A bitterly cold Six-Island

Peg 13, Six-Island
Wednesday was the day when the wind blew, it was bitterly cold, and we had hail. Twelve of us fished this Spratts club match, and just three of the swims would have wind into the faces of the poor sods who were pegged there. Of course I was one of them, though it was the swim I'd had on Sunday, so everyone assumed I knew how to extract fish from it. I didn't, of course. BUT I was drawn as Golden Peg - much good that would do me, I thought..

Peg 13 is in the bottom bowl, which is always a likely good draw, though the longest walk. I left the umbrella in my van because with the NW wind into that bank from the left, at about 45 degrees, it would have been no help at all, even if I could get it up. So I set up a feeder rod, plus a 1gm float for  2+3, and a heavier margin float for cat meat.

The day was dull, though we had a very occasional flash of susnshine, but I was swaying about so much in the wind I didn't fancy getting any pictures in focus, so the phone stayed on my side tray all day.

Peter has an early fish
I put out a little hemp and casters to 2+3 and immediately went onto the feeder, and within minutes Peter Spriggs,to my right on 11, had a carp on his feeder rod. I gave it 25 minutes, with just two tiny liners, and tried the pole. That was interesting - with wind from the left the most comfortable position was facing to the right (obviously) because it was REALLY cold. But within half an hour the gusts had increased, and were hitting my pole absolutely sideways on, swinging it about, so I had to give that swim up.

It was easier fishing in front of me, or facing directly into the wind - I could hold the pole much better. But I knew I couldn't keep that up for many minutes because of the cold, so after another fruitless look on the feeder I came back to 2+2 on the pole, to the right. Nothing on expander or corn or double corn (which I hoped wopuld stay still in the turbulence). Not a touch. And then we welcomed hail for a few uncomfortable minutes. 

I had heavier rigs with me, to combat the wind, but I honestly believe that if there were fish down there interested in the bait I would have seen at least one bite or liner. So I didn't change. But I did have a look in the right margin, without feeling that it would produce...and it didn't.

Peter has more fish 😒
Three-and-a-half hours had gone and I was biteless. I'd seen Peter catch two carp out at about 2+2 (in fact when I walked up to him he said he had a total of four, so my goose was already cooked). To my left John Garner on 15 had lost three carp foulhooked, fishing to the corner; later he had a walk to get warm and said he had landed one about 8 lb.

Now I had another look on cat meat in the cut-out to my right, where I had had four fish on Sunday. The surface was really rough, and I think there was an undertow caused by water hitting the bank, and I wasn't really sure where casters would finish up. So I put in just half-a-dozen lumps of cat meat as well, hoping they would stay in the swim, and dropped in my rig. Nothing for 15 minutes, but then I started feeding a little more heavily with corn and hard pellet. 

Fish on; fish off
Within thirty seconds I had a bite; fish on; fish off; and a scale came fluttering back to me. But at least I knew now that there were carp down there, in about two feet of water. Soon after, I had another bite - not a dive-away, but the float seemed to move sideways. I struck and a big fish was on.

I was using my smaller, 18-inch net because the bigger Drennan 20-inch net is so difficult to hand in strong winds - the wind catches the net as you put it over the water. That was a wise move on my part; as was the decision to use short tops for this margin swim, with strong elastic. I chose the Matrix Slik 18-20 red, and it handled that big fish beautifully in the wind.

Within a minute the fish was circling my net, but I had to be certain of getting the head in first, of course. It was over the net but before I could lift it, the fish - around 10 lb - was blown just past it. I lifted the pole hoping to get it to drift back towards me, but it splashed on the surface, facing away from me, and I had to let it do another circuit so it went in headfirst, which it did.

Fouhooked? Not this one!
I mention this because afterwards Roy Whitwell, opposite on 5, said he thought I had foulhooked some of my fish. I can see why - a fish splashing while facing away from me probably looked as though it was hooked in the tail. And yes, I did catch more - four good carp, one of which was foulhooked in the pectoral fish (the only one foulhooked), followed by an F1. All took cat meat in roughly the same spot, which I could reach on the short top and short Number Three (though I added the Number Four to fish). I also lost one more.

