Sixth but still smiling - Six-Island, Decoy.

Peg 18

Twenty of us fished this charity match, an annual event organised by John Garner to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. Peg 18 is a well-known swim which has won lots of matches in Six-Island Pool, with one of the advantages being that you can fish the far bank on only about ten metres of pole.John at the fishery said that the carp had definitely spawned on Friday or Saturday.

Conditions were perfect for making a big catch, with a warm, stiff Westerly breeze, and cloud most of the day. So I started by putting a few pellets and grains of corn beside the irises growing to my left, where there was a hole which was deeper than any other part of the swim. Then I started fishing across, about a metre from the far bank, where I got a bite or two which I missed; so I assumed they were liners.

My swim - the wind picked up a lot in the first hour so I couldn't fish across.

However, within 20 minutes of the start the wind had whipped up much stronger, and within another ten minutes it became very difficult to hold the pole out. The wind was coming from my right, at about 45 degrees over my back, but the banks here channel the wind down in almost a straight line right to left. That put the end pegs 24 and 25 right in the teeth of the wind, and other anglers agreed that they might be the pegs to win today, especially as there were two very good anglers on them.

Wendy took most of her 53 lb on a
feeder in the first half of the match

In that first hour Wendy, on my left on peg 19, had caught several good carp on a pellet feeder and corn. I had my feeder rod with me, but couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t catch on a pole in these great conditions. So (stupidly) I plodded on, and had a look at the iris swim. First drop in I hooked a good fish which came off a few seconds later. Then nothing. I must have fished there for another 45 minutes before eventually dropping in in front of me on a top two.

Two hours gone and I have 5 lb...

First drop in on with sweetcorn saw a 3 lb carp come in, then a 1 lb crucian and a couple of smaller ones. Two hours gone and Dave Garner walked past to his car, saying he had 20 lb; I had about 5 lb and had so far lost three carp and landed one.  He told me afterwards that indeed he really had 20 lb – just two double-figure carp! I estimated that Wendy already had at least 30 lb.

I kept moving from the iris swim to the short swim, with occasional looks in the shallow margins, which were about 18 inches deep and produced nothing. After three hours of the match I had about 8 lb, and after four hours I had 12 lb. Struggling wasn’t the word, though by now Wendy’s catch rate had really slowed.

It was good to meet Kevin Beavis again. He
used to be a regular in Fenland Rods matches.

Then, I suddenly started to catch occasional carp on the short swim in front of me – mainly F1s on pellet set to trip bottom as the rig was carried against the wind by the underwater tow, and carp to 4 lb on corn. I had about seven fish quite quickly before a lull. Just 75 minutes left now, and I had yet another look in the margins with my top two. I sort of did it properly – potting in some bait and pouring water on top from a height to cause a disturbance...and it worked.

Fish from the margins!

A minute later I saw swirls to my right, went in with a grain for corm, and hit a 7 lb mirror. From then I concentrated on the margins, moving from the left one to the right one and back again. Sometimes baiting up brought fish in, but a lot of times it didn’t. However, I kept putting the occasional fish in the net. The best one, about 10 lb, leapt twice out of the water like a trout, making a huge splash which had me almost  jumping off my box, but it stayed attached. Things were picking up.

Dave Garner's first two fish
weighed about 20 lb between them!

Six minutes to go on my watch and I hadn’t had a fish for several minutes. I’d been catching a few yards from the platform, and in desperation I threw a handful of 8mm pellets down within a yard of the platform, followed it with a lump of cat meat on my heavy rig, and immediately a six-pounder took it. That went into the net, and with three minutes to go I repeated the performance and immediately hit a five-pounder, which I was putting into the keepnet when the match ended. A mini-Grandstand finish. I thought I might have 85 lb, and reckon I must have added more than 50 lb in the last 75 minutes.

                                                        The weigh-in

Will Foster checks the weights.

Dick Warrener on peg 2 weighed first – 97 lb 4 oz, which led round to me, though I knew I couldn’t beat that. However pegs 8 and 9 both had over 90 lb. With the wind into that corner I wasn’t surprised, though I was suprised that the weights were so low in what seemed perfect conditions. I weighed 82 lb 2 oz, and Wendy 53 lb 2 oz – she said she couldn’t be bothered to set up her pole, though she had it with her. Had she done so and fished the margin I guess she could have had a very big weight; but the same applies to me – I couldn’t be bothered to set up the feeder when I saw her catching on it. I clearly should have done.

Neil Garner - fifth with 82 lb.

