Back on a bogey peg on Yew

 Peg 16, Yew, Sunday, June 25
It was the one thing I was sort of dreading - having peg 16 drawn for me; because it can be very good indeed, but I've always done badly on it. So when when the 12 of us stood there at the draw, on the banks of Yew, with a beautiful strong wind rippling the surface, I would have been happy with any of the other pegs. But gradually they went, accompanied by "Oohhs" or "Urrrghs" and then: "Mac Campbell" (fumble in the other bag) "Sixteen."

"Best peg on the lake" said Peter Spriggs. Mind you, he'll tell everybody that their peg is the best on the lake, except that in this case he was probably right. It certainly looked to be the best peg in our match, held on the East bank from 30 in the top corner down to 16 in the bottom corner, into which the wind was blowing. And if my memory is correct Peter has won from there more than once.

Then, after the main draw out came the Golden Peg. "Sixteen", and I immediately said "That's a roll-over then". It wasn't false modesty - I honestly had no confidence that I could find fish where I had failed several times before.  Pressure? Actually, no. Because even before I had got to me swim I had completely forgotten that I was Golden Peg. A penalty of getting old...

Corner peg 16 on Yew - no nice long margins, but the wind was right into the corner.

As regular readers will have worked out, I am putting more and more faith in casters, and use them if I am unsure how to start a match. But I put up a feeder rod, as well as two shallow kits - one for caster and one for pellet - as well as two general rigs and a heavier one for stuff life cat meat. The wind was slightly into this bank, from the left, and it got stronger as the match went on, with two or three really powerful gusts, that threatened to blow anything that wasn't pegged down, along the bank.

What a start!
I had taken a few casters out the previous day, to allow them to harden, because if the caster is too soft the band will burst it. It was a key bait for me.  But to my horror I realised I had left the tin at home. So I took some of the darkest casters out, left them in the sun, and decided to try a maggot in the band. The hooter went and I flicked out a few casters, to see how far they would go in the wind. They went out to about six metres.

Out went my banded maggot, about 18 inches deep, and I picked up the catapult to flick out a load for my first proper feed. Before I could do that, though, the pole arched round as a fish took my bait, and 15 seconds after the match started I was playing a 10 lb carp! I could hardly believe it. But, with that fish safely in the net, I went out again.

Mel Lutkin was next to me and must have taken most of his
69 lb 3 oz catch in the first half of the match.

Seconds later the same thing happened, except that this fish came off. Next drop the same thing happened, except that this fish broke the 7 lb hooklength. Five minutes later a 4 lb carp came in, and after a short pause so did another. When the wind was not too strong I was able to flick out casters with my left hand, and when the wind got stronger I used the catapult. Now I was confident enough to put on a dark caster, that didn't burst, and drop it right in the middle of the feed. But for the next half hour nothing happened.

Change of elastic
Then I hooked a fish and it pulled off, and I changed from the green Matrix Slik 16-18 down to a 10-12. It was a good move, as the next fish must have been 15 lb and after its initial run it came in almost like a lamb. Keeping the short, stiff, top down low saw the fish rise slowly to the surface and drift right into my landing net. 

On Decoy, and on many waters,  few of us dare use light elastics like that when we are fishing every peg, in case a fish runs through our neighbour's swim, and this can easily happen with foulhookers. On this occasion I was lucky, so I kept using that elastic and a few minutes later an eight-pounder came in. After another biteless spell I then had a look in the margin with corn.

Fish on corn
Although I had spent several minutes cutting back reeds to my right, so I could get a better look at the margin, it wasn't perfect. So I dropped in on a top two with corn. I had this rig on a normal top two with a 20 Middy elastic in. Within a minute I had a 4 lb fish in the net, and soon after that a six-pounder. But then nothing. So I had a look a little farther out, and closer to the corner, where the water was about a foot deeper, and where I remembered I had caught fish (though not a lot!) on a previous occasion.

Dave Garner, on 21, taking his nets out at the end. Look at how
the reeds are being bent back by the wind, which never let up all day.

I wouldn't dare use the lighter elastic this close to the bank, as all the banks here are undercut, and a lot of the fish try to dive under it. 

That swim farther out produced several what looked like liners; but if I waited, sometimes the float would stay under and it would result in a fish. After a couple of six-pounders here I had to shake hands with my best friend, and then wandered up to see Mel and John, on 17 and 18. Mel was unhooking a near-double-figure carp, and so was John. Looked like I had some competition. But Mel said he had just five, and John said he had about 50 lb, while I thought I had about 70 lb.

I bring out the big guns
Back to my swim, and I realised that the liners were coming as the bait was falling; holding it a few inches off bottom also produced liners. But once it had fallen to the bottom it took a long time to get a bite. A bunch of maggots brought two tiny perch (one of which dropped off) so I brought out my big guns - mussels, which waft enticingly as they fall, and are light enough to move about when on the bottom if a fish disturbs them. First drop and in came a fish that must have been around 18 lb! That went into my third net.

Reeds kept collecting in the corner all day, so there was no
chance of my being able to fish right in the corner, though I
strongly suspected that there would be plenty of fish there by the end.

A fish snagged me about four metres out right in front of the keepnets, but as I got up to get my long hook and try to get the rig back it somehow extricated itself. It turned out to be a 3 lb barbel. Another carp also momentarily snagged me there before coming out, and after that I added an extra section to the pole to keep the fish away from that spot. It worked, as no others snagged me, but it was a bit hairy. 

Fish in the corner?

