Hi Folks,
Sorry about the delay on the results been very busy! I've decided to pick 2 winners. I had loads of entries thus not everyone can win. But for the people who did enter i thank you for that and i will be doing a summer comp too!:).
So...(drum roles)......
The winners of the Christmas competition are....
Paul Murphy and Dean Gascoigne.
Thanks for all the Entrants and dont forget to keep checking back for more articles and More competitions in the 2012:).
Saturday 31 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
Merry Christmas
Well apart from a few back dated posts i need to do i wont be doing much on here throughout the Christmas period, but remember there is still a few days to get your competition entry in! Remember its open to every single person out there and thanks for all the entries so far! I wont personally be picking them to be unbiased i will be picking 10 and then passing them on to a third party to pick the winner for me just so no cheating goes on!
Again all you have to do to enter is just send me an email me Fish4thought@instruction.com and write a short paragraph stating why you think you would benefit from a days free tuition. If you haven't seen the competition just look below this post).
I'll announce the winner on the 27th:).
Merry Christmas!
Again all you have to do to enter is just send me an email me Fish4thought@instruction.com and write a short paragraph stating why you think you would benefit from a days free tuition. If you haven't seen the competition just look below this post).
I'll announce the winner on the 27th:).
Merry Christmas!
Thursday 15 December 2011
Fish4Thought Christmas Competition!
So its that time of year again. Time for a Christmas competition!
This year, I've decided to put my self up as the prize. A days fishing tuition with me at the famous Hallcroft fishing complex on a date to be mutually agreed (Normally £100-£150).
It will be a full day of you learning whatever method and what ever tactic you want or just generally brushing up or fine tuning! Totally free!
To Enter simply email me @ Fish4Thought@Instruction.com with a short paragraph of why you would like a free days tuition with me and why you think it will benefit you. Anyone is welcome to join no matter what you ability. The competition will be open till Christmas eve and i will announce the winner in the new year!
Good luck!
Nathan @ Fish4thought
Monday 12 December 2011
FP1's review @ Hallcroft, Reed Pool.
In my opinion. It isn't the best time of year to try a pellet really especially with the last night frost! Even more so as i hate fishing them @ the best of times,but if its a hard time to catch then surely its time to try something new?
The FP1's are courtesy of http://www.talkangling.co.uk/ who at present are the only distributor of this brand.
Well when i received them i could instantly smell the aroma, thats before opening the packet! They come in several sizes, flavours and colours and are packed in very secure jars, capable of fitting the biggest of sausage fingers in them. The pellets are covered in oil, I'd imagine this helps the life time of the pellet and increases it as well as helping preserve flavour and adding to attractant once in the water.
You get a decent choice to suit!
They are in 4,6 or 8mm sizes, with 60ml of product per jar along with the top secret FP1 formula flavor incorporated into the oil based glug that is on the pellets.
Pink Monster - monster crab flavour
Natural Brown - fishmeal flavour
Mello Yellow - corn steeped scopex flavour
Candy White - sweet halibut flavour (Which i must say is my favourite).
The FP1 pellets are of the best quality ingredients and base mix wise. The texture is like something amongst the marsh mellow family and i myself have never really fished with anything like this, as i am a die hard paste man in the summer, but i was impressed! I couldn't see anyone having problems with this flying off on the strike or ship in, even with a finer gauge hook. All in all its a quality bait in my eyes so far and the price tag of £5.50 doesn't seem a lot considering it can keep for a long while and be used for many sessions. I also would be willing to bet that it would be very good for Commercial Carp and Silvers a like. I'd see it performing very well for Ide or even Roach up in the water.
So enough of the talk, to the fishing!
Well, as i didn't really know the bait, i chose to take it to a venue i know very well, Hallcroft. I chose the reed pool which i know very well and i chose peg 22. I wanted to set up 4 lines, 2 x Margin lines and 2 x 8m lines both with alternating Choppy and Caster and Fp1 lines.
For my Margin rig i chose my classic.....
Rig 1 (FP1) Margin - Colmic Goldie .2g 3.5lb - 2.2lb hook length (Powerline) to a Preston PR24 18. Fished 2 inch over depth just after the marginal shelf (3ft). Also found a very nice inlet of water coming from the canal pond.
Rig 2 (Worm) Margin - Colmic Goldie .2g 3.5lb - 2.2lb hook length (Powerline) to a a 16 Drennan Silver Pellet. Fished 3 inch over depth just after the marginal shelf (3ft).
Rig 3 (FP1) 8m - Preston PB22 .5g 3.5lb - 1.8lb hook length (Powerline) to a Preston PR24 18. Fished 3 inch over depth about a metre past the edge of the slop. Fished in around 5ft of water.
Rig 4 (Worm) 8m - Preston PB22 .5g 3.5lb - 1.8lb hook length (Powerline) to a Preston PR24 18. Fished 4 inch over depth about a metre past the edge of the slop. Fished in around 5ft of water.
All above were going to be fished with the Preston 11h elastic.
All lines were going to see the same amount of bait which was, very little. I decided to do everything negatively in order to have a good show and a fair fight between the two baits. I got everything sorted and just put a small cup of absolute chop on the worm lines with 30% caster. The FP1 however, i decided to go for my ground bait recipe, as i was treating this like a match, its no good targeting the carp, so i was fully intent on going for the Bream and Chub. I decided to make a few TINY balls of a sweet mix i made up to suit the sweetness of the Candy FP1 and just gave both the swims a tiny taste of it. Also with the margin rig intended on serving them some free dead reds just as an insurance policy.
The PR24 is an ideal hook if your not targeting anything to big...
I decided to start on the 8m line first with the worm rig. Nothing was really showing. I tend to only give it 15 minutes until i try another line when i am fishing for everything that swims, so that said, i went onto the margin worm rig, to which i didn't get a sign.
So were talking about an hour without a fish. I re topped up my worm swims and left to go onto the FP1, As i noticed there were a few swirl from the silvers. I put it in just to the right of the inflow of water....
Well i gave it a little longer, mainly because i was very confident in the white mello pellet, always thought white pellets were brilliant baits in the winter, just never really gave them much attention, but it worked....
The chub fight very well indeed for their size and if your not careful they'll still take you into the snags, the first fish of the day...
The chub were still there despite the hour or so fishing the opposite margin. The best thing about chub is you can tell what they have been eating!
Obviously been having some of my sweet dead reds then!
Evaluation,
Well all in all it was a very good day. It was a good result for the FP1's on the day. Its hard to tell what would of been the better bait as i know i didn't really put all the effort in on the worm line today. For the FP1's, i do hold a lot of confidence in them, especially the white candy pellet. Time will tell how well they go on different venues etc. I'm certainly going to try them on my mid and up in the water lines throughout next year and i reckon I'll have very good results. It certainly helped me get the better quality chub out on a not so good day.
I'd say the FP1's account for 70% of my estimated 30lb weight of just chub. IF your in the market for a new bait, i would definitely try these.
If you wish to try the FP1's simply visit http://www.talkangling.co.uk/ and check the products section or simply Click Here.
Sunday 11 December 2011
Drennan Groundbait Feeders
Well as you'll more than likely know, i use these for 99.9% of my feeder fishing. So i thought I'd give you a quick review.
Well, its a basic feeder, but very tough. It has minimal holes in it and you can limit em even more just be using some tape. They are available in sizes from 12g to 80g! So covers everything. It has a power gum boom which will prevent you having 'crack offs' while casting as well as being constructed with better than average plastics!
All in all there isn't much you can say about them, but for me they are the best on the market and they very rarely get broken!
Nate @ Fish4Thought
All in all there isn't much you can say about them, but for me they are the best on the market and they very rarely get broken!
Nate @ Fish4Thought
Peg 101 - Langold Lake - Peg 47
Continuing with the Peg 101....
I decided to fish peg 47 today. It was really windy and i went with my gut that the fish had moved further up from off of the wall and its typically pegs 1-5 and pegs 50 - 44 that produce the goods this late in the year
I was really keen to try the waggler on these pegs but i was going to start on the feeder. They offer good cover (angler wise) but the depth is disappointment at around 4 ft for about 30 yards. I opted to ball in a good amount of bait on the waggler, i wanted to fish it at around 20m or so out so it would just be before and after a the weed bed which would normally be there in the warmer months. So its effectively a clear channel all year round and i see this as a typical paroling ground for the bigger specimens and the roach. Its fairly easy to find the channel with a heavy plummet.
Plumming up:
Don't be one of these people that use an SSG on the hook for plummeting a waggler. You want the biggest plummet you can get with the ethos of covering more area, though i wouldn't suggest using the flat plummets which are about now a days as these don't sink directly. What i suggest you do for plummeting is stick to the same length, but try different angles. Just reel a foot of a time and wait. If your rig stops and feels as though your in a snag, it'll most likely be a ledge. So let it go slack slowly and just see how much it drops if anyway, then click that area up put before clipping pull a section of about a yard or so off of the reel. Then cast to 2 and 10 o clock directions but at the same length and range. If you get the 'snag' effect still its most likely a ledge or from history or my plumbing it can easily be a long pipe, but either way its a feature and you have taken away all possibility of it being a snag as you can plumb it for the length of your peg.
Baiting up.
I knew what i was going to use for bait....Caster, Worm and dead reds.
