The fish are moving about on Six Islands, Decoy

Just got to show you the Bargain Of The Winter. In December my local M&B store were selling off viola plants at 20p for 12. None were in flower, of course, and they looked a bit manky, so I lashed out and bought one pack. Last of the Big Spenders, that's me. Now, three months later, and transplanted to a big old pot that held something that had died (can't remember what), they are looking just splendid. So here's a picture, and a few others, of the plants that lift my heart on murky days when the wind is biting. 

Twenty-pence worth of violas!

Pansies which survived the Winter.

Violas planted October!

An assortment

Peg 13, Six-Island
Roy Whincup looked at me in envy when I showed him my peg - 13 on Six-Island. Yet another flier! Very happy with that, and it was warm enough for me to leave my Imax jacket in the van when I trundled my trolley down, beside Four Islands, to the swim. The wind was very light, which meant that what ripple did come was only small. But the water felt sort of dead. Others in this JV match were on Horseshoe.

I had wondered whether to take my short tops or the long ones, as the depth here is rarely above four feet; in the end I compromised by putting in five short tops with assorted elastics. These would be for fishing the margins. I get nervous fishing short tops out at 10 metres or more if they have heavy elastics in (14 upwards) because a big lump can bottom you out in no time (especially if foulhooked), and that is when poles get broken. I've never broken my pole on a fish in 30 years of fishing commercials containing carp, and I don't want to start now.

Feeder then pole
So after putting out a small Method feeder for a couple of casts, and seeing Ernie get an early fish on the pole, I went tout to 13 metres, with 14-16 Matrix Slik through a long top. Much good that did me! Hardly anything was being caught, though on my left Ernie Lowbridge had two or three more F1s, and then mugged a big carp, while opposite me on peg 6 Ian Frith (who is better than I will ever be) had a few fish  out at 14 metres.

No matter if I couldn't catch - I could watch Ian Frith!

I hit one fish briefly on a 6mm pellet over micros; probably foulhooked. Then I tried in both margins. By now I think every angler I could see had looked in the margins, which is unusual because they are usually left for at least the first half of the match; so I knew everyone was probably struggling.

On to 4mm expander
I was certainly struggling - halfway through the match all I had was two small roach on maggot in the deep margin to my right. And now Ernie started to catch one or two more. So I started another line at 2+3, towards Ernie when the water was an inch or two shallower. I know that it gets shallower as you go left towards corner peg 15, and several big fish were splashing along that bank. Perhaps they were in the shallower water, I reasoned.

I put a 4mm expander on the hook. In all honesty they were not the best - they had been frozen and thawed several times, were small and soft,  and I had taken them to loosefeed, expecting to fish 6mm expanders. But I picked out one I managed to get onto the 16 hook (I should have used size 18), and first drop hooked, and landed, a very welcome 2 lb F1.

They came to the feed
I spent the next 90 minutes managing to catch five more F1s, all on the 4mm expander, while the 6mm never brought a bite. Meanwhile Ernie was catching some, and he told me later he had to feed EVERY cast to bring a bite. I also got that impression, but stupidly I didn't keep doing it. I just couldn't believe that, on a day when bites were so difficult to get, they wanted feed. 

Opposite, Ian Frith also moved to a new swim and started to catch, still in the deeper water. And Ernie also shouted out to someone that he had just mugged a fish; several had come by in the first half iof the match, all moving right to left towards the shallower water.

Mugging and dobbing
It's worth spelling out, here, the difference between mugging and dobbing. Mugging is targetting moving fish, when a shallow rig is dropped in, often with no shot down the line, in front of a moving fish.

Dobbing is fishing shallow, usually with a conventional rig, and usually a distance, and hanging a bait above the bottom (perhaps even in midwater) and waiting for a bite. In the depths of winter bread (if allowed) is a favoured bait, and no loose feed is used. If maggots are used on the hook a few may be pinged out; but the idea of that is to attract fish only, not to try to get them feeding. The hope is that one unsupecting fish will be curious, swim past, and absent-mindedly suck in your bait, which happens surprisingly often. Unfortunately in my Winter swims the fish are TOO absent-minded, and just swim past!

Into the margins (too late)
Ninety minutes to go and, after landing the sixth F1, I felt I had to look in the shallow margins. There are hardly any reeds in the side at peg 13 - it's mainly bare bank, which is not ideal on a windless day when the probablility is that the fish need cover to move into shallow water. But I put in some dead maggots to the right, and sure enough eventually I saw light clouds of mud come up. So I dropped in  metre from the ban, using the short top with heavy elastic (around 20), which I needed as there's a bush in the margin there. 

