E. Asia fleets to suspend tuna fishing / Fuel costs hit Japan, China, ROK, Taiwan

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Tuna-fishing boat operators' organizations in Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan have agreed to suspend operations for several months in the face of soaring fuel costs, sources said Saturday.
The economic conditions made it difficult for tuna fishermen to make ends meet, while the measure also is expected to help declining populations of the fish to recover, according to the sources.
The suspension is expected to result in higher prices for bigeye and yellowfin tuna, which are mainly consumed as raw fish and processed into canned food. Read the full story

In the guise of increased fuel cost and helping tuna stocks the East Asian fleet is suspending some tuna fishing. Read between the lines and it is more like they want to see the price of tuna increase and therefore increase profits.

"The temporary tuna-fishing stoppage is expected not only to reduce Japan's tuna catch but also cut supply of the fish from China, South Korea and Taiwan, which account for about half the tuna imported by Japan. "
"Therefore, the planned suspension is expected to affect tuna prices in the mid- to long term. "

Profit will always be the driving force for any move made by these commercial fleets.

28/06/08 – Silverlands Lake

Weight – 103lb 10oz
Catch – 28 Bream.
Weather – Drizzle to start. Became brighter with sunny periods. Moderate breeze
Water temp – 18.5c > 19.0c

Working in financial services has meant the current credit crunch has had its effect on me. I had planned to fish Tony Rixons Float Only League, however pressure at work and worry about money, meant fishing took a bit of a back seat.

Fortunately I survived the company restructure and redundancies. In fact, the future is looking quite optimistic, but time will tell.

As for the fishing, not fishing a league competition meant I had some spare time to fish other venues. To be honest I really wanted to fish the Lands End open today, however I am still waiting for a replacement section for my pole and since Lands End is pole venue with islands at 16m, I decided to give it a miss. So why Silverlands? I was really impressed with the place following my trip with Mark a few weeks ago and I might not get another chance for while due to match commitments from July onwards.

My intention was to fish the waggler and use the feeder/lead as back up. My objective was to catch some of the big bream. It was another early start and at 5am 14 balls of groundbait, micro pellet and sweetcorn went in at 25m. Whilst I let that settle I set up the rest of my kit and got myself comfortable.

I started on the waggler, but I was soon fishing more and more overdepth to counteract the effects of the tow. I managed 1 Bream of the float, but I wasn’t happy with the presentation.

Reluctantly I picked up my tip rod and cast a leger rig out with double hair rigged corn. Blow me if the rod wasn’t nearly pulled into the lake after 5mins, but after 90mins I’ve only got 2 fish. I had been catapulting 4mm expanders over the top of the feed area, but I needed a rethink. I had 2 choices, either throw in more balls of groundbait or switch to the feeder. I settled on the feeder.

I started to catch, but only sporadically and after an hour, the swim seemed to die completely and I thought the session was going to peter out, with only 25/30lb in the net

I switched back to feeder after a brief spell on the waggler and decided to catapult 2 pouches of 4mm every other cast and this seemed to kick start the session with a fish nearly ever cast. I kept chopping and changing hooklengths and bait. I settled on a short hooklength with double hair rigged corn and a longer hooklength with double or triple red maggot and single grain of corn. All of sudden I was thinking about breaking my silver fish record of 67lb. When I passed that target, a silverfish ton was a possibility and the fish were still coming.

When I am catching big fish, I weigh the fish as I go along, simply because its easier than trying to weigh a big net of fish unaided and it was better for the fish.

I was nearly at the point of packing up, but I needed 1 more fish to be certain of the ton. That last fish took 20 mins to catch and I was 2mins (honestly) away from packing up. The last fish weighed 3-11. My total weight was 103-10.

What an excellent days fishing. I worked hard to get the right presentation and continually changed the hooklength and/or bait to keep the fish coming. The irony of the session was I nearly didn’t bring any sweetcorn. Having been previously told that maggot was the bait, which highlights the need to be open minded. Of the 28 bream caught, 18 were on sweetcorn, the biggest being 5lb 1oz and 13 were over 4lb.

Out of the boat and into the water

Sometimes bad things happen and good things come out of it.

