It's deja vu (again) on Beastie at Decoy, plus the Open result

 Peg 21, Sunday, Jan 30
My last two matches on Jay Lake at Pidley have seen me on Peg 8; now the last two matches on Beastie have given me Peg 21. My previous visit to this peg saw me get a section by default with two bream and a carp for 8 lb. and the hard frost this morning  (I had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of my windscreen and started driving in -2 C) didn't fill me with hope that things would be any better.

However, all our spirits lifted while we waited for the start of the match, as the sun came out, there was virtually no wind, and it felt like a Summer's morning. Eighteen of us fished this club match, and it was great to see the car park lined with dozens of cars and vans of anglers fishing the Open, practicing for the Winter League Final.

The early-morning sun warmed us all, but when the breeze increased the temperature plummeted.

Peg 21 gives a big chuck to the island, and I started towards the far side reeds with a small hybrid feeder and a pop-up. First cast and I had a huge liner - the tip went round and stayed round, so I felt I had to strike, but there was nothing. Second cast the same. Then  Ron Cuthbert, on my right on 22 had a 3 lb carp on a maggot feeder (the only carp he had all day).

Two fish on the nearer pole line
After 50 minutes I decided I must have a look on the pole line - I started on the shorter line, in the deepest water I could find, on top-two-plus-three. with two red maggots. After a little while I hadn't had a bite, lifted the rig to check it...and found a 3 lb F1 on the end! A little while later in the same spot, feeding with a tiny pot, I got another tiny bite, from a carp around 8 lb. To make the minor adjustments to the rig I plumbed up using three maggots, which sunk the float, so I could adjust it to having the bait just touch bottom. I'm always happier in Winter having the most sensitive rig possible.

Andy Bull on peg 24 could catch only bream.

I try a Carter Special combination
There followed half an hour of nothing, and I went out to 13 metres, after putting in just a few maggots and half-a-dozen 4mm expanders. At the last match at Pidley, Peter Carter urged me to add a flouro pinkie to my maggot bait, so I thought I'd try it today.  Sure enough a single red and a single pinkie brought a 2 lb F1, and next drop a carp approaching 10 lb, which I played carefully on the size 18 hook in water so clear the fish kept veering away from the net.

Two blank hours
Then the wind started giving a ripple and the temperature dropped quickly, though it was a little behind me, from the right. I could present the bait OK, though, even with a ten-inch lash - only occasionally did the pole jerk the bait around. The next two hours were blank, as I did the rounds on pole and feeder, though I did hit a big fish on the shorter line which came off after about six seconds.

I did see Perry Briggs two swims to my right catch two or three fish quite quickly on a long pole line - possibly 14.5 metres. Then, with a couple of hours to go another F1 took the pop-up, and with just over an hour to go I went out to the 13-metre line again, having catapulted a few maggots out from time to time. 

That single red and a single pinkie brought another F1 and a carp around 6 lb. The float was really dotted down, and I also thought I saw it move two or three times without going under, so fish were around there somewhere. I kept putting in bait with a catapult. My thinking was that as fish were moving around and I was looking at catching only the occasional one, it was better to spread the bait over a larger area than try to concentrate them in one spot.

The winner, Perry Briggs, with his 57 lb 2 oz catch.

A great last 20 minutes
So I had a search around , dropping to the left of my main swim with 20 minutes to go, and hit another two 3 lb-plus F1s, which gave the tiniest bites imaginable - just holding the bait still as the float inched through the swim with the slight undertow. The float tip (about an eighth of an inch was showing)  just dipped down level with the surface.

Five minutes left and I went out again with the Carter Special, and after about three minutes, during which time I kept lifting the rig no more than an inch, and letting the tow take it, the float sunk again, and a bigger fish stretched the 13 hollow elastic. It was the best fish of the day, and I landed it after the match finished - all 10 lb-plus of it. 😀

The weigh-in
Smug on the scales was round quickly. I had seen John Hudson to my left fishing feeder, pole at about 8 metres, and right in the margins, so I guessed he had struggled - indeed he weighed 9 lb 6 oz. My fish weighed 50 lb 4 oz. Ron next door had a few bream on pole to add to his early carp for 13 lb 6 oz. But  Perry Briggs on 23 beat me with 57 lb 2 oz, and I ended in second spot. My area has been the one everyone wants to draw recently - pegs 21 to 24 - but I felt I had fished it well. If the fish had been rampant everyone else nearby would have caught loads.

I spoke to several anglers afterwards, and it seemed that if the cold South-Westerly started blowing into them their fish went off. Those who had a back wind seemed to fare better.

