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As the last rays of daylight kiss the approaching night sky, a gentle calm embraces the land and all is peaceful. Enjoy the sky's from around the world at Sky Watch Friday.

18/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 65lb 3oz
Catch – 12 Carp, 4 Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Roach.
Weather – Wind & rain.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Residence - 2nd

Peg 13 wasn’t exactly the drew I wanted, but I did have the advantage of effectively having an end peg, plus the wind wasn’t quite as fierce as at the other end of the lake.

I set up 2 pellet wagglers, a skud, a lead rod and finally the pole to fish the margins, so I wanted cover all eventualities. I felt the only way to compete with the pegs on the lawns and in the 30s was to feed aggressively and pull some fish into my swim.

In the first 20mins 3pts of 8mm went in on the waggler line, in front of the island.

I didn’t catch until 45mins in and I then had to keep rotating methods to keep catching the odd fish. Feeding towards the island was difficult due to the strong cross wind and increasingly heavy rain. I lost a few, either due to being foul hooked or some of them were hooked around the face, so they weren’t really having it.

Throughout I had been feeding both margins. In the last 2 hours I started to concentrate in the margins. The right hand side proved best under the pallet, where I caught 4 carp, whilst the left margin produced 1 carp. Bait was a hair rigged 11mm pellet – I had to discourage the skimmers somehow, but still managed a few.

With 10 minutes to go, Andy came around. I was surprised to hear my 12 carp was jointly leading. The weigh in started at peg 34 (peg 36 wasn’t drawn) so by the time the scales came to me 63lb was winning. I wasn’t sure

I had enough, but was pleased to weight 65lb. The only other weight to beat me was 77lb from peg 8.

Overall, I was really pleased to finish 2nd since I worked really hard to get the most from the swim. In total I fed 13pts of 8mm & 6pts of 11mm.

River Dove Ellastone

Went for another go on the dove at ellastone after a great night i had on the monday,
When i arrived i met up with squire (dave) off the forum, who was just setting up, he fished the top section and i started by the bridge,
There were plenty of rises showing but most looked like grayling which were fast takes, I caught one wild brownie early on that fell to a ballon caddis.
Squire caught one small trout early on and things were quite until the last hour when we both fished the middle section and squire hooked a decent brownie of around a pound and a half, after a good fight we got a couple of photos (see pics) and realeased it back.
I started to get lots of takes from grayling and caught a good size one of around a pound, this fish went mad when it saw the net and caused me a few problems.

At the end of the night me and squire had around 8 fish between us which proved a good night with a couple of decent sized fish.
It was nice to see one of the lads off the forum and have a good old natter, will see you soon dave.

Thanks Glen

17/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 74lb 5oz
Catch – 100 Bream, 5 Crucian, 4 Roach, 1 Tench.
Weather – Cool wind, sun & cloud.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.5c

Decided on a days silver fish fishing. I settled on Woodpecker, because I wanted to catch a few Crucians which go over 2lb and beat my best Stafford Moor silver fish weight of 67lb.

Peg 24 offers 7ft of water at 4m, before it gradually shallows up towards the island. So 4 tennis balls of micro pellet, groundbait and corn went in at 4m.

I had set up 2 rigs, 1x 1.5g polar ice with the olivette 10cm from the hook and 1x 1.0g polar ice, shotted more conventionally with 2x no. 9 droppers. After 40 mins I started to wonder whether I had chosen the right peg, because I only had 3 fish in the net, however my the end of the 1st hour I was up to 10 fish, mostly on the light rig.

As the session progressed the fish started to come more regularly and after 90mins I was exclusively using the heavy rig. Initially I had to mess around with the feeding and found a handful size ball every 2nd fish was best. Hook bait was corn.

I experienced a bit of a dodgy 4th hour, but by keeping the feed going in the fish came back.

1st hr = 10 fish, 2nd hr = 17, 3rd hr = 23, 4th hr = 16, 5th hr = 25, 6th hr = 19.