Death of an outboard
My outboard motor blew up about eight months ago. That was the second time since I bought it 4 years ago. This time I decided not to fix it because I think it is a lemon, a Monday or Friday built outboard. On top of that, there are no competent mechanics around to do the job. Maybe on the main island, Viti Levu but not on the one where I live, Vanua Levu. In order to get the motor to a mechanic who could actually fix it I would have to drive 2hrs to catch a 12hr ferry ride and get a hotel room for the entire time it is in the shop. That is just not going to happen as I have already stated, I think it is a lemon so fixing it is just out of the question.


Solar powered fishing
The lack of motorized boating has forced me to adapt my well defined style of boat fishing. Having fished out of a boat for the last seven years, you could say I have formed a few habits to the way I fish. Now in general this is a good thing. I have certain routines and methods to create a comfortable and successful fishing trip. The problem with this is when something happens to the boat motor and I am forced out of my fishing comfort zone. Now I still have an electric trolling motor on the bow and it is getting used a lot. I charge it off a solar panel and that usually takes about 2-3 days of good sun to get a really good charge. There is a definite distance restriction when using electric only and for some reason I am always going into the wind. Realistically I can only fish with the electric about once a week. If I want to fish more, and I do, I am out of the boat and wading in the water.

Time to change
Being on foot now means I have to scale everything down. Tackle boxes, five gallon buckets, big landing nets, and multiple rods are completely out of the question. More like 5-6 favorite lures, pliers, fish glove, leader material and a knife. That is it, nothing else. I must travel light because more than likely I will travel far and deep. I could be chest deep with my rod held high or ankle deep casting over a small reef edge. Once the tide came in and I actually swam from one stone to another with only my head and my rod out of the water. I am sure that was a sight to see. The comfort zone as I knew it is no more and that is not such a bad thing.
Since I have started wading it has actually become easier to go fishing. I now take such a little amount of gear that I can be ready in just a couple minutes. Things are very uncomplicated now. I spend more time fishing and less time prepping, cleaning and putting away gear. I do not have to work strictly with the tides to keep the boat floating or lug a fuel tank and battery around.

Water hazards abound
As a regular boat angler I have found a few new obstacles to wading while fishing. I no longer have the height advantage of a boat when spotting fish, reef edges or weed beds. If the sun is in the wrong position or behind a cloud then it is very hard to see anything at all and feels a lot like blind casting. When the wind is blowing into my face I can not reposition the boat so it is at my back. The best I can do is put a heavier lure on and load up every inch of rod length to get a cast off. As for snags, when it happens and it does, I am faced with the dilemma of breaking the line and loosing my lure or swimming out and trying to get it free. It really depends on how far out it is and how deep it is. Probably the worst hazard I have personally faced is a stingray. Normally a very docile creature, but step on one and you will feel their sting. The more I fish my particular area the better I get to know it and the hazards. I have created a mental map of the area by using an elevated position to view it, especially at the low tide.

The good the bad and the fishy
Being without a motor has been both good and bad. The bad being the lack of freedom to move about and change locations if an area is not producing. When I had more mobility on the water I would fish as far away as 2-3 miles. My regular haunts included river mouths and mangroves as well as some really nice shallow reefs. These are all accessible by boat only therefore I no longer fish them. The good on the other hand has been the change in the way I fish in general. I realize I can fish with a lot less than I was fishing with before. I now spend more time fishing one particular area thoroughly before moving on. Within walking distance of my home I now catch good fish in places I normally would never have fished.

I have now added a completely new style of fishing to my repertoire. I still miss having a motor and the freedom it allows. However, the lessons learned and the fish caught have made it bearable to say the least.
If you happen to be without a motor just lighten up, get wet, and get back to catching a fish.

Tight lines and screaming drags

River churnet (fenton) 28/06/08

Well this must be the best nights fishing i have had yet,
I arrived at 5.30 and started on my favorite island run down the bottom of the fenton strech, the river had been up the previous day and was unfishable, but it had come down to near normal proberly a foot higher with slight colour, i new from past river fishing that they would be havin it!
For the first hour i did not have touch and no fish were rising, i tried a nymph but nothing was taking,
Kev had suggested i try some other runs which were unfished which i did and was very succesful, i saw a fish rise and a couple of casts i was into a lovely coloured brownie(see photo), from then the river seemed to just switch on! there were not that many rises but i was hitting fish on every cast, i took 11 fish in the space of a half hour!! in one spot i took 6 fish all from the same run,
I then moved to the hanging tree where i usally find it hard going, I was setting up and heard a big slurp! i have seen carp do this but not trout, I saw the fish rise again and placed a cast and hooked a good size brownie which fought well, the fish is the one in the net pictured.( just under a 1 lb i think)
I used a small adams which did the trick for most of the fish which is now battered and will retire on my hat,
All in all i had 14 trout and one dace which is a great result for me, but has spoiled me a bit, most fish were small but provide great sport, i would put the good fortune down to the fish feeding there heads off after the drop in water.