So i found a nice channel at around the 25 yards area. Once i found that i then left my plummet on, cast out and just seen how the tow effected my float. This is also a good time to bait up, as i was feeding with balls (Babies heads) a marker comes in handy. I reckon 2 balls would do it for kick starting the swim off. My mix mainly contains the same ground bait ingredients what ever the time of year, whatever the weather. This is 50/50 with Bream or Roach 3000 with brown crumb and chopped worm and caster. If you want to go the way of the Roach 3000 though, its a good idea to soak it first thing in the morning as with it being mainly roach specific you do get some mid water and surface particles within it. So don't say i didn't warn ya:).
Its pretty important to make sure you give your ground bait a good riddle. I don't bother so much when i am balling in, but when its going in the feeder it needs to be soft and fluffy!
A couple of riddles and its sorted!
The Tackle;
The Waggler;
I tend to use my 14ft Drennan Silver fish rod for the majority of my bream and natural lake fishing. Its a light rod but if capable of taking lines up to 6lb, but i only ever use 4lb maxima anyway. I prefer the length of a 14ft rod on Natural venues just for the amount of snags that are commonly knocking about and the sheer amount of close in debris, with a 14fter it helps just angle the fish up that much quicker. My end tackle consisted of a very fine, cane tipped waggler which over all would take 2 AAA, i like to secure the float with 2 BB's and then have the remainder in No.8's or 6's as a grouped up show 6 inches away from the hook. If i am looking to cast further at range i would simple just spread them weight out a little. Hook and hook length would be my usual for this time of year, .9 Silstar Match winner to an 18 B511 (barbed). I wanted to pretty much catch anything that swims with this approach so i opted for just 2 reds on the hook, with the idea of switch to worm if it was difficult or i wanted something @ a better stamp. I also wanted to keep the perch away so i chose to feed plenty of caster in my balling mix (around 30% to worm). I set this line up so i was around 6 inch over depth.
The Feeder;
The rods i use for the feeder differ dramatically for the type of fish and the time of year on which i plan to use them. When i can get away with it i love to use my little silstar 10ft match picker. Unfortunately it was blowing a gale today so i couldn't really use it! I had to use my Preston 11' 6" carbonactive, which isn't a bad rod at all. I'm just not overly keen on using it anymore as its action is a little floppy for my liking. End tackle was a good old fashioned drennan themsley style g/bait feeder just on a standard running rig, but with a tiny bit of rig putty around a ft above it just to give it that 'bolt' effect but still remaining a running rig with the feeder able to drop off on the slightest bit of pressure. End tackle was above, i like to use .11 Silstar on the feeder though, it doesn't get that many pig tails with it then. I always like to start a session using around a 14 inch tail with the feeder but i have done it up to around 6ft before!
I wouldn't normally consider setting up a waggler on the pegs which i fished today, well i would, but i only ever fish the waggler late on or even on a night session in this area. I made a judgement call to fish the waggler first, something i would never do. Its something i teach people NOT to do when looking for a peg, you should not have any preconceived ideas of what you want to fish until you see the lake/venue but i already knew i wanted to fish the waggler on an area people rarely did.
To the fishing!
So as i mentioned above, i starting my swim off by balling in when i were plumbing. This gives a good marker but i tried to create an area of around 2 m2. I also gave two casts with the large version of the g/bait feeder just to kick start it. After that, i decided to go straight on the waggler.
Top tip! When your setting up. Cast your feeder in EMPTY and WITHOUT A HOOK LENGTH to where you intend to fish, leave it there and watch your tip for ten minutes. It'll show you if your too far out if you getting many liners!
Well, i started on the waggler and it wasn't long before i were getting small indications. After about 5 minutes and a few twitches i decided to almost totally submerge the float and just leave about 10mm above the water line and i also just went to 3 inches over depth. This resulted in the obvious - my float going straight under and into a roach, followed by a great deal more too!
I kept topping up with golf ball sizes balled every half hour of so, but i too kept scattering some caster around the area, to if nothing else just keep the perch at bay.
I was averaging around a roach every other cast. Its always difficult to hit the fast bites at range, especially on a windy day, i couldn't get away with anymore of the depth as it would just run through the peg too fast. It went dead at around 12 o clock so i then tried the feeder. Pretty much the same response but the stamp were much smaller. So i chucked another babies head in on my waggler line and then just waited until i could see liners on my feeder line.
Top Tip! If your fishing at range, and are fishing waggler and feeder, try to get a feeder line so when in the water your feeder line cuts through the edge of your swim. Look for liners and its a good indication that its time to shift!
Well pretty much 10 minutes after the ball i saw a couple of indications so i decided to go back on the waggler. Same again, just into roach! Just staying on the 2 dead reds seemed to be paying off.
With bites often and a continuous belt of fish rolling in. Roach from 1 - 8oz and a few bream up to around 5lb. The rod handled them superbly, not one fish bumped. I think a lot of peoplego over gunned they don't realize they can play the fish till its shattered, especially on a pleasure session.
I decided to call it a day when i started getting soaked through, didnt use that much bait so it'll save for another day. Just goes to show that you should think out of the box even if it does make you look a right twirp from time to time!
My catch around 30lbs maybe a little more if i am feeling generous!..................
Sorry about the quality! Bit hard when your by ya self!:).
Cheers!
Nathan @ Fish4thought
I decided to fish peg 47 today. It was really windy and i went with my gut that the fish had moved further up from off of the wall and its typically pegs 1-5 and pegs 50 - 44 that produce the goods this late in the year
I was really keen to try the waggler on these pegs but i was going to start on the feeder. They offer good cover (angler wise) but the depth is disappointment at around 4 ft for about 30 yards. I opted to ball in a good amount of bait on the waggler, i wanted to fish it at around 20m or so out so it would just be before and after a the weed bed which would normally be there in the warmer months. So its effectively a clear channel all year round and i see this as a typical paroling ground for the bigger specimens and the roach. Its fairly easy to find the channel with a heavy plummet.
Plumming up:
Don't be one of these people that use an SSG on the hook for plummeting a waggler. You want the biggest plummet you can get with the ethos of covering more area, though i wouldn't suggest using the flat plummets which are about now a days as these don't sink directly. What i suggest you do for plummeting is stick to the same length, but try different angles. Just reel a foot of a time and wait. If your rig stops and feels as though your in a snag, it'll most likely be a ledge. So let it go slack slowly and just see how much it drops if anyway, then click that area up put before clipping pull a section of about a yard or so off of the reel. Then cast to 2 and 10 o clock directions but at the same length and range. If you get the 'snag' effect still its most likely a ledge or from history or my plumbing it can easily be a long pipe, but either way its a feature and you have taken away all possibility of it being a snag as you can plumb it for the length of your peg.
Baiting up.
I knew what i was going to use for bait....Caster, Worm and dead reds.
So i found a nice channel at around the 25 yards area. Once i found that i then left my plummet on, cast out and just seen how the tow effected my float. This is also a good time to bait up, as i was feeding with balls (Babies heads) a marker comes in handy. I reckon 2 balls would do it for kick starting the swim off. My mix mainly contains the same ground bait ingredients what ever the time of year, whatever the weather. This is 50/50 with Bream or Roach 3000 with brown crumb and chopped worm and caster. If you want to go the way of the Roach 3000 though, its a good idea to soak it first thing in the morning as with it being mainly roach specific you do get some mid water and surface particles within it. So don't say i didn't warn ya:).
Its pretty important to make sure you give your ground bait a good riddle. I don't bother so much when i am balling in, but when its going in the feeder it needs to be soft and fluffy!
A couple of riddles and its sorted!
The Tackle;
The Waggler;
I tend to use my 14ft Drennan Silver fish rod for the majority of my bream and natural lake fishing. Its a light rod but if capable of taking lines up to 6lb, but i only ever use 4lb maxima anyway. I prefer the length of a 14ft rod on Natural venues just for the amount of snags that are commonly knocking about and the sheer amount of close in debris, with a 14fter it helps just angle the fish up that much quicker. My end tackle consisted of a very fine, cane tipped waggler which over all would take 2 AAA, i like to secure the float with 2 BB's and then have the remainder in No.8's or 6's as a grouped up show 6 inches away from the hook. If i am looking to cast further at range i would simple just spread them weight out a little. Hook and hook length would be my usual for this time of year, .9 Silstar Match winner to an 18 B511 (barbed). I wanted to pretty much catch anything that swims with this approach so i opted for just 2 reds on the hook, with the idea of switch to worm if it was difficult or i wanted something @ a better stamp. I also wanted to keep the perch away so i chose to feed plenty of caster in my balling mix (around 30% to worm). I set this line up so i was around 6 inch over depth.
The Feeder;
The rods i use for the feeder differ dramatically for the type of fish and the time of year on which i plan to use them. When i can get away with it i love to use my little silstar 10ft match picker. Unfortunately it was blowing a gale today so i couldn't really use it! I had to use my Preston 11' 6" carbonactive, which isn't a bad rod at all. I'm just not overly keen on using it anymore as its action is a little floppy for my liking. End tackle was a good old fashioned drennan themsley style g/bait feeder just on a standard running rig, but with a tiny bit of rig putty around a ft above it just to give it that 'bolt' effect but still remaining a running rig with the feeder able to drop off on the slightest bit of pressure. End tackle was above, i like to use .11 Silstar on the feeder though, it doesn't get that many pig tails with it then. I always like to start a session using around a 14 inch tail with the feeder but i have done it up to around 6ft before!
