Just a few fish from Horseshoe

Peg 18, Horseshoe, Friday, Jan 26
A rush of blood to the head, and I made the decision to ring Roy Whincup and ask to fish Friday's Old Gits match at Decoy, which was held on Beastie and Horseshoe. I was happy to draw on Horseshoe, because the banks are flat, and most of the platforms are set into the bank, rather than being completely over the water, as they are on the strips.

But with the ten of us on Horseshoe split into sections of five, I didn't fancy my chances on peg 18, because that end has not been fishing well, and noted pegs 8, 10 and 13 were in my section  plus end peg 20 (where Chris Baldwin said he didn't fancy his peg at all, either). The wind was very strong, and while 8 and 10 had a little shelter from trees opposite, my swim looked like Ferry Meadows in a gale - big waves, with the wind coming from the right and a little into my face. The low, blazing sun completed a difficult swim - a little from the left which left me  about a quarter of my swim I could fish properly at the start.

A little ripple on my peg 18! Then, as we packed up, he wind went amost completely died away! Note the made-up feeder rod, ready to use, but I never even picked it up.

But I always take the view that the rougher the water the more likely fish are to drift towards the margins, so I was happy to start well to my left, where I knew there should be the remains of a lily bed. First drop in with corn, and the poor little Malman float was overwhelmed by the waves, so I took off a Number 12 shot so more of the tip was showing. Just seconds later it pulled under and soon a 2 lb-plus F1 was nestling in my landing net. Result!

Frozen corn was my banker
But, as happens so often in the Winter, I couldn't  get another bite in that spot, so had to search around. The next F1 came on a piece of frozen corn, fished off bottom, in deeper water, where there was a considerable undertow against the wind. I often use frozen corn at this time of year, as it's extremely light, and can be dragged along the bottom without the float being pulled under, or fished off bottom, where so many Winter carp and F1s are found (although at one time it kept pulling under and I pulled in several leaves). 

The rest of the five-and-a-half hour match was spent moving around that area of the swim, to my left, and every 20 minutes or so a bite would come out of the blue - always an F1 (except when I tried maggot close to the margin, which resulted in several roach and perch but nothing else). The margin was suprisingly deep, with no more than six inches difference in the depth from right against the bank to six or seven metres out.

I tried a quick trot down to my right, but never had a bite, while the sun and wind made it impossible to fish long in front of me. I never did get two F1s in a row from the same swim!

I crack it!
Half and hour from the end I struck at what I thought might be a bite, and 'crack!' the Number Five section broke. It's a Browning Xitan 12, but several years old, and it's had a lot of hammer. I think that hours spent being exposed to the heat of the sun and the cold of Winter have made it brittle, as it's broken several times. With Browning sections now, to all intents and purposes, unobtainable I will get it patched up again and look for a secondhand Xitan for spare sections.

I couldn't telescope it, so carried on fishing four-and-a-half sections, but had no more fish. I ended with a broken pole and about 12 F1s, plus a few bits, but had no idea how anyone else had got on, though I suspected that most probably had more than myself and Chris Baldwin..

Where did he get them from? John Crouch with his lake-winning 50 lb 13 oz.

The weigh in
I wandered up with my camera in time to see Smug Smalley, on 8, put back 43 lb 14 oz of fish, and snapped John Crouch on 10 with his 50 lb 13 oz, which won the lake and included some 'proper' carp. Carl White on 13 had 15 lb 11 oz, and I weighed 30 lb 3 oz for third in my five-peg section, as Chris on 20 had 16 lb 10 oz. John, in fact, won the lake, so Smug won my section my default.

Marks out of 10
I never expected to trouble anglers like Smug and John on 8 and 10, so was pleased with my catch. I actually really enjoyed it, and I like the days when you have to fish hard for every fish - dragging the bottom, fishing off botton, fishing overdepth and holding it still...you know the sort of thing you often have to do. I lost one F1 foulhooked, and never had any carp. In fact I saw only about three splash during the day, all a long way to my left. The one thing I didn't do was to try worm, and I tried expander only for a short time. But I felt I'd done pretty well, and give myself 8.