First fish was a 3lb F1 on cat meat, followed by a 7 lb common carp. Then another big fish came off, and I should have tried the left margin but went back to the right. Several minutes went by without a bite and I was about to move when I saw mud coming up right against the bank. Shallowing up with cat meat to 18 inches brought another F1, and a little later back at 2.5 feet, I landed another 7 lb carp.

The bush between me an Ernie obscured my view while we were fishing. So I
 stretched my legs for a minute, camera in hand, so see him enjoying himself!  😔

The last few minutes passed without any more fish. I really should have moved, whenever I hooked a fish, to the left margin. But I was sure fish were there; however there's a big difference between fish being there and being sufficiently confident to feed. 

A move to the left margin would, I am sure, have given me a chance to keep catching. I kept looking at the angler to my right on 11, but saw him catch only on small fish on a pole and one carp, late on, on a feeder. There was a bush between me and Ernie, so I couldn't see exactly what he was using or how he was fishing. He told me later his baits were pellet or corn.

The weigh in
That was when Ernie told me had had to feed every drop in, while Ian Frith told me later that he, like me, had caught on 4mm pellet (both hard and expanders). Ian was top weight to me with 71 lb 9 oz, but the weights fell away badly to his left. Eddie McIlroy on favoured beg 8 had 12 lb 6 oz while Peter Harrison in the corner did not weigh! I was told later he had a roach.

Opposite Peter Harrison was Peter Molesworth, and I had seen him fishing hard all day, mainly out at 14 metres or more, targetting the end bank. A good second half had seen him end with 52 lb 13 oz, but the angler on 11 did not weigh.

Ernie - 83 lb 1 oz on a difficult day.

My fish went 32 lb 6 oz, but Ernie had 83 lb 1 oz to win, with Dan Pettigrew on peg 25 second on 81 lb 7 oz. That end has not fished well all Winter, but did start to produce last Friday. So I ended 8th, and felt that I had not disgraced myself, but have to admit the peg was better than that, and I should have had a proper look in the margins earlier. 

Horseshoe produced three weights over 100 lb, won on peg 13 by Andy Kew with 45 lb on a feeder cast to the aerator followed by the rest after he had seen the marginal reeds to his left shaking. He went in there on a pole, a metre out, but I'm not sure what bait he used.  I'm back on Six-Islands on Wednesday, but the forecast is for high winds, so in some swims long poles may not be fishable. 

I trap bream, barbel and carp on Elm (and some mice)

Oh, those meeces. Steve Tilsley has been baring his soul on Facebook after mice apparently ate nearly everything in his garage, his car, and his garden. The only thing they didn't eat was his pole...and he's not been catching much on that anyway. 

So I thought I'd bring to his attention (and to that of anyone else who has had mice in their midst) the best mouse traps I've ever found. They work EVERY TIME and have three huge advantages over the old type. 1) To release the (dead) offender just hold the trap over the bin and press the back; the mouse falls straight down. 2) Baiting the trap doesn't involve any possible chance that your fingers could be damaged; the bait is is a small cup which is taken out from the bottom of the trap, baited up, and then screwed back into the bottom (you can  see the  yellow bait in the picture). 3) To set the trap put it down and press the back lever. That's all - it sets automatically.

And because the bait is IN the little cup the little mouse has to climb up to it and put its little head down to lick it out. BANG. Job done. I don't know the name of the trap - it's made in China, and they come 12 in a box. Go on the internet and look for the packaging. 10/10.

Trevor Cousins thought he was being amusing when he said he'd pull out peg 1 for me in my first Spratts match of the season, on Elm. He'd read my last blog and saw that was the one peg I wanted to avoid. So in went his hand, into the bag, had a rustle around, and his sticky fingers brought out... peg 1. Lots of laughter from the other 15 blokes  I used to consider as mates! I might mave moaned a bit.

Peg 1, Elm
Then someone said that peg 1 had won the Friday Old, Codgers match with 100 lb. Then Roy Whitwell said yes, it had - but hthe winner was casting to the far bank with a feeder for most of his fish, and I couldn't do that today because...Roy Whitwell would be sitting there. So I had to make do with what has been called by others 'the worst peg on the complex.' 

Then, blow me, when I got to the swim, pegs 1 and opposite on 24 were almost flat calm, and the sun was shining, while a couple of pegs down a lovely big wave was being churned up by the stiff South-Westerly wind. And everyone knows how I love a piece of raspberry ripple, especially in the sun.

Sun and calm water - not a good combination. That's Roy Whitwell sitting opposite.
My main swim was in the reflection of the aerator at nearly 13 metres.

Early bites on a feeder
I earmarked four pole swims - out at 13 metres towards the aerator; a shallow swim at 2+3 next to the end bank on my right; a simple 2+3 in front of me; and the deep water two metres from the bank to my left, where I remembered I had caught fish previously on this peg. 