Tuned in

The bites were all a bit 'iffy', but I felt I was tuned in to them, and had enough confidence to strike when I felt something was not normal, even though I couldn't describe exactly how the float had behaved. Then there was a lull, and I tried in the slightly deeper water, with no luck. But moving a metre towards the bush brought me another plump, hard-fighting F1. 

With 20 minutes to go I was a bit nervous going any closer to the bush, as its roots are obviously in the water, but I tried it, and had one more bite, which resulted in another fish almost 10 lb. I had to grit my teeth after hooking it, but using the technique taught to me by Ben Townsend I quickly had it under control But did take my time  actually getting it in to the net, as the wind was still so strong. That went into my second net, and was quickly followed by another F1.

I was hoping for another, with ten minutes left, but it never came, and I assumed that although I had about 35 lb in the first net and 12 lb in the second net, Peter Spriggs on 11 would have had more fish in the afternoon, and would definitely beat me. And of course I expected that the anglers with a kinder wind, behind them, would also have lots of fish. I wasn't unhappy to hear the final shout, as concentrating in cold like that is very wearing.

The weigh in

I didn't see much of the weigh in. I had three rigs (one was a light one for the margin which I didn't use)  to pack away, plus the rod and a load of baits - expanders, hard pellets, casters, hemp, corn and dead maggots to take home and re-freeze (I always do this).

Leaving my trolley halfway to the van I turned round and followed the scales back to my peg. On the way I was asked what I had, and I said possibly 50 lb. "You'll need that, as Graham Ward had 48 lb" said Roy Whitwell. I was surprised that was the biggest weight so far. Graham was on the opposite bank on peg 8 and I hadn't seen him catch anything, mainly because I was concentrating on my own swim! 

Peter Spriggs had weighed 37 lb 13 oz, so he had obviously had a difficult afternoon; and I weighed 50 lb 15 oz to lead the match. But pegs 17 to 25 were yet to weigh, and I expected fish to have come from there. In fact Trevor Cousins was top of those swims with 25 lb 3 oz from peg 24 and I was left as the winner. Graham Ward spoke to me as were were loading up and reminded me I was on the Golden Peg, which I had forgotten about. So extra shekels were paid out to me.

Marks out of ten

I'd give anybody 9/10 for just sticking it out in the face of that wind. Using cat meat definitely stopped the bait swinging about too much in the undertows. I perhaps should have tried sweetcorn in the margins (that's what Graham used for his 48 lb 1 oz) but didn't because I thought it would be a bit light. The best thing was that I didn't give up, though after three hours I definitely felt like going home. So I give myself 9.5 out of ten. I had a good peg and eventually, after foulhooking that first fish, had enough confidence to fish it hard. 

I realised eventually that I hadn't plumbed up that margin properly, and I felt that it started to get deeper farther along towards the bush. It was difficult to tell because it could have been the swell taking the float down. But next time in that swim I will plumb it better at the start. Next match is Sunday on Elm and probably Cedar; Then Thursday on Damson, where it will be interesting to see whether fish will come into the shallows, because the water there must be quite cold.

THE RESULT

6 Roy Whitwell               32 lb 8 oz        4th

8 Graham Ward               48 lb 1 oz        2nd

9 Mick Ramm                  6 lb 10 oz

11 Peter Spriggs             37 lb 13 oz      3rd

13 Mac Campbell           50 lb 15 oz       1st

15 John Garner               17 lb 1 oz

17 Bob Walker                  8 lb  

18 Dave Hobbs                DNW

20 Bob Barrett                  13 lb 9 oz

22 Peter Harrison               9 lb 5 oz

24 Trevor Cousins            25 lb 3 oz

25 Kevin Lee                      8 lb 2 oz