30/05/11 - Lands End - Speci Lake

Weight – 24lb 6oz (19lb 14oz – silvers)
Catch – 51 Roach, 10 Skimmers, 3 F1s, 3 Perch, 1 Carp, 1 Rudd, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Persistent rain to start, cleared later
Match –Open – 4th in silvers

16 booked in for today (excluding Mr Rixon who was under orders!), which meant Match Lake and 1 side of Speci (25-32) were in. I found out later that this was the 5th match in as many days at Lands End.

With the rain and the forecast wind for later, I fancied a sheltered spot and duly pulled p25. Happy with that since the peg has been kind to me in the past – as soon as you say that sort of thing it’s usually the kiss of death.

With only 4 of us on Speci (Martin Pettifer on 28, Mike West on the flyer and current match record p31 and Jason Fern on 32) we had plenty of space. Unfortunately I had 3 pleasure anglers opposite on pegs 39 & 40, who were using the scatter gun approach to feeding.

Previously on this peg I have found a lot of silvers, but not too many carp. I decided to start looking for carp at 14.5m in open water on 8mm. There was no point trying to target the island, a) it was over 17m away and I don’t think my back could have taken it and b) the pleasure anglers were using small method feeders casting to the point (even from p40).

I also put some caster & 4mm pellet 13m down the left hand margin and ½ a pot of micros and 4mm at 11.5m at an angle towards P26 where it shallowed up.

1st bite on 8mm pellet resulted in a roach as did the next put in. Ok no carp, so I started feeding a pouch of 6mm’s to draw some carp in.

Down the left hand margin on double caster, I had a small roach and a switch to soft pellet had the same result. 30mins into the match and 5 roach in the net I wasn’t going anywhere fast and 13m was too far to come back with 2oz fish. I topped up the 11.5m swim, continued feeding the 14.5m line and started feeding 6mm down the left hand margin.

Since there was so many roach in the swim, if I was going to catch them, then I needed to come short, but I could only target 1 swim because I didn’t have enough casters to try different areas, so I concentrated on the small bush to my right, hoping for a chub. In the end I kept catching roach and was quite enjoying myself, but ultimately I wasn’t building enough weight.

My 11.5m swim produced skimmers, F1 and roach on soft pellet, feeding a toss pot of 4mms and by the half way stage I was doing OK. Mike West had to take a walk from his flyer, because he only had 1 fish and according to him Match Lake was also fishing hard. My best point of reference on how I was doing was keeping an eye on Martin Pettifer who is a decent silvers angler and thought we were about even on the silvers.

Another look at 14.5m on 8mm produced another skimmer and a big F1, before the roach moved in again. The left margin that I had kept topped up with 6mm, produced a single carp which I lost at the net, before the roach again moved in. Do you see a pattern here?

Unfortunately it’s about now that I blew the peg. I started to feed my 11.5m with more 4mm by catapult, when in hindsight I should have kept it tight with the toss pot and occasional cup. I could have caught roach all day down under the bush, but they were getting smaller.

The problem with feeding 4mms by catapult was it seemed to have pulled in more roach and the soft pellet was getting hammered. A switch to hard pellet helped, but the damage was already done.

Despite the result I had an enjoyable days fishing, just a shame I wasn’t a bit more patience, because I sure I would have beaten Martins 20-14 (which included a 1½lb chub down the edge) and got close to John Bradford’s 25lb. No one was going to get near Mike Nicholls 43-10 of skimmers – fair shout. To be honest I think the skimmers probably felt safe in a noted carp flyer and were taken by surprise! Lol

1st 75-9 Craig Edmonds – peg 15
2nd 69-10 Scott Puddy – peg 1
3rd 68-15 Dave Roper – peg 19
4th 59- 6 Mike Nicholls – peg 22
5th 59- 1 Phil Harding – peg 21
6th 52-14 Andy France – peg 3

Silvers
1st 43-10 Mike Nicholls – peg 22
2nd 25- 5 John Bradford – peg 13
3rd 20-14 Martin Pettifer – peg 28
4th 19-14 Ken Rayner – peg 25

Islay post 4 video special

Got a load of pics and vids together and put them on you tube so here it is if you want a look

Here is the link to youtube as the player not showing it fully on blog

http://youtu.be/jqrfRbgwgHI?hd=1





Nice one
Glen

Bass Fishing Vulcan Lake

I've been waiting for this quarry to open up for years! The neighbor and his boys beat me to it. Nice job guys, I'm jealous! I will be checking out the Three Oaks Recreation Area a little later this summer for sure...

