Two windy days on Horseshoe and Elm, Decoy

 Peg 1, Horseshoe, Sat, Apr 23
This Fenland Rods match was our annual rover. The wind was forecast to start SW and veer round to NNW in the afternoon, so I had my eye on Peg 1. This would give me back wind in the morning, when I hoped to fish long and shallow, with casters, hopefully in some ripple. Then I would have ripple in my margins for the last hour or so. Lots of anglers don't bother about it, but I have confidence in a good Raspberry Ripple. 

Peg 1 hasn't had a good reputation in our matches, but I have always fancied it - end peg with lots of room to the right. I had fished it once before, I remembered. Even so I would have considered picking out peg 13, a known flier on the corner, facing South, which has won lots of matches on Horseshoe. But Mel Lutkin chose that and when my name came out peg 1 was still available, so I took a chance. 

Luckily the rain held off, and the wind gave me ripple in the margin at the end. 

Before we started, the wind was blowing through a gap in the trees, giving a ripple right across my swim, but Sod's Law then took effect and by the time we were ready to start the wind had swung a few degrees round, giving me mainly calm water for the first few metres out.

I stick to casters
Still, I kept to my plan, feeding casters out, but having a look with the pole on 2+3 with corn, just in the deep water, about six feet, which produced about some tentative liners, and then three F1s in the first hour. I couldn't see anything else being caught, and then thought I'd have a quick look out at 11.5 metres shallow, in the ripple. To be honest my feeding had been a bit haphazard, with the casters not always falling in the same spot.

Yet again holding the catapult with my left hand had been a problem, and I had often had to put the pole on the bump bar, to feed with the catapult in my right hand. This meant I hadn't been fishing the corn properly in the other swim, of course. I prefer throwing by hand, of course, but it was too far.

Great to see Mike Rawson back and catching fish.

When I went out with the shallow rig, pole on bump bar, everything fell into place, and I was accurate enough...but although I had an odd bite or two I think they must have been roach, After about half an hour with no fish at all I cut my losses and went back to fishing the corn. Two or three more fish came from the original swim,  but things were very slow, and I then started another swim to the right, about ten feet from the reeds, in four feet of water, which yielded a 5 lb carp and a few more F1s.

Fish moving in the reeds
When that swim slowed I tried feeding casters to the righthand reeds, about eight metres away, which gave me an F1 shallow first drop, but yet again (as as happened to me recently) no more. However there were fish moving along that side, and I concentrated there with corn and cat meat, and potting in hemp for the first time since Autumn,  and three good carp obliged. The odd one came off, but I think they were probably foulhooked, and the one that came in gently to the net and then shot off while sticking two fingers up at me most certainly was.

I am righthanded, so fishing even five sections right round to the right along the bank is a bit of a trial, and in fact I had to stop two or three times as my back was hurting. When that happened I went in to the big bunch of reeds just to my left, on a top two, and took two or three more there, best around 8 lb which fell to mussel. To my left Dave Garner had had six or eight fish on cat meat and waggler, which looked to be around 4 lb or 5 lb with the odd bigger one.. 

Fish in the shallows water?
Now I had read my blog before coming, and saw that the only other time I had fished that swim I had put the last of my pellets into the shallows to the right (about a foot deep) at the end of the match and tails were waving at us while we weighed in! So with an hour to go I potted in some dead reds, more in hope than expectation, and carried on netting the occasional F1 and small carp from the reed swims. The wind was quite cold, now blowing into my margins, as I had hoped, but I couldn't believe that fish would come into 12 inches of water with that on their backs.

John Smith on peg 20, which he had never fished before.

Dave then had a good spell with three fish in three casts, and I assumed he was beating me. Suddenly I saw a big fish moving in the shallows I had fed, and that was my signal to start there, with a bunch of four dead reds. I needed only a top two plus one, so it was quite comfortable for me. The plan worked! 

From that swim I took about five more proper carp, and a 3 lb F1 in the last 40 minutes, including the best carp of probably 12 lb. Inevitably two or three foulhooked themselves and came off. Maggots, corn, cat meat and mussel all took fish. Changing the bait after immediately catching a fish seemed to be the answer.

Shorter tops better for playing fish
Yet again I found that playing the fish on the shorter top got them in more quickly than on the normal top two, because it's stiffer and the fish don't react as much. By the end of the match I had clicked 36 lb in each of two nets and had added a third 'just in case' with 15 minutes to go, which contained two fish, but I know I almost always underestimate, and I thought I had perhaps 90 lb. Then as I was packing up Kevin Lee on peg 4 said he had over 100 lb, including a fantastic last five minutes when he had landed two very big fish.

Mel Lutkin adds up some weights. The club now has
a 60 lb per net limit, but we still aim for maximum 50 lb.

The weigh in
I was first to weigh - 98 lb 11 oz, and because I had taken so few fish in the first couple of hours, and had had a poor two hours in the middle, I assumed several of the others would beat me. Dave Garner's purple patch towards the end had come to an abrupt finish and he totalled 68 lb.  Mike Rawson on the next peg had done himself proud with 75 lb 15 oz,  but indeed Kevin Lee had exceeded the 'ton' with 135 lb 14 oz, his biggest fish being a beautiful silver common carp which we weighed at 14 lb. though it looked bigger. 

