Peg thirteen not lucky for me.

Peg 13, Damson, Sunday, Feb 16

To cut a long story short I caught about nine fish in this JV club match, weighing a total of 4 oz. They were mainly small stuff! The annoying thing is that peg 13, in the corner, is a very good peg normally, but in this match you needed to be able to cast a bomb or feeder well over, either to the far bank, or to the island...and this is the only peg where you can't do that.

No wind at the start, and when it did blow, it never gave
me any of that lovely raspberry ripple.

Steve Tilsley worked real hard for his nine fish.

To my right Steve Tilsley started slowly, but eventually caught a small carp on a bomb and sweetcorn. Then in the next four hours he winkled out a few from the second shelf down - about five feet deep - on a pole to his right. And the last 30 minutes saw him catch two more on the pole from the deep water, and one on a bomb. He must have been cold because while the first seven of us had mainly back wind, Steve had it in his face. His nine fish weighed 34 lb 10 oz.

Eddie came good in the last 40 minutes, adding 
two carp to his earlier fish, all on maggot feeder.

To my left Eddie McIlroy managed three carp on a maggot feeder. And the match, was won by Peter Harrison on peg 3, casting a maggot feeder over to the far bank, for 48 lb 1 oz. For the record I caught my fish on a pole in the deep water near the end bank. It's the first time I've ever been to Damson  and not had fish in the margins. I kept hoping that carp would come in to where the occasional roach took my maggot down in the depths, but they didn't oblige. Peg 13, you see?

THE RUNNER-UP

Steve was undoubtedly colder than any of us, with the wind in his face.
But these were his reward - nine carp for 34 lb 10 oz.

Next match is Sunday on Beastie - not particularly looking forward to that, at this time of year. It's the day after the Winter League final, so I'm not expecting much, and what is caught will be from the main bowl - sort of 5, 6, and 14 round to 23 or 24. The open saw peg 13 at the back of the spit, not weigh.

THE RESULT

Another good draw for me, on Horseshoe

Peg 13, Horseshoe
It looked as if I was going to have a good day in the JV match on Horseshoe, at Decoy. This is roughly how it went...

8.30 am The cafe at Decoy is buzzing with a load of anglers fishing the Open, while we hold our draw. My sticky fingers stick to Horseshoe 13 - a dream draw. It's a noted swim, though I have never managed to draw it before. And the last two matches I know of were won on it. I am a Happy Bunny.

10 am Its lovely and warm on the bank at 13 - back wind, and sheltered by some bushes. When I walk round towards the lower numbered pegs it is several degrees colder, with the wind in their faces. 

Famous peg 13 on Horseshoe. Aftewr the match started
I had some nice raspberry ripple, and we had a little sun.

I am so confident I put in two keepnets, and start on bomb and bread, cast to the spinner in the corner, hoping for one or two big carp to give me a good start. I note that the water is clear - probably clearer than I've ever seen it, and I can see the bottom, when I throw in a couple of grains of corn, in about two feet of water.

11 am I've seen Roy Whitwell, on 16 to my left, land a couple of fish, but I haven't had anything yet, and have changed from bomb and bread to a maggot feeder, on which I've had two small liners.

12 noon I'm still fishless, so walk up to Roy Whitwell, who says he's had four F1s on bomb and maggot. Roy Whincup, on my right has had one small stockie, but he says the Peter Harrison on 8 has had four carp. I go back and change the maggot feeder back to a bomb, with maggot.

1 am I've had a 2 lb F1 and a small roach on the bomb and maggot, and now go out on the pole with maggot. In the next hour that brings just two roach. I spend half an hour fishing the deep margin to my left with corn, where I know there's a lilly bed, but don't get a touch of any sort.

2.30 pm I've changed my bait to from live maggots to five dead maggots. Suddenly I turn round and see Roy Whincup landing a big carp on his feeder rod. Twenty seconds later my rod pulls round and I'm attached to a big fish myself. It turns out to be a mirror carp around 9 lb. I resume fishing full of hope that there will be more.

