The Good, The Bad, and ...me, on Yew

 Peg 3, Monday, Oct 31
The good was that I was Golden Peg in this Spratts match at Decoy, so I stood to make a small fortune if I won (£60 is a fortune to me). The bad was that peg 3 was the last swim I would have chosen on Yew lake. I tend to favour the swims from about 10 round to 22, on the opposite bank, and would nearly always choose a swim away from the  car park. Corner pegs 1 and 30, right next to the car park, can always produce fish, of course, because you have more options, and I know 30 has won in the past. But you have to be optimistic.

Before the start - plenty of Raspberry Ripple for me (unfortunately cold and in
my face). I soon put the Goretex jacket on!

The previous day, on Damson, we had been treated to a pleasant, mild day, though with some rain. Today as soon as I stepped out of the van at the draw the wind felt ten degrees colder. On the bank it was blowing into our bank (pegs 1 to 15) from the right, and still cold. However I thought that the water would still be warm, so I ought to be able to catch a few of the big carp which Yew is renowned for.

I started on the feeder - three five-minute casts with sweetcorn, without a sign of a bite. So I changed to the pole, with banded pellet at top two plus three, where I could hold the pole fairly comfortably in the wind. I spent 30 minutes there, during which time Peter Harrison, to my left, had taken two carp on the pole, fishing maggot. Opposite me, Trevor Cousins had his first bite at this time, taking a small carp on the feeder.

On the bank opposite, in the corner, Alan Porter sneaked
enough fish out to finish in third place.

A change to maggot
I decided I ought to change to maggot - no good working out how others are catching if you don't make use of the information! I trickled in a few maggots every drop, and after about 20 minutes I hit, and landed, an F1 about 3 lb. Naturally I carried on fishing the same way, and occasionally I would catch a small perch.

I kept hoping that the feeding perch would bring in carp, so I kept on fishing like that for the next four hours, during which time the wind became colder and I had to put on my Goretex jacket over the thermal vest, thick shirt, and two sweatshirts (one of which had a hood).

In that four hours I caught about ten perch, but lost two big fish, one of which was possibly foulhooked, but the second one didn't feel foulhooked. I also hit two others which, momentarily, felt bigger, but which came off within a second. I had changed from hollow 17 elastic down to 13 hollow, to avoid bumping fish which might bite very timidly, and I had changed down from a 12 to a 16 hook. I felt confident  with that tackle, but have to put down losing those fish to "Just one of those things".

I Spy...a barbel, in Shaun's net. That one fish would have beaten my
meagre catch on its own. Note that I was so pleased to see some fish
that I got over-excited and took pictures of almost anyone!

Slow right to the end

To my right, with half an hour to go, Dick Warrener had not had a bite in his swim, which was almost flat calm. 

Thirty minutes from the end I changed to fishing corn at 2+1, and in that last half-hour Peter landed two more carp, also fishing about 2+1, one of which was foulhooked. Opposite me, Trevor got his second bite 15 minutes from the end, and landed a 10 lb carp.

I was really glad when the match ended, because I was on the verge of going back to the van and taking out my padded Imax jacket, as I was shivering with cold. Winter is definitely knocking at the door. My change to corn didn't pay off and I ended with that one F1 and ten small perch. Dick didn't get a bite all day, but I had no idea what the others towards the far end, had.

Four fish for Joe - and almost a frame.

The weigh in
I weighed 3 lb 9 oz, and Peter's four carp went 27 lb 12 oz, which actually gave him fifth spot, and last frame place. Past him Joe Bedford also had four fish, but ended 2 oz short of Peter. Then, on 13, John Garner took 57 lb 14 oz to the scales, taken on a feeder I believe, to win.

Most of the other best weights were down towards that end, with Neil Pass, fishing as a guest of John, coming second. We shall have to think seriously about whether to whether to invite him again if he's going to catch fish!

Alan Porter on 30 bucked the trend at my end of the lake, by taking five fish on a feeder, mainly by casting into the corner near the big pipe, and weighing 37 lb 8 oz. 

So another Golden Peg drawn for me went to a roll-over, but I couldn't be sad about that - local knowledge tells me that even Jamie Hughes probably wouldn't have won from my peg on that day.

My next match is probably not until next Tuesday, on Damson.

Neil Pass - second on his first match with us. Well done, Neil!

John Garner - winner with 57 lb 14 oz from peg 13.

John's best fish - probably over 10 lb.

THE RESULT

                            East Bank                                                                 West Bank

30 Alan Porter          37 lb 8 oz    3rd                            1 Dick Warrener            DNW
28 Trevor Cousins    13 lb 14 oz                                    3 Mac Campbell         3 lb 9 oz
26 Peter Spriggs        11 lb 7 oz                                     5 Peter Harrison        27 lb 12 oz    5th
24 Bob Barrett            4 lb                                             7 Mike Rawson                DNW
22 John Smith           24 lb 15 oz                                   9 Joe Bedford             27 lb 10 oz
20 Neil Pass              53 lb 4 oz     2nd                         11 Shaun Buddle         26 lb 14 oz
18 Bob Allen             37 lb 7 oz    4th                          13 John Garner            57 lb 14 oz    1st
16 Wendy Bedford   20 lb 5 oz                                     15 Peter Barnes           22 lb 8 oz