Plaice in the sunshine

Weather forecast was good over the weekend, noted this during the week so the target was a Plaice or two with the potential to a add a few more species to the club's ongoing species hunt.

I headed down to a mark near Portpatrick to hook up with Will and Shane. These lads are keen and love their fishing so much so they were down there on the Saturday night had a session and had slept in the car. Will was duly rewarded with a hard to get fish . In fact so much so it would be pretty difficult to target,not impossible, just very difficult- Spotted Ray !

Baits were crab,worm, mackerel strip and squid. To be honest the fishing was difficult and the mark fished much slower than we would expect. I had a bit of nightmare with aborted bites, missed bites and a nice Plaice dropping off as I lifted it out. Anyway another species knocked off for me and two for Will, good banter and a few fish to boot.

The Rumor Of Spring

CATCHING IS GOOD

The Snow Is Deep

visitors are scarce

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.. There are fish to be had, (more about that in a moment.) Descending from our little village into the lowlands of western Montana gives one the feeling that Spring will indeed arrive.

.. It's interesting for us to visit the giant megalopolis that is Bozeman, Montana. We do it once a year to visit our tax attorney. A double dose of reality!
.. We enter a rat maze of elbows, autos, and hominids. The bustle is frightening. What can be so important that rushing about is mandatory?
.. We've endured Boston and New York at Christmas time. We felt the same frenzy in Bozeman.

.. The local residents thought that the 4" of fresh snow was intolerable and the dreary day made them grumpy. They were actually jostling each other in line as they rushed to pay money for their treasures.
.. There are things at work in the city that we don't understand. We didn't wait around to investigate.
.. The wonder of it all is that our whole village could fit in the parking lot of the Walmart store. In fact, the day we visited, there were more people in Walmart than live in our town.

.. We enjoy the thought that the people who live in the maze can buy more of everything in Walmart than is for sale in our little town. There are even souvenirs of Yellowstone; they don't even have to visit us.
.. We've received about 2 feet of snow over the past few days. It's rapidly melting and we can see the pavement of the streets in many places.
.. The trout in the Gallatin River are suffering withdrawals. There have been so few fisher folk that they are feeling neglected. They are eating anything that floats by in the hope it has a hook in it: they need to sharpen their reflexes for the onslaught that will come with the sun.

.. We'll say it just once: 53, 59, 66, 69, Taylor Fork! Fish near those mile markers and you will be surprised at your catching success.
.. We saw a few midges but didn't bother to tie any on. We fished late in the afternoon through the intermittent snow and broken clouds.
.. The fish were willing and were just where you would expect them to be.
.. Drowned Adams dry flies and Prince Nymphs were our choice. They didn't disappoint. Fish were gobbling things throughout the water column. and seemed unafraid of the surface or the thin water. The water is, according to local lore, too cold to fish. It was cold!
.. We've had our civilization-fix: thank you. But we'll be running down canyon over the next few weeks; at least until the good parking spots become crowded.
.. Yellowstone National Park opens this coming Friday. We'll visit for a look-around. There may be indications of new holes or debris piles. We, however, will wait until the massive discharge abates before selecting any ripe locations.

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09/04/11 - Peatmoor Lagoon

Weight –8lb 15oz
Catch – 13 Roach, 5 Perch, 2 Bream, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Warm & sunny. Easterly wind.
Match – Match Fishing Scene – 8th (out of 16)

Following Monday’s practice session both Mark & I were confident of doing well, although we were concerned the weather forecast of sun and an easterly wind, was hardly classic bream weather.

The pegs we wanted to avoid were p1 because it was in the corner and between p4 & 10, because they were set back in a bay and the wind was blowing away from these pegs. With the wind, I felt the pegs in the 20s would be best with peg 27 being the end peg.

Today there were 16 fishing, with 2 sections. I found myself on 16, whilst Mark was on 8, which was exactly were he didn’t want to be. I wasn’t too disappointed with 16, although I felt that I was at the wrong end of section, which started on peg 15 to my right.