3.30 The match ends. All I've had in that last hour are two liners in the last ten minutes.

Peter Harrison won with 38 lb,
taken with maggot on both
pole and bomb or feeder.

The weigh in
Blimey, it really is cold in those early pegs, while I've been pretty comfortable. Dave Parsons managed to fish 16 metres, assuming that in the clear water the fish would be as far from the banks as possible, and in the deepest water. He weighs 34 lb 8 oz, but Peter Harrison on 8 has added some more, on both pole and feeder, and totals 38 lb. To my left Roy Whitwell had eight fish in the end, for 24 lb 6 oz...but never had a bite in the last three hours. 

Roy Whincup with a beautiful common.

My fish have weighed 14 lb 5 oz (that carp must have been almost 12 lb), but I'm not last - Chris Saunders has already gone home and Eddie McIlroy has been fishing a single maggot for two F1s and a load of roach - hard work for 9 lb 13 oz. Roy Whincup wins the prize for the prettiest fish - a common about 8 lb lb.

Eddie McIlroy - last to weigh and probably
had more fish than the rest of us put together.

I don't know why I didn't catch more. I had ripple for most of the day. The water must be so cold, because we've not had a warm wind for weeks. Disappointed, especially since the noted pegs in the Open - Oak 15 and Yew 15 - both produced over 180 lb. Oh well, there's always the next one to look forward to - Elm on Sunday.

THE RESULT

Winner Peter Harrison - sections to Dave Parsons and Roy Whitwell.

I draw a sort of flier on Oak

Peg 21, Oak, Sunday, Feb 2
I was scraping the ice off my windscreen at 6am, put on the heater for a few minutes...and when I actually got in to drive to Decoy I had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of the screen. The temperature never got above freezing on the drive, but then the sun came out and shone on us all, and the first hour fishing was quite pleasant, until a stiff breeze got up, and then it was BITTER.

When we arrived at the lake the water was like glass.

We fished back-to-back on Oak and Yew, while the big Open was on about five of the other lakes (some of the results are included here). And I was sort of on a flier! Peg 21 is opposite Oak peg 10, which is a noted area. Trouble was nobody had told the fish. Ernie Lowbridge was on my left, and started on pole at 14.5 metres while I went onto a bomb and bread. 

A good start for Ernie, but ooops...
About 20 minutes after the start Ernie had his first fish on his pole - around 10 lb. Wthin minutes I changed from bomb to pole, and no more than 20 seconds after I had made my first cast the float went under. A fish was on. No more than 20 seconds later it came off. Bother. 

Some time afterwards Ernie lost a big fish which he played for some time - probably foulhooked. Two hours later, despite changing from bomb to Method feeder, then hybrid feeder, then back on the pole, I hit my first fish, on a bomb and maggot. It was about 4 lb, but Ernie had had another lump, on a bomb or feeder.

That raspberry ripple
Nothing much else seemed to be happening that I could see, which wasn't surprising considering the temperature, except that behind me on Yew lake Chris Saunders hooked a couple of fish. At least we had had a nice ripple for much of the match, after a start when the water looked like glass. 

Chris Saunders on Yew 11, behind me, finished with a carp, a tench and a roach.

Forty-five minutes to go, the air temperature had definitely risen, and had Ernie landed another big fish on his pole.Then I suddenly  started getting liners on my bomb - the tip was moving every few seconds. I changed to a very small bomb, which hardly made a plop when it landed, and that seemed to work better. A big fish was on...err, actually it was a five-pounder foulhooked, but I managed to get it in.

Frustrating

Half an hour now left and I was getting liners almost before the bomb hit bottom - well before I had tightened up. There was nothing for it but to wait until the rod was almost pulled in, but that did eventually happen, and a fish nearly 10 lb ended in my net. Yet another followed, about 6 lb, but that last 15 minutes saw my tip hardly still for more than a few seconds. Ernie had two more fish, finishing with five. I went back on to the pole for a couple of minutes, with maggot, but got nothing. I reckon if we'd had another half hour the fish would really have started feeding.

Ernie Lowbridge had just five carp, all around 10 lb.

