This was the last match in the six-match individual Drennan
Winter League organised (very well) by Tony Evans. And peg 4 was one of the
pegs I really did not fancy on the day because of the bitterly-cold Westerly wind
blowing into it. It wasn’t too bad at the start but as soon as the sun went in
it was murder!
Still, there was a job to be done and after spending the
first few minutes having a quick look on my 13-metres line and on a deep-water
margin line I picked up my rod and maggot feeder. But two hours on this brought
just one tiny roach, while the angler on my left had a big car early on, on a
straight lead, and the one on my right didn’t get anything either, so far as I
could see.
So after two hours the angler on my right and I both changed
to pole – him at 13 metres and me at eight metres. It took him almost half an
hour to get a fish, but he then picked up another four or five – I guessed they
were bream, while I had a gudgeon and a roach. So it was out to 13 metres and
after about half an hour I took a bream on two maggots. The wind was gusting up
at times, so I had to feed with a small amount of bait in a big cup, rather
than using a small pole pot.
A surprise barbel
Over the next 90 minutes or so I managed another five bream,
all around 1.5 lb, but my neighbour was getting two fish to my one. The wind,
at one time, became so cold that even with seven layers of clothing on I was
shivering and actually considering spending a few minutes in the car to warm
up. But then it eased a little and the sun came out and I decided to stick it
out. I had quick looks on the feeder and
on the eight-metres line, but nothing happened. One more fish came at 13 metres
in the last half-hour – an unexpected barbel
of 3 lb.
Although I hadn’t seen it, my left-hand neighbour Andrew Paton had
changed to a maggot feeder ain the last half of the match and picked up some
carp about a rod-length short of the island, which is about 50 metres away, and
he weighed 37 lb 11 oz for second on the lake. I weighed 14 lb 14 oz, which was
about 14 lb more than I thought I was going to get after a couple of hours,
while the angler on my right had 33 lb 6 oz, all bream and a few roach, plus
just one carp.
The other two pegs in our 5-peg section were on the opposite
side of the lake, where at least they had back wind. Danny Carlton had 18 lb 13 oz of roach, and
the other was a DNW. So I ended fourth in my section, and ninth out of 15 on the
lake. The lake was won by Ian Frith on 29 with 99 lb 3 oz of carp, all on a
small cage feeder with pellets inside, baiting with maggot, in the open water
about halfway over to the island. In fact Ian won the whole match!
 |
| Beastie |
 |
| Six-Island |
 |
| Damson |
 |
| Horseshoe |
 |
| Willows |
 |
| Final results in bottom table |
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Looking back at the class of angler taking part I can’t be
too disappointed. After a great start – a 1st, 2nd and a
3rd section places in the first three matches – I fell
away. But at the age of 75 I have to be a realist and say I need luck to beat
these blokes, and don’t feel I fished too badly. At least I caught in every
match, and with the water so cold now every fish is a minor success.
The overall winner was Jon Whincup, who drew Horseshoe
1, considered no more than an average peg by the locals, but he managed another
section second (and fifth in the match) using
a pop-up with a straight bomb over to the reeds. He never came below section second
in the whole series. A popular win, and a great bloke, too.
Doctors and hospital appointments take up most of this week,
but I hope to fish somewhere at the weekend – probably in a Decoy Open.
Considering the cold winds this area gets, Decoy produces some wonderful
fishing in the Winter. Half of the Winter League final is taking place there on
Feb 24.
No comments:
Post a Comment