Pegs 24 had three nets in, and Peg 25 had four, and both beat me. Neil on 24 had 85 lb 8 oz and Kevin Lee had a huge 194 lb 15 oz – and he was over the 50 lb limit in three nets. So Kevin won easily, Dick Warrener continued his excellent run of results to finish second,  and I was sixth.

Looking back

When I looked at the results I wasn’t disappointed at sixth spot when I realised that the top five weights came from the two corners where the wind was blowing in – 24, 25 and 2, and then 8 and 9 on the bottom part of the lake. So I was best of the rest, and happy (though I should have at least had the feeder rod out some time in the first four hours).

Winner Kevin Lee's best fish was a cracking,
 scale-perfect double-figure  common carp.

The result - £782 raised for charity.

Best news was that the match raised £782 for Cancer Research UK, and someone will be winning £50 for guessing the winning weight (or nearest to it). I don’t know yet who that is.

Next match this Friday on Cedar, when I will definitely have a feeder rod made up and ready to use. Pegs 20 to 26, towards the car park end, will probably be favourite. But there are lots of fish here, including lots of barbel, and if the carp don’t feed the barbel might, so I will have maggots with me.

I scrape into an unexpected second place - Lous, Decoy

Peg 15

Fifteen of us fished this Spratts match, so with just 15 pegs on Lous there were no spare pegs. I drew the one peg I wouldn’t have chosen – peg 15. It’s narrow, in a corner, with reeds about 11 metres in front, and reeds along the right hand side, which some almost right up to the platform. Peg 14 to the left is opposite the end of the reeds, and the angler here can also  cast right across to the far bank some 25 metres away. There wasn’t much wind, and the water in my swim looked dead – a bit scummy, with fish weaving in and out of the reeds just below the surface, presumably nearing spawning time.

To cap it all, Peg 15 was drawn as the Golden Peg, so a rollover was almost certain, with pegs 6 and 7 favourites in my mind to produce good weights. Honestly I half expected to be sitting there a half time with an empty net. Peter Spriggs, who drew this in a Summer match last year (or it may have been the year before) said he could get a bite only beside the platform of Peg 14...but that was out for me today.

No wind, flat calm, and very, very hot. I didn't fancy my Peg 15.

However, first drop in with a 6mm expander, fished shallow and dropped in front of a fish, saw a two-pounder come in fairly easily on the grey Hydro. Second attempt at mugging a cruising fish was also successful...but the fish shot into the far side reeds and snagged me. I got the rig back and changed it on to a tight 13 Hollo. Next drop in, a fish was hooked and it ploughed into the reeds on the right hand side. Me 1; Fish 2.

                                                     I struggle for the first three hours.

Peter Barnes struggled next to
the winner. He had mainly reeds
in his margin swims.

Then I couldn’t get a take from any of the hundreds of fish which came through the swim, from left to right, making for the reeds. Eventually I gave up and went out to about 7 metres in the open water. I fished here for half an hour with expander without a bite. So into the margin, and a 2 lb carp obliged on corn from the left. After another long wait two 8 oz crucians came from a spot a foot or so from the reeds on the right, on corm on a top two. The a 2 lb carp from the left again, and after two hours I reckoned I had about 7 lb.

Halfway through the match Callum came down to see Wendy, his mother, and asked how much I had. I told him 10 lb. But a little while later I put on a piece of meat and managed another fish from the left, on a top two. Meanwhile Terry Tribe, on my left, had two or three times my weight, taking fish on a straight bomb, and also some near the reeds opposite, on hard pellet, fished shallow, and also fished near the bottom. He said later he had to lift the bait to get a bite. Then he started fishing in the margin, and picked up occasional fish there.

Things gradually get better

Trevor took most of his fish mugging.

My sport gradually picked up, provided I fed and followed it immediately with my rig. Meat worked best on the righthand swim, which was a few inches deeper than the left, where corn seemed better. At one point I hit a 10 lb fish, which I clearly saw on the surface. I broke down to my top two, which had purple Hydro, but couldn’t stop the fish suddenly turning and shooting into the reeds on my right. I lost about three more fish like that. Even my Middy 18-20 solid wouldn’t hold them all.

Now although fish were still swimming around the reeds some were coming out and then dropping down, giving me liners. But my Special Method was able to avoid striking until I had a proper bite, and I missed hardly any of those, even though sometimes they took two or three minutes to develop. Like the previous Sunday, carp were definitely playing with the bait, and often I simply had to lift the rig out and drop it in again, hoping a fish would take the bait as it hit bottom. A couple of 1 lb crucians muscled in, and just one F1.

                                                           

Peter Spriggs was third from Peg 9.

