A Boys Day Out and Out Chubin

Me my Dad and Logan had a few hours fishing. Its good to see my Dad back up and about, he has had a hard few years with one thing and another. Two new hips keeping away from his beloved rivers and the golf coarse. It must be hard for him because he has a great passion for the outdoors. We arrived at a local stocked fishery a few bites and a bend in the rod for Logan the plan. When we arrived most people were fishing pole, and it was a little quiet. We only had our float rods and with the weather hot I made my mind up to fish shallow. The first cast brought me a fish Logan soon took over and a string of Carp all around one to three pound followed.My Dad was soon in on the act. As we fed the water boiled with fish. Some big fish could be seen but with so many smaller fish they could not get the bait first. It was good fun Logan enjoyed it and it was great to for us boys to spend some time fishing. Out Chubin Mike and Phil where on a Tench mission, I quite fancied it but with clear skies and no wind I took too the river(what a surprise) I had no maggots and only carried pellet a year back I frowned on such things but after reading about fishing them on the stick float I gave it a go the results have been stunning. I decided to fish a little further up stream. The river was low and clear so a bit of fish spotting was the way forward. I went on my knees and got between two trees and spotted some Chub gentle feeding soon had more fish out from the shadows amongst them some Barbel a couple of good fish amongst them. At one point I must have had twenty plus fish feeding all over 3lb and the biggest Barbel around eight. If you look at the photo below the shapes on the sand bar mid river are fish. I made my way a little above now and tried to bring the fish into more open water , if I had cast into the shoal results would have been instant but only one or two fish would have been taken before they spooked. By tempting them towards me away from where they held near the snag I hoped I could take more fish then drop in for the bigger Barbel later. It worked perfectly a string of Chub no monsters all between two to three pounds. Good fun on the float with the water slow I used the closed face and a pole float, a carp dibber which is like a little stick float. A dozen or so Chub followed all on soft pellets the fish took the pellets as they hit the water they were so confident. I had spent an hour feeding them and watching before my first cast but it was worth the wait. All the time I watched I worked out the swim and how to maximise my chances. I hit a good fish which I could not stop from the snags even with my normal tactics I lost the fish which I think was a Barbel. The lite was fading so I waded slowly and could see the biggest Barbel at my rod tip I lowered the bait and watched the fish move and take it again the swim has a very bad snag and I lost it will need to step up for her next time.

Posted on August 25, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Three Top Bass Lures from Mr Fish!

Jim O'Donnell takes a look at three top quality bass fishing plugs from well know Jersey Retailer and WSF Member, Mr Fish Jersey.

Posted on August 24, 2009 Filed Under bass fishing, Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Sea Fishing, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

An Afternoon With Neil Houlding

Neil Houlding Demonstrating Two Handed Casting I finally managed to make arrangements to meet with Neil Houlding for some guidance on two handed spey casting.  It’s not something I’ve ever tried much of, and Neil is a very efficient two-handed caster, having considerable knowledge and skill.  He’s also a very good instructor, patiently pointing out errors and how to try to correct them.  Muscles seem to have their own “memory” when it comes to some activities that you’ve done over and over, and bad habits can be hard to break. In that regard, it was interesting to me that for some movements, I felt more comfortable left handed than right once my left hand and arm figured out what I was  trying to tell them what to do.  For some things, my right hand and arm was better.   I should note that normally, I’m a right handed caster. I very much enjoyed the afternoon and evening, even though shortly after we arrived, it poured rain on us for about half an hour.  Later, it cleared up and the sun came out.  We were on the Grand River downstream of Cambridge,  and it was quite a nice bit of water through there that holds smallmouth bass. We didn’t use flies, rather a piece of yarn was tied to the end of the leader.  It was fun to feel the small bass that were in the river nipping at the yarn at times. After almost five  hours, I was feeling a bit tired and was heading back to “old habits” land, so we thought it best to give it a rest for the day. I’ll have to go back out on the water tomorrow to practice and try to get what I learned solidly in my head.

Posted on August 24, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Yately Angling Centre Open Evening

Yately Angling Centre are holding an open evening onThursday 3rd September 2009. The open evening will run from 4pm – 8pm where visitors can see the new Greys Torsion Bivvy as well as many other fishing products with a try before you buy theme. More information on this event can be found on the Yately Angling Centre website . 

