January

Decoy Elm, Peg 3

Second match in our Winter Pairs series. After a disastrous start last month I was hoping for better on a lake where I have a good record.

 

We were pegged on two lakes (Thanks Decoy for accommodating us) meaning that with a strong Easterly everyone had the wind at their backs. Also gave everyone the full width of these strip lakes to explore.

 

I set up my usual approach of pellet feeder and pole to be fished at various distances from 11 metres to the bottom of the near margin slope.

 

I have found on these lakes that the bigger fish can sit around ten to twelve foot off the far bank, particularly when there are anglers on at as there was today. It also pays to be patient and wait up to fifteen minutes for a bite. First cast and the tip went round at fourteen minutes., nice six pound start to the day. Next cast the wait was twelve minutes and around ten for my third fish. Filled my first net (40lb) in the first two and a quarter hours. That was helped by the fifth fish being 11 1/2lb. One bite came just as I was reaching for the rod at fourteen minutes fifty nine seconds. It can pay to be patient. Then I made my mistake.

 

I couldn't resist picking the pole up and trying the lines I had been feeding. I was confident that I could go back on the feeder and continue catching. All the pole produced was a couple of skimmers. So after thirty minutes I was back on the feeder. For the rest of the match I struggled and only picked up odd fish, not one a chuck as I had done for the first half.

 

Final weight was 63lb. Winner on Cedar had 73. But it was one of those days when I didn't know whether to be happy to have taken second due to someone else's error or angry that I didn't win because of my own. One lad had 97lb, all pole/maggot caught from peg 9 on Elm. Thing was he had 67 in one net and so lost that entirely. Still as he had a heart attack in December and came within four minutes apparently of never fishing again he was quite happy with a good day's sport.

 

Shearsby Willow, Peg 24

Not my favourite fishery. Its an excellent place, good welcome & breakfast, comfortable platforms - I just cannot fish it. But as I had a free Sunday I decided to try and learn something.

 

What I learned was I needed to draw better. For the first three hours plus I didn't have a bite. Feeder, pole long or short, maggot, pinkie, pellet, corn it didn't matter. Then the lad on 22 had a couple of fish in the margins, one tench and a carp plus regular roach. So I too switched to the inside and had around two pound of roach in the last 90 minutes but no sign of anything bigger.

Peg 1 blitzed it with 29lb, bread on the pole into the end bank at 14m. Peg 16 was second with 16lb and 22 third with 6 1/2.

 

Fishing it again on February 1. I may take the canal gear and fish for roach all day.

Decoy Elm, peg 9

Yes back on Elm for pairs round three. This time we were split across Elm and Yew. Again I was full of confidence having drawn the peg that produced near a ton two weeks previous. But the lakes had been frozen until the previous day and that obviously affected the fishing across all four of the strips. Apparently there were six blanks on Oak.

So, same as two weeks before, pellet feeder & pole. Only this time I blanked on the feeder. I think I had possibly three or four line bites and that was all.

Not having had a bite on the first feeder cast I tried the pole lines early. Initially with a 0.5g float with a long, thin bristle (BGT Grey). It was obvious that the wind was producing a tow left to right and that perhaps the 0.5g was too light. Plumbing up I had discovered that at 11 metres the lakebed sloped up around three inches in the direction of the tow. I had plumbed up to the deepest part so the bait would drag slowly as the depth decreased.

After trying the lighter float I gave a new (to me) pattern a try. This is the BGT Ugly Duckling. All I can say about this float is that it looks all wrong. 1g, short with a bulbous tip to the already thick, stubby bristle. I had been told to dot the float down as far as possible. So I have it a try more in hope than expectation.

 

 

The Ugly Duckling

I had fed a full 200 mil pot of micros spread around four yards in a line along the path the float would take with the tow. The float got about two yards and stopped, obviously the depth had shallowed sufficiently to put the brakes on. I was just thinking that this was where I would expect a bite when the float disappered for a second longer than it had been doing in the surface chop. An instinctive lift saw me in contact with a 3 1/2 lb carp. Two more followed in the next two put ins. Then nothing for a while.

At that point I still thought the feeder would come good. Ray to my left had had a couple of fish on it. But after a couple more casts and still nothing it was back to the pole at 11m. Another couple of fish and then quiet again. I was now in a state of uncertainly. Do I bin the feeder or persevere? Ray was now catching regularly on the feeder while mine stayed still. But he was getting nothing on the pole when he tried it.

As they say, hindsight is 20-20. I should have binned the feeder and just been patient on the pole. As it was I nervously switched between the two. Final reckoning was that I had banked 28lb to Ray's 41. So he took third place in the match and top section points while I was fourth and second in section. Yew produced first and second with 56 and 46lb nets. The winner catching on waggler at 30 metres. I managed the section prize by default.

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