Beastie was won with 116 lb on peg 17 by Chris Neil, on a bomb and bread, with another 100 lb-plus on peg 22, which is THE peg to draw at the moment. Fish of the Match was the 19 lb 10 oz carp to Keith Smith on peg 29 on Beastie. My next match is Sunday, somewhere on Decoy.

THE RESULT

Horseshoe

Beastie 1-18

Beastie 19-30

The carp are still waiting at platform 22...on Cedar

Peg 5, Sunday, Jan 14, Cedar
I've been trying to forget this match for a week, but I can't. So I must bare my breast, and grit my teeth, and accept the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism that I deserve. But of more interest is an update on Decoy.

Fish from the stock pond have been placed into Elm, and Oak has been drained down, the platforms removed, and fish transferred to the stock pond, including some around 20 lb. Lee Kendall and I had a look before this match and, with the water about three feet down, you couldn't see the bottom at the base of the slope. But from about peg 3 down to peg 10 there was a mound of silt, about a third of the way out, which rose to within a few inches of the surface. You could see the top quite clearly, pitted with little holes a few inches apart. I guessed that herons had been probing there. That mound will obviously be dredged out.

That great big arm, behind Danny Carman, will soon be at work on Oak lake.

I was told that sheeting will have to be placed somewhere around the base of the margins before they are layered with the blue clay which is impermeable to water. Owner Sean Reilly really has got a move on, though the actual timetable, and the exact procedures, will be governed by the weather and what they find. We did see the legs of a box, obviously upside down, sticking out! I hope the angler is not still attached...

Cedar and Six-Island (which has only five islands)
The banks either side of Oak were muddy after all the work and the rain, so JV put seven of us on the low-numbers side, and six on Six-Islands (having checked all the platforms because some were still under water). I knew that peg 5 on Cedar had had some fish recently, and Chris Saunders told me that the fish had come on a feeder from reeds on the far side. So I put a maggot feeder out there (attached to my shiny new Guru N-Guage rod).

What a start
Within two minutes, and before Sean Coaten on 6 had even started fishing, I was playing a 6 lb carp. What a start! Next cast I missed a bite, reeled in about eight turns, and sudenly realised I was attached to a fish that had already carried my feeder well down towards Sean. Eight turns later it came off - I'm sure it was foulhooked. The next two hours saw me plonking the feeder withnin a foot or two of the eeds, and getting big liners, but no fish.

I kept looking left to see Sean Coaten's yellow elastic stretching out...

On my left Sean then found carp on a pole on corn, and to my right on 3 Danny Carman found carp on a hybrid feeder - several of them. I changed to a hybrid with an orange wafter, and then a yellow one, but never had even a liner. I was being thrashed both sides.  A long look on the pole at 13 metres, with corn and then maggot, didn't get even bite, so it was back on to the maggot feeder, mainly with two pink maggots.

Danny Carman nets his last fish with literally one minute left.

Why?
Nothing when cast to the reeds - so why didn't I cast to platform 22, which was only a couple of metres away from where I had been fishing? Why? Why? Am I thick? I had been hitting the clip perfectly, so could easily have made the small adjustment. It had been cold, I admit, which freezes my brain, but halfway through the match, it wasn't too bad.

Anyway, back on the pole for the last hour saw two F1s and two bream come in on maggot, while Danny had a couple of carp on the pole and a final one when he went back on the feeder with no more than five minutes left. I had been well and truly banjoed.

                        

First to weigh - Danny Carman with one of Decoy's finest.

The weigh in
Confession time - I was last on the lake with 15 lb 1 oz, with 71 lb and 84 lb either side, and the lake was won by Lee Kendall on 12 with 147 lb 13 oz. These were beautiful big carp, all around double figures, taken on a hybrid feeder and 10mm wafter, cast right to, and almost under, the opposite platform. Lee said if he was much more than a foot short he couldn't get a bite.

Next to him Roy Whincup was second with 86 lb 9 oz, also on a feeder cast right over, and he had seven before Lee had his first fish. It was when Lee told me about how he had caught his fish that I realised I had completely ignored the platform opposite me, no more than a couople of metres away from where I had been casting. Back to the drawing board!!!

