Fishing Report: 26th September 08 – St Osyth, Essex

I was finally getting my new online tackle store near completion and it had been a long slog. Most of the summer had been lost either to working on the store, family stuff or to the weather, which this summer has been completely naff and I was keen not to totally lose the autumn season. I’d been contemplating fishing the flood tide at St Osyth all week and after a report from pal Stuart of sizable Codling being caught during a weekday match I decided to give it a go amongst the rock groins on what was a really pleasant late September evening. I was on the beach and set up with two rods by 7pm, surprised that despite the reports of Codling, the only company I had was two other anglers fishing in the next bay along and a coughing cat that was scavenging along the beach. As is usual for me at this time of year, although my target was Codling, I still had not completely given up the hope of a late Bass so with one rod sent out with frozen Blacks (for the Codling) I set up the second to fish for Bass with some very generous Ragworm baits which I hoped would attract something a bit more glamorous than the expected Whiting. Things were slow to start but as usual, after an absolutely fantastic sunset, darkness set in the fish switched on and things began to liven up; though not with the Bass it has to be said. From that point on the Ragworm rod didn’t stop all night and it was “a bite a chuck” with the Whiting, although because of my optimistic habit of using decent size hooks there were a lot I didn’t hook. Not that it was a problem. To be quite honest I see no point in destroying the mini Whiting population and I’d much rather lose a few tiddlers, hook the slightly better ones and have a decent size hook on to cope for that fish of a lifetime when it appears. About 3 hours before the top of the 11:30pm tide I finally had a break from the Whiting in the shape of a Codling of about 1.5lbs, which took the Ragworm rather than the Black Lugworm I had laid on specially for him and I was hopeful that more might show as the tide increased but that was it on the Codling front for the night. Despite the lack of further Codling it certainly wasn’t quiet and the action continued with the Whiting for the rest of the night. By the time I packed up at about 11pm I was knackered. The end result for a very pleasant evenings fishing was a nice round figure of 20 Whiting (most of which were sizable) and the solitary Codling, with all but a couple of the Whiting being taken on Ragworm. As I packed up I was relieved that I hadn’t pushed up to the Bird Reserve end of the beach for a change as although I enjoy the solitude of being up there at night, I really wasn’t up for the long walk back. No such problems amongst the groins though and a 50 yard trot with my gear saw me being picked up at the car park and on my way home with half a dozen Whiting and a Codling for the family pot. Time to stock up on chips, my Cod season has started!

Posted on September 29, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Sea Fishing, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

