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

In the bleak mid-winter, fishes do not bite...

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sunday, Dec 22

I'm dreaming of a day's fishing
Just like the ones I used to get.
When the bream are biting,
And carp are fighting
Until they end up in my net.

Sorry about that - I must stop listening to Bing Crosby. You see, I've had three DNWs in the last six or seven weeks, and it reminds me of the 1960s, in our Winter Leagues. Colin Clare, chairman of the East Midland Winter League, used to stand up at the draw before the sixth match and read out a list of all the anglers who had fished the first five, usually on the Nene, Ouse, and Fen drains, and still not caught a fish. And that was entirely because of the c-o-l-d.

Anyway, I DNWd the latest JV Fur and Feather match, and the weather didn't help. The forecast at 9 am was for high winds, and 4 degrees, feeling like minus 2. Which it was. But thankfully Roy Whincup moved the match from Six-Island, where the wind would have made it almost unbearable for some -  when a big gust came I could feel the box almost lifting up - to Elm, Cedar and Oak, so we had the wind at our backs.

Bad start...and it got worse
I started off with bomb and a wafter cast across, and had liners on each of the first six casts, but they never developed into proper bites. On my right Ernie Lowbridge cast a small Method feeder across to the far bank and within minutes he was playing an 8 lb-plus carp. But then he struggled for a bite, while my liners stopped and Ernie turned to his pole, taking two more carp and two bream.

I did actually hook three carp on pole and maggot, all of which came off within seconds, probably foulhooked as the maggots were all intact. Two were out at 11.5 metres and one was in the side. To my left Yammers and Roy Whitwell also failed to land a fish (though Roy lost a skimmer at the net) and Cedar lake was won by Ernie, on peg 3, with 29 lb 9 oz, who took his pole-caught fish on a 4mm expander over micros, and said he lost four foulhooked. Why didn't I try an expander? I blame the cold - it froze my brain.

John Knight - winner of this match and of JV's overall knockout.

The overall match was won by John Knight, who fished maggot feeder on Oak, peg 3, for 97 lb 4 oz, taking almost all his fish from the middle of the lake, rather than the far bank. He also won the club's overall knockout, beating Lee Kendall, who was runner-up on Oak with 51 lb 6 oz, but who was almost 'Carled' by Carl White next door on 9, who took 47 lb 11 oz to the scales.

Lots of prizes for those of us stupid enough
 to go out in those freezing gale-force winds.

Elm was won by Joe Bourn with 47 lb 12 oz taken on bomb and wafter over the far side. I didn't take any pictures - I was on scales and it was still cold and windy.

Afterwards we all received a prize, and although manager Karen Gracey wasn't at the prizegiving, we thanked her for all her help during the year (especially the roast potatoes!) My next match is with JV next Sunday. If I DNW again it will be a hat-trick!

THE RESULTS

OAK

ELM

CEDAR

On the tenth day of Christmas - Ten anglers angling ( on Six-Island)

Half an hour before we start and - hello hello,
what's all this? Looks like the fish are 
already lining up in front of Peter Harrison!

Peg 13, Six-Island
Ten off us trundled down to Six-Island lake for this JV match, and it was a strange start. Beside me, on peg 14, Peter Harrison was testing a float before the match when an F1 took his bare hook. He must have thought it was heaving down there under the surface...but the match had been going for more than four hours before he had his next bite! Meanwhile Shaun Buddle was on peg 1, somewhere in front of the sixth island (which you can't see any more), also struggling for the first two-and-a-half hours on a pole before casting a feeder to where the island should be, and finding fish!

Down on my bank I was pleased with peg 13, where I won my section last time we were on this lake. But today was different. Peter Harrison on my left was sheltered from the strong Westerly wind, which was blowing down to pegs 9 and 10, and everyone would have favoured the swims at that windy end of the lake. Opposite me on 6 was Eddie McIlroy who had won from that peg last time, but today both he and I really struggled.

Steve Tilsley had a flying start with three carp on bomb
and bread, and another on a feeder, in the first hour.

Fish hard to come by
My first F1 came to a pink wafter on a banjo feeder after an hour, by which time Steve Tilsley on my right had had four fish, including a couple of lumps! On his right Chris Saunders had a slow start, with just one, I think. Then Steve went on to a pole and had a fish, before changing back to a feeder. That was the pattern of his day - catching perhaps one fish every20 minutes, but having to change from pole to feeder, or vice versa, after each one.

