30/03/12 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 37lb 3oz (7lb 10oz - silvers)
Catch - 11 Carp, 7 F1, 7 Skimmers, 1 Rudd
Weather - Mostly sunny, cold NE breeze
Match - Open - 5th out of 25 (3rd - silvers)

Really bored with this weather now and the Met office predicts another 7-10 days of this easterly system. Also this March has been the coldest since 1962 - no kidding!

I was a bit surprised to find 25 had booked in. Turns out today was advertised as an Easter open, with £20 pools instead the usual £12. However, the payout was top 3 overall and top 2 silvers only, with no sections so the draw was going to be all important.

Peg 12 was my home for the day, which I was reasonably happy with, but felt I would be up against it, with the better draws at the moment being around the small island. For company I had Lewis Jones on p10 and an angler I didn't know on p13. At least I had some room into the corner, but another frosty night meant a slow start.

After plumbing around I settled on fishing down my right hand margin on the 2nd shelf feeding caster and 2 areas against the island on the 2nd shelf, feeding micros and 4s. I also had a swim in the open water to my right and at the bottom of the far shelf.

Rig wise I set up 3 rigs, but only ended up using 2. Jolly 4x16 > .08 > 20 silverfish maggot for the open water and frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet to fish the 2nd shelf.

On the all in a small ball of groundbait with micros was cupped into the open water and a pinch of micros at the bottom of the shelf. It was no surprise it took 30mins to catch my fist fish a small skimmer on maggot over the groundbait. My first carp was a 6-7lber over the micros, which took a while to land on .08 bottom.

I kept the caster going into the right hand margin, as well as loose feed 4s to the left side of the island and micros on the point. There was definitely a few fish moving around, but they were reluctant to feed in the cold. By the half way point I had a few more skimmers and carp for about 15lb on double maggot from the island, which was on par with Lewis, but every time I looked up pegs 6 & 7 were landing fish.

First look into the right hand margin and I had a carp straight away, but lost the 2nd. The open water swim produced a couple more skimmers and F1s mostly over the groundbait, whilst the 2nd shelf accounted for more carp.

With an hour to go I knew I was fishing for at least 3rd, but didn't realistically think I would challenge for the silvers, so stuck with the carp, landing another 4. That decision probably cost me £70. I beat everyone around me, p13 only weighed 4lb, whilst Lewis had 23lb. However my silvers weighed 7-10 and 8-2 was needed to win! A surprisingly low weight.

In the end I felt I fished a good match and got the most out of the swim (except for the silvers). If I repeated that in tomorrows pole only series I would have won the section.

1st 55- 6 - Mark Bartlett - p6
2nd 47- 1 - Ade Baker - p7
3rd 45-12 - Shane Lovell - p5
4th 37-15 - Mark Walsh - p37
5th 37- 3 - Ken Rayner - p12
6th 34- 1 - D Blakemore - p9

Silvers
1st 8- 2 - Charlie Barnes - p26
2nd 8- 0 - Rob Fogg - p15
3rd 7-10 - Ken Rayner - p12

I Love Spring!

Last week Tony, Kristopher and myself got the chance to slip out for a few hours and enjoy some amazing spring weather. The trout were doing trout like stuff and eating caddis and march browns. The sun was shining and it was all around just an amazing day. We picked on a gooberous amount of fish but most of them were just cookie cutters. This one happened to be just a notch about the rest and figured I would share the photo!

Frank-n-Fish

Last weekend I got the chance to fish with Frank and Bill. It was my first time to fish with Frank. The guys showed up and about the time we got ready to put the boat in the bottom fell out, along with several crazy bursts of lightening.  We stuck it out in the parking lot and waited for it to pass. Once we got in the water the boys crushed it. The fish were gobbling caddis emergers. Frank ended up bring these two beauties to the boat for the fish of the day!

Fishy Little Fellow

I am a bit behind on my blog, So bear with me folks. Last we I took young Jacob out. I am telling you right now I guide many adults who do not grasp it as well as Jacob did in a half day for his first time holding a rod. I had it fishing two flies, plus split shot and a 10 foot leader. It tangled literally once. He caught something like 19 fish. It was brutally cold but it did not slow him down! Big thanks to mom ( Donna) for being so awesome and taking her son fly fishing!

First Sea Trout of the year

I met Sam last year through Lynne and our friends from Glasgow. As luck would have it he's a fellow angler originally from Scotland he now lives in London. We hatched a plan on a boozy night out last week to have a couple of hours fishing today before he heads south again after the Easter break. It can be a tough time of year but I was reasonably confident we might get a fish or two.


It was a frosty morning with a cold easterly wind, even colder when Sam snagged his lure shortly after starting and his arm took a dip up to the shoulder to make sure no new knots were required. I then made the same mistake and after wading out I narrowly avoided the dreaded dip when the lure came free. Not long after changing lures to a Hansen in-line in green I put a long line out which resulted in this small bar of silver below, a humble start to 2013 but welcome just the same.

Sam thought about changing his lure but stuck at it and hooked and lost a fish of around 2 pounds on a short line as you sometimes do when they’re green and close in.We both had the inevitable follows and I also had a nice fish come at the lure a few times, follow me right in turning away at the last moment…. the joys of Sea Trout fishing.

