Bread dominates on Six-Island, Decoy

Peg 2, Sunday, March 5

Last time, I said I'd like pegs 8 round to 13 or thereabouts in Six-Island lake, so of course I drew 2! However, I was told that peg 2 won the lake in the Winter League final, with the top weights from 22, 25 and 2 - all in the Northern bowl. So I skipped down the bank, singing. Well, sort of. You have to be careful if people see you skipping nowadays.

There were 11 on this lake and five on Four-Island, next door, in this JV club match, with Lee Kendall opposite me on 22, so at least I would see someone catch loads of fish (he always does). There's an island in front of 2, and I could reach it with 13 metres; and there's deeper water to the right - probably the deepest swim on the lake.

Flat calm at our end of the lake, and some of those reeds are overhanging,
which you can't see from the front. That's Lee Kendall opposite, on 22.

A good start
Within five minutes I had a 2 lb F1 on bomb and bread, and soon afterwards Lee took two good carp on pole-fished bread to the island (the other side of the island, obviously). So  I switched to pole and in the next hour had a carp of about 6 lb on bread just touching the deck. It took a long time to land on hollow 13 elastic, so I change it to a solid 17. No more bites, and bringing the bait off bottom didn't even produce a liner.

In the next hour Lee took another three or four fish, and I had two more, laying the bread hard on the deck near the island  which surprised me as I had expected fish to be off bottom. I'd put corn out towards the deeper water on the right, and this produced two nice F1s, but Lee had already added another few fish. To my right Perry Briggs on 25 was struggling - I saw him lose a big fish probably foulhooked, and land a couple of roach.

A long time later I managed another good carp from the island, and then cleverly managed to hook an underwater snag right over. Using my trusty long hook I was able to bring the pole back to a top two, twist the hook round the elastic, and pull for a break. The float is still there - a lovely red top just showing above the surface.

Roach in the swim, and OOOPs!
I put on a lighter rig because it was handy (big mistake) and now tried in the margin to my right under a bush with corn and then, finally, to the left with maggot, both on a top five. This maggot swim saw a bite from a nice roach which came off, and then another. So I changed from the 17 solid to an 8 elastic. This brought a couple of nice, quick, roach and I though that if I could carry on like that for the last 40 minutes I could add a few pounds.

Round the corner, where Barry Gibb was on peg 6, there was
a wind, but so cold that Barry couldn't hook maggots on properly.

Next drop saw a better fish on, and I shipped slowly back and took off the top two - another big mistake. The fish, which I thought might be a couple of pounds, suddenly put on weight, and decided to pay Jim Regan a visit on peg 18, about 50 yards to my left on the opposite bank. The elastic stretched mightily, past platform 3, and before I was able to add the three sections I'd removed together (another big mistake) the hooklength broke. My last chance of a last-ditch proper carp had gone. So had the roach, as I never had another bite!

The weigh in
I was first to weigh - a surprising 31 lb 4 oz, dwarfed by Barry Webb's 90 lb 13 oz from peg 6. He'd been catching on maggot, mainly from the deep margin to his left. just over an inviting tuft of grass, until his fingers became so cold he couldn't hook on a maggot. So he changed to corn and carried on bagging.

To his left Rob Goodson on peg 8 and Tony Evans on 9 were catching fish-for-fish for the first half of the match, fishing bread off bottom in open water. Then Rob carried on catching, at 16 metres, while Tony's swim dried up and he had only two fish in the second half of the match, with only one against the inviting-looking end bank. Rob fished his bread from six inches off bottom to just two feet deep, for a winning 154 lb 4 oz.

Rob Goodson - winner with 154 lb 4 oz, all taken on bread fished off the bottom.

A fantastic pole
I handled Rob's new Guru pole at the Winter League final - it felt very strong, but unbelievably light. A real beauty, and it comes with 16 tops! Even I might be able to handle it at 16 metres.

Lee Kendall must have had as bad an afternoon as I had, because he weighed in 51 lb 12 oz - much less than I thought he was going to catch after that good start. Perry, on the end bank, didn't weigh in.

On Four-Island, Ian Frith on 10 had a good finish in his right margin, winning that lake with 73 lb 12 oz. On 8 Eddie McIlroy found F1s up in the water, and said he ended by slapping his bait shallow, just as he might in the height of Summer. He said he could actually see fish coming up to the surface.

Next matches are Sunday and Monday, on Yew and Oak. Hoping the forecasted freezing spell will have eased. Bread is allowed until March 31, so I expect everyone will have it with them. You can't beat Hovis Soft White for texture.

THE RESULT

SIX-ISLAND

FOUR-ISLAND