But first I started on the feeder with three dead red maggots in a hybrid feeder with micros, cast to the middle. That made a nasty splash so after ten minutes without a knock I changed it for a medium-sized Method feeder, the Preston ICS system meaning it took only secons to change. That entered the water with a nice small 'plop.'

A big fish. Wey-hey
First cast and I had a bite, hooked what seemed like a small fish, and two seconds later it came off. Second cast and I hit a bigger fish which also came off immediately. Third cast and a big fish threatened to take me round the post holding the aerator; I hung on, gritted my teeth, and mercifully the fish missed the post. Several minutes later I landed a beautiful 9 lb common carp, best of the day. Off the mark! And I changed the 18-inch landing net for a larger 20-inch model, because in that wind getting it into the net had been a bit hairy.

Next fish was a chunky 3 lb F1, and then I had a long spell with nothing. Opposite me Roy couldn't get even a liner, and eventually, at exactly the same time, we tried the pole. I went out to almost 13 metres where I had put in sicros and corn, fishing a flattish area a little shallower than the deepest spot, hoping that there wouldn't be as much silt there. With a 0.75 Tuff-Eye float and corn on the hook I had a fish fairly quickly - a 2 lb bream.

I kept looking longingly to my left, where they all had a lovely Raspberry Ripple.

Hemp and caster
Then came a 2 lb barbel on the corn, and immediately I started putting in hemp and casters, which I know barbel love. I probably wasn't going to do any good catching just barbel, but a) they are better than nothing, and b) they are very active fish, and if they started to root around for the casters it could attract carp. The water was still almost flat calm, but putting bait out was difficult as the wind blew my pole around as I shipped it out in my big pot.

I changed the hook bait to a bunch of five dead red maggots on the size 12 hook. I hooked one up the hook,one through the blunt end, two through the middle, and one through the pointy end. It ended looking absolutely horrible - a mess - because I've seen what maggots hooked all through the blunt end look like. They are quite un-natural. Mine looked like a bit like small ragged piece of meat.

A mixed bag
Anyway, that bait worked for me. I foulhooked a barbel, being left with a tiny silver scale. Then I landed a three or four carp around 5 lb, plus a 4 lb barbel, and another two bream. I had to fish three or four inches overdepth and gently pull the bait towards me, wait 30 seconds, and pulll it another few inches until the float was only a pimple on the surface. Bites saw it only just disappear - they were tiny bites indeed. After a dead spell I had a look in the other three pole swims and never had a touch of any kind; nor anything back on the feeder.

 So it was back to the pole, where I hooked a huge bream which shot straight out of the water and promptly threw the hook. One more bream came from the original swim, and I went into the deeper water just two metres to the left, having changed the orange tip which showed up against the reflection of the aerator for a black one now I was fishing in open water.

That move saw another bream, about 4 lb, and two smallish carp in the last half hour. I estimated I had between 50 lb and 60 lb - more than I had expected when I sat down. I had seen an occasional fish landed by the anglers to my left on the opposite bank, and had no real idea whether my catch was good or bad. But I was happy.

     Bob Barrett - 29 lb 15 oz, from peg 18.     

The weigh in
I had four rigs to put away, plus the rod, and it was slow because there's a small step down to the platform here, and I have to be so careful when stepping down. So  I hadn't put everything away when the scales came to me, as first to weigh. The first net went 43 lb and the last three fish, in my second net, weighed 13 lb - totalling 57 lb 11 oz. I then put my trolley into the van and  missed the first half of the weigh in.

When I caught them up on the opposite bank I saw why I had missed so many weighs -  the catches were quite small, and I was actually winning! Then came Peter Spriggs, who won Spratts' first match last week...and today he did the same.  He caught 91 lb 2 oz from peg16 and won again, taking his fish mainly on 2+3 on cat meat in front of him. Very well done, Pete the Meat.

Peter Spriggs won with a cracking catch on
a difficult day - 91 lb  2 oz, on cat meat.

No-one else beat me, so I ended second and the other top-five weights came from the last few pegs on my bank, in the wind. I noted that the carp I saw being weighed tended to be bigger than mine were - typically averaging around 7 lb. 

Marks out of ten
I sort of scrapped around, never managing to get two carp quickly. And I am certain that the hemp and caster kept fish interested. Most of my fish came within minutes of putting in bait, which was quite hard work in the wind. Even so I used less than a pint of casters, and less than a tin of hemp, which was probably about right on a day when the fish were never queueing up to be caught. I give myself 9/10.

I perhaps should have tried mussel in the main swim, as it's a soft bait and I got the impression that the fish were feeding only half-heartedly, perhaps feeling the the bait before actually holding it between their lips. Every fish was hooked very lightly in the lip. Roy Whitwell opposite had three on a pole for 20 lb 12 oz, and I was chuffed to beat him.