Carp Fishing – Return to Yateley

Last weekend I finally made a return fishing trip to Yateley Sandhurst. The trip started with a short journey to my mate Steve’s in Runcorn. Once at Steve’s I loaded my carp gear into his motor so we could share the fuel costs and I left my car on his drive. I packed my sat nav too and this incredibly useful device got us to yateley angling centre to collect my day tickets and then onto the lake with no difficulty at all. Safe arrival courtesy of the sat nav I knew the fishing was going to be a struggle, the air pressure had been continually rising all week and we were greeted by a flat calm lake that didn’t exactly look inspiring. I spent a fair few hours walking round the lake looking for carp but very little showed. The odd carp I did see were up in front of the car park peg and I had no chance of getting near them as the lake was busy. Having spent most of the day looking for carp I resigned myself to picking a swim from the best of the rest as it was getting late. The swim I chose was peg 13, I’d fished this swim on my first sandhurst carp trip back in may and caught a thirty from it. The wind was pushing down the lake towards peg 19 so I had a hunch that 13 might be worth a look. I got my rods set up and cast my rigs to the same area I’d caught from last time. On my previous trip I’d witnessed an amazing display from the sandhurst carp as they topped and rolled in this area so it seemed logical to fall back on my limited experience from the last session. The night passed uneventfully and I was disappointed not to have some kind of action at first light. I left the rods out until 9.00am whilst I had some breakfast then wound in and went for a long walk around. Other anglers would be going home during the day as the lake was exclusively booked for the weekend so I wanted to get an idea of where I was going to fish later on. After 2 hours of walking round I knew the fish were up at the car park end and if I drew well I’d get on them and be in with a chance. I returned to my swim at 11.00am so I could cast out my rigs again. The previous day only 2 fish had been caught and both came within 10 minutes of each other just after midday. With two carp coming out so close together time wise I thought this might be some kind of small feeding period so I wanted my baits out through this time of day just in case. I’m so glad I did get the rigs back out. At 11.45am one of my snowman hookbaits was picked up, I was watching the water at the time and hadn’t seen anything when right out of the blue one of my delkims burst into life and the line peeled off the spool at a good rate of knots!. After my initial bemusement I quickly slipped into routine and hit the rod. Sure enough it arched over and after no movement for a few seconds I eventually felt a kick on the end from what felt like a decent fish. The fight was a bit of a stalemate for 5 minutes or so, the carp took no line but neither did I make any back. The fish wasn’t snagged, it was just a heavy weight on the end of the line and eventually the steady pressure had it moving towards me. I’d hooked the fish about 50 yards out and once I’d managed to get it moving it came into the margins quite quickly, again the carp never took any line and looking at it in the clear water I could see it was a nice fat mirror that looked to be around mid twenties. I was a little nervous when the fish was under the rod tip but I needn’t have worried as the fish was well nailed in the bottom lip and I could clearly see this as the fish slowly rolled into the waiting net . I must admit I was delighted to see that fish netted, I hadn’t been fishing much over the last few months and when I sat and reflected, I realised it was my first decent fish since I’d caught a 22lb 4oz mirror from a no publicity Cheshire carp water back in mid June!. I left the carp in the water whilst I got on with the business of weighing and photographing my fish. I put the unhooking mat on the road behind my swim and set up the tripod and camera ready for a smooth photographing session. I weighed the mirror at 26lb even, a nice fat fish that was in reasonable condition. My mates Steve and Gino were on hand and with their help I had the weighing and pictures done in no time. I released the fish back to the lake and watched with a big smile on my face as it drifted out of sight. 26lb Mirror from Yateley Sandhurst Lake The lads were due at the lake just before 2pm and not long after I’d released my carp, the first of them arrived to have a look around the lake. I recounted my capture to them as they arrived and filled them all in on where I thought the fish were. Once everyone was present we had a draw for swims for the rest of the weekend. I was actually relieved to have caught as I came out second to last in the draw. Not only was the car park end of the lake stitched, I’d lost peg 13 as well and I was left with little choice but to pick from a handful of no hoper pegs!. I opted for peg 19, this peg gave me a big view of the lake and at least 3 swims either side of me were empty. I was hoping the lack of pressure might see a few fish move into the area but they didn’t!. I had to sit and watch carp show up at the car park end and the lads up there managed to catch a few fish over the weekend. For me, my catching was over and I had to make do with the barbeque on Saturday and the fireworks that went on each evening. Despite looking hard I didn’t see a single fish up my end of the lake and I blanked the rest of the trip. Peg 19, shame the carp were up the other end! At the end of the day you pay your money and you take your chance, the draw had been unkind to me on this yateley trip and I accepted that I was very lucky to have caught my 26lb mirror when I did!. If I hadn’t insisted on fishing through that potential feeding period in the middle of the day I would certainly have blanked the whole trip. Tight Lines Mark.

Posted on September 28, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Fishing Report | Leave a Comment