Thanks glen

river churnet 23/06/08 (fenton)

Called kev and told him i was going to wet a line down the churnet, five mins later he rang me back and said he was coming!
We met at 5.30 and made our wat down to the island swim down towards the bottom of the fenton strech, I have had more joy down there than any other swim on the fenton strech,
I had lots of takes as soon as i put the the fly in but only connected with one which was a small gayling, caught on my caddis.

Kev fished further up on the bend and soon started to hit fish, he was fishing the dry and nymph and had fish on both, one a nice sized grayling, in all he took 6 fish, 2 dace 2 grayling and a small trout,

I only caught the one grayling but was well happy with that as i am learning so much more watching kev.
I am still trying to get my casting right, i have taught myself and finding it hard to adjust to cast properly, kev seems to stay miles away when i cast!!!

15/06/08 - Westerleigh - Old Lake

Weight - 7lb 7oz
Catch – 3 Tench, 3 Perch, 3 Roach, 1 Carp, 1 F1, 1 Bream.
Weather - Sunny & cloudy. 1light shower. Cool when the sun disappeared.
Water temp – 18.0c > 18.5c
Match – Glenfall Club Match

This was 2nd club match of the year. The 1st was last month at Horseshoe Lake, where I came 3rd with 7 carp for 85lb. The match was also a knock out competition, the eventual winner winning next years membership. At £75 it’s worth having.

We were due to fish the old lake, which had 16 sensible pegs, although you could fit a few more if required. The lake has 2 areas. Deeper open water, which is called the bowl and then at the shallower end there are 3 islands.

When we arrived there were carp moving around, so I was quite optimistic, however 16 members turned up, so the fishing was likely to be hard. For the knockout competition, I drew against Graham, who would be a tough draw, particularly if he drew on a few fish.

I drew permanent peg 19, which was behind the islands. I wasn’t disappointed with the draw, since I had some room and I had seen carp moving around. Graham on the other hand drew peg 16, which was opposite an island, but he didn’t have much room either side.

My intention was to target the carp, which averaged 2-4lb, with a few bigger lumps. I thought 20-30lb would be a good target weight and as such brought plenty of pellets (micros, 4mm & 6mm expanders), paste, some corn and a handful of red maggot from yesterdays session.

Directly in front of me was a channel between 2 islands. The left hand island was 10m away, whilst the right hand island was 9m away. I also had loads of margin to my right and Ian was pegged 10m to my left.

I started off feeding the left island and the point of the right hand island, with micro pellet and a few expanders. I also started feeding the right margin but the intention was to leave it well alone for at least 3 hrs. I started on paste in front of the right island, using the paste as my only feed, but I didn’t get a bite for 30 minutes, which was a worry, because very little had been caught so far.

My 1st fish came from the left hand island on 6mm expander, but it was hard going. After 2 hours it became obvious the fishing was really hard, even fishing maggot on the hook only resulted in small fish.

I had a heavy & a light rig set up and decided to stay on the light rig (.13 hooklength to a 16 B911), fishing 6mm expander and simply wait for the bites. I cut back on the feed, using a tosspot, instead of a cup. Concentrating on the point of the right hand island, offered reasonably deep water tight to the island. I still continued feeding the margins, still hoping for a few carp to turn up late.

To cut a very boring story short, I struggled, but eventually managed to catch 1 carp, losing 2 others, 1 which broke me in some sunken snags and the other ran behind the island.

Ian to my left had managed 2 carp, 1 of which was the laziest carp I have ever seen. It just flopped around on the surface. Other than Ian I knew I had beaten the pegs around the island, including Graham, so at least I was though to the next knockout round.

