Commercial Matchman: A late spurt on Elm, Decoy.

Peg 15, Elm, Sun, Feb 18
With rain forecasted for the first few hours, I was one of the lucky (!) ones to get it in my face in this JV club match on Elm, Decoy. Not a bad draw, but anyone would have preferred peg 8, or opposite on 17, which can be hot pegs on this lake...however neither was in the draw. I had Tom Wilson on my left and Chris Saunders opposite on 10. All of us had lots of mud to trek through - more than I can remember ever seeing at Decoy.

I earmarked that bush for my barbel swim (but nobody told the barbel).

With a bush a few feet to each side it left me with very little margin to play with but I started on the pole on corn to the left bush. Soon Tom was playing a fish taken at about 11.5 metres out. Having had no bites I also went out, on corn, but try as I might I couldn't get a bite, while Tom was landing or losing several. Opposite, Chris Saunders had earlier played a fish for a long time and I soon realised it was foulhooked. But eventually he had it almost in his net.

Drama
Actually the fish appeared to have the wrong half in Chris' net - the back half. Chris stood there, unable to shuffle the fish into any farther in, and I had time to bring my pole in, park it, pick up my camera, and focus on the drama in front of me. But as I looked up the picture had changed - ~~Chris was now playing the fish again.~~ the fish was now playing Chris again.

I watched as the elastic stretched out, then retracted and Chris managed, somehow to coax the fish into the net again and this time he managed, very slowly, to pull it in. As he bent down and lifted it I could see it was a big 'un - probably near the 15 lb mark. Well done, Chris.

Second attempt and Chris has most of the fish in the net (headfirst this time)...

...and up, up, up she comes.

Phew - that was the only excitement I had in the first three hours, because a change to maggot had brought just a few roach and perch from the righthand bush - not IN the bush, you understand, but from the water nearby. I had been hoping for barbel, and after Eddie McIlroy on my right had four I kept fishing there, expecting a barbel any minute, on a size 14.

A tackle change
But those pesky barbel never came and when I found a huge area of snags there I sat back and decided something had to change. All I could think of was to cut off the size 14 hook I had on, tied direct to 0.22 nylon, and substitute a size 16 to 5 lb line. The result was incredible. And first drop back at 10 metres, more than three hours after the match had started, I had my first carp, 5 lb.

I made Shaun turn into the sun so I could
see those lovely barbel he took on peg 18.
Live maggot brought roach - the barbel wanted only
dead ones!

By now the rain had stopped, and the wind was quite strong, but at 10 metres, fishing directly into the wind (which is almost always better than taking it on sideways) I could get reasonable presentation. And ten minutes later in came another carp. Then there was a long lull, with some liners, but fishing off bottom brought nothing. Tom had been taking the occasional fish, though, and I was in for a beating.

A late spurt
With 90 minutes left the fish decided to start biting and four came in in a period of about 30 minutes, best around 10 lb. Perhaps I could catch Tom yet. Then another lull, and with just 15 minutes left I put the rig out in front of me and more in hope than expectation potted in some maggots. Result! Two more carp in the last 15 minutes on the 'barbel' rig was the result, and I was unhooking the second one when the match finished. So I ended with eight carp after fearing, at the three-hour mark, that I would be absolutely hammered.

Tom Wilson, next to me, started taking barbel on maggot,
but had too many roach among them. So he changed to
a banded pellet to take the rest of his second-placed 75 lb 9 oz.

The weigh in
Tom was, as I had expected, top weight down to 16 (from 24), with 75 lb 9 oz. I was happy to weeigh in 49 lb 5 oz, and with Eddie McIlroy on 14 having packed up a couple of hours before the end, I was second on my bank. However, there were four weights to beat mine on the opposite bank, including Peter Molseworth's winning 86 lb 7 from peg 5, and Chris Saunders had ended with nine arp, beating me with 56 lb 14 oz, and winning my section by default. So I ended sixth.

Marks out of 10
I obviously should have changed my hook earlier, but with double-figure fish around, and always the chance of foulhooking one, I tend to favour strong gear...though I have been told many times that it's essential on Decoy to go lighter in Winter, even if the water is heavily coloured, as it currently is. But I still give myself 7/10, having had those six fish in the last 90 minutes, which was more than I could see anyone else catching at that stage. Next match the Pidley Pensioners on Magpie and Raven.

PS I was busy taking as the results were read out and two minuteds later realised Carl had gone home, before I had photographed them...luckily Sir Christopher Saunders was more on the ball as I was, and had taken his picture. So I lift the result from his Facebook page. Thanks, Chris. But I did manage to photograph the Decoy Winter League and the Open results, though Karen at Decoy now puts all the Open results up on the Decoy Facebook page.

The result Sec