Bass Fishing Now A School Sport

  Bass fishing catching on as high school sport Students getting hooked as Illinois is 1st state to adopt angling as a secondary school activity By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons | Chicago Tribune reporter September 27, 2008 Brian McDonald understands why people snicker at the mention of Vernon Hills High School’s new bass fishing team. Even McDonald, the school’s athletic director, has trouble promoting the coming Cougar Bass Fishing Classic tournament without cracking a smile. “I’m still trying to say it with a straight face,” he said. “To put bass fishing out there as a sport, it makes people chuckle a little.” But students across the state are casting out lines in search of a big catch now that Illinois has become the first state in the country to adopt bass fishing as a high school sport. Teams have formed at more than 60 schools, and a state championship will be held this spring. Coaches acknowledge bass fishing is viewed more as a low-key hobby for older men in khaki vests and floppy hats than as a competitive sport for teenagers. They too have been surprised by the enthusiasm among students. At Oak Lawn Community High School, an after-school meeting to gauge interest last spring drew 50 students.    Bass fishing attracts some students who might not otherwise be involved in athletics and teaches them about conservation, coaches say. It also provides opportunities for parents and children to spend time together, lots of time—say, 8 hours in a boat. That’s the major appeal of fishing for Sarah Warner, a Vernon Hills senior, who will join her team in its first tournament Wednesday against Libertyville High School at Independence Grove Forest Preserve near Libertyville. “It’s a good time for us to talk and bond,” she said of fishing trips with her dad. “We go up to my uncle’s lake house in Wisconsin and bring food and music.” The high schools are catching on to a larger trend. Bass fishing has become a multibillion-dollar industry with magazines, television shows and clubs dedicated to the sport. A collegiate championship has been around since 2006, and professional tournaments dole out prizes of up to $1 million. The Illinois High School Association voted last year to add bass fishing to its official list of 35 sanctioned sports and activities. Officials expect at least 100 schools will join the spring tournament. Teams can sign up until Nov. 1. “We were looking for some other activities that could get kids involved,” said Dave Gannaway, IHSA assistant executive director. “We thought we could get at a whole different group of kids with this.” At the two-day bass fishing state championship in May, students will be on the water for at least 5 hours each day. The winner will be determined by the total weight of their five best fish. In the winter when students can’t fish, they will study the contour, water temperature and clarity of lakes to determine the best places to fish. “This fits in with other curriculum areas: the sciences, math, ecology,” Gannaway said. Oak Lawn Community High School athletic director Pat Keeley doesn’t fish, but he has been learning about the sport since his school started a team. He never knew there were so many fishing spots nearby, such as forest preserve lakes and the Des Plaines and Cal-Sag waterways. The club will do cleanup projects and build fish cribs in the forest preserves. “Fishers take the conservation aspect pretty seriously,” Keeley said. “Otherwise, their sport goes away.” The Oak Lawn school board voted last week to add a bass fishing club mostly in order to recruit more students to after-school programs. Research shows involvement can boost academic performance, school officials noted. “The bottom line is, it’s an opportunity to reach out to students who are not involved in traditional sports,” Keeley said. “We’re interested in anything that gets kids involved.” Craig Warner, whose daughter, Sarah, joined the Vernon Hills team, is thrilled he can now root for her at a school event. “Everybody else gets to watch their kid at football games,” he said. “Finally this is something she can do, and of course, dad will be sitting right there.” On Thursday, students practiced shoreline fishing during a regular physical education class at a pond on the Vernon Hills campus. Coaches incorporate fishing into class periodically to build interest and recruit students while giving team members a chance to practice. The teenagers were catching only water plants until 17-year-old Sarah Manning squealed with delight. She pulled a small fish from the water before it quickly dropped back into the pond. “It’s OK, I’ll get another one,” she yelled to the coach before casting her line again. Coach Jerry Miceli drove a golf cart around the pond passing out live worms and fake maggots for bait. He said they want to reach students such as Dan O’Roark, a 16-year-old who isn’t involved in other athletic teams this fall. “Fishing is for everyone,” O’Roark said. “It’s nice to be out by yourself—no cities, no cars. It’s just peaceful.” Miceli tells students fishing is something women and men can do their whole lives. Meanwhile, like everyone else, he defends the decision to start a team. “All my buddies are busting my chops,” Miceli said. “They say, ‘you’re coaching fishing?’ I still can’t believe how many kids want to get involved.” Freelance reporter Janice Neumann contributed to this report.

Posted on September 27, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips, Lake Fishing | Leave a Comment

Piscatorial Past Times

PISCATORIAL PAST-TIMES – By steve Sheppard Source: Steve Sheppard at Anglers Gifts My interest in angling began when I was a youngster my father took me to a local soccer match between two local teams that left me scarred for life and desperately seeking a worthwhile pastime. I found it in angling and over the years I have developed a keen interest in anglings rich and varied history. Along the way in my quest for more knowledge of our noble sport I have come across many oddball rumours and tales past down in folklore.