Decided on 4 swims, 5m with caster, 13m cupping in some groundbait, with chopped worm, micros and 4mm pellet, 11m at an angle to my left was chopped worm & caster, looking for the bigger roach and perch, and finally the feeder, which I was hoping I wont need to use.

I started at 5m to let my lines settle, but it was slow and bites weren’t coming quickly enough, I even tried fishing half depth, which produced 2 quick fish then nothing. After an hour, I only had 15 fish, but I wanted to give my other swims the best possible chance to settle. What was noticeable was the tow on the lake as the wind picked up, it was almost like trotting on the river.

Unfortunately I could only see 3 anglers, so didn’t know how everyone else was doing, but the grapevine suggested most were struggling with the end pegs of 25 & 27 catching. Throughout the match I kept the 13m line topped with a catapulted 4mm every 10mins and the same again on the feeder line with a small of groundbait.

Going into the 2nd hour the 11m line was topped up with some more CW&C and switched to 13m line. What I learned from Monday was the need to be patient for those the bream, but with nearly half of the match gone, I was beginning to question whether my tactic of regularly feeding pellet and whether I should have started on chopped worm. However a near 4lb bream on double maggot was very welcome and I hoped vindicated my decision to keep the pellet going in.

With no further bites I returned to my 5m line, but other than an 8oz perch I had nothing. I had hoped the short line would give me a few extra pounds whilst waiting for the bream to turn up, but the bright conditions was having a negative effect on the fishing.

Phil Powell on peg 13 had 4 skimmers, whilst Nicky the Bricky (NTB) had yet to catch and was spending more time on the feeder, and then out of the blue NTB had 2 bream in 2 casts. Bugger, I had to at least try the feeder now, but other than a couple of plucks from small fish, I had nothing. Neither did NTB, so I switched back to concentrating on my 11m and 13m line.

With just under 2hrs to go, I had another bream at 13m on worm, but again it seemed to be a loaner. With the match drawing to a close, I kept rotating the swims and with 30mins left another small pot of cw&c went in at 11m and with 7mins till the end, I hooked a bream, but as I shipped back the bream popped up to the surface and then the hooked pulled. At the time I thought it would cost me, however looking at the results, I would have come 6th and still out of the money, so I didn’t feel quite as bad.

I knew NTB had 2 decent bream and together with a single roach, beat me by 8oz. His biggest fish was about 6lb.

A tough match and on reflection felt I got my tactics right, it was just a shame about the weather. The 3 pegs to my left didn’t weigh and that included a blank. 1st and 3rd came from the 2 end pegs to my left in the wind, whilst 2nd place came from the other end of the match length from a noted skimmer peg.

As for Mark, he packed up early. It was obviously a difficult area, because Ian Didcote pegged next to him only had a few fish, which brought a smile to a few people faces, because he was very confident going into the match, but he didn’t seem so chipper at the end.

1st 38-7 Bevan Boy peg 27
2nd 31-13 Withybagger peg 2
3rd 21-13 Mattyg peg 25

Jackson Athlete...

We have just got in some of the much talked about Jackson Athlete lures.

We currently have the Jackson Athlete slim series in stock.

14FS (floating slim 21g) & 14SS (slow sinking 25g)

Due to inside moving weight system long casting distance is easily achieved and this lure works great in rough conditions as the athlete is very stable in the water.

Both the 14FS and the 14SS have a mixture of rolling and wobbling action both being medium divers.

140FS slim 21g (Pearl)

140SS slim 25g (chartreuse with orange underbelly)

Tight lines.

Squeezed in Some Fishin!

