Poor draw - good result on Six-Island

 Peg 24, Sunday, May 21
I guessed, as soon as our draw was made, that Dick Warrener and I, had drawn perhaps the two worst pegs on the day on Six-Island at Decoy. The problem was wind - forecast to be North-Easterly, blowing over our backs. Next day the newspapers wrote about people flocking to the beaches on the South coast, which had the hottest day of the year. Not here it wasn't!

In bright sunlight, especially in the cold wind which caused Kev to have to walk up to his van after an hour or two to get another jumper, you need ripple to break up the shadow of the pole on the water. And Dick and I had no proper ripple for the first ten or 12 metres out all day, and as I wrote in the previous blog, the pegs at the Southern end would be windiest. In fact the wind was mainly Northerly, which gave all of the other pegs a good ripple, except for the first pegs on the West bank, protected by the island, where Dave Garner also struggled. 

Cold wind and bright sun with no ripple close in -  not good conditions on pegs 24 and 25.

At least I was fishing

No matter - a day's fishing was on the menu, and that's never bad! I started this Fenland Rods match fishing 13 metres to catch some ripple, with banded 6mm pellet, and never had a touch of any kind for 40 minutes. I'd been flicking casters into the left margin, and had a quick look there before going out to the right margin, near the aerator, where maggot eventually took a gudgeon and a tiny perch. Everything felt dead, with nothing moving.

Then it was out to 10 metres, where it was easier for me to control the rig, in a wind that now blew first from the left and seconds later from the right - a nightmare scenario which caused Dick to go over to a feeder.

The fish were ice cold
Eventually I sneaked out a 1 lb F1 on an expander and, soon after, a two-pounder, while Dick had a fish or two on his feeder. The bites were the tiniest imaginable, and the fish, and the bait, both felt ice cold. But every 20 minutes or so I'd hook a fish, and the best was 3 lb, with some on corn. Halfway through the match I had 15 lb on my clicker and felt I simply had to have a look in the right margin, where fish were basking in the sun.

Dick Warrener on my left sensibly switched to a feeder early on and found a few fish.

That brought one bite, which turned out to be about 4 lb foulhooked in the anal fin (that's the one underneath in front of the tail). I didn't want to foulhook any more, so I put out a feeder while I had a cup of coffee. That didn't work either!

Fish in the right margin

I'd deliberately not fed the right margin, but now it was my best chance, and with an hour to go and I put a load of dead maggots in, about five feed from the bank, where it was was about 30 inches deep. Soon clouds of mud came up, but not in that spot - they were right next to the bank where it was only 18 inches deep. But they couldn't fool me, and I spent about 30 seconds there before putting a bunch of eight deads farther out. Success! First fish was nearly 10 lb, and three or four more followed, all 3 lb-plus, before everything went dead, although the mud was still coming up. Most bites came when the bait was an inch off bottom.

First man to weigh - a hard-won 23 lb 24 oz for Dick.

I think everybody suddenly found a fish or two in that last hour - on end peg 12 John Smith had two tiny fish at 3 o'clock.but added over 30 lb in that last hour.

The weigh-in

Dick was first to weigh - 23 lb 14 oz all on a feeder - which I reckon was a good performance in that swim. The decision to go onto a feeder to get into the ripple was a good one, though he ended by taking fish in the margins.

 My fish went a bit heavier than I had thought - 43 lb 6 oz; and next to weigh, round the corner sheltered by the island, was Dave Garner - last with 10 lb 4 oz, which must be the first time he's ever come last.

After that every swim had a lovely little wave on it, though the wind had been very difficult for the pole anglers. Shaun Buddle on 20 hadn't fancied his peg, but I know it can produce in difficult conditions, and he made the most of it with 77 lb 6 oz for second spot. Next to him on 18 Allan Golightly found an early double-figure fish and added more from the margins for 59 lb 2 oz and third spot.

Allan Golightly had big fish, but not enough of them.

The winner used mussel!

Winner was Callum Judge, who was also on the Golden Peg, and who used mussel all day for109 lb 2 oz, taking most of his fish in the corner on his left. Well done Callum. He's used mussel to great effect since Peter Maskell first told me how good it can be about two years ago. I ended fourth, and I honestly think that was about as high as I could expect from the two pegs at the car park end.

Afterwards I realised that I should have tried a smaller bait at the end - perhaps just three maggots rather than eight, as the fish were still very finicky. Or mussel might have taken an inquisitive fish or two simply because it was slow-sinking and different.

Next match probably Sunday, on Six-Island in John Garner's invitational match. Just put me in the wind!!

Callum Judge - match winner and on the Golden Peg.

THE RESULT

12 John Smith               30 lb 5 oz
13 Peter Spriggs            29 lb 1 oz
14 Dave Hobbs             23 lb 10 oz
15 Callum Judge         109 lb 2 oz        1st
17 Kevin Lee                25 lb 15 oz
18 Allan Golightly        59 lb 2 oz          3rd
20 Shaun Buddle          77 lb 6 oz         2nd
21 Mel Lutkin               21 lb 11 oz
22 Dave Garner            10 lb 4 oz
24 Mac Campbell         43 lb 6 oz         4th
25 Dick Warrener         23 lb 14 oz