Weight – 10lb 3oz (3lb 3oz silvers)
Catch – 2 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch
Weather – Rain, rain, rain and a cold NE gale!
Water Temp – 13.0c – 13.0c
Match – Pole Only Series – rd4 – 15thout of 25 (8th in section)
If it wasn’t for the fact that this was a league match, I won’t have bothered going and 5 no shows agreed. High winds and heavy rain meant some roads were partially flooded and branches of varying sizes littered the road.
No one wanted Paddock Lake today, because with very little cover it really was exposed to the elements. In fact of those that drew the lake, only 3 stayed to the bitter end.
It was back to random draw today and I certainly found myself in the section of doom. It was like a Thyers convention, with the majority of the league leaders present, so a big opportunity if you did well.
I drew a sheltered peg half way down the right hand side of the island and when I saw my peg I thought great, at least I can fish, with a large group of trees/bushes providing quite a bit of shelter, although the wind was still too strong to put up an umbrella. I did try, but after 5mins took it down again in case I did a Mary Poppins. The conditions were truly appalling. I wasn’t expecting to fish a winter league match at the end of April.
Looking at my peg, I was set back from the peg to my right, with the trees/bushes providing enough shelter for me to fish 10m to my right. I could also fish under the nearside branches, where I hoped to catch a few carp later, although I was concerned whether the fish would really want to come into the shallower water. To my left was a nice long margin, but due to the wind initially I could only fished at 5m.
After 3hrs fishing I was blanking, I had fed a short line with caster, hoping for some roach, but never had a bite and gave up feeding after 2hrs. The only line that was showing any signs of life was my right hand 10m line, where I had lost a little fish as I was shipping back, as well as what felt like a skimmer. Initially started on a 0.4g HB chump, but due to the tow switched it to a 0.75g polar ice. On this line I had started feeding micros and 4s, but when it became obvious there wasn’t any carp about so I switched to cupping in caster looking for anything.
My right margin was fed with caster, whilst the left margin was fed with meat, which I thought would be my banker for late on. However I was trying my margins a lot sooner than anticipated and eventually managed a carp from the right margin on meat, then had another carp on maggot from the 10m line, before the action stopped again.
Going into the final hour, by persisting with cupping in caster I managed 2 skimmers and a perch, but lost a big skimmer at the net. With the wind easing, I was able to go longer down my margin only to pull out of a decent carp. It’s fair to say I was annoyed at myself, because I probably lost 7-9lb, which would have catapulted me up what was a very tight section.
With 2hrs to go I also set up a new swim 8m at an angle to my left feeding caster & meat, but never had a bite.
A very frustrating, wet and miserable day. For whatever reason I couldn’t pull in any volume of fish. On reflection I may have forced the peg a little too much, but with no fish after 3hrs felt I had no choice. Also being set back the fish had plenty of room to back away from me and they weren’t really in a feeding mood.
The only consolidation was my 3-3 of silvers picked up the silvers by default.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Latest Fish Report
Overall Catch Success Rate for all Species Combined 90%
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| Ruthless April 27th, this angler was overjoyed to meet his marlin up close and personal before letting him go. |
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| More marlin aboard Ruthless April 27th, great day, just look at the colors. |
OTHER SPECIES: It was a bonanza inshore this week. We had a group that fished several pangas from Pedregal up to El Molino on the Pacific, which was cold and windy, but who cares when you are catching fish. The water on the Pacific was considerably colder 67 to 70 degrees, but the fish liked it, affording opportunities for yellowtail, roosterfish, sierra, skipjack and some nice cabrillas caught aboard the panga “Salsa”. The group we had from Colorado had a fabulous time having a friendly competition, followed by an informal awards dinner at Captain Tony’s where they brought their catch to be cooked. We had a thresher
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| Thresher shark 110 lbs aboard La Brisa, they also released three marlin |
shark, the largest we have seen in a while aboard “La Brisa” on April 27th. Captain Rey had anglers Greg Nelson, Teymur Englesby & Harley Mayers from Vancouver aboard at the 11.50 spot. They had already released three striped marlin when the crew spotted the shark jumping amongst the marlin. They had ballyhoo ready to go and pitched it to the shark which took it immediately. The anglers decided to keep, what turned out to be a 110 lb specimen.
