Decoy Open - windy and cold

Beastie Lake, Decoy, peg 24

Lots of snow on Wednesday, followed by rain, meant that the water was cooled down even more than it had been. Just nine turned out for this Saturday Open on Beastie, but they included some class anglers – including Stuart Bracey, Nigel Baxter and Danny Carlton, all of whom are regular framers here.

I must admit peg 24 has form, but I couldn’t master it! I had a viscious, cold back wind that rocked me about on my basket at times and kept blowing my pole sections off the rollers – poor Nigel Baxter on 17 had it almost dead on from his right and I remember fishing on that peg, next to Nigel, in similar weather a couple of years ago (though not quite so cold), when it was impossible for either of us to fish more than two sections of a pole. Today Nigel said afterwards that he had to fish feeder all day, and he must have been frozen.

I started on a bomb with maggot and got several small twitches that never developed into proper bites. Then it was out to 11 metres on the pole with a 4mm expander, but after two hours I hadn’t got a fish. So I came into top-two-plus-two, where I had found a nice slope which was about four inches shallower at the top than on the bottom – and the tow was taking the float from deep water to shallow, which is always the best way.

In went a bait dropper of dead maggot, with maggot on the hook, dragging the bottom, and eventually got a bite from a roach. Ten minutes later in came an ide of over 1 lb. Things were looking up, as I hadn’t seen the anglers on either side catch a fish. Then I saw the angler on my left unhooking something, but couldn’t see how big it was. He was alternating between his near pole swim and another at about 11 metres and a feeder, so I suspected he was struggling.

Roach!

Two or three more roach came off as I broke down the pole – it’s always a problem when catching small fish at distance, especially in a strong wind. Then a bite on the drop persuaded me to shallow up by a foot, which brought some more roach – all around 2-3 oz. Shallowing up further brought some more roach, and I was catching one about every five minutes, always hoping that a carp or more ide would muscle in, but none did.

With about 30 roach in my net I went down on the bottom for the last half-hour and immediately picked up another ide and  just two or three more roach, losing some more as I unshipped. My elastic was the lightest I had – a 6-8 – and although something like a 3 or 4 would have been better for the roach I wouldn’t fancy my chances of landing a big carp on that elastic in that wind. A Catch-22 situation.

The weigh-in

The angler on my left had 7 lb 7 oz, so I was pleased to total 8 lb 4 oz, and the angler on my right had picked up two good F1s on a Method feeder in the last half-hour to add to a single bream plus a few roach, for 11 lb.

Danny Carlton on 29 had fished for roach all day, and took 18 lb 5 oz of them, fishing a long line, which I will do next time if I start cacthing small roach. He would have won if Stuart Bracy on 12 hadn’t foulhooked a double-figure carp near the end of the match, adding it to some bits on the pole and three F1s on the Method, and winning with 20 lb 4 oz. Nigel Baxter was third with mainly small bream on a groundbait feeder with maggot. When I asked him if he’d cast to the island he said: “I caught them from all over the swim.”

 

The result

Winter League prospects

So a difficult day but I felt I hadn’t disgraced myself, and with the next individual Winter League next Sunday possibly not fishing much better, given the forecast of more snow, I am prepared to look at catching more of those roach if necessary. It’s on six different lakes, with section points counting, and anything could happen. Someone will probably get a big weight, possibly on the favoured pegs on Elm, around 9 and opposite around 16, though the prevailing westerlies blow onto that bank and it can be horribly cold if you get snow or rain in your face.  The first three or four pegs on Damson could be sheltered if we get the same wind, though the carp here are of a smaller average size than all the other lakes, but it could produce a surprise.

Lous 6 will be a favoured peg, fishing into the corner with a feeder. Six-Island I don’t fancy in this weather as it’s the shallowest of the lakes. But Horseshoe, although open to the Westerlies, can fish consistently in the Winter, especially in the higher numbers where the underwater lillies are densest. Finally there’s Beastie, which can produce a winning weight from anywhere, with 26, 29 and 30 possibly the favourite spots if there’s a raging gale.

A good peg, but difficult on the day

Jay Lake, Pidley, peg 2

There were 28 in this Christmas Open, on Jay and Magpie, and peg 2 was probably the one that most anglers would have chosen, as it has good recent form, producing a 99 lb winning weight before the snows and always producing fish. I was able to reach the far bank with 13 metres plus a half butt, but the stiff wind from left to right meant I struggled to fish across all day. Note that this was 13 Browning Metres (which are invariably accurate!).