Winner Lee Kendall with two fish which weighed over 27 lb between them.
That's cracking fishing at this time of year.

My marks out of ten - a shame-faced two.

On Six-Island the car park pegs of 24 and 25, usually so reliable, produced two DNWs, with 6 and 7 having the weights. The big freeze layered Decoy with thick ice, so the fishery was closed this weekend, and the Winter League and all matches cancelled. Next JV match is due to be on Horseshoe. That melted ice won't have encouraged fish to feed, so I expect it will be very hard, though with so many F1s on Horseshoe there's always the chance of fish between 1 and 2 o'clock on any peg. After that time temperatures always seem to drop.

Cedar

Six-Island

First match of the year, on Damson, could have been worse

Peg 18, Damson, Decoy

I hate driving to matches in the near-dark, but the previous jourmey to Decoy had been made bearable by the sighting of two owls. The first was flying, very slowly, along the lefthand side of the road, so as I passed it, that magnificent bird was only a few feet away. It looked pure white, and I wondered if it was a Snowy Owl. Later, only 200 yards from Decoy, another owl flew in the opposite direction, and I could clearly see brown on its back - a Barn Owl.

In the club house Roy Whincup said that Snowly Owls were quite big, so later, at home, I checked up - yes, Snoly Owls 22 inches; Barn Owls 13.5 inches. So they were both Barn Owls. Not that they are rare, of course, but two on the way to a match lifted my spirits.

Now, a week later, things looked like changing when I drew on the high bank of Damson, for this JV match, a swim which is not normally pegged in club matches because of the steps down. I wasn't sure if thge steps would be too difficult for me.

Twat In The Hat
Now local piscator (I think that it what I have heard him called) Ivy Tilsley often awards a Twat In The Hat to some poor sod who has messed up, though in fairness he's given it to himself a few times lately for forgetting things, like fishing tackle, trousers, and boots! Some time this Winter he'll realise he's forgotten his box...

Anyway, if he knew what I had did he would have chucked it over to me. I carted my box gingerly down the steps, and arranged my other bags carefully on the top of the bank, because there's not a lot of room at the bottom, when along came Barry Webb. "What number are you?" he asked. "I'm 18". 

"Well that is peg 18," he said, pointing to the next swim. And it was, 'cos it had got the number 18 on the platform (a lot are missing the numbers, and I'd miscounted). So I had to cart my box back up the steps, re-load the barrow, and pusk it, ignominiously, along 15 yards to the next peg, but at least there were only three steps down. But they were, inevitably after the rain, muddy, and it was a chore getting stuff down and up. 

The genuine peg 18. With hardly any wind at the start it looked as if we
might be in for decent weather - but then the North-Easterly charged in...

It's an ill wind

HOWEVER, I was ready when the match started. The forecast bitter North Easterly was in fact a cool Westerly, over our backs, and I started close-in, in about four feet of water, with maggot. Bites came - from tiny roach and perch, but I persevered, changed to corn, and after half an hour hit a 2 lb carp. Barry had had a couple close in I think, but when he took a couple of carp at five sections, I changed. 

Two tiny bites on corn on 2+3 brought carp of 3 lb and 4 lb...and then the wind hit us. It came out of nowhere, from the North East, and it was bitter. Luckily I had a pair of gloves with the finger tips cut out but a flap to cover them, and I could hold the pole with them on. But about half an hour later Barry had to get up and walk about as he was so cold. He ended talking to Joe Bourne on21, and Joe decided to call it a day. While that was going on I managed one more carp, about 5 lb, but with the wind directly into me, holding the bait where I had dripped in some corn, and stopping it drifting away, was difficult, and I came back to the side.

I thought about getting my feeder rod out of the bag, as the island was only about 20 metres away, but couldn't face the trek back up the steps, so I left it there, on the bank behind me.

Five carp
Next couple of hours saw about five carp come from the deep water, about six feet, just a metre from the bank, and the wind got very slightly warmer. Towards the end Barry took another fish or two long, and I had a three in a few minutes. An hour left, and I hoped for a bit of a perple patch, but it that time I never had a fish, while Barry lost one.  I didn't lose any at all, which I was chuffed with.

