After the storm with Yuki

After way too much bad weather, tsunami warning one weekend, cyclone Tomas the next and then blowing at 30knots with driving rain, we finally got out for a fish. Not the greatest weather, but it was fishable none the less.

From Yuki take two

We went out with Yuki again and he brought two friends, Jose, who has been out with us and Hanochin, who has never fished before.

First order of business is to teach Hanochin how to fish.

From Yuki take two

Lucky he was a fast learner and was casting like a pro in no time.

Yuki is a seasoned pro so he just moved out to the bow and started casting away.

From Yuki take two

The same goes for Jose who is quite the angler. It is not long before he has a nice Bluefin in the boat.

From Yuki take two

The sea is a bit rough with an Easterly blowing and a Southerly swell. A bit lumpy to say the least.

Yuki has a few strikes but they are missed. He finally gets a solid strike and hook up. The fight is on but it is not acting like a GT. Soon the question is answered. A Bronze Whaler shark.

From Yuki take two

Needless to say this fish did not make it on board for a photo session. It was released in good shape if only for a sore nose.

From Yuki take two

The shark was followed by a massive strike that led to Yuki losing his popper and leader.

After a quick change of gear he finally hooked a GT.

From Yuki take two

The GT gave a good accounting of itself and was eventually boated in good shape. After the photo session it was released.

From Yuki take two

Unfortunately the bite time was rather short as we are upon the full moon and bad weather. Things slowed down from there and only a small Bluefin Trevally was landed in the last hour. That is not to say we did not have a few laughs with the giant sunglasses we keep on board.

From Yuki take two

From Yuki take two

Our time was short together but we had a good time and made the most of rather tough fishing. Yuki is a great guy to fish with and he knows what he is doing. That always makes things a bit easier.

I am sure we will fish together again.

Tight lines

JT Spring Masterclass...superb lesson pays off for the lads...

Post to Follow....

First Bass trip of the year....skunked !

Yesterday was my first attempt to target Bass this year. The water temperature was 7/8 and being March it was never going to be easy. To be fair I have never caught a Bass on lures or bait this side of May, but then again I’ve never tried.

Fished three hours late morning into the afternoon then had a break for a few hours then fished till dusk…..nada. I guess I put in around six hours in total.

To be fair I just felt I needed a day out and a trial run with some of the new gear I have bought since last year. The breathable waders were spot on cheapo’s from Bass Pro in the states. The Scierra Dynatrack studded wading boots Lynne gave me for Christmas were great and provided me with a massive improvement in grip. In terms of the lures the Komomo II and Z Claw look tip top. If the Komomo does not do the business for me as the year moves on I will be very surprised.

When I took a break from fishing in the afternoon I travelled a few miles and took a walk down a dirt track of some west facing cliffs. Never been here before but it looks great in terms of bait fishing opportunities. Bass will be a certainty and I would be surprised if I could not pick up a small Turbot or two. The picture is pretty naff but there was nice surf, plenty of tide and a number of features which are out of the shot.

Sandeels

I was excited to see the first Sandeels in the eastuary yesterday, a sure sign that things are warming up and that the fish will be here soon. I also noted many casualties from the big surf of the last few days, many small shore crabs and bait fish, all food sources for the fish. Will be keeping an eye out for the arrival of the Arctic Terns that love to noisely dive on the Sandeels all summer long.

fly fishing steelhead (root river, wi)

The weather was really starting to warm up the entire week leading up to the weekend. No rain all week and all the snow had been long gone for some time. River flows were very low on the Pike and Oak. The Milwaukee was running over 600cfs and didn’t sound like a very safe number to wade. Looked like the Root was the best based on the numbers.


Normal start time and was fishing island park as the sun rose around 6:40 am. Neal arrived just after me and we started working a nice bend and surrounding stretch river. Couple fingerling browns taken by Neal on a grey leach pattern. Ran into another nice angler who said fish were being taken above the weir but it was shoulder to shoulder fishing. We gave it about an hour and a half, with no fish spotted, before we decided to push north.

small enough to be bait!

Colonial park was packed. Lot was almost full and just barely found parking. We fished till just after lunch with only one hook-up. It was a steelie that threw my hook on his first jump. Talk about disappointing… my only hook-up for the day and it lasted all of 4 seconds.

tiny brown

Yes, there were defiantly people landing fish north of Lincoln park, I helped land 5 for strangers. My problem with the day was that it didn't seem peaceful fishing so jam packed on every run, riffle, and bend. It wasn’t just people concentrated in certain spots, they were everywhere. Just when you would carve out a nice little spot for yourself, here comes Billy Bob and his wife. They sidle up close to you and cast slip bobbers into the tail end of your drift. How many fish can you help them net before you start to feel just a tad upset? Well I’ll tell you... the answer is 2.

Saw no fish released. People must be hungry for steelhead stew. WHAT A SHAME!

26/03/10 - K&A Canal - Prison Pound

Weight – 16lb 11oz
Catch – 28 Skimmers, 8 Roach, 6 Perch, 3 Tench.
Weather – Mostly cloudy, windy & light showers

Another day off down the canal with Mark. With the recent mild weather we fancied a crack at some early spring tench fishing.

Because Mark had to be home by 3pm, it meant and early start, so by 8am we were both set up on Curry's Pound, but after 2 hours it wasn't exactly going according to plan. We had both potted 3 balls of groundbait with micros & caster at 11.5m, but only had a handful of small skimmers.

Since it didn't appear to be improving, we made the decision to move up on to the Prison Pound. I potted 1 ball of groundbait, plus a pot of loose groundbait. After a fruitless 30mins on the feeder it was time to try the pole.

Initially sport was slow, but started to get mostly bottle top skimmers, plus the odd hand sized one on single maggot. However it wasn't quite what was expected, but at least we were getting bites, although it was difficult to work out, because the fish seemed to be spooked whenever I topped up. Eventually found catapulted caster worked best.

With time pressing on, neither of us had anything bigger than 8oz, but in the quest to beat each our I reckoned I was slightly ahead. With 45mins to go, Mark hooks what was obviously a decent fish and 5mins later a 3lb Tench was in the net. With the year to date score between us being 4-2 to Mark, that Tench would take the score with to 5-2 and Mr Poppleton was loving it. With 30mins to go I pulled out of a decent fish, which Mark loved even more.

5 minutes later, I struck into a tench, which gave a good account of itself and at 3½lb was a decent repost. It went strangely quite to my left! 15mins later I had another of similar size. Ha ha - let that be a lesson to you!

After Mark left I stayed on for an hour, but struggled to get the fish back, although I managed another Tench, a decent perch and a couple of small roach.

Dr. Burnett's Big Boys

Today I took Dr. Burnett fishing. It was our first time to fish together. I gave Doc some options in the morning as to whether he wanted to go for some numbers or the possibility of catching a larger fish. He was all about the big boy! So our quest began. We worked really hard and were rewarded. Doc caught several nice fish this morning. These are the two nicest fish. The sun got up and it seemed to turn the big rainbows on. After we enjoyed a chicken sammy, we traveled to a different spot on the river in quest for some more numbers. The fishing was tough, but we caught a few more fish and ended the day satisfied!