Friday late afternoon we packed up the kids and headed out to the lake for the night. Mom and Dad, Chad and Julie, Justin and Katy, and Josh all were thinking on the same page and ended up out at the lake with the same intentions. The weather was hot and we all just pretended like it was summer (minus the swimming). Anyhow we jumped in the boat and headed out to some favorite spots as the sun was setting. We didnt catch anything great, but did catch some nice variety with weirdest catch actually being a monster female bluegill hitting my big number 4 mepps spinner slow rolled near the bottom:


We caught a handful of largemouth bass and this one young smallie:


Justin also caught a trout and was not happy with me making him take this picture:

Then we just hung out around the fire roasting marshmallows, dreaming big plans for this summer at the lake, and just good ole relaxing. We do got big plans at the lake this year. Memorial Day weekend we will be building a new dock with a super high jump platform that overhangs our new Blob. Yep, we got one of these for our summer camps at the lake:


I have a feeling I will be able to send some bony junior high kids pretty much into outerspace when I go dropping onto that thing. Whats nice is that Justin and Chad are also built like tanks (insulated tanks) and can share the load. I am sure when we combine our 1000 lbs together people are going to simulate flying off of that thing! Should be interesting, stay tuned for our own Blob pics and videos in the coming months.

Anyhow, Saturday morning we headed up to the Fairview Cafe for all you can eat Pancakes and Sausage just to make sure we will stay good blob jumpers for this summer.... Then Justin, Josh, and I headed over to a clients property for a few hours. We are getting his mobile cabin all ready for its journey up to the Fox Chain of Lakes.

The Cabin used to sit here overlooking the lake, but we are moving it out of the way to make room for the new hunting/fishing lodge. The lodge is going to be built by Noah Herman Sons builders, but I have helped with the custom design, and will be working on the lodge every chance I get. I will be posting pics as the project progresses, it is really gonna be sweet!

The deck is going to be cantilevered over the water quite a bit, so we dug out a bunch of dirt to help with some depth at the end of the deck to accomodate fluctuating water levels and of course fishing!

Then at 1 pm we headed back to the lake and spent the rest of the day playing with kids, laying in the sun, and fishing of course. Nothing serious, but we did catch a bunch of different species of fish! We caught a 26 inch Tiger Muskie, 3- 16 inch walleye, 6 trout with one of them being pretty big, a dozen largemouth bass, a handful of bluegill, some big crappies, a few hybrid striped bass, a couple smallmouth bass and a catfish. Here are some pics:
















Then just before dark we loaded up and headed back into town. Its the kid's Easter Program at Church tomorrow morning. They will be singing some songs and Mae has to say her memory verse in front of the whole church. Its always fun, cause there is always some kid who makes the congregation laugh by saying something funny.

No fishing tomorrow, its gonna be windy and we are all sunburned. Mae is whining like a baby because she has never experienced sunburn before and Noah is conked out on the chair in the living room. Even Drake got pink today. Man did that sun feel good!!!

Big Ivan my dad and best mate

Dad aged 58



Well it's been the most toughest weeks of my life.
I don't know where to write this but my fishing blog is where I write my true thoughts..

