Second again – Horseshoe, Decoy

Scraping the ice off the car windscreen is not the best way to start, and it meant a cool start for the 12 of us in this Spratts club match, with the forecast North-Easterly from my right. I drew peg 7, and  had intended to start on a small Method, but I decided to try out my three main pole lines and keep an eye on the others, most of whom started on a feeder. I like to make sure the rigs seem right and everything is working, early in the match.

So it was out to 10 metres with a 1gm Tuff-Eye (I like these because you can change the colour of the tips) and a pellet. But ten minutes saw no indication so I had a look in the swim in front of me, after putting in dead maggots. Treble maggot bait tempted half a dozen roach, so I had a look in the margin to my left. Top two plus one took me to the edge of the next platform, 8, which was vacant. At this moment I looked round to see Trevor on peg 11 playing a good fish on a waggler rod, and not long after, Rob on 9 hit a good fish on cat meat in his margin, which seemed deeper than mine.

Trevor weighs and Rob Allen records. We
use a weigh bag which prevents a
lot of the squashing you get with nets.

After a few minutes a 2 lb bream took my corn, and then a 3 lb carp, though now Trevor was playing his third big fish. He had a back-ish wind, ideal for the waggler, and I guessed the rest of us were already fishing for second place. Corn took a couple of F1s, and then a switch to cat meat brought fish of around 9 lb and 7 lb and another F1. When bites tailed off I had another  look at the third pole swim, on top two plus one in front of me, changing to corn, using a 0.5 gm Tuff Eye and hit a succession of F1s to almost 4 lb on corn. The bait had to be just touching bottom and moving, to get a bite.

Mick, on my right, seemed to be struggling, and although Rob had had another fish or two I was sure I was now well ahead of him. Yet again I had to change elastics in my front swim twice during the match, from an 8 up to Grey Hydro and then to Preston 13 Hollo, as the fish threatened to charge through Mike's swim to my right.

Switching between lines

My best fish was about 9 lb, on cat meat.

The rest of the match was spent switching between the two close-in swims, and I found that feeding with a small pole pot as I lowered the bait often brought a bite. If I hadn’t had a bite within a minute  in the swim in front of me I brought the rig back, put six grains of corn in the pot and went out again. At times the fish gave bites which looked as if they were from roach but in fact I hooked only one roach, so I am sure the F1s were playing with the bait. The wind died in the middle of the match before picking up again, and in that time I had my best spell, and included two or three proper 4 lb carp.  The fish in the left margin responded to cat meat, and they gave a bite within seconds; any longer than that and I had to lift the rig and drop it in again.

Trevor had a lot of 5 lb-plus fish, to win.

With an hour and a quarter to go, and my clicker showing 38 lb in each net I went for a third. As always when I returned I couldn’t pick up where I had left off, but that constant feeding with corn in front of me started the F1s feeding again. I kept wondering whether I should go to the left margin, against the next platform, with cat meat again, hoping for bigger fish, but I decided to keep putting fish in the net.

Trevor blitzes it!

In the event I doubt whether I would have caught Trevor. I put 22 lb 13 oz into the last net (just over an hour) and finished with 98 lb 12 oz for second, almost 40 lb behind Trevor, who fished Wafters on a waggler about 18 inches deep, casting right across to the far bank and totalled 137 lb for the win. I lost just two fish, one definitely foulhooked and the other almost certainly so. So all-in-all I was quite happy, beating the anglers either side, which is always the first aim.

The icing on the cake was help with getting my tackle back to the car, and then help putting it in the back of the car – my back was really playing me up. That’s the great thing about fishing – help is always available and freely given. They are my mates and that’s what mates are for!

Martin Parker's best fish, around 13 lb.

The result - better than I had expected after the overnight frost.

After the now-usual trip to the toilet at the end, I was able to watch most of the weighing-in; pegs 1 to 5 were difficult, and surprisingly those from 13 onwards didn’t produce the big weights I had expected. Best fish was about 13 lb to Martin Parker, former Vets National Champion. It helped him claim the golden coin from Terry Tribe, former Div 4 National Champion, who struggled on peg 3. It's amazing that Martin does so well, as he has only one eye!

Peter Harrison on 13 was Golden Peg, so it’s a roll-over to our next match the week after next, on Yew.