Willows is the most temperamental of Decoy's 11 lakes, but I like it as it has better margins than many of the others - some genuinely shallow margins rather than shallow areas where the bank had fallen in, which has happened on the famous strip lakes. And for this 12-entry Spratts match (reduced because some members were fishing the Old Gits event on another lake) pegs 1 to 19 were used. I fancied 1, because it has form, 2 or 3 because they are either side of the aerator, 11 because it has recent form, or 15 on the point which can be a flier.
I was a bit disappointed with 4 when I got to my peg as the Westerly wind meant that these lower numbers were pretty calm compared with about 10 upwards, who had ripple. But as the match went on the wind turned towards the South-West and eventually we had some nice wind on the surface which was welcome in the bright sunshine.
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| Bright sunshine and calm water in my swim before the match started. |
I started on a hybrid feeder with micros, and maggot on the hook, cast across 30 yards to t5he island, and within ten minutes had a take from a 2 lb carp which nearly pulled the rod off the rest. Seconds after recasting a 2 lb bream took the bait, and in the next 25 minutes two more carp came in. The whole time I had been catapulting 6mm pellets out to 11 metres, where I had deposited a pot of micros and hemp.
I should probably have kept on the feeder, because Alan Porter on 9 told me afterwards he had all his fish on a feeder, but after just one 10-minute wait I had a look shallow on the pole at 11 metres, quite confident that, after an hour of feeding lightly, carp would be feeding; but my banded pellet never had a touch. So it was down on the bottom in the same swim. John Garner, to my right, was on a long pole and told me he hadn't had a bite.
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| My old mukker Martin Parker was on my left. Like me he prefers to stand for a catch picture - he can kneel down, but getting back up...! |
I put in a few grains of corn, and after 20 minutes had a take from a 2 lb F1. That was followed by several more, two or three more bream, and a couple of carp to 4 lb. I carried on putting in just half-a-dozen grains each drop, and topped up the swim with micros and hemp. And after three hours I estimated I had 30 lb, and had lost a couple foulhooked.
To my left Martin Parker didn't seem to be catching much, but then I saw him having a rare old tussle with a fish which he eventually netted, and it looked to be about 8 lb. I said it was a nice fish and he replied; "I hooked it on a snail!" I assumed he had been using hemp with snails in, which is commonly seen now in tackle shops. So, knowing my hearing is dodgy I replied: "Hooked it on a snail?"
Martin's reply was strange (to me): "No, I hooked it on a snail." "Hooked it on a snail?" I asked again. "No", he said, and stood up and pointed to his backside.
Immediately I realised he must have said "Hooked it in its tail." Such are the unexpected gems of conversation enjoyed by those of us deaf buggas.
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| Alan Porter, fifth with 42 lb 12 oz, all taken on a feeder - he couldn't get a bite in the margins. |
When bites dried up I had a look in my left margin, a rather attractive area next to a tree, and immediately had liners on corn and cat meat. A change to mussel brought three fish to 5 b, and then I hit a really big fish, which felt like a sack of potatoes; then the sack shot acrss the lake like a torpedo and within two seconds had taken the whole rig. After that bites dried up again, even on cat meat and maggot, and I looked at the right margin, next to a bunch of reeds.
Four hours gone and I had over 40 lb. Normally at Decoy I expect to catch as much in the final two hours as I have had in the first four hours. So even though bites had dried up I confidently expected fish to show in the margins, and first drop on corn in the right margin brought a foulhooked fish which was probably a barbel - a small silver scale was attached - plus a roach or two. But then four or five foulhooked fish in succession showed me that the carp were actually in that swim.
However, try as I might, I couldn't do any more than take the occasional small carp and F1, and in that last two hours, when I had started a second net, I managed a paltry 12 lb. Yet to my right John Garner had a great last 40 minutes, taking five or six good carp on cat meat right in among some reeds to his right, and clearly overtaking me. Three of my final fish came in the last ten minutes, so perhaps they were coming on.
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| John Garner overtook me in the last half-hour. By keeping his pole low until he was ready to net, he landed all the fish he hooked in that last frantic session of action. |
Bob Allen on end peg 19 weighed 69 lb 14 oz, all taken on paste, which couldn't be beaten by the next few pegs. I caught up with the weighers when Mike Rawson was weighing and took a picture, just to show that he can still catch a few. Next door Alan Porter took his feeder-caught fish to the scales and was awarded 42 lb 12 oz.
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| Mike Rawson on Peg 10 had bream, which have showed well on all the Decoy lakes this year. After the match he managed to retrieve Joe Bedford's pole section which had slipped in - a feat he has performed for several anglers in the past couple of years. |
Afterwards I kicked myself for not trying a change bait - worm, paste or expander. I had them all with me and it would have taken only a few minutes to try them all. But Hey Ho, I'd had an interesting day, with nothing giving itself up, and every fish hard-won.
Next match probably Sunday week on Kingsland small lake, where weights can be huge, if you can avoid the millions of small carp which attack most baits dropped in the margin. They only give up and scarper when the big carp move in. Another interesting day ahead.
THE RESULT
3 Martin Parker 25 lb 10 oz
4 Mac Campbell 53 lb 9 oz 4th
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| John Garner with friend. |
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| Trevor Cousins, winner on Peg 1 with 87 lb 10 oz. |
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