My next match is on Magpie and Raven at Pidley. That could be a grueller but the strong winds forecast could stir the fish up.

Result of our match on Beastie (ignore the cross).

Here the six results sheets from the Open, won by Liam Darler on Cedar 26. He found fish on a pole all round his swim, and had some on bomb and corn, and bomb and bread, casting to the aerator.:

CEDAR

ELM 

YEW

DAMSON

SIX-ISLAND

HORSESHOE

A good (unexpected) result on Jay, Pidley.

 Peg 8, Jay, Wednesday, Jan 26
Thirty-three of us fished this Over-60s match split between Jay (18) and Raven (15). The rolling draw meant that we all had plenty of time to set up and I had time for a cup of tea in the cafe (I know how to live wildly).

On Sunday I forgot to take my phone to the match, so couldn't take a picture of my swim. For this match I'd remembered my phone, but it wouldn't have mattered if I'd forgotten it, because I had exactly the same swim on Jay as I'd had two weeks ago.  On that occasion I'd finished fourth on the lake with 63 lb, but my fish were smaller than everyone else's.

Calm to begin with, but a breeze soon got up. Again, I fished to the righthand bank. 

Having the same swim meant I saved ten minutes working out the best positions for my box, nets and rollers - a bit awkward because I would again be facing across the corner of the platform towards the righthand bank. I decided not to even take out a feeder rod - I intended to spend the whole five hours fishing across to the far-bank margins, at around 13 metres. The day was cool but forecast to get warmer. So far so good, but a minor calamity was about to strike!

Yes - calamity strikes
I started OK with a 1 lb F1 on punch bread dobbed across, but it came off at the net. Two more fish came in the first half-hour, about 1 lb and 1 lb 8 oz, both on bread, which held on the hook but didn't seem to me to be the right consistency. The next two or three pieces of punch dropped off as soon as they hit the water. I checked, and to my horror realised I had picked up the wrong bag of bread - this was an old one, two weeks old, which had hardened. I tried damping it, but it didn't hold on the hook properly. I am an iriot.

Reeds again a problem

I changed to maggot, which had taken the bulk of my previous catch here, and that did work, though again my fish were all on the small side - best 2 lb at most, and only a couple of those. The reeds situation was worse than it had been before - several lay under the surface, pointing out from the bank, and inevitably I hooked some. Five times I was securely attached and envisioned walking round to the far bank to release the hook, though how I would have secured the pole to my bank I don't know. However, after a lot of shaking and pulling all five rigs came free, and I breathed several sighs of relief.

Easier fishing in the deeper margins

With about ten fish in the net, dobbing two feet from the far bank, I had a look at my second swim, about eight feet from the far bank in three feet of water, and that produced a fish first drop without my having put in any bait. From then on I put about ten maggots at a time into that swim, and would take a couple of quick fish and then have to wait 20 minutes for the next one. Sometimes they came straight after I had fed, and at other times feeding didn't help.

Mike had a couple of good fish, and finished eighth on the lake.

As forecast, the sun did warm the air and it was very pleasant by the end, though the breeze increased in strength and in the second half of the match it was impossible to get perfect presentation. To my far right I saw Shaun on Peg 2 (next to the winning peg 1 last time we fished here)  and Mike on Peg 5 land big fish, while my best was still about 2 lb. But at least I kept putting fish in the net, though the bites towards the end were the tiniest imaginable. 

A VERY sensitive rig

The maggots worked, so I stayed on that set-up, with the weight of the three maggots sinking my float when I was too shallow. So I was able to work out when the bait was just touching bottom, and either lift it an inch or drag it to one side, to get a response. From time to time I reverted to the far-bank dob, which brought four or five small fish.

GOD SAVE THE KING

The wind and sun were from the left, and frequently the shadow of my pole fell across the float, making it look like a bite. Now when I started flyfishing (in Babbingly River near King's Lynn, using my coarse fishing gear) I had read a lot about the sport. and for fishing a dry fly the advice was always: "When you see the splash of the trout at the fly don't strike immediately. Say 'God Save The King,' and then strike.

It worked then, and it worked in this match. If it looked like a bite but wasn't sure, I would raise the pole out of the way, and mutter 'God Save The King' (quietly so the fish didn't hear) and if the float was still disappeared I struck and a fish was always on.

PS It probably works, also, if you say 'God Save The Queen.'

Shaun used only part of a single slice of white bread for
his 86 lb 12 oz! This is what was left.