The bait had to be moving

Sport came in spurts, mainly 3 lb fish with the odd five pounder and not a single one took a static bait on the bottom – they all took either on the drop or when the bait was moved. Ten minutes from the end another big fish took me into the reeds and I lost the rig. With no more than six minutes left I switched to my corn rig, put a piece of meat on, and a five-pounder came in. Another quick drop-in and a three –pounder came in.

                 

A good ending

Another half-hour and I reckon I would have added 40 lb! But inevitably the shout went up to end the match. So a good ending from a swim I really, really did not fancy. I fed mainly coen and pellet, and think I should have potted in hemp when I started to catch fish with two hours to go. But I didn’t!

I had seen Martin Parker fishing long, presumably shallow, so assumed he had a lot of fish. John on 6 had been for a third net with 90 minutes to go, and Mick Linnell on 13 had had early fish. I assumed I would probably be nearly last.

But following the scales I realised that almost everybody had struggled. Trevor had hardly anything on peg 4 at 12 o’clock, but had then switched to mugging moving fish and finished with 68 lb. John easily won, with the majority of his fish coming from the left of his platform, next to  a small stretch bank without reeds, which is what I think you need when fish about to spawn are monopolising the reeds.  Next door Wendy was only a couple of fish away from nicking third spot, taking all her 61 lb on a feeder, mostly put in not far out.

Wendy - seventh with 61 lb 3 oz.

 John Smith, an easy winner with 136 lb 2 oz.

I was certain Terry Tribe had beaten me, but he weighed 62 lb 7 oz. I fancy his fish were slightly smaller than mine, as I was sure he had more  fish than me.  I reckoned I had about 40 lb in one net and 36 in the other; in fact they went 43 lb and 33 lb and I finished with 77 lb for an unexpected second spot. Happy Days.

Sunday sees John Garner’s annual Cancer Charity match on Six-Island. I am guessing that if the conditions are like todday’s the last couple of hours will again decide the match, but after the heat today I would not be surprised if the fish have actually spawned by then. If there’s a good wind weights could be really high – apparently Peg 4 won this lake in the Fish O’ Mania qualifier with over 200 lb. I would not mind Peg 4 or 17 – they both give several options. And of course Peg 18  would be nice. Pegs 24 and 25 are usually good, also, and my other choice would be 9.

A very difficult match - Six-Island, Decoy

Peg 10

I’ve never fished peg 10, and although it’s a corner peg, and some mates said it was a good draw, I can remember seeing only two really good catches from it over the years. There's a lovely-looking bay to the right, but it looks much better than it is. It’s frequently beaten by peg 9 opposite and the pegs to the left. The weather was warm with hardly any wind, and 14 of us fished.

I wasn’t ready when the match started (I never am) and before I had started Kevin, on my left, was playing a big fish, which turned out to be foulhooked. Within a short time had had another, both from about 9 metres, probably on meat.

I fancied starting at 9 metres to the reeds on my right, and first drop on a 6mm expander I had some indications which looked like liners. Second drop was the same, so I potted in a small amount of pellet and hemp. But when I prepared to ship out I looked up and the area I had baited was covered with debris – floating twigs, reed stems etc. For the first half of the match this stuff drifted in and out of the righthand part of my swim, so I had to look elsewhere.

Callum Judge was third on peg 24.

A terrible start

I went out in front of me, and eventually hooked a 4 oz carp, and then a 2 lb tench. Nothing else came so I had a look inside, and after a long time hooked two F1s from the right margin – about three feet from the bank. Kevin had added some more fish, but with two hours already  gone I now had the magnificent total of about 7 lb.

Fish were moving in the reeds all day long, probably thinking about spawning – lots were hanging just below the surface wit their head against the reeds. So I wasn’t surprised when I couldn’t catch close-in, or in the bay to my right. So out to 9 metres again and two or three F1s and two 4 lb carp came in during the next couple of hours on corn, and another couple from the deep margins on meat.

I was getting lots of what looked like liners, but the fish (when one eventually took the bait) were nearly always F1s or carp. They were definitely playing with the bait for minutes at a time. And things were made more difficult by the debris, which had now left the first swim and was now floating back and forth along my margins.

Winner Tony's best fish was 15 lb-plus. It ran
 round the back of the aerator, but amazingly
it  turned round and swam back to Tony!

A good fish at last

I now had about 20 lb with 75 minutes to go. Out to 9 metres and I hooked a big fish which turned out to be a 10 lb mirror hooked on the OUTSIDE of the mouth. So I was now convinced that the fish were not in a proper feeding mood.

With about 30 minutes to go there was a sudden spurt, and three more fish came in, on meat, for about 10 lb. Then the match finished. Kevin on my left was well ahead of me, though he had struggled for the second half of the match. Opposite Mel on 9 had a good start but his sport also tailed off.