My dad (big Ivan) passed away on Monday at 2.55 pm, age 65, the last 18 months saw him lose his leg through diabetes and then six months later was diagnosed with cancer..
My dad was a best mate and my memories of him in my younger life are so strong..
He played for Port Vale and football was his life to the day he died, he would take me everywhere with him from a early age and soon football became my life..
One freezing winter my dad asked me if I wanted to go fishing, all the football matches were cancelled and my mum had got us a 'beginners fishing' book from the library where she worked.
My dad had never fished in his life and I can see the picture in the book now, showing a bubble float with spaced lead shots and the worm hanging just nice in the bottom..all drawn with pencil and reprinted.. My dad and me sat at home wondering how we were going to go off the book..
We went to the local fishing shop and bought all the gear needed.. Wow we had a diawa 12ft glass rod that was so heavy I could not hold it with one hand.. A basic reel loaded with 15 lb line and a bubble float that was the 'new' plastic style!! Some shots and a bait tub!! Winner!!
We decided to go and fish a local pond called the mill pond.. A small pond that was overgrown with reeds all around the edges..
I was aged 7 and was buzzin my head off and my dad was I thought!! Lol
We arrived to one of the coldest days in winter, the lake was dead and no riffle of wind..It's strange as I remember it so well but that's because this day totally chAnged my life and gave me something some never feel....."addiction to fishing"
We sat on a old wicker basket that my grandad had sourced for us, it was slanted and always collapsed to one side..
My thoughts are quite blurry from that moment but I remember I had been sitting on my dads knees freezing cold but the book had told us that if the float goes under we should 'strike' wow this word sounded amazing to me at aged 7 and my eyes were totally focussed on the hand painted orange float..
The float had not moved for hours and my dad was getting pissed off lol..towards the end I have a picture in my mind that is clear as a bell..
We were both leaning over the wall looking at our float that was 12 inches from the bank!!! The book had not told us where to cast but we were fishing this close in!!
Well the float twitched.... And twitched again!!!! My dad shouted 'strike' and I said 'no' wait for it to go under!!!! My dad shouted strike again.. I still waited and then the float never moved again........
So there we were, my dad and me driving home arguing on weather I should of 'strike' or not!! The book had told us to wait for it to go under grrrr
Looking back I think my dad was right as the float was that big the fish would not be able to pull it under lol...
Even still to this day I often day dream of this moment and now my dad had passed away it is even stronger..
My dad hated fishing but he had gave me something that became my life from a early age, something that kept me off the streets pissing about.... The anticipation of watching the float go under got a hold of me big time and made me the fishing maniac I am today..Thanks Dad x
I was in Pickering tackle shop last week and in the queue a lad turned to me and said ' on the fly youth?' I turned and said yes holding some feathers... He said ' soon be time for watching that float go under, nothing like it youth' ... I knew exactly what he meant and just nodded my head and drifted back into my thoughts with my dad..

I was quite a keen footballer too, I played lads n dads where my dad would come and watch me, he used to egg me on to kick the best player and I would often run upto a player and kick him off the ball..I was the only player to ever get sent off in under 10s !! But I blame my dad for that..
One game I had been strolling around the pitch day dreaming with my hands on my hips!! My dad would go berserk with me for not trying and I remember walking off the pitch and him shouting in front of everyone.... Glen!!! ' JUST FISH' !! Lol
My dad took it very serious but I had fishing on my mind....
I went into all sorts of fishing and found my place on the rivers...
I did go and play football at a non league standard for years but always had fishing eating away at me..
Well my first ever fish caught was on holiday and was in the company of my dad so I was over the moon!! The mullet in Majorca don't fuck around twitching the float and I just shot under!! The electric bolts of running mullet was just a true buzz and another amazing memory of being with my dad!!


Dad with me in Majorca ltd

My dad used to play football until in his 50s and we finally got the dream to play in the same Sunday team together, the crack we had was untrue, my mates loved him and he would always start trouble on the football field mouthing off at the other team.. Now I know where it comes from in me!!
One time it caused a massive brawl with 22 men fighting on the football field, we would all get a kicking but my dad would stand there laughing about it after as we were nursing our black eyes!!

My dad was far to old to play in the later days and we would 'draft' big Ivan in if we were short..
One occasion I rang him early and begging him to come as we were short, he said only if we had a good side out..
We all sat getting ready in the changing room and my good friend tex had brought a supposedly cracking new player in.. The new lad turned around and asked if anyone has any spare boots? My dad asked him his boot size and he said 'medium' !!! My dads face was a absolute picture...class

The memories of my big Ivan are huge and he taught me in life to take no shit off the so called 'blaggers' in life, I have seen many over the years and fly fishing seems to attract them..
The ltdffa is full to the brim of 'anglers' and something jt and myself are proud of...

My memories of my dad are sweet, my sister Natalie sat by my side as we we watched him slip away earlier week.. I used to ask him until the end how he was feeling? He would just say 'never mind me how are you? '
And that says it all for us...

I have one message for you dad.. Yes I should of 'striked' when you said... But could never admit it..

We will miss you Dad
Love always

Natalie and Glen
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Dad aged 20


Glen aged 5



Glen dad Nat mum

A 4500 LB MARLIN!

Percy Von Lipinski is an interesting character and featured reporter form CNN. He was recently visiting Cabo and did several feature spots about our city. This is the report he did on our recently unveiled marlin tribute. 


He also did a report on our luxury yacht division will be out soon and posted here too.