I didn’t catch as many Crucians as I hoped, but once the skimmers arrived in numbers, nothing else stands a chance. In the end it was a great session and best previous best silver fish weight from Stafford Moor.

Out fished by an old lady on a bamboo raft.

I was out fishing the other day and was not doing so well. I happened to pull my attention away from casting and saw a local woman I know fishing. Click on images to see larger
I slowly maneuvered myself next to her and asked the obligatory, catch anything? Lavinia, her name, proceeded to hold up a little Blue Trevally and I was looking into her basket I saw several more as well as a larger one on the back of her boat.
Seeing how we know each other I gave her a little rousting for the size of her fish, all in fun of course.
Now here is the irony of this situation. I am fishing out of an aluminum boat with a state of the art electric trolling motor, graphite fishing rod, Shimano reel, braided line and some of the latest offerings in lures. I have no fish in my boat and nothing to even tell a story about.

Lavinia on the other had is fishing on a bilibili, which is a bunch of large bamboo tied together to make a raft. She has two hand lines, one is wrapped around her foot and the other is in her hand. On the end of the line is a small #12 J hook with a piece of roofing lead for a weight.

Her bait is prawns that she caught in the creek. You can see her green prawn net laying in front of her feet. If you look closely you will see small sticks and coconut husks. These she will use to make a fire inside the aluminum pot and cook her lunch, fish of course. That way she does not have to paddle and push her way back to shore until it is almost dark.

The next time I was out fishing our paths crossed again. The first thing she asked was, catch anything? Lucky for me I had some fish in the boat this time. I proudly said yes, I would be having fish for lunch. Lavinia giggled as she paddled her bilibili out to her favorite spot. I watched her drop anchor, a rock tied to a rope, and proceed to set up for a days fishing.

I would love to say she got lucky but the rumor is, she catches a lot of fish. It makes me wonder why I need to spend all kinds of money on fancy gear when a line, a hook, and a piece of bait still work just fine.

Tight hand lines

River Dove (Ellastone) Derby Railway licence

First time i have fished this strech on the derby railway licence, I had to book in the night with the secretary,
The fishing rights are only 100 metres so only 2 rods are allowed all day,
The river has it all in the short strech, starting from the bridge upto a fast rifle,
The opposite bank is norbury licence which runs below the bridge and stock the water with good size rainbow,
I arrived around half four to and peered over the bridge to watch many trout mostly small rising occasionly, I spoted a good fish so tackled up and had a go but could not get any responce from the fish,
Working upstream i took a coulple of 5 inch trout on a grey duster, the good size fish were showning but not taking my fly until i switched to a black klinkhammer, i hooked a good trout from under a overhanging tree which hugged deep and fought very hard, i even thought i was going to lose it as it come around me down stream and was shooting for every snag it could see, i was only fishing a 2lb tippet so was very careful,
After ten minuites i landed a perfect brownie of 14 inches long with a thick body (sounds like my penis!!)
This was around 2lbs and was the biggest ever trout for me!! See pictures
When the light was fading i walked back to the bride and hooked another brownie of nearly 2lb again, the colours on this fish were unbeleiveable, (see picture with flash)
With spirits so high i got ready to pack up but casts one more fly and hooked another good fish, After a great fight with tail walking i landed a rainbow of nearly 3lbs, I had no photo of this due to battery failure on camera.
I had the best night fishing ever and it has proberly spoilt me a bit!

Thanks Glen

A great morning fishing.

The weather has been outstanding finally. Dead calm in the mornings and a little breeze come noon time. This can only mean one thing, time to fish. As we head out on to the water the anticipation of a good day fishing is all we can think of.

Things start out a bit slow, a few looks but nothing in the boat. As we drift over water so clear you feel as though you are floating on air. We can see myriads of small reef fishes and colorful coral.

The first fish comes to the boat in a flurry of splashes and short but strong runs. It is a Bluefin Trevally. Trevally can fight no matter the size. The big ones can dictate the fight and the little one just wont stop, even when in the boat they just jump and thrash around.