The weigh-in

Top weights came from the straight which runs North to South, pegs 18 round to 25. It’s normal for one arm of the lake to fish better than the other, and there were two factors which could have affected us – heavy rain the previous day, and a Fish O’Mania qualifier on that day also, with Six-Island having been fished. I weighed 42 lb 14 oz, for ninth place.

Tobny Nisbet was top with 124 lb 9 oz on peg 24, which won the match, but as this was a handicap the positions for the medals were different, and Tony ended as runner-up in that. John Garner was second in the match with 102 lb 4 oz, but won the Handicap event, fishing from peg 18 to bare bank to his left towards peg 19. I think that having a bit of bare bank, which the spawning fish (or near-spawning fish) were not interested in was probably the key in a lot of swims, and that will be the case on  many of the lakes at the moment.

Top weights were towards the car park end.

Kevin on my left had 70 lb, and Mel opposite had 50 lb, and I finished next to last under the handicap system. Some anglers told me they lost as many fish as they landed; I lost just three, and using my Special Method was able to avoid foulhooking a lot.

I was actually quite happy

Although the result was not top-drawer I was actually quite happy, and don’t think I could have got a lot more out of the swim on the day. I tried flicking expanders to the fish which were cruising under the surface, but they were either ignored or inspected and rejected. I tried slapping a 6mm lassoed hard pellet for a time, but never had any thing, so I doubt whether those fish were willing to feed.

Next match on Lou’s lake. The hot peg is 6, where the really big weights are usually taken on feeder or pellet waggler. They are not what I’m best at, but I probably won’t get it anyway! I think it likely that the fish will be in full spawning mode by then, so anything could happen.

Beaten by 14 oz – Damson, Decoy

Peg 2

I had always fancied being drawn in the first three or four pegs on Damson, because every time I have followed the scales these swims seem to produce a few larger fish than the rest. Most fish in Damson seem to be around 1 lb to 2 lb, but the odd larger one seems to come from these, at the car park end. But I had never drawn there...until this match, which took started in blazing sunshine and flat calm surface; frankly I didn't particularly like the look of my swim, which had a bit of a scum on it.

Fourteen fished, and Peg 1 was left out, as it is the narrowest swim, and peg 2 is about 18 metres to the far bank reeds, though I didn’t expect I would have to fish there, as there are almost always fish within three sections of the bank.

By the end there was a tiny ripple at our end of Damson.

A good start

I started – as I guess everybody else did – fishing the margins, which extend abut four feet, dropping from a few inches to about two feet, before hurtling down quickly to seven feet in the space of about a metre. I had a great start, with several fish of 1 lb and a two-pounder immediately, on a 6mm expander, and 15 minutes after the start I had 10 lb in my net.

Mick Ramm and I were in the same class
 at St Peter's School in the 1950s, in Wisbech.

Of course things started to slow a little, and in the next hour I tried shallow with a banded pellet, and tried corn, to try to improve my catch rate, but sport was only steady, and not frantic. Fish to about 4 lb kept coming into the margin to my right, which was only inches deep, but wouldn’t look at a bait. The best area seemed to be about three feet from the bank in two feet of water. Cat meat took the odd fish, but corn seemed better.

At 12.15 Martin went for a third net, and shortly afterwards Terry Tribe followed him. I estimated I had 40 lb in the first net and about 10 lb in the second one, at that time. Eventually, about an hour later I went for a third net, unsure how much I really has because it’s difficult to estimate accurately when you’re catching smallish fish. I had 38 lb on my clicker but thought I might have forgotten to click some fish.

Peter Spriggs with probably the best fish
of the day, around 9 lb. Peter has had a
 200 lb weight on Damson lake in the past.

When I got back I really struggled for a fish, so went out to my longer swim, which I had set up a rig for earlier, at two-and-a-half sections, in about seven feet of water. I plumbed to the deepest line, and then drew back until the slope started, so I was about two inches shallower than the deepest spot. I put in two bait droppers of hemp and hard pellets.

The deeper swim works

Immediately I took fish to 4 lb on an expander, and after four fish I put in another bait dropper full. Four more fish came quickly, so in went another bait dropper, but I had a quick look in the side swim, which was now rested, and was surprised to find fish back feeding there. I stopped there to the end of the match, but went for a fourth net with 30 minutes left (40 lb on that clicker). So I had about 25 minutes more fishing, and took four fish, including a seven-pounder which I was playing when the match ended.

Wendy is a delight to fish with.

John was in the corner on peg 13,
which turned out to be a snag-pit.

