It was that cold my ring froze

I had arranged to fish over the Christmas break with Phil , I have fished in extreme weather but today was as cold as I can remember . It was that cold my ring froze on the rod every second cast even a couple of times on the retrieve I even struck once !! We decided to visit Mere Beck a mixed fly fishery , by mixed it’s a still water with flowing sections and I was quite impressed even the odd nip from the hip flask that melanie got me for Christmas could not keep JackFrost at bay . Even tying on the flies was a task , hands numb eyes watering making the simplest task hard. I had sort info from a fellow blogger and got to meet him and his Grandad on the bank. Phil struck first , we started off with small natural presentation a move to a big pink lure did the trick for Phil ,he the went on to tell me how only skilled anglers could catch on such a hard day. I switched to a lure, a ”Cat’s whiskery thingy” and was soon into a nice Blue Trout I lost it under the rod tip but it warmed me a little . A little Brownie followed before I finished the day with two Rudd . The Cats thingymebobs can be seen on the second one , quite a mouthful for a small fish. The two Rudd got me thinking on Friday I’m off to the upper Ribble , I have said for a while I may fish a team of nymphs on the pin below a stick float so thats my aim , hope to post a good result if I survive the Arctic like conditions .

Posted on December 31, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Monk Lakes Fishery

“Pads Army” is now associated with and sponsored by MONK LAKES FISHERY in Kent The Lakes now have 80 swims for Disabled Anglers. Pads Army and Monk Lakes’ owners are hoping to have nearly all swims done by April 2009. Monk Lakes Fishery is still the best fishery in Kent and its going to get better. Our Charity Fishing Match details for 2009 will be avilable soon so please watch this space. We are Planing a young Anglers session for those who have not fished before … the details are being sorted out. Paddy of PADS ARMY Paddys Angling Disabled Support Group. Charity No 1118422.

Posted on December 31, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Last year about now I made this interview