With threee hours to go I put a pot of dead maggots in the deep margin to my right, but never had a touch there on dead maggot. Then, with two hours to go I started flicking casters out in front of me, where I had had fish last time in this peg. I was absolutely certain that I would get a bite or two there, but no - despite looking there several times - nothing!

The sun made a brief appearance, lighting up the far bank. But it didn't stay long. 

I managed the next F1 on a bomb and wafter, then an hour later another on the feeder, and with 45 minutes left Peter Harrison had his first fish - a small F1. Immediately afterwards I had an 8 lb common on corn at about nine metres, but that was my last one, though Peter hooked two more, one of which fell off (!) 😒 Chris Saunders on 19, though, had a great finish on maggot, though he lost six foulhooked, and assumed they had come off bottom suddenly.

The weigh in
Shaun had done well on 1 - 43 lb 5 oz, almost all taken in the second half of the match over the island which doesn't exisit any more. Chris on 11 and Steve on 12 dfominated that end - Steve winning with 55 lb 4 oz to Chris' 42 lb 10 oz. My measly 15 lb 14 oz was sixth, with Peter Harrison weighing in just 4 lb 7 oz - that made me think that perhaps I hadn't fished that badly.However after talking to Styeve and Chris, and finding that they had caught on the pole mainly on maggot I wondered why I hadn't put maggot out in the longer swim!!

Shaun Buddle - second from peg
1 with 43 lb 5 oz mainly on feeder.

Chris Saunders - third (and
section winner) with 42 b 10 oz.

Next match, also on Six-Island, is our Fur and Feather, though I doubt there will be many rabbits and pheasants as prizes. Back in the late 1950s, when I started matchfishing a Fur and Feather was just that - rabbits and birds as prizes (though I'm not complaining, as it's many years since I last skinned a rabbit).

Steve included a nice hump-backed
perch in his winning catch.

THE RESULT

1 Shaun Buddle      43 lb 5 oz       2nd 

4 Carl White           10 lb 8 oz    

6 Eddie McIlroy      13 lb 13 oz

9 Ernie Lowbridge   22 lb 10 oz

11 Chris Saunders   42 lb 10 oz    SEC

12 Steve Tilsley      55 lb 4 oz      1st    

13 Mac Campbell   15 lb 14 oz   

14 Peter Harrison      4 lb 7 oz

20 Roy Whitwell    33 lb 10 oz    SEC

22 Barry Webb           DNW                 

End of the day and a fabulous sunset at Decoy.

In the bleak mid-Winter on Elm.

Peg 13, Elm, Sunday, Dec 8
The forecast obviously turned some people off - high winds and rain - and just eight turned out for this JV match on Elm and Cedar. Well, yes, there were high winds, though not gale-force, and there was rain - but I had my umbrella up, so I was dry (ish). Here Hee. Not that any of that helped, 'cos I ended up with not a fish after five hours. And it did feel like mid-Winter.

Peg 13 is in the corner of Elm - there were four of us on this bank, and four on the same bank facing the opposite way - into Cedar lake. And yes, it was cold. I fished a banjo feeder with a wafter for the first two hours with just three small liners, but to my left the Kendall Killer, Eddie McIlroy, was casting to a bed of reeds opppoite, where I had the majority of my fish two weeks ago when I won with 137 lb. And he was catching occasional fish...

The wind was Northerly, from my right, but while the ripple was going in that direction in the early pegs, it was going from left to right at our end. The end bank must have set it rolling over and set it churning back in a Southerly direction. Very strange.

My left margin, with a ripple from left to right. But you can see, in the
distance the ripple at the other end, which was right to left.

My right margin looked lovely,  but produced nowt.

I was getting into the deep water over the far side, and the one time I ventured to within a foot or two of the platform on peg 12 I hit a snag immediately and had to pull for a break . Luckily it was the hooklength that broke. But I persevered on the feeder, changing the bait to maggot, and then eventually having a look on the pole line in the deep water near the corner. I thought I had two or three knocks there, but later put it down to submerged leaves hitting the line - I hooked three and also several other strands of weed from the bottom. The corner looked very inviting and I put a rig with a grain of corn right against the dead reeds which had built up there, and was surprised not to get a bite.

Shaun in action - I peaked out from
my umbrella to catch this one.

Behind me, Shaun Coaten started on a feeder then changed to pole and I know he had three fish - probably F1s, with the first one foulhooked, I guess he was using corn. I spent the lst hour or so on a Method feeder, but never had another knock. And I was glad when I'd had enough!

