Fishing in America

I missed a couple of match reports just by being very busy at work and also not catching much :-(

But, on Sat June 3rd I set off on my annual trip to the mighty St Lawrence river which marks the border between the USA and Canada.

It's really the dream setup. My friend Nick lives in Indianapolis but also owns a house that is 200m from the river in a little town called Massena in NY state. He has 5 full sets of kit which comprises of:

2 x Fox Warrior Elite 3lb test curve carbon rods

2 x Shimano Baitrunners with PowerPro Braid

2 x Delkim EV Plus bite alarms

42' landing net, unhooking mat and weigh sling

60lb x 2oz Ruben Heaton scales, a comfy folding chair, 50" Brolly, a few bank sticks and a catapult.

A tackle box with 2/3/4oz leads, beads, swivels, hooks (3/4/5/6), forceps and blade type scissors. Plus a fox 3 rod holdall and a big carryall for all the stuff.

He's even got rods for spodding and and a marker float equipped rod.

So no need to take anything, although I do take take my own 6000 GTE baitrunners and Delkims as these are the bits that take the biggest load. I also take my own  hooks as I prefer barbless. 

The trip started badly with the 9am flight from Glasgow being delayed by 3 hours, meaning that there was no way we (Mrs DJ was our 'official' photographer) were going to make our connection from Newark to Montreal - We should have arrived in Montreal at around 15:00 - we got through immigration/customs at 23:00! Grant, who lives near Los Angeles, had arrived at 16:00, so Nick, his son Ben, and Grant had waited for 8 hours for us! And we still had a 2 hour drive back in to the USA…..

Still, at least we were there and had a week of carp fishing to look forward too.

Sunday: It was cold, windy and wet - not like up state NY in June - more like Glasgow. I decided to fish the Boathouse swim which is around 3'-4' deep all round. 

The others were going to try the Golf Course which was very prolific last year.

28.5lb

I had my first bite after 4 hours which produced a nice 28.5lb common, which was followed by a 15.25lb common 2.5 hours later. Quite disappointing. Ben had 2 and Grant had 1, which was 29.5lb.

Monday: The weather was at least dry, but still overcast and not much warmer.

Having fished the shallow areas, we decided to try the deeper areas, with Grant opting for Brandy Brook, where 20' of water is reachable, and the rest of us heading for just downstream of the Iroquai dam, where there is a deep channel (30' +) with a shallower area of around 8' - the plan was to fish on the edge of the drop off. Ben and Nick had the easier swims with, from the left, distances of 15, 25 40 and 60m to the drop off. Mine were 80m and as far as I could chuck it at over 100m. After 4 hours of nothing, and Ben and Nick having 5 fish to 24lb, I wasn't hopeful but I continued feeding as best I could at those distances and from 15:00 on I had 3 between  20lb and 22.5lb and one of 15lb.

So not a great start to the week……

Tuesday: At last, a clear blue sky and a forecast of 73 degrees. So, Grant and I opted for the shallow again with me in the Golf Course and Grant at Boathouse. Ben and Nick had been studying the results from September's World Carp Championship, and went for a swim along the deeper water of the boat channel where 4 of the 5 top weights had come from.

30.25lb

My first fish was a nice 30.25lb and I then picked up a 17lb fish close in. But compared to last year it was another slow day with  20.5lb and 25lb carp completing the day for me. Grant drew a blank at the Boathouse, but Ben and Nick had 17 fish with two biggies of 32lb and 30lb from the Osprey Point swim.

Wednesday: Well, it was fairly obvious that Nick and I would now try the Osprey Point swim. The sky was clear and the forecast was for another hot day of 72.

27.5lb Male!

The first hour was quiet but then the fish found our baits and it got pretty busy. Nick quickly had 3 to 24lb where I only had 1 of 25lb. But I kept at it and I was rewarded with a great run of fish. Firstly a male of 27.5lb (right) - the biggest male carp any of us has ever seen, quickly follow by a PB equaling fish of 36.25lb , and then another of 35lb.