BUCKET LIST ROOSTERS AND MORE...

What a week we have had!

East Cape fishing has been outstanding. Both in shore and off shore the bite has been full speed.

Doctors told David Wilson he doesn't have much time and he should perpare his bucket list. Catching a rooster fish was on that list. I was happy that we were able to help David cross that one off the list.

Fat boy hits the Jen Wren III deck

Dave Hellmers of Carlsbad California wanted to hunt tuna. He was rewarded with this dandy.

82 year old Russel Sauer has been coming to East Cape's Rancho Buena Vista for 45 years straight. This year, with 2 of his fishing buddies Dave and Denny, they stayed at Buena Vista Beach Resort.

For 3 days the boys had outstanding marlin fishing

Russel still gets just as excited about battling a striped marlin as he did 45 years ago

Denny is the new guy on the team. He has only been visiting the East Cape for 16 years.

Sighted our first spinner dolphin of the season. Oh boy! This is going to get good!

Jaccurate just arrived with some new Accurate gear to field test on the Jen Wren boats. Stay tuned.

Mark Rayor

www.thejenwren.com

www.vistaseasport.com

markrayor.blogspot.com

Few Small Wrasse on Softys!!

So another bank holiday weekend came along i was planning on doing quite a bit of fishing! I only actually managed 2x short sessions over the 3 days! Ben Kay had a small Wrasse on a Soft Plastic on Saturday:

I had a few also this one my biggest around the 3lb mark! :)

My brother was over from England, he has never caught a fish on rod & line before but he came with me for 1 hour! i showed his what to do managed a Wrasse myself. passed the rod over to him and after 10 mins he got one!! (only baby but he was well chuffed)

So that is about it for now ! going to put in a couple of Smooth hound sessions after work this week. il keep ya posted!! :)

Super Windy In Cabo Yesterday & Still the Fishing was Fab

Yesterday it was super windy in Cabo all day, both on the Pacific and Cortez side whitecaps could be seen for most of the day and I thought "poor anglers" - but what poor anglers, fishing was fantastic.....Dave Nolte and Meagan Weakle from Longtree, Colorado, were looking to share a boat and we managed to put them together with Mark and  his son Kadden, Smith from Dallas, TX. They ended up on the "Rebecca" and you could say that there expectations were exceeded, when they released SIX marlin, a 100 lb pilot shark, also released and an 18 lb dorado boated.

The happy anglers are shown below with a multitude of flags.

The sun's here and the winds gone!

I took the opportunity to get afloat with Jason on Tartan Spartan accompanying him and Gordon we set off early doors on Monday morning. We managed to eventually get enough Mackerel and I also fluked a solitary Herring. The targets were firstly the Smut's then the Bream, followed by a shot at Bass and all things being equal some Tope. I put out a two hook rig with some fresh crab and picked up a few doggies which were soon followed by a couple of decent smoothies and a smaller one about three pounds. Off to the Bream mark- no show but Jason got a small Huss- off to the Bass mark- no show. The weather was glorious so we set off to find some Tope with Jason eventually getting a good run on a live Whiting but the Tope then dropped the bait and disappeared. In total we had 9 species including a nice Tub Gurnard for me, stacks of whiting and Grey Gurnards, Dab's, Mack's and the usual Dog's

Simple Pleasures

FOUR SEASONS PER DAY

Well -- Three anyway

the sun appeared briefly

FISHERS AND BISON SHARE THE SAME MEADOWS

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.. As opening days go, it was fairly typical. It snowed some, it rained some, the sun peeked out some and fish were caught - some.
.. The faithful who worshiped at the holy waters were rewarded with blustery weather, crowded waters, wildlife, and a few bugs. Most who came sought the simple pleasures of whipping the water to a froth while waiting for some surface action.
.. It's a simple bit of fun. Get your new waders wet in the deep spots where you just kicked out the fish, then cast to a rising fish 50' away.

