On a flier on Six-Island

Peg 11, Sunday, Nov 16
Very happy with peg 11 in this JV club match, where 18 of us were split between Six-Island lake and Four-Island, especially since peg 11 won it last week. However, when Roy Whincup walked by me to peg 13 he pointed out that the wind was now in the opposite direction, coming into our faces from the North, and it was cool. Still, I started out brimming with confidence that I ought to catch at least a few fish.

I had the previous match's rigs with me and was surprised to find that this swim was a foot deeper than I had had  last week on peg 12, perhaps due to the downpour we'd had on Friday, but also probably because the depth increases towards this end. Anyway, with the water being fairly calm I started out at 11.5 metres in open water, with 4mm expanders and a tiny amount of hemp. 

Things were slow to start with, though on the opposite bank on peg 6  Chris Saunders foulhooked an 8 lb carp early on, which he managed to land, while Roy Whincup, opposite, fumed, because they have a regular £1 side-bet with each other. Roy was still complaining about that fish at the end of the match! I also noted that Shaun Coaten was on the same peg 7 that he had drawn the previous week, and I saw him have some fish from a long pole line.

Shaun Coaten, opposite, had some fish early on, on a long pole.

A slow start
It took me an hour or two to catch about three fish - an F1 and two nice carp - from that long swim, followed by a few casts on a feeder, which produced not even a liner, and I decided I simply had to have a look in the margin, where several others were now fishing. I started to the left, preferring to leave the obvious hot spot on the right, against the reeds and irises, until a little later. 

I immediately hooked and lost a good fish in about three feet of water a couple of metres from the bank, but then managed to bag about three more carp to 8 lb, two of them being hooked on the outside of the lip and giving me a long, hard, fight..

I had an occasional liner in that swim, and it seemed that every proper bite came within 30 seconds of the bait hitting bottom. I tried off bottom, but never had even a liner there, so I had to assume that the fish were interested in the bait on the bottom, and sort of swimming round it wondering whether to take it. But then I hooked - and lost - five big fish in the next two hours, presumably foulhooked by the way they fought. 

Fish to the right
With about 90 minutes left, I went to the right margin, putting in dead maggots, which Mick Timson had used to win the previous week. I noticed that Shaun was now fishing close to his lefthand bank, and I saw him hook a big fish there..

One fish on the first half hour in front of my reed bed, and several liners, saw me switch to 4mm expanders, and this gave me three carp very quickly, best about 7 lb. Then there came a blank spell, wqhen I tried mussel and corn, and with 20 minutes left I dropped in the shallower water closer to the bank - in less than two feet. I didn't really expect to get anything, because I'd seen no swirls, but I quickly had two beautiful 'bites' that I missed. So there were obviously fish there.

With only a minute or two left I tried again with a bunch of dead maggots on a size 16, and hooked a fish which came off immediately. With only seconds left I dropped back, and amazingly hooked a big fish straight away. That was a surprise because I had assumed that the disturbance caused by hooking the lost fish would have scared away every carp. But no, this fish stuck, and seconds later the whistle went to end the match.

Shaun had small fish on his long line.

I shouted 'Fish On', and two minutes later landed a lovely 7 lb common carp, which I put into my second net as I thought I had about 40 lb in the first one, and I would have to pull it out when we weighed in!

The weigh in
On peg 3, Dan Pettigrew was able to cast a feeder right across the lake to a platform on the far side, as nobody was pegged there. Last time I fished on peg 2 the angler on peg 3 had won doing the same thing...and sure enough Dan had won it today, with 87 lb 7 oz. Shaun was second on peg 7 with 72 lb 7 oz, taking his biggest fish late in the margin. He told me he had fed three pints of maggots.

His last two fish went 20 lb-plus.

To my right on peg 10 an angler I don't know, Russell, had caught several fish and I thought he would beat me. But they were smaller than mine, and he had 46 lb 14 oz to my 51 lb 7 oz, which consisted of about ten fish, a weight which put me third in the match, that last-gasp carp having overtaken Russell.

With Roy paying the top two on the lake I won my section, and was happy with that. I should, though, have tried bread or worm, as I knew that there were fish in the swim some of the time. Worth 6/10.

Four-Island's weights were smaller, Ian Frith winning with 47 lb 6 oz from peg 5. Next match for me was the Spratts, next day on Elm.

THE RESULT

Six-Island

Four Island