The weigh in
I didn't see it. I was too concerned with getting everything together and trundling back to the van. We'd had rain on and off all day, everything was wet, and everybody was cold,. But there were fish caught - and Eddie won with  ten for 66 lb, taken I think mainly on wafter. On Cedar Roy Whitwell had three on maggot on a feeder, and three on wafter for 46 lb 8 oz to win that lake.

Next Sunday we will probably be on Six-Island, the shallowest of Decoy's 11 lakes, but if there's a warmish wind it could fish OK. At least things can't get any worse for me. I give myself 7/10 because I don't think I made any big mistakes.

THE RESULT

            Cedar                                                                 Elm

7 Roy Whitwell        46 lb 8 oz   2nd     20 Peter Harrison        34 lb

9 Dave Parsons        32 lb 8 oz              18 Pete Molesworth   24 lb 4 oz

11 Roy Whincup      10 lb 13 oz             15 Eddie McIlroy       66 lb        1st

13 Shaun Coaten      DNW                     13 Mac Campbell         DNW                     

A few on feeder on Cedar

Oh, what a grey day!

 Peg 5, Cedar, Sun, Dec 1
You really need to be down towards the far end of the strip lakes at Decoy to have the best chance of fish, but I was happy enough with peg 5 in this JV match, fished on Elm and Cedar. Ernie Lowbridge was on my right, and Lee Kendall on my left, but since both were behind a bush I couldn't see much of them.  The day was murky, and cool, and we had some rain early on, but nothing bad.

Lee Kendall was behind that bush.

I started, like Ernie, on a pole fairly close in, but "there were nowt thurr" as they would say in Yorkshire (and some other equally remote spots in the UK where they talk funny.) A switch to a small banjo feeder and dead maggot brought two nice carp around 7 lb, but the bites were a long time coming. Lee had an early fish or two on a feeder cast right across to the platform opposite his peg 7, but I couldn't see how big they were.

Massive bites

In fact Lee told me later he used a wafter nearly all day, on a feeder and then a bomb, and was catching good carp, while my next four fish were F1s, waiting up to 30 minutes for a bite. And with an hour left that was all I had. I'd looked in the deep margins a couple of times, and I now made one last cast on the feeder. The rod tip never moved for 30 minutes and just as I was about to bring it all back the rod  flew off the rest and I managed to catch the handle before it descended into the deeps. It was another F1 - all the F1s gave massive bites while the two bigger fish were slower.

Ernie Lowbridge was behind that bush.

With that seventh fish in the net I looked in the right margin where I had been putting just a little bait. Ernie had had a couple on a feeder, I think, early on, and then a few on a pole - mainly F1s, and at this point I saw him net a fish that looked to be in double-figures, taken about 10 metres out.

A proper look in the margins
I had a quick look at ten metres, then back in the right margin, where I had earlier had a liner. With a few minutes left I had a look, for the first time, in the left margin. Now I found a shelf which I had not found earlier, so I dropped a grain of corn down beside it on a new 0.5 gm rig on one of my new, sparkling Cralusso floats, and I fancied that as it dropped I might have had a bite. There were only a few seconds left when I pulled the rig out, lay it in again, and watched the float dive under as the bait hit bottom.

The 14-16 elastic streaked out and almost immediately the whistle went. I shouted "Fish On." Twice. But Lee obviously didn't hear me as he obligingly shouted that the match had finished. I really did should quite loudly! I shouted back that he must be deaf, which was a stupid thing to do, really, as he would make mincemeat of me if he tried. But he's obviously an old softie...

Ernie took most of his fish on pole.

That fish took several minutes to land, but it was worth it, as it was in double-figures. I was on scales with Ernie, and stopped packing up when he was ready to weigh, but Peter Harrison and Lee were already with Ernie, so I followed for some pictures - unfortunately missing Lee as  I tidied up my gear a little before following the scales.

The weigh in
Ernie weighed in 42 lb 14 oz and then I was pleased to have at least kept in touch with him, with my fish weighing 40 lb 6 oz. But Lee, as he so often does, had whupped us all with 14 fish for 109 lb 4 oz, all taken on a wafter cast right across. The weights were a little better towards the far end, topped by Barry Webb in corner peg 13, with 59 lb 15 oz, taken mainly on a feeder, but with one very big fish near the end on a pole fairly close in. That seemed to have been the story of the day.

