Has my luck partly turned for the better on Yew?

Peg 20, Yew, Decoy
Just call me Goldenballs Campbell – first of all peg 20 was drawn for me in the first Spratts match of the year. It’s probably the most consistent peg on Yew, and had provided the lake winner in the Winter League final two weeks previously. THEN Trevor went and drew the Golden Peg – Number 20! My luck has obviously turned (!)

We were fishing the East bank of Yew, sheltered from the light but biting easterly wind. But that meant that we all had flat calm water at the start, though later some ripple appeared in the higher numbers at the car park end. Like all the banks, there was mud, but nothing like as bad as that either side of Oak, which has been sheeted along the banks to prevent any further erosion. The poor sods who were pegged there in the Winter League final had found the mud up to the tops of their trolley wheels.

Rain, Rain, go away…
That was not the fault of Decoy, who had intended to start the work in October, but who were continually hampered by the rain – hardly a day has passed since Mid-October when rain has not fallen. Sean the owner can’t do anything with that mud until it has hardened a bit. As I write we’ve had two days without rain, which is the first time I can remember, for months. Anyway, I carry a length of polythene in my trolley bag, so I put my bags on it behind the platform.

Bob Barrett, next to me, had this fish on within a few minutes. The water was calm,
but out of the shelter of the trees the wind was a biting Easterly.

Give it time

I used to be a semi-pro stand-up comedian, but sometimes I would sing at concerts, and having a bass voice one of my songs was Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud (The Hippopotamus Song). So far I have refrained from belting out as we walk down the bank (but watch this space).

A good start for some

On end peg 27 Peter Harrison started on 16 metres (according to Trevor who was next door), and soon had fish. That caused Trevor to cast his bomb or feeder halfway across, and he, too, started to catch fish.

On the next peg along Steve Engledow put a piece of corn on a margin pole rig, dropped it down, without putting in any loosefeed, and soon had his first carp. Meanwhile, towards the other end, I started on a bomb and corn, and sat sitting there without even a liner while Bob Barrett, to my left, had two early fish on a feeder. Then Shaun Buddle, on my right, had a fish on pole, and John Garner, on his right wound a fish in on his rod.

A switch to pole saw my fish still AWOL, but then the float dipped, at 11.5 metres, and a 2 lb F1 came in, hooked on corn. At least I would weigh in. But it took ages before I had another bite, and that came off after one second, definitely foulhooked, as I thought I had missed it, and had  then hit it nearer the surface.

Shaun Buddle carefully plays a fish on his brand-new short Daiwa top!

Shaun had another fish or two before I managed a good one – a 7 lb mirror. Much later another came in, and then I hit a really big fish which eventually snagged me about three metres out from the bank, in open water. That rarely happens at Decoy, so it was a massive surprise to me…and it cost me dear.

Suddenly, in the afternoon, the sun came out, and I looked up to see Shaun and John both playing fish, as was Bob Barrett, and while they were doing that I had my next carp, about 5 lb. I expected to see more elastics stretching out after that, but that five-minute purple patch was never repeated, except that John Garner kept winkling in the odd fish.

A bust float
However, I did hit another fish. For the first few seconds it hardly moved, then it shot off like a bullet from a gun and back came the rig, complete except for the fact that the Tuff Eye float tip had broken off. These are not made for carp fishing, but I have used them, and their predecessors the Tipo, for years, because there are four different-coloured tips and they can be interchanged. However, once the tip has broken off at the body it’s impossible to get another in, so that float is already in the dustbin.

I had been looking in the margins every now and again, but had just the odd liner from fish passing  by (which was annoying, as John Garner was taking his fish from the margins). But then a new long-swim rig, still baited with corn, tempted a carp about 8 lb.  I played it carefully, as I had seen Shaun ping out of about three fish, but it ended in my net, and with 15 minutes left another fish was on.

A good 'un
This fish quickly launched itself clear of the water twice, and it looked to be a good ‘un. It took me a couple of minutes to think that perhaps it was foulhooked, and another ten minutes to see that it was hooked in the tail. It came to the net about eight times – tail-first of course – before it was close enough for me to get the net right underneath it. Thankfully the water was clear, and yes! As I lifted the pole the fish dived down, straight into the landing net. And yes, it was at least 10 lb. But there was no time to catch another. Match over….

I had six fish, but Bob had eight or nine, as did Shaun, and John Garner must have had more than a dozen.

Peter Spriggs - 39 lb 8 oz from peg 22. You can see that
the bank here was still in reasonable order, despite all the rain. 

The weigh in
I was surprised to see the best weights down to be had come from from the first three pegs at the car park end, but I don’t believe that there were any more fish up there – it was down to the quality of the anglers. Peter Harrison had taken 70 lb 7 oz, with Trevor Cousins not far behind, followed by Steve Engledow. 

Bob Barrett on my left had just 34 lb 11 oz - much less than I had assumed. My six fish went 44 lb, and Shaun's eight or nine only just beat me - 46 lb 3 oz. 

The another surprise - about eight of John Garner's fish were barbel, which of course are smaller than the average carp on Yew, and he weighed 48 lb 2 oz for fourth place, the first three pegs taking the first three spots. I finished sixth out of the 12. That one fish which snagged me must have been approaching double-figures, and would in fact have put me third - it needed to have weighed only  5 lb 2 oz to have overtaken Shaun, John and Steve Engledow.

Great to see Martin Parker back on the bank after
an operation on a tumour pressing on his brain.
 (The surgeon confirmed he has got one!)

Marks out of ten

I give myself 5, because I had intended to hand-feed a maggot swim, which could easily have attracted barbel, but I never thought about it! On the plus side I spent some time getting the float very sensitive in the calm water, and every fish came to a tiny dip which I would never have seen if I hadn't got the float dotted down to a pimple. I did try maggot and soft pellet on the hook, and was surprised not to get a touch. 

Carp were showing occasionally on the surface, and I wondered whether dobbing maggot or pellet shallow would have taken any, but I had no confidence because of the clear water, with no ripple. And bread is (so I found out), not now allowed - the closing date was Feb 29, not March 31 as I had understood, so mine stayed in its bag.

Next match is Sunday with JV, currently on Elm and Cedar, but with the East bank of Cedar so muddy it looks as if we may be facing that East wind, which I do not fancy.

Look at those lovel barbel in John Garner's net. They must have
been in Decoy for 15 years and are still doing well.

THE RESULT

27 Steve Engledow           49 lb 1 oz       3rd

26 Trevor Cousins            66 lb 14 oz     2nd

25 Peter Harrison             70 lb 7 oz       1st  

24 Dick Warrener             38 lb 8 oz

23 Bob Allen                    25 lb 9 oz

22 Peter Spriggs               39 lb 8 oz

21 Bob Barrett                  34 lb 11 oz

20 Mac Campbell             44 lb

19 Shaun Buddle              46 lb 3 oz

18 John Garner                 48 lb 2 oz       4th

17 Mike Rawson              13 lb 13 oz

16 Martin Parker              34 lb 1 oz