Obviously I experimented with the shotting, from an 18-inch drop to spreading it out, and finally putting all the shot just six inches from the hook five minutes before the end. That produced an immediate fish and I wondered whether I should have tried it earlier. I estimated I had about 40 from 8 oz up to 2 lb maximum, having lost just that first fish at the net and four more pricked on the strike.

The weigh-in
First to weigh was Shaun, and I could see as I packed up that he had two heavy weighs. I walked up to Mike for a picture, and Shaun came along and said he had totalled 86 lb 12 oz, all on dobbed bread, with several fish around 6 lb or 7 lb. He also said he had problems with the wind in the second half. Mike also had two better fish in his 13 lb 12 oz.

Yes - you read it right. I was second on Jay Lake,
and fourth overall, with my 39 lb 10 oz.

I guessed that, again, everyone else would have bigger fish than me, and I wondered whether bread would have picked them out. I had thought about walking up to Shaun to cadge some decent bread, and in fact Shaun said he would have given me some. But I felt it was too cheeky. My fish totalled 39 lb 10 oz, and I had had a very pleasant day, so would drive home knowing I'd had a good day catching.

Anyway, I went to the angler on Peg 11, to my left, for a big-catch picture, but he had only 10 lb 6 oz, and the angler to his left said he had only five fish, so I went back to pack up without taking any more photos. (I saw afterwards that he weighed 15 lb, so he must also have had bigger fish than me).

The surprise result
I drove past Shaun, who said he'd used less than half a slice of bread... I took a picture of the rest of it(!). And Steve Tilsley, who had won previously from Peg 1, and had given Shaun some pointers before the match, then said I was second on the lake! You could have knocked me down with a pole float!!! 😂

The last section on Jay was won with only 20 lb.

Raven fished well

Back at HQ to collect my winnings, for fourth in the overall match (Continental payout), with Raven having fished better than expected, and indeed better than of late, when it has been very inconsistent. I asked several anglers there whether they thought that bread would have caught me better fish. But they were all of the opinion that if the bigger ones had been in my swim, at least one would have taken maggot.

Will Hadley told me that Peg 8 is the shallowest swim on the lake, so perhaps the smaller fish have been hanging out there for some reason. And I ended very happy that I had got a good result.

 Next match Sunday on Decoy - not yet sure of the lakes to be used. Warmer weather is forecast, and I'm raring to go.

Here's the Raven result:

Raven 1-21

Raven 22-29

Satisfied with my section on Cedar, Decoy

Peg 7, Sunday, Jan 23
I look forward to Sunday mornings, especially the couple of hours before I set off to fish. Up at 5.30 am, take my pills, then I have to wait before I eat anything, so I turn on the Telly for Peppa Pig and the pre-recorded Match Of The Day. 

Peppa Pig I can understand; footballers I cannot - how can a defender find himself running full pelt back TOWARDS his own goal ready to accidentally hoof a cross by the opposition straight past his own goalkeeper? The title 'defender' has clearly passed them by (but what do I know about the offside trap?). And this Sunday as I watched while eating my porridge I was so frustrated I got up and left without my phone. But fear not - Steve Tilsley photographed the result and sent it to me. 

A nice start
So on to the JV match with ten on Cedar and ten on Damson and Peg 7 Cedar was my home for the day. There were five on each bank - Pegs 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13 on our bank, and five opposite and there was a tiny bit more colour in the water than there has been lately. A warm morning greeted us, though gradually the South-Westerly breeze got stronger and colder and by the end those on pegs 14 to 26 must have been frozen. I guess nearly everyone used maggots almost all day - as I did. And I was probably the first to catch a fish - a 2 lb bream after about eight minutes, on the 12-metre line. 

Fish in the margin!

I started flicking maggots down to my left margin, where there was a bit of a hole, right from the start. And after the next hour without another fish on the long pole line I looked down to see a huge cloud of mud welling up in that left margin, caused by a fish snuffling around the bank somewhere up near the surface. Immediately I put in  a bait, and as I did so more mud came up from the deep area I had baited. I fished hard for half an hour, expecting barbel, but with just one tiny tap on the float to show for my efforts, and no more mud clouds.

Next I put out a maggot feeder - Ron Cuthbert opposite on 20 had had a carp earlier, and I had seen Roy Whincup to my right on 4 also take one. I had just a couple of tiny  liners, so it was back to the long pole, with the float dotted down to a mere pimple. I  could see Ron opposite fishing the same way. Half an hour later a 7 lb common came in, which I played gently on the size 16 hook and 13 elastic. The bite was the tiniest shiver of that pimple. It took another hour for another good carp to come in, and soon after that, a 3 lb common, all giving the tiniest bites imaginable.

