I was delighted to draw peg 18 as it’s undoubtedly won more matches on this lake than any other. I’ve drawn it once before – 15 years ago soon after the lake was dug; I moaned about it being the narrowest swim on the lake...and won the match! With 49 lb from memory. But a win is by no means guaranteed, as the wind tends to dictate the fishing on Six-Island.
This was a club pairs match, and several anglers told me after the draw that they were certain I would win. Err...they were wrong!
I decided to leave my rods in the car as the Southerly wind was not strong, and I guessed I would have no trouble fishing the pole all day. Just before the start Terry Tribe told me to go for the far shelf, even though it’s little more than a foot wide. I plumbed it up at about three feet, and put in a few pellets and pieces of corn; but I started in the deep water next to the reeds a few feet to my left, after putting in a few pieces of cat meat and corn. With cat meat on the hook I hit a 3 lb carp within 30 seconds of dropping the rig in, and it finisghed up in the keepnet.
I spent the next 20 minutes here, while twice putting a few more pellets and corn out to the far shelf, but although there were fish there giving me liners I didn’t manage to catch any, but lost couple, probably foulhooked.
So out to the far shelf, about three feet deep, where I got several more liners, and managed to land a 4 lb carp, but lost two or three others around 4 lb, not all foulhooked as I managed to get them to the surface and could see they properly hooked. So I tried in the deeper water off the shelf and immediately hooked a five-pounder, which came in OK; but again I foulhooked a couple and lost them.
I tried fishing over the shelf shallow and caught one more carp, then a 4 lb barbel on corn in the deeper water; then the wind changed from almost southerly to North-East and bites dried up. I managed just one fish from down the track, and the match was half over by now.
So it was back to the lefthand deep water near the reeds and I alternated here between cat meat and, later, maggot after I had put in a pint of dead maggots. But several more fish came off, mostof them properly hooked I am guessing by the way they fought.
One incident confirmed to me how stupid it would be on this swim to fish for good carp and barbel with light elastic, as recommended by so many experts.I hit a strong fish on my favourite Middy 22-24, played it for a minute or two, then broke down to my top two and used the puller. Now the tops are about 8 feet long, and I had about a foot of elastic out of the end, and the rig was at about 5 ft with 1 ft of line above it...so 7 ft to play with.
When the fish – obviously a big barbel, made a dive straight towards for my keepnets I pushed the top out as far as I could, which is probably 7 ft over the platform. The nets protrude about a foot...so I had absolutely no way of stopping that fish running between them and breaking me. Which it did.
OK, I should have played it out in the middle for longer – but while I can’t speak for the barbel on other waters, I can assure you, Dear Reader, that the barbel here are never beaten until they are in the net! Given a bit of luck I might have stopped that fish running under the platform (I did with two or three other 4 lb barbel) but with light elastic, below 10, I would have had no chance at all!
So I’m happy with my stong stuff. A few other barbel and carp came intermittently up to 20 minutes from the end, on meat and maggots, when in desperation I put a handful of corn and cat meat in the side to my left, in less than 18 inches of water, where I had not seen a fish move. A pot of dead maggots followed.
More in hope than expectation I adjusted the rig I’d been using and dropped in with a bunch of dead maggots and got a good bite immediately, which I missed. Next drop in I hit a fish which came off after a few seconds. Then I adjusted the meat rig I had, dropped in with cat meat, and hit a 4 lb carp straight away!
I had it in the net with five minutes left, lifted the landing net in, and when it was just over one of my leepnets it fell off! The net and fish landed in the keepnet, and I had to sruggle to unhook the fish with a disgorger while I held the line with the fish in the water; then pull the keepnet up and grab hold of the landing net.
I had had trouble with the threaded ferrule on the landing net handle, which had broken, but Alex at Rookery Waters, where I purchased it, had Araldited it back, to see whether it would hold. Now I had my answer – I will have to ask him to get the manufacturers to send me a new section, as it is only a few months old.
So then I had to get up and screw the landing net into a spare handle I always carry. By the time I had got the spare handle from the holdall on the bank behind me and done that I had just time to put the rig back into the side swim when the all-out was called. Frustrating.
To cut a long weighing-in short the lake had not fished well. I weighed 60 lb 6 oz, which was 7th overall, third in my half, but my partner Alan had also had a bad day with 20 lb, so we couldn't have won.
The inquest.
This is the imortant bit. I guess I must have lost at least 15 fish...though most of the other anglers had similar trouble. I’ve no idea how I could have avoided this. For my down-the-track swim I put bait in with a bait dropper, which gets the feed down to the bottom immediately. But at least I can console myself with the knowledge that I at least hooked enough fish properly to have won the match. They fought ibncredibly well, probably because while the fish were still warm the temperature had dropped several degrees, and cooler water holds more oxygen than warm water, so they were turbo-charged.
With light elastic I could not possibly have prevented most of them diving ninto the far bank reeds, which most tried to do, or swining round into the tick rushes at the side. So I am happy that my choice of elastics – black Hydro, purple Hydro, double 8 Slip, and Preston greeen 13 Hollo, were OK.
One other mistake by me- this club starts at 9.45 am and I am virtually never ready. I had intended to set up my margin pole with two shallow rigs, ready to have a drop-in the margins at any time during the day. But I hadn’t had time to set them up. If I had, I am convinced I would have looked sooner in the side (even though it was only 18 inches deep) and everything would have been set up exactly right. When the fish feed close to me I am always confident of making up ground on anyone else in the match.
I spoke to Stuart afterwards, and he has the same problem. We both agreed that in future we will get everything ready, even if it takes until 10.30 am, before starting to fish. So basically I think I helped throw wthat match away. It was won with 90 lb on peg 25, some to the feeder, and others to pole in the margin. Well done indeed Bill.
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