First drop-in with bread punch off the bottom (called dobbing thoughh I have no idea why) saw a 4 oz carp, and in the next 10 or 15 minutes fish of 2 lb and 3 lb came in. I had to have six feet of line between pole tip and float, to allow for the gusty wind. Then, unaccountably, I got nothing – not even a liner. I had strolled up to peg 6, Dennis Page, the angler on my left, before the match started and it definitely seemed slightly calmer there – indeed two pegs to his left the water was flat calm, sheltered by the end bank; so I guessed I might struggle.

Odd fish

I fed a few maggots down the side of my platform, and took a couple of small perch, then hit a 4 lb carp which eventually pulled off. Back out to the far bank saw nothing until I changed to double maggot, which brought a 4 lb carp first put-in; then nothing. Eventually I fed some maggots and hemp out in the deep water at four sections and hit a 3 lb carp first drop-in; then nothing.

It was impossible to get right over to the far bank with six feet of line, so gradually I reduced the length down to a foot, which meant that I could often get only a few seconds of perfect presentation before a gust blew the pole round. By this time I had put in a few maggots, though one more fish came to bread. Then, an hour later, another to maggots in the deep water. The whole match was spent going from one swim to another, and going across when the wind abated slightly.

Me with my meagre haul.

Magpie result.

My seven decent fish and a few perch weighed 17 lb 7 oz, while Dennis, who in fact hooked a fish before I even realised the match had started, and had a good first half, and a steady second half, fishing right across with bread then maggot, weighed 89 lb 9 oz for the lake win.

Then it was back to the cafe for free refreshments and a free draw, again with the winner picking a prize blind out of the bucket; this was highlighted by Shaun Coaten, who had DNWd and had gone home (don’t know why) winning the top prize when Simon Godfrey picked it out of the bucket for him. No justice in the world!!

Conclusion

I was obviously disappointed. But while a better angler than myself would have had more fish, I don’t think I was capable of getting much more, as I felt I hadn’t done anything stupid, and that if the fish had been there in any quantity I would have caught some. And this was reinforced when I saw that the ‘flier’ peg 2 on Magpie  produded a DNW.  At this time of year fish definitely move around in blocks...which is what make things exciting – you never know where the fish will be!

PS. The forecast was for ‘mild,’ but I don’t know where they got that from. By the end of the match I was shivering with cold. I suppose compared with the North Pole it might have been considered ‘mild.’

The other half of Jay.

My half of Jay.

Bah - humbug

Magpie Lake, Pidley, peg 24

Not much Christmas cheer forthcoming from the carp in this match. To be fair, it fished pretty much as most of us thought it would, with everyone fishing for a bite, and almost half of us failing even that! Of the 20 who fished, 11 caught a fish. I was not one of them!

The previous evening was the first for 10 days which had not seen frost, so any ice that had been left would have thawed and dropped the water temperature even further. The surface was flat calm with no wind, and didn't look inviting.  However, around pegs 1 and 2, where there are lillies, anglers reported that the water was black with carp. And Alan Owen on 2 kept up his extraordinary run of performances here at Rookery Fishery by winning with 51 lb 1 oz. From where I sat I saw him catch a five-pounder and some smaller ones fairly early on, but the fish obviously slowed down.  Opposite me John Belshaw sat the first half of the match on peg 36 (the old 38) with not a fish, but then hit three fairly quickly, of which one weeded him and came off.

Then a couple of spurts, including four fish in the last hour, saw him take another six or seven on bread punch fished two feet deep - the method that caught the majority of carp, and the one that is likely to win here while the water stays cold. I was in open water and never had a bite on pinkie, bread or a pop-up on leger. You needed to be near an underwater feature to get a bite - so the lillies near the entrance dominated the match.

My peg 24. The winner is in red - in the far distance across the bridge, on peg 2. Second was on 36, just out of picture,
 to the right of the bridge, facing the blue aerator.

I had to fish with my 12-metre Browning Sting because two sections of my 16-metre Browning Z12 were being renovated by Will Hadley, who brought them to the match for me to pick up, but who advised me not to use them on the day as the resin would not have completely dried. And although I fished long on this same peg last Winter to come second in an Open I don't think it made any difference on this day - the fish were hanging around lillies and wouldn't move away.

Chris Saunders, 3rd with 20 lb 7 oz.

John Belshaw, 2nd with 36 lb 5 oz.

