A rush of blood to the head, and I made the decision to ring Roy Whincup and ask to fish Friday's Old Gits match at Decoy, which was held on Beastie and Horseshoe. I was happy to draw on Horseshoe, because the banks are flat, and most of the platforms are set into the bank, rather than being completely over the water, as they are on the strips.
But with the ten of us on Horseshoe split into sections of five, I didn't fancy my chances on peg 18, because that end has not been fishing well, and noted pegs 8, 10 and 13 were in my section plus end peg 20 (where Chris Baldwin said he didn't fancy his peg at all, either). The wind was very strong, and while 8 and 10 had a little shelter from trees opposite, my swim looked like Ferry Meadows in a gale - big waves, with the wind coming from the right and a little into my face. The low, blazing sun completed a difficult swim - a little from the left which left me about a quarter of my swim I could fish properly at the start.
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| A little ripple on my peg 18! Then, as we packed up, he wind went amost completely died away! Note the made-up feeder rod, ready to use, but I never even picked it up. |
But I always take the view that the rougher the water the more likely fish are to drift towards the margins, so I was happy to start well to my left, where I knew there should be the remains of a lily bed. First drop in with corn, and the poor little Malman float was overwhelmed by the waves, so I took off a Number 12 shot so more of the tip was showing. Just seconds later it pulled under and soon a 2 lb-plus F1 was nestling in my landing net. Result!
But, as happens so often in the Winter, I couldn't get another bite in that spot, so had to search around. The next F1 came on a piece of frozen corn, fished off bottom, in deeper water, where there was a considerable undertow against the wind. I often use frozen corn at this time of year, as it's extremely light, and can be dragged along the bottom without the float being pulled under, or fished off bottom, where so many Winter carp and F1s are found (although at one time it kept pulling under and I pulled in several leaves).
The rest of the five-and-a-half hour match was spent moving around that area of the swim, to my left, and every 20 minutes or so a bite would come out of the blue - always an F1 (except when I tried maggot close to the margin, which resulted in several roach and perch but nothing else). The margin was suprisingly deep, with no more than six inches difference in the depth from right against the bank to six or seven metres out.
I tried a quick trot down to my right, but never had a bite, while the sun and wind made it impossible to fish long in front of me. I never did get two F1s in a row from the same swim!
Half and hour from the end I struck at what I thought might be a bite, and 'crack!' the Number Five section broke. It's a Browning Xitan 12, but several years old, and it's had a lot of hammer. I think that hours spent being exposed to the heat of the sun and the cold of Winter have made it brittle, as it's broken several times. With Browning sections now, to all intents and purposes, unobtainable I will get it patched up again and look for a secondhand Xitan for spare sections.
I couldn't telescope it, so carried on fishing four-and-a-half sections, but had no more fish. I ended with a broken pole and about 12 F1s, plus a few bits, but had no idea how anyone else had got on, though I suspected that most probably had more than myself and Chris Baldwin..
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| Where did he get them from? John Crouch with his lake-winning 50 lb 13 oz. |
I wandered up with my camera in time to see Smug Smalley, on 8, put back 43 lb 14 oz of fish, and snapped John Crouch on 10 with his 50 lb 13 oz, which won the lake and included some 'proper' carp. Carl White on 13 had 15 lb 11 oz, and I weighed 30 lb 3 oz for third in my five-peg section, as Chris on 20 had 16 lb 10 oz. John, in fact, won the lake, so Smug won my section my default.
I never expected to trouble anglers like Smug and John on 8 and 10, so was pleased with my catch. I actually really enjoyed it, and I like the days when you have to fish hard for every fish - dragging the bottom, fishing off botton, fishing overdepth and holding it still...you know the sort of thing you often have to do. I lost one F1 foulhooked, and never had any carp. In fact I saw only about three splash during the day, all a long way to my left. The one thing I didn't do was to try worm, and I tried expander only for a short time. But I felt I'd done pretty well, and give myself 8.
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| Horseshoe |
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| Beastie 1-18 |
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| Beastie 19-30 |
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