Martin Parker was late for the draw (battery trouble) and I had chosen peg 7 for him, which he said afterwards he hadn't done justice to, but he still weighed 82 lb 12 oz. Round the corner in the higher pegs Dave Hobbs had, according to two or three fishing near him, been catching all day, and would be next-to-last to weigh.

Dave Hobbs had a lot of fish, but most were on the small side.

Smaller fish round the corner

Shaun Buddle also had three nets, for his 99 lb 12 oz, beating me into third place by 1 lb 1 oz. And Dave Hobbs had 82 lb but it was very noticeable that round the corner in the higher numbers the fish were a much smaller average size, with few over the 7 lb mark, while on my side there were a several big fish.

Last to weigh was our leader, John Smith, who had never fished peg 20, and thought he'd try there, as it had a big wind on it at the start. His first three fish were all foulhooked, and he had the scales to prove it! But his 63 lb 13 oz was a good antidote to his previous week's return after the Winter lay-off, when he had DNWd. And as for me, I was happy that at least part of my plan had worked.

Shaun Buddle - runner-up with 99 lb 12 oz.

Incidentally, while we were fishing this match, a scratch Open, with just five anglers, saw a weight of over 400 lb from peg 8, which I had fished the previous week for 42 lb. Second was around 260 lb. The next day we were due to fish Elm, in the Spratts match. Guess which peg was favourite?

Winner Kevin Lee with his biggest  fish.

THE RESULT

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Peg 23, Elm, Monday, Apr 24

Fifteen fished this Spratts match and, with only 12 pegs each side of Elm Lake, we had to fish both sides. My peg 23 is next to the end swim. The recent rains had really lifted the level, and peg 24's platform was underwater, so it was not pegged. The wind was a strong NNW, and cold, blowing into my corner from the right. On Elm the better swims tend to be towards the far end, so after the draw I didn't fancy my peg.

On the bank, the water felt dead to me, but as I tackled up I thought that perhaps, with the wind so strong, fish might feed at this end, though with 400 lb having been taken on 8 the previous day, that area was obviously favourite, and bottom weight was from 23! Ninety-two year-old Joe Bedford was on 8, and it would have been optimistic to imagine that he could match that weight, though he is still capable of putting together a good bag. But Peter Harrison was next man on 10, and he can't stop catching fish!

Forgot to take a picture of my swim (which was mainly water anyway),
but I kept an eye on Wendy on 22, who was feedering all day. In fact she caught only three.

Seven feet deep

I was amazed to find over seven feet of water in front on me, with just one tiny shallower section next to the bank on my left. I fed casters there, next to a tiny, sparse clump of reeds, on the off-chance that fish might move in there some time. But I started out on 2+2, which was the longest I could reasonably hold in the wind. 

I had one of my new Malman wire-stemmed 4x16 floats, and it was very stable in the wind. Over that I cad-potted in half-a-dozen 6mm hard pellets each time, with a 6mm expander on the hook. There was no indication for about half an hour, but then I had a definite bite which  I  missed. 

Opposite on 2, Neil Pass wasn't very busy, and I was happy, then, to get another bite which I also missed. A couple more followed, and then I hit a fish which promptly came off. That happened a couple more times before, at last, a 3 lb bream came nodding to the net. Two more followed, and then a roach, after which I had a look in the deep margins, about four feet out from where I had been throwing my casters. On 20, three to my right, Bob Allen had had several good fish, and I was way behind him.

Fish on corn

I soon hit a big fish on corn, which took me a long time to land on the 10-12 elastic, mainly because it was a big barbel of 5 lb-plus, or perhaps even 6 lb. I immediately changed the elastic for a stronger solid, and the next fish was a 2 lb barbel. Half the match had gone now, and when I telephoned my Dearly Beloved We Are Gathered Here Together, to let her know I was still alive, I was able to tell her I had a roach, two barbel and three bream. She grunted, but I am sure she was impressed!

Neil opposite had by now had a few better fish and was fishing the margins, so I had a look shallow in the caster swim. I had a bite first drop and a 3 lb F1 next cast, and then absolutely no movement at all. So it was back to the deep margins, where I managed to find a snag so big that my float was two feet above the water when I tightened up. Two rigs were trashed before it entered my head that perhaps I should not fish there...

Mick Ramm ended with 50 lb 2 oz from corner peg 12.

Changing baits best again

After about another hour, some good carp started to feed closer to me than I had put the feed (!) and, as I had done the previous day, I found that changing the bait after each fish was best, and I landed about four. I now tried the right margin, potting in hemp again, as I had the previous day, and that brought a 12 lb carp first drop. Two more came from there, on cat meat and then mussel, and then I hit a fish which played me for probably nearly 15 minutes before the hook pulled out.

I never looked like getting that fish anywhere near the surface, and frankly I was glad when it got off, as my back was killing me, and I had to stop fishing for a short while. I think it must have been a foulhooked, very big, barbel. However one of the previous fish, which had given me the run-around turned out to be a 10 lb carp, and I would have sworn that it was a barbel.