The weigh in
The first four pegs on Yew never had a fish! That lake was won by Roy Whincup on corner peg 15 with 105 lb 13 oz on a maggot feeder, with next peg 14 second. Our lake was won by Ian Frith on corner peg 16. He dobbed bread about a foot off bottom near the end-bank reeds, and took most of his fish early on. Peter Harrison, who can't stop catching fish at the moment, was second (just) on peg 26, taking all his fish on a bomb, with Ernie third (just). His five fish went 49 lb. My four weighed 25 lb 4 oz, and unexpectedly won me the section by default because the two anglers on my right didn't weigh in.

Marks out of ten
It's worth analysing my performance because later I realised what might have worked. The fish were obviously off bottom, and probably, milling around my hookbait (dead maggots was the best).  A pop-up might have worked, but I have a slow-sinking bomb in my box, and I reckon that maggots fished on that might have worked,. But I never thought about it. It would have taken only seconds to make the switch.

Ernie with a great fish for the time of year.

Not sure whether a better angler would have had a load on my peg. I seemed to be at the end of the fish. I fished it with confidence all day, and had that first fish stuck I might have had another 10 lb. I thought I fished the pole perfectly alright - at 13 metres and 14.5 metres. But  the results on both lakes were patchy, so I just have to chalk it up to not getting that extra bit of luck I needed. Worth 6/10. At least I caught some fish on a cold, bright day. SOME OF THE OPEN RESULTS ARE AT THE END.

JV match - ELM

JV match - YEW

OPEN - Six-Island

OPEN - Horseshoe

OPEN - Elm

Bream to the rescue on Elm

Peg 5, Elm, Fri Jan 31
Fridays is the day when the famous Old Gits match takes place at Decoy, and I was granted a place in this one, fished on Elm and Cedar. And the weather wasn't too bad - cold but not too much wind. Everything would have been better if I had managed to pick a peg farther down the lake, but peg 5 was my office for the day.Chris Saunders was on my right, and his recent results suggested that we would be either in a very good area or a very bad one - Chris doesn't do things by halves.

A cold, dull day. This was John Crouch, peg 6.

Halfway through the match and things looked bad...and stayed that way. Chris hadn't had a fish, and neither had John Crouch on my left...and neither had I. I'd wasted the first couple of hours on the bomb with bread and corn, and had a long look on the pole at 13 metres, with maggot. I think Shaun Coaten, on Chris' right, had a fish on pole, and Chris made up his waggler rod, with no success. Then I found a real fish!

YES!

With nothing doing farther out I looked in the margins with maggot. I doubt if anyone had caught a fish there, but my options had run out. However, first drop on a top two I had a bite. Honestly! Next drop, and my float went down again and a 2 lb bream came in. Chris saw this and also had a look in his margin, but after half an hour when neither of us caught anything he went out on a long pole.

So  that's  what  a  carp  looks like...

A minute later my float went down again - a 3 lb bream. A little later another 3 lb bream came in. Meanwhile John Crouch on my left had a carp on a bomb cast well across, and I saw that on his left someone else just past him also had a fish...then another. John had two more late carp; I had nothing more; Shaun had two or three late ones...and Chris ended with not a single fish. A day to be forgotten.

Winner on Elm lake - Keith Smith with
32 lb 7 oz - second overall on the day.

The weigh in.

Shaun won our four-peg end section with 21 lb 4 oz; I had 8 lb 6 oz, and John Crouch 15 lb 10 oz. The best weight was 32 lb 7 oz by Keith Smith, all on a bomb and corn I think, cast right across.

On Cedar, Peter Harrison won, also on a bomb - one carp on bread and the rest on maggot, for 42 lb 6 oz - the best weight of the day. I was happy enough, even if I am now definitely an Old Git..

Not raving about Raven at Rookery Waters

 Peg 1, Raven, Wed, Jan 22
Wednesday and, after I showed the Fuhrer my wife an article which explained how much vitamin D we all ought to be getting, and the fact that it comes mainly from sunshine being outside, she unexpectedly signed my 10-hour pass. So I scooted off to the Pidley Pensioners, who were to fish on Raven and Magpie.

