Loch Etive

First trip out today since November. Myself and Scott made the trip north to Loch Etive for the first club match of 2010. The weather was better than expected with sunshine and for the most a light but cold wind from the north. We had around 90 Spurdog…all small fish with the best going 3 pounds 8oz, trebles and doubles at times with a few whiting mixed in. You can see Scott here with the typical fish for the day, a small male. Some of the guys found some doubles and there were a handful of fish to just over 11 pounds. No decent fish for us I’m afraid but it was good to get out.

Ice Fishing at Peterson Pond Paradise

There is just something about Saturday's ice fishing trip that will forever be etched into my memory. The fact that I have all these pics documented in my fishing blog archives definitely will help my memory replay this picture perfect day, but even without the fishing blog I would still remember this ice fishing trip. It was just too much fun and too beautiful of a place.

Peterson pond is situated at the very top of the most scenic valley in Central Illinois.  It is relatively small in size at about 1/3 of an acre, but it packs some serious punch in terms of the size of its fish population! 

The wind was calm, the sun was shining, and it was 26 degrees outside- perfect weather for a group ice fishing outing! We got everything set up at 10:45 am and spent the next 5 hours catching fish, drilling holes, setting tip-ups, scooting across the ice, pulling in fish, building fires, burning cattails, drinking beverages, catching some more fish, filming some "staged" fishing videos, eating chili, popping popcorn, reeling in fish, taking pictures, telling jokes, staging pictures, pulling in a few more fish, then cleaning all the fish, then just for grins once everything was all packed up we had yet another new angler come on down and had to get a rod back out to catch just a few more fish! Altogether 17 people caught fish today!!! 

At one point while cleaning the fish out on the ice and being drilled by questions of all sorts from the peanut gallery I had to just say "you folks are way more entertaining than any TV show" Fortunately we did get some footage so here you go, the TV show: (insert youtube video here once edwin gets er finished)

Once we got everything cleaned up, A few more friends showed up and Edwin and Co cooked up a feast consisting of marinated bluegill chips, poor mans lobster, grilled barbecue trout, chocolate chili, turkey chili, spicy chili, and a huge spread of cheeses and crackers. I have a feeling that this was just the very beginning of one of the very best annual ice fishing get togethers in central Illinois. The only thing its lacking for next year is a catchy name.

Get the Fererro out!! Lord Rocher batters Milldale with 24 Ladies including 2 slabs!!

So hear is goes....

I had got the full day sorted to go and fish where i wanted, my first thoughts were to go further afield and fish some new rivers, but looking around the river level through Wales ect it was a no go... I am bored of fishing for the same fish at Dovedale and Ellastone in the same runs and probably catching the same fish! I had spoken to Kev Harrision on fishing the Dee or the Severn as he has had much joy there this year but conditions were no good so i opted to stay local... I thought all night of a new approach to revive my appetite, i decided to go to Milldale as its somewhere i have never really given a proper go probably because my short sessions here and there in the week make a extra half hour driving..

Today i had all day so i stayed up late last night and tyed lots of different nymphs in lots of 4...

My approach was to go and fish with a short rod using the deadly duo tactic...

I arrived at Milldale around half eight in the morning, a lovely place to be with not a soul around, the ground was frozen and the river looked 6 inches up with the milky colour.. perfect really...

I tacked up and made my way down the 59s stretch which looks sweet, somewhere i would like to fish...

I started with the duo and got pissed off with it after my first cast, Woody is becoming a master with it and he loves it but i feel it awkard using it and it does not feel right to me, my dry kept sinking and after only a handful of casts i ripped it off!! I needed to go back to the van for my 10ft streamflex to get on the czech but i thought i shall give it a go with my 7ft hardy demon!!

I knew this would be well to short but the river had colour and i could wade anywhere so getting presenting the fly would be no prob... i also opted for a two fly set up on a short line.. basically i was czech nymphing but a tuned down version... how right i was to choose this setup for me!!

I got straight into a 4oz Grayling which lifted my confidence from low to buzzin, i thought at least i have not blanked again and was happy to take that for the day as Dovedale can be very hard indeed...

My plan today was to fish hardcore and only take a short break, i was going to move fast around each likely swim and fish n move, fish n move until i found the odd fish...

