A satisfactory match on Oak

Oak Lake, Decoy, peg 24

This was a regular Sunday Open, fished by some very good anglers (12 of us in total), and I was dubious about doing well, unless I managed to pick peg 10 or opposite on 21 or 22. In the event 24 stuck to my fingers, which, although only 20 yards from the hot area, hasn’t been regarded as anything other than average. But with the slightly warmer weather the anglers were hoping the fish might have started moving from the areas where they have been coralled all winter. That hope was dashed for me when Adam Playford, on my right on 22, next to the bird hide, had a big fish on within a minute of the match starting!

Foulhookers and double-figure fish

I hooked a fish at 13 metres on pellet after about 20 minutes, but it came off immediately – probably foulhooked. So I potted in a small amount of pellet and hemp and had a look down the side, in the deep water, where I had been throwing maggots. Within two minutes I hooked a big fish which was obviously foulhooked, and which came off ten minutes after being hooked. It went to ground near the side, but rather than being snagged, I think it just stopped swimming – it felt like a sack of potatoes. Probably a very big double.

In the next two hours I managed to hook a three-pounder on corn and lose another huge fish after a long fight, also obviously foulhooked by the way it swam. So halfway though the match it was Carp -3; Me – 1. I had 3 lb in my net, and Adam and the angler opposite, Steve Harwood, seemed to be on their way towards 100 lb!

Maggot works!

Desperate, I started using maggot, and managed to catch  four more – three around in the side, in the deep water, where it was a foot deeper than at 13 metres, and one out at 13 metres – all on maggot. I learned later that most of the better weights were taken on maggot, but with the air a little warmer than recently I had banked on pellet working. You can’t win ‘em all... Two of my fish were around 10 lb with one at 6 lb and another around 8 lb.

Adam’s swim dried towards the end, but Steve carried on catching fish regularly and his winning catch of 128 lb consisted of just 18 fish. This is the peg I was on two weeks ago when I weighed over 100 lb.

Me with a 10 lb-plus friend.

Runner-up Adam Playford, 81 lb.

How the top men fish

Across from me a little to the left Chris Barley on peg 6 was working hard, continually moving swims from 13 metres, to about 7 metres and then down the side, and catching odd fish all day for an impressive third place.

One tends to think that top anglers like Chris can tell as soon as they get to the water’s edge how they will catch, and where. In fact they usually fish very little differently to the way most of us fish – learning as the day goes on and trying stuff until they find something that works. I once sat behind Nigel Baxter to watch him fish a whole match at Decoy, and afterwards I decided he fishes very little differently to the way I do...except that he obviously does it just a little better. It brings home to me that fishing is not an exact art – it’s almost always trial and error.

I managed sixth, which I was pleased with.

Happy...

The results are shown and I was happy that, in the end, my five fish weighed 37 lb for sixth spot in a strong field of 12, which also included Barry Mason. Three of mine were foulhooked, but then most anglers had this problem. The water was ice cold, however the fish were moving, swirling near the surface, but obviously not in feeding mode – Rob Goodson fished shallow for a long time for just two.

My next match is on Cedar this Thursday, when the best weights may come from around peg 6 or opposite around 19. When the water has warmed up the fish should move. The carp here are not as big an average as in Oak and Yew, but there appear to be more barbel, so dead maggots down the side may play a part.