THE F3 SPEY FLY

.. The cool weather and the falling snow of the last few days have slowed the runoff to a fishable torrent and the water is clear enough to fish.
.. A few sneaky fishers with the wherewithal to find the big fish tucked under the banks used nymphs, streamers, wet flies, and other assorted fluff below the surface. We used a small Spey fly. Fish were caught by most fishers.

PMD Fun

.. Worshiping and genuflecting was persistent for the whole day. Brief sunny spells punctuated the blustery day while it rained and snowed more than anything else.
.. The PMD's showed up about 2:30 PM and the congregation was rewarded for their patience with the howling wind and blinding snow flurries.
.. Sunshine seemed to be the enemy. With it came the screaming kids, nosy visitors, news photographers, and the family dog, (or dogs,) it was like unto a party. The bison near Ojo Caliente, on the Firehole River drew crowds to watch the wildlife, (hominid and bovine alike.)

THE SUN BRINGS FORTH A PARTY ATMOSPHERE

.. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday with more and heavier snowfalls. The bugs appeared again, right after lunch, and drew the magnetized hoards to the water. The Firehole River was the main attraction on the west side of the park.
.. Some less-than-social fisher folk noticed that the bear closure signs had been removed from Nez Perce Creek: up they went. Reports of clear water and eager fish rolled down the Mary Mountain trail like ball bearings on a playground slide. There was more snow in the Nez Perce Valley but there seemed to be easier fishing and catching, (for those that care.) It's a pleasure reserved for those who will walk a little farther.

NEWSREEL PHOTOGRAPHER FORCED TO
CHOOSE BETWEEN BISON & FLY FISHER

.. Rumors of enormous fish, (about the size of oil drums,) have filtered to our ears from the small party of mud fishers that walked the bank of Duck Creek in it's last 1/2 mile before the impoundment and the park line. A fuzzy cell phone image went a long way toward convincing us that even heretics catch fish away from the holy water.
.. The discharge rates have already started to rise after the cool weather. Color will probably return to the holy water. Fishers will still traipse the banks and dogs and children will frolic along the shore. This brief pause in the high water phase is soon to end, (given the improbable veracity of the near term weather forecast.)
.. The Madison River drew few fishers and even fewer catchers. Those that knew where the water slowed and the banks were deeply undercut had a field day. The rest just wet their waders.
.. As always we'll keep you posted about the fishing and catching. The neighbors will be pissed, the feather merchants will be irked, the rangers will be peevish, (as usual,) & a good time will be had by all while Fly Fishing in Yellowstone National Park.

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Monday's Upload from the Archives

Islay post 3 'finlaggen'

Finlaggen at last!
After a mad travel and my previous competition on Loch Gorm it was wicked to get the chance to fish our loch right outside our mansion where we are staying..









Our view outside finlaggen house!!!

All the lads had now arrived and that compied of Terry( USA) Mark ( Australia) James (Nottingham uk) Kev (Burnely UK) Herman (South African) Katey (Glasgow uk) Snapey ( Stoke UK)

Left to right
Islay May 2011
Mark...Glen...woody...Terry...James...Kev

There was a good mix of nationality so good crack was to be expected.
We all had breakfast and had a quick chat on our methods and tactics to help on catching our first wild loch troot..
There was varied experience between the lads and Mark and Kev being very new to fishing so I was hoping to see them catch there first ever wild loch trout..

I had fished it 2 years ago so knew enough to catch fish but all my methods tend to be matching the hatch and dry fly but I told the lads this and told them they might get more fish with a tradition wet fly method...
The lads were happy to use mine and woody drys but we would switch to wets if fishing was hard going..
We all walked to the righthand bay of the loch armed with a single ltd sedge with a bright orange egg sack added for a extra trigger.. Something I have taken from Jt's sedge he uses..