The next fish to the boat is a little Mangrove Jack. They can pull like a freight train and never give up.

The next fish is a first for me. It’s a parrot fish and I watched it take the lure right below the boat. Check out that protruding mouth.

Sometimes I wonder what fish are thinking especially the little ones. The lure was almost as big as the fish. The leather jacket has eyes bigger than its stomach.

Finally I pull a nice little Giant Trevally. They are called Giant Trevally because they grow to 50+kg, that’s over 100lb. Let me tell you these fish fight with no holds barred. If you don’t get the upper hand right away then you never will.
Various other fish were caught throughout the morning, including a large Long Tom that ended up with a little bling for his efforts. If the weather holds then we will be back at it. Fingers are crossed.

Tight lines and screaming drags

16/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 82lb 5oz
Catch – 15 Carp, 12 Bream.
Weather – Warm, sunny and slight breeze.
Water temp – 18.0c > 19.5c
Match – Fish & Chip Open - 9th overall, 2nd in section

Over 40 anglers were booked in for this mid week match, so both Tanners and Woodpecker were in. I drew peg 6 on Woodpecker, which was OK, but I felt I was fishing for section rather than framing.

Whilst setting up, a numpty turned up to fish peg 5. I queried this with him, since I felt he should have been on peg 4, but after a bit of a discussion he was sure he was on peg 5. I knew there was a few fishing the match so I thought that Andy might have jammed a few pegs in.

I set up 2 pellet wagglers, a full depth waggler, a lead and a pole rig for the silvers in case I was struggling. On the all in I fired my 8mm pellet towards the island, the numpty on peg 5 managed to spray his pellet all over the place, but after 10mins he caught 2 carp. Oh please, don’t let me get done by a numpty.

After 2 hours I had 9 carp switching between the waggler and lead, whilst numpty continued to feed every inch of his swim. He even managed to feed Mikes swim on peg 36 and I had to tell him to stop casting into my swim! Not a happy chap.

The fishing started to get harder and from what I could see I was doing OK. Peg 36 was catching (as expected) and I was aware that peg 22 was sacking, but neither was in my section. The middle part of the match started to prove frustrating. I couldn’t get the fish to settle and I was losing fish, mainly as a result of foul hooking.

The 1 thing I have found with Woodpecker is unless you are on a flyer then you can suffer from blank spells. I decided to set a silver fish line at 5m, but this never took off at all. Most of the skimmers I caught were in 4-6oz range and they weren’t coming quickly enough, so whilst I periodically tried the silvers line during the middle period, in total I only spent 20 minutes trying for silvers

In the last 2 hours I concentrated on the island, but I could hear peg 8 starting to catch (I had trees either side of me so I couldn’t see), so I needed a few more carp. I did catch a few more, but had I caught enough? My concern was a couple of my carp were smaller (3lb) than the average 5-6lb.

Peg 8 weighed 85lb to win my section, which meant I came 2nd and missed out on £50. I let my feeling be known to the numpty on peg 5, because in transpired he should have been on peg 4. How hard is it to remember a number?

The match winner came from peg 3 on Tanners, whilst the best weight on Woodpecker came from peg 22 with 207lb on the tip for 2nd in the match. I finished 9th overall.

15/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 81lb 6oz
Catch – 16 Carp, 4 Roach, 1 Bream, 1 Hybrid.
Weather – Cloudy, windy, drizzle & cool.
Water temp – 18.0c > 19.0c

Another crap day of weather!

I wanted to practice the waggler on Tanners and decided to fish peg 34, because I had never fished this peg before.

To cut boring story short, I struggled in the wind and would have caught more had I brought a lead rod, but the purpose of the session was to get confident with the pellet waggler.

Jon fished Pines peg 14 and caught 103-12 of silvers, which is an absolutely brilliant weight. He had loads of skimmers, plus a number of tench.

