There has been plenty of parmy this Winter (it's what us Wisbech boys call water when it fills up all the lakes and lays all over the land) and there was plenty of mud on the banks of Willows, with some platforms unfishable. But there were enough pegs to accommodate the 13 idiots who turned up for this JV club match. Mind you, five other lakes were also in use for the Decoy Winter League and the Open, so we were in good company.
My peg 29 can be a flier, though I was told that the previous day Tony Evans had had just 20 lb from it while the match was won on 27 with 150 lb-plus. So nothing is guaranteed on peg 29. At the start there was hardly any wind, but soon the forecasted Westerly came in, and it became cold enough for me to get up and out on my Imax jacket.
Lee Kendall had told me to dob to the island, which I would have done anyway, iprovided conditions allowed. But first I had to negotiate the slippery hill down to the end pegs. Everyone taking their gear down on their trolley was offered help, which I gladly accepted. Next time I will go in from the other end - past peg 35.
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| Peg 29 - about 14 metres to the island. The wind got up soon after the start. |
I've just bought a lovely hardly-used Browning Xitan Z8 (its sections will interchange with my Z12) which slid through my hands really easily, and I was out to 14 metres with no problem at all, using bread about 2 feet deep. There's a bank behind these pegs, so I had to break the pole down one before grabbing the top tewo, but that was no problem as the sections meshed beautifully (unlike my Z12, which is coming to the end of its life, I fear).
There was a lull then, and I tried a small piece of frozen sweet corn, as two or three time my bread hd disapeared after what I though was a liner; possibly a fish slapping the bait off with its tail, which they do. The corn worked well, especially when I shallowed up to about 12 inches, and in the next hour I had another three or four carp.
I daren't go right up to the island, with the float touching the grass, as I know there are snags there. And there were a couple of overhanging brambles which I accidently hit three times (thankfully the line didn't tangle with them). That meant I had to fish a very short lash to keep the rig about two feet from the island, and when the wind became stronger I couldn't hold the rig still. So eventually I had to look elsewhere.
I couldn't fish in front of me because of the low sun, so went out to the right, with corn, and second drop, after adjusting the float (which had been too low in the water) I hit a fish. After a couple of minutes I saw the line jagging back and forth and realised it was foulhooked. But a few minutes later, after a Fred Karno performance, it lay in my net - 6 lb of mirror hooked in the tail!
Nothing more came from that swim so I had a look in the margin to my left, on a top two, against some reeds, where it was about four feet deep. Unbelievably first drop saw a bite, and an 8 lb mirror come in, hooked in the snout - so it had obviously taken an interest in the corn. Soon after that another eight-pounder tried its luck, and with about 90 minutes left I felt I could get a big weight. Then I hooked another big fish which snagged me under the underwater tree stump to my right. Entierly my own fault - I should have added a pole section as soon as it got anywhere near it. The rig was securely snagged and all I got back was the float.
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| Paul Faulkner kept catching when I stopped. |
With five minutes left, in desperation, I pushed all the shot down to within six inches of the bait, dropped in...and hit my last fish, which I landed after the whistle, at about 7 lb.
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| John Emerson had 31 lb 5 oz from famous peg 25. (I like peg 24 just as much as 25). |
Paul came up to me and generously took my big, heavy Xitan holdall (containing my pole, umpteen tops, half-butts, landing net handle and bank sticks plus the 16-metre section which I hadn't used) and carried it back up the hill to my van, also saying he would help with the trolley. I pushed the trolley there and he managed, with my help, to get it up (nearly everyone needed help).
The board showed me that the earlier pegs has fished very hard, with Peter Harrison on 5 catching, I believe, just one skimmer bream. Shaun Coated, using corn, which he loves in Winter, was top weight with 40 lb 8 oz. I was just in time to see Eddie McIlroy on 24 put back his 50 lb 7 oz - now the leader. I said I thought I had between 70 lb and 80 lb, and that was correct - 76 lb 14 oz. But Paul Faulkner easily won on 33 with his 121 lb 5 oz. I followed the scales to 35, where I knew Peter Molesworth had some carp, as I had seen them splash whne he landed them. He had just 62 lb 2 oz for third place, which included a nice perch that I photographed. That left me in second place. Not for the first time the pegs round the back of Willows had fished better than the earlier pegs.
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| Pete Molesworth shows that nice perch. |
That last 90 minutes let me down. Obviously I should have had another swim to go to. The one a little to my right was soon in the direct glare of the sun, but I could have easily started another in front of me, and slightly downwind. I didn't even look in the margins against the platform. If there are fish there you are likely to get a bite very quickly, so i have no excuse for not having a quick look there. Also I didn't try worm, which can often tempt a big fish. So I was worh only 5/10, even though I was second.
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| WILLOWS WINTER LEAGUE John Arthur won the Winter League held on Six-Island and Horseshoe, with 194 lb 7 oz from Six-Island peg 11, fishing 16 metres with maggot. He fished the bottom, and included three barbel, and a 2 lb 4 oz perch. |
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| SIX-ISLAND |
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| HORSESHOE THE OPEN
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| BEASTIE |
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| DAMSON |
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