Sunday, November 12
Elm Lake, Decoy, peg 7
This was the first of the Tony Evans-organised Individual
Winter League, held on Elm, Cedar, Willows, Beastie and Four-Island – a total
of 64 fished, and the points are awarded for sections of five. My ambition was not to finish last on my
lake.
My draw put me between two of the big names – Jon Whincup
was on my left on peg 9, and Barry Mason on my right on peg 6. There was a
nasty, strong cold wind coming from the left but at least it was slighly over
my left shoulder, so although it was cold on our side of the lake the anglers
opposite must have been freezing.
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| Putting the world to rights before the match. |
The sections
Tony has done the sections brilliantly – rather than just
taking the first five pegs then the next five etc he has worked his way down, on
both banks, from the end. So the first section of five had two on my bank
and the nearest three opposite – very fair because the strips tend to fish
better towards one end or the other. But that did mean that both Jon and Barry
were in my section, together with the nearest two anglers opposite.
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| My swim - with Jon Whincup tackling upon peg 9. |
I started fishing well out because as the weather gets
colder that’s usually the best plan – it’s not unusual for very few fish to be
caught in the margins here at this time of year, even though the deepest run on the strips is just a
top-two out and there’s not much in the way of shallow margins on many pegs.
Mine had a small shallow ledge to the right but the left dropped right down to
five feet immediately.
Problem wind
I found before the match started that I could easily fish at
13 metres but, as usual, decided to start a section short of that in case the
wind got up harder...and it did. With a vengeance. Before the match started I had to alter my
starting spot to 10 metres plus a
half-butt. I now find the half-butts invaluable as they not only protect the
section but make it more comfortable to handle and offer the option to push out
that extra 18 inches at will.
So I put in just a few pellets, pieces of corn and hemp at
10 metres, and some pellets down into the deepwater to my left, and started on
a 4mm expander at 10 metres with a o.5 gm Tuff Eye. For 90 minutes all I got
was a couple of possible knocks, and I was about to have a look on the inside
line, where I had been drip-feeding pellets, when I got a proper bite and hit a
big fish. Seconds later the 5 lb hooklength broke. I have no idea why –
probably caught on the dorsal fin. I tend to use hooklengths only in the winter
on Decoy, as there’s always the chance of hitting a double-figure fish (or
worse, foulhooking one) and much prefer the comfort of fishing
straight-through.
So on went a size 16 PR478 hook, and next drop-in I hooked,
and landed, a 4 lb mirror. Fifteen minutes later, having not had another bite,
I had a look inside on a piece of corn and immediately hooked, and landed, a 6
lb common. Cracked it!!!
Err, as usual I hadn’t. No more bites and the wind started
to get really nasty. Barry had been on a feeder or straight bomb for some time but
I then saw him hook a fish on long pole – probably 11.5 metres. And we now both
had trouble with gusts blowing the pole right round almost parallel with the
bank. Jon and the angler to his left, though, didn’t seem to have as much
ripple and afterwards Barry agreed that the wind was not as fierce towards that
end, thanks to the partial shelter of the end bank. The angler opposite the peg
to my left, had some big fish which looked like eight-pounders, early on,
fishing long. But the angler opposite Barry was struggling.
The rest of my day was spent trying desperately to get some
sort of decent presentation on the long pole as I never has another touch
inside or on the shallow ledge. Three more mirrors, all around 3 lb, came in the next couple of hours,
plus two bream around 8 oz, but the only fish in the last hour were a couple
more bream. All came to 6mm expander except the last two bream, which came to
maggot when I came in to 8.5 metres and started another line 45 minutes from
the end, when it was impossible to fish properly at 10 metres.
The weigh-in
I was fourth to weigh on my bank . My fish totalled 23 lb 13
oz and I was amazed to see I was top down to me. But Jon, who I could not see
properly because of a bush between us, weighed 108 lb and Joe Cole, to his
left, took 110 lb, for the top two on the lake. The two anglers opposite were
third and fourth. However Jon won my section, the angler nearly opposite him
was second, and I managed third. I were Reet Chuffed!
I see Jon won the lake from peg 9 in last year’s series, and
these pegs three-quarters of the way down the strips do tend to have an edge –
though Cedar’s top two weights came from the two end opposite the car park –
pegs 1 and 26. Cedar is the one strip, out of the four, which can fish best
towards that end in all weathers.
Conclusion
There is no doubt, as you can see from the weights, which I
have typed out below, that the lake fished best down towards the Northern end.
So I had an advantage over Barry and the anglers to his right...but you’ve
still got to catch them. And third in section is a big bonus for me, from a
field which included a lot of big names. It suggests I can, at least, make the
anglers around me work to beat me. That’s all I ask.
Not sure when all the dates are – they are supposed to be on
Facebook, which I have registered for, but I can’t make head nor tail of how to
find them. I suppose time will tell.
Elm weights – Pegs 1 and 24 at the car park. Blank shows the
peg was not fished.
My section is in bold.
Peg Weight (lb-oz) Peg Weight
24 1
23 3-07 2 6-07
22 2-03 3
21 4 18-00
20 19-14 5
19 22-00 6 19-10
18 7 23-13
17 72-10 8
16 76-14 9 108-00
15 10 110-10
14 62-14 11
13 13-13 12 29-10
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