With bait a plenty left over from Cork and with an eye on the Junior Canal Champs on Saturday, we swung up to Ferns for a few hours this afternoon. It was an excuse to get a canal head on and check
out rigs in preparation for Saturday.
After some very carefull plumbing up to try find clear patches in what is a weedy and very clear stretch,
we settled on three lines of attack.
A .6 Grm rig was set for skimmers down the track. This was kicked off with two small balls of groundbait with choppy and caster mixed through. A .3 Grm rig three quarters across for roach was kicked off with a pole cup half full of hemp and caster. Last was a .4 Grm roach rig fished less than half way across, this was fed with soft balls of groundbait with pinkie mixed through.
Straight out to the Skimmer line and three quick roach are followed by two perch. On to the close line and again the roach are coming to a single red mag. Taking a few fish of both these lines and swopping back and forth had 20 odd roach in the bag in the first two hours. Not hectic but bites none the less and a few good roach too. A look onto the hemp and caster line after two hours produced a roach but it took to long so back to the other lines having fed all three again. Ten more roach off the two lines in the third hour had us laughing at the idea that he'd have more from a canal in four hours than he had had in four
hours on Inniscarra !!!!
A more serious look at the hemp and caster line for the last hour, had fish coming much better than the earlier look. Adding a pot to the tip of the no 1 section meant for more accurate feeding of a few grains of hemp and a few caster with each put in. If you fed on top of the float you got a bite and if you didn't feed you didn't get a bite. The four hours had whizzed past and exactly 40 fish were bagged, yes he'd caught more than Inniscarra and they weighed more. It's funny how this fishing lark goes sometimes.
So, rigs sorted for the weekend and a timely reminder of the importance of precision and
delicacy on a canal and I still havn't got fishing myself,
Monday, May 21, 2012
Just past Dripsey boy,
Having spent hours on Friday getting sorted we were in good shape to head to Cork early on Saturday for the second in the series of 6 NCFFI Intl Qualifers. Rob is fishing these for the experience and some of the proposed venues are amongst the best fisheries in the country, so the series is also an excuse to fish some of these places that we might not otherwise get to. Friday was spent tying rigs, mixing groundbait, tying hooklengths and generally getting ready. It's fair to say there was a high level of
excitement and expectation, it was after all the famous Inniscarra we were heading to. A water with a great reputation for good bags of quality fish.
05.30 hours and were on the road, with a three and a half hour drive ahead of us. After an uneventfull trip we arrived for the draw to be given the great news that all juniors were being given an "end peg".
Happy days and this in turn added to the expectation of a good day. Somewhere along the way that was changed for Rob and his Ireland team mate from last year, Aaron Hutchman. They were both placed mid section, Rob was on "The Garden Centre" stretch and after a look at the draw sheet it was nice to see Rob was pegged next to none other than venue expert and all round good guy, Shane Dunne.
Shane to his credit, had given us plenty of information regarding the venue and how to fish it. We'd also had good information from Cathal Hughes so we figured we were in good shape as the mountain of gear was lumped through the trees to his peg. Thanks to both of them for the help and guidance it was really appreciated. Nothing to complicated was the order of the day and three top 4's were assembled with 2, 3 & 5 Grm rigs to be fished at 9M.
A 6M whip for a back up line was matched with 5 sections of a Trabucco Dream Team jobby set up to fish to hand (we were expecting big things)
With 20 mins to spare before the 10 minute prebait time there was time for a chat with others and a quick pose.
The match was fished to CIPS rules so 10 mins before the all in it's time to feed the swims, 6 balls on the 9M line and three on the shorter one. Groundbait was Sensas Gros Gardons, Sensas Lake both Black and Black Crumb, caster, hemp and corn were added and chucked in about 2 foot short of the float to allow for the slope. At the all in it was straight on to the short line for a 10 minute look. With nothing doing, on went the 3 Grm rig and out to the 9m line. Straight aaway the float dips and roach on. Under the match rules feeding can only be done with balls made with one hand so it was a small ball at the float after every second fish. After the first hour Mark Theedom (Senior team manager) arrives behind us to see how things are going. Rob has 18 roach, word is that those to his left have very little and two of the three lads to his right have similar. It's looking good, now keep the roach there and hopefully the skimmers will move in, they didn't.