14/07/08 – Stafford Moor - Joseph’s

Weight – 82lb 4oz
Catch – 24 Bream, 12 Carp, 3 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy & cool. Tried to drizzle.
Water temp – 17.0c > 17.0c

At last, a week at Stafford Moor. This is now the 4th year I stay for a week with Dave Downton, Mike Etheridge and Jon Andres.

After arriving straight from Bullocks Farm the night before I wasn’t in any rush to get fishing. Well may be a little.

I settled on peg 4 on the dam wall. I started on the shallow pole, but I wasn’t happy. The water was clearer than I would have thought and it appears there had been a lot of rain in the previous week.

Therefore, I tried the pellet waggler, because I didn’t feel the fish were happy with a pole over their heads. Whilst I caught a few, it was hard work. Fish were topping, but actually getting them to feed was a different matter. As a back up I started to set up a margin line, both left and right. The left hand margin was 3ft deep, whilst the right hand margin was 5ft.

As usual I prefer to use paste in the margins. Initially the left margin didn’t produce, whilst the right margin produced skimmer, after skimmer. Eventually the left margin came good with 3 carp, but overall the fishing was difficult.

Jon fished peg 6 on the pole shallow and caught 67lb, Dave had 60/70lb from peg 38 and Mike had a few from an edge peg 12.

13/07/08 – Bullocks Farm – Match Lake

Weight – 26lb 3oz
Catch – 4 Carp, 4 Fantails, 3 Bream, 3 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Crucian
Weather – Sunny and calm.
Water temp – 18.0c > 18.5c
Match – Glenfall Club Match - 3rd

Moment of truth, I have sacrificed 2 days of my Stafford Moor holiday to fish this match, because I wanted to get though to the final of the knockout competition.

I drew peg 2, which was not a good start. I was stuck in the corner of the lake, with no features to fish to, other than the margins. My corner was likely to be busy, with the car park behind me and the left hand bank also serviced as a walk way to the adjacent carp lake, so I was apprehensive how I would do.

I had drawn Roger in the knockout, who drew peg 3, so at least I could keep an eye on him.

I started in the open water, but it became obvious the bright calm conditions were going to have an effect. With an hour gone, I only had a couple of fish and was already using my light right (.11 bottom & 18 B911) and maggot. Fortunately everyone I could see was struggling, but I was aware a few anglers on the other side of the lake had caught carp.

I had tried my margins but I had too much foot traffic, which was worse on the left hand side. As the match progressed, I managed the odd fish from the open water and knew I was ahead of Roger, but a decent carp would make a difference.

Left Margin

With 90 mins to go the grapevine suggested no one had sacked up, so a couple of carp, could mean a chance of framing. I had been feeding my margins, quite heavily, and decided to concentrate here until the end of the match, fishing paste.

Right Hand Margin

The left margin didn’t produce a single carp, everything came from the right hand margin. In the last 30 mins I had 3 carp, so they eventually arrived.

I knew I had beaten Roger so I had at least got though to the final of the knockout, but the question was had I done enough to frame. In the end it was a very tight frame, 28lb won, 26lb 11oz was 2nd and I finished 3rd.

Talking after the match, most people seem to have gone down the route of feeding lightly, which was completely the opposite of what I did. Towards the end of the match was throwing in a handful of micro & 4mm expanders. Make ‘em feed!

11/07/08 - Bullocks Farm - Match Lake

Weight – 54lb14oz
Catch – 13 Carp, 8 Bream, 7 Fantails, 5 Roach, 2 F1, 1 Crucian
Weather - Sharp shower to start. Mostly sunny, with odd light shower. Increasingly windy.
Water temp – 18.0c > 18.5c

Managed to get Friday off work, which meant I had 1 day to practice for Sunday’s match and 1 day to prepare for a week’s trip to Stafford Moor.

As with most pegs on the Match Lake at Bullocks Farm, peg 21 had the usual features, in this case reeds bordered by wood panels.

My intention for today was to put what I learned last week into practice. I started at 11m in the open water, after feeding micro pellet & expanders.