At this time last year I did the following interview with the Madrid based magazine the broadsheet The interview came out Jan. 2008. I thought i’d put this up here for you to read some of my comments about Fishing in Spain. I hope you Enjoy. Friday, 26 December 2008 TBSmagazine.com Fishing in Spain and the joys of putting something back If you’d told me three-and-a-half/four years ago when I left England to come to Spain that I was going to be the editor of a magazine; a Spanish-language carp fishing magazine at that, I would have said you were crazy. But I have been interested in fishing for a long time… My first fish, I imagine would have been a roach, caught in the UK at around the tender age of twelve. I fished until I was about 18 but kind of knocked it on the head until I moved here. I started to notice the lakes around Madrid, I did a bit of fishing and had a bit of success. A lot of people are surprised really. They say of Madrid – ‘what does it have?’ But when you start looking at maps and looking at satellite pictures and start seeing what’s here, there’s actually quite a lot of water around. Because construction is just crazy they’re constantly quarrying and making gravel pits, (graveras) – they need the stone. The water table is so high that these mines start to fill up as soon as they stop quarrying, so within five years or so nature takes its toll and boom! Life. Frogs, newts, insects, larvae, worms – you’ve got a little ecosystem going on. Granted, it’s called ‘fishing’, not ‘catching’ but it is still such a joy to catch a fish. It’s fun. If young people can get into the sport, they start to realize that maybe they shouldn’t vandalize or leave litter in canals and lakes and reservoirs. They actually start to enjoy different things – wildlife, birds etc. Like I do. Killing fish simply for sport is totally unnecessary. Caza is awful. I don’t hate anything but I hate cazadores. I hate hunting. I hate the killing of any animals for sport; the cruelty. It’s a money-driven thing; a status thing. What we do in the magazine is as far left of caza as it’s possible to be. I’m going to try force away from hunting, and seperate and change any Spanish people’s minds about this, a clear difference must be shown. If you say there’s a 25 kilogram carp in a particular lake, it can be caught, photographed, weighed and returned to the water. Nowadays with digital cameras, videos; you can show it to your family with this media. It’s prestigious, it’s a a trophy, and best of all it’s not dead! If that fish is photographed and returned and the photos sent to us at the magazine – the number of people that will come from outside of Europe to try and catch that fish and the money that will be spent by them is amazing. If you take a fish back to the kitchen, show it your grandad and then throw it in the bin, it’s pointless. If you catch it and eat it, I feel slightly more comfortable about that, but carp is a spiny, bottom feeding fish, so it doesn’t taste good, or so they say. Imagine the situation when someone catches a 20 kg carp. That’s a big fish. I guarantee that the person who caught that fish will never forget that day and the joy they experienced catching it. They don’t need to kill it. Imagine if they return the fish. Next year, somebody else can catch it. I swim the waters, I go down on the lake bed ad find out what’s in there. Watercraft is like a sixth sense. It’s pure instinct – you’re looking at the wind, looking at the make-up of the water, looking at the depth; reading it and gauging how to match your bait to the fish’s natural food sources. It’s strategic, it’s military. You need determination, dedication, and good presentation – you can end up thinking like a fish! Certainly swimming the lakes is more acceptable here and is definitely safer than in the UK. The last time I fished in the UK, I scratched my eye and caught an eye infection. UK waters and fish are rife with disease. In England they police waters, we have more control with these aspects, but this is partially because it’s such a big problem, here they don’t know as much about those aspects – farmers do release pesticides into the waters quite freely, but fish kills occur because of drought and poor water management not disease. Fishing and preservation seem to be two very seperate things here in Spain like it is in the UK, Spain needs to advance. We’ve got more harmony with these two elements in the UK, fishing for CARP is not a very well respected sport or activity here. It is a recognized sport now at least and next year they’re going to start legalizing night fishing, so things are moving, but still behind. Which makes Spain a paradise, it’s unknown. I feel like Christopher Columbus rediscovering America. It’s already been discovered of course, but there are so many lakes here and we have absolutely no idea what exists. For sure, on the reservoir Santilliana near Manzanares el Real, Madrid there’s a world record carp less than 45 minutes from the centre of the capital. When that fish is caught it will bring so much money, so much custom, so much tourism from France, from Italy the UK; from all over the world. The current world record fish reside in France and Germany – two different fish that are about the same weight. The lake in France is called Rainbow Lake. To fish there for one week costs a large sum of money. There are few swims around the bank, but d it’s full every single day, all year round. Just for the chance of catching this one big fish! Until 1987, the UK record was about 20 kilos, but I’ve got photos from El País in 1982 of a carp that was caught in Madrid that weighed 35 kilos. It wasn’t counted on the world ranking because the carp is not accepted as a native fish here even though it’s been here for god knows how many years. As yet there’s no board, there’s no ombudsman, there’s no federation. There’s no association that’s actually bothered to even note it as a record, even though unofficially we know it was. That fish attracted some of the top anglers from England to Santilliana in the Communidad de Madrid. In a way, I’m passing in their footsteps. Fishing is an industry that’s passion-driven and objective driven. If I know that there’s fish of a particular weight in there, I want to catch it and I won’t stop until I do. In England, there are 1 million fresh water fishermen alone and some of them have been fishing for 15 years and are not able to catch anything larger than 18lbs. Here, the record is 70lbs plus – massive! Obviously, I did the research and saw that there was a hole in the market for a Spanish language carp fishing magazine here. The market’s sustainable, so I thought, let’s try and make it work. We’re raising awareness. We can get political. We can have a voice and really start kicking up some scourge, pushing things on. There are at least 5,000 carp fisherman in Spain now and they are aware that things are not quite as they should be. They’re reading in the magazine about what’s happening in the UK. The magazine is intended as a platform for people to voice their opinions on these anything that matters. I’ve denounced the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente and the Canal Isabel Segundo II twice for not managing the water systems; for dead cows in the water etc. I expect that in Africa, but Spain is not a third world country. There’s loads of money from the EU and basically its being pocketed and water usage on a social level or for pleasure like fishing is being almost completely neglected. I think the government has turned a bit of a blind eye to carp fishing due to its associations with the dictatorship: There is a rumor that Hitler gave Franco the carp for his embalses (reservoirs). I know for a fact that the fish in the Retiro were given to Franco by Hitler: The Retiro fish are Nazi carp. As for the other carp introduced to Spain, I can’t get the evidence. But basically, Franco commissioned many reservoirs: he was obsessed by water. The carp is from the Seine. Hitler had carp – it’s a fast growing fish, it’s a food source. When you’re in times of war and the country’s in poverty, what better to have in your lakes than a source of food? They breed like hell; they grow massive. Who knows?… Andy Macgregor is the editor of the bi-monthly magazine Carp Diem, available in fishing shops and kiosks around Spain.

