29/06/13 - Tylers Lake (Brinsham Green)

Weight - 25lb
Catch - 37 Skimmers, 7 F1s, 7 Roach, 3 Tench
Weather - Warm

I had planned to fish a match today, but had too many things to do. Waking up early I wanted to go fishing for a short early morning session and decided to fish Tylers Lake, because it was only a short drive away. Since fishing here last time in December I had wanted to come back to try again and today seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Arriving at 6am I soon set up 2 rigs, a HB Chump 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911 to fish at 11.5m and a HB Billybob 0.2g > .14 > 16 B911 to fish the margin.

After feeding 2 cups of groundbait and mixture of pellet at 11.5m, I started in the margin with corn and caught a small tench straight away. But other than little knocks, no further fish came, so I switched to long line and soon caught skimmers and a couple of F1s on 4mm expander or corn. By feeding a large toss pot of 4s & 6s every 3rd fish I managed to keep the fish on the deck. After an hour another big pot of pellet & groundbait went in and whilst that settled another visit to the margin produced another tench, plus a skimmer and a few roach. The 2nd & 3rd hour followed a similar pattern.

As I said it was only a short 3.5hr session, but very enjoyable. Next time I fish here I hope to have a little more time on my hands. There was loads of fish moving around and a decent net of roach would be on the cards if you fished caster. For free fishing it a decent little venue.

27/06/13 - Leechpool

Weight - 57lb
Catch - 43 Carp, 6 Skimmers
Weather - Rain, rain, rain
Match - Wiltshire Angling Evening Float Only - 4th out of 5

After not being able to fish for nearly 2 weeks I was looking forward to this evenings sprint match at Leechpool. However the weather had other ideas, following a week or so of settled dry weather, it rained. In fact the rain front couldn’t have timed it better, starting an hour before the 5pm draw and finishing around the time the match finished at 9.15pm.

 

For various reasons there was only 5 of us tonight so plenty of room. I drew the cattle drink which is a peg I have never drawn and with the wind blowing into the bank I was hopefully of a few fish, although the rain didn’t make for a comfortable nights fishing. To my right was Tony Gilbert in his new Thatcher’s branded kit, but he was left regretting selling his Diawa Gore-Tex by the end of the night.

 

A text from Mark who was looking after the kids since his missus was enjoying herself at Glastonbury, confirmed what I needed to do. The peg itself is very shallow close in so the margins were out and I ended up setting up my box 3m out in the water. Even then you are set back, with the left bank running about 11m before the corner where there is a large tree. Under the tree the water depth is only 6-8in, but plumbing around I found where the bottom started to slope up at 11m and fished here – as instructed.

 

Initially I started on the paste, but it didn’t seem right, plus my paste was just getting wetter and wetter. So a quick change to 6mm expander (HB Chump > .14 > 16 B911) and I was soon catching, finding it best to catapult a pouch of 6s before shipping out. In the first 60mnins I had 18 carp and doing well, however Tony after a slow start was catching well short on small pieces of paste, a trick he picked up from fishing at White Acres.

 

The 2^nd hour slowed down and I was falling behind Tony. The issue I had was wasting time having to ship out to 11m, because the peg was so shallow close in. I had decided against setting up a back up swim, since  the intention was to stay focused on the 11m line and continue feed pellet, hoping for a good last hour or so when the bigger fish would turn up. Well that was the plan.

 

Half way though the match the skimmers started to show which is never a good thing, but I kept firing in the pellet and the carp did return.

 

Come the end of the match, it became obvious I was off the pace of those who fish here regularly. I think I did the right thing sticking to the one swim, however hindsight is a wonderful thing and I should have moved up the slope, because I was getting quite a few liners, so fishing in shallower water may have been a good idea. I did try to catch proper shallow, however without success.

 

Although I was off the pace, it was interesting watching those who do well here and the key seems to be fishing short to get the bait in the water as quickly as possible.