I was first to weigh, and in fact my clicking had been very good – the nets weighed 40 lb, 38 lb, 40 lb and 11 lb – total 129 lb 15 oz. That was in the lead down to Trevor, who had three nets for 100 lb 2 oz – though he was 10 lb over. Then to Terry, on peg 15 – a swim he won from a year or two ago. 

Fishing in two feet of water with hard pellet he totalled 130 lb 13 oz, beating me by just 14 oz.

I was pretty happy, actually. Most anglers said their fish suddenly went off around 12 o’clock or 1 o’clock, but every time my swim went dead I switched to the left margin, or changed bait, and eventually fish responded.

Former Oundle star Mick Linnell
prepares to weigh his catch.

Ted Lloyd (91) flashes me a smile as his catch is weighed.
His face is not covered in flour  - it's liberal use of suncream!

I also found that feeding a few grains of corn AFTER I had dropped in was better than the other way round, though I can’t think why. But if it works, I keep doing it! However, if I had trusted my clicking I wouldn’t have had to go for a fourth net, and that would have given me several minutes extra fishing...in which time I would probably have had at least one more fish, which would have won me the match.

Terry Tribe, who had the farthest walk, sits and watches as his
nets are taken out of the water, and weighed, by Peter The Paste.

Damson is not a favourite lake of mine, as the fishing seems so simple – top three maximum – that I always think that other anglers will do better than me. But in fact I think I have framed almost every time I’ve fished it. I probably should have tried paste or hard pellet in the margin, but you can’t do everything.

The result.

Next match on Six-Island, a handicap event. Club points (and the pools) go to the weights on the day, but the three medals go to the handicap weights. The handicaps are to try to ensure that someone who doesn’t often feature has a chance of getting a medal.

Overtaken in the last furlong – Kingsland Small Carp Lake

Ten of us fished on Kingsland Small Carp Lake, with bright sun and hardly a breath of wind – not a good start. But I had a good start - being presented with £32 for taking our Golden Peg with a win the previous week. 

I drew part-way along the Southern side bank, but would have preferred Peg 1 on its own, a corner swim 2 or 8, , or one of the two pegs on the other end bank, 9 and 10. Still, a job to do. I hoped to be able to catch close in on meat or corn, but took some expanders in case the fish were willing to feed on the surface. Within a minute of the match starting a carp cruised along a few feet  in front of me supping the surface, and I dropped an expander right into its mouth.

No wind all day - not ideal conditions. But the margins are very nice, 

I waited a second as it turned away...and pulled the bait straight out of its mouth; and I never had another chance as good as that all match. So the plan was to feed corn and hemp to the left and meat (luncheon and cat) and hemp to the right.

The corn worked quickly – a 2 lb carp, then an 8 oz fish. I wasn’t unhappy with that, reasoning that as fish were moving around under the surface it was likely that some would dive down to see what the smaller fish were feeding on. Sure enough, minutes later a six-pounder came in.

                                                                 Luncheon meat worked well

Callum followed the plan I had outlined last
week (meat one side and corn the other)
and didn't have a bite for the first two hours!

Then a lull, and I had a look to the right with a small cube of luncheon meat, and this found four or five carp in the next hour. The rest of the match saw me moving from one side to the other, alternating between corn, luncheon meat and cat meat,  taking a fish every ten or 12 minutes, mainly on cat nmeat, with about four coming off, most of which were definitely foulhooked.

Fish were cruising around all the time, and it looked to me as if they were preparing to spawn, as a lot were swimming along in twos.  I’d put some floaters into the margin, but never saw any fish take them.

With two hours to go I went for a third net – the first to do so, but instead of sport picking up, it seemed to slow. To my left Dave Garner, fishing his usual waggler, with cat meat, had been catching in bursts, and he went for a third net a little while later. I kept on catching the odd fish, mainly around 4 lb, with one about 9 lb, but with 30 minutes left Dave had a real purple patch. I reckon that in that last half-hour he landed 40 lb of carp! He was getting a bite within seconds of his bait hitting bottom and landing  4 lb fish within 30 seconds – I was mesmerised, as I was taking much longer that to land mine. I should have taken a picture.

I finish second

Dick is one of our weighers-in, and smart
with it! He took all his catch on rod and line.

Kevin Lee went for a third net about an hour before the end, and I thought that as I had had such a poor last hour, he might beat me. In fact he didn’t, and I was runner-up with 129 lb 5 oz to Dave’s 141 lb 14 oz – and his last net went almost 60 lb (cut back to 50 lb as is the club rule). Kevin was third just one good fish behind me, with 122 lb 6 oz.

