March 2015

Decoy, Six Islands, Peg 2

Final round of our pairs league. I was happy with my draw despite the cold, strong left to right wind. I have known this peg fish well on the pole at five metres. I wouldn't be looking to go much further on the pole given the conditions. There was also the end of an island at around twenty metres that I thought may harbour some carp sheltering from the wind.

Lisa, my nemesis of the last two matches had drawn peg 4. The shape of the lake meant that looking to my left I could see her sitting with her back to me. I had won a club match from that peg last April and despite our rivalry I did tell her what methods I used that day. But this was a much colder day.

Fed a pole line at seven metres with micros. I also fed a spot off to one side with a full pot of corn. A throw away line but I have known matches won on the lake this time of year using this tactic. It didn't work. A final line at +2 at the bottom of the margin slope to my right completed my choice of swims.

 

Started on the pellet feeder to the island and had nothing in two or three casts, not even positive liners. Tried the pole lines and still nothing. Back on the feeder and an hour into the match the tip went round and I had a small F1. An hour later and I had my second. Meanwhile Stewart on peg 1 and Andy opposite me had started to catch regularly. Andy had a really inviting looking margin comprising a hole in a reed bed to his left that was around 3 1/2 foot deep and apparently stuffed with fish. I watched him catch all day.

 

Mid match and I had a run of three fish on the feeder, all small F1s. I thought that hopefully they had moved onto my feed. Wasn't to be. I managed two more fish before the all out. 13lb and nowhere near enough. Lisa unfortunately had a worse day than me for 6lb.

 

Andy opposite had over 40lb and his teammate Ray over 50. They won the overall league with Ray taking individual honours. My partner, Perry, and I somehow managed to sneak third in the league with Stewart and Lisa taking second.

 

Chapman's Lake, Cranford Peg 4

This was the first of ten matches I am running this year using bookings from a club that folded at the end of 2014. I agreed to take the dates on and run the matches along the lines of the club matches. that means peg fee plus £5 for pools with the payout being to section winners and no overall prize. An optional £2 winner takes all in addition.

Six of us gathered at the lake that has 21 pegs. Luckily the owner allowed us to use the whole lake so I spread everyone around to give space. Two section winners would pick up £15. Its not about the money but hopefully getting a good days fishing on a variety of venues.


I have drawn peg 4 on a number of occasions. Its a corner peg on what is a very narrow lake. There are thinly spaced "stick up" type reeds into the corner on the left, open water in front and an island to the right at around ten metres though it points diagonally so parts are further away. The peg was around three foot deep.

I chose two spots, one in open water directly in front, the other just past a few of the stick ups that protruded into the open water. At this time of year they have not grown yet and last year's are mainly knocked down to surface level and are quite soft. So no real fear of losing tackle if the fish ran through them as happens in Summer.

On this lake I have found that accurate feeding in open water can work well. So I set up my under/over pole rests and with the pole in them twist to deposit a pot of bait (micros) on the same spot every time. I also fed the margin swim with a small tosspot of micros. I had no indications in the open water in the first twenty minutes so switched to the reed bed swim. I could see the stalks moving as the fish knocked them and was soon tackling my first of many small carp. The fish in the lake can go to double figures but the main quarry are fish between 12 ounces and 2lb.

 

In the first hour I had an estimated seven pound. The open water swim still didn't produce so I concentrated on the margin one. Second hour saw my weight get to around fourteen pound. A quick calculation had me on just over forty if this continued. I was feeding a small amount of micros after every fish and plenty of bubbles told me the fish had settled. Action was regular but not manic. I could see my two section rivals on pegs 2 &10. Peg 2 wasn't producing but Trevor on 10 was obviously catching at a similar rate to myself.

 

I was catching on 4 mil expander and corn though having to wait a bit for bites. Hour three saw me add around five pound. The bailiff had a walk round and told me that Trevor estimated his weight at twenty, similar to mine. So my hunch was right about us being neck & neck. I was landing most fish I hooked but the odd one would get me in the reeds and despite being soft would still cause the

hook to come out. Also pulled out of a few in open water. May have been something to do with the 18-20 elastic I was using to get the fish away from the reeds quickly.