After 15mins I probably had 6lb in the net, which was a great start. However, as the session progressed the fish didn’t seem settled. I was soon feeding a pot of pellet and then switching to the near read swim on paste. In the end I was feeding the open water swim by a toss pot, but I would only feed once I hooked a fish, by turning the pole. This seemed to work, but only for 3 or 4 fish at a time, before having to switch to another swim.

In the last 2 hours I concentrated on the paste. I had left the far reed swim and the margins alone, but still feeding to build the fishes confidence. This paid dividends with a number of carp, although I lost a few due to hook pulls. I got the impression the fish weren’t feeding confidently and I was only lightly hooking them.

There was a 7 peg knockout on the lake, which was won with 31lb, so I was really pleased with my final weight.

DARLEY DALE

I have joined derby railway after seeing the fish mick martin and his bro have been taking from some of there streches,
Mick sent me some directions and some great tips of where to fish/flys ect (thanks mick)
When i turned up at the river i noticed it looked very much like the dove at scropton, River was quite wide with deep holes,
Canoeists were everywhere when i got there causing mayhem but 5 mins after they had gone i started to see rises.
I jumped in and started to fish a small grey duster around the rises but fish were not interested, i went trough quite a few flys but still no fish were taking my fly, rises we very violent and the fish looked to be of a good size,
I moved further upstream to a faster run and put on a black klinkhammer which took my first fish of the day! A 8 inch trout which put a great fight for the size.
After catching on the klinkhammer i moved back to where i started where the rises were constant, I soon took another 8 inch trout, The klinkhamer was doing the trick and I was rewarded with a great take from under a tree which caught me a nice brownie of around a pound, the fish took me a good 5 mins to land making lots of runs, The condition of the fish here are great, a yellow tinge which i have never seen.
I am really keen on this strech and will be back soon for another go.
(thanks for the advice again mick, its much appreciated)

Thanks Glen

Fog, Sky And Water for Sky Watch Friday

I thought it would be nice to honor Sky Watch Friday on my fishing site as well as my photography site. Enjoy the sky's all over the world by visiting Sky Watch Friday.

Cheers

Back from holiday

Been away on holiday with family but reved up to get back on the rivers, i have joined derby railway so will be having a go on some of there rivers this week hopefuly.

thanks glen

Duh, even a 10 year old can figure this out.

Sometimes what you read about just makes you go, “Duh! Like this is something new.” For instance I just read an article titled “Fishing ban brings seas to life”. This article is all about how a no fish zone created 5 years ago and is now full of lobster and fish. Now what the hell do these people think. Humans have been hitting the oceans hard with commercial fishing and of course that has depleted stocks. Now common sense says if you stop the commercial fishing then the stocks, if not completely wiped out, will come back with time. Why do we need a scientist to tell us this?
In one article titled “Ban Spurs Dramatic Fish Recovery in Australia” , Sweatman, a reef ecologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said "My 10-year-old son saw the graphs and said, If you stop fishing, don't you expect to find more fish?
If a 10 year old can come to that conclusion then what the hell is wrong with the policy makers.
Now I am an angler and a bit of a fanatic about it and as much as I don't like it, no take zones do help. The problem I see is that the no take zones usually affect the recreational angler and not the commercial angler. What kind of hog wash is that? Who does more damage, the angler with a rod taking home a feed or the trawler scraping the bottom of all life forms and taking tons of fish? Seems like a pretty easy question even for a policy maker. Ah, but then politics comes into play and of course with politics comes money and interest groups, and with money comes corruption. To bad for the fish and to bad for us anglers trying to get a feed and have some fun.
Maybe one day the people who make policies will hold an open discussion with a few 10 year olds and actually listen to what they have to say. And maybe, if that happens we might see our fish stocks come back. And maybe, if that happens, nah, that’s asking a little too much.
Tight lines and policy changes

Is Bigger Always Better?

