 70 lb, and was won by Peter Harrison, who is a danger wherever he draws (he would probably have done well on Peg 22!).

A strange sort of day, fished in a North-Easterly which was cold for the first half of the match, but then it died down and the sun came out and it was much, much hotter. "Changeable" is what the forecasters would describe it as.

My next match is probably Wednesday on Crow and Jay at Pidley. But the forecast is not good...

THE RESULT

Four-Island

Six-Island