Been a while

Has been to long since I updated this as my old school reports used to say, could do better.........
In truth there hasn't been much to write about, it's been an odd Autumn. it's usually a time I really enjoy but for one reason and another it's not been great this year. Time to get back to it and back with a bang.

29lb and yes, I am actually happy

Yesterday had us fish a venue we knew about but had never fished before. Joined by a couple of pals we were on the bank at 08.00 and fishing by 09.00. We were going to have a go at fishing  a "stick float" for the first time so one swim was chosen for that, a second swim was picked to fish a pole just in case we got the stick float fishing all wrong. There was a reasonable chance of this as we'd never done it before and the rod an reel used probably weren't the best bits of kit for this style of fishing. It should be said they are good bits of kit but not necessarily for fishing running water.

It's not the deepest bit of water, 4 foot ish and the water was pushing through at a nice pace. I went with 4lb main line, 2lb hooklength to a size 18 "Drennan Silverfish Barbless". The float was a Preston 4x4, with the shot spaced out shirt button style. We chose not to use any groundbait on this line and went for loose feed only, red & white mags, caster and hemp were all used at some stage and as is often the case 2 reds seemed to perform better. A constant stream of loose feed seemed to do the job here and we both had success when we had our turn on it. It was feed, cast, feed again, feed twice as the float ran through, strike, net  fish, feed while unhooking and repeat again. I reckoned we couldn't over feed them so the same routine was carried out over and over again. Sure we missed a few bites, got a few casts wrong (really wrong) but we got it together and on that line had 70 fish for 29lb 8 ozs of mainly good plump roach. Well pleased with this and it's fair to see it's a type of fishing we'll do again.

31lbs, great bag...........

The second swim was a pole swim and we decided to just fish the one line with one top 3 set up using a cralusso 4gram float which in hind sight was too heavy. We should have set up a second rig with a lighter float but the set up we went for gave excellent slow presentation and it worked. Similar lines and hook used though
the shotting here involved an olivette with a number of droppers. We went with using some groundbait on this line to see if it made any difference, it didn't. One thing I did notice when I had my turn on this line was that any time I potted in hemp I got quick responses. This turned out to be the best attack on the day with 82 fish for 31lb and ounces.

Stephen, 29lb also

Our two pals, Stephen and Ron both fished the stick for the day and had similar weights to us with Stephen having 29lb 8 ozs and Ron having 26 lb. Ron started an hour after the rest of us so his bag was notable.

Ron, 26lbs

OK, we'll pack up in half an hour !!!

I can see Rob through the round window

And so the day kept on going, until there was nothing left to put in the feeders. Such was our enjoyment on what turned out to be a cracking venue in darkest Cavan or is it Leitrim ?
A nice handy start leaving the house at 08.30 had us in great form from the off. This was a day with nobody to beat, no "All Ins'", no mad rush just a simple day on the feeders.
Having never fished the venue before it took a small bit of finding and a call to Dublins best looking tackle dealer (Joe Nolan of C&J Angling) had us sorted with no real trouble. We elected to fish the area with the steps down to the lake and it turned out to be a good choice.

Peace and quiet.............

Mother nature chucked everything at us over the course of the day, a NW wind was straight at us and so casting was kept to a distance of about 30 yds. Grounbait was a mix of Sensas Match and brown crumb, darkened off with black Tracix. Caster, red mags, hemp and corn were fed through the feeders and all though we were getting bites on whatever we hooked, double red mag seemed to be the best.
Bites were regular enough, though it was never hectic stuff which was just what the doctor ordered.
Skimmers. roach, hybrids and perch all graced the nets at some stage and I pulled out of the only bream
we nearly saw all day, doh !!!
We tried a variety of hooklengths to see if we could get a few more, long, short, bigger hooks smaller hooks, all the usual tactics. A longer hooklength of about 3 foot to a Tubertini 808 in a size 16 seemed to win out in the end. In truth I'm not sure it made a  huge difference.

Go on then, go round.........