Fourth hour was a poor one for some reason. there were still fishing there but I wasn't getting bites. With two hours to go I had around twentyfive pound and had seen Trevor land one fish that looked to be well in excess of three pound, much larger than the ones I was catching. I think then panic set in. Instead of just sorting out the swim and concentrating on building a weight I decided to change tactic for a while hunting for a larger fish to help me catch up. From experience I know that larger fish hug the island so I set up a rig to fish the island margins. I fed it first and after around twenty minutes saw signs of fish moving in so picked up the island rig.

I wasted around fortyfive minutes chasing something larger that didn't materialise. So back to the reedbeds for the last hour. A late run of fish saw my estimated weight go to just over 30. In the end I had 36. Trevor had 42. That wasted time trying to play catch up cost me £15 :-( Had I kept on the margin swim I might just have caught enough to sneak it. As it was I was second on the lake, the other section being taken with 28lb.


So in all a good day's fishing and not a bad result that in an ordinary open would have seen me pick up.

Decoy Cedar Peg 3

 

First club match of the year. The forecast was for one of the windiest days I have fished in to develop. 45 MPH winds predicted. The lake is an oblong strip and the wind direction meant that those with low numbers would have the wind mainly off their back. I was lucky to draw three.

 

Because of the wind I opted for a simple set-up. Pellet feeder and pole short using my new margin pole. As it cost less than £50 it was all I was willing to risk. As it was during the day I had a bait box, disgorger, rod holdall and pole roller blown in, all recovered except for the disgorger.

 

With temperatures improving I had hoped the margins may fish, turned out not to be the case. It was that and two other lines I chose to fish on the pole, one in front at +2 and another off to the side where the margin slope starts.

 

To start with the wind wasn't too bad and I started on the feeder but had nothing in two casts. Had a look on the pole lines and on the +2 had a bite that saw me trying to stop something that seemed huge. It turned out to be a foul hooked fish that I never saw. I could just not turn its head proving to me it was a fouklhooker. I did eventually get it under my feet which is when the hook finally pulled.

 

Eventually the feeder tip went round and I had a 2lb F1 followed soon after by a similar sized barbel. Bites were not coming quickly meanwhile Terry to my left was having a few fish, a couple from the margins. As far as I could tell he was probably doing best on the lake.

 

I kept going back to the pole lines but without success. I think I probably overfed believing the fish were waking up and becoming active. Terry was catching decent fish from the +3 line.

 

I gradually started to build a weight, all on the feeder and with around three hours to go out of the six we were fishing had about 25lb. Terry had an estimated 50.

 

With 2 ½ hours to go and the wind causing havoc across all the lakes I decided to concentrate on the feeder for an hour, then the pole for 30 minutes and make a decision then about the last hour. Caught a few more fish on the feeder but nothing of the size Terry was now regularly catching on the pole. Also I noticed Lol on the opposite bank was having a good few barbel from his margins.

 

While on the feeder the wind switched direction completely and instead of coming across my right shoulder was coming straight up the lake from the left.

 

When I switched to the pole with 90 minutes to go the tow right to left was like a slow paced river. For some reason I love these conditions and was soon playing my first pole fish of the day. A few more bites and couple more fish saw made my mind up for me to keep on the pole for the rest of the match. Had one fish of seven pound and another foulhooker of around five.

 

When the whistle went I had an estimated 50, Terry was on a ton. I knew Lol had a good weight but I didn't know quite how good. The scales gave me 58lb and Terry 104. We were second ands third to be weighed, Lol would be last. All the way round I managed to keep second spot, close though as Jon had 55. Finally Lol, he weighed 62, damn! So I sneaked third ahead of Jon but couldn't quite catch Lol. To be fair both Jon & Lol would probably had double their weights had they not been facing into the wind. Sterling effort by both to get the weights they did.

 

Terry picked up the Chairman's Trophy, an engraved pint glass tankard, that I decided to donate when I took over as chairman three years ago. It goes to the highest placed angler in this the first match who won a match last year. So a sort of champion of champions.

 

Terry later told me he was catching on corn having fed it sparingly on his pole line. Sort of confirming my belief I probably overfed with pellets. One day I might learn to go easy with the feed.

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