A good finish
On the far bank and to my right on Peg 23 someone had been taking a lot more fish than me - not frantic sport, but steady, and they included a couple that looked to me to be in double figures. I expected that Roy Whincup, opposite him, had probably also got some good fish, as he always seems able to put a weight together.

The last two hours I tried maggot feeder again, had another look in the margin, and kept feeding a few maggots on the long pole line, all without even a liner. Then, as I was on scales, I folded up the feeder rod with 15 minutes to go (resting the swim, you understand) and went out on the long pole again. In that last ten minutes I had two more bites and  in came a 3 lb bream, followed by another 3 lb common!

The weigh in
On Peg 1 Grandad (not mine) had just one fish - a really fat, silvery common carp that weighed 10 lb 13 oz. Next to weigh was Roy Whincup, whose 25 lb 8 oz included one that must have been 13 lb. So I had been wrong in assuming Roy would have a big weight. My six fish went 27 lb 9 oz, and past me Jim Reagan weighed in 37 lb 2 oz also taken on the long pole. In the corner, the last peg on our bank, Ian Frith pole-fished his usual two lines of one long against the end bank and one in open water for a magnificent 99 lb 12 oz. 

Cedar result - my section A was at the car park end of the lake.

On the far bank the highlights were the last two pegs - 105 lb 4 oz by Ernie Lowbridge on 23 taken feeding maggots via a very small  pole pot at about 13 metres, and 135 lb 8 oz on Peg 26 in the corner. Here Perry Briggs had dobbed maggots at 14.5 metres to the end bank, and had not fed a single maggot all day. The weights on Damson were smaller, but more consistent.

A surprise
Gus handed out the winnings and I was taken aback when he said I'd won my section by default, and handed me £25. The sections on Cedar had been allocated at each end (which is fairer than each bank) and the top two had been in my section, leaving me top of the other three (which were on my bank). Had the section been the first two on our bank and the first three on the far bank I would not have won anything - lucky Peppa Pig came up trumps after all!

Damson - won on Peg 13 in the first corner.

My next match is Wednesday on Raven and Jay at Pidley, where it will be mainly 13 metre or 14.5 metre dobbing to the far bank, wind permitting. I shall be offering up a prayer to Peppa Pig before I leave, and promising to watch him next Sunday morning. Anything to give me an edge.

Better than I had feared - Raven, Pidley

Peg 21, Raven

You have to wear a mask, of course, when you go into the Tackle and Bates shop at Pidley to have your peg drawn. And my spectacles always steam up, so when Tim Bates drew my peg for me I couldn't see it properly. "Twenty-One" he said, and my heart leapt (well, it gave a little flutter), assuming it was 21 on Crow Lake, which I hoped to draw.

"Twenty-One Today, off you go." Tim Bates shows me the red card!

"Raven," he continued. Heart stops fluttering and I put on a brave face. That almost certainly means fishing at a minimum of 13 metres, which can be hard work when you're 79 and nothing takes your bait for five hours. But the optimist would say that it's just another challenge to tackle. So off I drive to Peg 21, Raven.

Yes - 13 metres plus a short butt to the far side, but the reeds there didn't look inviting. You need a straight edge ideally, and I had two clumps of wavy, bent reeds with some lying in the water, and very shallow water next to the far bank, which had fallen in. Still, the wind was behind, and I set up in time to have a chat with a couple of the others. Almost everybody would be going cross to the far side and dobbing bread or maggot because results have shown that fishing down the track or in the margins at this time of year is not likely to produce much, if anything.

My peg 21. I took most of my fish from the bare swim between the two trees to the right.

A poor start picks up
I dobbed bread for 45 minutes with just a couple of liners, then saw Chris Saunders, to swims to my right, take a fish from the far side. I looked closely and decided he had maggots on the hook, so made the change, putting on two maggots. 

A couple of liners later and eventually the float slid under and I brought a 2 lb common to the net. In the next 40 minutes I landed about seven more, from 1 lb 8 oz to 4 lb, some on a single maggot, some on two, and one on three, mainly fishing 18 inches deep in two feet of water. But I had to keep changing swim, as hooking one in that clear water meant that I'd not get another there for some time.

Chris Saunders, to my right, had an even slower start
than me, but found better fish in the afternoon.
You can see that by the end the wind was quite cold.