The weather was superb, overcast with a slight ripple and I knew we were going to be in for some action...

Mark to my right had never really fished properly and was still at the stage of learning knots so as I looked around to see see his rod smacked over I was buzzing for him, his face was a picture as he went back to the bank side to give the fish a quick knock with the priest to add to tonight's food..
I went over and gave him a high five as I know how he would of been feeing..
Not bad for a Aussie faggot!!!








Mark the Aussie fag, showing what he was going to do to me in the evening rise!!!

The day went superb with all the lads catching fish to the dry, I was using three drys and most of the time my ltd was being hit so I opted for all three in different sizes..
The hits from these trout is so addictive, they either boil under the surface of head and tail your fly.. Striking home quick is the key and any delay will see you miss the take so you need to be right on the ball...
The fight from these wee trout is something else, for there size they hammer you around like no other I know..
All the Lads caught which was a huge success and Woody suggested a curry in town was on the cards..
The lads went off but I could not leave the water as I knew what the evening would bring..
A magic carpet of rising fish in the holy witching hour!!!
I had the whole of Finnlaggen to myself and as the light turned I took 26 fish in action like I have never experienced..
Well it was a long but lovely walk back to the house with a handful of trout in my bag for tea.. I met up with Herman and his mrs there who then cooked me the most amazing fish supper I ever tasted, I was tired and hungry and it was a perfect ending to a great days fishing, all topped down with a wee dram!!
The lads came back from the curry and we all got smashed while I got on the vice to knock ltd sedges out for the lads on the next day..
Winner







Nice one
Glen

SAKURA Shinjin 862 LR-MH

After months of research I think I've found my rod for heavier work in the 2011 season. 

My SAKURA Shinjin 862 LR-MH (Which translates to 8' 6" Long Range - Medium Heavy) arrived today from Absolute Fishing. One phone call to Cian and the rod was delivered within 24hrs for €150 including p&p which has to be excellent value and great service. I've yet to test the rod as we are in the closed season (Not long now till 15th June) but on first impressions it exceeds my expectations for the money. It has to be said this is not a high end rod but having looked at many which didn't have the elements I was looking for I think this rod will suit my needs perfectly. I was concerned that Sakura don't quote a weight for the rod but on first picking up the rod in its bag I knew it wasn't an issue, not sure what it weighs but its as close to anything else I've handled recently. Putting the rod together I see the latest Fuji "K" Series rings and even the orange that looked a bit garish in the brochure is in fact more of a burnt brown and quite pleasant to look at. The handle is exactly the same as my Yamaga Blanks Ballistick 85/16, a Fuji up screw design which builds the grip around the reel and gives a very comfy handle. I think this rod will be just the job for job for blasting out the bigger lures and handling (Hopefully) bigger fish in challenging situations!

Great Fishing This Memorial Day Weekend - Why Aren't You Here?

Cabo is a bit quiet this week-end which is a shame as the fishing is outstanding, the weather beautiful and the town and beaches uncrowded.
Today we saw some excellent fishing, such as that enjoyed by Neil Nelson & Dean Hilde fishing with their sons, from Bosie Idaho. They were out on "C Rod" with Captain Abel, who was sure to make the kids feel welcome, but then all of our captains are great with kids and get a kick out of introducing them to big game fishing.  They ended up with two striped marlin released estimated at 120 and 140 lbs and  a 100 lb pilot shark released. Again the pictures tell a better story of their experience than words can....they sure look like happy campers.

It won't be long before this cute little guy will be able to handle  a marlin all on his own.

Another boat that did well was "Rebecca" with SIX STRIPED MARLIN released today with weights ranging from 110 to 170 lbs all caught on live caballito at the 11.50 spot - the busy anglers were almost an all girl team from  Houston Texas, Crystal and Jade Porter, Lauren, Helena & David Thomas, who they may have brought along as a bodyguard....we can't work out why there were so many guys around when these pics was taken......