I had thought about a finish time of about 16.00 hrs but we were having such an enjoyable day we kept adding another 30 mins until eventually at about 17.30, we literally had nothing left to put in the feeders or on the hooks so reluctantly we called it a day.
We figured as the day was going that I had a bit more than Rob and as the nets were pulled out a quick look
confirmed that I had. We hadn't brought scales so going on the number of fish caught we figured about
10lb for me and 8lb ish for Rob. No doubt that had we been in match mode we'd have done considerably better but some days, pleasure mode is just fine.........................

The Battle of Magiscroft...................Theres allways a battle !!!!!!!!!!

So after a couple of days practise, it was yet another 7 am start, with breakfast being laid on at the venue.
A few probs getting some lads out of their beds had us arriving at the venue at 08.20 late but plenty of time.
Vans were off loaded again with a mountain of damp and wet gear and the lads dropped their gear off at their sections which was to save a bit of time after the draw for pegs.
 The Sun had finally come out and the lake looked great which added to everyones excitement and some peoples nerves. Once that was done it was time for breakfast and the usual pre match banter. Robs nerves were getting at him so a small breakfast was in order, tea and toast, I butchered a dirty great big fry up, lovely jubbly..

IFI Junior team Ireland

After breakfast it was time for the big draw and Gavin drew number 2 and swims were allocated.
Some were happy others not so, Rob was delighted when he realised he had drawn the swim he practised
on and done well on, on the Thursdsay.
Off they went to get set up and the backroom team leapt in to action, well actually we dragged our tired and weary bodies out of the on site cafe and kicked each other into gear. Gavin started on the tonnes of groundbait, Paul was on worm weighing duties1.5kgs per man I think,

I was on the far bank with our lads making sure they had everything and back up and down that blummin hill to fetch missing bits.
I've never realised the amount of work that goes into one of these events, it's immense and I take my hat off to guys who do it for longer trips and more regularly. We had settled on a groundbait mix which day by day was getting darker and the final mix of Leam, Sonubaits F1 and several tubs of black tracix was eventually mixed, weighed and carried to the pegs. We had settled on two lines, 1 at full length starting dead depth using 1.5 or possibly 1 gr floats. There was little or no tow and the wind had dropped right off so nothing heavier was needed. The bites from the F1's were very finnicky so the lighter the better. A second closer line at 6M allowed use of floats in the .5 to .7gr. As a general guide size 16's out long and 18's in short were the order of the day and as I checked on lads, floats were beautifully shot and presentation looked good.
They had listened, they were learning.
With time pressing on, caster and mags were delivered to pegs and shortly after the first signal was given and prebaiting could begin. 3 balls out long with small amounts of caster and chopped worm were slowly and in some cases shakingly cupped onto the long lines. A similar mix but in small quantities were cupped onto

First put in, fingers crossed, lets go to work......

the short lines. The game plan was to start on the short line and every few mins feed it with cad pots of caster / choppies, topped off with loose groundbait. Go out to the long line for a 5 minute check every half hour, give it a few mins and if nothing there, feed it again and come back short.The groundbait was to be lightly pressed so as it would break up quickly, nobody was to compress it to hard.
"All In" went the shout and Rob had caster on the hook in the 6m swim in double quick time. So had the Scottish lad to his right and wouldn't you know it a couple of minutes later and the Scot is into a lump.
Theres elastic everywhere and after about 10 minutes he has a carp of about 2lb safely in his keepnet.
Shortly after Rob gets his first F1 on the short line and all the nerves are gone. The Scottish lad was getting very little and the Welsh guy even less so as Rob quietly slipped 6 more F1's into his net I reckoned
he was there or there abouts in his section. A walk along the bank didn't reveal an awful lot, Ciaran
in section E didn't have much, Mark and Robert in section G had less and Ronan in G was getting a few but not much. Back to Rob and as I stood watching The Welsh lad had a carp and then a good skimmer and I figured he was now just in front with Rob and the Scottish lad neck and neck. The first and second look on the long lines showed nothing so back short and a few more F1's were bagged.