The guy to Robs right was in baggin mode and roach after roach came to his line as Robs dried up. Tried upping the feed in an attempt to get them back but it just wasn't happening. Different rigs were tried, lighter and heavier but they made little difference. Adding another section and going further out in the thought that they may have backed off, did bring bites back but they were slow and again only swinging roach.
A couple of hours in and the lads to Robs left are suddenly getting skimmers a plenty,
Rob and the lads to his right can only get roach, three swims in a row and not a skimmer between them. It's fair to say the stretch didn't fish particularly well and most anglers were dissapointed by the end. 16.30 hrs wasn't long coming around and the final count of 35 roach was enough to ensure a better score than the first round but a dissapointing final weight none the less. The final weigh sheets from the different sections showed that a lot of lads struggled and low weights were the order of the day. Dissapointed and frustrated at the lack of the
expected bigger fish, we headed back to the village for a catch up with lads from the other sections.
Rob dived into the chipper and shortly after, we were back on the road. As ever he's asleep within minutes and it's 3.5 hours driving to get home.
So thats the second of six qualifers done and the next one on The Shannon is in two weeks on June second.
Junior canal champs next weekend, it's all go at the minute for the young fellah. Will I ever get fishing again ?
excitement and expectation, it was after all the famous Inniscarra we were heading to. A water with a great reputation for good bags of quality fish.
05.30 hours and were on the road, with a three and a half hour drive ahead of us. After an uneventfull trip we arrived for the draw to be given the great news that all juniors were being given an "end peg".
Happy days and this in turn added to the expectation of a good day. Somewhere along the way that was changed for Rob and his Ireland team mate from last year, Aaron Hutchman. They were both placed mid section, Rob was on "The Garden Centre" stretch and after a look at the draw sheet it was nice to see Rob was pegged next to none other than venue expert and all round good guy, Shane Dunne.
Right lads, this is the way you tie it....... |
A 6M whip for a back up line was matched with 5 sections of a Trabucco Dream Team jobby set up to fish to hand (we were expecting big things)
With 20 mins to spare before the 10 minute prebait time there was time for a chat with others and a quick pose.
The match was fished to CIPS rules so 10 mins before the all in it's time to feed the swims, 6 balls on the 9M line and three on the shorter one. Groundbait was Sensas Gros Gardons, Sensas Lake both Black and Black Crumb, caster, hemp and corn were added and chucked in about 2 foot short of the float to allow for the slope. At the all in it was straight on to the short line for a 10 minute look. With nothing doing, on went the 3 Grm rig and out to the 9m line. Straight aaway the float dips and roach on. Under the match rules feeding can only be done with balls made with one hand so it was a small ball at the float after every second fish. After the first hour Mark Theedom (Senior team manager) arrives behind us to see how things are going. Rob has 18 roach, word is that those to his left have very little and two of the three lads to his right have similar. It's looking good, now keep the roach there and hopefully the skimmers will move in, they didn't.
The guy to Robs right was in baggin mode and roach after roach came to his line as Robs dried up. Tried upping the feed in an attempt to get them back but it just wasn't happening. Different rigs were tried, lighter and heavier but they made little difference. Adding another section and going further out in the thought that they may have backed off, did bring bites back but they were slow and again only swinging roach.
A couple of hours in and the lads to Robs left are suddenly getting skimmers a plenty,
Getting amongst them now, |
expected bigger fish, we headed back to the village for a catch up with lads from the other sections.
Rob dived into the chipper and shortly after, we were back on the road. As ever he's asleep within minutes and it's 3.5 hours driving to get home.
So thats the second of six qualifers done and the next one on The Shannon is in two weeks on June second.
Junior canal champs next weekend, it's all go at the minute for the young fellah. Will I ever get fishing again ?
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Catch Up
It's been a funny few months with not a huge amount going on for me. Between a knackered right elbow which had me unable to lift a rod to Rob having various junior commitments I've not had a huge amount of actual fishing.In saying that we've been out and about as ever with some success and in fairness some poor days too.