Posted on December 26, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Happy Christmas

I would just like to say happy Christmas and heres to a great new year to all the readers of this fishing blog. I hope you got many of the presents you wanted this year, but most importantly spent some great time with family and friends. Thank you for taking time in following us here – Roll on 2009 Related Posts: Merry Christmas Happy new year and best wishes all sea anglers Happy Christmas to all FISHERMEN and FISHERWOMAN Fishing tips for beginners an introduction Christmas gift ideas for fishermen

Posted on December 25, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips, Lake Fishing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fishing Report: 23rd December 08 – Clacton on sea, Essex

I’d had a previous trip to the Gunfleet on the 12th December but to be quite honest it was such a waste of time due to rough weather caused by an onshore gale, that I hadn’t bothered to post a report. However, after this last disaster of a session the fishing could hardly be any worse and I decided to have a last go after the Codling at my favourite spot tucked right in by the slipway before I turn my attentions towards the Flounders that will hopefully be gathering to feed in the local estuaries over the next couple of weeks. It wasn’t a particularly good tide with the high at about 9pm and so I decided to fish over the top, hoping to make the most of whatever run there would be to hopefully pick up a hungry Codling or two. I arrived at about 7pm to find my favourite spot vacant and a flat sea and had a large Black Lug and Squid bait out and fishing within 15 minutes of my arrival. Although there was some light drizzle as forecast by the weathermen it was hardly enough to wet the ground (certainly not enough to dampen my enthusiasm) and the mild night made it feel more like a mid-September session rather than one in December; not surprisingly having kitted myself out with full winter gear I had to lose the jacket fairly soon after I arrived. I had hoped to pick up one or two fish on the flood but by high tide the fishing had been a complete let down with baits coming back untouched and not a single bite to my credit. The turn of the tide signalled a change however and as the run of tide strengthened about an hour after the top the Codling came on the feed, albeit that the bites were a lot more timid than usual and not the standard steamroller affairs that we associate with the species. Having had a steady rattle of a bite indicating a small Whiting on the end of the line I tightened into the first Codling of the night which measured in at about 48cm and this first fish was followed by a further two Codling over the course of the next hour, both of them also sizable although the last (which was just on the limit) was returned. Over the next couple of hours I was kept entertained by tiddler bites, hoping each one would develop into something more exciting but it was not to be and the only other fish of the night were the 3 or 4 Whiting that managed to take the 4/0 hook intended for much bigger gobs. By 12:30am the water was disappearing fast as is normal on the mid-evening neap tides and with no run in the water and things to do the next day I decided it was time to call it quits and head for home, finishing the night very contented with two sizable Codling and a reasonable Whiting for my efforts.

Posted on December 25, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

Say’s Who?

There’s an old saying out there that goes something like, “All good things must come to an end.” I don’t know who came up with it, but unless they were referring to the certainty of death, they really didn’t know what they were talking about. Not all good things must come to an end at all, and even in death, good things can live on. As I look out my window, I see almost 2 feet of snow on the ground.  Even for the part of the world I live in, that is a lot for this time of the year.  And I know that fly fishing for me is done until the spring.  Yes, there are those who are hard core and who will venture out into conditions that are blizzard like with a fly rod in their hands, but I’m not one of them.  Maybe next year I’ll give that a try. Perhaps like many things, there are fly fishing cycles for some of us. Business cycles, economic cycles,  agricultural cycles; even weather patterns over the long term seem cyclical.  Some would even say romance is cyclical as well with its ups and downs, and if you get through the downward bits, the only way is back up again! At least that is what I like to think. So for now, I won’t be out fly fishing for a while unless I can somehow manage a trip to some sunny climate and salt water.  If that happens, I would hope a certain redhead could join me. In the meantime, it is winter and there are ways to enjoy the crazy climatic conditions that this country of Canada can throw at us.  Like fly tying in the warmth. I have however, also taken up a new hobby with my “wee man.”  Rather than sit and complain about how cold it is, we’ve got ourselves new nordic (cross country) skis, and we’re making the best of it!  We’ve been out a couple of times already, have fallen down, laughed, got back up again, fallen down a few more times, and have kept at it. Sometimes it’s true that professional help is required! But we’ll be getting that soon too. So no, not all good things come to an end. Perhaps a bit of a halt here and there, but nothing good has to end. And on that note, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2009.  I have plans for the upcoming Holidays, and likely will not be around to post on this blog – but will soon be back, probably discussing some new fly tying thing I’ve found, or how I have perfected my “ Malteser ” in such a way that I just know the trout will take it!