Next two matches are on Six-Island or Four Island, and I am trying to decide whether I should start on my short tops on Six-Island as it's quite shallow. But will there be enough elastic if I hook double-figure fish? If the forecast is correct the water should be a lot warmer after several days of sun, so big weights could be on the cards. However Trevor has slyly suggested that if I say I don't want the pegs 21 and 23 in Wednesday's match, which are narrow, opposite islands, or 24 or 25, then he will again manage to ensure they are the ones I get.

OK - I don't want pegs 6 to 14!

THE RESULT

24 Roy Whitwell      20 lb 12 oz         1 Mac Campbell    57 lb 1 oz       2nd
22 Martin Parker      22 lb 8 oz           3 Dave Hobbs        DNW
21 Peter Harrison     37 lb 8 oz           4 Trevor Cousins    32 lb 15 oz
19 Kevin Lee            25 lb 12 oz         6 Neil Paas             24 lb 8 oz
18 Bob Barrett          29 lb 15 oz          7 John Garner        21 lb 8 oz
16 Peter Spriggs       91 lb 2 oz    1st    9 Mike Rawson     22 lb   
15 Graham Ward     44 lb 13 oz  5th    10 Dick Warrener    44 lb 15 oz  4th
13  Mick Ramm      27 lb 8 oz              12 Bob Walker         45 lb 7 oz    3rd

Big fish on Oak in a big wind

Peg 10, Oak, Decoy, Sun Mar 15
Some sun at last, as I drove to this match, and several partridges flew across in front of me - the first I have seen this year, though pheasants have been numerous. Happy with Oak peg 10, which Roy Whincup described as 'the flier' when I drew it. Half of this JV match were on Oak and half on Yew, and Roy had given us the West banks, which meant that the howling wind was slightly at our backs. And yes, I had to agree that Oak 10 can be be a flier, it's roughly opposite pegs 20 and 21, which have won so many matches on Decoy.

Biggest handicap was the wind
But the wind made things so difficult. It's a long time since I fished in such conditions, and within an hour or two it increased so much that I could feel it getting under my box and lifting me up slightly. You had to anchor everything down, and wedge any unused pole sections securely. And because it was also quite cold I wasn't surprised that after almost 45 minutes of my fishing the pole at 2+3 I hadn't had a fish and I'd seen only one fish caught, somewhere to my left.

When the sun came out at the start, before the wind was at its worst,
the conditions were almost tolerable. Here's Peter Harrison in action.

So it was on to the feeder just as Peter Harrison, on my left, changed from feeder to pole. And he caught a nice carp! Then the angler on my right had one, and it was well over an hour after the start when I had my first wrap-round. That turned out to be a near-5 lb golden common which fought like a tiger. But at least I had a fish.

Somewhat unprepared for a bite
The next couple of hours saw me take four carp around 8 lb on my hybrid feeder with hair-rigged sweetcorn. I had to leave the rig in for 20-plus minutes most of the time, and one came while I was unprepared. I had to get up to grab some pole sections before they were blown in, and thought that while I was off my box I'd have a pee. I'd just unzipped my trousers when I saw my rod being pulled right round...the pee would have to wait! 

That fish came in, so no harm done. I might try that again instead of pouring out some coffee!

But in the meantime Peter Harrison, having had a couple more fish on the feeder, suddenly had a purple patch on the pole - three big carp in about 20 minutes, and a fourth one was lost. He was well out at about 2+4, and (I don't know how he was managing to hold his pole out in that wind; perhaps it's slightly thinner than my Browning Xitan).

If this video works you can see just how the wind was rattling the top lid of my side tray. And later the wind was worse.

Just one on mussel
Peter took another two or three on the pole while I managed just one, on mussel, on 2+2. Cat meat, which has been catching carp here recently, didn't bring me a fish, though I thought I had one or two touches. 

The 2 gm float with heavy wire stem, looked great in the waves, which now reminded me of what it used to be like fishing the Great Ouse Relief Channel. And I was sure the presentation was OK - I could hold the rig steady, or just left it go with the fierce undertow left to right. Then the rain started - steady but not heavy, and the temperature dropped again.

Ten minutes left and...
Ten minutes before the end I hit another good fish on feeder which I played to within a few metres of the bank before the hook pulled out! When the whistle went I picked up the rod, wound in a few turns...and promptly found myself playing another big fish, which also came off very quickly. So carp were obviously now gathering in that area. And Sod's Law dictated that now the wind had started to drop. I ended with six, and Peter had nine, with all his pole-caaught fish on cat meat. The angler on my right had three.

