Scraping around on Willows

Peg 30, Sunday, Apr 2
It was great to see the car park at Decoy packed when I got there - the Open, plus club matches meant there must have been more than 100 anglers milling around. And John savage got us underway in plenty of time, which was ideal for me, as my peg involved going down the mound and walking round to the back of Willows. which takes a little extra time.

There was a real atmosphere in the Decoy cafe at the draw, with
the Open and several club matches taking place on the various lakes.

A North-Easterly gave some of the pegs a nice ripple, but my peg, and that of John Savage on 31, was pretty calm most of the day. The water was well coloured after the rains, which have also lifted the Nene and Great Ouse well up. And carp were cruising around just under the surface all day, looking as if they were already thinking of spawning,  though it wasn't until the last half of the match that we actually got some warm sun, reminding me what Summer fishing is like.

Happy with my draw!
I was well happy with 30, and found the deep hole in the margin close to peg 29, which was unoccupied. I've won matches fishing in that hole in the past. But there's bare bank along that margin, while my righthand margin running up to platform 31, where John Savage was sat for the day, was lined with reeds, which I fancied would perhaps give fish a little cover and persuade them to come inside.

I looked longingly across the lake between the islands at the ripple there....

The first hour saw me hook a double-figure fish on 2+3 and an expander, and when I got it into the net the hook was lying on the side of the fish, so I don't know whether it was foulhooked or not. It didn't seem as if it was. John, in that first spell of action, had four carp, also on expanders on the pole, and I was way behind. Eddie McIlroy on 33 started fishing in front of him, but had a rare tussle with a fish, hooked in his left margin, which took him down to the aerator and snagged him. Eddie had to walk down the bank, and somehow I believe he got most of the rig back, but not the fish.

John Savage, on my right, had a good spell, with four fish in the first hour on expander pellet.

Time for maggots
By the time two hours had passed I had tried the feeder and a bomb with pop-up, and in desperation started a swim in front of me with maggots. It took a little time to start getting bites, but them small roach and perch obliged, and eventually the fish I had been hoping for came along - a 4 lb carp. This was followed, after a long blank spell, by a 3 lb barbel. All this time carp were cruising around, in packs of up to about ten.

After the match several anglers told me that they had struggled at this time, as if the whole lake had suddenly switched off (not that it had been switched on much anyway). John also had a blank spell, and then something unusual happened - suddenly he, and I, and Eddie were playing fish at the same time. That happened two or three times, with 20-minute blank spells between. Obviously the fish all fancied a snack at the same time!

Eddie battles the fish, probably foulhooked, that eventually snagged him around the aerator.

Fish in the margins

John was now fishing his right margin, and I did the same after seeing fish moving the marginal reeds. Two fish came from there on corn skin (that seemed better than the full grain) and after another long blank spell I went out to the maggot swim again, using a rig with spaced-out shot, as the roach had been taking it just before it hit bottom. But they seemed to have vanished, so I tried a bulk-down rig...which was promptly taken by a double-figure fish on the way down! To be honest that had told me that it would be worth fishing shallow, but I felt that the margin would produce more.

John Savage won our section with 51 lb 14 oz.

The fish were jittery
The sun was out by now, and occasionally I would see fish near the platform. But every time I prepared to drop a bait in, the fish took fright. The pole wasn't casting a shadow, so they must have seen me moving, even though I was trying to be very careful and slow. That's why I like a good Raspberry Ripple.

I kept trying the deep hole near 29's platform, but never had even a liner. I was sure that the fish preferred the cover afforded by reeds. I didn't put much bait in; perhaps I should have dumped in a big pot or two of dead reds. If I had had a liner I probably would have tried that.

Anyway, I lost two foulhooked fish from the margin, on cat meat and corn, and so did John. Then he had three or four quite quickly on cat meat, so I tried that again and five minutes before the finish another eight-pounder came in.

Eddie McIlroy - 46 lb 10 oz. Sorry about the
weighing bag - it was a bit floppy.

The weigh-in
John Emerson on end peg 35 had had a terrible spell in the middle - four hours without a bite - and he totalled 15 lb 15 oz. The next four weights were all pretty close - Eddie McIlroy had 46 lb 10 oz; John (Yammers) had smaller fish than me, but more, and weighed in 51 lb 14 oz to my six carp and a barbel (and bits) which went 48 lb 8 oz. So John won that four-peg section.

Past us Barry Webb, who had nice reed-fringed margins, had caught only in the margins and had 43 lb 3 oz. Past him the favourite peg 25 yielded 75 lb 15 oz to Joe Bourn, with some fish on bomb or feeder cast across and the rest on pole to the island. Joe won our half of the match.

The other half was weighed in separately, with Peter Molesworth on peg 5 winning with 116 lb 7 oz. He fished the first two hours shallow on banded pellet, before reverting to a standard pole rig, which made me think that I should definitely have tried mugging fish as they went by. But you can't do everything.

I finished tenth, but was happy to be second in the five pegs at the back of the lake, which are, in effect, a match in themselves.

I was pleased to see that Barry Webb waited until I was back at my van, and all loaded up, before he drove back to HQ. It's something I think all clubs should encourage, in case someone has unexpected problems and is left on their own on the bank. I always do it if there are just two of us left. Thanks Barry, but it's nothing less than I have come to expect from JV, which is a super-friendly club.

Joe Bourn - second overall and winner of our half of the match from Peg 25.

Lee Kendall, peg 24, with a lovely common ghostie.

So a frustrating match but in the last 90 minutes it was quite warm, and left me rreally looking forward to warmer weather. I had almost forgotten what warm weather felt like. Next match Thursday on Damson, which is the lake I like least of all as it's so difficult to know what to do - fishing the margins which are less than three feet deep, or going straight into about eight feet of water on a top two because there's a massive drop-off there! Decisions...decisions.

THE RESULT