Off the back of the Leinster Junior Team qualifiers we've been on Corrstown quite a few times. Pleasure days have produced bigger bags with the best going to Rob of 169 fish in 4 hours, that said his few match days havn't thrown up anything like that but around 50 to 60 has been an average. He hasn't had great success in the 2 qualifiers, coming 4th in both but thats enough to keep him in the mix and theres one more to go on the canal at Ferns Lock at the end of May.
Getting on that team will see us in Cork at the end of June for the annual junior interprovinces match.
More for the experience of it all, Rob is having a go at fishing the NCFFI (float only) qualifiers for 2013 International Teams. We were on The Barrow a few weeks ago and although he didn't have his best days fishing a few fish were caught on what was a difficult day for a lot of serious anglers. Some of the venues being used have been on our "to do" list for a while now so it'll give us a chance to go and finally fish them. The second qualifier is on Inniscarra in Cork, one that we're really loking forward to and allthough Rob will be fishing along side some of the countries best match anglers it'll give him an opportunity to fish the place prior to the Inter Provinces match, which will help.
One of our clubs FTI AC, has had a couple of monthly meetings which we've attended, Corrstown was good and very enjoyable but the more recent one on Scur wasn't great, with my dodgy elbow having me in such a mess that I couldn't lift the rod on the odd occaision when the tip did go round.
As ever with FTI AC gigs the social side is more important which was just aswell as the fishing itself was poor enough, we had very little to show for the effort but it never really matters.
Off the back of the Leinster Junior Team qualifiers we've been on Corrstown quite a few times. Pleasure days have produced bigger bags with the best going to Rob of 169 fish in 4 hours, that said his few match days havn't thrown up anything like that but around 50 to 60 has been an average. He hasn't had great success in the 2 qualifiers, coming 4th in both but thats enough to keep him in the mix and theres one more to go on the canal at Ferns Lock at the end of May.
169 roach for 16lb and ozs, nice |
Getting on that team will see us in Cork at the end of June for the annual junior interprovinces match.
More for the experience of it all, Rob is having a go at fishing the NCFFI (float only) qualifiers for 2013 International Teams. We were on The Barrow a few weeks ago and although he didn't have his best days fishing a few fish were caught on what was a difficult day for a lot of serious anglers. Some of the venues being used have been on our "to do" list for a while now so it'll give us a chance to go and finally fish them. The second qualifier is on Inniscarra in Cork, one that we're really loking forward to and allthough Rob will be fishing along side some of the countries best match anglers it'll give him an opportunity to fish the place prior to the Inter Provinces match, which will help.
Mark and Vinnie to his right !!!! |
Playing with the big boys now... |
One of our clubs FTI AC, has had a couple of monthly meetings which we've attended, Corrstown was good and very enjoyable but the more recent one on Scur wasn't great, with my dodgy elbow having me in such a mess that I couldn't lift the rod on the odd occaision when the tip did go round.
A cracking Perch for Mac |
Ollie never even wetted a line..... |
Monday, March 19, 2012
A Different Angle
a few fish on the feeder but from the other end of the lake. Theres been a bit of bait going in during the week and a few lads fished it yesterday so up and at 'em. Bad news on the Sunday evening from
Joe, it fished poorly yesterday they struggled.
Oh Yeah, wheres my rod ? |
We've arranged to meet Davy from FTI and as we set up and get sorted I'm unsure what might happen.
The wind had changed to a SW and theres more cloud then yesterday, I'm thinking we might be OK.
The word was skimmers and hybrids were coming out but no bream as yet. I decided to take no chances, Kamisan Animal in a size 16 to 4lb hooklength would tame any hybrid I figured. I knew the area had been fished the day before with nothing much coming out so a bit of a teaser around how much bait to put out. I settled on 6 casts of a closed feeder with caster and choppies and then on went the hooklength. With little happening to three rods it became apparent early that we were going to struggle. I then had 4 wee skimmers on double red mags and thought maybe we might be on to something. The other two lads weren't having any better luck, it was slow.
Another roach going in the keepnet |
The SW wind was off our backs and with the odd glimpse of morning sun it was pleasant enough, time for a cuppa. After a brew I decided to slow things down and clipped on a small feeder and a single red maggot. Not long after the tip bangs round and it's something better than a wee skimmer.
