Monday, November 13th
Damson Lake,
Decoy, peg 5
Boy was it
cold! The hourly forecast I looked at before leaving home said that mid-match
the temperature would be 2 degrees ‘But Feels Like Freezing.’ And it did. Just
as we were going to our pegs Ted drew up – the 89-year-old had overslept, jumped
out of bed (well probably shuffled at his age), driven as fast as he dare along
the frost-covered Fenland roads and arrived in time to start, but having had no
breakfast. He then got peg 11 – the longest walk...perhaps it was not going to
be his day!
There were now
10 of us and we fished the nearest pegs, opposite the high bank, with the
Northerly wind from right to left putting a big ripple on the water – biggest at
peg 1, falling away a little towards the end pegs. I fancied Peg 1 as I have
noticed, on every match I’ve fished on here that the low numbers, where it’s
narrowest, have produced a few bigger
fish – 3 lb-plus as compared with the 10 oz to 1 lb stamp which comprise the
majority of fish. But it was not drawn, and Mick Linell had peg 2 – a good
angler on a decent peg, but the overnight frost might turn things topsy-turvey
I thought.
I had peg 5,
and decided to fish banded pellet in the margins and at three sections, where the
depth fell to about 7 feet, loosefeeding hard pellet – this is the tactic John,
at the fishery, has recommended to me a couple of times, using the margin rig
farther out if the fish come up in the water. The plan looked like working when
I had a fish in the margins, about 18 inches deep, first drop-in. Another came
a few minutes later, then...nothing.
A change of plan
After
another 25 minutes consistently feeding both swims but getting just one more
fish near the side I turned to Plan B – fishing normally with expander on a
half-gram Tuff Eye float. Meanwhile Peter, on my right, was fishing four
sections with paste and catching fish of 1 lb-plus steadily, while Trevor, to
my left had also had two early fish but now sat biteless.
Another 75
minutes fishing three sections with expander brought about three small fish and
my right hand was aching with the cold. So I had a short break, and a hot
Bovril, and a walk up to my mate John on peg 7. He had around 6 lb in the first
hour, but hadn’t had a bite for ages and was seriously thinking of going home
because his hands were so cold. Peter told me afterwards that at this point he
had around 20 lb in his net.
Plan C works better
So back to
my peg and I had a re-think and because the water was so rough I wasn’t sure
where my bait was landing in the seven feet of water; so I put in a bait
dropper of pellet and hempseed. This seemed to work after a fashion and in the
next hour I added another five or six fish, all around 1 lb, while Trevor, on
my left also had a few fish. By this time the wind seemed a little warmer and
didn’t have the bite it had earlier – and John decided to carry on!
 |
| My two favourite floats - the Tuff Eye has four different coloured interchangeable tips; the Maver Invincible has a spring eye with the line going through the body. I use the smaller Invincibles for most of my margin work. |
Plan D in operation
I felt that
the rig wasn’t fishing properly, and couldn’t put my finger on the problem. So,
wondering if a more positive approach would work I got up and went to my
holdall and took out a top with a 1 gm Tuff Eye attached which I had used the
previous day. I slid the bulk down to a foot from the bait and slid the two
Number 12 shot down to within four inches and baited with a 6 mm expander. This
definitely worked better and I added three or fish quickly; then a lull.
Plan E
My final
fling, with an hour to go, was to put
out a bait-dropper of pellet and hempseed to four sections, where the depth was
only about two inches deeper than I had been fishing. For a start it didn’t
work. But I started adjusting the depth by half-an-inch at a time and suddenly
started getting bites. The float was dotted right down so that the pellet on
the bottom dragged the float under, and I held it back by lifting the pole just
an inch, when the weight of the nylon lifted the float back top the surface.
But bites were slow in coming, and I felt certain the fish were there.
Then I did
what I should have thought about earlier and changed from a 6mm expander to a
4mm – the change was miraculous. Now the float could drag the bait along the
bottom without going under. I very slowly tripped the rig through the swim and
started getting a bite every put-in.
 |
| The result |
I had to
mark the pole section I was holding to get the rig in exactly the same spot, because
if I didn’t I just hooked leaves. But it brought results, I don’t think I
missed a bite, and the last 40 minutes
or so must have seen me land 15 or 16 fish, the best 2 lb. I had been really ‘in
the zone’ for that last period and hadn’t even looked at Peter or Trevor, but
they told me afterwards they were almost fishless in the last couple of hours.
My Theory
I believe
the fish were hanging almost on the bottom, not moving, and not hungry, and not
willing to move to take a bait. But if the expander was dribbled along right
past them then some fish would take a peck more out of instinct than hunger.
The fact that I hooked about three on the side of the head makes me certain
this was what was happening. But the float had to be dotted right down as the
fish weren’t moving. On more than one occasion I struck at what I thought might
possibly have been a movement and had a fish every time.
Second place
Mick weighed
in 43 lb 2 oz and had at least one good fish approaching 8 lb. That was a good performance considering the
conditions in the first half of the match. I was mighty pleased to see my fish
weigh 27 lb 2 oz, and surprised that Peter weighed in only 24 lb 7 oz for third
after having been so far ahead of me earlier.
Good old Ted
was fourth – you can’t keep a good man down. What a remarkable man he is!
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