It was not long until i took a tiny fingerling which was very welcome....
I was fishing holes, necks, creases, everything that looked to hold fish, i come across a small pool that is never fished as i had to crawl under branches to get in, the 7ft was getting me places i would have never done with the 10ft, at the back of the run i run the flys through sweet, a slight twitch and bump! a silver flash, i was in to a half pounder which fought its head off...

I could not believe it when i caught again in the same run, then another ect, one just over a pound,,,i took 5 fish out of the same run in some frantic 10 min action... i hear that the Dovedale fish *+do not shoal up in together and this comes from very good seasoned anglers but these were so tight you would not get a take 5 ft either way of the run!!
I walked down to Doveholes and walked into the cave buzzin with my fishing already, it was still early and i was satisfied already, i sat in the cave and lit the Kelly... while chilling out i was joined by Kev Harrison and his wife, they were out walkin the dog, we had a good natter and it was nice to see him as he was my very first guide who taught me loads when i switched to the fly from river Barbeling..
Kev told me some of his own favorite runs and went on his way... as he walked around the corner i hooked into a slab with my first cast, the line just stopped dead and i struck hard...the fish started to spin the drag down streamas its huge dorsel was doing its job, i shouted kev but he had gone, shame really as he had just pointed to the run where i hooked it, i soon got the net under a mint condition Grayling weighing 1 lb 14 oz!!!

I knew that the fish were on it so it was time to fish extra hard and get what i could as these days are few and far, i took another 3 fish out of the same run, all around the pound mark. they were shoaling up tight for sure!!

I walked further down fishing more likely runs, it was quite strange as runs that looked amazing were devoid of fish and i would not catch for a good hour until i found a fish i would take 5 or six out of the pack..I was greedy and was looking for more and more as most anglers do, i saw another lad who passed me on the way past the boards who i have never seen and he said he had struggled and was on a blank, when i told him i was on 14 fish he must of thought i was a right bullshitter, he had come from ddale end and i know it can be very hard there, only Woody doing well recently on his gay duo!!!

I was coming out the river to hear. 'is that the Lord Rocher' it was Roger Bryant who i have not seen for ages so it was good to catch up and have the crack, Roger is a great lad andone of the boys, always buzzin and a proper angler who loves the game like me.

He had taken a few fish though DDale and lost one so all was good, we walked up together and fished likely runs.... I was standing with Roger and i drifted my flys through a run and started to take a pod of Ladies again, the fourth fish was another male slab of 1lb 14oz again, Roger then realized the fun i had been having all day, the fish looked to be well over two pounds and was very fat..

Roger did some pics and we set off on separate ways with a Usk trip booked in between us...

On the way back up the light was starting to go, i had a flick at the pools i had caught earlier in the day, they all produced fish again, i did not want the fishing to end but i had been luckily today so wondered back up to Milldale village with a huge gin on my face dreaming of what had happened throughout the day....The two clunkers, and endless takes....

Well why did i catch so many fish today?

1. John Tyzack guiding me until i was doing it proper

2. The fish were tightly packed and through very hard work i found them..

3. The river was up slightly and coloured (i could get right in close to them with a very short line and see every take)

4. Moving all around the pools quickly

5. The fish were 'on it'

6. Months of practising Czech nymphing

7. Plenty of yanking on Red Tube

8. The point fly weighted perfect and changed for diff runs..

9. Jammy twat

I took 24 Grayling and 4 out of season trout, all bare one fell to the point fly which was a JT flashback, a fly that i now tie myself.. i would show the fly but i feel i would be taking business from JT who does the game for a living so contact him and i am sure he would look after you...

This goes down as one of my most memorable sessions and will probably not happen for a long time if ever as the Dove can be so cruel.

Nice one

Glen

Scuds and jigs are on the panfish menu

As you probably have guessed, I like tying flies. I don't spend all of my free time tying, but I do sit down every once and a while a tie.
Since I'm in a freshwater mood, I decided to tie some stuff that might appeal to bluegill and other panfish. I tied jigs on 1/124-ounce heads and a couple of difference colors of scuds. I think both will work just fine. Scuds imitate the tiny freshwater shrimp that live in Florida lakes and streams.

The jig is simple to tie. The design is by a friend of mine, Capt. Pete Greenan of the Gypsy Guide Service in Sarasota.

Capt. Pete's Simple One

Hook: 1/124-ounce jig head
Thread: Fine mono
Tail: Chartreuse marabou
Body: Micro Ice Chenille (pearl)

The scuds aren't too difficult, either.