Gavin was doing the rounds throughout the match and at half way we told the lads to up the amount of feed in the groundbait, more worm to go in, we needed some carp. Another check on the lads, had the Welsh lad in E section baggin, Ciaran was getting a few and was in 2nd place there. Mark and Robert were in a very slow section and nobody there was catching much. Ronan in G had lost a couple of carp and was probably 3rd.
News from the other bank was that we were not getting much there and had lost a couple of carp.
After a couple of hours things weren't looking great then young James in Section A hit into a right lump,Gavin was with him to advise and guide and after a heart stopping time it was in the net and he was in pole position
in that section.

Section A, nice lump netted

We reckoned we were in 2nd place in B, 3rd in C and possibly 2nd in D. Things were looking up and I was in good form until the Welsh manager got a walkie talkie message from his senior team manager
who was sat high on the cafe bank observing the full match. Check the Irish lad in section F has he got his pole marked, where is the mark, cheeky git. Someone had remarked to us during one of our practise days that he thought we were not fishing to full allowed length. So after day two we measured and marked all the poles with red tape as did the other teams. As long as the tape was behind your elbow AOK. We did discover that we were short in several cases. I could have slapped the Welsh Manager, especially as at least one of his lads was 19 which I believe is over the age limit, Grrrrrrrrrrrrr
Anyway after about 2.5 hours Rob is on his long line and Gavin is with him when the pole got pulled under the water and out shot the Hollow Vespe at a scary rate. We stood and watched, as did the Scottish and Welsh manager and after several minutes I bottled it and went for a check on the lads. Down to E section and Ciaran is getting a few and definitely in second place after the Welsh lad. Back to G where Mark and Robert are still finding it slow but then so is the Scottich and Welsh lad. We had brought an extra man with us and pre match agreements were in place that the higher weight of those two would be used. That was to close to call and really was a slow section. Along the bank to Ronan in G and he's lost another carp and probably still in
3rd place. As I walked back a round of applause went up and I knew Rob had netted the lump and it was a right good one too,

Heart Stopping and arm aching

As seen from the far bank

He's definitely in front in the section now and thats two sections were winning !!! That certainly was never in
Wales or Scotlands pre match thinking. He re fed the long line and after a couple of seconds where he was shaking so much he couldn't get the worm on the hook, he was soon back on the short line and nabbed a couple more fish. After some fishless minutes he's back long again and there it goes again, pole tip pulled under,  Vespe Hollow shining brightly in the afternoon sun, looking good. I managed to stay with him this time and soon enough a smaller carp was in the net. The Scottish lad, pulled out of a carp but 10 minutes later landed one of about 1.5lb. Squeaky bum time !!!!! There's an hour to go now and unlike a lot of matches things have quietend down all round the lake. Theres a few fish coming but not a lot other than to the Welsh lad in Section E who's really baggin. 30 mins to go an another look on the line line, theres nothing happening.
The Welsh and Scottish managers have been on to their lads in Robs section telling them to go all out for carp as they reckoned, like me, that they needed one to beat him. I had a quick walk to the other lads,
Ciaran is still in 2nd, Robs leading, Robert Smithers thinks he's in front, Ronan in G thinks he might be 2nd.
He's had a couple of carp. Back to Rob and a quick look on the long line with 20 mins to go showed nothing so with 10 minutes it's back to the short line as we reckoned even if he did get a carp out long he wouldn't land it. Another final f1 with 5 mins to go had me sure he would get the section win but you can never be sure.
"All out" and a very proud and shattered Da breathes a sigh of relief and shakes his hand.
What a few hours that was, the lake is buzzing with excitement as a large crowd followed the scales from peg to peg. We're putting gear away as we hear the first call that Ireland have indeed won section "A", then it's a second a third and a second in B, C, & D. My head is counting and we might be in second place here.
Round to our side and we've another confirmed second in section E, then it's Robs Section

Welsh Competitors weight, 2.720kgs

Robs weight, 4.560kgs

Scottish competitors weight, 3.320kgs

He's only gone and done it, a section win on a personal note but more importantly, 1 team point.

