Friendly Competition and Tackle Envy!

I arrived at my local lake today to find that members of an angling club were already in the car park prior to their first competition of 2010. I have to say that being fairly new to coarse fishing I initially found this a bit daunting as I gazed around at the fishing trolleys/seats, poles and endless different types of baits and ground baits brought.

So it was with more than a little apprehension that I unloaded my gear, said my hello's and made my way down to the lake to get set up ahead of the other anglers. I use my Shimano 15-45gm spinning rod currently for my carp fishing and when needing to go lighter again I use my purpose made Imax Mullet rod which has a second top section for quiver tips, and these two rods have served me well so far as I build my skills levels. When I feel the time is right I will get some proper advice and buy some reasonable quality coarse/carp fishing gear.

On getting down to the lake, quite rightly some of the bank had been pegged out for the competition but I was able to fit in on the end to the left corner of the island. I was already set up and fishing by the time the club anglers came down after making their draw for pegs. I was fishing a simple running ledger rig using a fluorocarbon hook link on a hair-rigged size 10 Kamasan hook and using my home-made boilies. Making my own boilies is new to me as well, and I found the methods for doing this simply from base ingredients on the internet. This aspect of my new style of fishing has real appeal, as I can be preparing for fishing when I can't get out and also the thrill of catching on a non shop bought bait. I will write a short blog on methods of boilie making, the equipment I use and flavours in the near future. Today I was armed with pale red strawberry, red tutti-frutti and natural coloured liquid brasem flavour which actually smells like caramel.

All but one of the club anglers were using poles, and the angler to the right of me had what looked like some very expensive kit. As he was fishing on the float, out of consideration I asked if my legering would interfere with his fishing, and got the chance to have a close up look at the pole and rigs. Although just a different form of fishing, the pole has little appeal to me as I just prefer using a rod and reel. I have to say that my initial apprehension quickly disappeared, as the anglers were a friendly bunch, inviting me to join in their competition (which I declined) and the banter up and down line could only be described as hilarious. The guy to my right called Ian got in amongst the Roach and Rudd from the off, and although they were very small fish around a few ounces he was hoping to build a bag and looked like he would as he was catching fairly steadily. No one in his club were trying for carp as it was felt that they wouldn't be feeding well if at all.

I persevered with legering and after about an hour or so I had a run and hooked a small carp of around 5 pounds, which had the line around its fin, and as I tried to net it, the line "pinged" off and promptly unhooked itself, so carp 1 and me 0. This happened at around 10.30am, and after re-baiting and casting to the same spot I settled down to wait again. It was around 12.30 that I had another run, and hooked and landed a lovely common carp that was a bit on the lean side; about the length of 7 pounder but no more than about 5 1/2lb. I guess the cold winter had taken it's toll on this particular common. The next hour and a half saw five more runs and another five carp, all mirrors successfully come to the bank ranging from 5lb to the best at around the 7 1/2 lb plus mark in the picture below.

My last fish of the day coincided with the end of the competition and I was intrigued to find out the result. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the weights that had been made from catching small roach and rudd. Top weight was 16lb 5oz and my neighbour who had kept at it managed a respectable second place weight of 14lb 12oz. It suddenly dawned on me that had I accepted the invitation to join in, I would have had the top weight. Will this experience turn me into a match angler?...........I doubt it, I wouldn't like the pressure to catch, but today taught me a few things, that match anglers are a friendly bunch willing to share information, and maybe my years as a sea-angler served me well and enabled me to transfer those skills and adapt to a new form of fishing; and after all fishing is fishing and should be enjoyed!

2009........Phew!! "Happy New Year"

It's been a very long time since I updated my blog, but I am determined that I will regularly post in 2010. What can I say about 2009, other than that on a personal level, it has been very challenging, and I found myself job hunting twice in the space of the last year. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, and recently started working again. This time I am working nights, which is something I am still getting used to, and I have stepped away from supervisory positions which will better meet my family needs.

"Little Allers Lake"

So what has been happening on the fishing front in 2009. Well with a few months being idle, apart from the almost full-time job of filling in application forms, I have taken up coarse fishing for the first time in 40 years of fishing. I mainly fished a local lake known as "Little Allers", and I have to say that my focus has been on Carp, where I enjoyed taking them off the top using the usual methods of dog biscuits and floater cake, taking my biggest of 15lb 2oz using my lure fishing gear and 6lb line. That was my PB so far, not big by Carp standards but good sport on such light gear. Unfortunately it was one of those situations where I didn't have my camera with me, but did have my newly purchased Berkley digital scales. I also had a dabble with my 8 weight fly rod that I use for my sea fly-fishing, taking them up to about 8 1/2 lbs, which is the picture below. I used a dog-biscuit deer hair imitation; this coming year I will have a go with traditional dry flies and attempt to stalk a fish out with this method, as I saw fish feeding in this manner on occasions.

PB Carp on the fly

So what does 2010 have in store? Well having started coarse fishing, I will continue in this vain alongside my sea angling, and intend to turn my attention to attempting to catch a Pike. Down here in the South West I gather I have limited places to try, Exeter canal apparently being my nearest venue as far as I can tell. I look on the blogs and webites of others, (have a look at my favourite blogs list) to further my knowledge in this area, looking at the techniques that they find successful. I will continue to pursue my lure fishing for bass, something I became addicted to, and have read of some good catches being made in the middle of winter on the north Cornwall coast, on Henry Gilbey's website, with this area of coastline being within striking distance for me. I would also like to get more involved in enabling less able individuals to go fishing. I have worked in the care sector since 2003 and have taken many people fishing, who face various challenges and seen the therapeutic benefits of this to everyone who gave it it a try. Below is a picture of an individual that I supported to go fishing a few times in 2009. He was a keen all-round angler before an accident some 10 years ago which affected his mobility. I think the broad smile on his face after catching a nice "school bass" from a local estuary mark says it all.

"Got one"