 

1^st 87lb – Tony Gilbert – p4

2^nd 82lb – Ian Willetts – p3

3^rd 75lb – Pete Neate – p2

4^th 57lb – Ken Rayner – p5

5^th 53lb – Darren – p1

Z Fish Report (6/28/13)

Left to right: Don, Mary, Lou, and Susan Grantges about to be served the
sierra they caught off the beach in front of the restaurant at Barra Potosi

The 84° blue water is basically following the 100 fathom curve, with clean water just off the beach. Offshore fishing took a bit of a beating this last week as tropical storm Cosme (later a hurricane) formed a couple of hundred miles out in front of us. As it headed westerly we were never threatened by the storm, but we did have a port closure, some rain, overcast skies, and a couple days of wind. Things were starting to get getting back to normal again by mid-day Thursday.  

Early in the week and before the weather turned foul, Gary Whyte of British Columbia fished with John Lorenz out of Casa Bahia Tortuga in Puerto Vicente Guerrero and discovered the tuna are still here. They caught several nice ones, plus he got a couple of sailfish.

Gary Whyte with a nice yellowfin tuna

The inshore action also took a beating from the waves and wind. The waves were huge a couple of days, making for tough roosterfish fishing. But, the small 4 to 6 pound dorado we have a short distance off the beach are still around, and are great on light gear or the fly rod. The waves started to cooperate in Zihuatanejo around mid-morning Thursday, with Jeff Brite of New York fishing with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II, catching 4 roosterfish down by Play Larga. And Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, had a great day at Buena Vista and Pantla with 10 roosters for his clients.

Fly fisherman Daniel Weiss of Seattle went with me down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero, where the area was still getting the westward swell and high waves. Under the conditions we were fishing Dan was doing excellent casting the 9wt and 10wt rods, with the leaning post on the bow of my panga helping considerably. We ended up the day with a 25 pound class rooster, and raised about 5 others, a 5 pound dorado we had for dinner, and a large jack crevalle which came undone after a prolonged fight.  

Ed Kunze (IGFA Representative) 

Susan Grantges with one of her small dorado on the spin rod

Drummin' again!

Y'all didn't know I did the drums so well, did ya?  Ha!  Well we're drummin’ on the West Coast again this week with Capt. Billy Henderson.  This episode was fun to shoot because Billy's one of my favorite people to fish with and Crystal River, FL is such a beautiful fishery.  Capt. Billy made his very first television debut on Addictive Fishing years ago when we just begun shooting the show.  It's been so many years ago that I can't remember how we actually met? Billly, help me out here!  Well, anywho, he called me up and said, “You’ve got to get up here, we’re catching some big, fat black drum and it’ll make for a great show.”  So I called up Mr. Producerman and booked the shoot.  We had fun, got some pretty cool lookin’ black drum to show you, and it was definitely good to catch up with Capt. Billy Henderson.  Check out this week’s episode “Crystal Drum” – Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET on Fox Sun Sports (replays Sunday 9:30 p.m. ET / Tuesday 6:00 a.m. ET).

Me and the AF Crew want to say a BIG thanks to everyone at 
the Dick's Sporting Goods in Pensacola who came out to see us last weekend.  We had a great time meeting y'all and catching up with some familiar faces as well.  The "Buy a Flats Blue rod and get a Sabalos reel free" sale was insane and those blue rods were all you could see when you looked out into the new Dick's store at all the shoppers.  I guess you could say it was a sea of blue.  Ha!  



Another big thank you to the Pensacola store employees who
took good care of us and helped us all day long . . . make sure you stop in and check out the new store at the Cordova Mall when you get the chance.  I think you're really gonna like it.

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty crazy for me as I cross the country again from Pensacola, to Stuart, to Tampa, to Houston, to California, to Las Vegas, back to Texas and then finally home.  I'll be doing a combination of fishing, driving, flying, shaking hands and kissin' babies.  Not complaining, just letting you know in case I start to slurrrrr my words in my blog. It's because I've got jet lag.   

I'm picking another winner in the "Show Your Mogan" contest next week, so get your photos in!  If you want a chance to win some cool AF stuff, here’s how you enter:    Facebookers must submit their photo within the “Show Your Mogan” photo contest Event Page.  Instagramers must upload photos with hashtag #showyourmogan to enter.

I'll see ya next week and until then . . . tight lines,

Blair Wiggins

Tropical Fiji Snorkeling

Our first snorkel trip with Derek and Carly from Indiana USA.

They had a great time and the visibility was great. Lots of fish and great visibility.