To cut a long, sad, story short I ended up with probably the last peg I would have chosen, apart from Magpie 28. I pulled out Raven peg 1 - not a noted peg in Winter. Indeed I can't remember it ever featuring in any result I have seen. Still it would be a day's fishing on Rookery Waters, so what's not to like?

Just to rub it in, Fate decreed that I should ask just two anglers where they had drawn. Ernie Lowbridge and Shaun Buddle were sitting together in the cafe, and delightedly informed me that Ernie had Raven 11 (a corner peg with considerable form) and Shaun had the famous Magpie 36. Of course nothing is guaranteed from any swim, but those were probably the first two pegs I would have chosen! 😞

No sun, and no raspbery ripple (except from the ducks).

Foggy on the way in

The dense fog which enveloped me on some of the journey to Pidley had miraculously lifted by the time I got there, and although it was cold, there wasn't much wind - not bad conditions. At my office for the day it was 14 metres to the far bank - farther if I wanted to go sideways towards vacant peg 2, on my right. But there weren't any reeds or stick-ups on the far bank anyway, so I started just to the left, towards the really shallow end of the lake and dobbed bread, about 18 inches deep, along the far bank, moving a metre or two every couple of minutes.

Blimey - within 10 minutes I was playing a 1 lb F1. Already I had 1 lb more than I had expected to catch! But that didn't last, and it was nearly a hour before the next fish came in. I've recently seen one of the Guru underwater videos, and was stuck by the fact that those carp seemed to be spooked by bulk shot hanging off the bottom, so for the rest of the day I put all my shot under the float.

The end of the lake, to my left, was very shallow, and I also found that even at only 18 inches deep the float didn't always settle properly - the weight of the bread should sink it to just the correct level. Presumably there was weed on the bottom. But I felt I had to keep trying it, and suddenly, out of the blue, the float dipped and I was playing a 7 lb common. Very gingerly, because I was using a light size 18 hook.

Chris Saunders was on 27, behind me,
and had to watch Mark Waring, two
swims to his right, catching fish while
Chris himself, struggled to 27 lb 6 oz
(which still beat me!)

A short purple patch
It took another hour for the next fish, but four, all around 3 lb, came in about an hour, then they vanished. I tried maggot in the deep water down the track and just over my margin, but never had a touch. Nor did dobbed maggot work. Back out on the bread and one more 3 lb carp came in, and with 20 minutes left I went out with maggot in the deep water just off the far bank margin. First cast another carp came in, and then the angler to my right had a fish. In the last 20 minutes he had at least two more, but my float remained resolutely still. 

I'd had about seven or eight liners all day, all at 18 inches, and when I shallowed up I had none. And as so often happens if I had a liner I never had a proper bite afterwards. It seems that once one fish had taken fright the rest could all suddenly see my line. I ended with eight fish, but had no idea what anyone else might have. I was also pleased that I didn't lose any.

 Mark Wareing's best fish in his winning
84 lb 12 oz  catch was about 8 lb.

The weigh in
I was first to weigh on Raven - 23 lb 4 oz which gave me third place in my section of seven, and I was happy with that, beaten by noted peg 5, and 11 (that was Ernie, the Fastest Angler in the West). Raven was won on end peg 28 by Mark Wareing, who dobbed maggots across in the shallow water, never fed anything all day, and ended with 84 lb 12 oz. Ernie was second on 11, dobbing bread at 16 metres (this swim is on the inside of a corner). I see peg 33 , opposite the island, won Magpie. My next match will probably not be until a week Sunday.

THE RESULT

RAVEN

MAGPIE

First (cold) match of the year on Six-Island. Grrrr

Peg 6, Six-Island, Sunday Jan 19
I must be getting old. I recently turned heating on in my bedroom - never done that before. And somehow it seems that I've also gone soft. Because when I was a little'un the Winters were much colder, and longer, and ice on the inside of a bedroom window wasn't even worth mentioning - almost everybody had it. Sunday was rather strange - obviously cold, about 2 degrees, but at the start of this JV match I didn't feel cold, thanks to my five layers of clothing. Then, soon after we started, a gentle breeze began to blow - nothing more than a breeze, but it was PENETRATING. And the gloom made it hard to see my float. Not a happy bunny.