At the weigh in I was surprised to find my 7lb 7oz, was enough for 6th out of the 16 anglers. The best weights came from the open water and only 21lb won the match.

Fishing Fiji Style

Navigating the waters of Fijian culture
If you plan to go to Fiji and guide yourself fishing then you should be prepared. With a little cultural forethought you will be fishing in no time and trouble free.

Fiji is not Australia or the United States. Culture and traditions still play a major role in everyday life and need to be respected. All of the waters inside the barrier reef system called qoliqoli (ngoly ngoly) are controlled by different villages. To obtain permission to fish the waters you will want to visit a village. You need to present yourself and a sevusevu (sayvu sayvu) or gift to the chief or headman of the particular village where you want to fish. The sevusevu should be Yaqona (yangona), which is the root of a plant of the pepper family. It is best if you have a local person to take you in to the village and do the talking for you.

Entering a village
The modern day village still has some cultural nuances. Modesty is at the forefront and should be practiced. Here are a few basic rules to follow. Women should wear a sulu (wrap-around) and no tank tops or bikini tops. Remove your hat when you enter a village. In most tropical countries it is accepted practice to remove your shoes before entering. Picture taking opportunities are plentiful inside of a village. The children will always find you and your camera first so be prepared as they love to see themselves on the digital camera screen. Most people do not mind having their picture taken but always ask first.

Performing a sevusevu
After you have entered the village it is now time to meet the chief or an elder. They are the highest member of the village and are the only ones who can give you permission to fish in their qoliqoli. When you enter the room everyone will be seated around a tanoa (Yaqona basin) and the chief should be sitting at the head. This part of your visit is deeply rooted in Fijian tradition. A very serious tone and definite role playing will make it seem like a solemn occasion. Luckily you only have to sit watch and listen. Someone will do the introductions for you. Most of the formalities will be in Fijian and then it should revert to English so you will not be left out.

Drinking Yaqona
Once your sevusevu is finished then it is time to drink Yaqona.
Yaqona is Fiji Islands' national drink. It is derived from the roots of a shrub belonging to the pepper family. The roots, called waka, are dried in the sun and pounded into a fine powder. It is prepared in a tanoa and then drunk from a bilo.
The tradition of drinking Yaqona goes back many generations, originally drunk only by the high priests. Yaqona was chewed by virgin girls and spit into a tanoa where it was then mixed with coconut water and plain water. It was used by the priests typically for visions and fortune telling. The tradition of drinking yaqona has evolved into a social affair. When strangers enter a Fijian village, they seek out the chief or village headman to ask for permission to enter and visit, and are expected to present some yaqona. It is now used as a social drink enjoyed by all and encourages a sense of well-being.
You will be handed a polished coconut shell called a bilo, with mixed Yaqona. Take the bilo from them and in one or two gulps finish all of it before you return the bilo to the server. Do not put the bilo on the floor, as it is bad manners. Once you have returned the bilo then you will cobo (thombo) or clap three times. Everyone there will also clap three times for each person who drinks. This is a basic guide, as each village will have some variation to their style of drinking Yaqona.

Yaqona------------------------------------ Bilo's --------------------------------Tanoa

Down to business
Now that the formalities are done you can relax a little and talk easy. There will be lots of question and some will seem a bit prying but all with good intentions.
This is a good time to find out what attractions the village has to offer. You can arrange a fishing guide, a full village tour, or some other excursions.
It is almost customary for Fijians to invite you to tea of lunch. Accepting this will also give you more chances for a real Fijian experience

Time to fish
Once this is done you will be free to fish in that village’s qoliqoli. You might want to have a local with you when you first go fishing, as they will be able to show you some of the good spots. If you want to do some casting over shallow reefs or in a river mouth then use your own knowledge of fishing and fish habits to ask the right questions. The locals will be able to show you where the reefs are and how to get to the mouth of a river.
If you want to hire a village boat then you will need to discuss this with them and prearrange a price. If you are going to be out in a remote location then you might also have to supply the fuel.

Going through this process you will find yourself in the heart of a Fijian village, experiencing real Fijian culture and I hope catching some nice fish.

14/06/08 - Silverlands Lake

Weight – 27lb 10oz
Catch – 9 Bream, 1 Roach.
Weather - Sunny & cloudy. Very still start, then a slight breeze.
Water temp – 17.5c > 18.5c
A days fishing with Mark Poppleton, or Slider to those who know him from the Total Fishing forum, is always interesting.

