Fun on a ‘flier’ – Magpie, Pidley

Peg 36

This was an annual invitation match, organised by Trevor Dew, for the Dun-No -More Cup. Nobody knows why it was called that, but Grebe AC  used to compete for it when I was a member. The club no longer exists, but as a former winner of the cup I get an invitation to fish it every year. I’ve missed it for about the last three years, but this year I was able to fish and meet up with some of my old Grebe mates. To keep the numbers up Trevor also invites other locals. So 22 of us fished.

 

A noted swim, but calm as a mill pond. Chris Saunders was third from the peg immediately opposite.

I draw the ‘flier’

It was a rolling draw – pay and draw at the same time – and heavens above, peg 36 stuck to my sticky little fingers. Now you will see that I’ve typed the word flier in apostrophes round it (they are those funny little marks hanging at the top for those of you not well versed in English). In Winter, when cold winds blow from the West or South it’s odds-on to either win or frame because it gives back wind, and for some reason fish often hang around that end of the lake, and the margins are nice, with a lilly bed out in front, within easy reach of a pole. If the lillies have died, the fish still hang around the roots. If the wind is Northerly, there’s shelter from trees on the far bank.

 

Adam Lowbridge -shows the stamp of fish on Magpie.

However I have seen that recently it hasn’t been dominating, and one look at the swim showed why – the lillies are now no more than about five or six metres out at the nearest point, offering safe refuge when these turbo-charged Pidley carp are hooked. And the margins have reeds just a top-two either side of the peg. Ian Frith was second on 36 last year, but told me he lost a load of gear.

I gear up with a bungee

So I put on the strongest elastics I could find, including one bungee (don’t know the rating) tightened right down. Tim Bates had confirmed that the margins are the place where I should find most fish, but the water was calm, except for waves caused by a family if ducks who had set up residence. In the bright sun I didn’t honestly fancy it to win unless the wind turned and gave us some ripple in this bay (it didn’t). The swims along the first arm had some ripple, and that included the island pegs 28 to 33-ish, which I though might fish better. They seem to be giving good weights in most matches at the moment.

 After putting in luncheon meat to the left margin I started shallow a little to my right, at about six metres, as fish were moving. Opposite on 25 was Chris Saunders, who I guessed would be fishing cat meat.

A good start

Nothing shallow for ten minutes, so I pushed up the float to fish about half depth. That brought three fish in three put-ins on banded 6mm pellet – a good start, as I now had about 11 lb in the first half-hour and I hadn’t seen Chris catch. But a couple of drops without anything made me look in the margins.

Weighing Chris Saunders on Peg 25. He's a wizz on cat meat. 

Fish were clearly there, but wouldn’t take a bait, and the next hour saw me land one about 5 lb, and lose another, probably foulhooked, when it shot straight into the reed bed. My long pole with the hook enabled me to reach in and get back the rig, minus hook. I then fished for half an hour out at six metres, on the bottom with pellet, but never had a touch. Then I saw Chris Saunders land a fish, so it was back to the margins with meat.

I suppose I had about ten in the next couple of hours, mainly on cat meat, but pulled out of several as I had to hold them so hard, and these fish fight extraordinarily hard for their size.  I then put in a big pot of dead maggot to the right margin, which brought three quick fish on a bunch of deads, then a lull. For the last hour I alternated between the two margin swims, trying hard not to foulhook fish, as one had stretched that bungee an unbelievable amount, and taken me out into the lillies, and I lost the whole rig. My long hook twisted around the elastic had enabled me to get that back intact, at least.

As so often happens the fish came late and I was playing a three-pounder when the match ended.  I guessed I had about 25 fish averaging around 4 lb, best 5 lb, which would give me around 100 lb.

Chris Saunders, third with 114 lb 5 oz. Just look at the huge
 area you are given to fish from, covered with an artificial
 surface which means that no matter how muddy the banks get,
 you can always spread your gear out and keep it clean.
 No wonder this is such a popular venue.

The weigh in

I managed to get to see the last few weigh in. It’s noticeable that anglers now tend to stand just a little farther back than they normally would – trying to socially distance without being socially distant, if you get my meaning.

The sheet when I got to Adam Lowbridge on Peg 24 showed just two weights over 100 lb, but the weights were much lower than I had expected, including some DNWs. But I felt certain that someone, somewhere, would have had a really big catch, especially along the island from pegs 28 to 34, which I thought might have had ripple some of the time.

With Peg 2 leading, Chris Saunders then took second place on the weigh-sheet with 114 lb 5 oz. He told me he’d caught in the deeper water just beyond a reed-bed, which made me realise I should have had a look out from the absolute margin to the deeper water at some time, but I didn’t!!

Then round to the island, where Josh Pace had hammered fish to the tune of 208 lb 12 oz on maggot in the margins from Peg 31, and said that he had, indeed, had a bit of ripple at times. I was last to weigh -  94 lb, and with just four weights over 100 lb, it put me fifth.

The results

The winner, Josh Pace, with 208 lb 12 oz from Peg 31 on the island.

I went back to the cafe to photograph the results, and treated myself to a socially-distanced mug of tea (I know how to live the high life) while Trevor read out the results. Just top three were paid, but there were sections, and I managed to win my section – which had included winner Josh – by default.

So for a ninth match in a row I went home with folding, hoping I could perhaps draw a flier next day on Oak –peg 1, or 10, 11 or 12. But to be honest there are so many fish there, I was just looking forward to catching a few.

Pegs 1 to 15.

Pegs 16 to 30.

Pegs 31 to 36.

PS. I tried out my new Preston keepnet bar for the first time, and in a week or two, when I’ve ironed out any questionable points, I’ll give my eagerly-awaited verdict.