I draw a sort of flier on Oak

Peg 21, Oak, Sunday, Feb 2
I was scraping the ice off my windscreen at 6am, put on the heater for a few minutes...and when I actually got in to drive to Decoy I had to scrape ice off the INSIDE of the screen. The temperature never got above freezing on the drive, but then the sun came out and shone on us all, and the first hour fishing was quite pleasant, until a stiff breeze got up, and then it was BITTER.

When we arrived at the lake the water was like glass.

We fished back-to-back on Oak and Yew, while the big Open was on about five of the other lakes (some of the results are included here). And I was sort of on a flier! Peg 21 is opposite Oak peg 10, which is a noted area. Trouble was nobody had told the fish. Ernie Lowbridge was on my left, and started on pole at 14.5 metres while I went onto a bomb and bread. 

A good start for Ernie, but ooops...
About 20 minutes after the start Ernie had his first fish on his pole - around 10 lb. Wthin minutes I changed from bomb to pole, and no more than 20 seconds after I had made my first cast the float went under. A fish was on. No more than 20 seconds later it came off. Bother. 

Some time afterwards Ernie lost a big fish which he played for some time - probably foulhooked. Two hours later, despite changing from bomb to Method feeder, then hybrid feeder, then back on the pole, I hit my first fish, on a bomb and maggot. It was about 4 lb, but Ernie had had another lump, on a bomb or feeder.

That raspberry ripple
Nothing much else seemed to be happening that I could see, which wasn't surprising considering the temperature, except that behind me on Yew lake Chris Saunders hooked a couple of fish. At least we had had a nice ripple for much of the match, after a start when the water looked like glass. 

Chris Saunders on Yew 11, behind me, finished with a carp, a tench and a roach.

Forty-five minutes to go, the air temperature had definitely risen, and had Ernie landed another big fish on his pole.Then I suddenly  started getting liners on my bomb - the tip was moving every few seconds. I changed to a very small bomb, which hardly made a plop when it landed, and that seemed to work better. A big fish was on...err, actually it was a five-pounder foulhooked, but I managed to get it in.

Frustrating

Half an hour now left and I was getting liners almost before the bomb hit bottom - well before I had tightened up. There was nothing for it but to wait until the rod was almost pulled in, but that did eventually happen, and a fish nearly 10 lb ended in my net. Yet another followed, about 6 lb, but that last 15 minutes saw my tip hardly still for more than a few seconds. Ernie had two more fish, finishing with five. I went back on to the pole for a couple of minutes, with maggot, but got nothing. I reckon if we'd had another half hour the fish would really have started feeding.

Ernie Lowbridge had just five carp, all around 10 lb.

The weigh in
The first four pegs on Yew never had a fish! That lake was won by Roy Whincup on corner peg 15 with 105 lb 13 oz on a maggot feeder, with next peg 14 second. Our lake was won by Ian Frith on corner peg 16. He dobbed bread about a foot off bottom near the end-bank reeds, and took most of his fish early on. Peter Harrison, who can't stop catching fish at the moment, was second (just) on peg 26, taking all his fish on a bomb, with Ernie third (just). His five fish went 49 lb. My four weighed 25 lb 4 oz, and unexpectedly won me the section by default because the two anglers on my right didn't weigh in.

Marks out of ten
It's worth analysing my performance because later I realised what might have worked. The fish were obviously off bottom, and probably, milling around my hookbait (dead maggots was the best).  A pop-up might have worked, but I have a slow-sinking bomb in my box, and I reckon that maggots fished on that might have worked,. But I never thought about it. It would have taken only seconds to make the switch.

Ernie with a great fish for the time of year.

Not sure whether a better angler would have had a load on my peg. I seemed to be at the end of the fish. I fished it with confidence all day, and had that first fish stuck I might have had another 10 lb. I thought I fished the pole perfectly alright - at 13 metres and 14.5 metres. But  the results on both lakes were patchy, so I just have to chalk it up to not getting that extra bit of luck I needed. Worth 6/10. At least I caught some fish on a cold, bright day. SOME OF THE OPEN RESULTS ARE AT THE END.

JV match - ELM

JV match - YEW

OPEN - Six-Island

OPEN - Horseshoe

OPEN - Elm