We had all brought as prize, and afterwards we retired to the cafe for a drink and food, but the winner didn’t get his pick of the prizes – he had to pick a ticket from the bucket stating which prize he had won. I was, obviously, one of the last to pick...and I finished with a bottle of whisky, one of the best prizes there. I like this system!

The result.

My next match is probably the Christmas Open on Sat, Dec 23, and after another couple of mild days with no frost at night, and hopefully given a warmish wind, it should fish much better. The match is on Magpie and Jay, and I will have my 16-metre pole ready for action – it will almost certainly be needed on Jay.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

The Winter League arranged for Sunday, Dec 10 on Decoy,  was cancelled on the Saturday - a good decision by Tony Evans. The snow started here in my village at 6 am on Sunday morning and stopped at 2 pm - travelling would have been a nightmare for myself and all the competitors coming from anywhere farther inland. The new date is Jan 14.

I had actually intended to have a session on Decoy, and was all packed ready to go...until I went outside and realised how much snow there was and how cold it was. And my normal route to Whittlesey is via back roads which would have had hardly any traffic on them, and certainly no gritters. So I watched the Man City v Man U match instead - the way City players hassled their opponents reminded me of Billy Bremner of Leeds, who must have struck fear into attackers when they saw him bearing down on them.

The view from my front door at 8 am on the Sunday morning.

No fishing for me this weekend (Dec 16/17), with my next scheduled match the Winter League on Jan 7, but I hope to get out over the Christmas period. I watched the weigh-in on Jay Lake at Pidley on Wednesday last week, and a lot of anglers struggled to make 10 lb. The winning weight was 99 lb on bread punch fished right across at 14 metres from peg 2. That's hard work in weather this cold.

Next to last, but not downhearted

Horseshoe, Decoy, peg 11

Not a lot to report on this fairly calm day, the catches being down because the water is so cold. I put a block of frozen maggots in lake water to thaw and they were still frozen 45 minutes later! Thjis was the Sunday Open, and 11 of us fished. Being realistic, I would be happy no being last in this sort of company.

As Tony Evans had told me, this peg is not as deep as peg 7, where I fished in the Winter League, but I'm not certain that accounted for my lack of fish. Forty minutes on a feeder with maggot brought two tiny liners, so it was down the side, in a hole under the tree to my left, where I eventually found a roach or two on maggot.

I lose a big fish
But they were never going to win anything, so I went out to five sections, where once again it was roach on maggot until, halfway through the match, I hit a big fish. I had just changed my hook down from a 14 to a PR22 size 16 - a very fine-wire hook. Two minutes after hooking the fish, which almost pulled my light elastic into peg 13, the hook pulled off. I though about it and realised the line, about 0.16mm, was probably too thick for the tiny spade.

So it was back to a 'normal' strong size 16 and eventually, after a long spell with just odd roach I came into the side and started catching them fairly quickly on a single maggot, hoping carp would arrive; but they didn't. Meanwhile Tony Evan, two swims to my right, had also been concentrating on roach on maggot, but the odd F1 had muscled in, so he was way ahead of me. Then, with 75 minutes left, I tried out at 13 metres, got two bites which I missed (probably roach), then I hit a good fish which came off,  and then caught my first F1 around 2 lb, on two live red maggots..

After 15 minutes fishless I came back to five sections and got another F1. Then back out for a bream, back in for a 2 lb tench, then back out for two bream over 1 lb each. In the last 15 minutes Tony managed, after a long fight, to net a carp approaching 10 lb, and two more net fish, which boosted his total no end!

The result.

Simon Godfrey,  third on peg 5,
 fished maggot.

My two F1s, one tench , three bream and two or three pounds of roach weighed 13 lb 9 oz, which was not last! So success of a kind. Jimmy Brooks won on 19 feeding corn in a toss pot at 13 metres. He told me he fed just two or three grains at a time and fished with corn all day. And he put back a 6 lb pike, which I think should probably have been counted as we are not fishing to Angling Trust rules, but fishery rules. And I doubt whether pike are mentioned.

Stabilising an umbrella

I have recently seen forums about umbrellas in high winds. I've never found anything better than the little gizmos which slip onto the end of an umbrella rib and screw into a bankstick. But I can't remember what they are called.

Here are a couple of pictures to show them. Because my umbrella is a Preston Flat Back the ribs are too thick to take the gizmo, so I have wired mine on using thick, plastic-coated garden wire.