I regularly correspond with Mark by e-mail, where he tells me of his great catches, the matches he frames in and then he goes fishing with me. He seems to think I am some sort of jinx. The last time we went fishing was at the Curry Pound on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Devizes. His e-mail went along the lines of I caught 27 tench, it was great. We turn up I catch 1 tench & 1 bream, whilst Mark caught 1 roach!

So when I received an e-mail from Mark saying he had recently been to Silverlands Lake, where 1 of his mates had been catching 100lb bags of bream I was interested, but I should have known better.

Silverlands Lake is just outside Lacock in Wiltshire. I had never seen the place, but I had sourced advice from a number of people. What I was told is the water is mainly fished by the bivvy boys for the carp that are few in number, but do exceed 20lb+. I was also told the lake was only 3-4ft deep and fairly uniform in depth, but the stories of big bags of bream had been confirmed. What was interesting was the required bait. Although these bream must see a lot of pellet & boilies, red maggot was the best bait.

So at 5am, yes 5am I turned up with a load of micro pellet, 2kgs of groundbait, 3 small tins of corn and a handful of red maggot.

When I first saw the lake, I was very impressed, it looked very natural, there was an early morning light mist coming off the surface of the water and the prospects looked good. Most of the lake was taken up by bivvys, but Mark & I found a spot to fish.

The intention was to fish the pole, although I had been told the feeder works well here, but personally I prefer to watch a float, than the tip of a rod. The problem however is I’m waiting for a no5 section for my N47 pole and I have been using a super taper section (replaces no.4 & 5 section), which I managed to leave at home!
Fortunately I had brought a waggler rod. So 7 balls of groundbait, with loads of micro pellet went out at 20m. Mark settled at 13m, although he commented his peg was a foot shallower than the last one he fished.

As expected the fish took a little while to turn up and I landed a 1lb skimmer after 30mins. My waggler rig was a 3ssg Drake Loaded Bodied Waggler fished slightly overdepth, which was sitting perfectly in the calm conditions and that was a problem. The weather forecast was for cloud, showers and a breeze. What we had was flat calm & bright conditions, hardly the best for to catching bream.

As the session progressed it became apparent we were going to struggle, due to the weather. There seemed to be fish in the swim, but they weren’t taking the bait confidently, until the sun either went behind a cloud or the breeze picked up to create a ripple.

To help keep the fish in the swim I catapulted a pouch 4mm expanders, every cast, which seemed to helped. After 3 hours the swim died completely, so a further 6 balls of groundbait went out, plus 3 pouches of expanders. Fortunately the bream returned and I snared a few more bream, before the swim completely died.


I only weighed 27lb 10oz, which was lower than expected, but the quality of the bream was impressive. The biggest weighed 4lb 5oz, but they were healthy classical looking bream, who have obviously got big on pellets. I will definitely be back. As for Mark, he managed 4lb of bits. He felt fishing the waggler further out was the key for success on the day, however the most important thing is its 4-0 to me so far this year!

River Dove ( fenton licence) 19/06/08

Went to dove tonight on the fenton licence, you need to walk for a few miles before you get to the strech, the run is about 1 mile with a good weed runs and glides, I last fished here for barbel 4 years ago but the banks have overgrown and fenton dont seem to be looking after it, wading is a must but this river is very powerful and is deep in places,
We started fishing our way through the river but saw no rises, it seemed to be very quite with no takes, we were fishing the dry fly and never tryed nymph which probly was the way forward but i need some advice on that method as previously mentioned,
When the light started to go fish started to rise in places which picked up my confidence, I took a violent take on a balloon caddis in very shallow water 6 inch deep, had a great 5 minuite fight on my light gear, then landed a superb 8-10 oz brownie ( see vid )

I will be back on this strech again soon for another bash, i am also joining the derby railway licence soon to have a go on some of there rivers (kev recommend)

Going back on my favorite churnet again sunday,

Thanks glen

river churnet (fenton) 18/06/2008

Went to have a go on churnet last night, had been raining most of the day and the water was up to normal hight, it was very cold and windy,
I fished my usual swim at the start with the island, I could not see any rises but stuck to my usual dry fly caddis, I had a coulple of takes but did not hook any fish, I was finding it hard to cast into the wind ( need more lessons off kev!!!)
I then moved upstream and had no luck there also,
I could tell from my fishing years that the conditions were great with the river being toped up, the fish must have been feeding well but i have never tryed to nymph fish properly and when i spoke to kev and heard he had 12 fish on nymph in the dove i new that is what i should of been doing, I need to learn how to nymph fish properly for next time when i have these conditions, I will be hounding kev for another lesson!!
Any way it was my first blank of the season, and thats not bad for a newbie, I will have many more but will keep on going, i am still loving it.