Andy Kell won the lake from peg 11 fishing a pellet feeder to the island.

Glad when I'd had enough

To my left on the end bank I saw Paul Faulkner catch a few - it turned out he fished maggot all day and took fish steadily. During that last hour the wind became bitter again and I thought I'd be glad when I had had enough. Then the match finished, and not a minute too soon. Barry and I, and no doubt other anglers facing the wind, were perished. On the end peg on out bank Gus Gausden had packed up early, and opposite him Shaun Coaten had done the same.

The weigh in

Opposite me, on the other side of the island, and who I couldn't see, Andy Kell on 11 had started on a pole but given that up when only roach came in. He changed to a pellet feeder and wafter, dropped right next to the island, and ended with72 lb 14 oz of carp, which won the lake. He said that if he dropped it within a metre of the reeds he wouldn't get a bite - the feeder had to land within about a foot.

Barry Webb was on my right, but hidden by a bush.

On the end bank Paul Faulkner was second with 68 lb 7 oz. I was next to weigh and mmy 111 or 12 fish went 28 lb 7 oz, with Barry Webb next to weigh. He said he had 14 or 15 fish, so I guessed he wwuld beat me, but in fact they went 22 lb 3 oz. The final four pegs on our bank saw Ron Cuthbert total 37 lb 1o oz, tsken on a feeder, with Chris Saunders the only other one to still be there at the end. He had 18 lb 1 oz.

Section winner (sort of)
In the cafe I was surprised to be given a section prize - I had won it by double default, with the winner and second in my section. Lucky, but I'll take that. In any case I was second-highest on my bank of six.

Marks out of ten

I give myself 7. I should have taken a feeder rod down with me - I could have laid it on the sloping bank somewhere I suppose. I did try expander as an alternative to corn, but kept with corn - just very small pieces - because I was getting occasional liners in it. I didn't try dobbing bread shallow, which might have worked because I twice saw big carp moving through my swim close to the surface. But it was cold, which freezes my brain, and you can't do everything!

Ten also fished on Cedar, where weights were a little better, and John Knight won on peg 2 with 74 lb 15 oz. Those pegs nearest to the car park (the lowest and highest numbers) tend to be best on Cedar.

My next match wouuld have been Wednesday at Pidley, but my bladder has not settled down properly after the operation, and it plays up especially in cold weather, so I'm giving it a miss, and I'm booked in for Sunday with JV at Decoy.

THE RESULT

Cedar

Damson

I end 2023 on a flier - Willows 25

Peg 25, Sunday, Dec 31

JV's last match of the year and I draw the famous  Willows 25, once regarded as the best peg in Cambridgeshire, though I must point out that in the last few years it has becone less dominant than it used to be. There were ten of us fishing on Willows and five on nearby Lou's lake.

The winds were forecast to be strong, and they were into me from the left, though at the start they weren't too bad. The platform was under a couple of inches of water, but Tony Evans had tested it before the draw, and said it was still solid. Indeeed it was, and  it gave me no problem, though the mound behind the peg, which is quite steep, had been muddied up during the last six weeks of rain we've had, and I had to stick a tall bank stick in the ground, behind the platform, to steady me as I moved slowly about.

In addition the small amount of flat bank immediately behind the platform was also underwater, so I couldn't put any of my gear down there, and had to leave it all several yards away. Still, once I had my side tray and rollers in place I felt I was pretty well OK, and started on bomb and bread.

Famous Willows 25. The platform was underwater, but solid. But the slope down
to the swim was slippery and muddy. This picture was taken at the start of the
match, when it was reasonably calm, but the wind blew a hooley later, and was cold!

Carp on bread

Two 2 lb carp in the first hour came on bomb and bread, with an 18-inch hooklength, from a spot just a couple of feet from the island, about 20 yards away(and several times the hook had come back with a leaf impaled on it). But then I found myself well and truly snagged in the far margin, and had to pull for a break. I had another feeder rod made up, but decided to have a look on the pole. To my left on 22 Peter Harrison had had at least one fish on a bomb or feeder before trying a long pole. But as the wind increased he had a look in his right margin, and I saw him land two from there.