I stayed mainly with mussel, though one fish came to cat meat, and the carp were mainly 10 lb or more, smallest 7 lb. They didn't come quickly, and I needed to put in a big pot of micros, hemp, corn and two mussels cut in half before each fish. But I had one perhaps every 15 minutes, and soon started on my fourth net.

I got the feeling that there were fish under the rubbish that was collecting in the corner, and occasionally a fish would rise up and suck the floating reeds. But there was no point in trying to hook all the reeds out, as I thought the fish would probably move, away, and in any case the wind was blowing new stuff into the corner all the time. So I carried on about eight feet from the bank, in the deeper water. I knew there fish were still there as occasionally I would prick a fish as I lifted out the rig.

A fifth net

With 25 minutes to go I had yet another double-figure fish, this time a beautiful common, on mussel, and had to go back to the van for a fifth net. The club now allows 60 lb in a net, but we still aim for 50 lb - after all someone has to lift the net out at the end. I had about 40 lb on all my clickers, but if that last net had contained 45 lb and I landed another 15 lb-plus fish that would bring it up to 60 lb and the whole net would be disqualified, so I simply had to fetch another.

Jason Lee fished with us as a guest, and took 109 lb 3 oz. 
At the end he lifted my nets to the scales for me.

I keep two in a stink net bag, but it still took over ten minutes to walk the 15 pegs, return, and make room for a fifth net on the keepnet bar. Unfortunately this swim doesn't have easy access to the bank where I could have staked one of the used nets, so I shifted them along as best I could, having to leave a small gap somewhere to allow me to lift the fish up and out to unhook it. When I got home I worked out a better system...

I know Peter Spriggs can get five of the shorter two-metre nets in his bag, but I don't fancy buying a whole new set when I have nine or ten already. Decisions...decisions...

After putting in the new net I sat for ten minutes without a bite. Then, with five minutes left, I hooked a big fish and played it for a couple of minutes, knowing it was probably my last one, before it came off!!! That keeps happening to me - losing the last fish. I did a proper Victor Meldrew, unable to believe it had happened yet again. But by instinct I put on a piece of mussel and dropped it in more in hope than expectation.

Seconds later the float dived away and I was playing what really was my last fish. Seconds after that the hooter went and I shouted (loud, so Mel who was upwind of me could hear it): "Fish on!" A minute later Mel shouted "It's over, Mac". Bugga me, he must be as deaf as I am. But he realised immediately that I was still playing the fish😀. It went into that fifth net, on its own, and we later weighed it at 11 lb 9 oz. 

Peter Spriggs was top weight in the first eight pegs.

The weigh-in
Ben Townsend has said in one of his videos that he leaves his nets on his box when he has several, rather than trying to attach them to the bank, because he has seen too many anglers get back to their peg to find that one of their nets has gone for a swim. The banks at the moment are like concrete anyway, so I left the nets basically in position on my box until the scales came.

At the other end, which was the calmest, Dave Hobbs on 28 had 42 lb 1 oz and it immediately began to look as if the fish had followed the wind down. Peter Spriggs on 26 winkled out 112 lb 6 oz - but he could catch fish in a bucket of concrete! 

Next to him Kevin Lee, who has won our club championship more times than anyone else, had 86 lb 4 oz on the next peg. I had assumed that he would probably have an enormous catch, as he's had several 200 lb-plus bags in the last few years and these were ideal conditions for him to fish his favourite cat meat. He knew I had five nets in and asked whether I had beaten my personal best, which is about 221 lb, but I said I definitely didn't have 200 lb.

John Smith's best bait was double cat meat. He ended with 140 lb.

Bob Allen, back with us after a short sabbatical, had 133 lb 12 oz on 20, a peg he said at the start he had fancied. Indeed those pegs around 20 have tended to be the most consistent, so Bob had made a good call there. Down to John Smith, who had his best spell when he tried double cat meat, and he ended with 140 lb, having had hardly a fish in the last hour.

Last to weigh

One of my best fish  - it must have been around 18 lb.

I was last to weigh, and after that last 11 lb 9 oz fish on its own, the next net, which I had clicked at 40 lb, went nearly 55 lb. Another was 52 lb, and the last two 44 lb and 42 lb - leaving my total as 204 lb 14 oz. So I ended as the winner, and was last off the bank because I had left my nets on the box. As I was almost ready to take my trolley back, Kev came down with my winnings, and the Golden Peg money which I had forgotten about. A good peg, but you've still got to catch 'em. Happy days.

After that long, hot walk back to the van I was refreshed by tea in Judy's Cafe - the best cup of tea for miles around.

Next match on Elm on Thursday, If the wind stays with South in it I'd choose from peg 8 onwards, down to 12, or back on the opposite bank to 17. But honestly I'm happy just being able to get out on the bank.

PS. A majority of members present at last week's match voted that the Fenland Rods match on Sun, July 30 will no longer be a waggler-only match. It will be a normal match.

THE RESULT

28 Dave Hobbs            42 lb 1 oz
27 Dick Warrener        54 lb 10 oz
26 Peter Spriggs        112 lb 6 oz           4th
25 Kevin Lee                86 lb 4 oz
24 Jason Lee             109 lb 3 oz
23 Mick Rawson         85 lb 1 oz
22 Allan Golightly      48 lb 11 oz
21 Dave Garner         53 lb 2 oz
20 Bob Allen             133 lb 12 oz        3rd
18 John Smith           140 lb                  2nd
17 Mel Lutkin             69 lb 3 oz
16 Mac Campbell     204 lb 14 oz         1st