There seems to be a fad in fishing these days. Wait a minute, there is always some fad in fishing that’s how all those tackle stores make so much money. Come to think of it I read that Americans spend 45 billion dollars a year on fishing. Wow, like the fish care if you hook them with a $40.00 lure or a home made jobber that cost $2.00. However, I digress from my original fishing fad not FAD topic.
I have noticed that bigger is definitely the trend. Bigger fish and bigger gear. Bigger fish have always been on most anglers’ minds, but I am talking a lot bigger. I am talking about Sampson fish up to 50kg, Giant Trevally to 50kg, Wahoo, and Sail fish all caught on spinning reels using jigs and poppers. In order to catch these monster trucks of the deep you have to have big gear and the favorite seems to be spinning reels.
Catching these big brutes on spinning gear has only been possible recently due to technological advances by fishing gear manufacturers. The Shimano Stella 20000 and Daiwa Dog fight 6500 are just two of the big names that have built super tough spinning reels that can handle 60kg braid and 20kg’s of drag. That is what is needed if you are going to have a chance at stopping a big GT. This gear is really something else, including the price. At $700.00 plus for a reel, not including line or rod, not everyone can afford it. That is a lot of money for a working stiff to shell out for gear that may only get used once a year.
I have no less than four fishing magazines with cover shots and stories about fishing for really big fish with spinning gear. Usually the fishing takes place in far away places that are hard to get to. Some trips entail a float plane flight to get to the mother ship. The trips are always expensive and always involve huge high end spinning gear. I personally enjoy reading about the exotic locations and battles with massive fish but the truth be known, it is priced out of the ordinary persons budget.
I have been fishing here in Fiji for 9+ years and have caught a few big fish. Usually the fish are more like 1-2kg and the occasional 5kg fish. In my opinion a 5kg fish is a good size fish, especially with 7kg line and a 4000 size reel. A GT of that size can pull your socks off and if it decides to fight dirty you will lose. No if’s and’s or but’s about it, no matter the size and length of your leader when a GT decides to end the fight it will find a rock and bust you off. That is unless it decides to spool you, in that case you go home with an empty spool and tell some fish stories about the one that got away.
The idea of fishing for really big fish with really expensive gear is all well and good and a nice dream. Back to reality, right size your fishing gear for the fish you are catching and the fight can be everything you dreamed of without the sore back and empty wallet. The idea is to maximize the fight so you are not skull dragging the fish to your feet. You might want to consider downsizing your gear this will give the fish a better chance and give you a better fight. The learning curve is steep when you are a bit under gunned. You need to learn new fighting techniques and once you have figured it out you will have as good a fight as you will ever get.
The idea of huge fish being caught with top line gear in exotic locations is great to dream about. There is no real substitute for good quality fishing gear, but you do not have to spend a fortune or travel half way around the world to have a great fight and catch a nice fish. Your regular fishing haunts can provide you with all of the fish fighting excitement you need. Try sizing your gear for the fight. You may not always win but you can have a great time trying.
Tight lines and screaming drags