I wouldn't normally consider setting up a waggler on the pegs which i fished today, well i would, but i only ever fish the waggler late on or even on a night session in this area. I made a judgement call to fish the waggler first, something i would never do. Its something i teach people NOT to do when looking for a peg, you should not have any preconceived ideas of what you want to fish until you see the lake/venue but i already knew i wanted to fish the waggler on an area people rarely did.
To the fishing!
So as i mentioned above, i starting my swim off by balling in when i were plumbing. This gives a good marker but i tried to create an area of around 2 m2. I also gave two casts with the large version of the g/bait feeder just to kick start it. After that, i decided to go straight on the waggler.
Top tip! When your setting up. Cast your feeder in EMPTY and WITHOUT A HOOK LENGTH to where you intend to fish, leave it there and watch your tip for ten minutes. It'll show you if your too far out if you getting many liners!
Well, i started on the waggler and it wasn't long before i were getting small indications. After about 5 minutes and a few twitches i decided to almost totally submerge the float and just leave about 10mm above the water line and i also just went to 3 inches over depth. This resulted in the obvious - my float going straight under and into a roach, followed by a great deal more too!
I kept topping up with golf ball sizes balled every half hour of so, but i too kept scattering some caster around the area, to if nothing else just keep the perch at bay.
I was averaging around a roach every other cast. Its always difficult to hit the fast bites at range, especially on a windy day, i couldn't get away with anymore of the depth as it would just run through the peg too fast. It went dead at around 12 o clock so i then tried the feeder. Pretty much the same response but the stamp were much smaller. So i chucked another babies head in on my waggler line and then just waited until i could see liners on my feeder line.
Top Tip! If your fishing at range, and are fishing waggler and feeder, try to get a feeder line so when in the water your feeder line cuts through the edge of your swim. Look for liners and its a good indication that its time to shift!
Well pretty much 10 minutes after the ball i saw a couple of indications so i decided to go back on the waggler. Same again, just into roach! Just staying on the 2 dead reds seemed to be paying off.
With bites often and a continuous belt of fish rolling in. Roach from 1 - 8oz and a few bream up to around 5lb. The rod handled them superbly, not one fish bumped. I think a lot of peoplego over gunned they don't realize they can play the fish till its shattered, especially on a pleasure session.
I decided to call it a day when i started getting soaked through, didnt use that much bait so it'll save for another day. Just goes to show that you should think out of the box even if it does make you look a right twirp from time to time!
My catch around 30lbs maybe a little more if i am feeling generous!..................
Sorry about the quality! Bit hard when your by ya self!:).
Cheers!
Nathan @ Fish4thought
Thursday 1 December 2011
Loversall Practice session
Hi Folks,
So as you may know, I have decided to have a look else where for my matches now. Just for the winter though. I had a few in mind but i have chosen a couple. My old haunt wetlands and a fairly new venue called Loversall Lakes.
I decided to go for a Trip to Loversall today. Just try to it out as i haven't fished it before. On first sights of the venue i really did like what i was seeing. It is a fairly new venue (around 3 years) and i was expecting to see it slightly more established but it was still in the first phase of vegetation establishment, but i still gave it a go!
I chose to fish a peg which had the end of an island infront of it.
Pretty much a dead-cert to have a good line to fish to on this peg. I opted to set up a Margin, 6m, 11m and 16m line 16m line was basically to the island but i set up a bomb and feeder rod too. Bomb rod was a insurance policy with just .6 bottom on which would have been fished with a B510 20 with a single red.
Plumbing up i shipped out a feet at a time just to try and find the odd ledge but there just wasnt on that i could find. It was constructed as a bowl and the margins were only around 5 inch deep so that was out of the question. I did decide to fish a line at the deepest part of the bed (Around 7m), a line to the island (Bottom of the shelf around 15m) and the last on to the island more or less flush with it (16m).
My Rigs were as follows:
7m line: I only had around 4ft depth here. So i opted to TRY and start off with a .3 PB22 onto .11 with .8 hook length finished off with an 18 B911. This was going to be fished as close to dead depth as i could manage with dead reds. (Feeding 2mm pellets). Shotting pattern was just a bulk of shot around 5 inch away from the hook. I wanted to try some bait i had been given to field test which is a new pellet currently coming into the market called "FP1" (£5.50) courtesy of www.Talkangling.co.uk so i decided to use this line to do so - So i made a duplicate rig with a PR24 16.
15m line: As above but as i was fishing further out i decided to go to a .5PB22 rather than the smaller one. I was going to use this line to fish choppy too. So i opted for a bulk of No.8 shot with 2 x No.10's used as droppers - last one 3 inch away from the hook.
16m line: When i plumbed this line up i only had around 2 ft, i wasn't really sure to bother or not but i decided just in case it was best. As i didn't really know the venue at all. I opted for my classic shallow choice of the Colmic Goldie .2g which is ideal for far bank and margin situations. Same spec line and hook above. I was going to try to fish choppy on this line. But left the idea open to try any bait on it. Especially the FP1's. So i tied a duplicate as above, again with a PR24 16.
I planned on fishing all the above with 9h as i wasn't sure what i was going to get at all!
Bomb line: I did set this up mainly on the thought of fishing over the 16m line with a single larger bait on or single red, dependent on what my first bites came out with. Fishing a tiny bomb. Around the size of an SSG shot on my super light Silstar Match Picker. This was more insurance than anything.
Feeder line: Nothing fancy, tiny themsley ground bait feeder with a small tail of around 1.5ft. Which was going to be fishing with choppy just to the edge of the island with a 50/50 mix of Bream 3000 and Brown crumb.. Again this would be treated as a back up.
So it was time to fish!
I started off with a mix of 2m and 4m sizes pellets. (Venues pellets) - but coated in my own special stuff:). Never use cups this time of year, as i think it encourages you to feed to much so a TINY kinder type cup was used. One cup only. Straight out to the marker @ 7m. I decided to start the day off just fishing double dead red and waiting to see what came out.
Well after around 20 minutes i hadn't had a slight indication at all! I decided to feed the peg again then switch to my 15m line. Going as the same rule again with just a small pop of bait (Demolished worms,. just like soup with 30% caster (to keep the perch away!). I fished the rig with 2 small pieces of worm.
It wasn't long before i was into a small carp (around a 1lb) followed by around 10 more within the space of an hour or so. I didn't to bag up today. I just wanted to see what all the difference line were like so i decided to go on to 15m. Unfortunately by the time this came around the wind was pretty much Gale force! So i decided to go to my 6m line.
I gave it 5 minutes on the dead reds, but i just couldnt get anything to produce. So feed a little more of my mix then opted to fish the 5m FP1 in the Mello Flavour (Nice and Sweet!).
After about ten minutes i started to get a few knocks. Then it went shooting under! result was a nice 3lb mirror. After around an hour of so they started to role in after not so much time. Around 5 minutes a fish which is pretty good for this time of the year so the FP1 made a difference for me.
Well i reckon id have got around 25lb of carp. Obviously this was only my first visit and was gained by using two methods only. I'm pleased i tried the FP1's today though and i'll be doing a full review on them Tomorrow at the Grange in Scunthorpe.
Check in on monday for a full FP1 Review!:).
Cheers!
Nate@Fish4Thought
So as you may know, I have decided to have a look else where for my matches now. Just for the winter though. I had a few in mind but i have chosen a couple. My old haunt wetlands and a fairly new venue called Loversall Lakes.
I decided to go for a Trip to Loversall today. Just try to it out as i haven't fished it before. On first sights of the venue i really did like what i was seeing. It is a fairly new venue (around 3 years) and i was expecting to see it slightly more established but it was still in the first phase of vegetation establishment, but i still gave it a go!
I chose to fish a peg which had the end of an island infront of it.
Pretty much a dead-cert to have a good line to fish to on this peg. I opted to set up a Margin, 6m, 11m and 16m line 16m line was basically to the island but i set up a bomb and feeder rod too. Bomb rod was a insurance policy with just .6 bottom on which would have been fished with a B510 20 with a single red.
Plumbing up i shipped out a feet at a time just to try and find the odd ledge but there just wasnt on that i could find. It was constructed as a bowl and the margins were only around 5 inch deep so that was out of the question. I did decide to fish a line at the deepest part of the bed (Around 7m), a line to the island (Bottom of the shelf around 15m) and the last on to the island more or less flush with it (16m).
My Rigs were as follows:
7m line: I only had around 4ft depth here. So i opted to TRY and start off with a .3 PB22 onto .11 with .8 hook length finished off with an 18 B911. This was going to be fished as close to dead depth as i could manage with dead reds. (Feeding 2mm pellets). Shotting pattern was just a bulk of shot around 5 inch away from the hook. I wanted to try some bait i had been given to field test which is a new pellet currently coming into the market called "FP1" (£5.50) courtesy of www.Talkangling.co.uk so i decided to use this line to do so - So i made a duplicate rig with a PR24 16.
15m line: As above but as i was fishing further out i decided to go to a .5PB22 rather than the smaller one. I was going to use this line to fish choppy too. So i opted for a bulk of No.8 shot with 2 x No.10's used as droppers - last one 3 inch away from the hook.
16m line: When i plumbed this line up i only had around 2 ft, i wasn't really sure to bother or not but i decided just in case it was best. As i didn't really know the venue at all. I opted for my classic shallow choice of the Colmic Goldie .2g which is ideal for far bank and margin situations. Same spec line and hook above. I was going to try to fish choppy on this line. But left the idea open to try any bait on it. Especially the FP1's. So i tied a duplicate as above, again with a PR24 16.
I planned on fishing all the above with 9h as i wasn't sure what i was going to get at all!