Weights were a little better on Elm, mainly in the 60 lb bracket, with Shaun Coaten winning from peg 10 with 86 lb 8 oz. Virtually all the anglers in the match said that casting right across to within a foot or two of the far bank, or the far-bank platforms, was the only way they could get bites for most of the day. So if the fish were willing to feed in the far margins, why didn't they feed in our side margins?

Peter Harrison - 47 lb  ll oz.

Chris Saunders 56 lb 5 oz for
 third on Cedar.

Barry Webb - second on Cedar - had his
weight boosted by a late 'biggie', as did
several other anglers on the day.

The Exterminator
It was noted that Eddie (The Kendall Killer) McIlroy did not turn up to do battle with Lee, who has now renamed himself the Eddie Exterminator. I will watch their confrontations, on the bank and in the cafe, with interest!

Marks out of ten

I had no way of knowing what Lee was using as bait, apart from asking him directly, but the idea of trying a wafter had crossed my mind. So why didn't I do it?  Lee had all 'proper' carp, with no smaller F1s. Also I had a bomb rod ready with a longer tail, but never tried that either. Still, I caught a few fish on a day when things were extremely difficult, in good company, so I give myself 7/10. Next match Sunday, probably on the same two lakes.

THE RESULTS

CEDAR

ELM

A warm wind works wonders on Elm

Peg 11, Elm, Decoy
Bert obviously kept some anglers away on Sunday's JV match. But there's something I cannot understand - I thought all the hurricanes and storms which cause so much chaos are always given female names (quite rightly). So what is Bert doing? Was Bert originally called Beatrice? Have his weather fronts changed overnight? There's no shame in that, but I think we should know!

Actually our side of the country didn't suffer like a lot of the rest, and the wind was just pretty strong - certainly not as fierce as the one last year when I got to my peg in a Spratts match and was so worried about being blown in that I went home. No, today was really rather nice once you got settled on your box - and the wind was warm; the sort of day when you expect fish to feed. It was warm enough to bring out the mice in my shed overnight, and two of them were placed on my back fence, before I left home, for the magpies.

Chris Saunders and Carl White organised us, in Roy Whincup's absence, and were repaid for their efforts by drawing the worst two pegs in the match - at the Southern ends of Cedar and Elm, with the wind blowing down towards the other end...towards me! Yes, I was very happy with peg 11, one from the corner, on Elm. Ernie Lowbridge was on 9, to my right (a peg he also fancied) but I couldn't see him properly, as he was hidden behind the tall reeds. The wind was down the lakes, but slightly over our right shoulder.

The left margin looked great, but I never actually fished it!
With the huge tow running from the bush towards me,
it would not have been easy, though I had a 3gm rig ready.

A slow start
I started on a bomb and bread, but after three ten-minute casts I had not had even a liner. I had seen Ernie playing a fish on his rod for some time, and watched to see whether he had a feeder on. He had, so I changed to a small banjo with dead maggots. That brought three smallish carp from 2 lb to 4 lb in the next 30 minutes, and then there was another 30-minute biteless session.

Suddenly I had more bites, casting just a little short of the far bank, and three more carp came in fairly quickly. Ernie got up and put a second net in, and decided to do the same. But first I walked up to him - he said he had six carp, and he was landing a seventh as I watched. Then it was back to my own swim, but the next 30 minutes were frustrating - not a fish, but I could see Ernie's landing net upending as he put more fish into his net.

I look in the margins, eventually
Then three fish came very quickly for me on the feeder. But I had had a feeling, ever since the start, that given the warm wind, the margins might hold fish (although they hadn't on Thursday). So after that third fish, which was about 5 lb, I went onto the pole, with the match now halfway through, and Ernie definitely ahead of me. I'd been feeding dead maggot into the left margin under the bush and corn to the right. First drop to the right, about four feet deep, saw the float move through quickly as there was a terrific undertow left to right, against the wind. But I thought I had a bite.

In went half-a-dozen grains, followed by my 1 gm rig set about an inch overdepth, and I had a definite bite...and a fish. It was about 4 lb, and was followed quickly by another, about 7 lb. I stayed in that swim for the rest of the match, feeding a few grains of corn, some casters, and sometimes a little hemp, before each cast. And the fish responded - fighting hard in the highly-oxygenated water.

The right margin - Ernie Lowbridge was hidden somewhere behind
those reeds two swims away. My fish came from one to two
metres out from those brown reeds.

