A cold. strong wind makes it difficult on Cedar, Decoy

 Peg 24, Cedar, Decoy, Thursday, June 9
Yippee! A peg I really fancied, as it's near the car park end (the South end) and the West wind would be in my face. Unfortunately when we got down to the lake we found the wind there was quite cold, and jackets and fleeces were donned by most of us as we unpacked our vehicles. My hooded sweatshirt was fine but as the wind increased I had to put on a fleece...and I was still not warm.

To my left on corner peg 26 was Peter Spriggs, who has an enviable record everywhere, but particularly on that peg, where he has won in the past, and to my right was Shaun Buddle, who is having the run of his life, and winning almost every match he fishes. He can't stop catching fish! 

Nice-looking margins in my Peg 22, but hardly any flat spots.

Only one tiny feature in my peg
The whole time I was tackling up I didn't see a single fish move, and at the start the water seemed dead. My only real feature was a tiny bush just to the left of my platform - the rest of the margins, while looking superb for shallow fishing, actually turned out to be like Everest - tiny flat spots and deep drop-offs. The only decent area I could find was about two feet deep to my left, against the bank, at four sections of pole.

But while I stuck to my match plan the fishes didn't! Half-an-hour at five sections in front of me - the longest length I could reasonably fish in the wind - produced not a sausage (not even a chipolata). Then 20 minutes on a maggot feeder cast to the middle gave the same non-result. But I had one cast down the left margin and got a liner - my first of the day. At least there were some fish there.

So it was to my left on the tiny flat spot, which I had primed with dead maggots. Bites! From tiny little perch. But with hope truimphing over experience I kept catching them, until I got fed up. It's not fun hooking half-ounce fish on an 18 elastic. I had to change plans.

I could see Bob Barrett on the opposite bank catching fish
 on a feeder and pellet in the margins. Why didn't I try that?

A barbel at last
Out to my right, still at two feet deep, I let the bait swing into the underwater moonscape with no result except frustration. In desperation I dropped the rig in right beside the platform, and I thought the float dipped a little. So I did the right thing for a change, and plumbed up...to find it was at least four feet deep. Float up the line; maggots in; drop in; float goes under immediately; 4 lb barbel dashes out towards the middle!!! 😁

Safely in the net; drop in again; float smashes away even before the bait has hit bottom; barbel on; barbel off!!! 😧 Bugga. And no more bites there. Nor just beside the little protruding bush to my left, in the deep water, which I had primed with maggots hoping for barbel.

Trevor Cousins had 75 lb 15 oz for 7th place.

Now a perch
Now things became surreal - I caught a carp about 5 lb, but I'm blowed if I can remember how. But it was definitely there, in my keepnet and, buoyed up by my success I determined to catch another, so went into the shallow maggot swim with corn. First drop I hit something, probably a foulhooker, and next drop a 1 lb perch took the corn. A PERCH ON CORN? Well, the biggest perch I ever saw was 4 lb from the South Holland Main Drain, and that took a piece of bread...unfortunately I didn't catch it.

Now halfway through the match and Shaun went to fetch his jacket from his van and said he had 30 lb and Peter Spriggs had 40 lb. I had about 10 lb, was being banjoed, and definitely not singing. And you can't give those two a 20 lb-plus start in match and get away with it.

The bottom suddenly dropped away down to
five feet..Just Like That!

I then had a proper plumb up where I caught the perch, and was astonished to find that inches past where I was fishing at two feet deep the bottom dropped off down to about five feet. Just Like That! I hadn't plumbed up properly - a schoolboy error.

I had to have a look there, with corn, and slowly started to get tiny bites and then the occasional carp from 5 lb to 9 lb, losing only a couple.

Mike Rawson also had fish on a feeder and pellet - why didn't I try that?