Coral of all types

Shallow water makes it very safe.

Loads of fish of all types

Nemo makes an appearance

A bit of reef fishing after the snorkel.

Derek with a nice snapper.

A highlight for their trip to Fiji. Derek and Carly have vowed to return and we can't wait to take them out again.

Tight Lines

Lack Of Creativity

BUY PURLOINED ?

Our Wallpapers Not Commercial

enjoy the caper

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.. Can You believe that a commercial venture would steal one of our pictures without asking? And, without a thank you?
.. Sure you would. It's in the nature of merchants without conscience. Click on over to the site that tries to tell you all about fly fishing gear. Would you buy a used car from these folks? Can you follow their advice? Why would they do it?
.. At least they are reading the straight poop from an ad-free blog. We are designed to tell you about what is. What is their message?

LINK

.. The original from October, 2010.

Good Tool

We Love This Photo

 

 

Why do we love  it? The looks on the anglers faces, happy, really happy and who wouldn't be happy with those two huge, beautiful dorado - one of the best eating fish in the ocean.

 Shown here are Andrew Tetlew & Jason Furrow, from Phoenix, Arizona along with Brent Skonick & Bill Iverson from Issaquah, Washington and of course famous captain Julio Castro (far left) and his son Abram who went out a...s deckhand. These guys released four striped marlin and caught four dorado, with the two largest ones shown here. What a fantastic day! You know summer is actually one of the best times to be fishing in Cabo, there is such a variety of fish available.

.

Speaking at QDMA Event This Saturday!

This coming Saturday, June 29th I will be speaking at a QDMA field day event in Chillicothe, Illinois. There are still a handful of tickets left to purchase here at this website: wciqdma.com

I hope to see you guys there on Saturday!!! Call the Chase at the number in the flyer below with any questions...

Breakfast, Lunch, And Dinner

TRULY, IT'S SUMMER

Fish Hard All Day

a long lunch & early dinner

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.. The first rhubarb pies of the year are entering the gastronomic stream of our neighborhood fishers.

.. Of course we gobble them up as rapidly as they are presented to us. The fish on the Gibbon River and Madison River have set the precedent. They are gobbling the surface offerings of fishers with gay abandon. Also, there are some big bugs in and around the water. My, my, my.
.. National Park Meadow and the confluence marsh are seeing some heavy pressure from the fly flingers. The fish are in a very cooperative mood.
.. Not only the big bugs, but the little bugs, are feeding the ravenous trout. Caddis, Golden Ones, PMD's, Big Ones, and White Ones are on the water all day.

.. Some piscine psychologists  have opined that the floating smorgasbord must confuse the trout into a catatonic state that leads to indecision about which morsel to eat. Other mind readers believe that the trout eat the bug most available to their current hiding place. Some even think that the trout behave toward bugs the way that fishers approach a giant slice of freshly baked rhubarb pie: gobble it before your neighbor does.

.. Whatever the state of the trout mind, (in these two rivers,) may be, one thing is certain: fish looking skyward are available all day. So too, are those that don't like rhubarb pie and hide in the dark caves under the bank.
.. Now is the time to fish. Catch some too. We're having another piece of pie.

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Ultimate Pond Waterslide and Lots of Fish

Lots of red skies so far this summer. Here is one my mom texted me a couple nights ago.....


The last two weeks have been jampacked beyond. No time for sleeping, let alone writing. I've stockpiled a bunch of pictures so here goes. First picture out the gate is Chef Todd's Fulton County bass of his dreams. Peanut Butter N Jelly Jig about 20' down. You can read more about this fish in the next issue of Heartland Outdoors...


The next day, Chef and I headed to Iowa City to electrofish for Dr. Ed's pond at his family farm. His grandkids were all lined up and they all had a blast learning about the fishes and nuances of this special family water hole... Here are some of the pics from the day:




Justin Schick started working for me a couple days a week this spring/summer. He is an aspiring young angler who actually just won the high school state championship a couple weeks ago. Here he is holding up a big grass carp we shocked up at a large property over near Canton.


Later that night my brother Justin and I jumped into our perch production pond to snap some pics of our bumper crop of baby yellow perch. We have tens of thousands of them that will be for sale this fall and they will be 3-5 inches by then!