A couple of minutes later and a bream, yes an actual bream is gliding over the surface of the water into my landing net. Right then bugger that, bigger hook a 14 Kamizan Animal and big lump of worm on the hook, I'll have a few more of those please. No actually I won't, an hour ish went by without a bite. Worm, mags, caster, pinkies and various combinations of them were all tried. Out of the blue a couple of small slow pulls on the tip and before I knew it a new PB Bream of 4lb 4ozs is in the landing net.
4lbs 4 ozs |
Not the biggest bream by any standards but my biggest.
Davy was packing up at this stage with little to show for an early start. Rob was getting a few roach having changed to a smaller feeder, a longer hooklength and no worm in the feeder. Not the bream he would have loved but bites nonetheless, he's finally christened the "New" Rod.
The same thing happened after the second bream, my swim went completely dead.
F Lock That
Sunday 11th and theres a Royal Enfield CAC match on the canal. I had to miss it but got th results
pegs at one end threw up some decent bags of skimmers, with 12lb and 9lb being best. A midweek trip was planned and GaryK and Ron Durkin joined me for what we hoped would be a god day.
Ah the best paid plans eh ?
We fished away from early, Ron in the swim that had thrown up 9lb, Gary in the one that threw up the 12lb and I got the duffer that had thrown up 4lb. Theres a decent bit of colour in the swims and we're
all confident. Never mind eh, not a skimmer to be seen anywhere , not much of anything to be seen actually.
It was cold, very blummin cold and with few fish being tempted we packed up earlier than had been planned and headed for home.
Good day that, FTI A.C.
Kyle tried a feeder line |
The second FTI A.C. meet up went ahead last week on Corrstown and what a cracking wee venue it is too. We'd picked it based on the idea that all things being equal everyone should catch. Anyone that knows our club meets will know that we often, far to often have poor days, fishing wise.
It also gave "Team Kavo" another chance to figure things ahead of Robs rapidly approaching Leinster Junior Qualifiers.
As it turned out only one member of The Team pulled up on the bankside but I'd keep to the plan and fish a short line, so out with a 4M whip and I'd stick with it regardless. We'd done well at
5 & 6 M's but in the never ending quest for speed we'd agreed to give it a go and see if we could get them closer and therefore quicker.
I was using a 1Grm Sensas Guilliamme float a nice to hand float but in lots of ways it didn't suit. We will probaby have one last session on here so might give the float another try. I kick started with 2 large balls of
Sensas Lake & Gros Gardons (In my prebaited swim !!!) and was getting the standard small roach from first put in. The thin bristle on the float was really good for seeing small bites from small fish but it took to long for the float to settle after each put in. I was using a .75Grm Olivettte with a couple of small droppers under and no amount of moving and adjusting really sorted it. A one handed ball of GBait with pinkies and or caster was chucked (left handed would you believe) on the float as I struck each bite and I seemed to be going along quite nicely.
After a couple of hours it slowed, a few fish for 15 mins, then not a bite for 15 mins. I cut back on the feed, smaller balls and not so often kept fish in front of me but the bites were definitely taking longer.
We eventually called it a day at 2 O' Clock and the weigh in was quickly underway.
Everyone had fish but with Garyd having over 100 we all knew who had the better weight.
So it proved to be, Gary had 9 lbs and some ozs, pretty much all caught at 13M, I think.
108 for 9lb Something, I think.... Sorry Gaz |
I had clicked 77 times and was figuring on 6Lb odd and it was enough to give me 3rd.
Davy fished pole tactics with a waggler road !!!! and had a great 7lb something for second place.
Who needs "Automatic Fish Catchers", eh ? |
Monday, March 5, 2012
Strange days indeed
Myself and Rob had planned on a rematch after our recent Roach bashing contest but that bed is just far to comfortable and despite a few calls between 06.00 and 07.00 hrs there was no budging him so I spent a day in the garden, seriously.
I'd arranged a day with my good mate Davy from FTI A.C. and as I scrapped the ice of my windscreen at 05.00 hrs this morning, I might have finally accepted that theres a madness inside me.
We were due to meet a couple of hours later at Annaghmackerrig in darkest Monaghan.
A pleasant enough drive had me there easier than I expected and as the icy darkness gave way to a bright blue sunny sky, I figured it was going to be a tough one. What I never figured on was a locked gate across the roadway !!!!!!!!