The session was cut a little short after Sam took a tumble narrowly avoiding a potentially expensive trip to the dentist. It was good to see him up within a second or two with the only damage being the bail arm on his new Daiwa. The next time we fish together it will certainly be warmer and I’ll be sure to check the beach for banana skins before we start ; )

Ready To Go

You Have to Read This

From left to right: Captain of Rebecca J.R, Rebecca Jensen, Isabel Jensen, Gail Jensen, Deckhand Luis Cota
Center, Striped Marlin about to be released.

When we received the above photo, it really caught our attention, it’s as if the emotions were transmitted through the picture -even the marlin’s expression caught the eye. We studied it and could see there was a story here, more than just a striped marlin being released. So we tracked down Rebecca Jensen, the person who made the reservation and asked her the story behind this beautiful photo that expressed such joy. Rebecca told us that she had fished Cabo on several occasions and wanted to come back again and bring her dad, 83 year old Gail Jensen, a cattle rancher from Utah. Gail has worked hard all his life, being a cattle rancher is not easy, leaving little time for family reunions. Rebecca loves to fish and when she was a little girl it was her dad that taught her to fish and instilled in her a mutual love for the sport they shared. Gail has just retired and sold his ranch, so Rebecca thought it was time for dad to go for the ultimate sport fish and check off his bucket list by catching a marlin.
Gail Jensen is not much of a traveler, so when Rebecca called him and asked him what he was doing she was surprised when he answered “I’m at Walgreens getting my passport photo, shall I get the expedited service?”  Of course Rebecca encouraged him to do so and then went about getting the fishing trip set up in Mexico.  Scouring the internet, with her seven year old daughter, Isabel, they came across Pisces Sportfishing and saw the 31 ft. Bertram named “Rebecca”….. “That’s it mom, said Isabel, we have to fish on that boat. That’s your name.” Rebecca called Pisces and spoke to Ady Moya who soon had the Jensen’s set up for two days fishing.
Now the ball was rolling and the group began to grow, why not invite Gail’s 80 year old brother, Neil, also a farmer, living in Idaho and his 45 year old son, David, same profession and Rebecca’s cousin, born just one day after her and who she had not seen in twenty years.  Rounding out the group was Isabel, the third generation of the Jensen’s.

The Jensen's At the Airport, the day of the trip to Mexico has finally arrived.

Now it has to be understood that the two brothers in their 80’s had never worn a t-shirt in their lives, let alone travel to an exotic place like Mexico. But Rebecca, a regular Cabo visitor soon had them feeling more comfortable and they came by the Pisces store to pick up their lucky Pisces fishing shirts – there was no way they were losing the jeans though.

First T-shirts evey worn by the Jensen brothers.

Next day they were up early and out on the Rebecca, within one hour of leaving port, they had a hook up on a striped marlin and Rebecca’s emotions could not be expressed as she encouraged her dad to reel, as he fought the biggest fish of his life – not to last though, as the fish managed to get off. No problem though they had it close to the boat and Gail had fought it for over 20 minutes; which we classify as a “Mexican” release.

A delighted Rebecca Jensen poses with her dad, Gail, as he reels his marlin in.

Lines were put back out and before long another hook up was registered this time for 80 year old Neil, who successfully released a striped marlin estimated at 140 lbs.

The Jensen team, David, Rebecca, Gail, Isabel and Neil

 It was late in the day and the crew of J.R and Luis, said it was time to head back towards Cabo. Two marlin for the two seniors was not to be sniffed at and the group felt good with the day’s activity, but it was not over yet. They were clipping along with lines out at a good speed, when the captain suddenly slowed the boat, yelled to the deckhand and they abruptly did an about turn – he had spotted a marlin jumping. Luis quickly cast a live bait and hooked up again. This time the fish was for cousin David, who could hardly believe the strength and beauty of the fish on the end of his line (his mother was to call Rebecca later that evening, after she received the photos, in tears and said she had not seen her son smile like that since he was a little boy).

David Jensen poses with his marlin, before letting it go.

David’s fish was successfully released and the boat pulled up lines, picked up speed and headed for the marina. They had not gone far, when the crew again saw a marlin jumping and did a replay of the previous fish, slowing down, casting a bait and getting a hook up, this time for seven year old Isabel, who with a lot of encouragement and coaching by the skilled crew managed to release the fish shown in the photo that had caught our attention.

Seven year old Isabel's marlin put on a magnificent show and they snapped this perfect photo, which looks like a painting

Rebecca, was positively glowing as they returned to port, all of her loved ones had caught a marlin in what was supposed to be a slower time of year.

The following morning they set off again, with lower expectations; a dorado or tuna for the table would suit them just fine, that was not to be however, within an hour the dedicated crew of the Rebecca had their namesake, Rebecca Jensen, hooked up to a marlin, which would turn out to be the only one caught that day.
The Jensen family caused quite a stir back at the hotel, the staff was intrigued by the two old, but strong men, brothers, wearing their Wrangler jeans on the beach, as they sipped a drink and reminisced about old times - it was like they were little boys again.

The Jensen brothers, cattle ranchers in their 80's on the beach - like little boys again.

By the end of the stay, some of the waiters were affectionately calling Gail, “Papa”.   Rebecca was approached by many people and they nicknamed her “marlin lady”, as the story had spread around the pool about how many marlin this family had released and how she had arranged everything.

Asked how she felt Rebecca replied “This trip changed my life, I cannot put into words how special it was”.
It seems that the effort of putting a trip together paid off for Rebecca, giving her and her family wonderful memories that none of them will ever forget. Who knows maybe you’ll even see a couple of old cattle ranchers wearing Pisces shirts around Utah and Idaho.
By Tracy Ehrenberg