Posted on September 27, 2008 Filed Under Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Piscatorial Companion

A PISCATORIAL COMPANION – By Steve Sheppard Source: Steve Sheppard at Anglers Gifts Now you may think from my title a friend to go fishing with well you are wrong. This is a story going back to a time when men were men, adventure, danger, excitement, was the watch word of the day for the young aristocratic gentleman bent on experiencing all life has to offer. There were many wild untamed parts in the British Isles in those days none more so than the remote lochs and little known streams of Bonnie Scotland.

Posted on September 27, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Over the moon!

A few moons back I managed to land a new lake record from a small park lake in Madrid. Since then I have caught several of the residents and shared some special moments with new friends and old by the lakeside. I know most of the people who live next to the lake, especially those that walk dogs and take time to talk with me whilst I am fishing, to say it’s a family atmosphere would be an understatement. The water is a treasure and actually one of the best venues in Madrid, I say this for many reasons mostly because it’s so central to the city yet it’s so quiet, the lake is probably 5 acres in size, so just a mini. micro climet of it’s own. At times (most of them), it’s hard going, due to many obstackles which pop up. I love it for that, as the water pushes you on, and makes you work and think, it’s a real get your teeth into it, water and very challanging. I have had my fair share of blanks from her, but those sessions melt aside when you connect with a fish like ‘big mama’, who was over the 40lb mark. Catching this fish my first Madrilanian 40 plus, was a real triumph. The video captures a moment I spent holding the big girl, if you look close she actually sings to you! The feeling and the sense of acheivement will never leave me, I hope you sense the magic from the film. I have plenty more work to do on this lake, when I am done, you will be able to read my book! keeping the dream alive. Andy Mac

Posted on September 24, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Big River Carp

It’s been a while since the fat river which flows through the province of Aaragon has produced a large carp like this. At least in my eyes and ears, I have not seen one like this for at least a year! At this time we have very typically limited info. about the capture, bait, tactic etc, I am assured this info is in hand. It’s nice to see a fish of this size and age coming out in what looks to be a reasonable condition. When we have more info. I will update the blog and let you know what I can.

Posted on September 23, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

New ClubDM Carpfishing Madrid

We have a new club night here in Madrid which goes live this week. The night or event is called ‘ClubDM’, it takes place in central Madrid in Malasana. The idea is for like minded Anglers to get together and talk about all things fish based, the scene in Madrid is well and truely big enough to house something like this so off we go, no doubt it will be liver boilies, fluros, bivys, rigs, bait or other going down. It will of course all be done without tripods nor gear. The bar is small but has a projector which we will be taking advantage of playing hot off the press DVD’s from the UK and asking the top Anglers in Spain to come make mini. presentations too other like minded Carp Anglers. Those who make it to the bar will also be able to get their hands on our magazine CARPdiem and some UK and European Carp magazines, which I get in the post, most probably Karper Magazine from the Dutch team Arnout and Parry and those made by Angling Publications, to get the ball rolling. I will also be down with new products from Nash, new bait from Mistral and lot’s of stuff from basecamp E.S.P. I will let you know in time how this event goes.

Posted on September 23, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Mystery Solved

Finally I’ve gotten to the bottom of a little mystery that has bugged me ever since the Fermanagh trip. I had bough a whole rake of new flies for this trip, tonnes of them, mainly drys like daddies and sedges as i was looking forward to some great dry fly action. The problem was, once i arrived at the lake my new fly box had disappeared. I searched everywhere for it. Finally I came to the conclusion It had dropped out of my pocket at a previous lake. Only today i got the urge to investigate all the hidden and not so hidden pockets on my vest, lo and behold there it was. The whole time i had cursed my bad luck at Fermanagh the bloody box was on my person. Considering that the box is a fair size, i am now questioning the usefulness of my vest’s 20 odd pockets