I wasn’t unhappy with second place, as I’d had an interesting, but challenging match. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as they say! Mel, on my right, stuck with feeder all day and said his best spell was when he cast in parallel with the bank into the margins, late on. 

Winner Dave Garner, 141 lb 14 oz,
and he was 10 lb over in his last net.

My Problems.

I lost one carp about 6 lb in the weed right next to my platform – my problem as I broke down to my top two too soon. I fished about with my long-handled hook and it clanked against something big and metallic, which I lifted a little way before its sheer weight took it to the bottom again. Goodness knows what it was – I worried for a minute that I had hooked into the lake plug! Anyway I got back the entire rig, minus fish, but it wouldn’t have been enough to beat Dave anyway.

Kev Lee is our other main weigher-in. Gotta
 keep on the right side of the weighers-in!

I also had a problem with the third net. The only one I could find with a lock which worked was round...but when I got back to the peg I realised my landing net wouldn’t go into the keepnet top. This creates enormous problems, of course, transferring big carp into the keepnet. So I took it off my adapter  and wandered back along the bank for a square-topped keepnet, which took the landing net, but wouldn’t lock into position, and that created different problems transferring the fish. I suppose I wasted ten minutes there, but as Richard, the owner, is not an angler, it’s a cross we are going to have to bear for the forseeable future, I guess.

At no time did I have a good spell – fish were in my swims all day, giving liners,and I wonder if I needed to have fed as much as I did. Two tins of corn, one of cat meat, and half a tin of hemp went in, which is not a lot for six hours. I wonder if, in fact, any feed was necessary, as Dave didn’t seem to feed much. Next time I may try not feeding in one swim – just potting in water, which I always do anyway, after feeding.

   

The result - pegs 2 to 8 were on the side bank.

Coming Up

 My next match is on Damson at Decoy on Wednesday. Sunday’s match was won with 255 lb, slapping, but apparently some anglers were still biteless after two hours. If it’s hot, sunny and windless we may have a grueller. Next Sunday is our Handicap match on Six-Island, when sport will depend on the wind. On the whole I’d like peg 9, which gives a lot of options, including fishing the margins along the end bank; failing that peg 17 would be fine – I’ve drawn it only once and won.

My next match is on Damson at Decoy on Wednesday. Sunday’s match was won with 255 lb, slapping, but apparently some anglers were still biteless after two hours. If it’s hot, sunny and windless we may have a grueller. Next Sunday is our Handicap match on Six-Island, when sport will depend on the wind. On the whole I’d like peg 9, which gives a lot of options, including fishing the margins along the end bank; failing that peg 17 would be fine – I’ve drawn it only once and won.

A match of two halves – Willows, Decoy

Peg 33

There was not much wind for this 12-entry club match, and the ‘back’ part of Willows was completely flat calm, except for the flaming ducks, which whirled around all day and were a real nuisance. Peg 33 is only a short walk, but there is a slope down to the platform, so you can’t spread out your tackle at all, and by the time I had got everything in place I was so knackered that I decided to fish just a maximum of top two plus three, and leave the feeder rod in its holdall.

The water had a greenish algae tinge, and didn’t really look inviting. I mentally decided simply to try to beat Rob and Bob on my immediate right, on pegs 34 and 35. There were six pegs in this part of the lake, with the other six from 15 to 25 (the flier which Trevor had drawn). Last year this match was won on 15 on the feeder.

I had a deepish (three to four feet) swim on my left by the reeds which I fancied; the right margin was shallower. I plumbed up at top two plus three all around and found the depth hardly varied, and decided to fish at 45 degrees to my left, towards the reflection of a tree, so I could pinpoint where I was feeding.

The surface was flat calm...until the ducks appeared.

Maggots went into the right margin, in the hope of barbel, with corn and pellets into the left margin and a few pellets out at 8 metres. Before I had managed to put a float in the water Rob on 34 was landing a fish from the margin, which he told me later was a tench. It took me a few minutes to get a bite from the longer swim on a 6mm expander, which turned out to be a 1 lb carp. Then another, and then I hit a big fish.

After playing it for two or three minutes I realised it was foul-hooked. Five minutes later it surfaced and I could see it was about 8 lb and hooked somewhere in the belly region. Five minutes later it unexpectedly surfaced by my keepnets, but I couldn’t bring the landing net back in time to net it before it set off again – straight into the landing net mesh. The tackle briefly snagged, the hooklength broke and it was gone.

I should have known better...