Mussel working

The last two fish came from the left on mussel, which I was fishing by potting in just two or three halves at the same time, and cat meat. Those last four fish I put in my second net all fought like fury, and they weighed 40 lb. I had several sachets of cat meat with me, and one contained small flakes, rather than large lumps. But the flakes were quite hard, so I put two on and had a fish first drop within seconds of it hitting bottom. I fancy the slow drop must have attracted it.

Trevor was on 17, opposite the famous big-weight swim 8,
but it seemed that the previous day's huge catch from there
had affected the fish in those swims. He totalled  46 lb 9 oz.

Sean Buddle said he had 70 lb and I thought I had more, perhaps 80 lb.

The weigh-in

Peter Harrison was top on the West bank on peg 10, with  152 lb 4 oz, taken on cat meat on 2+2 then in the margins. Peter Spriggs next door on peg 11 was second with 96 lb 6 oz. I ended top on the East bank and third overall with 89 lb 13 oz, ahead of Sean Buddle on 74 lb 11 oz, fourth with 74 lb 11 oz. John Smith used a waggler, his favourite method, in taking fifth spot with 73 lb 8 oz.

Some said they were absolutely frozen at the end, but I was OK, and not even my hands were cold.

Peter Spriggs, runner-up with 96 lb 6 oz.

Peter Harrison with his best fish, which we weighed at 16 lb 9 oz.

Me with my best barbel, which we didn't weigh. All the barbel in Decoy seem to be in superb condition.

Lessons learned this Spring

1) Hemp, I am sure, is bringing fish in;

2) Changing bait after catching a fish seems to be working;

3) Changing swims as soon as they fail to bring another fish is working on all waters;

4) It's worth going back to a previously-baited swim, even after an hour, without re-baiting it. I sense that some carp and bream are happy to rummage about, and may even prefer bait not being introduced on their heads.

THE RESULT

                                East bank                                           West bank

23 Mac Campbell         89 lb 13 oz    3rd                   2 Neil Pass             57 lb 5 oz

22 Wendy Bedford       21 lb 6 oz                               4 John Garner        30 lb 13 oz

20 Bob Allen                59 lb 9 oz                               5 John Smith          73 lb 8 oz    5th

18 Steve Engledow      17 lb 1 oz (net fell in water)   7 Mike Rawson     DNW

17 Trevor Cousins        46 lb 9 oz                               8 Joe Bedford        20 lb 3 oz 

16 Bob Barrett              23 lb                                     10 Peter Harrison  152 lb 4 oz   1st

14 Shaun Buddle          74 lb 11 oz   4th                   11 Peter Spriggs     96 lb 6 oz    2nd

                                                                                   12 Mick Ramm      50 lb 2 oz

                                                   

Next match is an invitation to a Police event on Captain Tom's lake on Float Fish Farm on Friday; then Yew at Decoy on Sunday; then Yew again on Tuesday. Captain's Tom is a virgin visit for me (the first for a while), while Yew can be quite difficult - big fish and the tactic is simply not to lose those you hook. The water seems to be very well oxygenated and the fish are incredibly fit.

Two enjoyable matches on Beastie and Elm

Peg 26, Beastie, Friday, Apr 14
Tony Evans' win in the JV match last week, taking 200 lb-plus on casters fished shallow, in the margins of Six-Island lake, while facing a cool South-Easterly, set me thinking. I've been watching a lot of You Tube videos by Ben Townsend and Tom Edwards, and seeing their Facebook messages. And that convinced me that I have been missing a real trick by not using casters enough, even in this current cool weather.

Tony had the wind blowing onto reeds in his margin, and that's one of the points mentioned in the videos - basically if you're not fishing long, away from the bank disturbance (when pellets are easier to use anyway because of their weight) , then the fish need cover in the shape of vegetation, and preferably also ripple. So armed with a couple of pints of casters I sallied forth to Spratts' match on Beastie, to give it a go, but still wondering whether the wind would be warm enough for shallow fishing.

Here are two links to Tom's videos (copy and paste). In the first he focusses on shallow fishing exclusively; in the second he fishes four methods, including shallow with casters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrQVV4iL7ls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1FVLgvC6Tg

Willy's casters
Incidentally I hadn't got time to go to Tackle and Bates shop to buy casters, so I ordered them from Willy Worms, and was pleasantly surprised by their excellent quality - very few floaters. They are expensive after paying for postage and an ice pack, but for me they were worth it. Not necessarily moneywise, but results-wise.

My peg 26, taken during a lull in the rain. Wind was from the right.

Just eight of us fished - four each side of Beastie, and I honestly didn't fancy peg 26, which faces East,  for carp because, while it can be a flier in Summer, carp tend to keep in the main bowl all Winter. BUT to my left there were reeds, and the light Southerly wind had a little East in it at the start, giving me occasional ripple, even though the wind was cool. All systems go.

I flicked casters into the left margin for two hours while I fished out down the track halfway to the island. After a slow start this started producing bream around 2 lb to 3 lb, and one 3 lb F1. all on corn. About the two hour mark, with an estimated 35 lb in my net, sport slowed and I had a look in my banker margin swim.