That ruddy wind changed

At that point the wind suddenly got up and started coming from the right - a swing round of more than 90 degrees which made holding the pole steady and steadying the rig almost impossible for more than a few seconds, even with a long lash. It was then easier to fish to the left, and I had a drop in as far along the bank as I could, and hit another good fish, which came off as I was shipping back. 

A few minutes later the same thing happened, and I decided that if the same thing happened again I would change the hollow 13 elastic for something a little lighter. I have a fondness for that Preston green Hollow 13, as it seems a very good all-round choice when the fish can be anything from 1 lb to 10 lb-plus.

I wasn't the only one with wind trouble
But I didn't change, because for the next hour I never had a touch of any description. I wandered up to see Chris, who said he had four fish, so I decided I was doing OK. He also said he was having trouble holding his pole. That was a reality check, as I tend to think it's me being stupid when I have trouble, and that everyone else is coping properly. Of course everyone else is always in the same boat!

Peter Carter on 25 took 39 lb 6 oz but lost
some which would have given him second place.

So I went back to my swim, and as I did so one angler had decided he had had enough and was driving home. After another fruitless look where I had been fishing I a good look in the deeper water, managing to catch just four F1s in the next two hours on a single maggot in four feet of water at the edge of the far shelf, before it dropped down quickly. I lost no more fish, and fed perhaps 100 maggots in that two hours. By the end I was starting to feel the cold, and should really have switched on my new heated vest which Santa brought me. But I'm stupid! 

The weigh in
Tim came round with the scales and said the angler to my left (who I couldn't see most of the time because of the low sun) had weighed  41 lb 10 oz and was top weight. I weighed in 31 lb 4 oz, and was happy that I hadn't at least disgraced myself. But the weights to my right nearly all beat mine -  35 lb from Chris, ,who had found fish to 5 lb in the afternoon, a 39 lb, a winning 74 lb from Will Hadley on 27, and a 39 lb from end peg 29. 

Will Hadley's winning 74 lb from Peg 27, all taken dobbing maggots to the far-side reeds.

So I ended seventh, but just a couple of bonus fish would have pushed me up to second place. So I was satisfied with my day's work. The weights on Crow were better, as I had expected, probably taken mainly on maggot feeders. 

Next match on Sunday on Decoy, probably on the Strips. Here are the full results:

Raven 1-22

Raven 23-29

Crow 1-13

Crow 14-25

Results from the Decoy Open, and our club match on Yew

Ice midweek on the lakes at Decoy, followed by icy blasts from the North Pole, had the inevitable effect of herding the fish into some areas at the weekend, leaving others almost fishless. However our club match, and the Opens, which attracted anglers practicing for the Angling Trust Winter League Final, went ahead, though some high-level casualties emerged at the end, including five-times World Champion Alan Scotthorne, who blanked in the Open.

Our JV club match

Peg 8, Yew, Decoy

Eighteen fished - nine on Cedar and nine on Yew, all having back wind. I drew 8 on Yew, and wasn't unhappy, as a match had been won on 7 a week or two ago. But Chris Saunders, next to me on 7, told me at the start that on Friday the Over 50s had seen most of the fish towards the Northern end, in the higher numbers. We were not looking at getting a lot of fish as on Yew the fish are mainly carp - with a big average and lots in double-figures.

Almost flat calm at the start, but the wind got up a little and it  became very cold.

On Cedar the carp average a little less but there are more barbel and bream. But even though both lakes are just strips, sometimes it can seem as if a brick wall has been built under the surface and the fish will not go past. 

This was a much action as Chris Saunders, next to me on Peg 7, saw all day!

The wind was Westerly, on our backs, but became very cold, and I pitied the anglers drawn on Elm in the Open  who were facing it. The sun was really bright at times, but it didn't warm us up! Nearly everyone started on a feeder, as I did. Nothing on that, so I went on the long pole, at least 13 metres, and never had a touch. Like everyone else my main attack was with maggots.

Ron Cuthbert had 29 lb 2 oz for third.

Five in a line all struggle
Five of us in a line tried everything we knew but after four-and-a-half hours none of us had had a bite! To our left we could see the end three putting occasional fish in the net, and Adam Lowbridge on the other end peg 3 had a couple of fish early on, on a waggler. With 30 minutes left I was on a maggot feeder cast 40 yards to the far bank and suddenly, out of the blue, the tip jagged forwards and then sprung back. I picked up the rod and, wonder of wonders, a fish was on.

