Fifteen of us fished the first JV club match of the year with a gentle, but cold, breeze from the West. Now in Summer Peg 30 on Beastie is the sort fo draw that see anglers running down to the swim. But ib Winter it can be a different proposition, and the previous week Lee Kendall had had 34 lb from it - a nice weight but they were nearly all roach and small bream, while carp from other pegs had dominated the results.
The water level was high, and a lot of the platforms saw the wooden planks floating. I put my box down, and of course, that took the planks down to the platform and everything was stable (except that the planks beside the box were still just floating. But it was strange that when I sat down, although nothing moved, I still felt vulnerable, especially as the margin here is quite deep. Later Roy Whincup on 18 said he felt the same - very uncomfortable even though the platform was stable. By the end of the match, though, I had got used to it and was happy enough, though I took extra care. Pegs on the spit (9 to 17) were all left out for the same reason. Jim Regan had to go home ill before the match started.
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| Peg 30 - a cool breeze which became stronger, but still fishable at 13 metres. |
My first gambit was bread on a bomb - the tactic that had won last week's match from nearby Peg 3 for Ivy (sorry, Steve) Tilsley. To my left Barry Webb also started out, on a feeder, although the wind allowed everybody to to fish long poles. I guess nearly everybody started on a bomb or feeder, but I could see that it wasn't long before the poles came out.
I stayed on the bomb and bread for an hour with just one 6 oz bream and a couple of big liners to show for it. So it was on to maggot at 13 metres (where Lee told me he had caught). I had been flicking maggots out with a catapult, and very soon started catching small roach. But it wasn't very fast, and when a 3 oz bream came in I put four maggots on the hook, hoping to find bigger ones. But it didn't make any difference. An occasional foray back to 11.5 metres saw only roach - all the tiny bream were at 13 metres.
Sport remained slow, and after 90 minutes, with only 4 lb or 5 lb in my net I had a look in the margins, after seeing Barry get a couple of better fish there. I wasted an hour, taking a gudgeon on maggot and a roach on expander, before going back out. Barry told me later he had had three small carp on the feeder, another three or so in the margin and had, in fact, hooked a much bigger fish in his margin, which had snagged him in a tree lying in the water.
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| Barry Webb, next to me, had only small carp. |
I was on scales with Barry, but only for our section, which went up to Peg 7. Barry was disappointed with his 19 lb 2 oz, and I was also despondent with my 9 lb 5 oz (although that turned out not to be last).
On the other section, mainly on the West bank, Rob Goodson started on 14 metres with maggot but found only roach and bream. A switch to pellet still brought only small stuff, so he came back to six metres, fishing with maggot, and stayed there for the rest of the match, catching 89 lb 7 oz from peg 23. Next door on 24 Andy Gausden had started on a bomb or feeder, but soon came back on a pole. He had to stay at 14 metres, though, for his runner-up catch of 78 lb 1 oz. Not sure how many were paid, but there would have been two section winners.
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| This 15 lb 4 oz beauty brightened up John Savage's day! |
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| Great to see bream - Ian Frith included 20 lb of them in his 59 lb 10 oz total, the silver fish being placed into a different keepnet to the carp. |
First match after a month lay-off and I never felt quite "in the zone", especially since I must now be looking at maggot as my main attack, after being used to fishing expanders, hard pellet, cat meat and corn. But I will no doubt settle into some sort of new routine. With the water so cold we must look for the carp, rather than hoping they will come to feed.
Next match is Sunday, with JV - Beastie is booked for this postponed Fur and Feather, but with the water level so high and so many platforms turning out to be dodgy I suspect the match will be moved, probably to the strips where the platforms tend to be higher off the water.
No fishing-related presents for Christmas, but I have just taken possession of a counter-top freezer. I always freeze unused corn, hemp, cat meat and expanders, (and old maggots in the summer) so it will get some use and free up the bottom draw of the household freezer.
As a by-product that will definitely make the wife happy - and hopefully let her place in the back of her mind the fact that I forgot our 52nd wedding anniversary on Tuesday. 😢😢😢
THE RESULT
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