A good start
Tom Edwards has one particularly brilliant video on You Tube, and in this he explains how he has several shallow rigs made up, from the eight inches now allowed at Decoy, every four inches down to 20 inches. I made do with just two rigs,  but as I use Connectadjusts I can alter the depth easily anyway. First drop at eight inches with a very small dibber, a 4 lb F1  hooked itself on a banded caster and I was away.

At this point I had already fed one almost pint of my casters and opened the other packet. Of course in Summer the top matchmen use more, but I felt that I was feeling my way in, and  wasn't looking at a massive weight at this time of year. It was all about doing thing absolutely properly and seeing if it worked. Fish fed confidently for about an hour - not hot sport, but a fish every now and then, and they ran to 4 lb, all F1s. Some fish came from about three inches away from the reeds. 

Bob Barrett shows the sort of F1s now resident in Decoy.

The deep rig also works
When the shallowest rig stopped catching fish I used the deeper rig. At one point when the fish appeared to have all gone I used the shallower rig and had fish again immediately - just as Tom says can happen. I wouldn't have believed that the exact depth could be so crucial.

The wind kept swinging about, which seemed to unsettle the fish, and there was a long spell of heavy rain, but I was enjoying it all, even when perhaps ten minutes would go by with only the occasional dip of the float, which could have been roach, as I did hook three or four. But F1s can be finicky, and I persuaded myself that they were still there!

Mick Ramm on peg 22 had some good 'proper' carp.

A good finish
When the fish seemed finally to have gone at all depths I went back to the long swim, taking the occasional bream and F1, still feeding a few casters in the margin, and coming back inside for the last run. This produced a good finish (about 15 lb in the last 20 minutes) and I had run out of casters just ten minutes before time. But I was playing a fish when the match ended. I had no idea who else had caught.

The weigh in
As the scales came round I mentioned to Trevor that I had not had a single common or mirror - it was all F1 and bream, with a few roach and one carassio. He told me that neither he nor Peter Chilton had had any carp either, and John Garner, who was leading with 79 lb 12 oz, had had only about three.

However, in the early 20s which have been providing a lot of the best weights throughout the Winter, Mick Ramm, Bob Barrett56 and Bob Allen all caught carp to double-figures. Bob had 85 lb 10 oz on paste on 24, but my catch went 103 lb 1 oz for the win. 

John Garner's biggest catch was this snag, festooned with rigs
 and line, which he managed to handline in from peg 5.

A very satisfying match for me, in which my 'plan' sort of came to fruition; and I hoped that the Sunday match on Elm lake would also allow me to use caster. I was able to pick up some from tackle and Bates on the Saturday, so it was All Systems Go...

THE RESULT

2 Peter Chilton         48 lb 15 oz
3 Trevor Cousins      67 lb 14 oz
4 Mike Rawson        DNW
5 John Garner           79 lb 12 oz         3rd
22 Mick Ramm         63 lb 5 oz
23 Bob Barrett          53 lb 5 oz
24 Bob Allen            85 lb 10 oz         2nd
26 Mac Campbell   103 lb 10 oz          1st

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Peg 8, Elm Lake, Sunday, Apr 16

I was very happy with peg 8 in this Fenland Rods match, as it's had a lot of good results over the years. The light wind was forecast to be SSE, which would possibly give us a little ripple on the West bank we were fishing. In fact for most of the match it was slightly over our backs, which was not ideal for me.

The start - hardly any wind, which was not ideal for me.

My left margin was bare bank for a few yards, but the right margin had a few reeds and I started by throwing casters there but starting fishing out at 13 metres with hard pellet. This produced not a bite, so I had a look in the left margin, where I had deposited some dead red maggots. Again, not a bite, and after an hour neither I nor John Smith on my left, nor Shaun Buddle on my right, had had a fish.

Yet again caster works

With sport so slow I felt I simply had to have a look in the caster swim, on a top three, and yet again a fish hooked itself first cast - a 4 lb F1. Two more F1s came in the next two casts, but then no more, and it took me about 20 minutes to get another, still feeding casters every minute or so. My  fifth F1 took another 45 minutes, and that was about the time Shaun had a good carp from his eight-metre swim.

Shaun in early action, when the sun had gone in  - you can just see his red elastic stretching.

My longer swims still didn't produce, and now Shaun was catching me up. A look deep in the right margin brought a 3 lb bream, and then, at last, a fish came from a 2+2 swim on corn. But things were very slow, and John still hadn't had a fish, while Shaun had probably overtaken me, landing some bream himself.

Then I had a torrid two hours while Shaun continued to take fish. I thought he was using mussel, and tried that myself, taking two more bream. In fact he told me afterwards he was using cat meat, and feeding only two or three lumps with each cast, Pete-Holland-style. I had another look shallow, with the casters, and in fact took two more, giving me a total of seven from that swim.

I lose fish

At one point, when I was out at 11 metres, a fish almost pulled the pole from my hands, but it came off immediately. Next cast I struck at a bite and the same thing happened - the fish came off, while the elastic, a heavy solid, felt on the harsh side, so I changed to a 13 hollow. Next bite saw me hit a fish which was certainly foulhooked and hurtled off to John Smith on the next peg.