Gibby's Bluegill Scud

Hook: No. 14 scud hook
Thread: 6/30
Body: Dubbed rabbit
Shellback: Scud back
Ribbing: Fine wire

Can't wait to try them out!

Fishing improves as the weather finally warms

The weather is warming and the fishing is improving.
After some unusually cold weather, I finally was able to get out. I did well.
Spotted seatrout and redfish are the main targets. Remember, snook season is closed at least until Sept. 1. Scientists estimate that nearly 10 percent of the snook along Florida's west coast were killed during the record cold. You can catch-and-release snook, but you cannot keep them.
That's OK! We're catch-and-release anyway.
I'm not sure how beach snook fishing will be affected. Last spring and summer, we had a wonderful time sight-fishing snook in the surf. It was a record year for us. I caught snook to 39 inches (nearly 20 pounds) and had a number of fish of more than 28 inches. In addition, I caught spotted seatrout, ladyfish, jack crevalle, mangrove snapper and flounder.
My best day was spectacular and certainly "once in a lifetime." On that August outing, I caught and released 15 snook to 39 inches, including six of more than 28. I landed three redfish to 32 inches. And I "jumped" three tarpon, all of which went more than 100 pounds.
My best morning was 41 snook on fly.
Beach snook fishing is all sight-fishing. We don't make a cast until we see the fish. I've been doing this for more than 20 years and I know where the fish are at any particular time. We use 6- to 9-weight rods, floating or sinktip lines and 20-pound leaders with 25-pound fluorocarbon shock tippets.
Our fly of choice is my D.T. Special (variation), the best beach snook fly I've ever used.
Back to the present ...
I've been getting into some large spotted seatrout. On an outing to Palma Sola Bay, I caught and released 25 trout to 6 pounds. I had many trout in the 18-inch range.
I fished Al Ewert and his daughter, Annie. Al manages a BMW store in Connecticut while Annie is a senior at UConn. Both are accomplished anglers.
They caught about 15 trout to 4 pounds in Sarasota Bay off Stephens Point. All fish came on D.O.A. CAL Jigs with shad tails. Fishing was tough, but their persistency was the difference in trying conditions.
On Wed., Jan. 27, I spoked at Economy Tackle/Dolphin Dive in Sarasota. To my surprise, a standing-room-only crowd showed up. And the audience was enthusiastic, attentive and asked a lot of question. I talked about cold weather kayak fishing.
I am scheduled to conduct seminars and tie flies Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 at the Grand Opening of Flint Creek Outfitters in Riverview.
I will serve as the Master of Ceremonies at the Lakewood Ranch Anglers Club's annaul Kids Fishing Tournament on Feb. 27.
On March 18, I will speak at the Suncoast Fly Fishers in St. Petersburg.
Fishing is improving. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the sun shines and the wind is calm.

A New Mark

Yesterday I took a good client of mine, Mason McWilliams, streamer fishing. Mason is a great nymph fisherman and just wanted to learn some new techniques. We knew with the water as high as it was, we would have some challenges in front of us. It was cold and only got colder as the day went on. It didn't take Mason long to get the hang of the meat stick. We fished every pattern in the box. We got a few flashes, a few tugs, and that was about it for a while. Mason had never caught a brown over 16 inches, so that was our goal for the day. At about 10 am, he jacked the rod up and I saw a nice hen. Mason had hit his goal, she was 17 inches! We worked real hard for just a few fish, but we had a good time and Mason got to learn a new trick or two.

Trolling and all it's cracked up to be.

As usual the weather plays a big part in our fishing lives and this trip is no different. The day before it was sunny and dead calm, albeit a bit hot but calm none the less. Of course I could not get out on that lovely day. So when we finally get out the weather changes and not really for the better.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

The decision was made to do a bit of trolling to get some food fish. Now I must be clear here, I hate trolling, unless of course the bite is red hot, which happens about never for me.

So a trolling we go. A nice spread of lures out the back and a steady burn of fuel.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

Time to settle in for the long haul.

Of course when you troll with friends you have the chance to break up the monotony with goofy antics and lots of laughs.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

During one of our laugh sessions the short corner goes off and we are suddenly thrust into fishing mode. As Nick grabs the rod and sets the hook we quickly realize he is onto something we all dread to catch, Garbage!!!!