I put in a little bait and had a look in the left margin with corn and meat, with fish moving nearby in the reeds all day. I should have known better, of course – you can rarely catch much when fish are bumping the reeds a couple of feet away. A 1 lb carp was all I managed there, though I had a lot of tiny liners caused by fish swirling their tails. The right swim, where I baited with a bunch of maggots hoping for barbel, brought only small roach when I first tried it.

For the next three hours I plugged away on the longer swim (with regular looks in the left margin) , adjusting the float by a quarter of an inch at a time until I had dead depth. Then lifting the bait an inch resulted in an occasional bite from fish which varied from 1 lb to nearly 10 lb, including about five fish of 6 lb-plus. Corn didn’t produce a bite.

The right margin comes good at the end

Bob Barrett was on end peg 35. I was too
late (and too tired) to photograph any
 of the others. He weighed 34 lb 10 oz.

With 75 minutes left I put some corn into the right margin, and this brought some small carp, three bream to about 1 lb, and a larger 5 lb carp. The bites were tentative, but I knew there were fish there as I could spot the liners. By the end I was getting a bite every drop in.

I had seen Mick Linnell, on 28, take three early fish on a feeder cast to the island, and after that he stayed mainly on the feeder, so I assumed he was catching really well and would beat me easily. In fact he told me afterwards that he couldn’t get a bite on the pole so had to stick to the feeder most of the day. 

At the end I estimated I had about 42 lb in one net and 44 lb in the other.

The weigh-in

It took me a long time to pack up and get the trolley back up a steep little slope to the car, and the weigh-in was well underway by the time I had loaded up the car. I walked round to be greeted by Trevor saying he had 109 lb and was nowhere. He was actually third, with all three top places from the early pegs. Peter Barnes struggled on peg 27 between the islands, and I was amazed to see Mick Linnell weigh in just 39 lb 14 oz. Ted (91) on peg 30 had had a good run in his right-hand margin towards the end and put 53 lb 13 oz on the scales. My nets went 44 lb and 46 lb for a total of 90 lb 7 oz, which turned out to be fourth overall and top in the six pegs in this part of the lake.

The result. The top three weights came from 15 to 25. I was pretty
chuffed to be the best of the rest, but should have caught more.

I was quite pleased, because if I had managed to ignore the left margin, which looked so good but produced only one fish, I could probably have had enough to get at least third. Martin Parker was the winner on peg 15 with 135 lb 13 oz, his best spot being the margins, late in the match.

Next matches

Next matches are on Kingsland Small Lake Sunday and then Damson next Wednesday. I expect big catches from Kingsland, where I had my best-ever match catch of 221 lb. Even if sport is slow to start with it’s a place you have to attack from the start, so I expect meat or paste over pellet corn and hemp to be my plan, or possibly surface fishing if the weather is warm and the wind is right.  If it’s the meat I will be on strong gear, using rigs of up to 12 lb breaking strain and Animal hooks.

I catch 200 lb – Elm, Decoy

Peg 16 (The Golden Peg)

My plan, before the match, was to start on a feeder, because we’d had some really cool nights, and the forecast was for a light wind, and some sunny intervals. But when I arrived at my peg in this 11-entry Club match, I felt that perhaps fish might feed close-in at the start. So I set up a rig at 8 metres, two cat meat rigs, a light for the right margin where there was a three-foot flat shelf and another for the right margin where I had found a hole a couple of feet across.

You can see that the ripple was all at the other end. I took out nine tops,
set up seven of them and used six different ones during the match

A ball of dead maggots went into the right margin, at top two distance, and I threw some micros to the left margin at top two plus one; but I started with a few 6mm and 4 mm pellets at five metres. Out went the rig, and within seconds I saw Kevin Lee, opposite to my right on peg 11, playing a fish which looked like a barbel.

Obviously I kept an eye on Kevin, and blow me! Within seconds of dropping back he was playing another fish. I made the decision to bring my rig in and put in some cat meat and corn in the deep water out at top two distance. I had a liner immediately and five minutes later a barbel came in.

Over the next hour I had a few fish, perhaps 20 lb, but I estimated Kevin already had nearly 50 lb. To my left Tony Nisbet, who almost invariably fishes pellet if he can, was also into fish. I looked like getting a thrashing, and the Golden Peg looked like being a roll-over again (I had it in the previous match).

Kevin Lee started off like an express train,
with two fish in the first five minutes, and
 I was certain I  was going to be thrashed!

 I had had one fish on my first drop into the right margin on meat – a barbel, which I had expected – after trying maggot and getting a roach. Now I tried the left margin, where I had been throwing corn, and hit a good mirror, about 8 lb. One more fish came there, and then a lull, so I went to the deep water on the left and had a carp and a barbel on meat.

