Another good day

Yew Lake, Decoy, peg 18

The day after taking 132 lb on Elm I found myself on Yew, which holds the biggest average fish of all the strips. Again 15 fished this club match, and again the wind was a strong South-Westerly from the left, slightly into my face. My peg is three from the far end (15 down each side).

Hoping I had learned a lesson the previous day I decided to concentrate on meat close in, but starting at three sections with pellet  to get a feel for the swim. However, in the first two hours I managed just one foulhooked five-pounder on pellet, and another three-pounder  also foulhooked, closer-in, also on pellet which I had put on because nothing seemd to want meat.

I walked up to Martin, on my right, who said he had seven fish and had started on his second net. I went back, put in some maggots next to the grass on my right, and promptly foulhooked another carp. Then I had one correctly hooked, and gradually sport picked up.  I fished mainly the close-in swim, at five feet next to the grass, and another down the shelf about two feet farther out. Beyond this the depth dropped to around eight feet.

My swim - eight feet deep in line with the edge of the reeds, but I caught most inside that line
within two feet of the bank.

Good fish start coming in

Swapping these swims brought some good carp, to 10 lb, but there was no pattern. Towards the end I started in the deeper water and hooked four or five barbel to 4 lb but they take so long to land!  One fish I had on was at least 10lb, and as I was about to net it the fish slipped under the landing net, caught the hook in the mesh, and was gone! That cost me...

By the end I was on my 40-year-old stiff margin pole with only about five deet of strong latex, which definitely helps land the fish more quickly – they fight less because the pole is stiffer.

As a change I also had a drop down the left-hand swim right next to the grass, and this brought two F1s, but I declined to stay on these – lesson learned. With 90 minutes to go I went for another net and again, with just over 15 minutes to go, I would have liked to get a fourth, but decided against it because again it entailed a longish walk back to the car.

The result. Trevor, second, had 80 lb on the last 90 minutes!

In the event I didn't need another net,  but I landed three big carp in that  17 minutes, bringing my nets to 48 lb, 47 lb and 43 lb (just five fish), totalling 139 lb 9 oz. Another good day, which brought me third spot. That lost ten-pounder cost me at least second place, for which I needed only another 13 oz.

I believe that Yew lake is a little deeper towards the far end than it is towards the car park end,  where I have had no more than five feet depth in Summer. And no pictures of fish because at the end my phone showed just 1% charge. Luckily I keep a portable charger in the car, so was able to recharge the phone sufficiently to take the results! These Smart phones aren’t that smart – my old one would hold its charge for weeks...

Next matches

I intend to fish a club match on Sunday on Willows, where carp and barbel should show. Peg 25 is the expected flier but I'd also be happy with 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31 and 35. But better weights have also been coming from the bay from 15 to 22 recently.  Out of the rest 2 and 3 would be OK.

Next day sees me in another club event on Horseshoe, where there are more F1s. If it's a strong North-Easterly, as forecast today, then anywhere from 13 to 20 would do me fine!