36lb 4oz

I ended up with 13 carp with 2 over 20lb, 3 over 25lb  and 2 over 30lb. Nick had 10 to 24lb. We had decided to pack up at 19:30, but in hindsight should have kept going - I had 3 fish in the last 20 minutes!

35lb

All the fish, for me, were caught at around 75m on double plastic corn over a feed base of maize/cracked maize.  We put put around 10 spods each to start and topped up with 5 each every couple of hours.

Casting a spod that distance is tough, but the new Korda ones are much better in flight than the older ones.

29lb

This 29lb fish looks as big as the 36.25lb one - but it was much easier to hold!

This was more like the std St Lawrence day!

Thursday: The wind had shifted to the south, so it would be even warmer, with no sign of the forecasted thunder storms.

We returned to the same place, but after 3 hours, still had nothing - Nick and Ben after having a day off on Wednesday, were now in the World Champs winning peg, but for them it was similar - they had a 16lb fish after 15 mins and then nothing. I tried various baits and distances but only got one fish all day, as did Grant and the other guys only had the one early on. 

The only thing we could figure was the wind direction change, but that was ruled out when I got a text on Sunday at home saying Ben and Nick had had 17 fish to 28lbs in a southerly wind at Osprey Point. Maybe it was the coming storm.........

Friday: The last day for Grant and I. We were all a bit lost as to why Thursday had been so hard, so we opted to return to the Iroquai dam swims with Grant taking the short left hand side swims and me on the medium length ones. Ben and Nick went upstream to an area know as Strawberry Fields, where Nick and I had fished a couple of years ago on a September trip.

And Grant and I struggled again with 2 to 19.5 for me and a solitary 19lb for Grant - Meanwhile, Ben and Nick had 7! I fished through a massive thunder storm with biblical rain and forked lightning which came very close - around 0.5 seconds from flash to bang. But we all agreed that as weeks go, this was the worst we could recall.

Which in isolation, seems nuts!  For me, 26 carp from a low of around 10lbs to 36.25lbs, with 12 fish over 20lbs - but compared to a 'normal' week, way off on the total number side - in 2010 I had 68 in a week! But I had some big fish, and a very relaxing week, so no complaints here.

Monday Evening - May 21st - Main Loch@Magiscroft

 I very nearly called off from this match, as I had a really difficult 5 hours on Sunday. But even a bad day's fishing is better than working, so I went along not expecting much - I did buy plenty of maggots to go after the smaller fish, and packed the same bait and rigs I had used yesterday.

Monday had been warm with a steady easterly breeze, so given the choice, anywhere from P19-24 would have been good, but for me it was P7 - at least I wouldn't have to walk too far :-)

My plan of attack was plain - try out around 13m for the first 30 minutes and then switch to targeting silver fish close in if nothing showed up on the long line.

With the warmer weather, I'd also decided to feed a mid sized pot's worth of micro pellets interlaced with 3-4 grains of sweetcorn and a similar amount of 6mm pellets on every one of the first 10 puts and then see what happened. 

It all looked very familiar with a 6oz carp on the first put and then a skimmer bream of a similar size on the next. I then struck into what looked to be a skimmer bite - but the resistance was solid, and the grey hydro started flying out of the top kit. A five minute tussle ended with a carp of between 3-5 lbs safely in the net. And within an hour there were another 6 of a similar size to join it.

This continued up until around 19:45  when I had 15 minutes without a touch - so I did what I'd planned and came into the short line, but there was nothing doing here today, so it was back to the 13m line where i managed another 3 similar sized carp before the all out at 21:30.

By my count I had 1 skimmer, 1 stockie and 13 decent sized carp - and the scales backed up my size estimates  - 50lbs - 5 oz in 3.5 hours. If only one of them had been hungry yesterday!

The new pole was great - I only missed one bite all match as any movement I impart at the butt is instantly reflected at the tip - a big improvement over my old pole.It's also a fair bit lighter and feels much stronger - I was able to put lots of pressure on the fish when I needed to, meaning, on this occasion, all the fish I hooked were landed.

Full results can be found here.

That's my second 50+ weight in a couple of weeks on the main Loch, but i'm still baffled by yesterdays poor showing - I guess that's fishing.........

