I winkle my way to a win on Yew, Decoy

Peg 24, Sunday Sept 12
It was always going to be difficult, because at the start fish were drifting about just under the surface, which was flat calm. A South-Westerly was forecast but in fact when the breeze started it was from the North-East, which gave a ripple to the high numbers to my left, and occasionally on my swim, though Peter Spriggs in the corner Peg 16 never had any all day. Just eight of us fished (thanks to holidays, illness etc) on the even numbers from 16 to 30, on the East bank.

I would have chosen 16 back to 22, as these often tend to have an edge. but in particular Pegs 22 and 18 have a lovely long shallow margin, while my swim was boxed in with reeds and  had virtually no shallow water. For those who don't know it, Yew is a strip lake. Dave Garner on 22 - our club champion - remarked on his lovely margin and said he fancied starting there, which he did. On the Plus side I was drawn Golden Peg.

Flat calm at the start - not ideal conditions in the Summer.

My plan goes out of the window
My plan was to start on a feeder, which I did, but within five minutes John on my left was playing a big fish hooked close-in on a pole, and Dave on my right was playing a big fish hooked on a waggler in the side. I had one long, drawn-out liner obviously from a fish up in the water, and then another, which sprang the tip back and obviously moved the feeder, but this must have been another liner as there was nothing there.

So it was on to a pole earlier than I had anticipated, to my right, on a top two, in nearly six feet of water. Inches to the right of that spot my plummet had hit something just 18 inches deep and just beyond that it dropped again to five feet, with about four feet closer to the reeds, but this shelf was only inches wide. I tried it later in the match and never had a touch. Overall a horrible bottom.

Dave Garner in action, two swims away from me, using one of his waggler rods.

I am being thrashed

It took an hour or so before a 3 lb F1 took a piece of cat meat, during which time Dave had hooked another three or four fish - a tench and some double-figure carp. I was in the process of being thrashed! So it was out at 11 metres, on an expander, which brought one bite from a fish which eventually came off, possibly foulhooked. Half an hour later I came back in and in the next hour I managed a couple of good carp, around 8 lb or 9 lb, on corn over hemp, before turning in desperation to the left deep margin in front of the tall reeds, where I had been dropping corn. 

First drop on corn and I had a bite which turned out to be a foulhooked fish, which came off. I rested that having another quick look at 11 metres, with no result. So in went some dead maggots to the righthand swim, where a worm eventually took a tiny perch and then a roach.

My daughter has an aquarium with some tiny minnow-like fish in it. And I have noticed that when I feed them they always take a few seconds to actually come to the feed, and that even then some hang back for a minute or two. Previously she had some slightly larger species in there as well, and they, in particular, were always slow to approach the feed, even though the smaller fish were already feeding.

I am fairly certain that this applies to carp (probably to all species except greedy little perch), which is why I usually try to put in feed and leave it for a few minutes after the first helping before putting in my rig. So although I don't usually mention it on this blog, I often drop into another swim while waiting for the feed to take effect, and the fish to actually (hopefully) start to feed rather than drop in my rig immediately.

Mel Lutkin on 20 included a barbel or two,
and managed to go over the 50 lb limit in this net.. 

Fish just play with the bait
The maggots having not done any good I concentrated on the lefthand margin, because I had at least hooked a fish there, and definitely saw signs of fish knocking the bait around and not taking it properly. Thankfully I managed to avoid foulhooking any. It seemed all I could do was to wait until they started feeding, and with two hours left they did that!

 Three good fish around 10 lb came in three drops before there was a lull, and I went to the deep right margin. Dave was still hooking good fish, and I could see his rig was about two-and-a-half feet deep, so I tried the shallowest spot I could fish, but, as I said, with no result.

At this point I turned round to see that somehow my Number Four section had broken into two. It was on a roller, so I must have tapped it with my foot at one point, as I got off my basket. Luckily I have a broken spare at home which I have telescoped together, and which should serve until this one is mended.

I have a brainwave!
Then a 3 lb barbel came on meat, and I was getting anxious because although I had some taps all I could do was foulhook a couple - one was in the tail and after a ten-minute fish I had it over the net but of course it was swimming away from me and I missed. Soon the hook pulled out. 

Then  I had a brainwave - mussel. I had unfrozen about 15 at home, cut up three as loose feed, and followed in with a half hooked through the little round blob of gristle. This leaves the hook point showing. Sure enough first drop and I had a decent bite - a quick jerk down - which turned out to be a double-figure mirror. Three or four  more followed , all around 10 lb, and I tried the lefthand margin, and immediately had another couple. Meanwhile Dave was having another spurt and I could see some really big fish in his landing net as he unhooked them.

Dave Garner had several early fish while I was struggling.

A lucky last-five-minute fish
Back to the righthand and suddenly I couldn't get any sort of indication - it as as if the fish had all moved out. I tried lifting the mussel and also drawing it slowly along the bottom - all of which had worked earlier. Five minutes left, I was dragging it slowly along, and decided to have a final drop with corn into the left margin. So I lifted the rig out...and a big fish was on. Lucky me.

I thought at first that it was foulhooked as it shot out to the middle on my Preston yellow 17 hollow elastic, but resigned myself to the fact that taking my time and landing it was probably my best chance of a final fish. So I took my time; the match finished; and several minutes later I drew in a lovely double-figure common hooked in the mouth! I had, I think, just 14 fish in three nets.

The weigh-in                                                                  
Shaun Buddle on 28 had been catching on a 2+2 until with an hour left, some pleasure anglers on the opposite bank packed up, throwing their left-over bait into the water...and Shaun never had another bite. It might have had nothing to do with them, of course. He weighed 102 lb 8 oz.

John to my left on 26 was very happy at the start as he has done well from that swim this year, but today was not his day! He had lost that first fish, and ended with just four for 42 lb 8 oz. The first net I weighed contained that 3 lb barbel and just four carp - and it weighed 51 lb, knocked back to 50 lb.

It's so easy to go over the club's 50 lb maximum now, that I think I will have to suggest a slight relaxing of that rule at our AGM, if we manage to have one this year! I had used one tin of hemp, less than two tins of corn, a few 6mm feed pellets and those mussels.

Dave Garner with a 21 lb 4 oz beauty - Fenland Rods' best fish of the season.

That last fish wins it for me...
My total was 133 lb, however I was certain Dave had more. But No! He totalled 129 lb 8 oz, including a cracking common of 21 lb 4 oz (!) so my last carp had beaten him. Mike Rawson on 18 hadn't managed to take advantage of his lovely shallow margin and decided not to weigh his estimated 25 lb, and in the corner Peter Spriggs had struggled until the last hour, when he managed to find some fish against the reeds in the corner to his right, ending with 84 lb.

THE RESULT

So I ended as winner - the fifth win in my last 12 matches, which I am very happy about as it is generally agreed that the fishing this year has been very varied. In other words it's not a matter of lumping in bait and hauling in fish every week - it's been more a matter of winkling out odd fish during the first few hours and then hopefully adding a bonus fish or two near the end. Not sure how much the Golden Peg win will bring me, as the treasurer Kevin was not there. But it will be spent on hemp!

News on Terry
The latest news I have on Deeping angler Terry Tribe, who fishes with me in Spratts matches, is that he is off dialysis and the water retention problem seems to be lessening. He has now spent five weeks in hospital. I look forward to taking his picture as soon as he returns to the bank.

My next match is Friday, a Spratts match also on Yew, where 18 or 22 would still be my preferred spots. However, we will be using the whole lake of 30 pegs. Bring it on!