The weigh in
It was still raining as we weighed in, and I wasn't going to ask anyone to pose with their fish - I think after the battering we had taken we all wanted to get back into our vehicles and peruse the results. The first three anglers, I am told, never had a bite or a liner between them. Andy Mitchell had 63 lb, and Roy Whitwell on peg 8 had eight, I think, mainly on a medium-sized Method feeder with various-coloured pellets, for 76 lb 10 oz.

The three fish caught by angler on my right weighed 35 lb 11 oz  and my six went 48 lb 12 oz, which was sixth out of ten; Peter Harrison's nine went 82 lb 7 oz and he was second on the lake, won by Matt Martin on corner peg 15. This was his first match with JV, and he had three on the pole and nine on a hybrid feeder and dead reds, for a total on 108 lb 4 oz; well done indeed, Matt.

Marks out of ten
If I'd landed that fish which came off I would have proably had around 60 lb, so I can't beat myself up about not winning from a 'flier.; I'm actually happy I managed to get a respectable weight in those conditions, with those good anglers, so I award myself an easy 7/10.

Yew lake fished not quite so well. My next match is Tuesday on Elm, and the only peg I'd like to miss is peg 1, which can be poor, but on Decoy anything can happen. I have got used to fishing the feeder this Winter, which has often been the only viable method to use, so I have a lot more confidence in it even though I prefer the pole.

Three Spring matches (Oak, Raven, Elm)

I've had a burglar - one of my mouse traps was nicked from my garage the other day. Two had been set beside each other; one was there and the other  was gone. Then all was revealed - it was under some shelving, and in its jaws was a dead mouse. But how the hell did it pull that trap two yards  when it was dead? I had a hell of a job to get it out from under the shelf - I had to half open the trap to pull it out. However I found another trap nearby which held a mouse which was VERY dead - I lost that trap last summer!! I have now invited all the remaining mice in my garage and shed to enjoy the surrounding countryside in the sunshine which has just appeared. Bye-bye meeces.

Peg 25, Raven, Pidley, Wed Mar 8

This was the Over 60s Open on Raven and Magpie, with my peg 25 towards the end where there are often good catches. The water was flat calm most of the time, and the poor light meant the float was not easy to see. I've fished Raven only about four times, and never yet won anything. Nothing was to change...

Flat calm at peg 25.

Like most I decided to start dobbing bread over the far side margin, but after an hour hadn't had a touch. I'd been right along the bank, with 14.5 metres plus a half butt, which enabled mt to rach some reeds to my right, which looked reasonably inviting. I managed to avoid hooking them, but the angler on my right hooked some opposite him, and I saw him pulling; no idea whether he had to break.

Pretty if the sun is shining, but it wasn't; it
remained murky all day.

First drop with maggots saw a bite and an 8 lb carp came in, after a long fight, foulhooked in the base of a pectoral fin! But I never had another touch, in the far margin, the near margin, or in the deep water close to my own bank. 

Ninety minutes from the end I tried the deep water towards the far bank, where it was about six feet deep, with maggot. This brought a 3 lb carp and three small F1s. I lost one 4 lb carp right over the net when the hook pinged out just as I was about to lift, and another fish came off just as the whistle went.

I weighed in 18 lb 3 oz which was about average on the lake, but won nothing. I will try the deep water earlier next time!

Raven 1-22

Raven 23-29

Magpie 1-22

Magpie 23-36

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Peg 8, Elm

Only a light wind for this match on Elm, Decoy, but what there was was quite cool. Twenty-one of us fished this JV club match, with half on Elm and half on Cedar. Opposite me Ernie Lowbridge was soon into fish on a pole - roach at first, so I assumed he was fishing maggot; and then a couple of bigger fish. I started on a feeder, but after half an hour went on to the pole.

The angler on my left had an early fish on pole.
What is that truck doing there? I assume the
owner had permission to take it down the bank!

I had a nice spell fo half an hour, with a big carp and then three or four F1s, also on maggot. Not much seemed to be caught on my bank, but my good early spell failed to continue and I spent the next couple of hours fishless. Two hours before the end another big carp came in, on maggot, but that was the last fish I had. 

Ernie included a couple of barbel from peg 18. They must be 15 years old.

Now that fish is a real bruiser!

To my right John Knights hooked a carp about 8 lb a couple of minutes before the end, landing it after the whistle. When we weighed in I found that that fish had beaten me - John had 31 lb 12 oz to my 26 lb 15 oz. Our lake was won by Adie (don't know his name) just to Ernie's left, on the opposite bank with 51 lb 10 oz.

John Knights' last carp, landed after the match finished. That fish beat me!

 

John Knights with his 31 lb 12 oz.

Cedar fished a little better all-round, won yet again on peg 1, where Andy Mitchell had 102 lb. My next match was due to be the next day on Oak, which has not been fishing particularly well by Decoy's high standards, but I couldn't fish it. Result below. 

