Fourteen of us fished this Spratts club match, my mate John Smith deciding not to fish because Beastie has several pegs which necessitate climbing down steps to the platform, and he has dodgy knees. The problem is that when you're holding your box you have nothing to hold on to, and if a knee gives way you're in trouble. That's one of the reasons Rookery farm Fishery at Pidley is so popular - no wooden platforms, just artificial turf spread on the bank, flattened next to the water, with a concrete front to stop the bank falling in.
So what pegs did I fancy on Beastie? Certainly 18 and 2, on which I won the last two matches I fished in the lake, plus 29 and 30, which are both 'feature' pegs, and possibly 4, 5 and 6, or 14 to 17 on the spit. Mike Rawson's name was first out of the bag, followed by 18! Soon after, Peter Barnes got 2, Mick Raby was given 30, and Peter Spriggs was allotted 29. Trevor Cousins got 17, and Martin Parker 14. Almost all my real favourites had gone.
Then "Mac Campbell," followed by an awed silence 😉: "Fourteen!" I was happy with that - I had a run of pegs I really didn't fancy early in the season, but when I get one I do like, I always seem to do better. I liked the idea of Trevor Cousins next door, as I could watch him closely - he's won more Spratts matches than anybody.
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| The start - sun and a nice, but cool, breeze from the West. |
The wind was a cool Westerly which somehow circled round so that three quarters of us had it in our faces, with ours from the right. As the day went on it increased in strength.
Oh dear. First cast with an empty feeder before the start landed perfectly within feet of the island 45 yards away, right in Trevor's swim. One swim ruined already! 😡
At the start I went out on the feeder with a hybrid similar to a banjo, with micros and Method groundbait. I recently watched one of the Matrix underwater videos and was amazed that groundbait held together underwater better than micros. I always press the micros into the feeder as hard as I can.
First cast to the reeds (in my own swim) saw the hook come back covered in leaves. So the next one went shorter and after ten minutes a 2 lb F1 came. Followed by a 6 lb common, another F1 and another 6 lb common which immediately kited away to my left before I could gain any line. I had 40 yards of line out and Martin was only 20 yards away - disaster! The fish shot through his swim and Martin lifted his pole, thinking he had a bite, only to find he had hooked my line.
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| Martin Parker struggled all day and managed just three carp in his 23 lb 3 oz total. |
Martin walked towards me with his pole and eventually managed to shake the hook free and I landed the fish. But another swim ruined! 😡 Trevor bet that that wouldn't go in this blog. 😁 That was followed by a 1 lb fish coming adrift at the net, and with an hour gone I decided to have a look on the pole line at 2+2, where I had found a small, but significant, hole a few inches deeper than the surrounding bottom. Eventually that produced a small bream on a 4mm expander.
Meanwhile Trevor had been struggling, with a couple of small fish on the feeder and, with an hour gone, also looked at his similar pole line. We both had a few fish here, with mine coming on 4mm expanders to start with, then 6 mm, then corn. The fish were bream to 3 lb and carp around 4 lb. A quick look in the right margin didn't bring me any fish so it was back to the long line, which I fished until the sun in our faces made it impossible to see the float. I reckoned I had about 40 lb, with Trevor perhaps a little behind, but not much.
The right margin was well over four feet deep, while the left one was at least 18 inches shallower, and in the cold wind I didn't fancy that, so I persevered in the right margin, especially as the first drop there brought a 10 lb common carp foulhooked. But the fish here were few and far between, though they included three or four bream, best 3 lb, on cat meat or corn, and Trevor now seemed to be outfishing me, also fishing in his right margin. Callum had done well in that swim recently, also fishing his right margin.
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| Trevor Cousins fell behind me in the first hour, fishing feeders, and never quite caught me up. He was second on 88 lb 1 oz. |
I saw Trevor land four or five in a good spell, with the best looking like 8 lb-plus. Martin was struggling horribly and in fact took only three carp, plus a few bream.
With 90 minutes left and my right margin slow I decided to have a look after all in the shallow left margin, where I had been throwing a few bits of corn and some 6mm and 8mm expanders, even though I couldn't believe that there would be fish there in this cold wind. But I felt I had to make something happen.
First drop and a 3 lb bream came to corn. That was followed by a carp, then a slow spell, but I was certain that there were fish there. So I switched to my special method which I have hardly used this season.
I'm not saying what this method entails, because on the Maggot Drowners forum, which I know has some readers of this blog, I was told in no uncertain terms that it is impossible, and I have no desire to get into arguments which I cannot win. So I fish a method which is impossible!
First drop and the difference was remarkable - several carp over 5 lb came to cat meat, some of them hooking themselves, while Trevor had only the occasional fish. With 40 minutes left I put in a third net and promptly foulhooked an 10 lb lb carp on corn, which is unusual using this method, but no method is perfect. It took me around 15 minutes to get it in, hooked near the tail, so now there were only 20 minutes left, and I wasted five minutes reverting to a standard rig, fishing a few inches overdepth, without a touch.
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| Mike Rawson, fifth with 56 lb 5 oz, included this common we estimated at 15 lb from Peg 16, next to the bridge. |
I had mussels with me, which I often turn to at the end, but was certain that the fish would take cat meat again, on the Special, and they did - a 2 lb bream, then another big carp, and with two minutes left I dropped in again and a 10 lb carp immediately hooked itself. Trevor had been putting the occasional fish in his net, but had had to go out to the long line again. The match was finished by Trevor shouting out something like: "Ahh, AAAHH, that's it and Mac's got a fish on." Saved me doing it.
That fish took ten minutes to land, because it was hooked in the outside of the lip, which always causes problems in getting the head of the fish up. Trust me, that fish would not have been hooked at all on a traditional rig. It also weighed about 10 lb.
No pictures from 24 round to the early pegs because I was late starting to pack up, but Peter Harrison on 3 was leading with 81 lb 10 oz. That was a very good performance, because Peg 3 faces East, where the sun starts behind you but while it moves round, a tree and high vegetation on a small penisula jutting out to your left prevents any sun shining on you at all in Winter. It gets very cold there when there's a wind in your face.
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| My last four fish weighed 33 lb 15 oz, including the bream. |
My catch went 125 lb 13 oz, with my first net, which I had estimated at 36 lb, weighing nearly 2 lb over the 50 lb club limit, but it didn't matter because I ended as the winner. Trevor came in second with 88 lb 1 oz, and he showed me where he had caught in his righthand margin - close to the corrugated piling.
Peter Harrison was a well-deserved third. On 29 Peter Spriggs eventually caught right against the grass to his right for 72 lb 3 oz and fourth.
So I ended with three wins in a row on Beastie, a lake I love because every swim is completely different. That's the thing with Decoy - every lake has it own character - you might as well be fishing a completely different fishery each week. Pity about the steps, though Horseshoe, Six-Island, Lous, Willows and the early pegs on Damson aren't much of a problem.
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| The wind had got up by the end of the match, but on our bank it was never really cold. |
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