LOCATION: For marlin the 11.50 spot and just beyond it was the ticket. This is on the Cortez side about 27 miles from Cabo and around 20 miles offshore. For smaller game it was Pacific from Land’s End to the desal plant.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: We use Terrafin to check sea surface temperatures and what to look for is the temperature break, in other words, where two different temperatures appear side by side, this causes an upwelling of nutrients and usually spells fish in the area. This week we could see 67 F next to 72 F water, exactly at the 11.50 spot, which is probably why the catches were so good there for marlin.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some partly cloudy days especially towards the close of the week, rough on the Pacific, calm to moderate seas on the Cortez side.
Based on the Catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
LOOP DE LOO
Fishing has been a real roller coaster. Early in the week striped marlin were in a feeding frenzy and giving anglers lots of action. Then the marlin slowed but big dorado showed. Just as the bite was getting into high gear a low pressure system hit and it shut off. The weather brought strong winds and we had a couple of pretty ugly days. Now the wind is gone and a huge volume of marlin have showed just a few miles off Punta Colorada. It has been easy to spot fish but they are finicky biters.
It has pretty much been the same roller coaster in shore. Roosterfish, pompano and jacks are on the rampage one day and just flat shut off the next.
This do-do was a dandy
Jen Wren crew enjoying a day off
Giddy up!
Diego boats a toad
Love our Accurate reels
I couldn't let the crew catch ALL the fish
There were a few sailfish mix in the action this week
Beautiful when they light up
Who says there are no orcas in the Sea of Cortez. We saw this big male off La Ribera and we received a couple reports of other sightings.
Next week I will be off guiding SCUBA tours on a private yacht. We will be diving from Ceralvo Island to Gordo Banks and everywhere in between. My 19 years experience as a PADI SCUBA instructor and thousands of dives guiding underwater tours in the Sea of Cortez landed this adventure for me. With this I may not be able to post up a fishing report.
US cell 310 308 5841
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Redfish, snook make a strong showing in April
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| Sue Swett is a happy camper after landing this fine Sarasota Bay redfish on a topwater plug. |
The fishing pattern changed just as expect.
We transitioned from large trout to large redfish. The reds are on the flats and blasting topwater plugs, D.O.A. CAL Jerk Worms and gold spoons. Best time to hunt for reds is just as the tide begins to rise – either early or late in the day.
We’re still picking up a few large trout, but not nearly as many as in February and March. The largest trout are hanging out in sand holes at low tide and hitting D.O.A. CAL Jigs, Live Target Scaled Sardines, D.O.A. 4-inch jerk worms or topwater plugs.
Top spots include Buttonwood Harbor, Whale Key , White Key and Long Bar in Sarasota Bay.
Veteran angler Jeff Connor of Sarasota had a fair day early in the month. Connor wanted to target redfish. We totaled four reds to 28 inches on topwater plugs and gold spoons at various spots around Buttonwood Harbor. We also caught a few incidental spotted seatrout.
Annie Ewert and Lisi Ewert of Connecticut caught a mess of smaller trout on CAL Jigs and gold paddle tails just south of Whale Key. Annie caught and released a 24-inch red on a gold spoon just north of Whale Key.
The rim canal along Longboat Key has been yielding spotted seatrout, snook, flounder, sugar trout, silver trout, croaker and whiting.
Fly angler Terry Rychlik of Connecticut got in some night snook action near Bowles Creek and managed to release a 22-inch snook. He had shots at several others, but didn’t connect. After daylight, he caught and released a 23-inch snook and 10 spotted seatrout to 17 inches on a Puglisi Fly.
Night snook action has been good when the tides are strong. We’ve been catching and releasing up to 10 snook per out, along with a number of spotted seatrout. At dawn, we paddle out to a nearby flat where we’ve been getting snook to 32 inches and a load of spotted seatrout to 21.
Brad Cox of Sarasota and Sean O’Connell of Minnesota joined me for an afternoon outing at Buttowood Harbor. We caught and released 25 spotted seatrout to 22 inches, ladyfish, small jacks and a couple of flounder.