 

ELM

CEDAR

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Here's the result on a Spratts match on Oak which I couldn't fish. I see it was won yet again from peg 21, which has always been a favoured draw. Well done Peter Spriggs on winning there with 139 lb 9 oz - that's a great performance, especially at this time of year. I'm due to fish there on Sunday with JV - looks like it could be a good day. Guess which peg I'd like! If not 21, then opposite on 9, or corner pegs 15 or 16, or 30. Roy Whitwell did well on 30 I see, and top weight on Oak in the Winter Leeague was on 30. But strangely peg 1, opposite, is not as good in Winter, and I see Martin Parker struggled there in  this Spratts match.

In the money on Horseshoe and Willows

I'm late with this blog - had so much to do. The cold weather stayed with us after the particularly horrible match on Cedar, and though the next weekend, on Sunday Feb 22nd, saw better weather, the wind was still cold, and the water so cold it took ages to thaw out my frozen maggots.

Peg 15 on Horseshoe in the JV club match was one I did not fancy - that side of the lake tends to fish worse than the lower numbers. Lee Kendall was on end peg 20 and said before the match that he didn't expect to catch much; he was correct in that! I didn't fancy my peg much, and spent the first 30 minutes on a maggot feeder with just a tiny liner or two. 

The West wind increased during the day, which made
presention  on a pole very  difficult. It died down a
 little for 20 minutes during the afternoon.

Eventually a cast of three-quarters of the way across brought a 2 lb F1. Then a change to a pole, fished at about five nmetres, which  was the longest I could fish with perfect presentation, because of the strong Westerly from my right, brought an instant response.

First drop on the pole with maggot bait saw my elastic stecth for a few seconds and then go slack. Possibhly foulhooked. Next drop and exactly the same thing happened - a fish came off within seconds. It took me almost an hour to get two more bites, which resulted in two more F1s.

Round to my right David Bates weighs
in 41 lb 7 oz for second place.

Back on the maggot feeder, and when I cast it to where I know there are lilly beds the hook came back with a green slime on, probably from the decaying lilly beds. So I cast around until the hook came back free of debris and two more bites brought another F1 and a carp of about 8 lb. Three hours had gone, two-and-a-half hours were left...and I never had another bite. To my left Pete Molesworth had two or three fish late, including a tench, but he didn't weigh them in as he said he knew I'd beaten him.

Ernie Lowbridge - winner with 77 lb 6 oz.

On peg 20 Lee Kendall had a few roach and then, towards the end of the match the wind died down a little for about 30 minutes. He went out to the far bank on a 16-metre pole, hooked two carp, and lost one. He weighed in 6 lb 7 oz; my fish went 19 lb 5 oz, and that was sufficient to win the three-peg section.  That meant I've fished five matches this year and picked up money in four of them. Improving!

Carl White, who does so much 
for the club, won his section
from peg 3 with 31 lb 7 oz.

Ernie Lowbridge won with 70 lb from peg 1, with some fish from the marginal reeds to his right. As I expected, the pegs on that bank, which had a nicer wind, caught better than our side. 

Part of the match was also on Lou's lake, and the weights here were better. Also, some fish were caught on cat meat - a sure sign that things are getting better! Next match on Sunday, March 1 on Willows and Lou's. 

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Peg 29, Willows, Sunday, March 1

Just 13 anglers turned out for the JV match, and we were all pegged on Willows. My peg 29 is known as a good-un, with an island in front, just to the left, and a big gap in front, where the channel runs down to famous peg 25. I know from previous experience that fishing close to the island is fraught with danger as it's so snaggy there. But I was happy enough, with Eddie McIlroy volunteering to help guide my trolley round one difficult sloping corner on the way to my peg (help is always on hand) .

That island looks so inviting, reachable on 13 metres.

 The wind was nasty, from the East to my left, and the sun was really annoying, low and in my eyes if I fished to the island. So I started on a hybrid feeder with maggot, and had just two tiny liners. Forty minutes after the start I changed to a pole, fished at about eight metres, but although I fished hard for an hour I never had a touch.

Nothing from the island
Next it was out to the island, and almost an hour there, fishing close to the island, and up to a few metres farther away, and fishing on the bottom and right up to two feet deep, I never had a touch. There were reeds and brambles waving under the surfacer which kept snagging the rig, but thank fully I always pulled free.

Next it was into the margins, which were well over three feet deep. The platform to my right looked nice, but the bottom shallowed right up there, so I stuck to the deeper water closer to me, on a top two, particularly to my right, where there has always been a deepish area - there used to be a bush overhanging, but that's been cut right back. I also put some dead maggots into the left margin.