The bank stick must be extending. Screw the stick into the ground to below the gizmo; unclip the centre portion; slide it up to the gizmo and screw the centre portion of the bankstick (the female thread) over the gizmo's male thread; adjust the tension, and clip the centre in place. I have one on each side of my umbrella.

The gizmo wired to a thick Flat Back rib.

The bankstick in place.

There's nothing better for stopping the umbrella from moving in a high wind, provided you also have the normal umbrella rope in place and also pin the Flat Back down by the two D-rings provided on the material. I just wish I could find out what they are called!

No Xmas cheer for me

Cedar Lake, Decoy, peg 4

This was our annual Spratts Christmas match, with big prizes. I’ve fished it for about 15 years and never yet done any good! Today was no exception...

There were 13 of us, so we fished the 13 pegs on the left-hand (Western) bank of Cedar, which gave us a very slight back wind from the left – handy because it was a very strong, bitterly-cold NNW, and the chill factor was forecasted to be around 1 Degree. It felt a lot colder.

 I fancied pegs 1 or 2 as this strip lake tends to fish better at the car park end, but at this time of year anything can happen. The far end pegs, from about 10 onwards, had shelter from the wind and the surface was quite calm, in contrast to the rest of the lake, which had a big ripple on it and made it quite impossible to fish much beyond 10 metres.

Don't be fooled by the blue sky - it was bitterly cold.

Uneventful

My match was pretty uneventful – half an hour on a small groundbait feeder with maggot across the far side brought just a few taps and nudges; then 20 minutes trotting down the side with maggot in the huge undertow didn’t bring a sign of a bite. I tried putting a pole out to five sections (about 7 metres), but came inside when the wind got up, to four sections; and after an hour fishing here with maggot over maggot and hemp an 8 lb mirror obligingly took the bait.

Mick Raby on my left had had three or four fish out at 9 metres, but was having to sink the end metre of his pole to hold it reasonably still; and Bob, on peg 2, had had a quick burst of action on his feeder-fished maggot across the far side, which included a fish into double-figures. I tried feeder again, but still no joy and eventually decided I had to try a longer pole.

So it was out to six sections (10 metres or so) where I found it difficult to feed and fish via a toss-pot, so put in some maggots with a big cup, went out with a bunch of maggots...and had a 3 lb mirror within seconds. But no more. So back to the four sections, where I could present a bait perfectly, but no more fish there. I even tried a 3 gm rig, which actually set wonderfully stablein the gusting wind, but didn’t bring any bites.

Corn worked for Mick

 Meanwhile, Bob had had another couple of spurts on his feeder – two or three fish very quickly, and Mick, on my left, had also picked up another three or four fish. I found out later he was fishing corn. I did try it and should perhaps have tried it for longer.

My last fish was on a feeder - a 2 lb F1 was on the end when I wound in! Bob had three fish really quickly just before the end, while  Mick had a last throw of the dice on feeder and took two really big fish in the last few minutes. Down at the far end I later found that Mick Linnell had also had a good spell in the last hour on a feeder thrown over to the far bank. But my three carp and four tiny suicidal roach which weighed about 1 oz between them,  were my measly offering to the Christmas Match gods – 13 lb 3 oz which was enough for seventh place, winning me a £50 Benwick Sports voucher.

Good old Ted

Good old (well he is 89) Ted on peg 1 was first to weigh in – 23 lb 15 oz on a feeder cast to the aerator. Just turning up for this match in these conditions makes him a hero in my book. Bob won with 43 lb 10 oz  and Mick, next to me, was second – so a good hammering for Yours Truly. And it got worse when I found that Peter Barnes had, for the second match in a row on the strips, caught on waggler fished past the middle. I had a rod on the bank, all ready to fish an 8 gm waggler, and didn’t even try it. I had found that past my four-section line the tow seemed to peter out, but Peter said that once he had sunk his line he found the tow, and it tripped his bait along the bottom nicely. So it was probably a case of Operator Error...but the cold numbs my brain as well as my hands. That’s my excuse.

I have taken to using the narrow bait boxes in Winter so I can have a
large selection of baits handy...otherwise I forget what I have brought!

The result.

PS. Mick Linnell has politely pointed out to me that though he did fish for Peterborough in the National he spent 15 years with the all-conquering Oundle squad before moving to Stamford Welland. A very experienced angler, who is still winning matches. 

PPS. The calm water at the far end didn’t appear to have given the anglers there any advantage, though it was a touch warmer.

PPPS.  John Garner had one sucked maggot five minutes from the end!!