No picture of my swim - so here is a pretty tree
from Wimpole Hall, lit up at Christmas.
 I know I must get out a bit more!

Didn't help that the wind was in the faces of Chris Saunders and myself, in from the left. I decided to stay on the bomb and bread, and feeder and pinkies, although Chris was wielding his 13-metre pole like a conductor's baton, and within an hour he'd had four F1s, while I had nowt. Then I simply had to change, despite the cold, and very eventually a 2 lb F1 took my two pinkies out at 13 metres. Half an hour later a 7 lb common came in, at which point I was so cold that I wandered back to the van to get my mobile.

Oh, we were shallow!
On peg 9, in the corner, Roy Whincup said he had ten small F1s on a maggot feeder, so I guessed he had about 20 lb. It was still cold, and I couldn't be arsed to take a picture of my swim, which was mainly cold-looking water, so I sat down and had another quick look on the pole. Minutes later a 3 lb F1 came in, but soon my pole was wobbling in my hands as I shivered violently, so I spent the last two hours 45 minutes switching from feeder to pole, without a bite. Chris had one tiny roach after the first hour, and we put it down to our swims being shallow - Chris had three feet, I had a few inches more.

I had actually plumbed at 13 metres to my left, and found almost another 18 inches...but no fish. But on the opposite bank (who had back wind) there were a few. But I was glad when I'd had enough...

Roy Whitwell - 72 lb from peg 22.

The weigh-in
We started with Roy Whitwell on peg 22, which can be very good in the Winter but not as good as it used to be. He'd had a good day fishing bomb and bread and then Method feeder and wafter for 72 lb, and never used his pole at all. He must also have been cold as the wind was in his face from the right. Kev Bell, opposite, said Roy had definitely beaten him, but Kev would be last to weigh.

Peter Harrison, opposite me on 13 had managed to get fairly close to the small island using 14 metres, and had picked up several F1s there. I'd left my 14.5-metre section at home, so the longest I could use was 13 metres plus a half butt, but I remembered previously using 16 metres on my peg, and still being well short of that island. Ernie Lowbridge on 11 took his 36 lb 2 oz mainly on bomb and bread, and Steve Tilsley in the corner used waggler, catching most of his F1s off bottom, on maggot, and totalling 54 lb.

Peter Harrison, opposite me, worked
really  hard on the pole for 23 lb 7 oz.

Ernie Lowbridge found some better fish.

On my bank Roy Whincup had obviously had a terrible second half (like me) and ended with 26 lb 10 oz, and my measly contribution was 12 lb 13 oz, just beaten by Chris. And so to Kevin Bell, who is about as good as estimator of weight as I am - far from being beaten by Roy, he took 82 lb 5 oz, also on bomb and feeder, from peg 1 for the win. Well done indeed.

Not worth rating my performance - I was just glad to get home without having frostbite. Though I would probably have done much better if I'd started on the pole. But nobody told me that!!!

THE WINNER - Kevin Bell, 82 lb 5 oz.

Steve Tilsley - third with 54 lb,
nearly all taken on his wagglers.

Winter League final practice
I didn't see all the result sheets from the Open - doubtless Karen will put them up on the Decoy Facebook page for all the anglers practising for the Winter League final on Feb 22nd. A new peg 9 has been placed on Beastie - in the corner before the bridge, looking down to peg 8. Billie Smalley, an angler I do not know, but who has been getting big weights, drew it on Sunday and, I was told, never had a bite. So the carp are obviously not feeding at the back of the spit at the moment.

Most Winters they stay in the main bowl of Beastie lake, tending not to drift down towards peg 26, and often not even to famous peg 30 (the angler here had 20 lb-plus of bream on Sunday), and often not to the back of the spit. However, good weights - plenty of 40 lb-plus, topped by 125 lb - came from Oak.

My next match probably Sunday somewhere on Decoy, with JV. No cold breezes, thank you!