Eventually an F1 came from the right deep hole on two red maggots, and then a much bigger fish which took me ages to land. Hardly surprising when I found it was hooked on the outside of the mouth!  And I reckon it was getting on for 15 lb.Then came a lull and I took a chance and put a rig baited with mussel into the lefthand margin. This was difficult fishing because the wind was hacking in there; but I had a definite bite which I missed. So I tried a mussel in the deep hole to the right.

A last-second loss
That move brought another big carp to mussel, and I changed to my special method with maggot, which brought a bite first drop but the fish came off. However one more big carp came to maggot, and with 90 minutes to go an F1 decided to visit my keepnet. I now had five fish...and I had no bites until seconds before the whistle, when I hooked a big fish which came off after 15 seconds, just as the whistle went.

Over to my right on 33 Kevin Bell had been fishing long to the aerator on his left and hooked about three big fish in that last hour or two. I assumed he would beat me. To my left on 27 Dave Parson fished a feeder in the gap between the islands and lost five fish which broke him, bewcause you have to hold then so hard to stop them galloping into the brambles (it might have been seven that he lost - can't remember exactly).

Kevin Bell plays a carp on peg 33. The other angler is Eddie McIlroy.

Me with one of my big carp. I had three in total.

The weigh in
Dave Parson weighed about 15 lb and my five fish went 41 lb 7 oz, with Chris Saunders taking a picture of me with one of my carp. Kevin Bell was next to weigh - he told me he had lost seven, possibly foulhooked, and he totalled 38 lb 14 oz, to leave me second, behind Roy Whitwell who fished feeder on peg 25 for a wining 75 lb 1 oz. And Kev Bell came up and offered to take my weighty pole holdall back to my van; thanks, Kev. The exercise does me good, but that help after a match is so welcome.

That makes five placings or sections from six matches this year. Very happy with that. Next match possibly Wednesday at Pidley.

Horrendous conditions on Cedar

Peg 6, Cedar, Sun, Feb 15
Good to see 22 anglers in the Open at Decoy, including Alan Scotthorne, fishing Beastie and Six-Island and practicing for the Winter League Final on Sat, Feb 28. I spoke with Ben Townsend beforehand and suggested that pegs 10 to 14 on Six-Island would be good, especially since they would have back wind, and to my surprise he said: "In all the times I've fished at Decoy I've never yet drawn on that bank on Six-Island." So these top anglers CAN be unlucky at the draw after all (!).

I was in the JV club match, where Roy Whincup pegged the nine of us on the West bank of Cedar , which was probably marginally the best bank to put us on. The wind was a really strong Southerly, from right to left, meaning that if we put up an umbrella (and everyone did) it would be on our right, making it difficult for right-handers to use a pole. Actually that became immaterial for most of us, as it became clear that using a pole was a bit of a nightmare because of the rain and bitingly-cold wind. So most of us stuck to the rod and line virtually all day.

Happy, sort of
I was happy(ish) with peg six as on Cedar the best sport is often in the first five or six pegs, at the car park end. That differs from the other three strips at Decoy, where the bottom one-third of swims tend to produce the better weights much of the time. I had Roy Whincup on my right, but with the umbrella up it meant peering round the side of it, like a Peeping Tom, to see what he was doing.

What I, and doubtless everyone else, will remember is the weather. By the time we started tackling up, the wind had brought us rain and I had to keep stopping to warm my fingers. I took out four sections of pole, just in case the conditons altered, but my main attack would be maggot feeder baited with a red maggot hooked through the blunt end and a flouro pinkie hooked one-third of the way down from the pointy end. I've seen the Guru underwater video of bream fishing and was horrified (as were the presenters) to see how un-natural two maggots looked when hooked through the blunt ends. 

My bait looked sort of a lump with the pinkie not laying directly beside the big maggot, but it's started working for me recently.And within a few minutes of the start I had a bite and a double-figure carp was on its way towards my net.

In the net (eventually)
That fish plodded around for ages before I managed to get it to the net. I was using an 18-inch model and the fish went in head down, with its tail flapping away out of the top as I VERY gently pulled in the net. It wasn't easy, with freezing cold hands, to turn the fish so I could extract the hook, and I made a decision to change the net to a deeper 20-inch model, which I did as soon as that fish went into the keepnet.

I have to use a disgorger on virtually all of my fish now, as my fingers are too fumbly to pick a size 18 hook out of a fish. But I eventually managed to turn the fish so I could see its mouth, and the hook came straight out with the disgorger. No question of getting back into the swim immediately, as the cold wind over wet hands numbed them within 20 seconds. Everybody had that problem (at, least those who caught a fish).

On a roll
The next four casts also brought fish - three F1s and then a carp about 7 lb. By this time about 75 minutes had gone and I was very happy. In fact, although I didn't know it, Roy Wincup had also had fish, including some big carp. By now I had to do everything really slowly, which was made even slower by the fact that I couldn't put up my side tray on the left  because I needed that side of the platform to walk round to the box as the umbrella was right against the other side of my box.