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

And Thai garbage at that. At least it broke up the morning.

After what seems like forever we finally we find the birds.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

And when you find the birds many times you will find the fish. This time that is exactly what happened.

First up was Cordula and her first Mahi Mahi and probably her first fish bigger than a trout.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Kordula

Then it was Joe's turn and he also landed a nice Mahi Mahi.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

Now it is Becky's turn and of course with her outfit she had to land something different, so it's a Wahoo for her.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

Next up it is Nicks turn and he is very fired up for a nice Yellowfin. Not long after we get the spread set again the long corner goes off and Nick skull drags a small Rainbow Runner to the boat. Not quite the 50kg Yellowfin but a beauty of a fish and nice eating.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

It is afternoon by now and we have all had enough trolling so we decide to head in to the reefs for a popping session.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

Nick lands the first one on popper and it is a nice Red Bass.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

Followed by four more of them. A few of them were quite big and gave head shakes like a GT.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

Rosie decides she has to get into the action and fires off a few casts. As is usual with her she is soon onto a nice GT and this fellow has some serious attitude. It runs her around the boat and gives a good accounting of itself. Even when boat side it is still putting up a fight. When it is brought onboard it gnashes it's teeth at us. Easy there fella your going back in.

From Fishing with Nick, Becky Joe, Cordula

As you can tell in the photos, the weather came around and we had a good day out. Not to mention we put some fish in the freezer.

Tight lines

24/01/10 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 5lb 7oz
Catch – 23 Roach, 4 Skimmers
Weather – Frosty & foggy. Later bright & breezy.
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Winter League - 36th overall, 4th section.

Another cold start and scrapping ice off the car windscreen, but fortunately the lakes only had a bit of cat ice

After 2 cancelled rounds due to the weather it was good to get the series started again and I was looking forward to getting good points. Ideally I wanted to avoid drawing the bottom end of match lake, which has been fishing terrible, so peg 22 wasn't great. The usual suspects described it as a flyer, but looking at past results showed it hasn't produced much recently, in fact reviewing last years winter league it was the worse performing peg on the lake. Dale did manage nearly 11lb of skimmers yesterday from peg 23, so felt I could at least target these and just hope a carp turns up.

After an hour the writing was on the wall. Adrian on 24 and Mark on peg 1 hadn't a bite. All I could muster was a few small roach, whilst Tom on peg 21, Mike on 19 and Dale on 18 had all caught carp or decent silvers.

I managed 2 skimmers on pellet, but I had to go as a far as I dare towards Toms peg. I caught very little to my right over my pellet swim and only small roach came from my caster swim. I could have stuck with the roach, but I needed another 10lb, simply to gain another point, so I spent more time on pellet, hoping for a skimmer or a carp without any luck. As the wind picked up I changed to heavier 4x18 float, but this didn't improve matters.

With 2 hours to go I had to try something different, so started flicking 4mm pellet to my left to try and draw some carp from Toms swim, but that didn't work either.

Very disappointed with the result, but I genuinely don't know how I could have done better. Adrian finished the match not getting a bite, whilst Mark only caught in the last hour. This end of the lake simply seems to be devoid of fish. I'm not sure whether the bright conditions put the skimmers off feeding properly, but Dale on 18 had the best silvers weight with 10-13, made up of mostly F1's and only 1 skimmer. Yesterday the reverse was true.

The only good thing to come out of today was a section pick up after a triple default! Tom won our lake with 30-11, whilst Mike was 2nd with 29-1. Sydney's was the lake to be though with 4 out of the top 6 coming from there, whilst Vince Shipp won the match from peg 62 on Johns lake. The next round is in 3 weeks and hopefully the worse of the weather will be behind us.

As a footnote, a couple of you have commented that my blog is always late. Suffering from dyslexia means I need to take care when blogging, otherwise the grammar will be worse than Tony's - lol

23/01/10 - Lands End - Match Lake

Weight – 26lb 10oz (11lb 2oz - silvers)
Catch – 7 Skimmers, 7 Roach, 4 Carp, 1 Tench, 1 F1, 1 Perch
Weather – Frosty start. Mostly cloudy & still
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Open - 2nd overall (1st silvers)

It made a pleasant change to go fishing and not de-frost the car. However, when I left Bristol the car temperature read 4c, but my the time I got to Lands End it was 0c and there was cat ice across the whole of peg 1 – typical a week of reasonably mild weather and come the weekend more ice. At least the water temperature had increased.