I swapped swims all day

That was the pattern all day – a couple of fish from one swim and then I had to swap swims. In a effort to avoid the barbel, which take so long to land, I put corn on a lighter rig down in the deep water, and hooked a 10 lb mirror immediately. From then on I stayed mainly with corn, with the left margin almost always producing. After two fish there I would drop a piece of meat down the right margin, catch a barbel, which went to 4 lb, and then revert to the left margin on corn, with occasional looks at the deep-water swims.

I found it best to put in bait immediately before dropping in whichever swim I chose, rather than putting in bait and leaving it, which is the classic tactic. The fish were definitely responding to bait going in. I have been using mainly 6mm pellets with corn  in the margins now the weather is a little warmer, and this worked on this occasion. I left meat out of the left margin in the hope that it would disuade barbel, but in fact had one or two on corn.

Tony was on my left and also found
fish immediately.He used pellets all day.

I went for a third net at 12.15 pm and my first three fish on my return, taken in my first three drops,  weighed almost 30 lb! Then there came a lull and I noticed that both Kevin and Tony also seemed to have lost their fish. It took about three-quarters of an hour before I found the fish again – by putting in hemp. The anglers towards the other end were struggling a bit, despite having a ripple, while the water at our end was flat calm. I went for a fourth net at about 1.30 and by three o’clock had an estimated 40 lb in it, including two more double-figure carp on corn from the left margin.

A most unusual incident

Deciding to put one more fish in this net before going for a fifth, I suddenly hit a big fish which eventually came to the surface several yards away and it looked to be around 10 lb. As I gingerly dropped the top two and let the elastic retract to draw the fish closer to me, another big carp appeared beside it and hung there. But I didn’t know which fish was hooked, so I had to net them both!

I’d seen Trevor Dew do this several years ago on Six-Island lake, but I’d never done it myself. So with two fish in the net I had a bit of a job lifting it (there were four keepnets in front of me) but was pleased to see that the biggest, around 12 lb, had my hook in it. The other, at about 8 lb, I put back, after calling to Kevin to tell him what I’d done.

They do say "If you want to get ahead get
a hat" so I took it literally! The big fish
was the one that took my net over the
50 lb limit and came in with another.

Overweight in that net

Unfortunately I realised that that would bring the fish in that net to over 50 lb – but there was nothing I could do about that. It was now 3.15 pm and I went for a fifth net. Kevin seemed to be still catching, but not as fast as me, and he went for a fourth net soon afterwards, at the same time as Tony.

 A carp about 8 lb greeted me on my return, but sport was definitely slowing now, and a couple of F1s and a couple of barbel went in. With five minutes left I hooked a 4 lb barbel, and assumed it would be my last fish; but seconds before the match ended a grain of corn tempted another 8 lb carp, which I played very gently and landed it a few minutes later.

Callum weighed 73 lb 1 oz and
still came only eighth.

I lost four fish all day, which I was happy with – the odd foulhooked one is inevitable, though my Special Method (if conditions allow me to use it) largely avoids foulhookers as I can differentiate between proper bites and almost all liners. I tried some special home-made paste, which had worked so well in the Spratts match earlier in the week on peg 20, and had a fierce bite even before the bait hit bottom. I turned out to be a foulhooked barbel, so I didn’t try it again.

The weigh-in

It did seem that my end of the lake had held more feeding fish, though the anglers at the other end nearly all reported an upturn in the second half of the match, and especially in the last 45 minutes when sport at our end seemed to slow. Wendy, opposite me, weighed 93 lb, all on feeder,  and said that she took more fish casting into the middle of the lake, rather than the margins, towards the end.

Dick Warrener on peg 22 took two-thirds of
his 90 lb 2 oz in the last half of the match.

Kevin had four nets, but was overweight in two, as he often is, and weighed 182 lb 2 oz. I was fairly certain I had more than that. My first net to be weighed was the one I knew I was over in, and it weighed 54 lb, so knocked back to 50 lb. Another weighed 49 lb 10 oz (!), and the final one 26 lb – total 207 lb 7 oz, my biggest catch from Decoy.

Tony was third with 165 lb 3 oz, and Wendy a very popular fourth. So the best catches came from the end where there was no ripple, which was unexpected to me, especially as the best weights last Monday came from the other end. Just shows what little we anglers know! But all-round it was a good match, with 90 lb not framing.

A good result after a couple of cold nights.

Next match Tuesday on Willows at Decoy. I don’t mind where I draw, as the forecast is for light rain and no wind. So if I need to, I can put my umbrella right over the top and do my impression of a gnome. I like the margins on Willows, though it is the most temperamental lake on the complex.