A New Toy

it's here!

After a few weeks of reading about the huge number of poles that are available, I finally took the plunge and bought myself a proper, modern pole.

I had decided that a mid range pole would suit budget and ability, and the more I read, the more the same pole caught my attention. I actually tried to buy a new one a few weeks ago but it has proved to be so popular that there was no stock available in the UK.

Luckily for me, an angler from near Sheffield had bought one and spent the time  & money on elasticating the top kits, but had to give up fishing because of arthritis. 

So here's what arrived:

16M Middy XK55

11.5M Middy XM10 Margin Pole

Top Kits:

2 x Red Hydro - for the margin pole

2 x Black Hydro

2 x Gray Hydro

2 x White Hydro

2 x Blue Hydro
1 x Pink Hydro

1 x Double No 3

Cupping Kit with 2 Preston Cups

The 14.5 and 16M sections had never been used, and the rest once or maybe twice. So, I decided to fish the Wednesday match on the Island pond to see how it felt  - the forecast was for a cold, breezy but dry day, so perfect to see if it's any better.

I drew P9, the first time i've been on the LHS for ages - but with a frost on the ground on Wednesday morning, I knew it would be a tough match. The pole was better in the wind than the old one, but there were't many fish, with 2 tench, a chub and a carp joining a few small roach to give me 4lb - 6oz - Not a great, or even good weight,  but for a first outing, not as bad as it could have been.

On Sunday 20th, it was the 2nd match in the Barras series, which saw me scheduled to fish the Main Loch. I've had 4 matches on the Main Loch this year, and won 3 of them, so confidence was high!

Again we had a slight frost overnight, but the sun was out a the temps were rising quickly, so I hoped for a good day.

I drew P8, which I was happy with.  And with young Scott Laird on P7, I had a good ref point as to how I was doing.

On my first put to around 13m I landed the smallest carp I've caught from the Main Loch, at around 4oz, and then an hour without any indication. I tried different baits, depths, but nothing. Meanwhile Scott was also struggling, but he switched to the 'splash wagglier' and picked of a bonus carp of around 3-4 lbs. 

I then tried a second line at around 8m out, but still couldn't get a touch. So I resorted to targeting small silvers just using a top kit and a single maggot as bait.

This got me plenty of small fish, but with Scott also catching smaller stuff, unless I could manage a larger carp or 2, I was in trouble. For the remaining 3 hours I regularly switched to the 8m & 13m lines, but not a touch. 

I had high hopes at the start of the match, but to say I was now dejected, would have been an understatement.

But, it seems that is was hard for all - my meagre 1.1kgs had placed me 6 of 12, so not as bad as I had feared.

Overall, our team, Wet Nets, had a 2nd from Wullie McAuley on the Island, a 5th from Davy Smith on the Top Pond, 6th for me and 7th for Dougie Craig on the Woodside.

This leaves us in second place 3 points adrift of the Mercenaries.

I miss the next match, as I'll be chasing big carp elsewhere, but it's not over……..

Magiscroft Summer League - Match 2 - May 13th

At the start of the year, I was accepted as a member of the Magiscroft Angling club, but had missed the first match of the 'summer league' due to work. So despite a fairly dire forecast for Sunday's weather, I booked in to fish the club match on the Island pond.

And for once, the weather man got it spot on - It rained constantly throughout the day and with the wind gusting way over 30MPH, there was no way you could use an umbrella :-(

Despite the foul weather, we had a full complement of anglers  - and the consensus was that any of the pegs in the middle of the straight banks would be most sheltered from the wind - P6/7/8/9/10 on the left and P20/21/22/23 on the right. 

P28 put me on what a few call 'the worst peg on the pond' - Fully exposed to the wind and 16M to the far bank :-( I tried setting up a rig to fish there but there was no way that was going to work in those winds, so I setup for a swim at 12m, where I could just about control the pole, and in the margin to my right, which would be useful if, as expected, the wind got stronger during the day.

The wind in the first hour was just about manageable and I extracted 3 carp and a nice chub from the 12M swim, but it got to the point where I  couldn't hold against the swirling wind, so I switched to the margin, that I had been feeding every 10 minutes or so. 