Shaun had about three really nice carp - I had one three-pounder!

Deaf as a post!

Now John has even worse hearing than I do. I shouted to him that a fish was coming his way; he didn't hear; next thing was he struck at a 'bite' and watched as his rig slowly rose upwards! A minute later, having walked towards him, I managed to slip his hook off my line about three seconds AFTER the fish had made its escape. That short spell probably cost me a frame place. No more bites came on that line.

With half an hour left I started a new swim at 2+1 and took half-a-dozen bream in that time, on corn, plus my only 'proper' carp, a 2 lb-plus mirror. John, meanwhile, had managed to land a carp and a bream, but lost two more carp, and did not weigh. Shaun had a good last half-hour which propelled him into second spot.

Carp on tenterhooks 

At times I had seen carp cruising around just under the surface, but when I swung out the shallow rig to them they would look at the falling bait and invariably turn on their tails and scoot off. Others swum towards the float, realised what it was, and suddenly did the same thing.

Shaun included a barbel, which are doing really well  at Decoy.

The bream all had lots of breeding tubercles and the carp have all joined Tinder, so are expecting some hot action, even though the water is still very cold. Difficult weeks are ahead I feel.

The weigh in

Leader in the early pegs was Bob Allen, with 44 lb from peg 1, which  was a very good performance, as that swim often fishes worse than the other low numbers. Kev Lee on peg 6 had 53 lb 6 oz, with not a single fish from the margins, while Shaun took the lead with 104 lb 9 oz, and again he didn't catch anything at all from his margins.

I weighed 42 lb 7 oz for sixth place out of the 12 -and a "Thanks for Coming" - but I had taken several of my fish from the margins, including one or two there on the bottom, and I was happy with the fact that the casters at least took fish on a very difficult day.

Mel Lutkin with friend, on peg 11 on Elm.

We weighed this carp of Peter's at 12 lb 10 oz.

Actually, the day wasn't difficult for Peter Spriggs on corner peg 12 - he said the water was black with fish before he started. But a good angler on a good peg saw him easily win with 174 lb 5 oz on cat meat, and he said he lost 50 lb of fish. 

So no rosette for me, but I have been reminded of the potential of casters, and of shallow fishing, even in cool weather. Now I must again try something I am not good at - fishing shallow with pellet at distance, where my weak spot is that I am not accurate enough having to catapult with my left hand.

Next match Sunday, which is a rover on Horseshoe. I don't know which pegs will be in, or where the wind will be, but I fancy either 13 or 1. Lots of F1s on Horseshoe. Yummy...

THE RESULT

No frame, but I'm still in the mix, on Four-Islands

 Peg 10, Sunday, Apr 9
This is late, but yesterday was a bank holiday, and since I had more than 20 years of working almost every bank holiday, I thought I'd have this one off! I'm revolting in my old age...

Last time I wrote that I thought that pegs 10 to 14 on Six-Island would fish well in the SSE wind, in this JV club match. I therefore went and drew peg 10 - unfortunately on Four-Island lake, which had been added. I've not fished it much, and never in that swim, although when I got to it, the swim looked OK, with a small island at 11.5 metres. The margins, though, were not inviting, with bare bank to the right and a protrusion to the left, probably an old stump, which was surrounded by that green cotton-wool growth.

Peg 10 - the island looked good but I never had a fish there.
That's Roy Whincup, opposite, on peg 2.

The wind was into my face, from the right, and had blown lots of floating debris into that margin - reeds, grass, twigs...you name it. That wind - laughingly described in the media as 'warm' - was anything but, and the island gave shelter which meant I didn't have much ripple  there all day. No matter - there was a job to be done. There were five on our lake and 14 on Six-Island.

After putting a little pot of micros and corn out to open water I dropped in next to the island with a 6mm expander. This brought a line bite, so I retrieved the rig, dropped it in front of me, and put in some more expanders in the cad pot. When I lifted it up there was an F1 on the end! 

Roy Whincup plays a carp in the murk, before the sun came out.

Successfully in the net...

Fish on a top-two
Obviously that was a signal, so I put it back. Within a minute or two a 3 lb carp had taken the bait and was in my net. On went cat meat on a top two and that brought a four-pounder which, on my short top, took me only seconds to land. Next a 2 lb barbel obliged. But then things slowed up, and for half an hour I never had a touch anywhere. Fish started moving about under the surface and a piece of corn flicked towards two carp together saw the fish sink slowly, perhaps towards the bait...and when I struck, assuming the fish had gone, one was attached!

This was almost 10 lb, and was hooked in the outside of the mouth, hence it took me several minutes to land. But again there was a lull. So into the left margin, but I kept hooking underwater twigs and small branches, so I came a foot away from the snags and that worked with three or four nice carp up to nearly double-figures on cat meat in the next 40 minutes. 