Changing the shotting
I had to change the presentation a little from time to time - adding two or three inches, or holding the rig back and then letting it run for a couple of feet, or moving out a metre or so, to about three metres from the bank. Sometimes the fish took the bait as I held the rig back, just when the bait hit bottom. I never went more than about ten minutes without a bite, and with 20 minutes to go I had landed about 15 from that swim, all on corn, and not lost any. They ranged from 4 lb up to about 8 lb.

Soon after I started catching on the pole I saw Ernie put put his pole. I assumed he started catching there, but in fact he told me afterwards that he never had a single fish in his margins.

At one point I pushed the bulk shot down, leaving just one small dropper six inches from the hook, thinking it would steady the bait, allowing the fish more time to take it...but I never had a bite like that, and had to push the bulk shot back, 18 inches from the hook, with two small droppers, to start getting bites again. I also tried with the bait off the bottom - again, not a touch. They wanted it on the bottom. I felt that casters were keeping the carp in the swim, so tried them on the hook - not a touch! I put in my third net with just an hour to go, when the fish were coming in regularly.

You had to be very deliberate
The wind, although not fantastically strong, was strong enough to slow me (and no doubt everybody else) down. You had to make sure that there was nothing loose on the bank to blow away, and every time I laid down my pole sections (I was fishing 2+1, with just a Number Four to add if the fish raced off) I had to make sure they were in exactly the same spot, protected from being blown away by my net bag.

I hadn't been able to use my side tray, which has a hinged lid, because the wind would definitely have blown it open like a sail, so I had to use a very small tray I carry with me, and keep the rest of the bait in my bait bags - that also slowed me up considerably. I will put a spare tray (with no lid) I have at home into the van.

I lose a fish
Towards the end I hooked something that felt very heavy, but it just wouldn't come to the surface when I pushed the pole down below the waterline. It didn't feel foulhooked, and kept coming in towards the bank before trundling off again. It played me for about ten minutes before the 6 lb hooklength broke, and it was only later when I began to suspect I had hooked it in the snout, and not in the lips. Soon after that I hooked something that was definitely foulhooked, and it came off after 15 seconds, leaving me with a scale.

Ernie Lowbridge watches intently as
his catch is weighed.

The last fish was my biggest of the day at almost 10 lb, and I had just unhooked it when the match ended. Ernie said he thought I had 200 lb because I had "caught fish all day." But the fish on the feeder had been much smaller, and I'd had those long bitless sessions in the morning. I knew I had at least 100 lb in my three nets, but you don't need to click in JV matches, so I don't!

The weigh-in
The net I started just an hour before the end held over 48 lb, which was pretty good going in the wind, and I totalled 137 lb 6 oz. Ernie looked to have as many as me as he weighed in his three nets - all taken on a feeder - but he fell just short, with 131 lb 5 oz. On peg 5 Shaun Coaten said he had 20 carp, all taken on a feeder, and fell agonisingly short of Ernie - by 3 oz! So I won Elm lake.

Ernie's 131 lb 5 oz catch from peg 9 was
taken on a feeder and maggot.

Cedar Lake

Over on Cedar lake Lee Kendall was fishing a club knockout round against Ian Frith, which Lee won by        92 lb 7 oz (all taken on a feeder) to 47 lb 9 oz. But he also had the Kendall-killer to contend with, in the shape of Eddie McIlroy (no relation to Rory McIlroy, who is World Class). And that particular battle also went Lee's way, though afterwards Eddie (who weighed in 86 lb 15 oz)  insisted that one day he will beat Lee again (!).

Shaun Coaten - 131 lb 2 oz from peg 5.

Cedar Lake was won by Peter Harrison with 104 lb 9 oz on the pole, leaving me overall winner - I think that's the first time I have won a JV match. Very happy in that company. I know I was in a good area, but as they say: 'You've still got to catch them'. And I'd probably had somewhere around 100 lb in the last two-and-a-half hours, which is good going by my standards, especially in that wind.

Marks out of ten
I have great faith in casters for carp when the water is clear, and I got through about three-quarters of a pint. I never did look in the dead maggot swim, for which I had a 3gm float made up as the tow was from the bush towards me. I really should have gone with my instincts and tried the pole much earlier, because I'm better at pole fishing than on the feeder, and I should fish to my strengths.