Posted on August 24, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Weekly Fishing, Boating & Outdoor Sales: August 23, 2009

Cabela’s is offering several sales in its bargain cave this week.  Sales are offered through Tuesday, August 25. Their sales categories can be found here:  Men’s Clothing, Hunting Clothing, Women’s and Kid’s Clothing, Footwear, Hunting Gear, Fishing and Boating Gear, Gifts and Hobbies, Camping and Auto Gear  Some of the sales that stood out to us are listed

Posted on August 23, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Lake Fishing | Leave a Comment

Danny Thomson Bass Catch Fishing

Danny Thomson Famous Bass Fishing Video. *411 this pond is not stocked with bass, its Florida Fishing, and you can catch fish anywhere *the fish was released back, and was not eatin or harmed, peace PETA

Posted on August 23, 2009 Filed Under bass fishing, Fish, Fishing, Video Fishing | Leave a Comment

On a flyer

It was Wednesday again and it was my chance again to see if I and the other 14 anglers booked in to see if we could break the monopoly Steve Liston and Jon Tilley have on Theale Pits, yes this venue is dominated by these 2 as they are generally in the first 2 in each match. There was only one peg I wanted today, and that was peg 60, as I was holding the bag with the balls in, it was decided that Mick who runs the matches and myself would have the last 2 balls in the hat. As each angler drew I had quick look to see what they’d drawn and when it come to mine and Mick’s draw, unbelievably the one ball was still in the bag. Quite unlike me I managed to draw it, and before he could utter the words ‘where you going Pat’ I was making myself comfortable on peg 60. As I started to set up, I thought this would be my best chance of winning an open at Theale this season, though as with all things in life, nothing is ever that easy, though I was at least prepared as I had tied about 20 hook lengths for fishing the method the night before. Peg 60 is an out and out method peg, and you have to fish at an 45 degree angle to yourself to reach the far bank. I also set up 2 pole lines, one for either side of me and for this I was going to concentrate on fishing paste over pellet, though I hoped it wouldn’t come to this as I was banking on fishing the method for 5 hours. On the whistle I but a small amount of pellet and a bit of paste on each line, and it was out on the method. It was very slow to start with, infact I was getting no indications whatsoever but I put this down to the searing heat and hoped that the fish would have a munch the more the match progresed. Stuart on peg 1, another potential winning peg was starting to catch a few and come the end of the first hour he was starting to build a sizeable lead over me, and I was still to catch a fish. Before the first hour was up, I lost 3 and then finally landed one which eased the pressure I had put myself under. A quick text from Andy confirmed that it was fishing hard, probably due to the bright conditions and searing heat, though I was confident that if I stuck on the method they would come. Come they did, I would get 2 or 3 in a quick burst, then I wouldn’t get another touch for half an hour. I tried all the tricks I had been taught, plus I kept alternating hook baits, and hook sizes to see if this would make any difference. The only thing I didn’t do was alter the diamter of my hook length, but as the fish fight so ferociously at Theale especially when you are fishing in shallow water, I didn’t want to risk getting broken on any, hence my decision to stay fishing 0.21. This was pretty much the same for the next 2 hours, but at least I had caught a few, now I was banking on the fourth hour to really start catching as the last two hours are usually the best. I didn’t get a bite, I even tried down either edge but only managed to foul hook a gudgeon. The last hour was do or die, I now thought my best hope was the margin line as I still couldn’t persuade the fish to come to the method, which was very frustating as they were clearly there. On the pole line, the first 3 put ins, I lost 3 fish, one was foul hooked but the other 2 I just seamed to pull out of. Back on the method, I had another one, and with still little to show for my efforts on this I threw it up the bank to concentate on the pole. I managed 3 fish on the pole in the last half hour but deep down I knew my chance had gone. Come the weigh in, after 2 weighs I recorded 85lb, which was only good enough for 6th overall but only 10lb  out of the money. No prises for guessing who was 1st and 2nd, Steve Liston won again from peg 50, out of the 2o matches at Theale this season, he has only finished out of the top 2 once, Steve recorded 118lb, and Jon Tilley on peg 40 was second with 115lb. Even though I wasn’t a million miles away, whilst I type this I still can’t think what I did wrong, though I think it was going to be the best chance I had to win this year.