A bunch more work projects later and it was time for Fathers Day Weekend! High School Girls Camp came to our lake for the Saturday, but first early that morning I spent delivering lots of monster bluegill to several clients. Im talking bluegill already over 1 lb each for stocking into some intensively managed panfish lakes to enhance their genetics:


So then a couple hundred girls came out to the lake for swimming, fishing, volleyball, and of course horse back riding....my boys just can't get enough of the horses:




Oh Yeah, my brother in law Dave took his dad and brothers fishing that morning as well and caught some real nice fish:



So after the girls all left, I took the kids out catfish fishing for a bit. We wore out the catfish and the catfish wore out the kids!!




So then Fathers Day came along and we decided to all have church out at the lake and then went back to catfish fishing in the afternoon!! We were on a pretty good bite. Basically after the first 45 minutes I had to start cleaning the fish out on the boat because we had filled up our livewell to the brim:






I could keep going on with pictures just from that 2 hr fishing trip, but Im running out of time and space. Still got the whole next week worth of pics and havent even got to the waterslide yet....But we caught several hundred lbs of channel catfish that we cleaned for a huge fish fry for 200 boys the following weekend.....

So anyhow monday and tuesday Chef Todd took famous outdoor writer Mike Pehanich out fishing. They filmed several segments and not only caught lots of fish, but lots of big fish. Here is the biggest bluegill that Mike has ever caught, it was just a touch over 12 inches long:


I guess Chef and Mike have the rest of the pics. You will see many of them in the upcoming issues of BassMaster and Heartland Outdoors magazines, Cabelas Outfitter Journal, Wired2fish.com, smallwatersfishing.com, and many other websites and publications!!

So while Chef was fishing, I was inspecting dams with the best dam guy in the nation. While I was with the dam guy from Texas, the guys were finishing the waterslide and some food plots. Anyhow here is a nice dam picture of the dam guy inspecting one of my clients 70' tall dams.


So we went to lots of places looking at dam pond leaks and once the dam guy got back on the plane my mission was to finish the waterslide project for the weekends birthday party. I learned alot about dams and am excited any chance I get to learn from the best.

So here are the waterslide pics:




I had to leave to go electrofishing in Bloomington before completion, but the guys got er all finished up and tested er out a few times....Here is where they were at when I had to scoot:


So I finished up in Bloomington and then by 10 pm that night I was all loaded up for the next days adventure. Justin Schick and I were on the road by 3:30 am headed down to Southern Illinois University to pick up a load of big blue catfish for a couple clients near Champaign and a couple out towards Lewiston. We also dropped off some fish feeders and aeration systems in Mahomet along the way...

Here we are near champaign unloading these beautiful fish:


So anyhow just a tidbit on blue catfish.... they are totally awesome! These particular fish were used for feed training research at the university and they will readily gobble up fish food. This makes it very possible to stock them into relatively small ponds and grow them in excess of 40 lbs......now we are talking!!

So I finished up stocking in Lewiston about 9 pm and I got a video the next day of one of my clients kids reeling in a 4 lb blue catfish.....they are super aggressive....

So anyhow now comes senior high boys camp and the big fish fry! I cooked catfish as fast as possible for about 2 hrs straight Saturday afternoon. Im talking every 3 minutes I had a fresh basket coming out and every speck was gobbled instantly.


The only way to pull off something of this magnitude is first to have alot of fish, but second to put alot of people to work...I had the boys cutting, prepping, battering, and seasoning the fish like clockwork. We had two baskets frying nonstop....


We kept the battering crew well fed and happy. I found the happier we kept them the faster everything went:


So I got home Saturday night and fell asleep instantly. The kids just played on and around me...Sunday I have to admit Brook nudged me about 6 or 7 times in church, especially when my jelloheadneckbob was noticeable, then Sunday afternoon I slept for many hrs yet again in my chair.

I'm all rested up now and ready to rock n roll for this week! Fighting Illini fishing guru Lucas Stoner snapped this photo of yet another breathtaking sky. The picture is so amazing it makes you pause for a moment and think how truly amazing heaven really is gonna be.... no eye hath seen nor ear heard nor can anyone fathom the things God has prepared for those who love him...... To think this photo isnt even a glimpse of what is yet to come.....