Bomb line: I did set this up mainly on the thought of fishing over the 16m line with a single larger bait on or single red, dependent on what my first bites came out with. Fishing a tiny bomb. Around the size of an SSG shot on my super light Silstar Match Picker. This was more insurance than anything.
Feeder line: Nothing fancy, tiny themsley ground bait feeder with a small tail of around 1.5ft. Which was going to be fishing with choppy just to the edge of the island with a 50/50 mix of Bream 3000 and Brown crumb.. Again this would be treated as a back up.
So it was time to fish!
I started off with a mix of 2m and 4m sizes pellets. (Venues pellets) - but coated in my own special stuff:). Never use cups this time of year, as i think it encourages you to feed to much so a TINY kinder type cup was used. One cup only. Straight out to the marker @ 7m. I decided to start the day off just fishing double dead red and waiting to see what came out.
Well after around 20 minutes i hadn't had a slight indication at all! I decided to feed the peg again then switch to my 15m line. Going as the same rule again with just a small pop of bait (Demolished worms,. just like soup with 30% caster (to keep the perch away!). I fished the rig with 2 small pieces of worm.
It wasn't long before i was into a small carp (around a 1lb) followed by around 10 more within the space of an hour or so. I didn't to bag up today. I just wanted to see what all the difference line were like so i decided to go on to 15m. Unfortunately by the time this came around the wind was pretty much Gale force! So i decided to go to my 6m line.
I gave it 5 minutes on the dead reds, but i just couldnt get anything to produce. So feed a little more of my mix then opted to fish the 5m FP1 in the Mello Flavour (Nice and Sweet!).
After about ten minutes i started to get a few knocks. Then it went shooting under! result was a nice 3lb mirror. After around an hour of so they started to role in after not so much time. Around 5 minutes a fish which is pretty good for this time of the year so the FP1 made a difference for me.
Well i reckon id have got around 25lb of carp. Obviously this was only my first visit and was gained by using two methods only. I'm pleased i tried the FP1's today though and i'll be doing a full review on them Tomorrow at the Grange in Scunthorpe.
Check in on monday for a full FP1 Review!:).
Cheers!
Nate@Fish4Thought
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Langold Lake - Friday!
Alright Folks,
Not been out in a while.
Hoping to get the first feeder session underway at Langold lake on Thursday or Friday.
All the weed is clear and its looks very good indeed.
Reckon i'll be targetting it using the classic inline loop method on the G/Bait feeder with some light 0.06 Silstar tied to a B510 20 with single red.
Look here for Info http://www.talkangling.co.uk/upload/venue_details_information/45695-langold_lake_nottinghamshire.html
Looking forward to it already!
I'll keep you posted.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Not been out in a while.
Hoping to get the first feeder session underway at Langold lake on Thursday or Friday.
All the weed is clear and its looks very good indeed.
Reckon i'll be targetting it using the classic inline loop method on the G/Bait feeder with some light 0.06 Silstar tied to a B510 20 with single red.
Look here for Info http://www.talkangling.co.uk/upload/venue_details_information/45695-langold_lake_nottinghamshire.html
Looking forward to it already!
I'll keep you posted.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Hi Folks,
I would just like to point out the importance of fishing the margins during the winter.
On a Tuition day Yesterday i was asked to show someone my way with Paste fishing, obviously it didnt come out with massive results due to the weather which is why we concentrated on Choppy and Caster, but the gent still learnt the spec of the rigs and the consitancy i use etc.
As i say above, you should never completely right off the margin line as demonstrated yesterday. A simple cup full of slop and pellets, gave it half an hour and pretty much immediatly the gent was into a nice bream. Although its not a continues run of fish. No body can argue that a 3lb bream coulding be the difference between winning and loosing.
Perfect locations for a bonus fish!
See ya soon,
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
I would just like to point out the importance of fishing the margins during the winter.
On a Tuition day Yesterday i was asked to show someone my way with Paste fishing, obviously it didnt come out with massive results due to the weather which is why we concentrated on Choppy and Caster, but the gent still learnt the spec of the rigs and the consitancy i use etc.
As i say above, you should never completely right off the margin line as demonstrated yesterday. A simple cup full of slop and pellets, gave it half an hour and pretty much immediatly the gent was into a nice bream. Although its not a continues run of fish. No body can argue that a 3lb bream coulding be the difference between winning and loosing.
Perfect locations for a bonus fish!
See ya soon,
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Monday 14 November 2011
Langold Lake - Next to the Boat House, Thursday
Hi Folks,
Well i went for a little practice session on Langold lake. I was going to go for the feeder pegs but in the end i decided for the pole pegs, just to get rid of the bait from the previous days.
Unfortunately i made a bad mistake! Never had a touch on the pole rigs went 11m,16m and 18m and just could get a touch anywhere. I'll put it down to picking a peg without any real depth of features (Having aroundf 4ft). I did pretty much try every i went down to a single red on a size 22 tied to 8oz hook link topped off with 4 elastic and as you predict i had a bite and lost it with about 10 seconds. May of been a tench or one of the smaller carp.
In the end i just tried to simple feeder approach going out to around 35 yards or so (Just after the sharp drop off to 12ft), but even that didnt really have much results. I did have a small amount of success using my choppy mix on the feeder.
By the end of the long! day, i manager 7 skimmers and a fairly decent perch. Not usual for the lake!
My Evaluation?
Well i think its time to get on the feeder pegs now. All the weed looks as though its cleared, so now just time for some good old feeder fishing!:).
I think i have a spare slot on Thurday for a fishing session but other than that am crambed with Tuition days. Hopefully i'll get someone out a little better on the feeder on thursday!
See you then,
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought
Well i went for a little practice session on Langold lake. I was going to go for the feeder pegs but in the end i decided for the pole pegs, just to get rid of the bait from the previous days.
Unfortunately i made a bad mistake! Never had a touch on the pole rigs went 11m,16m and 18m and just could get a touch anywhere. I'll put it down to picking a peg without any real depth of features (Having aroundf 4ft). I did pretty much try every i went down to a single red on a size 22 tied to 8oz hook link topped off with 4 elastic and as you predict i had a bite and lost it with about 10 seconds. May of been a tench or one of the smaller carp.
In the end i just tried to simple feeder approach going out to around 35 yards or so (Just after the sharp drop off to 12ft), but even that didnt really have much results. I did have a small amount of success using my choppy mix on the feeder.
By the end of the long! day, i manager 7 skimmers and a fairly decent perch. Not usual for the lake!
My Evaluation?
Well i think its time to get on the feeder pegs now. All the weed looks as though its cleared, so now just time for some good old feeder fishing!:).
I think i have a spare slot on Thurday for a fishing session but other than that am crambed with Tuition days. Hopefully i'll get someone out a little better on the feeder on thursday!
See you then,
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought
Saturday 12 November 2011
Sorry Guys and Gals
Sorry i have not put anything on my blog this weekend:(. I have been busy with tuition so i have not been in any matches. As far as i am aware i will be in a match monday at Hallcroft so will try and get something on then.
What do you all reckon about me having a separate blog with my tuition days on too??
Take care
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
What do you all reckon about me having a separate blog with my tuition days on too??
Take care
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Wednesday 9 November 2011
My way with the Hook in the loop method & sensitive hair rigging
Hi Folks,
First of all, today i'm going to show you a method which i tend to use more so up in the water and its simply 'Hook in the loop", it says it all in the name.
I am going to show you the basics for setting it up and the theory behind it.
First of all get your self some hooks (eyed) and some fairly stiff line (Forget the strengh as pictured, its the only one i had to hand, use one that suites your situation):
First of all thread the line through the eye of the hook. Make sure it threads through the front of the eye, as this will help it sit correctly.
Next simply tie a figure 8 knot to form a loop and tighten down. Make sure all knots wetted down before tightening to avoid friction. This is the finished product. I tend to use this style of hook when fishing caster up in the water for small stuff and Ide. I use it frequently on my sliding shall rig which i will go through with you in the summer and spring. It does suit other methods as well as hair rigging as i will show you.
To form the hair, use dental floss, supple line or even a hair (Thats where the term comes from after all!) Please note: for the picture i have used cotton, this is just so your able to see what i do. Anyway, tie a small loop in the end of the material of your choice.
Next start a knot, but done tighten down on it! Make it around an inch away from the end of the loop!
Next, insert the hook into the knot. Its a better way of doing things that just tying it straight on, its alot less fiddly. Simply pull down on the knot, add moister before tightening and make sure you have around a 15mm hair.
Then simply tighten and steam over a kettle and you will make it all straight and smooth. Very much tangle free. Its actually very similar to the origional hair rigging system. This hair riggin style creates a very versatile air rigging system which is very sensitive and can catch even the nervous of winter carp. Ideal for hair rigging pellets, corn and small boilies. Now what if you want to add a Pop up?
Simply add a no.6 shot or better yet abit of rig putty on or as close to the knot as you can possibly get. Try it!
Go ahead and give it a try, as all method do, this one has its day - but once your crack it, you'll love it.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
First of all, today i'm going to show you a method which i tend to use more so up in the water and its simply 'Hook in the loop", it says it all in the name.
I am going to show you the basics for setting it up and the theory behind it.
First of all get your self some hooks (eyed) and some fairly stiff line (Forget the strengh as pictured, its the only one i had to hand, use one that suites your situation):
First of all thread the line through the eye of the hook. Make sure it threads through the front of the eye, as this will help it sit correctly.