As the wind got stronger, even fishing close in became difficult, but I did manage to get the carp feeding in the margin and ended up with 16 fish for 19lbs-3oz, and a surprise 2nd place in my first club match. Congratulations to John Perella who managed to land 25lbs + from P8 to take the win.

Conditions were the worst I have seen since my return to fishing, and I know of three folk who suffered breakages to poles during the match - the rifle like sound of carbon fibre breaking is not pleasant! 

I've now had my pole for 6 months, and as I promised myself, I'm now looking for a more modern, lighter and stiffer version. 

The pole stats are surprisingly good - 9 wins, 5 seconds and a couple of 3rds - I'd rather be lucky than good! 

For me the biggest difference is that I can consistently fish in exactly the same spot no matter if it's in the margin or 16M away (wind allowing!), but I can also fish with very sensitive floats at distance, meaning more bites detected and connected with.  If I wanted to fish the far bank with a rod/reel, the float would have to be much larger, just to be able to cast the distance, and even with tons of practice, I doubt I could fish with the accuracy that a pole allows. So, that's it, I'm converted. That's not to say that there'll be no more rod fishing - when I head over to the US for my annual trip to the St Lawrence in June, rod & reel will be the order of the day - but at home, it'll be a different story.

Friday May 11th - Main Loch@Magiscroft

I'd had a hectic work and social week, so I decided to get some relaxation by fishing my first Friday evening match of the year.

With the draw taking place at 15:15, there was no way I was going to make it, even finishing work at 15:00, but I let them know I'd be late, and asked that someone draw for me.

I arrived at Magiscroft around 15:40 and was on the bank of the Main loch 5 mins later, having been told that P6 had been drawn for me.

It was still spitting with rain, but compared to earlier in the day, it was a big improvement!

As I was short of time, I only setup 2 top kits - one for fishing at around 12m out, in 13 feet of water and a second for closer in at about 9 feet deep. On both I was using a Nick Gilbert 0.5g 'gimp' style float with most of the shot around 18 inches from the size 16 hook, to get the bait down as quickly as possible.

Bait was my usual flavoured 6mm soft pellets with a sprinkling of sweetcorn for colour. 

On my first put I missed a very quick bite and on the second landed my first main loch tench of the year - only 8oz or so but a very dark green fish, in beautiful condition. 

The next 90 mins were a bit crazy with 2 bream (around 2lbs each) mixed in among 10 carp of 2-4lbs which all fought like they were possessed - normally I never stand up, but even with 6 sections of pole, they were pulling so hard I had to get on my feet to land them.

Eventually I moved from white to grey hydro, which helped a lot!

As the weather changed (yes the sun came out and the wind died!) the bites stopped, but I could see that before the bait got to the bottom, something was going on - so I moved the float down around a foot and started catching again - but as cloud covered the sun, it was back on the deck to catch.

Although not a s busy as the first hour and a half, I continued to catch decent sized fish and was pretty tired  when the all out came at 21:15. And with good reason - a new match personal best at 54lbs - 14oz, and another win on the main loch - thats 3 wins from 4 matches on the main loch this year, but the important is when I fish my second Barras match  - let's hope the run continues…….

Spring?

The Monday night match seems to have replaced the Wednesday match, now that I am an employee :-( 

So, for April 30th, we were to have our last match on the Top Pond. With the weather having taken a step back towards winter, I hoped to draw in the deeper water, but instead managed P4 - where I've not fished before, but I was told it was pretty shallow….

With only 3 hours from 18:00 -> 21:00 it's all about finding the fish - and I struggled and only managed 3lbs - 10oz - I did beat those either side of me but was 8th of 13 and not best pleased - but I fished as well as I could and you can only catch what's there.