I felt that I fished the right margin pretty well - I would feed, have a quick drink of coffee while the feed got to the bottom, and then drop my rig in, holding back so I didn't overshoot the feed, but rather let the bait drop and then run the rig through the area where the loose-feed was lying (hopefully). I lost only those two late fish on my 16-18 elastic, and think I am probably worth 9/10. One of my better days, and I was chuffed that Ernie didn't manage to catch in the side.

Next match probably Sunday with JV, again on Elm and Cedar. You might think we would get fed up fishing Decoy every week, but with 11 lakes, and with such changeable weather conditions, no two days are ever the same. 

THE RESULT

ELM

CEDAR

Not what we hoped for on Yew (and a late result from Elm)

DICK Warrener always reckons that when I don't fish he does better. So do I have special powers I am unaware of? Certainly when I watch England play football they don't play well (but I suppose everyone in the country could claim that!)

Anyway, Dick did himself proud in Spratts'penultimate match on Elm two weeks ago, which I missed, taking most of his winning 73 lb 4 oz catch on a bomb and a wafter, feeding nothing, and including  fish to 9 lb . Runner-up was Trevor Cousins, peg 15, with carp to 10 lb with three caught on a 4mm expander off the bottom,  and two on a bomb and bread.

Third-placed Shaun Buddle included barbel in his 37 lb 1 oz - great to see they are still willing to feed this late in the year. So the four pegs at the Northern end took the top four places, but everyone caught double-figures. 

Result:

East bank                                        West bank

24 Bob Barrett           16 lb                         2 Neil Paas             15 lb 3 oz

22 Mick Ramm         10 lb 13 oz               4 Peter Harrison     20 lb 10 oz

20 Peter Spriggs        27 lb 9 oz                6 Roy Whitwell       20 lb 4 oz

18 Dave Hobbs          23 lb 12 oz             8 Mike Rawson        17 lb 11 oz

16 Martin Parker       26 lb 4 oz                10 Dick Warrener    73 lb 4 oz    1st

15 Trevor Cousins     38 lb 2 oz  2nd       12 John Garner        31 lb 14 oz  4th

13 Shaun Buddle       37 lb 1 oz  3rd

And so to the last match of our season...

Peg 7, Yew, Friday, Nov 23
It all started off so well - Decoy manager Karen Gracey refunded us our peg fees for this Spratts Christmas match, as her Christmas present, and Trevor pegged us all so we'd have the spiteful Westerly wind at our backs. Bob Allen started us off with our traditional fireworks (so loud even I could hear them)...and then it all went pear-shaped!

To be honest three hard frosts had always threatened to derail this last match of the year, when we always have prizes to choose from, drawn teams when we all win something, and everyone goes home happy. And the fish, having not read the script, refused to play ball.

IF I COULD WORK OUT HOW TO GET A VIDEO OF MY SWIM TO UPLOAD TO THIS PAGE IT WOULD BE HERE.

For the first time ever in Spratts history only two anglers out of the 15 of us caught fish. Bob Allen won from far corner peg 15 with four carp for 43 lb 10 oz taken on  a feeder - two on a wafter and two on sweetcorn. Trevor Cousins on peg 12 had one fish early on, on bomb and bread, to complete the sorry-looking list.

Winner Bob Allen with just four fish for 43 lb 10 oz from peg 15.

Here's the weigh sheet:

Several of us, including me, had some liners early in the match, and in the last 30 minutes most of the anglers in the higher numbers started to get liners, with several fish being foulhooked and lost. 

Our brilliant organiser Trevor Cousins -
second  on a day when most of us were
water-whacked! Thanks for all your hard
work during the year, Trevor.

Just before the match started the wind didn't seem too cold, and I looked forward to a comfortable five hours. Like most, I tried the bomb, maggot feeder, and pole long and short. But soon after the start the wind turned towards the North, giving us almost a side wind, and it became VERY cold, and of course just before we finished it died down...

Things got better when we were back in the cafe - Karen had prepared her spectacular roast potatoes for us as another very welcome surprise.

 Then the prizes were chosen (the last 13 by drawing), sweets handed out, the team money awarded to everyone, and Trevor had our grateful thanks for all his hard work doing the booking and getting the prizes. But yes, despite the result, we all went home happy. Looking forward to next year...

TARGETMAN

Neil Paas won more matches than
anyone this year. So Bob Allen made him
our TARGETMAN
 (like Superman  but not as well dressed!)

Prizes, vouchers, and sweets for everyone to end the year.