Davy bless him, was armed with various angling guides, including the countries latest and greatest
published guide. It's a pity none of these so called guides pointed out the problem with the gate.
I suppose in fairness theres a possibility that the gate wasn't locked on the day that this particular water was sussed out for the guide. We had a bit of a walk around and pleasant and all as the surroundings were we elected to move on.
Thirty short minutes later had us pulling into the car park of Sillan and we dropped our gear on the jettys for what would be a quick couple of hours.
It was feeders all the way, with caster and hemp for feed and red mags for hookers. I think we both knew it'd be tough but a biteless hour or so in what was a bitingly cold wind was tough. We chatted and laughed and then right out of the blue my rod is lake bound. Grab, lift and yep thats a fish and it's tearing round all over the place. Minutes later and it's netted, the hook is re baited and out it goes again, theres fish about and I'll have more please. Well actually I won't at least not immeadiately.
All quiet again and we decided to pack up and hit the road, as I'm putting things away I've an eye on the tip and suddenly out of the blue the tip is banging round. Lift and yep it's another one, this one seems better again and minutes later it's in the keepnet. You just never quite know with this fishing lark, strange days indeed.
Now heres a very very rare photo and for sure I've never seen anything like it before,
I'd arranged a day with my good mate Davy from FTI A.C. and as I scrapped the ice of my windscreen at 05.00 hrs this morning, I might have finally accepted that theres a madness inside me.
We were due to meet a couple of hours later at Annaghmackerrig in darkest Monaghan.
A pleasant enough drive had me there easier than I expected and as the icy darkness gave way to a bright blue sunny sky, I figured it was going to be a tough one. What I never figured on was a locked gate across the roadway !!!!!!!!
Davy bless him, was armed with various angling guides, including the countries latest and greatest
published guide. It's a pity none of these so called guides pointed out the problem with the gate.
I suppose in fairness theres a possibility that the gate wasn't locked on the day that this particular water was sussed out for the guide. We had a bit of a walk around and pleasant and all as the surroundings were we elected to move on.
Thirty short minutes later had us pulling into the car park of Sillan and we dropped our gear on the jettys for what would be a quick couple of hours.
All quiet again and we decided to pack up and hit the road, as I'm putting things away I've an eye on the tip and suddenly out of the blue the tip is banging round. Lift and yep it's another one, this one seems better again and minutes later it's in the keepnet. You just never quite know with this fishing lark, strange days indeed.
Now heres a very very rare photo and for sure I've never seen anything like it before,
And yes, back they went |
Out to the local...........
One of my all time favourites |
Circumstances have meant that my match fishing is on hold for a while and as a result I havn't been on a canal for to long, it really was great to be there.
It was a bit of an odd decision to give it a go as I know it well enough to be aware that there'll likely be nothing there. Despite the mild weather chances are the fish are still in the harbour and so it proved to be. A biteless hour and a half had me quietly doubting my sanity but some times it's just enough
to be there. The sun came up and a quick move was made about a 100 yards to my left.
Sunny days and canals, hmmmmmmm |
I finally got the sense to accept that yes, they probaly are still up in the harbour.
Despite the dry net, I headed for home with a dirty big smile on my face. I consider myself very fortunate in that it doesn't happen all that often and consider myself even more fortunate that I still love it even if the fish don't play ball.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Like a nice bit of Cod, Battered......
On the road and todays plan is a wee experiment. I'm fishing standard pole tactics at 9M and Robs
on a 6M whip. The venue chosen is particularly deep with depths of 15 foot and 10 foot each.
On what was quite a windy day I went with a 2Grm Preston float, tied to Preston .128mm line with
a 6 inch hooklength of .104mm. In "old money" thats 3lb to 2 lb lines. At the bizz end a size 18
Drennan Silver Fish Hook
Rob is fishing in shallower water and using similar enough kit other than the float was 1Grm and the hook was an 18 Drennan Red Maggot.
We also chose to experiment with groundbait, or at least the colour of it. The mix itself was equal
amounts of Sensas Gros Gardons, Sensas Lake and brown crumb. Rob added Black Tracix to his,
I didn't. We decided on a 4 hour "match" so at 10 a.m. it was All In.