Roy catching well
Opposite me the cat meat legend that is Roy Whincup, had had several fish in his right margin, but now we both stopped catching; indeed I later heard that the fish went off over most of our lake and Six-Island as well

I think almost two hours went by before I got my next fish. I had seen F1s congregating in the left margin, mainly hanging with their heads in the reeds. Now the sun was out and the fish spooked when I picked up my pole, because the sun was to my right, casting a shadow to the left. I also noticed that my bait was ice-cold to the touch, so the fish were probably picking up a minor change in water temperature near the surface.

Roy's fish were actually a bit smaller than mine
but he nearly doubled my weight.

Fish on mussel shallow!
Then I had a brilliant out-of-the-box idea. I put the pole up to 13 metres, with a five-foot lash, and put out a light rig, just 18 inches deep, baited with mussel, farther out into the ripple towards the lefthand bank. Unbelievably (cos I don't often fish shallow) this brought bites, and in the next hour I landed five or six plump F1s and a small rudd. Now Roy started catching again, and the next F1 came off right at the net - so close that when I desperately lunged to try to scoop it up, I actually felt the fish.

Next fish came off soon after being hooked, and then bites stopped completely. So I came into the margin again hoping for a cracking last half-hour, even though it was flat calm there.  I hit two fish which came off, and when I switched to the right margin, where I had put in corn, I hit a really big fish which also came off. 

That meant I had lost the last five fish - a really disappointing end to the match.

Andy Bull - a hard-won 44 lb 3 oz from my bogey peg 22
on the main Six-Island lake.

The weigh-in
The two lakes were weighed in separately, with Roy obviously having won ours with his 110lb 3oz and I came third on the lake (just 2 oz ahead of Gus Gausden), which I was happy with - at least I hadn't disgraced myself.

On the main lake Tony (Tobo) Evans had blitzed it from peg 6 with 212 lb 10 oz, taken on casters shallow in both margins, where he went after feeding it for an hour. His right margin fished best - next to a small bush stump on the bank. 

To his left, on 8, Andy Gausden, fishing only his second match in the last four months, took some fish long on pellets but ended catching in his margins with dead reds for 146 lb 7 oz...but even he was just pipped into second by Ian Frith, opposite on 11, with 147 lb 12 oz.

Jim Regan took most of his 49 lb 14 oz from corner
peg 24 in the final two hours.

 

Peter Harrison on corner peg 9 was fourth, showing that yet again the carp are favouring that portion of the lake.

My next match
My next match is Friday on Beastie, followed by Elm lake on Sunday. For anyone that doesn't fish on Decoy, I will point out that there's an enormous difference between the two lakes. Indeed of the 11 lakes on the complex the only four that are similar are the four strips - Elm, Cedar, Oak and Yew. Beastie holds similar fish to the others, but more roach and tiny perch, so fishing with maggots can be dodgy. However, on Elm maggots can bring in the barbel, which now run to 8 lb-plus. 

Temperatures are forecast to drop up to Saturday, so it could all be very difficult.

THE RESULTS

Four-Islands

Six-Islands

Wet and horrible, but we all catch fish on Damson

 Peg 7, Wed, Apr 6
Oh, what a grey day! It was raining as I drove to Decoy, and raining at the draw (though not a lot!) Sorry. Forgive me being whimsical... 

                                Oh, what a grey day!               

Then it stopped as we tackled up, and started again soon after the start, and it rained hard, solidly, for two hours, right into our faces. But there was a bright spot, when Mick Ramm (or Michael as I knew him when we were aged about 7 and went to St Peter's Junior school in Wisbech), turned up to fish for the first time in over a year, sporting a brand new gleaming hip (not that he actually showed us). Great to see him back on the bank.

On the other hand we were missing Peter Barnes, in hospital having chemo for blood cancer and having trouble with his spine. Not good, but his message to me on Facebook was upbeat. We miss you, mate.

The head wind gave us a massive Raspberry Ripple (much rougher than it looks here).

Twelve of us fished this Spratts match on Damson, and I started with a shallow rig and banded 6mm pellet. Three fish around 1 lb each in the first five minutes obliged, then nothing. Damson is like that - promises you so much then withdraws the offer - I remember a few girls like that...

I had a lovely-looking left margin. By the way that's Trevor Cousins playing a carp hooked on a
 bomb and sweetcorn, with no feed being put in. (That's my smart blue van in the background)

Anyway, next to me Trevor Cousins, who had decided to fish a bomb in the nasty head wind, saw what I had done and put out a shallow rig of his own. A roach on his banded pellet was all he had and he packed that in quickly and went back on the bomb. Meanwhile I couldn't believe that the fish had done what they always do and buggered off (I think that's the correct piscatorial term) and I stayed fishing shallow for another 15 minutes before changing to a deeper rig with corn fished in about three feet of water on the edge of the drop-off.

I find fish on corn
The corn brought a few fish F1s between 1 lb and 2 lb, with one having a strange blueish sheen which I assume must have been part of a recent stocking.  I got a lot of bites which I missed; Trevor said they were roach but I'm not so sure, as sometimes they changed into a proper pull-under and it was always a carp or F1. I also occasionally had a bite and found the sweetcorn gone - I'm sure they are F1s. Maggot did, though, take some roach and perch, and I soon packed that in. 