Dream Fish Come True

Got out of bed this morning and it was still dark and definitely cold. None of that matters though as we are going fishing. Loaded the boat with the gear and off we go. Today we are fishing the rising tide in the morning, reason being is by the time the tide falls the wind has kicked up to at least 30 knots and then it is impossible to fish.
We are hardly away from shore and Rosie hooks up to a nice Long Tom using an neon green 2m diver about 10cm long. These fish can fight like Jet Li. A full set of aerobatics followed by a screaming surface run that has your line throwing a rooster tail as it slices the water. All of those moves are then repeated several times before ol’ Tom is boat side. Now it is time to net Tom and wouldn’t you know, he won’t hold still. He is a writhing, slithering, snake like fish with a mouth full of needle sharp spikes called teeth. Oh, did I say he was angry, well pissed off is more like it. After several attempts with the net ol’ Tom is in the boat getting his picture taken. Not a bad start.
With all of the Long Tom excitement done it’s time to settle in and do some fishing. Another 30 minutes goes by and I finally hook up to a good size Trevally. I was using a little brow and green shallow diver about 7 cm long and it runs to about 1m. That’s all I needed to get me going. Soon I have a little potato cod in the boat and this is followed by another Long Tom of equal size to the first one. I am now into my fishing groove and getting ready to turn up the heat. Out of no where comes this massive explosion. We get a quick glimpse of dark grey almost brown goliath attacking Rosie’s 12cm ChugBug surface popper. We both call it for a shark due to the strike and coloring. Now first a little background on this lure and this particular location. First this lure has a tendency to attract sharks. And of course it’s one of Rosie’s favorite. Almost every time it comes out the ChugBug seem to call a shark or two not to mention how many shiny new ones have been taken by the shark and worn like bling. Now the location is almost as notorious for sharks as the lure is. So we both call it a shark.
Luck would have it that Rosie just happens to be using the larger spinning reel with 30lb braid and a 7 ½ foot graphite rod. The first run is a scorcher and she loses maybe 150m of line. Now the fight takes a twist, if it was a shark then the line would have broken by now. The second run is just as hard and long as the first run. The fish is now on the bottom and moving with the current and wind. Believe it or not the third run is quite impressive also. The runs are not as long now but the fish is pulling the boat. We finally get in front of it and turn the tables. The fish is planing and Rosie is gaining line.
Not to long more and we have color and the beast shows it’s face. A massive GT, one of those you read about in far way exotic places. A fish that when you see it for the first time your mouth hangs open and your eyes bulge out a little so you can see more of it. A real beauty of a fish. Net won’t work I use two hands and a big lift into the boat. A few quick photos and then it’s back in the water. It took some swimming to revive it. It was a long hard fight and as it swam away to fight another day, Rosie and I did a high five.


Tight lines and screaming drags

westlow mere

Went to westlow mere in congleton with a mate due the rivers being up, I am not a big fan of reservoirs but went to get a bend in the rod,
Caught a rainbow of 1 lb 6 oz on a dry,
The water seems to be very well run and the guides were very helpful,
This type of fishing is nowhere near as good as river fishing in my view, though i enjoyed it and will go again when the rivers are in flood.

Thanks Glen

05/07/08 - Bullocks Farm - Match Lake

Weight – 38lb 5oz
Catch – 13 Fantails, 11 Crucians, 9 Carp, 4 Bream, 3 Roach.
Weather – Sunny start, became increasingly blustery with odd showers
Water temp – 18.5c > 20.0c

I decided to visit Bullocks Farm, with the intention of practising for a forth coming club match next weekend.
Bullocks Farm is a small venue with 5 lakes. Although most would consider it to be a pole venue, many pegs don’t offer much room behind, which means breaking down the pole 2 or 3 times. Today I was on the match lake and I settled on peg 25, which is situated on the island. The swim offered some protection from the forecast wind & rain, but it was also a peg I had never fished before.

Bullocks is 1 of those venues I personally find difficult to fish without a practice session prior to a match. The lake is not a big weight venue, but should offer plenty of bites from fantails and crucians. There are also carp to over 10lb, although in recent years there are many more carp in the 1lb to 3lb bracket.

The normal approach is to set up an open water swim for the crucians and fantails and then fish for the carp in the margins. Typically you need to fish reasonably light for the crucians & fantails and as such I set up a drennan roach 4x12 float, with .11 bottom and an 18 B911. The margin rig was a big H 4x10, .17 line straight though to a 12 carp feeder hook, fishing paste.

The session started in frustrating manner. I concentrated on the reed bed to my left, but the fish when hooked were driving straight into them. Stepping up to .19 line didn’t improve matters either. At 1 point I even got into a boat, to recover a snagged rig and to do a bit of swim clearing!

Even my open water swim was proving frustrating, with lost carp and struggling for bites. The last time I fished here feeding micro pellet & caster proved successful, because I was able to catch roach in amongst the fantails & crucians to keep the weight building, but that was last October. I couldn’t get to the tackle shop in time to buy some caster, so I was relying on still feeding micro pellet, but this time with 4mm expanders. After my early fish loses, it became obvious the carp were prepared to feed in the open water swim, so I changed my hooklength up to .13 bottom & a 16 B911.

