Several years ago one of the anglers in an Open match I was fishing at Decoy told me he was going to get rid of all his side pullers, and revert to puller bungs, because the sun was corroding the elastic at the bead. That put me off side pullers for a time, though most of my top kits now have them installed. But in this match I came across the problem for the first time. The knot at the bead on one short top looked decidedly dodgy - discoloured and it looked as if some of the elastic had actually gone.
I took the knot, to pull it through the puller bead, intending to tie another knot, but as soon as I pulled, the elastic broke right at the end, next to the knot, and shot back through the bead. Of course I was able to put the rig on a different top, but it has made me realise I must check all my side pullers very closely.
Twelve of us fished this Spratts match, from peg 27 down to corner peg 16, which was drawn by organiser Trevor Cousins, who was immediately made favourite in every angler's mind, I imagine. I had decided to start on the feeder, casting to the far side, but changed my mind because there was a nice ripple on, from the left, in the Southerly wind. So I spent the first 15 minutes fishing banded caster...without so much as a liner.
I would have expected some sort of response in 15 minutes on the shallow caster - fish swirling, or liners - so changed to a feeder. There was unbroken sun now, and that persisted right until an hour from the end. If the wind hadn't cooled us down I reckon we would have fried on the bank en masse, as the sun was unremittingly-hot. I'd had a bit of trouble with my back, which was painful, but so long as I didn't keep twisting around and bending down it was not too bad.
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| John Smith - wondering what to do next with the 10-pounder on the end! |
On peg 16 Trevor Cousins had started by mugging two 9 lb fish in the first ten minutes, and during one spell when the wind calmed down he told me he had nine carp in ten drops! I can only assume that the plop of the pellet going in is more tempting than the sight of a caster, as I tried dropping the caster in front of some fish I could see, and every one was ignored..
By this time John Smith, on my right, had had a big carp on his waggler, in fact it had snagged my feeder while he was playing it, but luckily I was able to lift the feeder over his line when it came towards the side; John never knew, until I told him afterwards! Another look on the banded caster saw me foulhook a fish which left me a scale as its calling card. I abandoned that line, as the fish had obviously not settled down.
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| Two pegs to my right Dick Warrener was struggling early on, like me, but picked up in the last two hours. |
To my left the anglers all seemed to have had a carp or two, and then Dave Hobbs, on 18 to my right, started landing fish. Now I had few other options other than to try next to the reeds, and here the tow was more pronounced than it had been farther out. Within five minutes I had managed to hook a 12-pounder to my right. When I went to lift it out my back suddenly gave way, and the fish nearly went back! I was more careful, and slower, after that.
When I had a look in the left side, the first three drops saw me hook a reed from the bottom, so I had to move closer to my nets, away from the reeds, on just a top two. That did produce two fish, and then I alternated the two close-in swims, both six foot deep. Now the fish had started biting, and a 3 lb barbel took corn, which surprised me. It took ages to land.
A change to mussel, hopefully to get carp, at last brought some around 8 lb (and another small barbel), and I started a second net with about an hour to go. Bites then started coming more quickly, provided I got the bait just touching bottom - two inches laying on was never as good. A couple of those fish were around 10 lb then, with just less than 20 minutes left I had a minor disaster - I foulhooked a ten-pounder in the tail on the Matrix 16-18 elastic! That kept me busy for the next 15 minutes, and when it was finally in the net the match ended.
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| A smiling Neil Paas managed 60 lb 14 oz from peg 24. |
Yet again the fish around 4 lb to 6 lb had fought three times as hard as the bigger fish (provided the big fish were hooked in the mouth). On the short tops I was getting them in quite quickly.
I was late packing up as I had woken up with a bad back, and it took a special technique to be able just to lift my box onto the platform, or back on to the trolley. But I was back in time to see John Garner on peg 25 put back his 85 lb 6 oz, which led the weights down to me. I admitted to about 80 lb, though had to ask someone to lift my nets out for me, because of my back. Dave Hobbs volunteered - thanks, mate.
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| There used to be lots of tench in Decoy - now they are something of a rarity. |
Today Dave Hobbs had fished mainly on a top two plus one, with mussel, for his 125 lb, which was runner-up as Trevor Cousins, in the corner, totalled 174 lb 1 oz for the win, adding fish on corn from the corner to those he had mugged earlier. So I ended third, and was fairly happy with that as most had struggled quite badly.
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| Dave Hobbs was second with 125 lb. |
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| Last to weigh was Trevor Cousins in the windswept corner peg 16. |
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| I wish I could estimate like Trevor can! |
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| And this beauty was in one of his four nets... |
For my own satisfaction, so I can tear my hair out in private later, I am going to award myself 7/10 for this match.
Mistakes
I should have had a rig ready for the 2+1 line, as I should on all the Decoy lakes. It needs to be a fairly heavy rig, so I can fish mussel or cat meat - so preferably 1 gm with a bouoyant tip to prevent it being dragged under by a strong wind, or the tow.
For the next match (if my back holds up) I will leave the feeder rod in the van, so I can tackle up and down more quickly. Main hook baits will be corn and mussel, with a tin of cat meat in the cool bag as a back-up. But if I feel like it, and the wind is OK, I will get out the top with the banded pellet rig on it. I won't bother with expanders, I will just enjoy myself.
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