It came in fairly easily until a few yards from my bank, and with the water so clear I could see it was actually quite a good fish. Suddenly it had a new lease of life and threatened to charge through Chris Saunders' swim, but plunging the rod down under the surface persuaded it to come back. Then it refused to be netted - turning away every time it was within a foot of the net.

A few hair-raising minutes later it lay in the landing net. That was the sum total of our action for the five of us in this match.

Ian Frith - second with 100 lb 4 oz.

The weigh in
On end peg 15 Ian Frith had had to watch Roy Whincup, on 14, catch three fish on a maggot feeder cast to the middle of the lake, before he got a bite on the pole. But eventually sparse feeding with maggot saw fish come into the swim and Ian ended with 100 lb 4 oz, having used less than a quarter of a pint of maggot.

Roy fished a maggot feeder all day, taking the rest of his fish from the far side, ending with a winning  115 lb 9 oz. The next swim was unused, and on Peg 12 Ron Cuthbert managed to snatch a few stragglers for 29 lb 2 oz and third place, leaving Adam Lowbridge on 3 in fourth place thanks to a double-figure carp foulhooked on the pole towards the end to add to three on waggler, for 21 lb 2 oz. I ended fifth with that one fish of 7 lb 12 oz.

Roy Whincup, winner with 115 lb 9 oz, shows
one of his biggest fish. There are lots of carp
 this size on Yew lake.

On Cedar everyone caught fish, with Steve Tilsley, who had won the Over 60s  match on Jay lake on the previous Wednesday, making good use of his end peg 12 and ending with 52 lb 10 oz to win Cedar lake.

My next match will be at Rookery Farm Fishery, Pidley, on Wednesday, on Crow/Raven. Like most others I will hope to get drawn on Crow, as it's likely to give some sort of back wind, and I've had a first and second on the lake in my last two matches there.

Yew

Cedar

The Open results - held on Elm, Damson, Lou's and Horseshoe are below: 

ELM

DAMSON

 LOU'S

HORSESHOE

Fun in the frost on Jay, Pidley

Peg 8, Wednesday,  Jan 12
I was not looking forward to the Over 60s on Magpie and Jay, as a heavy frost was forecast. And boy, was it heavy! My van was covered in ice; the temperature shown on the van dashboard as I drove to the match was 0.5C; the fields were all white; and as I drove past Jay to the draw I could see ice on it. As well as that, my record on Jay in the Winter has been dismal; and Peg 8 on Jay was drawn for me!

I met Will Hadley outside the shop and he said that 5, 6 and 7 are good Winter pegs; and in the past he has said that Peg 11 has a good Winter record. "There are fish in your area," he concluded.

Peg 8 faces the corner - more than 16 metres to that bank, so I placed my box across the righthand corner of the platform, facing the overhanging reeds, which I could reach with 13 metres. That meant I couldn't use my keepnet bar, but I managed with two banksticks.

Peg 8 - covered in frost, but no ice. I fished to the reeds on the right at 13 metres.

Steve Tilsley was on Peg 1, and his swim was covered in cat ice. But I know from fishing the Fen drains in Winter that often the fish hole up under the ice, and the person in free water nearest to the ice often catches.

Back to my swim, and I was late starting, thanks to casting a bomb into a tree on the opposite bank and having to walk round with my long hook to free it. Not an auspicious start! 

First fish takes 45 minutes
It then took me 45 minutes to catch a fish, about 2 lb, on bread dobbed right across, about 18 inches deep in two-and-a-half feet of water on a 16 hook. There was no bare bank opposite, so I had to fish a couple of feet away from the reeds, because some were lying in the water. I managed to hook an overhanging reed one time, but thankfully got the rig back in one piece, though tangled. A switch to maggot brought another carp about 2 lb, and next drop a carp of 3 lb. I'd cracked it...

Actually I had sort of cracked it, because I caught fish steadily for the rest of the match, but they were mainly less than 2 lb. During a slow spell I saw Shaun Buddle, to my right on 5, land a good fish, and saw he was a little deeper than me, so I added a few inches. That worked better immediately.

Shaun Buddle was to my right, and had bigger 
fish than I managed to contact.

Just one fish from the margins
I had been told that the previous Saturday Josh Pace had caught well on Peg 9, to my left round the corner, fishing the margins. So I felt I had to try there. The deepest part of the swim appeared to be right against the reeds, and I kept flicking maggots there for the first hour or two.

First drop when I tried in that margin swim behind me brought a 1 lb F1, but no more, so I soon reverted to the far-side swim, knowing I had a back-up of sorts if the far swim failed. Again first drop at 13 metres brought another carp. At one time I lost two fish in a row, and thought it may have been because they were bigger and I shipped back too quickly, using 13 hollo elastic. I was a bit more careful after that.

