This report is very late - sometimes stuff interferes with fishing and writing. It shouldn't...but that's life, I guess. Currently I've a bad back, but I've been able to bowl a few times (had some very good results) and I think I will be able to fish this weekend on Yew with Fenland Rods. Now the match I am writing about was on Six-Island, at Decoy, with Spratts. The lakes are so different - not much more than three feet of water on Six-Island, while I expect six feet or more on Yew on Sunday.
So I used my short tops, and was happy enough with peg 10, in the corner. A tiny bit of ripple came to some swims, but the lake was largely sheltered from the North-Easterly wind by trees, and my swim was flat calm all day. And yet again the light was poor, with no sun, and I think the pressure was high - the water felt dead.
The sun never shone all day, and the wind never gave me any raspberry ripple! My
first swim was at 13 metres out in that little cut-out.
I started at 13 metres to the end bank, which was the obvious place to start, using expanders. The reason was that on Crow the previous weekend the fish would take only small baits, and I used 4mm cubes of luncheon meat to win. Luncheon meat is banned on Decoy, so I thought 4mm expanders would be best.
The expanders did work, but I lost the first fish. The hook came back with a tiny silver scale, so I guess it was a foulhooked barbel. That was followed by a 1 lb 8 oz F1, and I was up and running.
On peg 14 to my left I saw Peter Harrison catch two or three early fish, but between us Martin Parker was struggling. Meanwhile that first swim went dead, although I could see tiny touches on the float. The next port of call was in front of the bunch of irises to my left, and that produced a nice carp. I soon had to change the tip from orange to black, as the light was so dim. But I could see more tiny movements of the float on and off all day.
In the middle of the match I took about half an hour off to watch a banknote auction I was particularly interested, and managed to successfully bid for the one note I wanted for my collection. Resting the swim seemed to pay dividends, and things were better when I returned.
I caught in the iris swim about eight metres to my left for most of the rest of the match - just very occasional carp. Every time I put in hemp and micros I would get what looked like proper bites, so I knew that fish were then in the swim. But if I didn't get a bite within 30 seconds of the bait hitting bottom I had to lift it or recast. Twice I lifted the rig a couple of inches to induce a bite...and found a foulhooked carp on the end; both came off.
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| This picture was taken before it got really dark. The best swim was in front of the bunch of irises, less than 3 feet deep. Martin Parker is setting up on peg 12. |
Several times a 6mm expander came back, after a bite, with half of it missing, so I knew that the fish were actually hitting the bait. Big fish were also occasionally splashing on the surface, which kept causing me to look up to see who might be landing a fish. It was very disconcerting.
I had to feed first, drop the bait in, and hope for a decent bite within a minute. If that didn't happen the fish would move away. Occasional forays out into the first swim brought nothing, so I concentrated on the iris swim, although I did have a few looks to the right margin. Towards the end fish started to boil there, but I had only one fish there until, with ten minutes left, I made a switch to a corn skin.
I prefer to use corn which has been frozen, as it tends to float, but I had none so I simply squeezed out the kernel from a grain of corn, and hooked the skin alone (on a size 12 hook) - a tiny bait, but it sinks slowly. Incredibly I had a carp first drop; then another fish on which came off; then with two minutes left I went in again and hooked a ten-pounder, which I landed. What a finish!
I ended with about ten carp and about three F1s, and thought I had about 50 lb. But I had no idea what the others had.
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| John Garner shows the size of the carp which made up our catches. He had 23 lb 3 oz. |
The weigh in
Yet again I was amazed that the early weights were so low. Mick Ramm on 6, which is a swim I just love, had 24 lb and John Smith on peg 8, which we both fancied, had landed just four fish for 17 lb 15 oz. Opposite me John Garner on corner peg 9, which he and most of had fancied to produce a good catch, had 23 lb 3 oz.
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| The army descends upon Trevor on peg 22. |
My fish went 60 lb 10 oz, and the only one to approach that was Peter Harrison on 14 who had 42 lb 7 oz, those early fish being caught well out and the rest in the margin. So I ended as the winner, with 95-year-old Joe Bedford taking third with 27 lb 6 oz from peg 25 next to the car park - he's having a really good end of season.
Afterwards I was thinking that although I had a quick try with worm and cat meat, and had one fish on mussel, I didn't really persevere with them. On the other hand the fish on Crow had definitely wanted only a small bait (Callum said after that match that he could catch only on a small grain of corn), and I brought that knowledge forward. In the end I was probably right to stick with what I knew. So I give myself 8/10, 'cos I did win even though I always rate those pegs 10 to 14.
Next match Sunday on Yew, where I expect we will fish pegs 16 to 30, giving us a bit of a back wind, as rain is forecast. The early pegs will be favourite, plus peg 30 in the corner.
THE RESULT
4 Dick Warrener DNW
6 Mick Ramm 24 lb
8 John Smith `17 lb 15 oz
9 John Garner 23 lb 3 oz
10 Mac Campbell 60 lb 10 oz 1st
12 Martin Parker 27 lb 4 oz 4th
13 Peter Harrison 42 lb 7 oz 2nd
15 Bob Allen 13 lb 1 oz
17 Peter Spriggs 16 lb 9 oz
18 Roy Whitwell 25 lb 6 oz 5th
20 Neil Paas 19 lb 5 oz
22 Trevor Cousins 21 lb 9 oz
24 Wendy Bedford 19 lb 13 oz
25 Joe Bedford 27 lb 6 oz 3rd
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