Peg 16, Yew
OH, I DON'T BELIEVE IT! Yet again, on one of the strips at Decoy, I got a long walk to the far end. This time it was in the Friday Old Codgers, which I decided to enter at the last minute, with 23 of us on Oak and Yew. In the last five matches at Decoy I've drawn: Oak 15 (far end); Elm 13 (far end); Elm 15 (two off far end); Yew 16 (far end) and this time I went and drew Yew 16 again...
To be fair, although my first visits to that swim ended in ignominy (that's posh for considerable disgrace), since then I've done OK on it, including my previous visit on Sunday when I was second with 94 lb. And it's a noted peg. But my first visits there put me off it, and I have this weird dread of drawing it again - even though Tony Evans confirmed to me before the match that it was definitely a good draw.
Carp were mooning about all over the swim when I got there, and after we had started I flicked some bait to lots of them, but they never took any notice, Still got other things on their mind.
After half-an-hour on the feeder with just one liner I went on the the pole brimming with confidence. The head wind, a little from the left and blowing into the corner, was stronger than on Sunday, and colder. And wetter - we had two sharp showers early on and there was no possibility of putting up a brolly.
I decided to go out to the end bank - just as I had, briefly, on Sunday, though on that occasion I don't think I had a fish there, so I didn't expect to get anything there. And I decided because it was cold, and carp were obviously going to be difficult, I would use expanders over micros, rather than corn or cat meat.
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| I started on the pole just past that patch of floating debris, in front of the reeds that stick out a little, a metre from the bank. We had wind and rain early on, but some sun in the afternoon. |
I took out one of my favourite Tuff-Eye rigs - a 1gm one - with an orange tip which I could see against the dark reflections of the reeds, and within minutes I had a tiny bite in the sligtly deeper water a metre from the reeds.. It was a big carp, and I must have played it for ten minutes. It took a fair bit of elastic out, but then kept going round in circles. In the end, though, it ended in my net - definitely over 10 lb, and properly hooked, which raised my spirits.
Minutes later I had another, also on expander, and that came in much more quickly, but that, too, was in double figures, and also gave a tiny bite. What a start. An hour gone and I had 20 lb. The angler opposite on 15 had a couple of fish, also, but I think they were smaller.
Then came an hour without a fish (though I did foulhook one very close to the reeds which left me with a scale). The rigs that had served me so well on Sunday, for the deep water on the left, and towards the corner, just didn't work. I kept going back out to the end bank, and then tried dropping a strong rig with mussel into the shallowest water I could find, near the corner next to a real thatch of floating reeds. Surely there would be carp there? Well, if they were they weren't hungry.
With more than two hours gone I finally managed to hook two F1s in the end bank swim, both on 6mm expander. Half an hour later three carassios came in. I tried corn and lost two smallish fish. Thinking the hook may have sprung open I cut it off and whipped a stronger, different pattern hook on, which I was happy with.
The second half of the match saw me concentrating on the expander swim, which brought me eight more good carp all over about 7 lb. Each one came after I had fed a handful of micros and a little hemp, and usually within 20 seconds of dropping the rig in, just as the bait hit bottom. One even took on the drop.
But I still kept trying the other swims, and eventually, after a slow spell near the reeds, with half an hout left, I went into the righthand swim towards the corner, using my special method and mussel. I was convinced that if there were fish there taking even just a slight interest in my bait, I would see some indication.
Not a dicky-bird. And now there were two or three dozen carp hanging just under the surface, drifting in towards the margins, then disappearing from view. My last-half-hour gamble had failed.
So I ended with ten carp, two F1s and the three silver carassios (like an F1 but sort of squashed up), and all taken on a 6mm expander. I thought they might weigh 100 lb.
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| Two nice carp for Chris Saunders. |
In the last 20 minutes I started hearing splashing from my left, where Chris Saunders was fishing. The reeds are so high I couldn't see him (hence no action shots). And he told me later he had three carp in the last 15 minutes, from the margins. So my decison to try mussel at the end was perhaps a sensible one, though it never worked out for me. However, in those last minutes I never went right against the floating reeds round to my right, in the corner, where the water was only about four feet deep. Perhaps I would have found some carp there.
As I pushed my trolley back to the van Tony Evans asked what I had, and when I said "ten carp" he thought that was a very good result on the day. But over on the other bank 'Smug' Smalley had weighed in with 151 lb 9 oz on peg 2, so I knew I hadn't won. He took some carp on a bomb and banded pellet in the middle, and the rest on banded pellet and worm in the margins. Yet I hadn't had a fish from anywhere except that swim a metre from the far-bank reeds.
I was surprised how low the weights were after that. Three carp in my first net weighed 35 lb, and three carp with the F1s and carassios went 39 lb. Then four smaller carp in the last net weighed 33lb - total 107 lb 15 oz, which gave me second place on the lake. Chris Saunders was third with 55 lb 8 oz, winning my section by default.
Over on Oak the weights were a bit more consistent, but the fish were just as big - Roy Whitwell on peg 6 had four bites; four fish; 37 lb. And it was won by Roy Whincup with 102 lb.
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| My thanks to Ernie Lowbridge for this picture of me and my last net. |
I sort of felt I was lucky, and that I just happened to land on them early on. Certainly I never felt I was going to catch anywhere else. At one time I thought I really ought to leave the end swim because I other anglers were probably catching faster, but I decided just to keep putting the odd carp into my net - a wise decision in the end.
Unlike the previous match, when I felt I could have caught anywhere, I certainly didn't feel like that after this match. But at least I took advantage of a good swim on the day, and didn't mess anything up. I think I was worth 8/10.
Next match on Captain Tom's lake on Float Fish Farm, where the fish are definitely smaller. Not as exciting fishing - but for me just as exciting on the day because it's a match and someone has to win. I will take luncheon meat, and Smug told me how he caught on dead maggots down the track. The rain will have freshened the water up, and the wind is remaining in the West, so the fish could be biting. 😀
AN APOLOGY
I described this match as being for Old Codgers. I see from the official results sheet that they are, in fact, Old Gits!
THE RESULT
Yew
Oak
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