I end 2023 on a flier - Willows 25

Peg 25, Sunday, Dec 31

JV's last match of the year and I draw the famous  Willows 25, once regarded as the best peg in Cambridgeshire, though I must point out that in the last few years it has becone less dominant than it used to be. There were ten of us fishing on Willows and five on nearby Lou's lake.

The winds were forecast to be strong, and they were into me from the left, though at the start they weren't too bad. The platform was under a couple of inches of water, but Tony Evans had tested it before the draw, and said it was still solid. Indeeed it was, and  it gave me no problem, though the mound behind the peg, which is quite steep, had been muddied up during the last six weeks of rain we've had, and I had to stick a tall bank stick in the ground, behind the platform, to steady me as I moved slowly about.

In addition the small amount of flat bank immediately behind the platform was also underwater, so I couldn't put any of my gear down there, and had to leave it all several yards away. Still, once I had my side tray and rollers in place I felt I was pretty well OK, and started on bomb and bread.

Famous Willows 25. The platform was underwater, but solid. But the slope down
to the swim was slippery and muddy. This picture was taken at the start of the
match, when it was reasonably calm, but the wind blew a hooley later, and was cold!

Carp on bread

Two 2 lb carp in the first hour came on bomb and bread, with an 18-inch hooklength, from a spot just a couple of feet from the island, about 20 yards away(and several times the hook had come back with a leaf impaled on it). But then I found myself well and truly snagged in the far margin, and had to pull for a break. I had another feeder rod made up, but decided to have a look on the pole. To my left on 22 Peter Harrison had had at least one fish on a bomb or feeder before trying a long pole. But as the wind increased he had a look in his right margin, and I saw him land two from there.

First I went out to 2+2 on the pole with maggot,. and took several gudgeon and small roach and perch. But when I saw Peter take those good fish from the margin I had a look to my left, with corn, because I wanted to fish positively if carp were willing to feed. First drop in I foulhooked a big fish which came off after a few seconds and left me with a huge scale. But by now the wind was really howling through the gap and any sort of reasonable presentation to the left was impossible.

A fish from the channel
The wind had also become very cold, so I turned to my right, back to the wind, and had a look in the channel to my right, using maggot, as the channel, about six metres wide, doesn't normally hold many carp - they tend to move through it without stopping. Sure enough some roach and perch came in and then I had a really agressive bite which I fancied (hoped) might be from a carp. So I switched to corn, feeding just four or five at a time.

 The water was so clear I could see the corn sinking a foot below the surface, and if there had been any sun  I could probably have seen it two feet down - it was like tap water.

That brought a big fish, which played me for about ten minutes, and turned away every time it saw the landing net. But eventually it finished in the net, and I saw it was about 8 lb and hooked in a fin, though the hook dropped out before I could take it out. Lucky or what?

Peter Harrison on peg 22 lands a fish taken from his right margin in a pole.

So cold...

After a long fishless spell I had another look in the left margin, and briefly hooked another fish, which immediately came off. Basically the wind was blowing the rig into the fish, I guess. If only it had dropped by about half I think I could have caught fish there, but it never did, and in fact became so cold I started shivering, even though I had seven layers on, and a hoodie and the jacket hood pulled over my head.

So it was back to the righthand swim, and in the last hour three more carp came from there, all properly hooked, and all around 7 lb. I had several tiny liners there, and pricked two more on the strike, probably foulhooked. So I ended with six carp.

MY BAD MISTAKE
Tony Evans had mentioned fishing shallow to me before the match, and he said the same thing afterwards. And it clicked with me - I knew that there were carp in that righthand channel, and had had my fish laying the rig in flat, with the shot giving a slow fall in the five-foot deep swim. Fish were giving me knocks just as the bait settled. If only I had started fishing corn, or a corn skin, or bread, well off bottom, I am sure I would have had more fish. Tony said that at the moment, when fish are feeding off bottom, 15 inches deep might not be too shallow.

Seeing the water so clear had sort of put fishing shallow out of my head, and I was so cold that I probably wasn't thinking properly. If I could go back I'd start shallowing up, with bread, or corn skin,  and I feel that I would have carp two feet off bottom!

I had shallow rigs made up in my holdall, lying behind me, which would have taken a lot of messing about in the mud to retrieve, but I could easily have adjusted the rig I was using to fish a bait off bottom. It just didn't occur to me at the time.

The weigh-in
It was a tortuous experience packing up, with my feet sliding all over the place as I inched up the slope and loaded up my gear. I had no time to speak to Peter before the scales came along. My six fish weighed 35 lb and I assumed I would be last, as I'd seen Peter land at least half-a-dozen fish, so he probably had a lot more. But no! He ended with 33 lb, with Ernie Lowbridge on his left having 36 lb, and the lake won on 17, to Ernie's left, with 49 lb 5 oz.

I'd lost four fish foulhooked, any two of which would probably have won me the lake. I finished fourth on the lake, also beaten by Gus Gausden on 31, and he's almost as old as I am! Tony Evans won Lous with 103 lb 6 oz fishing a pole at nearly 13 metres with maggot. He's the man to beat at the moment.

Marks out of ten

Those three to my left had a better wind than I did, as it was closer to being over their backs, and there's a high bank, which gave some shelter. I was colder than I'd been for a year or two so, so even though it's a good swim, I give myself a 7 (but wish I'd thought about coming well off bottom).

Too much to do to fish at Pidley on Wednesday, so my next match is Decoy on Sunday. If everything goes to plan, Oak lake should be netted on Sunday prior to it being dredged, the banks  reinforced with blue clay, and the platforms replaced. But honestly, with all this rain, it must be possible that they won't have been able to drain it sufficently to net it.

THE RESULT

Willows

Lous