Fish at the bush
When bites tailed off there I re-fed the bush swim, which I had previously tried with maggot hoping for barbel, with corn, and now found fish there as well. In fact I had quite a good spell there at one time, on corn, taking three fish in three casts, best 10 lb. Just one then came to cat meat. Slowly I began to catch Peter and Shaun, though one big fish which I played for some time tricked me into shipping back to the top two.

That fish must have had bl**dy good eyesight to see what I was doing through that huge ripple, because no sooner had I grabbed the top two in my excited little hands than it shot into the bank on my left, turned left, and dived straight under the platform, where the hook pulled out. I'm sure it was a big carp, not foulhooked.

Carp were in the snags
The swim by the bush was very snaggy, as I had expected, and every now and then I'd hook something and have to use my extending hook to free the rig. Sometimes I pulled up long twigs or chunks of old root. But the carp were hanging around there.

Shaun Buddle, to my right, was third and had some early
fish on mussel. Why didn't I try that?

A 6 lb carp in the last ten minutes completed my day in the wind, but I assumed Peter and Shaun had beaten me, because of my poor start, while on the opposite bank I had seen Bob Barrett, on Peg 7, land some fish on his feeder, cast down the margins, and he had three nets in. I had three as well and estimated my catch at 95 lb, while Shaun admitted to about 120 lb.

The weigh-in

The anglers right opposite me had struggled, until Bob Barrett weighed in 113 lb 14 oz on his favourite banded pellet, with every fish from the margins, under a bush to his right. Next to him John Garner struggled with 27 lb 12 oz, but in the corner Peter Harrison had fished a pole in several different areas of his swim for 93 lb 9 oz.

Plenty of help at the weigh-in.

Over to our bank, and in the bottom corner John Smith on 14 had 47 lb 12 oz. He said later he had fished towards the corner on his right for far too long, and had taken most of his fish on corn, in the deep water just to his left, in the last 45 minutes. 

Next to him Mike Rawson fished his favourite feeder with banded pellet and took every one of his fish on it, for 47 lb 3 oz. That made me think that perhaps I should have gone back on the feeder when the early pole swims failed to produce. On the other hand Bob Allen, on 20 with 81 lb 7 oz took every one of his fish on paste, which I didn't use either, even though I had some with me.

Inevitably Shaun beat me with 103 lb 9 oz, with my fish going just 96 lb. But top dog on the day was Peter The Paste with 125 lb 13 oz, while I came fourth out of the 13 fishing. I can't be too disappointed in that - just one good 20-minute spell would have seen me well up the list, so I feel I gave myself at least a chance of winning.

Peter Harrison in corner peg 13 was fifth, just 2 lb 7 oz behind me.

Peter The Paste - the winner with 125 lb 13 oz on a difficult day.

Next match Sunday on Magpie at Pidley. My basic plan is luncheon meat one side in the margin and corn the other side, with a long pellet swim. Luncheon meat is banned at Decoy, and I used to fish it a lot when it was allowed, and found it most versatile, as you can alter the exact size of the bait. So I look forward to using it again. But the conditions will decide my final plan for me - I've had 200 lb in the past on Magpie, and it's always a joy to fish, with lovely huge platforms on the bank. No doubt the wind, forecast to be Westerly, will be the main factor.

THE RESULT

East Bank                                            West Bank

26 Peter Spriggs             125 lb 13 oz      1st           1 No angler   
24 Mac Campbell             96 lb               4th           3 Alan Porter          59 lb 4 oz
22 Shaun Buddle            103 lb 9 oz       3rd           5 Martin Parker       41 lb
20 Bob Allen                    81 lb 7 oz                        7 Bob Barrett         113 lb 14 oz   2nd
18 Trevor Cousins            75 lb 15 oz                      9 John Garner         27 lb 12 oz
16 Mike Rawson              47 lb 3 oz                       11 Joe Bedford        20 lb 5 oz
14 John Smith                  47 lb 12 oz                     13 Peter Harrison     93 lb 9 oz