Go ahead and give it a try, as all method do, this one has its day - but once your crack it, you'll love it.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Monday 7 November 2011
Tuition.
Just so your all aware i now only have 3 days tuition left until next year. Contact me for details.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Hallcroft, Reed Pool - Peg 17
Hi Folks,
I fished a match today on the reed pool again but the oppisite side was matched today. Obviously wasnt expecting anything exciting due to the weather and more importantly the wind!
I drew peg 17 which is only a couple of pegs down from one of my fav pegs, which is number 15.
As soon as i arrived at the peg i decided to change my attack all together and just left the pole for the day and concentrate on the bomb. I decided to set up my Silstar match picker on the bomb as i havnt had it out for a while. As an after thought i did decided to set up a margin rig with just a little side thought as abit of security.
Its important to do a bit of feature finding when you just have open water in front of you, especially with a a fish at a time method such as the bomb. There are methods to do this whilst not chucking in continuously like a baboon, with just simply 3 casts. 3 Far chucks, 1 left, 1 right and one in the middle of the swim.
A couple of hints for doing this are:
- Always point your rod to the side.
- Keep the tip touching the water.
- Reel in 1ft at a time (If you have time).
- Use a round bomb/lead. A gripper would be better if you can find one light enough.
- If you hit a ledge. It'll stop dead. It will feel like a snag. But a simple lift of the rod and slack in the line will relieve the tension and enable you to keep it coming towards you.
Getting back on track...
I was all set. I had a feel about for 15 minutes and found a small maybe 6 inch ledge around 35 yards out. I was going to fish to this but not strictly all day. I dont mind casting to a showing fish if it is deadly quiet.
My bomb set up isnt anything fancy. I dont buy bombs or leads. I use a bomb/lead that comes out of the maggot feeders which i some times use i prefer these and it saves a bit of dosh in the long run. Not to mention you can simply clip on the feeder bit and then add some sloppy swim stim for a bit of attractant!
Obviously my style of simplicity is carried on with my bomb tactics too. I thread the eye of the bomb through my mainline (4lb Maxima), shortly followed by a bead and then tied off to a swivel with an o ring attached. Then i do prefer 2ft for a hook lengh, but i have gone upto 5ft before! Today i was going for practically anything so i opted for an .9 bottom (2.4lb) tied to a B911 18 Spade end. My main attack was to be dead reds, but if needed i had a few 4mm and 6mm pellets to go at.
Time was called and i put on 2 dead reds which were fresh out the freezer and chucked it out to where i had clipped up, i decided my first chuck would be with the feeder on and decided to put abit of slop in there. It landed just where i wanted.
It was after about 30 minutes that i started getting signs. The other lads were getting fish but only roach and nothing even remotely good was showing as of yet.
Wasnt long before my tip swang round! At first i thought it may be a bream, It was giving the ol' nod which i associate with them, but as i reeled it in it began to wake up. You have to take it steady when your on light tackle, but the picker rod is soft enough to take its lunges.
Wasnt long before i had it in the net......
I did decided to go on the margin rig for ten minutes.....
I went straight back out with the naked bomb and just sat and waiting. It was the last hour of the match and i thought i may of been pipped to the post by cookie but then i managed to get into 2 of these!:)
....and a small chub followed.
It was a very hard day. I knew it would be. Hallcroft is always the same onces a Northern wind gets on it, but before the weighin i was thinking that "I reckon i have fished well" and now i am certain i made the right decision.
This was all the bait i used all day. Apart from a cup full of swim stim slop....
Top 3 were:
1. N Johnson 46lb 5oz
2. S Cooke 34lb 9oz
3.N White 32lb 7oz
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Peg 101 - Clear Water, Ranskill: Pegs 82 - 90.
So you've drawn the fliers and you need to make it count?
Heres the all in guide to the fishery and the best pegs available.
First of all. No matter what time of the year it is. Fish are always in the margins at this venue and they are normally big lumps!
My approaches and lines for Summer would be;
My approaches and lines for Winter would be;
The trick is to not be affraid to try new things at the venue and dont be affraid just to target the carp. Alot of people do not fish for them i cannot see why not sometimes. I used to have the record @ 163lb but i am not to sure if that still stands. Its a fairly easy venue and if you stick to the lines above you couldnt go far wrong. If you notice above i dont mention a 6 or 11m on the deck rig. The reason being is it just isnt productive enough and the size of the carp is pretty much in the ounces on most pegs. The depth can also cause alot of issues and i have useds a top 6 kit before just to cope with it!
Give it ago!
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Heres the all in guide to the fishery and the best pegs available.
First of all. No matter what time of the year it is. Fish are always in the margins at this venue and they are normally big lumps!
My approaches and lines for Summer would be;
- Far bank line 1 - Approx 13/14.5m. Expect around 3 ft of depth, but this line wouldnt be on the deck. A slider float rig is favoured by me with depth inbetween 1 and 2 feet. .17 power line would be my choice and i would tie this to a 14 B911 and expect to feed constantly with 4mm Pellets. The hook bait doesnt need to be anything special. A simple everyday soft hooker will get them rolling in for you. I would suggest test the line with 13h or 10 Solid at first, as the stamp of fish can change throughout the day from 1-3lbers to 10-20lbs!
- Far Bank line 2 - Approx 13/14.5m. Expect around 3 ft of depth and you want to set it up around 2 inch over depth. As the ledges are very small and very often! So play it safe. A colmic goldie float .3g topped up with .17 power line would be my choice for the summer and i would tie this to a 16 B911. I wouldnt feed anything as i would only go on this line if the shallow rig wasnt producing. The hook bait doesnt need to be anything special. A simple everyday soft hooker will get them rolling in for you. I would suggest test the line with 11h or 8 Solid at first, as the stamp of the fish on the long line on the deck are normally fairly small.
- Margin line, Left and Right - First of all if you do manage to draw a peg with a straw bail in the water. Dont fish close to it. What you wont see above the water is that they are actually stacked up like stairs and no doubt will only result in disaster and tangles/breakages if you fish at the side of it. The best bet is to fish to the side of either ends of the bails. Expect around 1-2ft of water and dont be affraid to go right up to your pegs pier! I would lump up conciderably on these rigs. A colmic Goldie .4g float topped with .21 or more powerline (Somewhere around the 8 - 10lb mark will be alright) and topped with a beafy size 12 Animal. Maybe fished with 1 or 2 Soft hookers or even a little bit of luncheon meat. I would try this line for the first and last 1.5hr of a match and would continually feed these lines. Expect carp upto around 25lb. Average being around the 15lb mark. Like this!
My approaches and lines for Winter would be;
- Far bank line 1 - Approx 13/14.5m. Expect around 3 ft of depth, but this line wouldnt be on the deck. I would suggest a .3/.2g Colmic goldie or similar to .15 power line would be my choice at this time of year and i would tie this to a 16 B911 and expect to feed every 5 mins with say just 4 or 5 4mm pellets. The hook bait needs not to be anything special. A simple everyday soft hooker will get them rolling in for you although i would go down to a 6mm during the cooler months. I would suggest test the line with 13h or 10 Solid at first, as the stamp of fish can change throughout the day from 1-3lbers to 10-20lbs!
- Far Bank line 2 - Approx 13/14.5m. Expect around 3 ft of depth and you want to set it up around 2 inch over depth. As the ledges are very small and very often! So play it safe. A colmic goldie float .2g topped up with .11 power line would be my choice for the winter and i would tie this to a 16 B911. I would fish this line over the bait which was introduced with the shallow rig. The hook bait needs not to be anything special. A simple everyday soft hooker will get them rolling in for you same as above. Possible lowered to a 6mm and even worm if it was really hard. I would suggest test the line with 11h or 8 Solid at first, as the stamp of the fish on the long line on the deck are normally fairly small.
- Margin line, Left and Right - First of all if you do manage to draw a peg with a straw bail in the water. Dont fish close to it. What you wont see above the water is that they are actually stacked up like stairs and no doubt will only result in disaster and tangles/breakages if you fish at the side of it. The best bet is to fish to the side of either ends of the bails. Expect around 1-2ft of water and dont be affraid to go right up to your pegs pier! I would lump up conciderably on these rigs. A colmic Goldie .4g float topped with .17 or more powerline (Somewhere around the 6 - 8lb mark will be alright) and topped with a 14 B911 Animal. Maybe fished with 1 or 2 Soft hookers or even a little bit of luncheon meat. Slightly different from the above would be possibly a worm and caster approach in the margins. I would try this line for the first and last 1.5hr of a match and would continually feed these lines. Expect carp upto around 25lb. Average being around the 15lb mark. Like this!
- Ide and Roach line - The roach and hide can be the best bet on the cooler days while still catching them up in the water, 60lb bags arent unusual and if the carp wasnt on the ball i would not see a probably going for these. I would suggest a Colmic Goldie .2 Float fished between 1-4ft deep up in the water on a line to hand. Expect around 10 - 20ft depth in some areas so experiment with lenghs. I would also say go for a B911 size 18 and just a single or double caster at the same time feeding the same continuously in small amounts.
Give it ago!
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Thursday 3 November 2011
Hallcroft, Reed Pool - Peg 33.
Hi Folks,
So i attended the little Champion of Champions match today. It was just a little knock up of "Veterans" at Hallcroft on the Reed pool. Its my favourite pool on the complex and its also known as one of the hardest! I wasnt really feeling up to it this morning, i'd had a poor nights sleep and was just not feeling my self. So i didnt hold out much confidence.
