A real beast from Beastie, Decoy (but not for me).

 Peg 5, Sunday, Jan 8
There were ten on Beastie and ten on Six-Islands for this JVAC re-arranged Fur and Feather. Three of us were on the East bank of Beastie, though the best weights the previous Sunday had been taken from opposite on the West bank in the 20s. But peg 5 is a good 'un all year round, so I was happy. Sean, the owner, had obligingly pumped almost a foot of water out, so all the platforms were now dry (the previous week a lot had been underwater).

I had Roy Whincup on 3 on my left and Ian Frith on 6, to my right, the same peg he had fished the previous week when he'd had about 30 lb of carp and 20 lb of silvers. The wind was a cold Southerly coming mainly from the left. I started on bread on a straight bomb, cast at various distances to the island, but after almost an hour my only moment of excitement were cause by two liners. Ian had already given up on his bomb, and was out at around 12 metres on the pole.

Bright for most of the day, but cold in the Southerly wind, which picked up.

Roach to start with
I followed suit, with maggot at 11.5 metres, with the 13-metre section added in case I needed to move out. First drop the elastic came out but the fish came off immediately - probably a roach. An occasional roach followed, but with sport so slow and the wind increasing I started another line to the right at ten metres and put in a few expanders and grains of corn. That swim brought nothing, although I made a few visits, and with the wind picking up and swinging my pole round a few times I had a look at five metres where I had been throwing maggot.

That swim brought a roach or two, but they were now being blown off by the wind as I shipped back, so I tried fishing just a top two in front and to my left towards the tree, where the depth was about four feet. and I didn't have to unship. The result was as I had expected - hardly any fish came off and for the last half of the match I stayed on the top two and started putting a steady stream of small roach, mainly around 1 oz each, into the net. A single maggot seemed best for the roach, but I kept putting on three, hoping the extra size would tempt a bream of F1, or a carp.

Lucky Us...this is what we all  had waiting for us back in the cafe. A Prize Every Time!

A few bream turn up
I tried corn, but never had a response, so kept with maggot and suddenly I hit something much bigger. I sort of held its position in front of me, moving away only slowly, and then the hook pulled out. The single maggot was untouched, so I am sure it was foulhooked. Ten minutes later another better fish turned out to be a 2 lb bream, and ten minutes after that another. I had seen Ian net a !couple of what looked like bream, but when he had another look on the rod I guessed he was struggling.

The last hour saw three more 2 lb bream come in among the roach, a 10 oz perch, and a 1 lb-plus F1. Most of those came when I slid the bulk down to within eight inches of the hook, but I couldn't get two in a row, so kept moving the bulk up, which brought bites from roach. 

Eddie McIlroy on the Spit, peg 13, found some
decent carp and won our section with 35 lb 2 oz.

That F1 seemed to be a loner, until literally five seconds before the whistle went I hooked another bigger fish, and played it gingerly for a couple of minutes after the match finished as I was using a size 18 Kaizan hook - light in weight, and ideal for roach on maggot, but I suspected that it could spring open if I put on too much pressure. The fish was a 3lb F1 and ended in my net. I had a horrible feeling they had just started to feed.

Elastics
At this time of year my go-to elastic is a 12. For the roach it is a bit strong, but since carp will almost always win you can't go down too much. I looked in my holdall halfway through the match and put the rig on to a solid 8. But when I came to use it I found that somehow I had put it so tight it was worse than the 12, so I reverted, and although a few roach came adrift it dealt with the bream and F1s OK. Still, I found it a bit too hefty. 

Peter Harrison won Beastie and the overall match
with 83 lb 11 oz, taken on bread, which is now 
allowed at Decoy from November to March. Groundbait is
also allowed Nov-Mar, max 1kg, potted in only.

Today I found that I had a 6/8 in the holdall which I had forgotten about; and I've just made up a Preston Slip 8, which should be able to handle the F1s. However, if I contact a fish like Jim's (see below) I will be in trouble. Everything is a compromise, isn't it?

The weigh-in

Ian asked what I had and I said around 15 lb to a probable 20 lb, and he said he hadn't got much more, and he hadn't had a carp. Then it was along on the scales with Roy, Ian and Peter Harrison who had walked over from the 20s. Roy weighed 16 lb 7 oz, with no carp; I had 24 lb 14 oz, and Ian pipped me with 27 lb 12 oz. Most of the other pegs on Beastie fished better, with one real highlight being the 19 lb 14 oz carp landed by Jim Regan on the spit on 17. He ended with 69 lb 9 oz, taken towards the end of the match in deep water just off the margin to his right, on maggot.

The winner!
Our lake was won by Peter Harrison on 22, with 82 lb 11 oz of big carp all taken on bread and bomb cast over to the island.  On 26, a great Summer peg, Gus Gausden never had a carp - they seem to avoid this area  in Winter, so I wasn't surprised.

Jim Regan's cracking 19 lb 14 oz carp taken from Peg 17 on maggot. Ian Frith and Berry Webb look on.

On Six-Island the weights came from the Eastern end, with the Northern bowl fishing badly.

I was actually happy with my 24 lb from an area where not a carp was caught. Interesting fishing and I never felt really cold. Next match on Cedar and possibly Elm on Sunday. The commercial side of the AT Winter League takes place in February, with the first Open this Sunday, Jan 15, booked on Beastie and Yew, when the whole place will be humming again.

THE RESULTS

BEASTIE

SIX-ISLAND