Three maggots were slightly better
I kept hooking pieces of reed and weed, even off bottom, and some of the hooked fish snagged big reeds which were floating, but none came off. A change from two maggots to three seemed to bring better bites, and I ended with about 35 fish, mainly between 1 lb and 2 lb, with about four pushing 3 lb. Those two fish which came off when shipping back were the only ones I had lost. Another quick look in the margins to rest the far swim yielded nothing.

The weather had been good, though even the tiny breeze was cold, and I wore the padded Imax jacket all day. The water was clear, and it appeared that if a fish splashed when I hooked it, as a few did, that spooked them for five minutes. So I got into the habit of switching to a swim a little to the right, where the fish were even smaller, but at least it meant I was putting fish into the net.

I had not put a single maggot into the far side swim, and that has really given me confidence to fish maggot  like bread - without putting in bait.

Steve Tilsley's second net - his first held fish  even
bigger than these. All were taken on dobbed bread.

The weigh in
I walked up to see Steve Tilsley weigh and was astonished to see his first weigh - 60 lb-plus of fish which were nearly all 5 lb-plus. His second net was similar, giving him 114 lb 1 oz, which won the lake. He fished bread all day on the far bank.

Shaun on Peg 5 also had better fish in his catch, and I wondered whether bread would have taken better fish in my swim. I decided that it probably wouldn't, because I could have expected at least the odd better fish to take maggot. Top anglers fish here in the Winter with maggot, after all. 

Back to my swim and the angler on 11 said he thought I had 100 lb - which I obviously  hadn't. That also made me wonder if his fish had also been bigger than mine. My first net weighed 31 lb 1 oz and the second 31 lb 4 oz - total 62 lb 5 oz, which was fourth out of the 16 anglers on Jay. Unfortunately that angler, Pat Neal, on 11 beat me by 15 oz, for third, and took the section. But I had had a really good day.

 Magpie produced much better weights than the anglers had anticipated after that frost, won with 84 lb on Peg 1.

Will Hadley, who gave me the low-down on my peg before the match, finished sixth from
Peg 47, and won his section by default, with 42 lb 10 oz, including this whopper.

Here are the full results: 

Jay 1-23

Jay 24-47

Magpie 1-22

Magpie 23-36

Next Over 60s is on Crow, where I have had two good matches, and Raven, where I (again) have a dismal record fishing across to the far bank. But after this match I can't wait to have another try at fishing across with maggot if bread doesn't work.

Next Sunday sees me on Cedar (and possibly Yew) at Decoy. The forecast is for very mild winds. I'm having a good run, so bring it on!

Success of sorts on Beastie, Decoy

Peg 21, Sunday, Jan 9
The 20 JVAC members in this match had a sombre start when we all stood at our pegs for a minute before the match to remember club member Alan Marshall, who died at Decoy two days earlier. Alan had won an Over 50s match from Peg 4 on Yew, with 100 lb-plus, but collapsed in the car park at the Strips while loading his car. I am told an ambulance, the air ambulance and the police all attended, but Alan was pronounced dead at the scene.

For a time then, when we sat down, fishing didn't seem so important; but there was a match to fish, and fishing, as we know, helps forget some of the worries from the outside world. So we fished...

The match
This was a drawn pairs match, with ten on Horseshoe and ten on Beastie. When I left home the weather seemed fairly warm; but when I got out of the van at Decoy the wind was biting, and I was told that there had been a hard frost earlier. Gus Gausden had most of the ten fishing Beastie with a back wind, though Roy Whincup on 15 had it into him all day, and Steve Nurse on 18 had a side wind. My peg 21 was fairly comfortable, thanks to the high bank behind me. But it became clear quite soon that not many fish would be caught.  

Peg 21 on Beastie. The point of the island is about 60 yards away. Luckily it was a back wind. 

 

Steve Nurse is going to fish the Angling Trust Winter League final on Decoy in February, for Scunthorpe, and had made the 90-mile trip down from Cleethorpes  to practice. He's done this before, and has joined JV so he can fish our Winter matches. Steve Richardson, fishing on Horseshoe in this match, has made the same journey, fishes for the same team and is also going to fish the final. 

The feeder reigns
Nearly everyone started on a feeder - mainly maggot feeders on Beastie, where there is a fair head of bream. I did so, but in the first half hour I saw just one fish caught - by Steve Nurse on 18. Then  my rod tip pulled forwards and dropped back in a typical carp bite, and I struck and hit a good fish. Forty yards away towards the island a 4 lb carp was hooked, and it ended in my keepnet after a hairy last few seconds. The water is clear, and I think we all found that fish kept turning away from the net at the last second.