But the good news was that I would be fishing the Wednesday match  - and my drawing luck had to change - or so I thought - again I drew the shallowest peg on the pond P14, which in the summer is one of my favourites. But not when it's been so cold overnight. To my right I had John Perrela, and Nigel Foulds with Andy Prentice and Jimmy Hillhouse to my left. All good anglers. On commercial fisheries like Magiscroft, carp dominate the matches due to their size (any where from a few ounces to 6lbs +) - between us we had 5 carp in 5 hours. Meanwhile, at the deeper end of the pond, folk are catching loads of carp - I managed 2lbs - 9oz of roach, which saw me 17th of 20 - a bad day.

Sunday 6th of May was my first time fishing in the "Barras League' - it's a team competition with 4 per team. It takes place over 4 matches with each team member fishing on one of the four Magiscroft ponds. I'll miss the 3rd match due to my annual trip to the St Lawrence during the first week of June.

This means I get to fish the Woodside, Main Loch and Top Ponds, and John Baird will sub for me for the Island match.

Our team is pretty strong with team captain Wullie MacAully joined by Dougie Craig, Davie Smith and me.

It was a close match on the Woodside, with lots of folk catching on a regular basis, and I was happy to finish 4th. My team mates did very well with Davie and Dougie winning their matches and Wullie managing a 3rd on the Top Pond, so after one match, we lead with 43 points :-)

Monday 7th was a wet and miserable day, but as it was the first of the Monday matches on the Island pond, we had 17 anglers. The pond had not fished well on the Sunday , apart from Dougie bagging 40lbs+ :-) so we expected a tough match. But trying to figure what influences the carp's feeding patterns is for the moment, beyond me. I managed 15lbs flat despite being unable to fish the far bank - P26 is around 16m wide, and I was still recovering from a heavy gym session and just couldn't control my pole at that distance. This put me 8th of 17  - I'm pretty sure if I had been able to fish as normal, that 20lbs plus was on the cards.

So a difficult couple of weeks, but when it counted, I caught....But the weather has turned pretty nasty with first some surprise overnight frosts and lately, wind and rain - Come on summer!

Catch Up

It's been a while, but not much to report :-(

On Sat April 14, I fished the final match in the B Division, which for us in the number  three section, was on the low number side of the Woodside pond.  I had drawn P3 twice previously, so had hoped for something near P10, but again I drew in the section I call Siberia, P5. :-(

I had Scott McAuley on P4 and Heather Lauriston on P3 to my right and no one on P6.

As I expected, because of the overnight frost, the carp were not feeding, so it was a catch of mostly Ide and Chub that gave me 4lbs - 15oz - enough to beat those to my right (just!) but was off what the guys were catching in on P9/P10 area.  Alan Welsh was pretty much fishing on his own on P1 with all of the top bend available to him and he easily won our section, with Scott Laird on P10 second. 

Full results can be found here.

On the next day, Sunday 15th, I had a 3 hour session n the Man Loch (P7) to try out a couple of things - Caught mostly skimmer bream with half a dozen carp to 2.5lbs.

Saturday April 21st was the B Division/Junior Winter League Pairs match to be fished on the Island and Woodside ponds. It's like a Secret Santa for fishing :-) After last weekend I was keen not to draw the Woodside, but when I drew P2 on the Island, I wasn't much happier - It had rained heavily most of Friday, and P2 is where the run off pipe feeds the fresh water into the pond - lots of cold water does not mean good fishing at this time of year. I really struggled for most of the 5 hours : with 30 minutes to go I reckoned on having around 3lbs of silvers - but as I had done every 30 minutes or so, I went back to the far bank with 15 mis left and bang - 2 carp in the last 10 mins to get me up to 8lbs - 12oz.  I managed to beat those to my left and right, but knew that the folk at the  other end were catching plenty. I ended up 11th of 19. Results

On Sunday 22nd I took part in an open match on the main loch where we had 28 competing. After weighing in 3lb - 2oz of mostly roach, I was surprised to find that for most, carp had been absent,  and this weight put me 11th (again)of 28! A really tough day - weather conditions were reasonable, but the fish just didn't want to play…..

It couldn't get any worse, so I booked in to fish the Monday night match on the Top Pond. Given my recent form, I expected to draw an unfancied peg and I didn't disappoint, pulling P10 (the deep end) from the bag. No matter, I had a plan, which I'm glad to say worked :-) I caught 13 carp for 17lbs - 10oz giving me second behind Tommy L with 21lb+ and in front of 3rd placed Scott McAuley with 15lb+.  Results.