Trevor now had the occasional fish on his running line, but I think I had more, and was quite enjoying it, even in the rain. A couple of quick looks in the deep water produced not even a liner. At one point he had a look on the pole, taking two fish in two drops, but then they moved away, probably to watch something on telly.

Shaun nets a better fish in the sun, after he had performed his wet cabaret act.

Shaun's cabaret
On my right Shaun Buddle started in the deep water, and an hour after the rain had started he performed his slapstick comedy routine. 

He had his hoodie pulled over his head, and eventually decided he ought to pull his jacket hood over his head, forgetting that it had been exposed to heavy rain for an hour. So he pulled it up, and sure enough it had filled with water which cascaded over his head and down his neck, necessitating a return to his van for a dry-off and another, dry jacket. But unsportingly he didn't tell me what he was going to do, so I didn't get a  picture.

Trevor catches on the bomb
When the rain stopped, my swim went from slow to dire, but Trevor started catching on his bomb and sweetcorn cast right over to the far side, about 50 yards. I struggled on taking about one 2 lb fish every 20 minutes, while Trevor pulled ahead of me. I should have grabbed my rod then, but didn't, cos I'm stupid. Then the sun came out and made it difficult to see the float in the lefthand margin in the rough water.

Trevor - 62 lb 5 oz. He always combs his hair before
I take his picture!

I could catch only by dragging the bait along the bottom several inches overdepth - fishing off or just touching bottom never brought a fish. I also tried cat meat, unsuccessfully.

Bagging on the bomb!
Eventually, with about 90 minutes left, I put out my own bomb and corn and had a lovely brilliant-red goldfish first cast. Then another five or six fish around 2 lb quite quickly. Then, after seeing Shaun take a fish from his margin, I compounded my error by putting down the rod and trying the pole again in the margins. This did, in fact, bring a few fish, but not as fast as the bomb. I kept hoping they would make a last-gasp charge but presentation was so difficult in the head wind and it never happened. To make things worse Trevor had a good last 20 minutes. I went back on the bomb with about six minutes left and had one immediately. Doh!

Bob Barrett was fourth. All the fish we caught
were about this size - the big ones never showed up.

The weigh in

By now it was dry, and warmer (isn't it always?). Peter Chilton on 1 was first to weigh - 92 lb 13 oz of fish taken on a top two in the deep water right in front of him on a hard pellet; he said he couldn't catch to the left or right, only in that front spot. He led down to Trevor who totalled 62 lb 5 oz, only about 10 lb ahead of my 52 lb 13 oz. If only I had changed to the bomb and hour earlier I am sure I would have ended ahead of him.

I was third down to Bob Barrett, who had six fish in his first six casts on a feeder in the side, after which they went AWOL, but he had 56 lb 3 oz. The winner was Peter Harrison on 12, who had fish on a pellet feeder and ended taking carp on cat meat in the margins on a pole. Both his nets went fractionally over the club's 50 lb limit, and he ended with 100lb. That left me fifth, but I know I should have fished better and come third.

Mick Ramm, complete with new hip, waits for the scalesmen -
his first time on the bank for over a year

So ended a match fished in rotten weather with the forecast much better for this weekend, when I am fishing with JV on Six-Island on Sunday. I will have cat meat ready, and with the warmer weather I expect it to take fish, except that the forecast is for the winds to swing round from the current Westerlies to SSE, which they never like. It means that 10 to 14 may be a little sheltered, and I'd be happy with them - not for my comfort, but because they can fish  reasonably if the wind is from that direction.

Good news
The new owners have been doing a lot of work, cutting back some of the larger bankside bushes which dump so many dead leaves into the water, lillies on Horseshoe, and reeds on Four-Island, and  repairing dodgy platforms. Sean Riley told me he is to dredge Yew lake around October time, and attend to the undercut banks. Oak lake will follow.

Peter Harrison won with 100 lb.

THE RESULT

1 Peter Chilblain       92 lb 13 oz   2nd

2 John Smith             36 lb 1 oz

3 Mick Rawson        25 lb 4 oz

4 Peter Spriggs         44 lb 1 oz  

5 Neil Pass               35 lb 3 oz

6 Trevor Cousins      62 lb 5 oz     3rd

7 Mac Campbell       52 lb 13 oz 

8 Shaun Buddle        43 lb 15 oz

9 John Garner           33 lb 9 oz

10 Bob Barrett          56 lb 3 oz    4th

11 Mick Ramm         45 lb 5 oz

12 Peter Harrison   100 lb            1st

Scraping around on Willows

Peg 30, Sunday, Apr 2
It was great to see the car park at Decoy packed when I got there - the Open, plus club matches meant there must have been more than 100 anglers milling around. And John savage got us underway in plenty of time, which was ideal for me, as my peg involved going down the mound and walking round to the back of Willows. which takes a little extra time.

There was a real atmosphere in the Decoy cafe at the draw, with
the Open and several club matches taking place on the various lakes.

A North-Easterly gave some of the pegs a nice ripple, but my peg, and that of John Savage on 31, was pretty calm most of the day. The water was well coloured after the rains, which have also lifted the Nene and Great Ouse well up. And carp were cruising around just under the surface all day, looking as if they were already thinking of spawning,  though it wasn't until the last half of the match that we actually got some warm sun, reminding me what Summer fishing is like.