Well anyway, i drew peg 33. One of my favourite pegs on the Reed pool as it is sort of on a little point and has a fairly large and deep margin to the right considering the rest of the pegs. Although i didnt really fancy that end of the lake today. As the wind was blowing in the bottom corner. I also dont really rate this side of the pool during the colder months. As the other bank (Which wasnt matched up) has the sun on it first, so normally the fish come on the feed earlier throughout the day.
I knew which lines i would set up as soon as i drew but i got the added bonus of a spare peg to my left so i decided to add another.
Lines were as follows:
All set and ready to go!
So as the whistle was blown i put a good hand full of pellets into my right hand margin and went straight out onto the 6m line. The wind was starting to get up and as usual it was towing like a train, but the paste was holding the deck for me. I decided to pop a no.8 off the rig as the tow was pulling the float under to much and this then just added a little more bouyancy to my rig.
After around 20 minutes i hadnt had a touch! I was getting worried so i then decided to leave the 6m line for a while and go on to my right margin - Something which i wouldnt normally of done so early on in the day.
This margin is normally fairly productive but i hadnt tried it so early on in the day let alone in the morning, it was worth a shot though. I shipped it out and rolled the pole to my left to empty the cup. I was fishing bang in the middle of my bed of pellets. I had a few indications and thought it was a good sign! Thats the best thing about paste you more than likely get a little knock at the door before they come in! Well my float shot down. Dragged my pole to the left and the fish was very lively! As usual when playing fish from the margins i also feed the margin which i just disturbed by either paste balls or pellets. At first i thought i may have got into the average lump in here (10 - 15lb) but unfortunately when i got it in the net i was shocked to see which must of been the smallest carp i haver ever caught from the Reed Pool.
Not very ordinary for the Reed Pool:P!
Well i continued with the right margin and soon had another 4 similar sized carp in my net. I didnt really care what size they were. My ethos is keep fish going in your net what ever the size and your still moving forward instead of backwards. After an hour or so fishing the margin it did predictably go dead. I went straight back on the 6m Line while still feeding the right. This time seemed to go better. I immediately had indications and all of a sudden my float went straight down. Sadly, not a carp.
But again, still a fish and a decent bream at that:).
After i landed that i went straight back out and literally nothing else for another half an hour. It was being a very funny day. With nothing really showing at all apart from the odd seagul coming down for dinner. I decided to put another cup full of Pellets and paste on my left hand margin to the spare peg. If i needed a miracle i new this is where i would get it! I tried all 3 lines to front and right for the next two hours with nothing massive of any size showing, i did however manager to get 4 or 5 chub out on the dead red. But i started to get my right hand rig going on the paste again and i was slowly but surely getting the little 1-3lb carp out.
Well it went slow for ten minutes so i figured i would try my spare peg.
It was the last hour after all and i had noticed cookie to my right getting a few chub on the chopped worm, so i thought i should up the pace a little. I shipped it out, dumped the paste and left it. It went over the 2 minute mark. Another thing i do normally is to take it back out and try another line. But as no other lines were proving productive i was going to sit and wait for the rest of the match. I was thinking about the Evesham fest qualifiers when the float shot under. Pulled it to my right and it felt like a better one. It was putting up a very good fight for the time of year as did the others! Which i thought was very strange!
Well i got it in and it turned out at the end to go 14lb
So i attended the little Champion of Champions match today. It was just a little knock up of "Veterans" at Hallcroft on the Reed pool. Its my favourite pool on the complex and its also known as one of the hardest! I wasnt really feeling up to it this morning, i'd had a poor nights sleep and was just not feeling my self. So i didnt hold out much confidence.
Well anyway, i drew peg 33. One of my favourite pegs on the Reed pool as it is sort of on a little point and has a fairly large and deep margin to the right considering the rest of the pegs. Although i didnt really fancy that end of the lake today. As the wind was blowing in the bottom corner. I also dont really rate this side of the pool during the colder months. As the other bank (Which wasnt matched up) has the sun on it first, so normally the fish come on the feed earlier throughout the day.
I knew which lines i would set up as soon as i drew but i got the added bonus of a spare peg to my left so i decided to add another.
Lines were as follows:
- 6m Line. Paste line - based just after the last ledge. My overal approach doesnt change for paste much as you have noticed. Basically decided to come down a fraction and opted for .13 Powerline with a .7g PB22 float this time tied down to a 12 B911, which as usual a bulk of shot centred between the float and hook. More or less dead depth. Fished in around 5 1/2 ft of water. Connected to 13H.
- Margin Left. My left margin was an empty peg. I planned to fish this pretty negatively with just a cup full of bait at 1pm and just see how it went. Paste again. Exactly as Line 1 other than a .5g Pb22. Connected to 13H.
- Margin Right. Exactly as above. How ever decided to fish this line fairly positively as i wanted to fish two lines with this swim. Connected to 13H
- As i mention above. I opted to set up an additional rig for Dead red on a paste line. Sometimes as i have found on this particular peg you can get some very productive chub going if need. So fishing a smaller bait over existing would be a good get out clause. I also prepared some casters for this line just in case. I planned to hand pellets in every 15 mins or so. As i usually do. The rig its self is a .2g Colmic goldie put to .11 Powerline tied up to an 18 B911. This would generally be fished with 2 - 5 dead reds. Connected to 11H
- 11m Line. I always set this line up. But i have never had to resort to it. On most pegs on the reed you will find a slightly different depth either slightly deeper or shallower at 11-13m so i found it could be a good insurance policy! Connected to 13H.
So as the whistle was blown i put a good hand full of pellets into my right hand margin and went straight out onto the 6m line. The wind was starting to get up and as usual it was towing like a train, but the paste was holding the deck for me. I decided to pop a no.8 off the rig as the tow was pulling the float under to much and this then just added a little more bouyancy to my rig.
After around 20 minutes i hadnt had a touch! I was getting worried so i then decided to leave the 6m line for a while and go on to my right margin - Something which i wouldnt normally of done so early on in the day.
Well i continued with the right margin and soon had another 4 similar sized carp in my net. I didnt really care what size they were. My ethos is keep fish going in your net what ever the size and your still moving forward instead of backwards. After an hour or so fishing the margin it did predictably go dead. I went straight back on the 6m Line while still feeding the right. This time seemed to go better. I immediately had indications and all of a sudden my float went straight down. Sadly, not a carp.
After i landed that i went straight back out and literally nothing else for another half an hour. It was being a very funny day. With nothing really showing at all apart from the odd seagul coming down for dinner. I decided to put another cup full of Pellets and paste on my left hand margin to the spare peg. If i needed a miracle i new this is where i would get it! I tried all 3 lines to front and right for the next two hours with nothing massive of any size showing, i did however manager to get 4 or 5 chub out on the dead red. But i started to get my right hand rig going on the paste again and i was slowly but surely getting the little 1-3lb carp out.
Well i got it in and it turned out at the end to go 14lb
Well i managed to get that one in, dropped another freebie out and was straight back into another one as soon as my paste hit the deck. Another one slightly smaller than the above at around 10lb mark.
The whistle blew! I wasnt even watching the time and i thought i may have struggled to keep my winning runs which i recently built up.
Well the Top 3 went:
1. S Cooke 65lb 7oz
2. N Johnson 62lb 2oz
3. Kieran Crampton 39lb 8oz
Well...I was happy the way i fished. Maybe going to the Left margin ealier could of paid of but who knows. Cookie had a free bank and caught using Choppy, Paste and Pellet on the feeder.
Nathan
@Fish4Thought
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Last couple of places for Tuition for this Year!
Just to let you all know i only have 5 places left for booking tuition this year so if your interested get in touch:).
Nathan
@Fish4thought
Nathan
@Fish4thought
Hallcroft - Canal Pond Monday 31st
Well it had been a while since i had been on this pond. The previous session i have had on the Canal Pond had seen me go well over the 100lb mark on most of the days and only several of the pegs and different areas of the lake, so i thought it was time for a change and go back to it!
When the day came i really fancied the middle stretch of it. Its a C shape lake and the winter was blowing straight down to the straightest part. So i fancied either two bends. There wasnt many fish showing anywhere and it was dead clear but i did still want to draw there!
Unfortunately my luck wasnt in and i drew peg 1. Now, on most days i would of loved to draw this. As its the first peg and surrounded with Reeds and ledges, but today wasnt one. It was full with floating natural debris and this was to make it very difficult to fish my 14.5m line to the far bank.
The lines i opted for where:
The whistle was blown and i went straight for the 11m line and fed little of my dead red a pellet mix. It wasnt long before i was in my first fish (About a minute).
An average stamp of fish for the canal, but it really doesnt take much to get a good weight with these. They are also considerably heavier than they appear. Note the debris on the water behind it! I figured i had put around 30lb in my net within the first hour and a half.
It did start to slow down considerably and it ended up with not getting any indications at all. I decided to abandon swim. I wasnt going to feed anymore into it if i wasnt getting any indications at all as this is one of the better rules in fishing to learn and one that i do tell people when coaching. After my 11m line went dead i opted for the 6m Paste line which resulted in a fish straight away.....
............. and then nother else in the ten minutes it was in! I then went straight for my dead red margin line and was instantly in again this time they kept coming until the last 30 mins of the match. I had done around 40lb of fish in the 2+3 margin and was happy with that. When that then went dead i tried my paste approach in the margin and was probably getting a fish every 5 minutes with added 6 fish to my total weight. They are always slightly bigger on paste in the margin and some push the 5lb mark now. So every bonus fish counts. They really do scrap in the margins they go like steam trains for the size of them, its porbaly down to the depth and lack of.