Team Kavo.........lol

Myself and Gavin are looking sideways at each other thinking things that we probably shouldn't have been.
Section F came in great for us with Robert Smithers getting the best weight having bagged an F1 with minutes to go, thats 3 section wins and now it's all up in the air.

The final section was a heart breaker, Ronan had lost 4 carp, he weighed the biggest individual weight of the Ireland team but still got beaten in what was a high weighing section.
So the weigh in is over and it's pack up and waiting time, we're trying to do maths but were afraid to in case we got them wrong but the first hint I got was when the Welsh manager came over and congratulated me !!!!
I assumed it was a wind up but then the Scottish manager did the same and Gavin came over and said I think we have it. After what seemed an eternity we were finally called for the presentation and though I knew what was coming it wasn't until they said Wales were second that we knew for sure.
A huge roar went up and the lads moved in for their rewards.

Fantastic

So there it is, a fantastic few days. Much learned, new friends made. Our thanks to all the lads, the parents who made the trip but especially to Gavin Walsh for selecting Rob in the first place. For his help, advice, guidance and patience, thanks Gaffer.

Final weigh sheet

The whole gang.........

Champion and Ronnie too

 

Day 2 Practise at Magiscroft, Junior Celtic Cup 2011

Frustrated but sticking with instructions

Day two Saturday and it's official practise day, with all 3 teams practising at the same time and that was held at the same time as the next days match time, 12.00 to 16.00. Wales took the far bank, where we had practised the previous day, Scotland the lower number on the near / cafe bank and we settled in to the higher numbers on the near bank. Our side was deeper than the previous day and this was selected deliberatley so as to give the lads more time fishing top 4's & 5's. Gavin had spoken the previous day about fine tuning rigs, as the first day had shown up some shortcomings in that area. Shorter hooklengths, shorter line between poles and floats and floats better shotted was the order of the day and give the lads their credit, in that area they looked better but still room for improvement, there allways is.
As per the previous day each team member was giving a specific task and a couple of different tactics were tried, some had success and some didn't. 

Eh ! am I back on KIlcock ??

The fishing all round the lake was poor enough with no notable weights from any of the teams.
Our overall weight was down on the previous day but lads who hadn't done so well on day 1 did on day two and vice versa.

We packed up at 16.00 hrs and got together for a chat about the two days.

As we packed gear away and carted it up Hearattack Hill Gavin spent time by the lake tying up and fine tuning rigs for anyone that felt they needed them. 
The draw was done for sections on the Saturday evening before we left and the excitement was starting to build even more as lads started to get an idea of where they would actually be fishing for the big day.
Sections A,B,C, & D were on the near / cafe bank, E, F, G, & H were on the far shallower (ish) bank.

Peg numbers were added on the Sunday morning

Based on what we had figured from the 2 days fishing and some shared info from other teams we had a plan
for the big day. Bring it on...............

Hoots Mon............

Rob finally meets Tommy............

IFI Junior Team Ireland are settled in and had a days practise on the match venue today. Pleasantries were exchanged with the locals in the club house and then it was down to business.

IFI Junior Team Ireland, Magiscroft Scotland Aug 2011

A mountain of gear was transported to the far side of the lake and once they were set up, each of the team members was given specific tasks to carry out so that a team plan could be formulated before Sunday.

Gavin Walsh, Team Manager / Groundbait Guru

Each angler was supplied with various baits and whilst that task was carried out Gavin was busy putting groundbait together by the bucket load. We were a bit slow getting started and a fair bit of fine tuning had to  be done before the lads could eventually get fishing.

Despite some nasty weather it was smiles allround as fish started to come and everyone relaxed a little.
The smallest member of the team was given an end peg to help him along and boy did he need it !!!

Young Paul, how he blagged his way on to the junior team I'll never know..