Going on the dove tonight on the fenton strech with a friend who is new to it so will hope for a bend in the rod,

thanks glen

11/06/08 - Horseshoe Lake

Weight - 118lb 6oz
Catch - 13 Carp, 6 Bream, 5 Rudd.
Weather - Sunny & cloudy. Some light rain. Slight Breeze.
Water Temp - 21c > 21.5c

I wanted to further practice the pellet waggler. Unlike my last session, I came with 2x 12ft reactorlite rods, with 2 differing hooklengths. So why 2 rods? Basically its a time saving exercise. 1 hooklength was 6" long, whilst the other was 9". Its surprising how much 3" can make!

The rigs used

The session started very well with 11lb 14oz carp 2nd cast, after that the fish came steadily. The longer hooklength worked the best, but it was noticeable the carp weren't really having it. Normally the carp would push the bream & rudd out of the way, but there was hardly a ripple on the surface and it was bright, which seemed to unsettle them.

Over the 5 hours I fed 8 pts of 8mm pellet, but in the last couple of hours I had to vary the feeding pattern to entice the fish. Sometimes I would fire in 3 quick pouches of pellets, then cast over the top and sometimes I would stop feeding all together for 5mins.

10lb 10oz Carp - look at the size of that tail!

Instead of getting stronger the session tailed off. In fact I didnt catch for the last 45 mins. I think the weather conditions were a little against me, plus I didnt have a back up plan! Anyway it was good to get some practice on the pellet waggler.

01/06/08 – Fishponds

Weight - 160lb 13oz
Catch - 17 Carp, 3 Bream.
Weather - Cloudy & muggy, slight rain at times. Very calm.
Water temp – 17.5c

My favourite method here is the pole & paste. Last month I caught my personal carp of 19lb 8oz on the method. Although I have caught shallow on the pole, I have always struggled to catch on the pellet waggler. So today’s session was about catching on this method. I also had the pole & paste as a back up.
After 45 minutes I managed my 1st fish. The following 3hrs, I fed 6 pints of 8mm coarse pellet, which resulted in 10 carp up to 12lb 12oz and 2 bream. During those 3 hours I continually messed around with hooklengths ranging from 6ins to 2 ft. The shortest hooklength was by far the best.
To be successful with the pellet waggler, is not to be lazy. Before I cast I fed 8 pellets, cast, feed a 2nd pouch of pellet and then a 3rd. All this in a 60-90 second spell. It is rare to catch a carp if the bait is in the water for longer than this. On the pole you should be lifting and dropping continually, so you must apply the same principle to the waggler. I am by no means an expert on the method, but I am determined to master it.
The remaining 2 hours of the session was spent fishing the margins on paste and caught a further 7 carp and a bream.
Overall I am really pleased with the session. I felt I managed to sort the pellet waggler for this water, but the practice was useful for a forthcoming trip to Stafford Moor. As for fishing the paste, I am really confident on it, but fishing the waggler offered me a challenge, which on this occasion was successful.

River Churnet ( fenton ) 15/06/2008

Went for another go on the churnet again tonight, arrived about 6.30, started at the lower end near the tree across the water, and worked my way up.
The river was the lowest i have seen it, the usual runs i fish were totally different due to low water,
I started fishing a fast stretch where the water spills both sides of a island, I caught two small brownie that fell to my faithful sedge, fishing in the creases of the fast water,after that fishing went very quite with no rises, I moved further up to the slower parts on the sandy bend but had no joy there, the river seemed to be very quite and no fish were showing.
I moved back down to where i started and saw a fish rise, i dropped a fly on its nose and after 5 casts i took him, around half a pound brownie, nice!
A total of 3 fish on a quite night, not bad, going back on the dove later this week, cant wait!!

