Some pictures from Six-Island

 Peg 12, Six-Isand - JV  mAatch, Sunday, Dec 14

Greeted by a magnificent sunrise. But I've gotta go - here are some pictures from the Fur and Feather, held on Beastie and Six-Island.

Roy Whitwell, on my left - his first fish, on feeder.

Six-Island winner, Shaun Coaten.

 

Six-Island

Beastie - well done Yammers (John Savage)

Willows in the wind and rain

Peg 3, Willows, Sunday, Dec 8
I must be getting old - I was hoping I'd get a back wind in the JV match on Sunday at Decoy,  because rain was forecast for the afternoon. Sensibly Chris Saunders, substituting for Roy Whincup who was oop North, took a quick vote on whether to fish Six-Island or Willows, and when I got there I was told that Willows was favourite so far. I was happy with that, because from about peg 8 round to 29 the South-Easterly would be at the anglers' backs, and from 30 to 35 the island gave some shelter from any head wind.

I was first to draw, and unfortunately peg 3 stuck to my fingers - the wind would be coming in to me from the right, and also to the poor sods who drew 5 and 7. They turned out to be Peter Harrison and Roy Whitwell. In addition I was on scales (though it's not a problem with this club, because someone will also volunteer to help). And now there's not a lot to report...

The light was so dull I didn't take a picture of my swim, which was mainly water anyway...

A good start
We had a nice ripple, but at this time of year, even if the wind is not bitterly cold, it is churning the temperatures around, and the fish won't feed well - they make for where the water is undisturbed and the temperatures are at least fairly stable. Even so, I had a 3 lb mirror carp very quickly, at 13 metres on a single maggot on a 0.2 gm float, which is light for me!. That was followed by a small F1, and then I lost a decent fish. Leaves from the willow trees were a nuisance,as they often are here, but I can't say that they made a huge difference to my presentation.

By that time the wind had picked up, I'd had to put on my padded Imax jacket, and I came back to 11.5 metres, and had a look to my left, towards the aerator in about four feet of water. That brought a few roach, some up to 3 oz, and I scrapped around for the rest of the match, catching roach but hoping carp would turn up.

Who pulled the switch?
After three hours I had a really good spell on a top two in front of me, getting a roach or rudd most drops, and then there came a few spots of rain and the wind picked up a little. Those bites stopped as if someone had pulled a switch. Then the rain increased and I couldn't put up an umbrella because of the wind direction and strength. So like everyone else I got wet.

I'd seen Roy net a fish or two on a feeder cast across. I tried a maggot feeder and a small Method feeder, but had only a couple of roach. Peter was fishing a long pole and I saw him net a fish, but I didn't think he'd had a lot. I finished scrapping around all the swims but added only half a dozen fish in the last half hour, and I wasn't sure what weight I'd got. By the end the rain had pretty well stopped, but you could feel it in the air. 

The weigh in
I'd put out a feeder for the last 15 minutes, while I started putting away my excess bait and my pole tops. So for a change I had my stuff back in the van and was ready to weigh in before Peter Harrison, next to me, had put his trolley into his huge van; so I started at the far end of my weighing board. Apart from anything else, I prefer to carry the scales back towards my peg while weighing in, rather than make the long trek back carrying them after weighing. 

As I had expected, the better weights were where they had a backish wind, with first man I weighed, Eddie McIlroy (the self-appointed Kendall Killer) taking 30 lb 1 oz to the scales, which was top weight on my board. I think he used maggot all day. Shaun Coaten won our four-peg section from peg 9 on maggot, as I had guessed he might, with 21 lb 6 oz. And I was pleasantly suprised to beat Peter Harrison with my 9 lb 10 oz to his 6 lb 5 oz. 

The second board
Back at HQ the other board held all the top weights, with Lee Kendall winning with 39 lb 4 oz of carp from peg 25 - taken mainly on a bomb and bread cast to the island, with a couple on pole to the island on the right.  So the 'Kendall Killer' failed on this occasion, but I thought it best not to press the point because Eddie could eat me for breakfast! You can see from the sheet that the better weights were in the higher numbers.