THE RESULT

Last match of the year, on Beastie

Peg 3, Beastie
Twelve of us turned up for this JV club match on Beastie, Decoy, and the hand that dipped into the bag before me belonged to Shaun Coaten. He drew out peg 26, and I immediately thought: "Poor Sod". Because I know that in Winter, especially when there's South in the wind (as there was today), the fish on Beastie often move up to the main bowl of the lake.

Looking towards the main spit, and the main bowl of the lake.

 I drew out peg 3, where the wind was in my face, and from the left, and was pretty happy with that, especially since I could see that those swims at the Southern end, to my left, were comparatively calm, while my bank had a big ripple on..

The swims to my left had virtually no ripple on them.

Hoods up!
To my right on 5 was Ian Frith, and even before the match started I was glad I had put on all my Winter layers, and we both had our hoods up. My tactics were simple - a bomb/feeder rod, with one main pole rig at 11.5 or 13 metres, and a couple of  'throw-away' rigs in case I felt it was worth looking in the margins later. But the water was very clear and I doubted whether they would be used.

I started on a bomb and bread to the island, about 40 years away, as did Ian, I think. He had a fish fairly early on, but I had just a small liner or two. A fish or two had topped halfway out, so I put the bomb there, with maggot bait, and eventually hooked a good fish that really bent the rod and turned out to be a mirror about 8 lb. But no more came from that swim.

A change to feeder
Sometime about then I saw Ian pole fishing and I saw that when he caught a fish there he soon changed to a feeder. That went on all day - one fish from a swim and he would soon change - and I found the same thing. So out I went to my long pole line between casts on the rod, and after about an hour I hooked a fish that threatened to take me round the end of the spit which runs alongside peg 3, on the left. But the 13 Preston hollow elastic held, and in came a seven-pounder, hooked in the tail!

Ian Frith lands a fish near the end of the match.
As I took this, an F1 nearly pulled my rod in.

Back out, and I changed from bomb to a very small Method feeder, which brought a small F1 from about 10 feet short of the island, and then a 6 lb common from right against the reeds on a small hybrid feeder because I felt it would hold the maggots in it better than the Method.

Ian had now had a fish or two, and I started switching from rod to pole. A roach or two and some gudgeon came on the long pole, nothing from a couple of brief looks on a short pole, then an F1 on the feeder. I now switched to a very small hybrid feeder, which eventually brought another two or three  F1s, from different spots near the island - never getting two fish from the same spot.

A good one lost
An hour before the end I hooked a good fish on the long pole, on double red maggot, but it came off after about ten seconds. In that last hour I had just one more F1 on the feeder, which pulled the rod off the rest just as I was taking a picture of Ian landing a fish. I just managed the grab the handle before the rod disappeared into the depths.

Peter Harrison - winner with 67 lb 1 oz.

The weigh in

I was on scales, so Ian and I did the honours. My fish weighed   36 lb 9 oz, but I guessed that Ian had about 50 lb, thanks to a little run of fish early on when I was struggling. Indeed, he weighed in 52 lb 11 oz, which topped our four-peg section. The top weights came  from Pete Molesworth on the main spit, peg  17, who fished a maggot feeder for 57 lb 3 oz, and Peter Harrison on 22, who fished dead maggots on a feeder cast to the island. He won with 67 lb 1 oz.

Then the weights collapsed - just as if a brick wall had been built to Peter's right. Joe Bourn on the next peg didn't weigh, while Lee Kendall on 24 took just 4 lb 7 oz to the scales, mainly small stuff!!. And as I had feared, Shaun Coaten had caught just two roach, and the famous pegs 29 and 30  both produced less than 10 lb. As I had expected, there had been virtually no ripple on these swims.

So I ended fourth, and was pleased with that, in that sort of company. Next match might have been in the regular Friday Old Codgers event at Decoy, on Jan 3rd,  but it's our 54th Wedding Anniversary, and my wife may have other ideas. So it will be on Sunday, somewhere on Decoy. It's difficult, obviously, but there still has to be a winner...

THE RESULT