Dorado Now Showing Up in Fair Numbers

It was nice to see some dorado showing up, giving anglers something to bring aboard and take home, or to have cooked locally. Not only many boats catching doardo but pretty much all are also releasing striped marlin. Art Whittlesey from Washington state, took his daughters fishing aboard "Ruthless" and had a fabulous time releasing two striped marlin and boating two dorado; one caught by Kendell Whittlesey from Bellvue.  The fish were caught at the 11.50 spot on live bait. The larger dorado was close to 45 lbs.

Jack Rosenblum from New York fishing with friends and family had a fun time on "Yahoo", releasing one striped marlin and boating four nice dorado, seven miles from Cerro Colorado....enjoy the pics below.

Art Whittlesy with his daughters had a great day.

Yahoo did well for Zack Rosenblum from New York, they released one marlin and boated four dorado.

Captain Ricardo Escamilla of Yahoo shows off the largest of four dorado caught aboard his boat.

Art Whittlesy from Washington State with a nice 45 lb dorado caught on Ruthless

Well Known British Actor Robson Green Does Cabo

Robson Green is a household name in the U.K but not quite as well known in the U.S. Robson became a household name during his four year spell as Fusilier Dave Tucker in Soldier, Soldier. A performance of Unchained Melody in an episode of the drama launched him and co-star Jerome Flynn onto a short, but successful, pop career - this one song was at number one in the British charts for seven weeks. His recent TV credits have included Trust, Grafters, Reckless and Rocket Man. Most of our U.S clients will not have heard of any of these programs but a lot when asked, said they  had heard of his fishing show Extreme Fishing, which airs on cable in the U.S.A and Mexico. This week we had the privledge of taking Robson fishing and hooking him up with his first striped marlin, one of four caught aboard "Tracy Ann" on May 25th. Cabo came through as always - deserving it's name of Marlin Captial of the World. We found Robson and his whole crew to be charming, down to earth and fun. They came over to Captain Tony's next to the Pisces office the night after fishing for some delicious fresh tuna prepared many different ways. They had a LOT of fun as the photo below attests to.




The Extreme Fishing Crew, Robson Green the presenter is the one holding the fake dorado, second row, third from the right, Pisces founder Marco Ehrenberg, our very own dockmaster Mario Bañaga second row, first on left.

Great News, Fishing Picks Up!

Cabolero had a fantastic day fishing on May 25th fishing at the 95 spot in the Sea of Cortez releasing four striped marlin for anglers G. Clatworthy & Alan Brooks from Perth, Australia fishing with friends Pipa Cummins & Robert Wiltenoon from Cabo San Lucas.

High water fun!

Today I fished with Larry and Peter from Louisiana, it was my first time to fish with the boys and they did great. we decided at the ramp we only wanted to pull meat today so we didn't even touch a nymph rig. The boys had never used streamer techniques like I use and adapted quick. Our Morning was stellar, good high clean water and major clouds. We landed several nice 17 inch fish and even a this nice lunker!

Bo and Bill

Tuesday and Wednesday I fished with Bo and Bill Welden of Alabama. It was my first time to fish with the boys and we had a great time. We took some nice fish on streamers as well as some good ones nymphing. The Corps has been bouncing our water around alot and it makes for a challenge but the boys dug their heels in and did great. We covered alot of the river and had alot of fun!

26/05/11 - Rood Ashton

Weight – 11lb 2oz
Catch – 3 Carp
Weather – Strong NW wind. Sunny period but cool
Match – Wiltshire Angling Evening Open

Heavy winds and showers preceded this evening’s match and it felt cold.

14 booked in, which meant there was only 1 bad peg, since those along the top bank weren’t included. Unfortunately, I drew the noted cesspit, known as the pipe swim. You are set back in a small bay about 6m behind everyone else and its really shallow close in. With the wind blowing straight into my bank and only 10lb coming from the peg last week, a difficult evening was likely.

The wind was too strong to fish 13m in front, so I focused on the left hand margin at 8m and a clump of reeds to my right at 11.5m. Both swims were at the edge of the bay as it started to deepen off. When I arrived there were a few fish showing about 30m out, so I also set a pellet waggler.