Marks out of ten
I honestly don't think we had a chance of winning in our early-numbered pegs, so I give myself 8/10 because beating Peter Harrison on the next peg was, for me, a bit of a highlight. Next match is the JV Fur and Feather, with prizes for everybody, on the famous Beastie lake.

At this time of year I would not expect many carp from the Southern end of Beastie, including the famous pegs 29 and 30, nor from pegs 8 to 13 on the back of the spit, because the carp seem to stay in the main bowl. I like pegs 14 to 18 on the spit, but it's odds-on that they will have a head wind, and the match is likely to be won from 20 to 23. Why the fish should hang around those pegs no-one  knows. But they do.

THE RESULT

At least I caught fish on Cedar

 Peg 10, Cedar, Sun, Nov 30

Back wind and bright sun for most of the match.

Back to Cedar on Decoy for this JVmatch and the fishing was still difficult. But my peg 10 was close to where the action had been on Tuesday, and I had Ian Frith to my left, so I hoped I could watch and learn. There was a fair amount of sun, and in fact I didn't learn much early on - no bites on a bomb or feeder for hours. Then Pat (I don't know his other name), on my right, had a carp on a tiny piece of punch bread cast to the middle of the lake. 

Pat, on peg 9, lands his only fish.

I'd been casting mainly to the far side with various feeders and baits, so tried shorter, still with no response.Meanwhile Ian Frith had a smallish fish on his pole, then a couple on the Method feeder cast right across. Then he came back on the pole and caught a couple of big carp. I had changed, by now, to the pole with maggot and eventually, not knowing what else to do, put on a lighter rig, still fished at 13 metres, with a single red maggot on a size 18 Kaizan hook, which is very light,. First drop, and I had a bite and landed a carp about 2 lb. Success!

Ian Frith carefully plays a carp on his pole.

That was followed by a three-pounder, and then I lost a fish halfway in, so changed to a lighter Preston 13 green elastic. That resulted in one more bite - from a carp almost 5 lb. But there was no pattern to the bites, except that they came just after the bait had hit bottom. I finished with three.

Ian on white Hydro
Ian meanwhile, using white Hydro elastic which he uses all Winter, had five or six more, bigger than mine, plus an ide, and he had some more after my last fish.

...in she comes!

He told me later that while some bites had come 'out of the blue' when the bait had been stationary for some time, others had come as the bait hit bottom, or even on the drop. I guessed he had at least 50 lb.

To Ian's left, in corner peg 13, John Knights had hd a fish or two early on, and at the end said he had around 40 lb. I guessed my three fish went about 10 lb, but I hadn't seen Pat catch any more. On his right Chris Saunders didn't weigh in.

The weigh in

Ian had some good carp in his winning catch.

There were good double-figure weights in the first few pegs, while the middle swims were poor, just as they had been on the previous Tuesday. Pat's 5 lb 3 oz next to me consisted of that single fish he'd caught mid-match. My three went 10 lb 15 oz, while Ian won the lake with 55 lb 12 oz, just beating Eddie McIlroy on peg 5, by 8 oz. John in the corner had 41 lb 1 oz. 

Roy Whincup won Elm lake on peg 1, which was a surprise to me because I (and others) have in the past rated that swim as one of the worst on the complex. But I remember that on the drains it was often the swims rated as terrible in the Summer which produced in Winter Leagues. What do we know? It says something for the fishery when you get results like that - confirmation that on Decoy, one of the fairest match fisheries in the country, any peg can win.

My next match is with JV on Sunday, probably on Six-Island, but Roy Whincup is away so we are left in the capable hands on Ernie Lowbridge, who will  make the decision as to where we fish. Very happy with that - I'll happily fish anywhere on Decoy.

THE RESULT

In full Winter mode on Cedar

Spratts Christmas Match
This is the highlight of the Spratts year - prizes for everyone, and team events where everyone wins a share of the money prizes. All made possible thanks to the efforts of Trevor Cousins, who does such a brilliant job all year organising us rabble into a coherent fighting force on the bank. Such a pity that Christmas comes in Winter, when the fish are on holiday, probably ski-ing somewhere...