Posted on August 21, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

FishyKid.org

Anyone with school-age kids will tell you that getting them introduced to fly fishing can be challenging and satisfying all at once. There’s only one really engaging book set out there (Kirk Werner’s Olive series, which I highly recommend), and Tyler Befus has produced a couple of great books for introducing kids to tying and fly fishing, but no one seemed to have a desire to produce a kids’ fly fishing “channel.” That was before Cameron Mortenson of The Fiberglass Manifesto and his friend Kevin Powell of Red Dirt Studio came up with the idea for FishyKid.org , a site designed to provide children and families inspiration to be outdoors and on the water. Fishy Kid’s first project comes in the form of downloadable coloring books that are free to anyone who registers and a contest for young ” coloring artists .” There will be at least a dozen prizes awarded by age group in December, and the prizes will include fly rods, reels, fly boxes, fly tying tools and materials, and many other cool items donated by sponsors. If you’re looking for a simple, fun way to get kids — your own or anyone else’s — engaged in fly fishing, send them the FishyKid.org URL.

Posted on August 21, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

The Big Day!

The long awaited weekend finally came and I set off to the midlands to compete in the Angling Times Maver Pairs final at Larford, It really is fantastic to qualify for a major final and I sincerely hope that I can get to some more! I have been fortunate in my angling career to reach a final on a few occasions and it really makes the adrenalin flow. Harry and I qualified for the same final last year and we both really enjoyed the experience. Arriving at Maver Larford on the Saturday morning and you could feel the buzz from the anglers who were milling around the clubhouse and the car park, no wonder there was a buzz, the quality of the field was amazing, everybody I saw was well known! The staff at Larford were on form and very helpful, Maver boss Phil Briscoe was his normal effervescent self but to me there was something missing. Last year there were banners everywhere which left you in no doubt you were involved in a major final, this year there were none, shame really it may only be cosmetic but it goes a long way towards the whole experience. We had decided weeks ago that we would fish the same zones as last year which put me on the specimen lake. This year I felt a little more confident as it was not my first visit, plus Harry had fished the recent Larford festival so I had some up to date information on how the lakes were fishing, which really is key. Personally I was hoping for a bit of wind on the lakes as we felt the carp would feed better with a bit of a blow on the water. I really must be careful when I wish for wind as there was gale blowing straight down the lakes! There was little doubt that it was going to get stronger as the day progressed. The bag of dreams Before long it was time for the draw and we waited patiently to be called to the’ bag of dreams’ when I say we I mean Harry, I was having none of that dipping my hand in that bag! Before long Harry told me I had peg 72 on the far bank. The peg number didn’t mean anything to me but at least I was on the bank that I wanted to be on. Harry drew peg 28 on the match lake, his feeling was that it was an ok draw but there were a couple of better pegs in his section. I wandered out of the clubhouse and bumped into Ken Russell an old mate of mine who told me he fancied my peg, as some big carp had been caught down the edge on peg 71 in the previous days match that certainly was good to hear. My plan was to fish for Carp on the waggler and try to supplement them with some Bream from the 6m line and catch some bigger fish down the edge in the last couple of hours. I set up two Spro waggler rods, one had a giant 20 gram Cralusso Rocket which would make a good splash and be easy to cast it was set to fish at 4’, and the other was a J Range 4 swan Styro which was set to fish shallower. I also had a straight lead to fish on the same line. A couple of pole rigs for the 6m line plus my usual .2 gram Cralusso Capri to fish down the edge. Feeding time at Larford The match started and I put a fair amount of bait on my 6m line plus some more down both of my margins in about18 inches of water. I was going to feed both these lines for the duration of the match. I catapulted some 8m pellets as far as I could get them in the wind and cast the big rocket beyond the feed and worked it back to the baited area. I found it held well in the wind, which was surprising as I thought the lake would be towing like mad! There was just one problem; no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the float to go under! The 6m line produced a few small skimmers but they were on the small size. After an hour I was on the straight lead catching the odd skimmer and losing carp! It was amazing really, after casting and waiting for a few minutes the rod would go off the rest and I had to pick it up. I would play the fish for a short while only for it to come off. I just could not understand it! Meanwhile, next door to my right was the only angler that I could see and he was doing well on the method, I really did think that I had it all wrong at this stage! Two hours to go At 3pm Ben Fisk came around and asked what I had caught, I told him I had a few small carp and some skimmers for no more than 10 kilos. He saw one of my bites on the straight lead and he also saw me lose it! He, like me was unable to explain it, I had changed my hook so that was not the problem. I was starting to hope that Harry wasn’t bagging as I didn’t want to let him down! Shortly after Ben left I saw a vortex in my left hand