Bad weather no fish

As an avid angler it is all ways difficult when I can’t fish. Usually it is the weather, but sometimes there are other extenuating factors such as broken motors or sick family members, but usually the weather.

So what is an angler to do when one can’t fish? I usually try to read about fishing. There are heaps of blogs on the internet as well as fishing forums and sites related to fishing with articles and stories. Not to mention all of the magazines about fishing that I subscribe to.

I also find myself, in times of bad weather, going through fishing gear, cleaning and repairing everything. Taking reels apart, right down to the last screw, then cleaning every little bit and oiling it, then putting it all back together again, that has to be one of my biggest time wasters when I can’t fish. I think I have some of the cleanest gear around.

Sometimes I grab a spool of line and just practice tying knots. The knots I use the most are the Uni-knot, the Bimini twist, Australian plait and the offshore swivel knot. I have yet to have a failure do to one of these knots. I used to tie the Albright special but with the braid I use the leader had a tendency to slip out of the knot.

I see fishing as an addiction, if I go to long without wetting a line I can get a bit stir crazy. Fishing withdrawals are some of the worst. Sometimes I just sit and look out the window to the sea and shake all over with the thought of not being able to fish.

Right now here in Fiji it has been raining for days. Not that sissy rain you experience in upper and lower latitudes but the real tropical down pours you get near the equator. The kind that is so noisy it will not let you sleep. The kind that makes a little babbling creek turn into a raging torrent of brown water you dare not get near. The kind that you can’t even go fishing in for fear of your boat filling up and sinking while you are out.

Make no mistake about it as soon as it stops raining and even shows the slightest bit of letting up, I am going fishing.

Hope the sun is shining where you are.

Tight lines and Screamin drags

River Dove ( Hatton ) 13/06/2008

Went for a trip with a mate tonight on the dove at Hatton on the stoke licence, never fished here before but was impressed with the clear water, I have been only fishing the churnet so this was quite a big change for me, I noticed how strong the current was even in slow parts, but got used to it when i waded in,
I fisnroua hard gravel bottom with lots of weed runs which looked great, not a many features as the churnet but a lot of gravel channels ranging from 2ft to 5ft deep,
I saw quite a few rises when we arrived, i also noticed that these were big fish,
I started with my favourite cdc what has done well for me on the churnet, I was running my fly through the channels of boils next to the weed,
After half hour i switched to a orange klinkhammer, this worked for me after 3 casts i was into a good trout, my 4 weight greys streamflex was fully looped over as the fish was hugging low, then the trout did a 2ft leap clean out the water!!!
I started to have more problems when the fish came around me and kited downstream after10mins i landed a lovely 1 lb 8 0z brownie!!! I have had carp over 20lb and barbel over 10 lb but never had a fight like that,
Well I had a few more takes and lost another, but had a great night and will be back for some action soon,
The only downside i was casting my rod towards the end of the night and my rod broke in half, It is a greys streamflex which cost 200 pound, can anyone tell me if i have guarantee? I heard they are lifetime guarantee?

River churnet (fenton) 31/05/2008

Had a good day saturday, walked down to where kev said and started to fish just up from the island is, there were horses in the water around the island so i fished in the slow part just before the water went around the island, i saw nothing showning but put on a white caddis, first cast and i hit a lovely brown trout of about 8 oz, I then moved slightly up where i could see a riser, after 6 casts i hit into another brownie, slightly smaller.
I then moved to the bend with the island and saw risers but could not get them to take the fly, tryed changing fly but still no joy. I t saw absolutly loads of mayfly about but they did not seem to be feeding on them, I could not tell what they were taking but they must have been small.
I moved further up to a strech with over hanging trees and hooked another brownie from under a tree that put up a great fight which was caught on one of those green olives that kev posted to me!!! (thanks),
I had started to fish from one oclock and the fish seemed to stop showing at 6 oclock so i took a break to have my tea, the fish did not start rising again until 8 oclock, i was fishing on the sandy bend with my white caddis, there was a point where the fish were going mad rising everywhere but would not take the caddis until i switched to your green olive which took me another 2 small brownies!!
I had loads of takes where the hook was not setting home which was frustrating, I even saw a good size trout swim to my fly and just turn around as if it new it was a hook.
I noticed that if i saw a good fish rising and it had a go at my fly but i did not hook it, it would never have another go at it.
I read your blog where you said how the fish were acting,