The next day, Yvette Cooley and Sue Swett of Parrish enjoyed their first kayak fishing trip. Action was slow and we had to work hard. We caught and released 15 spotted seatrout to 19 inches, 2 flounder, several ladyfish, jack crevalle and bonnethead shark. The best fish of the day was a 29-inch redfish that Sue landed. The fish hit a topwater plug in Buttonwood Harbor.
Yvette tried the topwater plug and had a number of fish follow and blast the plug, but she didn’t connect.
I’m offering night snook trips and combined night snook/dawn flats trips. It’s great for those looking for their first snook and for fly anglers.
Also, I’m going to get out on the beach this week to look for snook in the surf. I specialize in guiding anglers to some of the best sight-fishing for snook along Florida’s west coast.
I would like to thank my sponsors: Native Watercraft, D.O.A. Lures, Aqua-Bound Paddles, Temple Fork Outfitters, Economy Tackle/Dolphin Dive and Peak Fishing.
If you're on Facebook, please send a friend request. Also, follow me on Twitter @gibby3474.
Steve Gibson
Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing
www.kayakfishingsarasota.com
http://gibbysfishingblog.blogspot.com/
(941) 284-3406
Slow evening..again
Not much to report, tried a variety of presentations, colours, styles, shapes and sizes but the tides and the continuing north easterly winds will not have helped.
These little micro Savage Gear Nail lures look promising fished Scandinavian style on a Bombarda you can cover huge distances if you need to but the fish need to be there and in the mood in the first place. In the end this tiny Sea Trout took a small 7g metal and that and one other bump on the Nail was it for the night.
Lynne bought me this Patagonia Retro X vest at Christmas and its ideal for this time of year being wind proof it keeps the core of your body warm but enables unrestricted movement. Ideal for the amount of casting you do in a session. I like their gear and while I'm not into buying brands for the sake of it their kit is as good as it gets in my opinion. Not sure how their eco policy sits having previously made the MARS system for the American military quite a strange partnership really.
These little micro Savage Gear Nail lures look promising fished Scandinavian style on a Bombarda you can cover huge distances if you need to but the fish need to be there and in the mood in the first place. In the end this tiny Sea Trout took a small 7g metal and that and one other bump on the Nail was it for the night.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Norman Speed Clips.
I must say I was initially honoured that the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society have chosen to name a lure clip after me, and thought it must be to do with my services to Bass fishing or something......only kidding of course !!!
Actually it seems BILL Norman is a fishing Pro in the US and has a Lure brand oh well...
I noticed these at the B.A.S.S. Secure Online Shop and, based on my good experinces of the B.A.S.S. lure boxes (Been using them for years) and the super measuring tapes,
I decided to give them a try and have placed an order. I modify the Lure boxes (Also reordered some of these) and will try and put together a video clip to explain the mods.
I Will also let y'all know how I get on with the clips when I've used them.
Lure Colour...
With these non-stop northerly winds, at a time when we should all be out catching fish instead of lighting fires to keep warm or putting more oil in our tanks , when we thought there was no way we would need more this year! My mind starts to think about all the aspects of my fishing, and one thing that keeps coming up in conversations and running around in my head is lure colour.
Just how important is lure colour ?
Just how important is lure colour ?
This for me anyway is a never ending question, with no definitive answer. So many times while out fishing with friends I have seen fish taken on all different colours and go away thinking it’s all about action, profile, retrieve etc. and there are sessions when one colour just does the business when nothing else…..
For me I try to use what I think works best in with conditions or the area I am fishing. For example trying to give them something they can see in coloured water, whites or something with a good flash of silver. Then in clean water I try and use the more neutral colours and again silver. Match the hatch, try and put something out there that's looks like the bait fish that are in the water…so be observant don’t just chuck your lure out and aimlessly crank it back in.
For me I try to use what I think works best in with conditions or the area I am fishing. For example trying to give them something they can see in coloured water, whites or something with a good flash of silver. Then in clean water I try and use the more neutral colours and again silver. Match the hatch, try and put something out there that's looks like the bait fish that are in the water…so be observant don’t just chuck your lure out and aimlessly crank it back in.