I elected to use a pole cup for precise feeding, Rob chucked it in by hand. I started by feeding 4 balls
with caster and chop worm, Rob went with 2 balls with caster and hemp. By the time I'd finished feeding the little beggar had 6 roach in the net !!! It's an early indication of how the next few hours
are going to go I figured and I was right. Initially we were catching at the same speed and he was keeping about 6 fish ahead of me. After 1.5 hours he was 20 odd ahead of me and I knew at that stage how the next few hours would pan out.
on a 6M whip. The venue chosen is particularly deep with depths of 15 foot and 10 foot each.
On what was quite a windy day I went with a 2Grm Preston float, tied to Preston .128mm line with
a 6 inch hooklength of .104mm. In "old money" thats 3lb to 2 lb lines. At the bizz end a size 18
Drennan Silver Fish Hook
Rob is fishing in shallower water and using similar enough kit other than the float was 1Grm and the hook was an 18 Drennan Red Maggot.
We also chose to experiment with groundbait, or at least the colour of it. The mix itself was equal
amounts of Sensas Gros Gardons, Sensas Lake and brown crumb. Rob added Black Tracix to his,
I didn't. We decided on a 4 hour "match" so at 10 a.m. it was All In.
I elected to use a pole cup for precise feeding, Rob chucked it in by hand. I started by feeding 4 balls
with caster and chop worm, Rob went with 2 balls with caster and hemp. By the time I'd finished feeding the little beggar had 6 roach in the net !!! It's an early indication of how the next few hours
are going to go I figured and I was right. Initially we were catching at the same speed and he was keeping about 6 fish ahead of me. After 1.5 hours he was 20 odd ahead of me and I knew at that stage how the next few hours would pan out.
I was right and as the time passed by my attempts at keeping up were useless. I stuck with it as we had agreed to see how the two different tactics compared. I had been feeding with a pole cup for accuracy but that just added to my time not catching so I changed to feeding by hand. I was so far behind at this stage it really made no real difference. So we'd figured a few things out but we've still things to be sure about. Groundbait colour and the amount needed is next on the list, hopefully we'll get out again next weekend and we'll sort that out then.
Next time Rob gets the dodgy tactics....... |
163 of the little beauties, top job |
Sunday, February 12, 2012
More like it.............
Theres fewer better looking things than a natural venue on a nice calm morning. Theres probably only one way to improve it and thats to slap a seat box on the edge of it and get at it.
Even with a later than usual start time one half of Team Kavo stayed in bed, so I found myself on the side of this beauty on my own with winter roach once again the target. On what is a very deep venue I decided on fishing the feeder and having a relaxed quiet day. At 25 yards I was getting a count of 17 so a solid 20grm feeder was clipped on and cast 6 times into the lake. Loaded with caster and hemp
and plugged both ends with a mix of Sensas Gros Gardons and Sensas Lake, I was confident.
A size 16 Tubertini 808 was then attached and time to see whats out there. Two red mags to start with
and within minutes a couple of small taps on the 1/2oz tip and it's roach number one. Re cast and it's same again, tap tap and lift, second roach and things are looking promising. It's odd how things go sometimes but after 30 minutes and despite trying different hook baits, shorter hooklength and down to a size 18 hook I'm still on two fish !!! A short wander back to the car for a cuppa and a rethink had me back on the box with my trusty 6m whip in hand. Now their for it I reckoned and as I finished my cuppa I kickstarted the swim with two balls of groundbait laced with caster and hemp. The groundbait was the same, though I added more liquid from the hemp to help bind it so that it would go down better in the 10 feet of water and I darkened it with some black Tracix.
The rig was a Preston 1Grm float with a small bulk half way and 3 droppers to the hooklength, initially this worked well but a bit of a blow got up and I changed up to a 1.5 Grm Preston float.
A 1Grm Olivette half way down and 4 small droppers seemed to be just right and the bites were
now coming thick and fast. It was vintage stuff, cast, feed, strike, swing, unhook, keepnet, clicker and repeat the process. Over the next few hours I did that over and over and ended up with 70 silvers. Mainly small roach, a few perch and some very small skimmers. I missed a few in fairness but thankfully not that many. The feeding was key and as long as I fed a small, very small nugget of groundbait I could almost time the bites. I experimented with loose feeding but it lead to very few bites and was probably bringing fish up off the bottom and scattering them all round the place.
