At least I caught three fish on Yew

Peg 20, Yew, Sunday, Mar 16
Lots of excitement when Steve Tilsley drove into the Decoy car park to fish this 14-entry JV match, with flies buzzing all around him. He opened the door and I tried to catch one bluebottle that was resting on his dashboard, but I missed! Ironic, isn't it, that Steve, formerly in the police, should have a car  full of bluebottles?

But that was as much excitement as I managed on Sunday.  There was ripple towards the car park end on both Yew and Oak (seven pegged on each), and Lee Kendall said that was where he fancied the fish might be. Even so Lee, down at my end on Yew, peg 17 was, I think, the first person to catch a fish on Yew - he had two in the first half hour on hair-rigged maggot and a bomb...and they were the only bites he had all day! The wind was quite cold, but it did move round occasionally, and gave those of us at the Northern end of the lake a bit of ripple.

Roy Whincup plays a fish on a feeder. Beyond him is Lee Kendall,
and in the corner was Roy Whitwell.

Things were dire for most of us, though after a couple of hours my maggot feeder lured a tench. To my right Roy Whincup did eventually get three fish, I think, on a feeder, but Eddie McIlroy to my left on peg 21, left it late before he managed a fish on his feeder. But on Eddie's left Steve Tilsley had a 3 lb F1 on feeder, then foulhooked a really big carp on pole and paste, which must have taken him 15 minutes to land. He followed this up with a tench and three more carp, all on paste. I added a barbel and a carp on pole, not long before the match ended.

Steve Tilsley caught on paste! Not a bait you'd expect to use in Winter...

The weigh in
In corner peg 16 Roy Whitwell used pole, and feeder, and bomb, for his 40 lb 13 oz, with Lee weighing in just 8 lb 11 oz for his two early carp. Roy and I both totalled 10 lb 8 oz, but Steve had won with his six fish weighing in at 47 lb 6 oz.

Roy Whitwell - second in
corner peg 16 with
40 lb 13 oz.

Steve Tilsley with the whopper he
foulhooked. He had 47 lb 6 oz,
 and included a tench.

 

On Oak, Karim Baran fished pole in the margins with maggot on peg 27, in the ripple, for 82 lb, which won overall. My next match was on the Tuesday, on Elm, with Spratts. I was second in their first match, and that has given me a bit of confidence. The weather looks like improving a bit.

THE RESULT

YEW

OAK