Upper Crust

Well I managed to snatch a few hours at weekend. The normal story of a busy morning, a quick phone call, chuck some stuff in the boot and a dash down the motorway followed. Arriving with limited time but the hope of at least watching until the float disapears once or twice. Even better that the thing making that little red tip vanish is a fishy critter helps me through the week. The thing is I often reguard the lower river as well…… not really a river. It’s slower deaper, wider and more populated banks are in the main avoided by me. You may say it’s a bit snobby, but I like to escape from people when I get the chance. Not the ones who have the same thoughts on angling as I do, as I now often fish in company. We often talk all the way to the river, then a hour or two can pass without a word. The odd decent fish, a bit of advice or a quick bite and drink is the other time for words until the journey home. The journey to the river is often spent talking fish. “Oh you should have seen the amount of Dace, Chub and Roach on the Ribble when I was a kid” is my normal line. ” Not many 4lb Chub then but you could catch one after another”. Now the thing is the lower river is now just like the old days… Full of fish!! So even though my “upper crust” fishing ways are part of my ethos the chance to run a float down stream and that run often ends in a fish is just to good to miss! So to the fishing, I now have a constant supply of dried out bread, as the Mrs would tell you “It’s hung up in bags all over” It works and like all things with a bit of practice and advise I now have a good set up. The best place to get advice is other anglers, now you may like all, some or none of what they say but the thing is with the blogs that people keep it’s easy and free. One bit of advice on bread from I think idlers quest? was all about punched bread, well it works for me its quick, easy, cheap and doesall I need it to….. catches fish!! I would suggest you take a look. I had maggots and started off with them but after ten minutes of no bites I switched to bread…….. good move every run seemed to result in a fish, nothing big most Chub from a 1.5lb to 2lb enough to get mewanting more…… Oh and that 2lb Roach!!! Pete did catch a few fat Dace, once it had gone dark!! This is my favourite picture of Pete for obvious reasons.

Posted on February 16, 2012 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Oldest Animal Discovered—Earliest Ancestor of Us All?

Could 760-million-year-old African “sponges” be humankind’s earliest known ancestors?

Posted on February 7, 2012 Filed Under Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

Lure Tackle to Watch in 2012

Jim O'Donnell, often seduced by nice shiny things, takes a look at some of his favourite lure bling from the 2011 Tackle and Guns trade show – 13 bits of sultry lure goodness that will make it big in 2012!

Posted on February 3, 2012 Filed Under Fishing Diary, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

Kodachrome: First Great Color Film Remembered

Called a “photographer’s liberation,” Kodachrome produced clear, vivid color photographs that drastically changed National Geographic magazine. Kodak announced Monday it will cease production of the iconic medium.

Posted on January 20, 2012 Filed Under Fishing Diary, Fishing Report, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

10th Welsh Air Ambulance Open Beach Competition

Match report from the 10th Welsh Air Ambulance Open Beach Fishing Competition held on Amroth Beach in South Pembrokeshire.

Posted on January 15, 2012 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

Baby Harp Seals Being Drowned, Crushed Amid Melting Ice

As global warming melts Arctic sea ice, harp seal babies are dying in record numbers, the first study of its kind confirms.

Posted on January 7, 2012 Filed Under Fishing Diary, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

2012 Can’t Come Soon Enough!

Jim O'Donnell rounds off the year with renewed enthusiasm for the angling year ahead…and it's all down to little bits of squidgy plastic!

Posted on December 27, 2011 Filed Under Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

River Monsters Book Signing

Wayne Thomas visits specialist angling bookshop, River Reads in North Devon for a book signing session with River Monsters angler and presenter, Jeremy Wade.

Posted on December 7, 2011 Filed Under Fishing Diary, Sea Fishing | Leave a Comment

Ucluelet Fishing Report: Season Recap 2011

Season Recap 2011 Ucluelet Chinook(King) fishing was excellent this past summer as was forecasted. The peak Chinook(King) fishing changes a little every summer because the timing of the runs varies every year. Ocean temperature, amount of feed along return path and pressure changes all have an impact on the arrival of the large returning fish. Ucluelet is unique in that there are usually many feeder Chinook salmon ranging from 10-20lbs that frequent the area as well. However, most fishermen want the larger fish as there is more meat and a bigger fight! This past summer we had great Chinook salmon fishing starting in March and this continued into early September. There were plenty of pilchards around starting in early July. 20-30 lb Chinook started early July and increased as the month went on. As fisherman, most of us enjoy using Tomic Plugs or Tomic Spoons to catch the larger fish, so this was a nice treat to start this early in July. The Starfish started producing in early August and the Wreck started producing mid August. We thought 2010 was a very good year, however our average weight per day increased for 2011. Coho salmon fishing started in early July as well and numbers increased by mid-July. Coho stayed around until early September. We consider Coho a nice bonus as we are usually there for the Chinook. On many days if we used smaller gear we would spend much of the time shaking Coho off. (Not the worst problem to have!) Halibut fishing started in May and was pretty consistent until early August when it slowed down. It picked up again around Mid-August while fishing around the Wreck. We should note that sometimes the Halibut are just out 20 miles and if the salmon are in around 7-10 miles we may not have time to run for them. Weather: Great weather accompanied great fishing most days and we got to enjoy low winds and great fishing. Ucluelet is unique in that we don’t get the winds that happen north and south of the region, but 2011 was exceptional as there was very little fog during August (we call it Fogust) and most days not much wind. Overall fishing was very consistent and we averaged larger catch loads since the average size fish went up for 2011. This all matched our forecast for the year. We haven’t received the forecast for 2012, but this should happen soon. Below are a few pictures from the season. You can see the full picture blog from the past three summers at: Full Picture Gallery and Blog George and Helen Lim June 14, 2011 Bergen group June 26, 2011 Johnson family July 5, 2011 Berteig Family July 8, 2011 Rod Whettel group July 16, 2011 McFarlane group July 20, 2011 Hill group July 25,2011 Sutter Family July 31, 2011 Michael Toy group August 1, 2011 Brown Family August 6, 2011 Kennett group August 12, 2011 Lake Family August 15, 2011 Bruder group August 21, 2011 Setiwan group August 27, 2011 Related Posts: July 2011 Picture Blog-Salmon-Halibut Fishing Report August 28,2011 August 2011 Picture Blog

Posted on November 4, 2011 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary, Fishing Report | Leave a Comment