Twelve of us fished on Cedar, and I was on peg 5. The wind was a strong Northerly, and there was a big ripple on our end of the lake and Roy Whitwell, peg 2, said it would probably be dire in the lower numbers. However this lake often fishes better in the low numbers, near the car park, so I thought that with a nice cold raspberry ripple the fish might play ball.

Fishing in the Bahamas
Roy was still adamant that he fancied the high numbers and before the match started I walked up to Martin Parker on end peg 13, who was in my three-man team, together with John Garner, peg 9. Blimey - it was like the Bahamas up there! The high bank shielded those end pegs from the wind, and with the sun shining you didn't need a top jacket on, while at our end it was perishing. 

The surface up there was flat, and that brought to mind a recent comment I've seen on You Tube, I think from Jamie Hughes, that in these conditions carp will move up to where the surface is flat because there the temperature is more constant, and not being affected by the cold wind. 

Nothing to report
Back at my peg it now became obvious to me that the fish didn't like the cold water being pushed up to our end. A strong undertow confirmed that there was a lot of movement. And I sat there for four hours without a fish... And I'd forgotten my camera so when Dick Warrener on my left caught a nice carp halfway through, on a Method feeder and wafter, I had to just look and admire. A minute later Bob Barrett obn my right landed a carp, taken on a 6mm pellet, and my admiration turned to jealousy. 

Forty-five minutes from the end I had a determined look down in the deep margin with maggot and caught three tiny roach! In true Winter League mode I wanted to catch something for the team. And I was glad when I'd had enough and the match ended.

The weigh in
We started at the car park end. Roy Whitwell had two fish I think, Bob Barrett one, Dick Warrener one, Neil Paas three (or was it two?), the last at three minutes to three. Peter Spriggs two (or was it three?), Kevin Lee about seven for 29 lb 10 oz on a feeder to the far bank, and Martin Parker about six big fish for 44 lb 4 oz also on a feeder, those two being the two end pegs in the Bahamas.  And that was better overall than last year when only two caught fish. Oh, and my three weighed a magnificent 4 oz.

The prize distribution

Before the prizes, it was great to see Wendy and Joe Bedford turn up to see us - they haven't fished recently. Then the result was announced of the team event. And Martin had won it for my team on his own. So he didn't need my meagre 4 oz. Who cares? A healthy £25 found it way into my back pocket.  

And remember that Martin has only one eye. I tried doing some of the intricate stuff we do, like joining loop-to-loop, and whipping a spade end, and it's incredibly difficult with one eye closed. Respect (as they now say)!

Martin (left) inspcts the prizes before choosing.

I think Martin, as winner, chose the new Preston pole support, and I was eighth and chose a 9 ft Guru A-Class feeder rod. Eighth and I win a great rod. Yippee! Next day I set it up with the Preston ICM system (the small size) so now it is part of my three-rod Winter gear: bomb (with sliding stop to alter the drop length), the ICS, and now the ICM.

A happy Martin Parker, team money in his hand, about to choose his prize.

All the members contributed to a thank-you for Trevor. He does a fantastic job. And it was all rounded off with Karen's famous hot roast potatoes and sausages. I'm coeliac (non-gluten), so I made an unashamed pig of myself with the roast potatoes. And it ended a memorable day, with Roy taking pictures for me at the end. See you all next year!

THE MATCH RESULT

2 Roy Whitwell            23 lb 3 oz       3rd
3 Mike Rawson            DNW             9th =
4 Bob Barrett                6 lb 11 oz       6th
5 Mac Campbell                4 oz   😢   8th 😊
6 Dick Warrener           8 lb 3 oz         5th
7 Neil Paas              10 lb 15 oz          4th
8 Trevor Cousins            DNW            9th =
9 John Garner                DNW             9th =
10 Peter Spriggs            5 lb 9 oz         7th
11 Mick Ramm             DNW             9th =
12 Kevin Lee              29 lb 10 oz       2nd
13 Martin Parker        44 lb 4 oz         1st

TEAM RESULT