Posted on September 16, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

Carp Fishing – Finally Fishing Again

Carp fishing is different things to different people, nearly 20 years ago I was literally consumed by it, after Kevin Maddocks best selling book it became known as ‘carp fever’ and back then I had it big time!. These days I can take it or leave it as far as carping goes. I’d not actually wet a line in about 5 weeks before this weeks session, the desire to get out there and catch just isn’t there at the moment and there are other things in life besides fishing!. What made me go fishing this week was a pending return to yateley sandhust . Having not been fishing for a while I figured I might be a bit rusty so I opted for a night on a tricky Cheshire carp water I’ve been visiting occasionally this year. If nothing else at least I’d give my fishing gear a bit of an airing ahead of my next sandhurst trip. I guess it was the thought of going back to sandy that got me out again, there are just so many big fish in the lake that you can’t help but get excited about a trip there and after my last sandhurst trip I can’t help but wish for more of the same!. I arrived at the lake early afternoon on Saturday, the first thing I noticed was that the two best swims on the lake were taken. These swims are so consistent that at this point I’d usually be on my way to another lake straight away. What made me stop was a carp cruising round on the surface, it was very visible and I stopped to watch it for a few minutes. It’s funny but the more you watch the more you see and after 5 minutes I’d seen enough carp cruising to stay and fish one of the lesser swims, for once, the fish were stacked up somewhere else other than the two point swims that give access to the out of bounds bank. Naturally I set up in the swim that had the most fish present, it was late afternoon when I finally got settled in with all my rods in place. I staggered a couple of rigs at 30 and 40 yards range which is where the bulk of the fish where cruising round, obviously the carp were on the top so I wasn’t expecting much action until the early hours of the morning at least. The third rod I fished just beyond my two bottom bait rigs on a zig rig with a piece of yellow foam as bait, this was fished 3 feet up from the bottom in roughly 6 feet of water. My aqua m3 wasn’t really necessary given that it was flat calm so I left it packed away and just slept under my jrc stealth brolly , one of my mates called it ‘classic September conditions’ but as I sat there under the brolly watching a flat calm lake with a full moon beaming down I knew it was going to be a struggle. JRC Stealth Brolly, my home for the night on this session I was a little disappointed that none of the cruising fish had shown an interest in the zig rig I’d put out, I believed the zig offered me the best chance of a fish given the conditions but I remained biteless despite my best efforts. As darkness fell I got the feeling the carp had done a runner on me and this was confirmed by the shear number of fish that were now showing in front of the out of bounds so the best I could hope for would be a chance in the early hours. It was 5am when that chance came, a single bleep from the right hand delkim had me awake and what seemed like an age later but was probably only a few seconds, the rod ripped off to the tune of that lovely warbling sound. I’d almost forgotten how good it feels to hear your delkim going into meltdown whilst the spool of the reel is whizzing round!. I hit the rod and it arched over nicely as I made contact with the carp on the other end. The fish ran right but steady pressure brought it back to where I’d hooked it. I dropped the other rods so as not to get into trouble later in the fight as it felt like a good fish. After 5 minutes of steady pressure I hadn’t actually gained any line on the fish, it was still roughly where I’d hooked it 40 yards out and it was feeling quite heavy, the fish had made a couple of runs in different directions but I wasn’t making much headway in the fight. It was at this point I made a text book error, I increased the pressure on the fish in the hope of at least getting it moving towards me, I knew it wasn’t snagged, it was just big and I should have known better despite having not been out for over a month!. A minute after increasing the pressure on the fish I felt that sickening feeling as the line fell slack and the rod lost its battle curve, the hook had pulled out!. I sat and reflected on what I’d just done, what a stupid mistake, it might sound daft but when playing big fish I usually take a step back to calm myself down and I run things through in my mind, I’m usually telling myself to go easy and just keep it steady but I hadn’t done that this time and I was kicking myself for loosing what was obviously a very good fish!. I checked the rig , it was all in order and I couldn’t see any problems with it so I recast the rod and topped up with a couple of odyssey xxx boilies and returned to the bedchair to see out the rest of my session. I sort of knew there wouldn’t be another run, given the conditions I did rather well to get any kind of action at all. It was a shame I couldn’t bank a carp to boost my confidence levels prior to sandhurst but I had at least re-learnt an important lesson, never try and rush things!. If I’m fortunate enough to get a run or two at sandhurst next week I definitely won’t be putting extra pressure on any fish I hook!. I fished on until 11am in the morning then had a bite to eat and packed up, even on the way home several hours later I was still annoyed with myself for blowing a very rare chance to catch a big fish from this tricky cheshire carp water. Obviously there won’t be an entry for my blog next week as I’ll be down at yateley. The story of my sandhurst return will be posted on 28th September so until then, tight lines. Tight Lines Mark.

Posted on September 14, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Report | Leave a Comment

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