When all is said and done what does a bass really see, sometimes fish hit the craziest coloured lures. Another thing that happens a lot to me is, I will get a new lure go out catch a fish on it and then that's my favourite colour in that lure but I have not tried any other colour in that lure nor am I that bothered about trying another colour because (and this to me is key ) I have CONFIDENCE in what I have used before. Confidence in what you are using is a massive part of it. It can make all the difference.
We stock colours and lures in the shop that I do not use but I have customers who swear by certain colours and certain lures and also catch well on them, so there is no right or wrong it's all down what you have confidence in.
So my conclusion is that yes colour can make all the difference and I have seen it proven over and over again. The hard part is making the choice of what colour to use in what situation. Yes there will be certain colours out there that are always going to be great fish catchers and these are a few that have done well for us.
"Cruising Blue"
"Hama Shirasu"
"Cotton Candy"
Others well we will keep experimenting with, but I think lure colour will still be something I will be talking about when I am an old man….
Cian
Grafham and Rutland Trout Spring in to Action
This April, the flyfishing at Rutland and Grafham has been nothing short of awesome. Some locals I've spoken to are saying it's some of, if not THE best fishing they've experienced since both reservoirs opened, from boats and the bank - and after having fished the two venues a few times this past month, I couldn't agree more.
The methods that have worked for me have been a couple of boobies on a Di7 line, with a cormorant in the middle, or a team of buzzers on a midge tip, or fishing the bung on a floating line.
On our few trips to Grafham this month we've caught plenty of hard fighting fish, including a nice Brownie of 5lb 7oz. On one trip, fishing from the bank along the bowl of the dam, we landed 25 rainbows up to 4lb 3oz in just a few hours, caught on boobies and buzzers fished at long range, as it was a very bright day and the fish were deep.
Also, by accident, whilst practising for matches I've caught three Zander - one from Grafham and two from Rutland - one of which took a small buzzer!! My Dad also caught one on a damsel last week. I'm really looking forward to the predator flyfishing in the next few weeks there.
After fishing my first bank match of the year on Grafham about two weeks ago, the very next day I fished Rutland from a boat. I was practising for the following day's Lexus Individual Championships fish-off with Gary Owen, the captain of the 'Seighford Sharks', who was also practising, but for the Teams match, the day after the Individuals match.
Rutland has fished it's socks off since it re-opened three weeks ago and it didn't take long to catch my first fish - a 5lb'er! We both had another 7 each before returning to the harbour. I caught mine on buzzers fished on a midge tip. The important thing was that we'd located the areas where the fish were holding. Two days later, the Seighford Sharks won the Lexus Team fish off at the places we fished!
In the individual match I was fishing, things didn't go quite as I'd hoped. At the briefing, my boat partner, who had won matches at Rutland before, thought it would be a good idea to head to an area where he'd caught some very big fish in the past, but they weren't there in numbers. Rutland is a massive reservoir and I'd never fished that area before - it was a bit of a risk, but we both caught - I was unlucky though, as the 4 fish I had were all stockies, plus I lost a 5th fish at the last minute. My four were only enough to earn me 12th place out of 24. He, on the other hand, had 5 very good fish - one of them was the biggest of the match weighing 4lb 11oz and earned him a well deserved wildcard place through to the final at Chew in September.
A few days later, the England Youth Flyfishing Team held a training weekend, followed by a match on the Sunday, again at Rutland. I started the practice day fishing a midge tip and buzzers, which worked really well for most of the day, until it became incredibly gusty in the afternoon, so I switched to a Di3 and fished the washing line. Our team had found fish in a few different areas across the lake - I caught 10 whilst exploring the south arm and parts of the main basin. The first fish I hooked was huge, but unfortunately, came off which I think may have been over 6lbs! Not long after, I had one from the same area that was 5+! After a discussion of tactics and locations at The Chequers pub later on that day with my team, we were all very confident we knew where to go and how to fish on match day.