Posted on December 22, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Halibut Report

Halibut Report Halibut fishing stayed strong right through the end of the season….in fact much stronger than normal. We see the stocks continuing to be strong right through 2009 and beyond. Halibut fishing was good most of the year near the Wreck as well as Big Bank. We limited out most days while targeting halibut. Please call or email us for more information about your salmon and halibut fishing trip! or about your free salmon fishing book! Thanks to all of you who read my reports, Sam Vandervalk Salmon Eye Fishing Charters

Posted on December 17, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

June 2008 Salmon and Halibut Fishing

Here are a few pics from June: Terry Buckman June 4, 2008 Terry Buckman June 5, 2008 Brad Warner with father Roger Warner June 12, 2008 Cory Lind and Jackie Sapergia June 13, 2008 Bob McCrae with sons Scott and Andrew June 15, 2008 A happy group June 18, 2008 150 quart cooler full of salmon and halibut, June 27, 2008 Calvin St Louis June 27, 2008 Robert St Louis and group June 27, 2008 Steve Sobol and group June 27, 2008

Posted on December 17, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Fishing Report | Leave a Comment

July 2008 Salmon and Halibut Fishing

Here are a few pics to highlight July: 12 years old holding 21 pounds! July 8, 2008   Ray Yenkana and group July 8, 2008 Scott Tucker and Group July 12, 2008 25 lb Chinook release July 12, 2008   try holding these for a minute! July, 12,2008 Barry Owen with a 34 lb Chinook July 15, 2008 Bill Roberts and Gene Langlois with guide Sam Vandervalk July 15, 2008 Marshall Davidson with wife Barb, 38 pounds, July 20, 2008 Brent Stickland with a 32 lb Chinook July 22, 2008 Mom and Pop Kennett, July 23, 2008 Darren Kennett Group July 24, 2008 Cory Reynolds and Group July 26, 2008 Ed and Gary Godberson with a 34 lb Tyee, July 28, 2008   Robert Greenhill from Australia with a 34 lb Tyee July 28, 2008   Philip Band and group July 30, 2008   Philip Band and Group July 31, 2008     Filina Sigal with a 32 lb Chinook July 31, 2008  

Posted on December 17, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

Fall in Fish Stocks

fall in fish stocks We all know and hear about “ The good old days ” when double figure fish were common place and you would catch 10 Bass from the shore on an average day. Well to help get your head around it a little here are a few figures on how fish stocks have fallen over the last 150+ years. This needs to slow down in my opinion or there will be nothing left in our seas soon. Decline in Fish Stocks Cod stocks fallen by 98% Haddock stocks fallen by 90% Plaice stocks fallen by 90% Whiting stocks fallen by 70% Halibut stocks fallen by 98% Turbot stocks fallen by 95 % Those figures are frightening. Surely we need to take action and preserve best we can with the minimal stocks are left in our seas. I have heard of small no fishing areas. I think there is one around Lundy Isle, which has seen significant increases in Crab and Lobster numbers, as well as smaller fish numbers increasing. What do you think??? image: ezioman Related Posts: A guide for unhooking fish Fishing exclusion zones Black Bream fishing Ogmore Deeps Guess the fish competition – the answer

Posted on December 16, 2008 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips, Lake Fishing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

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