The swims were deep and top 5's were having to be used in most swims, this was taking a bit of getting used to but full credit to the lads they adapted quite quickly and floats were starting to dip on a regular basis.

F1's were appearing and perch that to be honest may have come from an Enfield Canal stretch were coming to often.










Thats an average stamp F1, going about 3 to the pound so quite a few will be needed on Sunday.
We called it a day at 17.30 hrs and weighed in the bags so as to get an idea of what the day's tests
had yielded.

37 fish for 4.860 kgs, 2nd best weight of the day

Weigh Sheet for Day 1

The canal called.

Well I just had to answer it. Early this morning Rob can't get out of bed so I'm on my own and it's our old favourite and the spot where it all began. Unusually there's great colour in the water today and the parked up weed cutter that may have been the cause of it had me feeling optimistic. Two lines as ever for my pleasure sessions. The bottom line was down the track and fed with chops, caster and groundbait. Left alone for 30 mins while I mucked about at mid depth, chasing small fish for a bit of float dipping action and sure enough, dip dip
on a resonably often enough basis. Using a small cad pot had a regular stream of mags and dusty groundbait falling through the water right on the button. Lifting and dropping a single red on a size 20 Drennan hook brought the bites about a foot off the bottom. I was getting quick bites on the drop so shallowed up thinking they were higher in the water but that had me fishless for 15 mins so a look on the deep line. started on caster and had a nice roach but it took too long. Slipped on a single red mag and minutes later this was charging about the place and came clean out of the water at one stage !!!!

Theres only tiddlers in there mister, yeah shhhhhh  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         

 

Straight back to that line thinking there might be more lead to dissapointment. They either weren't there or I couldn't tempt one but I got no more of that stamp. Back to the shallow line and slowly I'm getting them going again until to my surprise a boat appears on my left coming from the town. That slowed things down again and great and all as it is to see them........... Kept a steady stream of loose bait going in and here we go again dipity dip dip and I'm happy swinging blips on no 4 elastic. Then and I think this is a first for me
another boat !!! In the opposite direction this time, maybe it's a relay race I thought. This one really did put the downers on things and a biteless hour after that I headed for brekkie.The final look at my catch had me happy enough .

Lovely mornings fishing on a special canal stretch, I really love being an angler. I often think we forget that.

Not great really.

Well Robs off and running with feeder fishing and despite a couple of poor days he's enjoying it.

The Junior All Ireland was held in Cavan this year on the match stretch in KIllykeen so off we went with         Mrs Kavanagh in tow !!! About time we had a bit of glamour on the bank I say, so I came along too !!!
A beautifull sunny day mid summer day, no wind, real live sunshine and the crystal clear water meant it wasn't going to be easy for any of the 20odd juniors that entered and so it proved.
Few fish were caught along the stretch so Josh Kavanaghs bag of over a kilo was allways going to be hard
to better and he was duly crowned Junior All Ireland Champion, our congrats to him. Rob gave it his best shot, we tried several different things over the 3 hours but nothing really worked and he ended up with few fish for few grams. Not to worry it was a lovely day on the feeder, he's learning and will only improve.

Saturday 31/07 had us in Cavan, in the wonderful surroundings of Leonards in Gowna. Deep, deep place that and we headed there to give Rob some practice fishing top 4's, at least that was the idea. We were joined by Ron Durkin and Derek Gibbons or did we join them ?

on what looked to be a perfect day for fishing. Well it looked like one but wasn't one. Tough going again for all of us. The three lads all started on a pole line, I got the feeder gear out from the off, and at 20 turns was getting a count of 20 when I cast a wee lead out at the start. I'm hoping for bream so it's chops and caster from the off and plenty of it. Perch are fond of the old worm and that was all I could get. Mind it was more than the other 3 managed and pole lines were abandoned after about an hour.