Top 3 at the end of the day was.
1.Nathan Johnson 89lb 2oz
2.Mark Foy 81lb 7oz
3.Ian Turner 79lb 9oz
Weirdly the weights between 3rd and 7th came from middle of the lake which i had fancied. But it was a good result with a few fish. The weights are getting smaller and the fishing is getting harder. Cant wait:).
Nathan
@ Fish4Though
When the day came i really fancied the middle stretch of it. Its a C shape lake and the winter was blowing straight down to the straightest part. So i fancied either two bends. There wasnt many fish showing anywhere and it was dead clear but i did still want to draw there!
Unfortunately my luck wasnt in and i drew peg 1. Now, on most days i would of loved to draw this. As its the first peg and surrounded with Reeds and ledges, but today wasnt one. It was full with floating natural debris and this was to make it very difficult to fish my 14.5m line to the far bank.
The lines i opted for where:
- 6m Line just after the last ledge, this was going to be my paste attack. Using a Preston PB22 .5g twinned with .13 Powerline direct tied to a 14 Animal. Pretty much my every day rig for paste but slightly tweaked and turned down a little due to time of year. This wouldnt be a rig i would expect to bag up on due to the wind but it was a good insurance policy to have. I set this up 3 and a bit feet deep just an inch or so over depth. My Paste mix was to be just as ordinary but in smaller amounts. As usual i would be feeding anything other than what i was putting around my hook.
11m Line just before the far bank ledge, this was going to be my Dead red attack. Using a Colmic goldie .3g float twinned with .13 Powerline direct tied to a 18 B911 fished with between 1 and 3 dead reds this was going to be confirmed through the day which approach would be the better one. I was planning to feed a mix of Dead reds and 2mm pellets on this line to keep them interested but only feeding on a feed per fish ratio as i thought it may well be difficult today. I plumbed and found 3ft of water and set it up just so it was touching the deck but left a bit of additional line on incase the wind took a turn for the worse as hallcroft can tow like a train! I also made sure my 5 no.8's were no more than 5 inch away from the hook bait. I havnt seen many people using these floats and i dont know why! They are pretty much the strongest pole float i have ever used and in the different sizes can be used for most fishing situations! Its perfect for far bank situations, the stem isnt as long as it appears either! - 13/14.5m line were to be just for the far bank. I didnt actually feel as though i could fish this confidently as the natural debris was just all over the place for about a metre or so after the far bank it was clogged by reeds and leafs so it could get frustrating! But still i did make a rig and plumbed up and found 1ft of water, i made it 2 inch over depth, with again the option to go upto 5 inch over depth if need be. This was pretty much the same rig as above but i opted for .2g Colmic goldie in the place of the .3g one and instead of a bulk 5 inch from the hook i opted for 1 no.8 an inch away from the hook and 3 directly below the float.
- My Paste margin line was to be just off my top 2 the rig was basically a shallow version of my 6m rig, using the same float but only change was a bulk of shots directly below the float as i was only fishing in 2ft of water. The paste it self would hold the rig on the deck enabling me to fish almost dead depth. I chose to fill this margin in frequently with Pellets as i always do, but only try this if other things fail.
- My Other marginal rig was to be a negative fished rig. This was to be fished top 2 + 3 into my corner. I Plumbed up well and couldnt find anything with any feature to it so i decided to opt for a line about 3 ft off the margin its self. My rig for this was .15 Powerline tied directly to a 16 B911 and fished with a dead red approach with once again a Colmic Goldie .2g float. I was going to feed this very little with just maybe 5 dead reds chucked in every 30 mins or so.
The whistle was blown and i went straight for the 11m line and fed little of my dead red a pellet mix. It wasnt long before i was in my first fish (About a minute).
Top 3 at the end of the day was.
1.Nathan Johnson 89lb 2oz
2.Mark Foy 81lb 7oz
3.Ian Turner 79lb 9oz
Weirdly the weights between 3rd and 7th came from middle of the lake which i had fancied. But it was a good result with a few fish. The weights are getting smaller and the fishing is getting harder. Cant wait:).
Nathan
@ Fish4Though
Monday 31 October 2011
Open Match, The Grange (Caravan Park). Scunthorpe
So folks,
I decided to attend this match after having some really good success with my practice session 500lb plus bags! So it hard to be worth a shot.
The night before i organised my lines and what lines i would concentrate on. I opten for a 6m Paste line and 2 marginal lines in with the pole method fishing with paste on the method and between 5 and 10 dead reds on the hook. Although i did take a little insurance policy in fetching 10 dog biscuits!:p i didnt fetch alot as i didnt want to waste my time on trying to get them going on 'em. As i know the big weights come of the deck during the day. Its a waste of time until the end of the day.
I arrived and the weather looked good. A good turn out at around 20 anglers. 20 anglers fill the venue! I was eager to draw a good peg. I picked out 6! Peg six looked pretty good. It was only 2 pegs down from where i had the 500lb bag. I also really fancied this margin...
I decided to start of with just the paste line out at 6m. Its after a drop off from 1-2ft to 4ft but before the big drop to 7ft. I had mixed succes on this line. The lake has a huge head of roach stocked with size able shoals and nice specimens if you can get them, but once they are on your bait. They'll stay and you wont be able to feed them off. So i decided to put only small peices of paste in, and due to the size of the fish i was targeting it would prove to be a good change.
Soon had my first fish an average size fish for the lake, Maybe 3/4lb but a nice common anyway. I managed to get around 10 or so in the net for the first hour, but i needed to change as i new my catch rate wasnt enough, or at least wasnt as good as it could/should be. I decided to call it a day on the 6m lines and switch the the method line. All that read this blog will no that i support filling the margins in no matter what the season and time of year and its exactly what i did today. For the dead reds to work effectively and at its most. I kill 2 pint of red maggots and put upto a pint of maggots in with my sloppy g/bait mix for the method (Now, i dont normally do much with my paste. I stiffen it up a tiny bit just so its able to swing and not drip off but i want it to form a cloud as soon as it hits the water, especially as i am only fishing in 1-2ft of water MAX).
Within seconds i was in to this nice one. Doesnt take long to get a weight built in with these. I was averaging a fish every 2 minutes for over 2 hours. I couldnt get it in quick enough.
Was fishing really close in by the 4th hour. I was really happy with what i had managed to get. It did start to slow slightly. But i had more or less demolished all features in the peg. It was a slight pain in that i did keep getting a visual of a 20lb+ mirror below my feet that just wouldnt fall for my bait! With it slowing i decided to give it a go on my right hand side. The margin which i really fancied, again it wasnt long before i was into one. Better ones this time 8lb plus.
With the last 10 minutes of the match looming i was fishing extremely close to the feature on the right...
I decided to attend this match after having some really good success with my practice session 500lb plus bags! So it hard to be worth a shot.
The night before i organised my lines and what lines i would concentrate on. I opten for a 6m Paste line and 2 marginal lines in with the pole method fishing with paste on the method and between 5 and 10 dead reds on the hook. Although i did take a little insurance policy in fetching 10 dog biscuits!:p i didnt fetch alot as i didnt want to waste my time on trying to get them going on 'em. As i know the big weights come of the deck during the day. Its a waste of time until the end of the day.
I arrived and the weather looked good. A good turn out at around 20 anglers. 20 anglers fill the venue! I was eager to draw a good peg. I picked out 6! Peg six looked pretty good. It was only 2 pegs down from where i had the 500lb bag. I also really fancied this margin...
I decided to start of with just the paste line out at 6m. Its after a drop off from 1-2ft to 4ft but before the big drop to 7ft. I had mixed succes on this line. The lake has a huge head of roach stocked with size able shoals and nice specimens if you can get them, but once they are on your bait. They'll stay and you wont be able to feed them off. So i decided to put only small peices of paste in, and due to the size of the fish i was targeting it would prove to be a good change.
With the last 10 minutes of the match looming i was fishing extremely close to the feature on the right...
Managed to captures this picture just as a fish decided to run!:)
That was it. Time was blown, I estimated about 250lbs of fish, but i have been majorly off before. I hadnt noticed many people catch at the same rate as me. Though i was still nervous.
The top 3 was.
1. Nathan Johnson 356lb 11oz
2. Peter Jackson 153lb
3. Clive Dorkins 151lb 6oz
The better catches of the day. But netherless it was all good sport and great result!
Monday 17 October 2011
Results, Cold Weather paste fishing - Hallcroft, Reed pool
So continuing on with the cold weather paste fishing.
...and what better way to prove that paste works in the colder months than commiting to it in a match?:)
I drew peg 13 which incidently is one of my most prefered pegs on the pool. Its a pretty no brainer peg. Margin to the left of you 2 feet of the bank is a legde which goes from 1 to 2 feet. I always fish at the bottom of this just out side of a bush. 6m and 11m line on the smaller ledges. The 6m line is always my fav, the 11m line just being a negative peg which isnt fed at all and is purely a get out of jail card and sort of an insurance policy.