I found myself on 15, where Tony won the Wednesday open with 31lb, so at least there were a few fish around and hopefully I would get a few bites. I intended to make use of the spare pegs either side, feeding caster at the top & bottom of the shelf straight in front and micro pellet @ 14m at 2o'clock.

Started on corn, searching the swim for signs of life and got a couple of slight liners to my left at the bottom of the shelf. 10 mins later a 4-5lb carp was safely netted, but except for a couple more liners, no more fish. So decided to feed a few casters, just enough to keep any carp interested.

The top of the shelf only produced a few small roach and was soon given up as a bad job. So after nearly an hour it was time to try the pellet swim and soon caught a couple of skimmers on 4mm pellet as well as pulling out of a decent one. As the match progressed the pellet line became the best area of the swim and a couple of carp also put in an appearance, but that just upset the skimmers and I couldn't catch another.

The caster swim only produced a few small roach and a big perch, whilst another carp and a golden tench came from the LH swim on corn.

The last hour was very quiet, despite trying other areas of the peg. Talking to Tony on Friday, he said he couldn't get a bite on pellet, yet I caught most of mine on pellet or corn. Perhaps the heavy rain on Thursday had an effect.

Mike won the match from 19, with 27-12 (6 carp & 3lb of silvers), although I could have won hadnt I pulled out of a decent skimmer or landed a carp that I lost at the net after my elastic snagged on the branches above me. 3rd was Dale with 10-14 of skimmers from peg 23 and he collected the silverfish prize by default.

It was nice to catch a few, but I cant wait for the weather to start improving because for most it was a struggle today.

I had to just check the ice

Sitting at church and talking to my dad and older brother and all of a sudden we had each other convinced we still probably had some safe ice after all this warm weather and rain. Before I knew it, the three of us were headed out the door early going to 'check' the ice. On our way out I happened to bump into Dave, one of our ministers who was to give the second service, is a good friend and also an avid fisherman. The conversation that took place with Dave I definitely learned my lesson from.

As he was talking to someone else, I sort of distracted him with a few ice fishing hole drilling hand motions. Then a few more come on over lets get going and various other reeling in a fish hand motions. Then I tried convincing him into sneaking out the back door and such. Basically just taunting and teasing and messing up his train of thought for the next few minutes, then it was out the door and head for home to grab some gear quick.

So after I took a turn messing with a man of God for a few minutes, God decided to have a little fun of his own with me for a few minutes! As soon as I got in the door, I felt a little rumble in my stomach and quickly realized that I was going to need a little detour. You know, it has to be hilarious watching someone run frantically to the jon! Not only once, but 3 times. I knew Chad and Dad were already waiting at rendezvous point, and here I am 15 minutes later and still cant confidently get more than a few steps away from home base!!! Once I figured out what in the world was going on, realizied what I had done, chuckled for a minute or so, looked toward the sky and said good one, I was finally able to get rolling.

We got to the lake about 1:30 and were pumped up to still have 4-6 inches of ice! The lake came up about a foot, so the edges were open and very soft, but we managed to get out on the good stuff. I wouldnt recommend ice fishing after 2 days of solid rain, but this particular lake has very little runoff whatsoever so the water remained very clean and clear. We could find the fish, but they sure were not biting well at all.

We still had a blast and managed to catch a few trout, crappie, and a handful of boone and crocket bluegill! We really had to work for the few fish we caught. We found schools of fish, but could only get about one out of twenty fish to actually nibble.

I also tried taking some photographs of myself holding a few fish. Since it was only us three out there today, I actually fished real hard. Also my fishing partners will barely hold still for 2 seconds to grab a photo, let alone actually snap a photo:

White River Streamers

Last Week Jamie and I decided to jump up to the White to Fish for an afternoon and spend the night and then fish the following morning. When we showed up, they had about 7 units running. We both caught some nice fish! We caught a ton of willing rainbows and some nice browns. At dusk, Jamie put the hurt on me and busted into several nice toads. The next morning, water conditions were perfect. Three units of water. We jumped a little higher up river and started pounding them. We both caught lots of fish and missed lots of fish. It was a great diversion from the full two units running around the clock here on the Little Red. This is the picture taken right before dark of the nicest fish caught!