Happy with my draw!
I was well happy with 30, and found the deep hole in the margin close to peg 29, which was unoccupied. I've won matches fishing in that hole in the past. But there's bare bank along that margin, while my righthand margin running up to platform 31, where John Savage was sat for the day, was lined with reeds, which I fancied would perhaps give fish a little cover and persuade them to come inside.

I looked longingly across the lake between the islands at the ripple there....

The first hour saw me hook a double-figure fish on 2+3 and an expander, and when I got it into the net the hook was lying on the side of the fish, so I don't know whether it was foulhooked or not. It didn't seem as if it was. John, in that first spell of action, had four carp, also on expanders on the pole, and I was way behind. Eddie McIlroy on 33 started fishing in front of him, but had a rare tussle with a fish, hooked in his left margin, which took him down to the aerator and snagged him. Eddie had to walk down the bank, and somehow I believe he got most of the rig back, but not the fish.

John Savage, on my right, had a good spell, with four fish in the first hour on expander pellet.

Time for maggots
By the time two hours had passed I had tried the feeder and a bomb with pop-up, and in desperation started a swim in front of me with maggots. It took a little time to start getting bites, but them small roach and perch obliged, and eventually the fish I had been hoping for came along - a 4 lb carp. This was followed, after a long blank spell, by a 3 lb barbel. All this time carp were cruising around, in packs of up to about ten.

After the match several anglers told me that they had struggled at this time, as if the whole lake had suddenly switched off (not that it had been switched on much anyway). John also had a blank spell, and then something unusual happened - suddenly he, and I, and Eddie were playing fish at the same time. That happened two or three times, with 20-minute blank spells between. Obviously the fish all fancied a snack at the same time!

Eddie battles the fish, probably foulhooked, that eventually snagged him around the aerator.

Fish in the margins

John was now fishing his right margin, and I did the same after seeing fish moving the marginal reeds. Two fish came from there on corn skin (that seemed better than the full grain) and after another long blank spell I went out to the maggot swim again, using a rig with spaced-out shot, as the roach had been taking it just before it hit bottom. But they seemed to have vanished, so I tried a bulk-down rig...which was promptly taken by a double-figure fish on the way down! To be honest that had told me that it would be worth fishing shallow, but I felt that the margin would produce more.

John Savage won our section with 51 lb 14 oz.

The fish were jittery
The sun was out by now, and occasionally I would see fish near the platform. But every time I prepared to drop a bait in, the fish took fright. The pole wasn't casting a shadow, so they must have seen me moving, even though I was trying to be very careful and slow. That's why I like a good Raspberry Ripple.

I kept trying the deep hole near 29's platform, but never had even a liner. I was sure that the fish preferred the cover afforded by reeds. I didn't put much bait in; perhaps I should have dumped in a big pot or two of dead reds. If I had had a liner I probably would have tried that.

Anyway, I lost two foulhooked fish from the margin, on cat meat and corn, and so did John. Then he had three or four quite quickly on cat meat, so I tried that again and five minutes before the finish another eight-pounder came in.

Eddie McIlroy - 46 lb 10 oz. Sorry about the
weighing bag - it was a bit floppy.

The weigh-in
John Emerson on end peg 35 had had a terrible spell in the middle - four hours without a bite - and he totalled 15 lb 15 oz. The next four weights were all pretty close - Eddie McIlroy had 46 lb 10 oz; John (Yammers) had smaller fish than me, but more, and weighed in 51 lb 14 oz to my six carp and a barbel (and bits) which went 48 lb 8 oz. So John won that four-peg section.

Past us Barry Webb, who had nice reed-fringed margins, had caught only in the margins and had 43 lb 3 oz. Past him the favourite peg 25 yielded 75 lb 15 oz to Joe Bourn, with some fish on bomb or feeder cast across and the rest on pole to the island. Joe won our half of the match.

The other half was weighed in separately, with Peter Molesworth on peg 5 winning with 116 lb 7 oz. He fished the first two hours shallow on banded pellet, before reverting to a standard pole rig, which made me think that I should definitely have tried mugging fish as they went by. But you can't do everything.

I finished tenth, but was happy to be second in the five pegs at the back of the lake, which are, in effect, a match in themselves.

I was pleased to see that Barry Webb waited until I was back at my van, and all loaded up, before he drove back to HQ. It's something I think all clubs should encourage, in case someone has unexpected problems and is left on their own on the bank. I always do it if there are just two of us left. Thanks Barry, but it's nothing less than I have come to expect from JV, which is a super-friendly club.

Joe Bourn - second overall and winner of our half of the match from Peg 25.

Lee Kendall, peg 24, with a lovely common ghostie.

So a frustrating match but in the last 90 minutes it was quite warm, and left me rreally looking forward to warmer weather. I had almost forgotten what warm weather felt like. Next match Thursday on Damson, which is the lake I like least of all as it's so difficult to know what to do - fishing the margins which are less than three feet deep, or going straight into about eight feet of water on a top two because there's a massive drop-off there! Decisions...decisions.

THE RESULT