So it's all out feeder warfare, we lost. Very little to show for all our efforts and Rob was the only one to get anything even remotely close to a decent fish. To be fair Rob, it is remotely close to a decent fish, not actually a decent fish !!!!!!!!
Peadar Hearten joined us for a natter and the fishing kind of stopped at that stage, as we sat on the bank
having a laugh at our own and everyone elses expense. The day ended pretty much then and we headed for home, happy enough after a nice day in Cavan.

Great News for Rob

We got the best news ever on Friday when we heard that Rob had been selected to fish for the
Ireland Junior team in the up coming Junior Celtic Cup. The Celtic Cup is an annual match at senior level with teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales taking part. It's been a while since Ireland fielded a  team in the Juniors version of the cup so being part of it is a great honour for him.
This year it is to be held in Scotland at Magiscroft Fishery over the weekend of 13th / 14th of August.

It's a great reward for him and sure who knows where it will all end.
Team Kavo goes International, who would have thought it ?

Blips, gotta love 'em

With a bit of bait left over from yesterday, I made a late call to head out early again this morning but
specifically I wanted to fish for small canal fish (blips). With that in mind I headed to one of our favourite stretches that is good for that kind of fishing., Kilcock.
Another early start and I'm in place ready to go at 06.00 hrs.
Red mags, worm and hemp were on the table with the plan being to fish one line for blips using
mags, hemp and groundbait. A second line for what might be a bonus bigger fish was set up
with worm and hemp
I started off fishing the blip line using a Sensas Auchy .6 grm rig. 2 lb main line, 1.6 lb hooklength
to a size 20 Drennan Red Maggot hook. It was all over the place due to the wind and the slight tow so
I stepped it up to a similar set up but with a .8grm float and the difference that small change made
was quickly apparent. Am in to fish straight away and they came quite regularly thank you.
As ever I started on the bottom and started shollowing within minutes. Most fish came about a foot off the bottom to a single mag. The key was to put in a few mags with every put in and as long as I did that a bite was almost guaranteed.
The worm line didn't give me a thing, in truth I was enjoying catching the blips so much I didn't
really give it a decent go. At 8 a.m the wind had really gotten up and everything was getting too much like hard work for a pleasure session so I headed home.
Very happy with my catch, Blips, I love 'em.

Back to the canals.........

Saturday morning saw us both up at ridiculous o clock and on the road for another go at the
hybrids. I had dropped on to the spot the evening before after work to put in a bit of bait.
Hemp, corn and dead maggots were liberally spread in 3 swims. Last week we couldn't buy a bite after about 7 a.m. and having spoken to another guy who fishes that stretch he confirmed that he was having the same problem. Plan was that we'd be there at 4 a.m. and by giving us a bit more time we might do better than the previous week.
My good friend and long time fishing buddy Stephen Shannon joined us

Nice start to the morning

Myself and Rob were using similar set ups to the following week, Stephen was fishing rod and line which proved difficult, due to the weed. It's one of those spots where you need to fish into holes in the weed so casting was allways going to be difficult. Some work seemed to have been done on
the stretch by the weed cutting machines but it was still difficult getting presentation just right.

Theres no doubt that corn is the best hookbait on this one, mags will get you fish but more ofthen than not they'll be intercepted on the way down by blips, so we were all on corn from the off. First cast for Stephen saw a nice result and we're off. I'm getting lots of indications on the float and Rob as ever
is catching before I am. The next two hours saw a similar pattern to the previous week unfold, allthough I had more fish this week than last and for a pleasant change I weighed more than Rob
when we packed in at 08.30. At that time none of us were getting bites and the early start was
catching up on us. Stephen didn't weigh, Rob had 8 lb odd and I had 10 on the button.
We had all lost fish at some stage which I'm sure was down to hook selection, more accurately
hook size.  I've been using various Drennan hooks for my canal fishing over the last few months and am converted. In particular the Drennan Red Maggot hook has definitely improved my catch rate.
Not having a supply of them or anything else bigger than an 18 with me was a mistake. As long as we learn from that and add some to my canal rig box then we'll be better geared up for the next time.

Another small canal fish, lol

More small canal fish

Rob had a few blips too !!!!!!!!!