Before we knew it, it was Sunday morning and all the teams were preparing to head off out in to a very rough Rutland. My boat partner was Julian Hubbard, part of the Rio Masters team we were competing against, a top competition angler. One of their team mates couldn't turn up though as he was ill, so with just 20 minutes notice, my Dad was asked to join the Rio team! We split the tackle up between us, as he'd left most of his gear at home, and both ended up 5 minutes late heading out of the harbour after the hooter had blown. Julian and I headed off to Old Hall Flats, where we'd both found a lot of fish the day before.
On my third cast I had a double hookup on the hang! Although I lost one of them, on the same drift I also landed another two. The fish wanted the flies virtually static - the only retrieve seemed to be a slow figure-of-eight - the slower the better! Many of my fish came on the hang too.
I was joint fastest with Rob Edmunds in the Rio Team, to bag up. The match had started at 10am, and we'd finished by 11.15am. My fish were tiny though, compared to Rob's weighing 30lb 9oz with time bonus! My 8 with time bonus weighed only 25lb 1oz, but still a lovely bag of fish.
With my other team-mates, Kieran and Ashley both bagging up early too, I thought we might be in with a shout of winning. But Julian had bagged by 1.30pm and a lot of others in the Rio Team did too in the last hour, including my Dad - and it was his team, the Rio Masters, that won, which he will not stop trying to wind me up about! My team came 2nd.
A few months ago, Dominic Garnett, a top angling writer for numerous publications, asked if he could use a couple of my pictures in a book he was writing at the time, called 'Flyfishing for Coarse Fish'. A couple of days ago, I received the book and it looks fantastic. It's about the type of fishing both my Dad and I love - catching different species of fish on the fly, other than trout. It's something we've been doing for quite a while now, and my Dad has caught over 130 different species now on the fly, from tiny Bitterling to Sailfish, so the book is right up our street!
The front cover looks great too - I've only read parts so far, but I'm really looking forward to reading the rest. I would highly recommend it to any angler interested in catching species other than trout on the fly. It would make a great present to any angler, as I don't think many fishermen realise how effective the method can be, and what great fun can be had doing it. It's on sale from May 10th, so I've put a link to anyone interested here.
Hopefully, the weather conditions will begin to change soon as we've had a lot of windy weather, which has made fishing quite awkward at times, especially from a boat. I'm looking forward to fishing a few different places in the next month for trout and other predators on the fly, maybe even Carp if it warms up enough - so let's hope May's forecast will be a lot better!
Inshore Catches Were Great Today!
The guys in the photo above are Phil Owens & Chris Frey from Denver, Colorado. They had a great time on Ginny, sierra, rooster and yellow tail.
Shown on the left is style icon captain Francisco of the panga Salsa. A catch not often seen was three cabrillas (sea bass) as well as a yellowtail for Rob Tichy, Steve Pohl, Kelly Wood from Colorado.
Happy anglers from the Panga Gloria, they have enough fish here to feed several people.
Who Are These Guys?
A fine looking group and pretty happy too, then again they did catch four striped marlin aboard "Ruthless" with captain Leon Camacho. Pictured here are Larry Rowe, Neil Rowe, Larry Smith, Codie Rase, Tom and Adam Smith all from British Columbia, Canada. They caught their fish at the 11.50 spot on jurelito and ballyhoo. Great job team!Friday, April 27, 2012
Jack Crevalle
Having watched Robson Green this week its got me in the notion for Mexico again. I was there in 2000 and in 2010...good times.
As you can see below you can do ok without spending much ( on fishing anyway) . I took this on a little Megabass lure, one of the best scraps ever on what was a four piece Mullet rod. It went on for a while and covered hundreds of yards of beach, you can see the rocks where I hooked it in the distance. It was so far offshore on a run that when Harold walked by he couldn't believe it "dis is ze fish ?" in his English/ German accent. This was also the first day of a storm that turned into a hurricane which wrecked the last two days of the holiday. The pictures don't do it justice as the rain was horizontal and straight at me I could hardly see...what a buzz this fish was a thug!