My rigs for this type of weather with paste is basically the same apart from the line. Which i tend to just go above the 4lb mark adapted to a 13h elastic. Its a little light for the size of the fish i was targeting today 10 - 16lb region, but i wanted to get every fish out and there is a very high chance of getting the odd bream and chub so its a fish for and get every fish out method. I still use the same mix as previously posted but i just use a smaller cup as to avoid over feeding and leave it in to a max of 30 minutes, but i still fill the cup up. I didnt change anything else throughout the day. I still filled in the margin shelf with pellets and even decided to feed small balls of paste whilst i was fishing the other lines.
It wasnt long before i was into a nice lump. Played it steady but comfortably on the 13h elastic and it some came to the net and it was a lovely sized mirror, around the 15lb mark. Shortly followed by another 2 of the same size. But then it went dead for some time. Around an hour or so. I still plugged away on my 6m and 11m line and decided to go all out for the margins at half past 1. It did pay off. I had 3 fish for 30lb within 45 minutes and by the last hour i was getting one every 20 minutes biggest being a common of 19lb.
The day ended great. Its a shame it was a match as i would of liked to get a few pictures for you. I ended up in first place with 146lb with carp and 2 bream. It was a succesful day and a very good endorsement of winter paste fishing.
See you soon.
Nathan @Fish4Thought
...and what better way to prove that paste works in the colder months than commiting to it in a match?:)
I drew peg 13 which incidently is one of my most prefered pegs on the pool. Its a pretty no brainer peg. Margin to the left of you 2 feet of the bank is a legde which goes from 1 to 2 feet. I always fish at the bottom of this just out side of a bush. 6m and 11m line on the smaller ledges. The 6m line is always my fav, the 11m line just being a negative peg which isnt fed at all and is purely a get out of jail card and sort of an insurance policy.
My rigs for this type of weather with paste is basically the same apart from the line. Which i tend to just go above the 4lb mark adapted to a 13h elastic. Its a little light for the size of the fish i was targeting today 10 - 16lb region, but i wanted to get every fish out and there is a very high chance of getting the odd bream and chub so its a fish for and get every fish out method. I still use the same mix as previously posted but i just use a smaller cup as to avoid over feeding and leave it in to a max of 30 minutes, but i still fill the cup up. I didnt change anything else throughout the day. I still filled in the margin shelf with pellets and even decided to feed small balls of paste whilst i was fishing the other lines.
It wasnt long before i was into a nice lump. Played it steady but comfortably on the 13h elastic and it some came to the net and it was a lovely sized mirror, around the 15lb mark. Shortly followed by another 2 of the same size. But then it went dead for some time. Around an hour or so. I still plugged away on my 6m and 11m line and decided to go all out for the margins at half past 1. It did pay off. I had 3 fish for 30lb within 45 minutes and by the last hour i was getting one every 20 minutes biggest being a common of 19lb.
The day ended great. Its a shame it was a match as i would of liked to get a few pictures for you. I ended up in first place with 146lb with carp and 2 bream. It was a succesful day and a very good endorsement of winter paste fishing.
See you soon.
Nathan @Fish4Thought
Thursday 13 October 2011
Cold weather paste fishing - Hallcroft
Alright folks,
So i'm going to be doing abit of cold water paste fishing tomorrow. As we all know, you wont get the stamp or the amount of fish like you would in the summer months, BUT dont let that stop you trying it. I'll show you the differences in rigs and allocations of bait which should help you get the better out of a bad situation.
So check back soon and i'll have it up for you.
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought
So i'm going to be doing abit of cold water paste fishing tomorrow. As we all know, you wont get the stamp or the amount of fish like you would in the summer months, BUT dont let that stop you trying it. I'll show you the differences in rigs and allocations of bait which should help you get the better out of a bad situation.
So check back soon and i'll have it up for you.
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Langold Lake - Peg 78
Hi Folks,
So continuing on with my Peg 101 Peice. I'm at langold lake today. Peg 78 to be precise. Its a fairly "Bland" Peg to look at but it has hidden depths:). It was good weather for Langold lake, Basically a storm, Nice and choppy with over cast weather.
My plan as always for Langold lake was to fish for everything that swims. Expecting Bream, Roach, Perch & Possibly some good tench.
My swim choice was dictated 50% by the weather. It was blowing in to the corner of the lake oppisite the cabin. So i was going to position my self there which is why i picked peg 78. I opted for an 11m and 6m line. With good plumbing you are able 2 fish on 2 ledges at the same time. The frontal ledge and the ledge coming from the corner so it drops from 4/5ft to 7ft and this is were to fish! I chose to start the session with a .8gr Map LAKE float as it was very windy this was put onto 3.1lb straight through with a 16 B510 Barbed.
My other line was just below the very first ledge on the wall. Dropping from 3ft to 4/5ft i this is a get out of jail card and you mostly get small stuff on here from tiny skimmers to perch, this is the swim you want to be on just to keep things going into the keep net on the hard match days. This was to be fish with 2.5lb Straight through to a 18 B510 Barbed with a colmic gold float @ .30gr.
I started off as i always do. Filling it in with 4 balls of my ground bait mix. The mix can be found here - http://nate-fish4thought.blogspot.com/2011/08/previous-wednesday-langold-lake.html
As always you need to be as precise as you can with the balls, you can use a pole cup but i just use my hands for simplicity and it spreads it around as soon as it hits the surface. As usual i planned to fish this swim with a mixture of Worm/caster and a get out of jail card of dead reds.
So i started on my 11m line onto the bottom of both the ledges as previously said. It wasnt long before i was into the first fish of the day. A small 1/2 skimmer. Good start and this can often be a good sign. They came rolling in for an hour or so but nothing particularly special but good sport anyway. At about 11 o clock the wind eased off so i decided to opt for a rig made up of PB22 .5gr to 3.5lb/2.5lb hook link tied to a 16 B510 barbed. By the time 2 o clock came i had done 36lb of bream and bits. But asusual for the lake it went dead.
I decided it was time for the 6m line and dead red. Which i had been putting golf ball sized balls of ground bait in for around 4 hours @ a ratio of ever half hour. As soon as i put it in i was straight into the smaller skimmers 1 - 6oz. I was getting one a chuck but with feeding the amount you do, your swim tends to get full and soon enough the pike were there to bother me. I did get 2 on but never ended up coming out just a bit of a fish! It was almost a sprint to get the smaller stuff in as a jack pike had taken residents just below me. Which is when i decided to start packing up:).
All in all it was a very good day ending on 42lb of Bream, Skimmers, roach and the odd perch. As i said previously its a nice day which takes you back to earth from the 200lb commie bags and gets you to appreciate it a little more. There are a few more people on the lake now a days which is a good sign. Hopefully the feeder pegs will be fishable some time soon:).
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought
So continuing on with my Peg 101 Peice. I'm at langold lake today. Peg 78 to be precise. Its a fairly "Bland" Peg to look at but it has hidden depths:). It was good weather for Langold lake, Basically a storm, Nice and choppy with over cast weather.
My plan as always for Langold lake was to fish for everything that swims. Expecting Bream, Roach, Perch & Possibly some good tench.
My swim choice was dictated 50% by the weather. It was blowing in to the corner of the lake oppisite the cabin. So i was going to position my self there which is why i picked peg 78. I opted for an 11m and 6m line. With good plumbing you are able 2 fish on 2 ledges at the same time. The frontal ledge and the ledge coming from the corner so it drops from 4/5ft to 7ft and this is were to fish! I chose to start the session with a .8gr Map LAKE float as it was very windy this was put onto 3.1lb straight through with a 16 B510 Barbed.
My other line was just below the very first ledge on the wall. Dropping from 3ft to 4/5ft i this is a get out of jail card and you mostly get small stuff on here from tiny skimmers to perch, this is the swim you want to be on just to keep things going into the keep net on the hard match days. This was to be fish with 2.5lb Straight through to a 18 B510 Barbed with a colmic gold float @ .30gr.
I started off as i always do. Filling it in with 4 balls of my ground bait mix. The mix can be found here - http://nate-fish4thought.blogspot.com/2011/08/previous-wednesday-langold-lake.html
As always you need to be as precise as you can with the balls, you can use a pole cup but i just use my hands for simplicity and it spreads it around as soon as it hits the surface. As usual i planned to fish this swim with a mixture of Worm/caster and a get out of jail card of dead reds.
So i started on my 11m line onto the bottom of both the ledges as previously said. It wasnt long before i was into the first fish of the day. A small 1/2 skimmer. Good start and this can often be a good sign. They came rolling in for an hour or so but nothing particularly special but good sport anyway. At about 11 o clock the wind eased off so i decided to opt for a rig made up of PB22 .5gr to 3.5lb/2.5lb hook link tied to a 16 B510 barbed. By the time 2 o clock came i had done 36lb of bream and bits. But asusual for the lake it went dead.
I decided it was time for the 6m line and dead red. Which i had been putting golf ball sized balls of ground bait in for around 4 hours @ a ratio of ever half hour. As soon as i put it in i was straight into the smaller skimmers 1 - 6oz. I was getting one a chuck but with feeding the amount you do, your swim tends to get full and soon enough the pike were there to bother me. I did get 2 on but never ended up coming out just a bit of a fish! It was almost a sprint to get the smaller stuff in as a jack pike had taken residents just below me. Which is when i decided to start packing up:).
 |
| ...........Some of the better catches of the day. |
All in all it was a very good day ending on 42lb of Bream, Skimmers, roach and the odd perch. As i said previously its a nice day which takes you back to earth from the 200lb commie bags and gets you to appreciate it a little more. There are a few more people on the lake now a days which is a good sign. Hopefully the feeder pegs will be fishable some time soon:).
Nathan
@ Fish4Thought