After 2 hours I had caught very little, mainly because I was determined to make the reed swim work. Time to concentrate on the open water swim. Earlier on I had initially fed a pot of pellet and then a tosspot over the top, but this lead to the fish rushing around and producing loads of liners. So 10 minutes before switching to the open water swim I potted a full pot of micro pellet & 4mm expanders. On the hook I used 6mm expanders, flavoured with strawberry or peeler crab (and it stinks).

I started to catch well, but I had to dot the float down to get confident bites from the fantails & crucians, although 1 small carp pulled the pole down, whilst I briefly looked away. As the session progressed I got into the rhythm of feeding a pot of pellet, fishing the feed out, then feeding another pot. But instead of fishing straight over, I would spend 5/10mins fishing for the carp. I did manage 2 carp from the reeds, but ended up ignoring it because I was wasting too much time. I had been feeding the right hand margin and a caught a few carp, but still managed to find a few snags from sunken tree roots.

At the final weigh in I managed 38lb 5oz, including 19lb of silver which was my 2nd best weight from this lake. After the poor start I was pleased with the end result and the practice session proved to be very useful.

Lessons learnt – its always difficult to assess a session when pleasure fishing and the weather meant not many anglers turned up, but I was happy that I sussed the open water swim, however based on past experience I think I will still set up a light rig for the open water, just in case the fishing becomes hard. If I drew this peg again I would probably dismiss the reed beds and concentrate mote on the right hand margin for carp.

"Tools of my trade" or "Weapons of choice"

I have not been out fishing for a couple of days but I got to thinking maybe I should share with you the gear I use. Let's start from the early days of my saltwater fishing here in Fiji. My first set up was a Cabela's Salt Striker SS30. With 8lb braid and a 7ft grafite rod, it was an adequate set up that would be blown away by large GT's. Next I went to a Quantum Boca BSP30BTS spooled with 10lb braid. It was and is a good reel but just not up to the task. The big fish gave the little reel a work out and it just could not keep up. I also own a Quantum Cabo CSP60PTS spooled with 30lb P-Line Spectrex IV braid matched to a 7 1/2 ft graphite rod. I can not fault this reel as it has never let me down. It is just a bit big for everyday use, but it will knock over a nice size fish. Using braid it holds a lot of line and with plenty drag, I have taken out a wahoo and some big GT's.




















I finally made a trip to Australia for a vacation and decided it was time to get a new reel. This time the choice would be a Shimano Symetre 4000FI spooled with 15lb P-Line Spectrex IV braid and matched to a 7 ft graphite medium action spinning rod. Now this set up has been a really good work horse for me. I catch a lot of big fish and have put as much as 5kg of drag on the reel and it has never failed. I have had it for over a 18 months and use it exclusively in the saltwater without a problem. The beauty is I can catch smaller fish and it is still a good fight. I normally use about 2.5-3kg of drag and with that setting even a small Mangrove Jack can put up a good fight.

If I am going outside the reef to fish for the big ones then I have a Shimano Tiagra 30 2speed spooled with 30lb mono and matched to a Shimano T-Curve rod. What can I say this is a great rod and reel combonation. It feels great in your hands and works flawlessly. It costs a bloody fortune but it is worth it.

There are a few other bits and pieces I have come to swear by. The Lindy fish handling glove is a must if you do not want to get poked by spiney fish. I usually use a left one as I hold my rod with my right hand. I am not going to debate the left or right handed fishing technique now. I will also carry a right hand glove in the boat incase someone else gets a really big fish and I need two hands. The other must have is a good pair of stainless steel needle nose pliers for taking hooks out.

Well there it is, the basics of my fishing gear. In a future post I will show step by step how to service a spinning reel. Any questions post them in the comments.

Tight lines and screaming drags