Slow and steady to bait up
Baiting up saw me: 1) Open the red maggot box, bait up with one, put the lid back on and put it down on my holdall. 2) Pick up the pinkie box, take out one, hook it on, put the lid back, place it on the holdall. 3) Slide the maggot feeder down the line, hold it, pick up the red maggot box, carefully fill the maggot feeder, put the lid back, place the box down on the holdall. Now I was ready to cast, dry my hands on the towels I had, and try to warm them, hoping I didn't get a bite for a while. Some simple  'Hotties' - small hand warmer I held in mt hand, really helped. Towards the end of the match I added another pinkie on the hook, which seemed to work just as well.

Even casting was a problem, as it had to be done righthanded over my left shoulder. Not difficult at the start as I used a 30 gm feeder, but when I changed it for a lighter one (which felt better) the wind tended to blow it to my left, and all my fish came when the feeder went towards Roy on the right. And casting that awkward way meant I did have some casts which fell short, and meant I had to rewind, refill the feeder, and try again. 

Big liners
Most of my fish came more than three-quarters of the way across, at intervals of about 15 minutes. I used to be ready to retrieve and recast when the rod would suddenly wrench round with a bite, though I also had several liners which also pulled it round so far that I felt I had to strike; in every case when I missed the 'bite' I'm convinced they were just liners, and the bait was untouched. To my left Dave Parsons muct have thought there was a brick wall under the surface, as he had just one F1 all day.

Rain, snow and sleet...plus a biting cold wind! Not a day I would like to see again.

Soon after the start sleet came down with the rain, and then it was rain and snow together. You couldn't see the rain, but you could hear it on the umbrella. And while the snow tended to melt when it hit ground, on my tackle the snowflakes turned to big, round, thin, patches of ice. I can't remember weather like that in recent years - in the 1960s a lot of Winter League matches saw similar weather, and I didn't like it then!

It didn't help that I suddenly started to get cramp in my right leg. Massaging it was difficult through four layers of clothing, so I had to stand for about 15 minutes, until it had gone. That meant exposing my head to the wind - just as well I had a cap, two hoodies and the Imax jacket on!

The rain stops!
Chris Saunders came along the bank, and I said I had about 20 lb; he said Roy had 30 lb. Then Chris vanished, went back to his swim, and no doubt spent the next 20 minutes shivering, before eventually giving it best - he posted later that this has been the worst Winter he's ever had on the bank. And indeed it was horrendous. Then the rain stopped and it was just snow, but still the wind blew and even though I managed another four F1s, a barbel, a 3 lb carp and a tiny roach, I felt I would be glad when I'd had enough. 😒

With one hour to go the snow stopped and I put out a pole. To be honest, I could fish OK at four sections, but I couldn't be certain when my maggots were ending up, as a half-submerged reed showed me there was a definite tow towards the right in the margins, but it didn't show on my pole rig. In addition that wind kept my hands so cold, even tucked in behind the umbrella, that I gave up after 15 minutes. The last 45 minutes on the feeder saw two more F1s come in, and I finished with two nice carp, a smaller one, nine F1s, the roach, and the barbel, for around 40 lb.

Roy included four carp probably into
double figures in his winning 56 lb 11 oz.

The weigh in

Pete Molesworth on the scales  thought I had won - probably because I had more fish than Roy Whincup. My fish went 39 lb 12 oz, but Roy had four double-figure fish in his net, and totalled 56 lb 11 oz for the win, leavng me second. Roy agreed that the cold had been just so piercing; and I was just glad I had survived. Then we trudged back along the bank, through was was now a paddy field, to the vehicles.

After I had loaded the van I turned round only to see that the wind had died right down and the lake surface was like a mill pool, with just a lovely light ripple in places. Someone Up There was teasing us! I found out later that almost every fish had been caught on a bomb or feeder. 

Remarkably, the Open had yielded some really good weights considering the conditions. The full results are on the Decoy Lakes Facebook page.

Marks out of ten
I'll bring this back because I felt I had fished a proper match. You had to keep everything so simple, as just going to your holdall, even behind the unbrella, meant exposing your hands, and then having to warm them up, as even with fingerless mitts the tips of your fingers felt numb so quickly after exposing them. Frankly everybody deserved 10/10 for not just sticking it out, but for fishing properly. So I get 10/10 as well! Clever, eh?

My next match is on Beastie. The conditions can't be any worse so, given reasonable weather, peg 17 will do me fine.

PS. I have now obtained the ultimate, cheap accessory to combat the cold hands - a muff, in which you can place, or hold, hand warmers. Ideal when you are fishing the bomb or feeder.

 

Well done to all, I say.