margin, I had tried it before but this time I had some extra encouragement, within a couple of seconds the float went under very slowly and I lifted into it, I was immediately annoyed with myself as loads of elastic came out of the pole and I thought I had foul hooked the fish striking at a liner. After a five minute scrap I netted a mirror that was about 15lb hooked perfectly in the mouth. Re baiting I was back down the edge looking for another one but I didn’t get an indication after 15 minutes of trying. A look down the right margin proved fruitless so I went back on the straight lead. Speed fishing for carp! A couple of minutes later, after I had a strong discussion with myself I was back down the edge. If I was to turn this match around it would be edge fish that did it and there was no point wasting any more time on the straight lead. To cut this short I am pleased I did as I had another fairly quickly and they kept coming. I enjoyed a fantastic last 90 minutes when I seemed to be playing large carp constantly and just could not get in fast enough. I had two more doubles and a few in the 5lb – 8lb bracket, it really was brilliant fishing. I netted a 10 pounder just as the all out was called, at the time I didn’t realise how valuable that fish was. All the carp took a large piece of meat over a big bed of loose fed meat and hemp. The scales came and my fish eventually were recorded at 55 kilo 500 gram which I was delighted to learn had won the section. I was even more delighted when Ben Fisk from the Angling Times came up to me in the car park to interview me as I had won the lake! It was a great feeling in such a star studded match. Harry had managed 48 kilos from his peg which put him 3rd in section, which was a good result from the area. Chatting with other anglers and we soon found out that Darren Davis and Gary Pook had won with a perfect score but there were four pairs with 4 points. All the others had an angler on Arena which made us feel that we were going to lose out on weight that is until Karl Webster reminded us that it was on section count back in the case of a tie on points, my section win could prove very useful. To the victors…. Before long it was presentation time and Phi Briscoe confirmed that we were fourth pair which was worth a cool grand add that to the 500 pounds for the lake win and we were more than happy with the days sport. Many congratulations to Darren and Gary on a blinding performance, also to Matt and Tom who came second, a brilliant performance from probably the youngest pair of anglers on the bank. Commiserations to current World Champion Wiil Raison and his partner Ben Leach who were first out of the money list in fifth place. Maver British Pairs Pole Championship That following day was the British Pole Pairs Championships on the same venue Harry and I were staying in the same zones as yesterday , I hoped that he could find me a peg in the same area, I was made up when he handed me peg 66 a few pegs to the left of where I was on Saturday. I had thought about my approach to this match overnight and decided that it was imperative to put some fish in the net during the first three hours, I was hoping for 15 – 20 kilos. Obviously the running line was out so I was going to have three pole lines. I saw yesterday that the method worked at about 16 metres so my plan was to ball it at 13 metres, the wind was strong again so I didn’t want to fish longer. I would also have a line at 6m and two margin lines which I hoped would be as productive as yesterday! Half right! The match started well for me as the fish were on my 13m line and I had quite a few skimmers and two 4lb carp. I was loose feeding pellets on this line hoping that the carp would come up in the water but I’m afraid to say that didn’t happen. I could not see any of my neighbours but by talking to bank walkers it was clear that it wasn’t fishing that well so I persevered looking for skimmers. I lost two carp fishing at depth, I have no idea why they came off but it was a continuing theme for me over the two days. Coming into the last two hours I spent longer periods of time down in my margin swims, but the fish just didn’t turn up, that is until the last 40 minutes when again it was solid! The problem today was I could not keep the fish on the hook and I lost four from my right hand margin! It was really infuriating as they day before I never lost a fish from the edge. I managed two 4 pounders from my left hand swim and weighed 20 kilos for midway in section; those lost fish would have put me well up in the section. I really enjoyed the fishing over both days, I think Larford is a brilliant venue one of the best in the country, I just wish it was 200 miles closer! Congratulations to Steve Clarke and Luke Sears who won the match, a great performance. Incidentally I was chatting to Steve when he was handed peg 35 on the Specimen Lake and I have to say he wasn’t a happy bunny! It was not considered a good area and was probably last the previous day. For him to win his section with 11 kilos to spare is some achievement. It just goes to show you have to go to your peg in a positive frame of mind, you just never know when the fish are going to use their fins and take up residence!

Posted on August 21, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

NEW FOSSIL PHOTOS: "Graceful Weasel," Jewel Bug, More

A long-legged mammal, a sharp-toothed rodent, and an iridescent beetle are among the more than 6,500 fossils recently unearthed in Germany’s Messel Pit, where creatures trapped in 47-million-year-old shale have been helping scientists better understand life during the Eocene epoch.

Posted on August 21, 2009 Filed Under Diving and Fishing Holidays, Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

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