Over £450 raised for Cancer Research at Decoy

John Garner's annual invitation match at Decoy, with £60 to the person who guessed nearest to the winning weight, had an amazing result on Six-Island Lake.

Bright sunshine greeted us as we drew from
John Garner's bag, and it was hot all day.

Karen Gracey at Decoy donated the £60 to the nearest guesser, and the 13 competitors raised £408 for Cancer Research from friends who made the guesses at £1 per guess.  The match was fished in bright sunshine with very little wind, and temperatures did get quite high.

The match was won by Neil Paas on peg 26 with 141 lb 10 oz. He promptly gave the £60 back to John, so the total going to the charity will be £468.

T-shirts for the winners

John had a Cancer Research T-shirt to give to the winner, and another for the correct guesser. Neil was presented with his T-shirt and John drove home and went through the sheets filled in by the donors, to find the Winning Weight. Incredibly it had been submitted by Neil himself, at 141 lb 15 oz! What are the chances?

A disaster for me
Well done, Neil. But it was a bit of a disaster for me on peg 3. I'd managed a few nice F1s, plus an 8 lb common carp foulhooked in the tail, all on corn in the margins. Them with 90 minutes to go big carp started showing themselves near the side and apparently dropping down on to my baited swims either side. I couldn't get bites but was certain they were going to feed.

I put casters and hemp out just a little farther than I had been fishing to the left, on a top four, fully expecting that any time now the big carp would feed. First drop with cat meat and I had a good bite from a big fish, which stripped many yards of elastic out.

I held the fish, expecting it to slowly come back, but it felt heavy, and it just didn't come back. I'm certain it wasn't foulhooked, though. I dipped my pole tip under the surface and hung on, and the pressure didn't get any less. Slowly the fish kited round in front of me, and suddenly I realised it had snagged me solidly, somewhere near the bottom, next to the island.

Roy Whitwell plays a fish on peg 18.   

Whoosh
Hoping to pull it free by altering the direction of pull, I added section Number Five and was just reaching behind me for section Number Six when...whoosh...the top four shot out of my Number Five and hurtled over to the island. The tip laid against the reeds and the pole, well out of reach floated for 20 minutes during which time the tiny breeze wafted it round until it was level with the island. Then it sank!

I didn't fancy playing double-figure carp on just a top two and short Number Three, especially since at the moment all the fish are so frisky, so I decided to pack up (only the third time I have ever done that in my life). While I was taking stuff back to the van Neil said he had clicked 82 lb, but he was now landing fish after fish.

Trevor Cousins mugged every one of his fish for
108 lb 9 oz and second place. This was one
of his double-figure carp.

My fish go back   
I had clicked 40 lb, but when I picked up the net to upend it and put the fish back I could hardly lift it - it felt like almost 50 lb. I nipped in to John Smith's house for a cuppa and went back for the weigh-in.

Neil said he'd had a great last 90 minutes, and when I saw the weights I reckoned I would have framed if I could have kept on fishing for that last 90 minutes, because 50 lb in my net at 2.30 pm was actually pretty good, and I felt certain that the big fish were coming on to feed. Oh well, there's always next time. 

I had a spare Number 3 and 4 at home (thank goodness). I've also got a broken 3 and a broken 4, which I have taken to Pete in the Tackle and Bates shop. They are difficult to get for my Xitan, so I hope I don't do that again!

Finally, although John thanked the anglers for supporting him and raising what is a good amount of money for the charity, I thank him, on behalf of of the anglers, for organising this most delightful match.

Peter Spriggs - 72 lb 14 oz.

Neil with some of his 141 lb 10 oz.

THE RESULT

3 Mac Campbell     DNW 😒
4 Allan Golightly    5 lb 13 oz         11th
6 John Garner         48 lb 1 oz           9th
7 Callum Judge       81 lb 13 oz        4th
9 Dave Garner         65 lb 7 oz          7th
10 Mike Rawson     70 lb                   6th
12 Kevin Beavis      39 lb 3 oz          10th
15 Kevin Lee           54 lb 7 oz           8th
17 Trevor Cousins  108 lb 9 oz    2nd
18 Roy Whitwell       95 lb 6 oz    3rd
22 Peter Spriggs        72 lb 14 oz       5th
24 Roland Butcher        DNW
25 Neil Paas            141 lb 10 oz   1st