Not long after that I had a strange bite - the tip moved slowly round and held there. It could have been a liner, but after two or three seconds I decided to strike and another fish was on. This was bigger and immediately took line; then, to my horror, it started kiting round to the right, and threatening to charge through Smug's swim on Peg 22.

Gus took both his fish on double corn - a 
lesson for me in future, even in ice-cold water.

I simply had to wind down as fast and hard as I could, but within a second the fish had come off. I think it must have been foulhooked. On my right Smug was fishing wagglers, casting a full 50 yards to the island, and I know he is brilliant at this. I fully expected him to start hitting fish, but up to this point he was fishless, as was Gus Gausden on my left on 20, fishing a pole.

Nothing on the pole lines
The next couple of hours were fishless for me, but I did see Steve Nurse net about four more. Then Gus, fishing double corn, landed a carp around 8 lb. I'd had a good look on my two pole lines, at 11.5 metres an seven metres, where I had been flicking maggots, but never had a touch of any kind. 

Back on the feeder and I suddenly found that my six-inch hooklength had started tangling with the line above the feeder. So I added an eight-inch length of Drennan Supplex nylon between the hooklength and feeder. This is quite stiff, and it stopped the tangling.

A bream
First cast, and my tip sort of shuddered and kept quivering, so I struck and a 2 lb bream came in, but no more. I tried the "Pour A Drink" trick, but even that didn't work. Nothing on the pole lines, even though I felt I was doing it perfectly. So with 30 minutes left I put out the maggot feeder again, about 50 yards, and waited.

Four hours and 55 minutes after the start Smug Whiting hooked his only fish!

Five minutes from the end Smug hooked a fish! I grabbed the camera from my side tray and shot a picture, and settled back to see out the last few minutes.  The feeder had been out for nearly half an hour and there seemed no point in re-casting. Then the tip shuddered again and another fish was on, most likely a bream, and I played it carefully with the rod tip on the surface.

No more than TWENTY SECONDS later Gus called time and for the second match in a row I landed a fish after the match finished. It was another bream about 2 lb.

Winner on Beastie was Steve Nurse, who travelled  the 90 miles
from his Cleethorpes home to fish. He weighed  25 lb 5 oz.

The weigh-in
Roy Whincup, who must have been frozen, weighed in 7 lb ll oz, and Steve Nurse had, in fact, landed nine fish - bream and carp, just putting his maggot feeder out halfway to the island, with a bomb as a change tactic. Steve weighed 25 lb 5 oz for top weight on the lake. Gus had added a bream for a total of   10 lb 2 oz, and my fish weighed 8 lb for fourth on the lake.

Somehow that brought me my section by default - Gus assured me that was correct, and I have a brown envelope to prove it!

The Pairs result
On Horseshoe, Steve Richardson fished a Method feeder with a wafter, and a bomb and pop-up, and won the lake with 38 lb 6 oz of carp. So the two Scunthorpe anglers had a brilliant practice day. Their swims would have been fancied by all the anglers, but you've still got to catch 'em.

The Beastie weigh sheet.

Horseshoe.

It happened that the the two Steves were drawn together in the Pairs event, and obviously won it by a country mile. My partner was Ian Frith, who was third on Horseshoe with 18 lb 12 oz fom Peg 13, helped by a 7 lb carp hooked just three minutes from the end.  And jammy old me, thanks to those late fish from both of us, ended second with Ian in the Pairs match and came away with another brown envelope

NOTE: I  tried out my heated vest, on the lowest setting, and although I could feel the heat I can't say it made me as warm as toast. But it did stop me getting any colder. Next time I will try it on a higher setting.

My next match is at Pidley on Wednesday, fishing Magpie/Jay. I guess it will be very hard indeed.

The Open
An Open was fished on Damson, Elm and Cedar, and was won by Andy Kelk on Cedar 7 with 105 lb 8 oz, fishing maggot feeder and maggots on the pole at 14.5 metres. The weights were much better than in our matches, which may have been partly down to the quality of angler, but the Strips tend to produce much better catches in the Winter than Beastie, Horseshoe and Willows.

Decoy have just announced that bread can be used on the hook from November to March. This will be especially welcomed on Horseshoe, where there are still plenty of lillies showing. Here are the Open weigh sheets:

Damson.

Elm.

Cedar.