As you can see below you can do ok without spending much ( on fishing anyway) . I took this on a little Megabass lure, one of the best scraps ever on what was a four piece Mullet rod. It went on for a while and covered hundreds of yards of beach, you can see the rocks where I hooked it in the distance. It was so far offshore on a run that when Harold walked by he couldn't believe it "dis is ze fish ?" in his English/ German accent. This was also the first day of a storm that turned into a hurricane which wrecked the last two days of the holiday. The pictures don't do it justice as the rain was horizontal and straight at me I could hardly see...what a buzz this fish was a thug!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Nothing doing
The estuary seemed devoid of life tonight having got that feeling within about five minutes I shouldn't have stuck at it for 2.5 hours.It only needs one decent fish to change the outcome but tonight was not the night. The rain over the last 24 hours having maybe pushed the fresh fish up the system and they ones that fancied feeding up out to sea, who knows? Back to the hotel and no winners juice for me tonight : (
Z fish Report (4/26/12)
The cold water current has pushed out to about the 20 mile mark, with the blue water hugging the 1,000 fathom line and at about 30 miles. The fishing for any offshore species sucks this week, unless you are willing to travel a great distance. The only person I know of who did well this week was Jim Engstrom, of Scottsdale Arizona, and he really had to work for it.
Jim fished two days with Victor Cano and this is what Jim emailed me:
Day 1) Left at 6:30 got back at 9Pm. Went out 72 miles. Tough day...hooked and lost one sail and about 4 pm hooked a 200 + tuna for about 45 minutes. Had several smaller tuna hit the kite but not hooked. Lots of fish (mostly smaller tuna) jumping but if Victor can't get them I give up!
Day 2) No fish till 4PM then got in the tuna. Kept 17 all about 35# (Enough for us to take home). We were way out there and didn't get in until 10PM. Caught 15 of the fish on a bait that you would probably never suspect. Like to tell you what it was but it's Victor's secret.
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| Sierras pushing up bait from below, birds diving on the bait from above. |
Ed Kunze (IGFA Representative)
25/04/12 - Gold Valley - Gold Lake
Weight – 48lb 4oz (22lb 10oz silvers)
Catch – 7 Bream, 5 Carp, 4 Roach, 3 Perch, 2 Hybrid, 1 Rudd
Weather – Rain, rain, rain as well as a bit of wind!
Water Temp – 14.3c – 14.7c
Match – Match Fishing Scene – 4thout of 17 overall
More traveling this time to Gold Valley in Aldershot. I had heard many stories and comments about the place, ranging from it’s a great a fishery, to its too peggy, as well as the rather strict rules on bank walkers and no peeing on the bank.
The reason for today’s visit was to practice for the Garbolino Club Angler southern regional qualifier on 4 May. On the drive down I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth the effort, with the wind and rain lashing down together with the heavy traffic. On arrival, the club house overlooks Gold Lake and I recognized some of the famous pegs you see in the magazines. The venue won’t win any awards for the best looking fishery, but it is well maintained with concrete platforms and a hardcore path around the lakes.
Today’s match was run under the MFS website banner, which included a number of locals, so it would give me a good idea of how it could fish. Gold Lake is roughly rectangular and fortunately we were pegged along the canal bank, which meant we were mostly sheltered from the worst of the wind, so umbrellas could be put up, which I was quite pleased about.
I drew peg 26 at the far windward end of the lake and on the day was 3rd from the end. Must admit I was a little disappointed, because I fancied a lower number closer to the clubhouse where the wind was blowing in.
With no one on the far bank, I expected the carp to back away to the other side of the central rope, however I started on a customized pellet feeder with hair rigged 8mm pellet cast just short of the rope. After 90mins I had 4 carp and leading our section, but a further 3 casts without a bite and I got bored (unless the tip keeps going round I get easily bored) so switched to the pole.
From the start I had been potting caster & 2mm pellet at 13m every 20mins. I knew there were some big skimmers around so decided to be really positive to try and catch them. Unfortunately the first 30mins was very frustrating with bumped fish, tangles and not getting the presentation right. Eventually, I got it sorted and started to catch big skimmers up to 3lb on double caster, plus my best carp on the day of nearly 7lb. Everytime I got a roach or perch I dumped another pot of food.
I had also been feeding 8mm meat at 7m. But, again more bumped fish or they coming off after a few seconds was frustrating, although I did manage a big 3lb hybrid, plus a few smaller skimmers. I also lost an 8-9lb carp at the net, but I shouldn’t complain too much because it was foul hooked it the rear end.