As soon as I went back to the nuggets of groundbait I got the bites back.
Over the course of the day I got chatting to a few lads from Dublin who were pegged to my right,
3 generations of anglers, Son, Dad and Grandad, great to see and as I was catching well I gave the youngest a few casts. Good lad that he was, straight into a few fish and despite it being his first time
swinging he got the hang of it quite quickly. I'd planned to pack up at 15.30 hrs and having reached 50 fish at 14.30 I decided I'd try to get 70, so when the young lad (James) arrived behind me as I bagged number 69 I asked him if he wanted to get number 70 and he duly did.
So ended a great day on what was a new venue for me. It's close enough to home and seems to be
well stocked with silvers, though they were all small. In the words of a few different bad guys,
I'll be back.
Even with a later than usual start time one half of Team Kavo stayed in bed, so I found myself on the side of this beauty on my own with winter roach once again the target. On what is a very deep venue I decided on fishing the feeder and having a relaxed quiet day. At 25 yards I was getting a count of 17 so a solid 20grm feeder was clipped on and cast 6 times into the lake. Loaded with caster and hemp
and plugged both ends with a mix of Sensas Gros Gardons and Sensas Lake, I was confident.
A size 16 Tubertini 808 was then attached and time to see whats out there. Two red mags to start with
and within minutes a couple of small taps on the 1/2oz tip and it's roach number one. Re cast and it's same again, tap tap and lift, second roach and things are looking promising. It's odd how things go sometimes but after 30 minutes and despite trying different hook baits, shorter hooklength and down to a size 18 hook I'm still on two fish !!! A short wander back to the car for a cuppa and a rethink had me back on the box with my trusty 6m whip in hand. Now their for it I reckoned and as I finished my cuppa I kickstarted the swim with two balls of groundbait laced with caster and hemp. The groundbait was the same, though I added more liquid from the hemp to help bind it so that it would go down better in the 10 feet of water and I darkened it with some black Tracix.
The rig was a Preston 1Grm float with a small bulk half way and 3 droppers to the hooklength, initially this worked well but a bit of a blow got up and I changed up to a 1.5 Grm Preston float.
A 1Grm Olivette half way down and 4 small droppers seemed to be just right and the bites were
now coming thick and fast. It was vintage stuff, cast, feed, strike, swing, unhook, keepnet, clicker and repeat the process. Over the next few hours I did that over and over and ended up with 70 silvers. Mainly small roach, a few perch and some very small skimmers. I missed a few in fairness but thankfully not that many. The feeding was key and as long as I fed a small, very small nugget of groundbait I could almost time the bites. I experimented with loose feeding but it lead to very few bites and was probably bringing fish up off the bottom and scattering them all round the place.
As soon as I went back to the nuggets of groundbait I got the bites back.
Over the course of the day I got chatting to a few lads from Dublin who were pegged to my right,
3 generations of anglers, Son, Dad and Grandad, great to see and as I was catching well I gave the youngest a few casts. Good lad that he was, straight into a few fish and despite it being his first time
swinging he got the hang of it quite quickly. I'd planned to pack up at 15.30 hrs and having reached 50 fish at 14.30 I decided I'd try to get 70, so when the young lad (James) arrived behind me as I bagged number 69 I asked him if he wanted to get number 70 and he duly did.
James' was the one in the middle....... |
well stocked with silvers, though they were all small. In the words of a few different bad guys,
I'll be back.
Roach Bashing, not.......
Sunday the 5th saw us up at a spectacularly early time to first head into Dublin to collect Gary and then off up to darkest Cavan for an FTI AC get together.
We'd himmed and hawed about going as the weather leading up to it hadn't been ideal. A few really cold days and nights had me doubting whether it would be a productive trip but we bit the bullet and headed off to meet up with our good friends from the club.
It was to have been a days roach bashing and I decided to fish to hand at 6m. Cast / swing, feed,
hit dipping float, swing to hand and repeat the process. Well that was the plan anyway, pity nobody told the roach.
Rob set up the now predictable stick float, he's got it bad. Close in there can be very little tow here and at times it even tows the opposite to the main current. I guess thats why the roach shoal up here
in winter time, big difference in them being there and them feeding though. It wasn't happening for either of us and a wander up the line confirmed it wasn't happening for anyone else either. We scaled down both set ups and had a go in each others swims but that didn't improve things much, if at all.
