Close, but no cigar

Decoy, Six Islands, peg 25

This was my first weekend club match of the new season and we were greeted by a very cold, strong Westerly wind with a bit of North in it.

On Six-Island, which is L-shaped, Westerlys mean the swims at the bottom – from peg 4 (in the corner of the L) round to 15 - have ripple while the rest often don’t. And in this cold wind I was happy that I would bask in the sun – except that the wind was at exactly the right angle to hit my swim hard – from the right and slightly in my face – while Tony in peg 24 on my right in the other corner was much more sheltered. And today I would have picked his swim rather than mine, because I know that the right margin is good, and fish hang around the aerator beyond that, at about 10 metres, and there’s an island in front. One good bit about our two swim was that they are only a few metres from the car park.

I’ve never managed to draw peg 25 before, which usually seems to produce some fish, so I was fairly happy, but I would have been happier had Dave, one of the best anglers in the club, not managed to draw 18, a noted swim in the narrowest swim on the lake, but one which has probably produced more winners than any other.

Peg 25 (imagine the top right corner of the “L” looking down the lake) used to have an island which is now worn away, so my first job was to plumb up and find its remains, which I found were at 13 metres, so I had a 1gm Drennan Tuff Eye float for the edge of the island and a half-gram for the island itself, which was almost 18 inches shallower at about three-and-a-half feet. Then, because the wind appeared to be gaining strength, I decided on a simple two-plus-two swim in front of me, another at 11 metres to the aerator 12 metres to my left, and two more margin rigs, one with a Maver Invincible float with yellow tip – my favourite for close-in work as I can see them below the surface. This was for small baits like corn or pellet; and the other was with an Animal size 12 hook and a 1 gm Cralusso float for use with cat meat.

First drop in was on the 2+2 swim with corn, and I had touches immediately, which I guessed were from roach, and sure enough after a few minutes a 4 oz roach came in. But there’s no possibility that roach can get you a big enough weight on Decoy to make them worth fishing for, so I was looking to find carp, which run into double-figures. My next move would have been towards the island, but I didn’t now fancy holding my pole in the wind because the big gusts would have swivelled me round on my seat. So I had a quick look in the margin. If a match starts slowly I always try another rig, and if that doesn’t work immediately I try another, so in the first hour I have often tried all of them just to check that they are fishing OK. Today, though, I got touches on the small margin rig fished about a metres from the edge, and sure enough after 20 minutes a 4 lb carp took a piece of corn.

I changed immediately to cat meat. I’d already seen Dave catching fish on his float rod (he doesn’t use a pole) and knew he would be using cat meat – in fact he told me afterwards he never put anything else on his hook). That change produced a run of good bites for me and several hooked fish which came off – probably foulhooked. All the bites came within a second or two of the bait hitting bottom, so I guessed the fish were interested but not really hungry. Sure enough the next fish, about 2 lb, was hooked on the outside of the mouth.

After about 90 minutes, with two F1s on corn, I had four fish in my net for 12 lb. I checked with Tony, who said he had six big carp – I assumed he meant 4-5 lb minimum, so I was already trailing.

A quick look towards the aerator saw me hook a roach on corn and then I lost sight of the float for a second or two and the next thing was the pole bending into a fish which resolutely refused to move for a few seconds and then ploughed out down the left-hand bank. For all I know it’s still going, because I was powerless to stop it breaking just at the hook. Later I had a couple of barbel, and now suspect it was a very big foulhooked barbel – I had no chance on my puny14 elastic and 6 lb line!

The next hour saw me pick up another three or four carp and F1s from the margin, and two pieces of catmeat brought an eight-pounder hooked on the outside of the mouth. Almost every drop-in the float was moving, but when I fished pellet or corn off bottom, where the fish were obviously swimming, I couldn’t get a bite!

Then about 1.30, halfway through the match, Bill, to my left, and Dave went for their third nets, so they must have got at least 80 lb each…and I estimated mine at 30lb! Drastic action was called for. I had dropped in to my left on a top two and had a vicious missed bite which I suspected could have been a liner from a barbel, so in went a big pot of dead red maggots, and sure enough a 4 lb barbel came to a bunch of four dead reds.