At the end of the day i had five trout which i was very pleased with, I will post some pictures of the fish and some scenic ones as i used to be a wedding photographer so love my pics,



I am thinking of having a go on sutton brook this week some time,

River Churnet (fenton) 26/05/2008

I went back on the churnet tonight from 6.30 till 9.30, also been up stapely and bought some chest waders with the boots today! ( im getting hooked already)

Went down to the sandy bend and moved up to the weir, there were some fish rising but not as many as when i went in the week, I caught a small brownie that i saw rising under a tree, I unhooked it in the water and made great care not to damgage the fish, i never even took it out the water, feels better knowning it will fight another day.

That was all i caught but i lost a good fish in one of the fast sections, had it on for a while but the hook pulled!! I was having quite a few takes but not connecting with them, they could have been small fish, but one looked a good fish but did not hook it,
I tried to wade in and cast upstream but found it hard, i was getting lots of drag on my fly, i seem to find it easier when i am casting more downstream?

At one point i saw one of those sedge/caddis floating down the river and then it got nailed by a good size fish, I found at times tonight they were taking off the top but were not interested in my fly, i was using a cdc caddis for most of the night, tryed switching but still no joy,

Anyway i am proper hooked on this fly fishing, fully enjoyed tonight, cant wait to get back on, I will be trying to get some in this week,

River churnet (fenton licence) 24/05/2008

I had been emailing Kev Harrison after seeing his blog and he gave me some great advice for me starting out on my first ever fly fishing session, and what a great night i had!!

I arrived at about 6.00 and followed kev harrisons instructions, walked down to the sandy stone area on the bend and watched for risers, after 5 mins i could see them taking off the top, I put on a few dry flies with no takes for over a hour, I could see them taking flys off the top and they seemed to be like big white moths, i put on a small brown dry fly and had a take as soon as it hit the water, Great!!! I hooked my first ever trout on the fly, - put up a great fight on my new rod, you can see the fly i had it on in its mouth!! I have that fly on my cap and will never use it again!

I seemed to be gettin lots of takes but i was missing loads?
I saw a trout rising in the same spot for hours but never seemed to take my fly, so i put a fly that looked like the white moths i could see them taking, BANG!, I hit into a better fish as you can see on the photo, The fight was great, had my rod proper bent, and even got a tail walk!!

Well i started to walk back towards the weir and saw a few risers so cast to them and caught a nice grayling and a small brownie!!

Bad weather Good fish

The weather has been about as

cooperative as a lion at the dentist. That being said we have had a couple of mornings that were fishable. Being that I am a fishing slut, I of course jumped on the opportunity. These are a few pictures of some of the fish we caught. After all, we are all are fishing addicts and this is for your and my fishing fix. The last big bluefin was a helluva fish and had about four really good runs in him. I actually saw some braid on the spool that I have not seen in a while. I let it go to fight another

day, he deserved it.Oh yeah Iam trying to take a little different kinds of fish pictures not just someone holding it.

Unforgiving weather gods

Well after 10 days of rain and 8 days of 30+ knot wind we finally caught a break in the weather. It is 7:00 am, a bit overcast the tide is falling, and Rosie and I are ready to fish.

Within 20 minutes I have the first fish is in the boat, a little Barracuda not worthy of a photo, but a fish none the less. A few minutes later Rosie is onto a little Emperor but again not worthy of the camera.

The weather looks promising as the early morning breeze starts to subside and the sun is peaking out. Both of us are starting to warm up, after all this is the beginning of winter and the nights can get to a chilly 21c, and the boat is full of optimism.

As we near the hour of low tide I take a nice strike that cuts my line way above the double. Luckily my poppers float and it is quickly retrieved. While I am retying my double Rosie boats a nice little Trevally, again too small for the camera. We are both holding out to take pictures of the big ones.

A few casts later and I land a nice little Barracuda, note the use of the word little again. Then the weather gods decide we have fished enough. The wind starts to kick up and the sky turns dark, threatening to rain. As the bay starts to white cap we turn tails and head for home. At least we got to fish for a little while after nothing for 2 weeks.