Peg 13
The previous Saturday our club match had been dominated by
pegs 12 and 14, so it was generally assumed that again the fish would be
towards the windward end of the strip. The wind was in the same direction – SSW
– but only a fairly gentle breeze. Fish were breaking the surface and a lot
could be seen swimming just under the surface, mainly quite quickly. I was the
end peg on this bank as 15, in the corner, was not pegged.
I put out a Method feeder with corn at the start, but within
a few minutes Peter Harrison, opposite, was playing a good fish on a pole. So
after a few more biteless minutes I put out a pole to 9.5 metres, where I had
potted in some expanders. I was surprised when I had no indications at all, so
after 20 minutes I had a go at trying to mug some of the fish I could see, but
all of them took fright when they approached the pellet or corn.
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| There was sun at the start, but the afternoon was cloudy. |
So it was into the side, where I had a lovely 18 inches to
two feet of water from my platform right along to the platform on 14, against a
bare bank. But I had no indications here
either, nor at the bottom of the shelf on a top two. So after about 90 minutes
I was fishless, and I’d seen Peter get a couple and Bob Allan, on my right, on the Golden Peg, had
also had at least one. Big fish – well into double-figures – were now drifting
in the middle with their backs out of the water.
So I tried shallow,
out between 6 metres and 9.5 metres, using a single 4mm pellet (on the
assumption that a small bait might work). I had a five-pounder which took a
pellet hung for a minute or two. I had thrown some pellets in, but the fish
were moving so fast in the end I just slapped without feeding. One more came
in, foulhooked shallow, and that was about 6 lb. And another foulhooked itself
and came off.
Halfway and I have
just 14 lb
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| Peter Harrison could catch carp from a bucket of concrete! |
Eventually I had another look beside the platform with corn,
which resulted in a tench of 2 lb, and then I managed to snare an 8 oz roach on
corn on the 9.5 metre line on corn. I looked at my watch - the match had passed the halfway stage and I
was sat sitting there with about 14 lb in my net. Peter opposite seemed to have
had a fish or two in the margins, as had Trevor Cousins to his left.
The next fish was one I managed to mug on corn, and it was a
lovely 10 lb golden mirror in a group of three. I have been told that if there’s
more than one fish swimming past the competitive instinct takes over, and it
certainly worked on this occasion.
Several more minutes went by and the wind cooled, I put a
sweat shirt on, and the fish seemed to no longer be showing in the numbers they
had been. So I changed tack and tried the margins on four sections with corn,
and had several bites which I missed completely. That set me wondering whether
they were roach. I managed to mug one more
on cat meat, and then dropped a lump of cat meat into the deep water about five
feet from the bank.
At last I start catching
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| Trevor Cousins was over the 50 lb mark in one net - as usual! |
Amazingly this produced a five-pounder immediately; but no
more came. So it was time to look at the margins again, as I has noticed carp swimming intop the margins more than they had previously. I put in just cat meat
and hemp and suddenly roach were hitting the line and the float itself – tiny roach.
But it worked, and I had two or three really good spells when I would land a fish
(they varied between 5 lb and about 12 lb) ; feed; drop back; wait two
minutes; and the fish would come in and I’d get another. Some came on three
sections and others close to my keepnet.
A big one turns up
Several times I
rested the left margin by trying corn in the right margin, but this produced
just one 3 lb F1. I had an estimated 38 lb in the first net and 34 lb in the
second when I landed a fish which looked to me to be at least 15 lb. I put it
into the third net (we are given three nets now) and the next carp, the smallest
of the day at about 4 lb, went into that second net. That decision paid dividends when it came to the weigh-in!
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| We weighed my best fish at 15 lb 7 oz. |
I lost just two fish in this spell, one of which was
definitely foulhooked because I came back with a scale. I was able to use my pole
fishing "Special Method" which largely avoids foulhooking fish when fished correctly. It’s not possible
to use it in rough conditions, but today the wind allowed me to do it.
The last hour saw sport drop off a little, and I added about
28 lb lb, all on cat meat, in the next 50 minutes. The last ten minutes were
fishless – the fish weren’t even giving me liners, and the roach had
disappeared too.
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| Peter Spriggs - runner-up with 125 lb. |
The weigh-in
I walked back to the car with loaded trolley and saw that
Peter Spriggs and John Smith both had three nets in, as had Peter Harrison opposite.
But I was happy that I hadn’t disgraced myself after a terrible start. It’s so
frustrating when you can see fish all around and can’t get a bite.
John weighed 89 lb, and Peter 125 lb on cat meat and pellet. I wasn’t sure whether
I had as much as that. To my amazement Bob, beside me, had landed just three
fish. I’d seem him playing two or three and assumed he had been catching well.
We weighed my second net first, and it was just as well that
I’d put the “fifteen-pounder” in the third net (which I’d estimated at 38 lb
after putting one more fish in) , because that net weighed 44 lb 13 oz. I would have lost several pounds
if I’d put the big fish in there. The first net went 38 lb 13 oz and the last one
43 lb 8 oz. Total 127 lb 2 oz, and I was in the lead. The big fish we weighed
at 15 lb 7 oz.
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| John Garner didn't have a good day. He spent time trying to recover a top two; he didn't frame; and the picture I took of him was blurred! |
John’s cabaret act
Over to Peter Harrison, who totalled 125 lb 12 oz, all on
pole. I’d been concentrating on my own swim in the last two hours, and had no
idea he had so many fish, though I had spotted Trevor landing several from his shallow margins. There were also a few minutes during which John Garner
provided a cabaret act trying to cast a feeder over a top two (or it may have
been a top three) which was being towed around the lake. I forget to ask him
whether he ever recovered it.
As we weighed back to
the car park the weights fell away, as we had suspected might happen. Bob Barret
took most of his fish on a slow-sink bomb in the edge – a method I have used to
catch fish at Makins, but never on Decoy.
Conclusions
I snatched the narrow win, and thoroughly enjoyed the match
once the fish started biting. I lost just three fish all day, rather fewer than
most of the other anglers, I think. The match also reinforced my view that the
longer the length of bare bank the better, as I could see fish moving along it from the left, up to my keepnets, and then veering out to the open water. I
think they may do the same if there’s a big clump of reeds or irises in the
way.
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| Martin Parker - my regular travelling companion to the Vets National. |
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| Peter Barnes was at the 'wrong' end on peg 30. |
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| The result - pegs 1 to 15 are on the Western bank. |
Of course fish won’t always feed in these margins, but when
they do you can have a cracking day.
John, at the fishery, said afterwards he thinks the fish
have not yet completely spawned, and that they are waiting for the next time
the water warms enough to allow them to deposit their spawn.
My next match is on
Horseshoe next week. I hope they’ve completed their spawning by then. I’m happy
with any peg there – peg 12 is good, but it sometimes depends on the wind which
other swims produce.
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