For the next couple of hours I picked up odd fish here on maggot, corn and cat meat and with 40 lb in my first net, had started on my second, putting in a pot of dead reds every 40 minutes and feeding half-a-dozen grains of corn and a few pellets. The wind made presentation very difficult indeed, even fishing close-in. It was impossible to hold the rig still for long enough to get a good drop and a few seconds touching bottom, even with the big Cralusso float, and fishing overdepth produced absolutely nothing. I did wonder afterwards whether I should have tried a 2 gm or 3 gm float for stability, but even by my crude standards that would probably have been over the top.

Then bites dried up and I found the fish a couple of feet farther out, in an extra four inches of water…who would think that could make a difference? At one point after a blank spell I moved the float half an inch down and hit three F1s in three casts, while a worm brought several roach bites and finally another eight-pounder. Then I found a couple of fish on meat right beside the bankside reeds, followed by a big fish snagging me on my righthand bank. I lay on the bank and worked my way down the line to the root where the line was snagged, but before I could break the root I felt the fish give a kick and break the line.

The white Middy 22-24 on my cat meat rig got the fish out in less than half the time of the corn rig with a red 14 elastic, even with a puller, so I changed this one to Purple Hydro, and that worked far better. I prefer the really strong elastics at all times if I can get away with it – I am happy to play the fish really gently and coax them to the net rather than bully them. Anyway, it works for me. It’s such a pity that Middy no longer market the white 22-24 – if anyone knows where you can get it I’ll buy it!

With 45 minutes to go I felt I had scratched around all day without ever getting into a rythmn, catching some margin fish on a top two and others on two-plus-two farther Along the bank; then suddenly I hit three better fish, all around 8 lb, in succession and with an estimated 43 lb in the second net and 13 minutes to go I decided to get a third net in case I got another eight-pounder. Mercifully no-one else had gone for a third net, so I was possibly in third spot. But that wasn’t guaranteed as some of the anglers here could easily have almost 50 lb in each net.

With eight minutes to go I was back…and the carp had gone. All I could get was roach pecking at the cat meat, so on went a piece of corn, and in came a 4 oz roach…actually it didn’t . With the fish in the landing net a big gust of wind turned the net over as I held the handle, the fish flew out, and I ended up hooked to the net! One more roach successfully landed and the match was ended. That last roach went into my third net on its own, poor little lonely thing.

Isn’t it strange how often going for that net means the fish have gone? Anyway I had a hot drink because I was now very cold indeed. And the two long swim rigs lay unused. But that is not uncommon, and if I ever need a rig quickly I can always press them into service. Nothing worse than having a tangle or break with five minutes to go and having to put on another rig.

Bill, down the bank to my left, weighed 93 lb (if I remember correctly), on cat meat or prawn, a fairly common bait on Decoy now. Dick on peg 4 had 92 lb, and there were other 70s and some 50s. But Dave on 18 had 137 lb and was over in one net – the obvious winner. Tony to my right had 70lb-plus, and I reckoned I had 83 lb, though Bill said I had a lot more.

The single 4 oz roach went into the weigh bag first, as my first net was obviously going to be under 50 lb (I had estimated 40 lb). But when I lifted it out I knew immediately there was more – 56 lb it showed, knocked back to 50lb. I know I tend to underestimate the weight of fish, but that was bad!

Not as bad as the second net, though – way, way over the 50 lb limit and I didn’t have the nerve to check how much over 60 lb it was. In the opens here 60lb-plus get you disqualified, but club anglers are a little more indulgent, so it counted as 50 lb and 100 lb gave me second place. The fish I had all estimated at 8 lb must have been 10-12 lb or more. I must remember that in the coming weeks.

So a reasonably-satisfactory first club match which, with a bit of luck, I could possibly have won, because overall I lost about a dozen fish – seven early on in the first hour, and another four or five later. Tony, to my right, fishing in the margins, also lost several, including a big one which snagged him in the roots, like me. But I never felt I was ‘In the Zone’ partly because of the unsettling effect of that cold wind.

My next match is an Open on Head Fen, near Ely, where luncheon meat is allowed but cat meat banned (the opposite to Decoy). I like this water – I once beat the fishery record but had two nets disqualified for being overweight (the nets, not me!) But since only one tin of luncheon meat is allowed I will also be relying on corn and pellet. The water is still cold so it could be a grueller in places. The fish run mainly to 5 lb but are turbo-charged so it will probably be black or purple Hydro and the white Middy on my main rigs. But I will have a top rigged with grey Hydro beside me in case I need to change down.