4 Island Decoy, 26 June 2011

Eight angles fished the latest Grebe match held on the prolific four island lake at Decoy.
As usual John Boland was late for the draw but luck was on his side and the peg left in for him was the flyer peg 8. Trev drew end peg 10 and it looked good for him as the gentle breeze was blowing into his corner and Ron was on 9 which gave him access to the open water just of the end of an island.

Ron and Weasel started on the pellet waggler and soon had a fish or two while the other anglers all fished to their features and it was not long before every one had a fish. Trev started on the deck using a top four straight out in front of him and straight away he started to get indications that fish were taking the bait on the drop. A change to a shallow rig made all the difference and he was soon bagging and at the distance he was fishing meant he could feed by hand and catch very quickly.

Trev soon opened up a good lead and at this stage it looked like we were all fishing for second place, Ron and Weasel were catching fairly steady on the pellet waggler and on peg 5 Wayne was catching consistently on the deck to the features either side of his peg.
Ron switched to pole shallow to the open water to the right of the island and his catch rate increased which helped him pull away from the chasing pack but at 13m he could not compete with Trev who was still catching well.

The temperate was increasing as the match progressed and the breeze was getting lighter and as it did so Trevs catch rate started to slow down. At this stage he still had a very good lead but Ron was still putting a few together on the pole shallow so the pressure was back on Trev to keep the fish going in to his net.

Weasel was still putting a few together but he had no other options as arriving late meant he only set up the pellet waggler, meanwhile the elastic was still being stretched on Waynes peg.
Trev was still catching at 4m but he was know fishing at half depth and the fish were much smaller. Heading to the final hour Trev still had the lead but it was know coming under threat from Ron who had switched to his two margin swims which had started to produce a good run of fish.

With just over an hour to go Ron and Trev went for their third nets (unbeknown to them Trev had 84 lb 8oz in his two nets and Ron had 76lb 8oz).

On their return both anglers fished the margin swims, Trev was getting bites but struggle to keep the fish out of the reeds and was loosing more than he landed, Ron was fishing tight to the bank and did not suffer this problem as once hooked the fish headed out into open water. Ron had a great last hour catching a good stamp of fish to nearly 5lb and at the whistle he was not sure if he had done enough but he thought it would be close.

Peg 2, Stewart 42lb 5oz
Peg 3, Dennis 47lb 50z
Peg 4, Dan 44lb 10oz
Peg 5, Wayne 78lb 10oz Wayne fished a very tidy match keeping the fish coming by alternating his margin swims and got third place.
Peg 6, Simon 50lb
Peg 8, Weasel 62lb 8oz
Peg 9, Ron 109lb 8oz
Peg 10, Trev 97lb 8oz

Ron won the match in the end by just over 10lb, this was all down to the final hour as he put 33lb in his net with Trev only adding 13lb.

The moral of this match is never give up because on commercials the last hour can be the most productive giving you the opportunity to win.

Next match is the Dun No Moe with twenty anglers booked in it should be a good one.

Match Result, Stu's Mates Lake, Somersham, 15 May 2011

It was ok if you like catching very small carp!

Ron packed up after an hour and a half as he only had 5 small carp for not even 8oz, he fished corn for the better stamp but there were none at his end of the lake. Trev, to Ron's left, eventually got his head down and fished maggot he ended up with 8lb of them.

At the other end of the lake Dennis was in the hot peg and won the match with 13lb which included one lump. There were a couple of other weights just into double figures which all included one lump, 7 people fished which included two of Dennis’s mates from Benwick.

1st, Dennis 13lb 3oz
2nd, Roger 11lb 14oz
3rd, Wayne 9lb 2oz
4th, Keith 8lb 5oz
5th, Trev 8lb
6th, Stuart 7lb 5oz
Ron DNW