Rob spent good time with some of the others asking, listening and hopefully learning.
As ever, tips, info, ideas etc were freely given and it's one of the great benefits of being a member
of FTI AC. To be fair it's a great advantage of being in any club.
We weighed in and my 17 fish pushed the scales round to 2lbs !!! Very dissapointing if I'm being honest but the slaggin from peg to peg and the banter between everyone made for a decent day,
despite the poor fishing. After all the gear was packed away and to round off the day Rob was presented with his club award. "Club Angler of the Year 2011"
A really nice touch and an award that means a huge amount, thank you.
Little and Large, ayone remember them |
It was to have been a days roach bashing and I decided to fish to hand at 6m. Cast / swing, feed,
hit dipping float, swing to hand and repeat the process. Well that was the plan anyway, pity nobody told the roach.
I love my Tubertini Cap |
in winter time, big difference in them being there and them feeding though. It wasn't happening for either of us and a wander up the line confirmed it wasn't happening for anyone else either. We scaled down both set ups and had a go in each others swims but that didn't improve things much, if at all.
Rob spent good time with some of the others asking, listening and hopefully learning.
As ever, tips, info, ideas etc were freely given and it's one of the great benefits of being a member
of FTI AC. To be fair it's a great advantage of being in any club.
Here comes the scales............ |
We weighed in and my 17 fish pushed the scales round to 2lbs !!! Very dissapointing if I'm being honest but the slaggin from peg to peg and the banter between everyone made for a decent day,
despite the poor fishing. After all the gear was packed away and to round off the day Rob was presented with his club award. "Club Angler of the Year 2011"
Davy (Mr Chairman) presents the award to Rob |
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
What a day,
The recent poor day on Sillan had one some good sides, we had stacks of bait left and were
both dying to get back out to actually catch something. A day on the river was called for so we set off
for The Barrow, with a plan for Rob to fish the pole and I was on the stick. Fishing this way meant we could change over at some stage if we wanted to. We had a look beside the supermarket but between, the cars, the noise and the filth we decided against it and headed for "The Lawn". After getting set up it wasn't long before Rob was in to some quality roach. A 12grm Sensas Flat Float went through the swim quite well and with a size 16 Drennan Silverfish Hook everything appeared to be spot on.
He had an early burst of roach, then the dace took over. An introduction of Groundbait seemed to bring the roach back and he started getting them again.
I was down stream and running a Drennan Stick Float, feeding loose mags and caster and after 20 odd mins started getting bites, a mix of roach and dace and some great dace to be fair. With the flow going left to right and a strengthening wind going the other way, line control was easy and things were lookng good.
23 fish on the stick |
22 fish on the pole |
We were up and running quite quickly, using the same set up from earlier. A couple of run throughs to re check the depth and after a couple of adjustments we were ready.
Robs turn........... |
fish number 100. A fabulous days pleasure fishing came to an end with two happy anglers grinning
from ear to ear. The drive home flew by as we were in flying form, so good that Rob actually stayed awake all the way home, another first.
55 glorious Barrow Roach and Dace |
Lovely Jubbly |
Why do we do it ?
Over the weekend just gone we had a session on the feeders on Sillan. Rob had picked up a cracking feeder rodover the Christmas and was dying to try it out. A Drennan Stillwater 11/12.5ft specifically for targeting roach and skimmers. We set up initially on the first couple of swims on the match stretch and got to it quite quickly. After some recent talk over the net regarding Wagglers I elected to fish a fixed one at about 20 yards into about 7 foot of water. After a couple of biteless hours it was obvious it wasn't going to happen for us so we packed up.
On the way back to the car we decided to have a bit of time off the Jetty with just the feeder gear and reckoned if we had nothing after 30 mins or so we'd call it a day. You guessed it we had nothing.
I gt a chance to try out Robs new Rod and it really is a lovely bit of kit. I gave it an hour and although I was enjoying the rod, with not so much as a sucked maggot we called it a day and headed for home.
A dissapointing few hours reminded us to pay more attention to conditions and local knowledge and though we assured ourselves that we would, yeah right..................
It's not always about catching, beautiful.... |
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