First I went out to 2+2 on the pole with maggot,. and took several gudgeon and small roach and perch. But when I saw Peter take those good fish from the margin I had a look to my left, with corn, because I wanted to fish positively if carp were willing to feed. First drop in I foulhooked a big fish which came off after a few seconds and left me with a huge scale. But by now the wind was really howling through the gap and any sort of reasonable presentation to the left was impossible.

A fish from the channel
The wind had also become very cold, so I turned to my right, back to the wind, and had a look in the channel to my right, using maggot, as the channel, about six metres wide, doesn't normally hold many carp - they tend to move through it without stopping. Sure enough some roach and perch came in and then I had a really agressive bite which I fancied (hoped) might be from a carp. So I switched to corn, feeding just four or five at a time.

 The water was so clear I could see the corn sinking a foot below the surface, and if there had been any sun  I could probably have seen it two feet down - it was like tap water.

That brought a big fish, which played me for about ten minutes, and turned away every time it saw the landing net. But eventually it finished in the net, and I saw it was about 8 lb and hooked in a fin, though the hook dropped out before I could take it out. Lucky or what?

Peter Harrison on peg 22 lands a fish taken from his right margin in a pole.

So cold...

After a long fishless spell I had another look in the left margin, and briefly hooked another fish, which immediately came off. Basically the wind was blowing the rig into the fish, I guess. If only it had dropped by about half I think I could have caught fish there, but it never did, and in fact became so cold I started shivering, even though I had seven layers on, and a hoodie and the jacket hood pulled over my head.

So it was back to the righthand swim, and in the last hour three more carp came from there, all properly hooked, and all around 7 lb. I had several tiny liners there, and pricked two more on the strike, probably foulhooked. So I ended with six carp.

MY BAD MISTAKE
Tony Evans had mentioned fishing shallow to me before the match, and he said the same thing afterwards. And it clicked with me - I knew that there were carp in that righthand channel, and had had my fish laying the rig in flat, with the shot giving a slow fall in the five-foot deep swim. Fish were giving me knocks just as the bait settled. If only I had started fishing corn, or a corn skin, or bread, well off bottom, I am sure I would have had more fish. Tony said that at the moment, when fish are feeding off bottom, 15 inches deep might not be too shallow.

Seeing the water so clear had sort of put fishing shallow out of my head, and I was so cold that I probably wasn't thinking properly. If I could go back I'd start shallowing up, with bread, or corn skin,  and I feel that I would have carp two feet off bottom!

I had shallow rigs made up in my holdall, lying behind me, which would have taken a lot of messing about in the mud to retrieve, but I could easily have adjusted the rig I was using to fish a bait off bottom. It just didn't occur to me at the time.

The weigh-in
It was a tortuous experience packing up, with my feet sliding all over the place as I inched up the slope and loaded up my gear. I had no time to speak to Peter before the scales came along. My six fish weighed 35 lb and I assumed I would be last, as I'd seen Peter land at least half-a-dozen fish, so he probably had a lot more. But no! He ended with 33 lb, with Ernie Lowbridge on his left having 36 lb, and the lake won on 17, to Ernie's left, with 49 lb 5 oz.

I'd lost four fish foulhooked, any two of which would probably have won me the lake. I finished fourth on the lake, also beaten by Gus Gausden on 31, and he's almost as old as I am! Tony Evans won Lous with 103 lb 6 oz fishing a pole at nearly 13 metres with maggot. He's the man to beat at the moment.

Marks out of ten

Those three to my left had a better wind than I did, as it was closer to being over their backs, and there's a high bank, which gave some shelter. I was colder than I'd been for a year or two so, so even though it's a good swim, I give myself a 7 (but wish I'd thought about coming well off bottom).

Too much to do to fish at Pidley on Wednesday, so my next match is Decoy on Sunday. If everything goes to plan, Oak lake should be netted on Sunday prior to it being dredged, the banks  reinforced with blue clay, and the platforms replaced. But honestly, with all this rain, it must be possible that they won't have been able to drain it sufficently to net it.

THE RESULT

Willows

Lous