On the all in I started on the pellet waggler hoping to pick up an early fish, whilst I put 2 pouches of 6mms into both margin swims. Without any bites on the waggler I soon switched to the pole, but it was 45mins before I had my 1st fish. I had another 2 over the next hour, but that was my lot.

With an hour to go I dumped nearly 2pts of pellet into my left hand margin, but never had a bite from there again.

The wind was a real pain in the arse and I would have quite happily fished the method today, but being a float only match it wasn’t an option and the wind was too strong for a conventional waggler, so I was hoping for a few fish on the pellet waggler, but it never happened, I even tried bread without success.

I didn’t hang around for the final results, but 49lb won my section from the top left hand corner, which was sheltered from the worse of the wind. The angler to my left only had 1 carp, whilst 19lb came from the peg to my right.

Focusing on the Smoothhounds for a couple weeks

So i have had 2 sessions so far this year for the smoothhounds. None have came to my rod as of yet! (but lets hope they do soon)

Yesterday i had a good run took line of my reel i thought ohh maybe a smoothy struck into it to find it was only a Wrasse:

Here is Leigh with a Common Smoothhound he had last night down Rozel Pier ;) ! :

 Few quick pictures then released :

Soon after i was having a bite ! not a smoothhound but my first Conger of the year (only a baby ) but still aa sign that they are there to be caught ! :

Well weekend is here! So keep Checking my blog out to see what me & friends get :) !!

The Throngs Of Spring

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.  

~Henry David Thoreau

Midnight Snow: May 26 - 27, 2011

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.. They've been arriving on schedule: just like the swallows at Capistrano. It's an annual migration: from the cluttered lowlands of our nation to the idyllic meadows of Yellowstone.
.. Last night while they slept in their cozy motel beds Mom spewed forth a greeting of white stuff for their edification. The kind of greeting that is but a foretaste of tomorrow's opening day in Yellowstone National Park.

Just Like Christmas

.. For the moment, at least, there is no place in our little village that received more than two feet of snow. The famous rivers of the west side of the park are cool, and their meadows can all be traversed without having to trudge through more than knee deep snow.
.. This migration is a ritual that has little to do with fish and much to do with the space between the visitor's ears.
.. Spring, (such as it is this year,) has arrived in Yellowstone. The indicators are present in abundance:
1,] it says so on the calendar,
2.] the Firehole River came within 1 cfs of setting an all-time discharge record last Tuesday, (it's back down to a gentle 100 cfs above seasonal average,)
3,] the Gibbon River broke it's discharge record for the last four days by over 400 cfs, and the trend continues,
4,] the Madison River has been running at between 500 and 700 cfs above the seasonal average for the last week, and is continuing to pump chocolate sludge into Hebgen Reservoir.
5,] feather merchants are dancing with glee at the in-migration of the faithful,
6,] pub proprietors have finally found an outlet for their weirdly named and highly over rated local beers,
7,] park rangers have a fresh supply of ball point pens and stacks of newly printed citation forms for the visitors that have not read this year's new regulations - or are ignoring them - or have parked poorly in their haste to not catch fish.

Full Dress Feather Duster

.. This year opening day will, again, not be about the fish. It's about the ritual, the mentality, the commitment to fish the holy water and conditions be damned!
.. This year it's about slogging around frozen meadows and hanging out in the snow doing senseless things that the wife will not let the old codgers do at home.
.. We'll take our favorite flies, (guaranteed not to catch fish in the current conditions,) and tie them on with our frozen fingers. We'll have a net with holes bigger than any anticipated fish. We will even take a camera to record beautiful scenery because we know that there will be no fish to pose for a portrait.
.. We'll be there tomorrow to participate in the snowstorm, the soggy cigars, and the amber liquids. We've been invited to traipse through the tundra with our neighborhood mud-fishers. It will be a day to remember.
.. Damn the conditions - full haul ahead!

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Your Fee Dollars At Work

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