Herbie who was pegged to my left and spend most of the day on the lead and occasionally the pellet waggler fishing at 30m had with 90mins to go about 3 carp, however by continually feeding 8s he managed to pull in a few late carp to pip me by 3lb. It was really useful to see Herbie catch late like that, although I had been feeding the same line I only gave it a couple of casts, but I wanted to see if I could still challenge on the pole.
Pleased with how the match progressed, in hindsight I should have spent more time on the tip during the last hour, however I lost enough fish to challenge 2nd place. Speaking after the match, there were a few lost fish, with them being hooked around the month, so not really feeding properly.
1st 88-12 – Chris N – p2
2nd 69-14 – Ludders – p12
3rd 51- 1 – Herbie – p25
4th 48- 4 – Ken Rayner – p26
5th 45-14 – Pikey – p22
6th 43-10 – Happydangler – p9
Catch – 7 Bream, 5 Carp, 4 Roach, 3 Perch, 2 Hybrid, 1 Rudd
Weather – Rain, rain, rain as well as a bit of wind!
Water Temp – 14.3c – 14.7c
Match – Match Fishing Scene – 4thout of 17 overall
More traveling this time to Gold Valley in Aldershot. I had heard many stories and comments about the place, ranging from it’s a great a fishery, to its too peggy, as well as the rather strict rules on bank walkers and no peeing on the bank.
The reason for today’s visit was to practice for the Garbolino Club Angler southern regional qualifier on 4 May. On the drive down I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth the effort, with the wind and rain lashing down together with the heavy traffic. On arrival, the club house overlooks Gold Lake and I recognized some of the famous pegs you see in the magazines. The venue won’t win any awards for the best looking fishery, but it is well maintained with concrete platforms and a hardcore path around the lakes.
Today’s match was run under the MFS website banner, which included a number of locals, so it would give me a good idea of how it could fish. Gold Lake is roughly rectangular and fortunately we were pegged along the canal bank, which meant we were mostly sheltered from the worst of the wind, so umbrellas could be put up, which I was quite pleased about.
I drew peg 26 at the far windward end of the lake and on the day was 3rd from the end. Must admit I was a little disappointed, because I fancied a lower number closer to the clubhouse where the wind was blowing in.
With no one on the far bank, I expected the carp to back away to the other side of the central rope, however I started on a customized pellet feeder with hair rigged 8mm pellet cast just short of the rope. After 90mins I had 4 carp and leading our section, but a further 3 casts without a bite and I got bored (unless the tip keeps going round I get easily bored) so switched to the pole.
From the start I had been potting caster & 2mm pellet at 13m every 20mins. I knew there were some big skimmers around so decided to be really positive to try and catch them. Unfortunately the first 30mins was very frustrating with bumped fish, tangles and not getting the presentation right. Eventually, I got it sorted and started to catch big skimmers up to 3lb on double caster, plus my best carp on the day of nearly 7lb. Everytime I got a roach or perch I dumped another pot of food.
I had also been feeding 8mm meat at 7m. But, again more bumped fish or they coming off after a few seconds was frustrating, although I did manage a big 3lb hybrid, plus a few smaller skimmers. I also lost an 8-9lb carp at the net, but I shouldn’t complain too much because it was foul hooked it the rear end.
Herbie who was pegged to my left and spend most of the day on the lead and occasionally the pellet waggler fishing at 30m had with 90mins to go about 3 carp, however by continually feeding 8s he managed to pull in a few late carp to pip me by 3lb. It was really useful to see Herbie catch late like that, although I had been feeding the same line I only gave it a couple of casts, but I wanted to see if I could still challenge on the pole.
Pleased with how the match progressed, in hindsight I should have spent more time on the tip during the last hour, however I lost enough fish to challenge 2nd place. Speaking after the match, there were a few lost fish, with them being hooked around the month, so not really feeding properly.
1st 88-12 – Chris N – p2
2nd 69-14 – Ludders – p12
3rd 51- 1 – Herbie – p25
4th 48- 4 – Ken Rayner – p26
5th 45-14 – Pikey – p22
6th 43-10 – Happydangler – p9
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