After the match I gave my remaining bait to Alex Mason, who managed a creditable 3rd using it in the Wednesday match - which I missed due to having to work!

A Week of Fishing:-)

I finished my current contract on Friday which meant an enforced week away from work :-) So, I had it all mapped out.

Saturday - B Division Match - Woodside Pond

Sunday - A rest!

Monday - First session on the new Main Loch followed by Cray Gang Match on the Top Pond

Tuesday - Orchill - didn't happen due to snow!

Wednesday - Island Pond Match

Thursday - The Oaks in Yorkshire - went to Orchill instead as the snow moved south!

Friday - PM match on the Main Loch

Saturday - Guest at the final round of the Junior's Winter League on the Main Loch

B Division - Caught mostly Chub and Ide as the carp were absent probably due to the overnight drop in temp. Weighed in 8lbs flat - better weights came from the other end of our section :-( Full results Can be found here.

Monday - 37lb of carp from the Main Loch and 8lb - 8oz for 3rd in the Monday night match on P7 of the Top Pond - results

Wednesday - 1 bite and 1 fish for 1lb and last in the Wed match - Should have tried for Chub as there was an overnight frost.

Thursday - Orchill, even colder than yesterday - no bites for the first 3 hours, but then 6 Ide, 3 Roach, 2 Carp and a Chub.

Friday - Drew P21 on the Main Loch and didn't expect much as the area had tons of in-fill during the re-modelling over the winter. Was surprised to manage 34lbs - 14oz of carp to 3lbs for a win - results.

Saturday - This time at the other end on P1 of the Main Loch - 40+ 'stockies' and skimmer bream for 10lbs - 8oz - Won the guest match and next best weight from the juniors was 6lbs+ - results.

So, a busy week - The main loch is more like a traditional water where I learned to fish a a youngster in the '70s. So I always feel I can catch fish there - Confidence is a big part of fishing, but as the Wednesday match reminded me, any large scale change ( plus or minus) in temperature seems to affect the carp and their feeding patterns. So, just the Monday night match tomorrow before I start life as an employee for the fist time in 10 years!!!

Wednesday 28th March - Island Pond@Magiscroft

After two disappointing matches, I approached the Wednesday event, which also happened to be my birthday, with a sense of optimism, which was quickly replaced with ' not again'.

With the warm weather this week, the shallow end of the Island pond was packed with cruising carp and I managed to draw P24, which is towards the deeper end:-(

I had decided to try fishing with hard pellet in this match to avoid the small roach that had been pestering me for the last few matches. I did give it a try on Sunday, but reckoned it deserved another chance.

The match wasn't a total disaster, with 12lb - 6oz, but John P and Derek, who drew the 2 shallowest pegs, had 52lb and 48lb respectively. I took solace from the fact that on our side , the weights were way below those on the other side and the afore mentioned shallow end.

Full results can be found here.

Once again I decided to fish on and finally at around 19:00, managed to find the fish, and landed 8 F1's between 3 and 4lbs - which was great fun, but at the same time frustrating.

So for the first time in ages, 3 poor results in a row - let's hope the B division match on Saturday is better.

Monday 26th March - Top Pond @ Magiscroft

After having a disappointing match on Sunday, circumstances conspired to offer me that chance of fish with those known as "The Crazy gang" on the Top Pond@ Magiscroft on Monday night. This pond has flood lights installed to allow fishing in the dark…….

I arrived in glorious sunshine and a lovely 22 degrees to find there were 17 of us signed up to fish from 18:00 'till 21:00. Unlucky for some, I drew P13, which is at the deep end - same as yesterday then:-(

This match was bit different with only one hour from the draw to the all-in, but it was easily enough. The sun was still shining and I managed to catch a small F1 on my first put. But then nothing… And Derek Brady to my left and Colin Kerr to my right were still blanking at this point.

As with yesterday, I wanted to try fishing the margins for roach, but even they were scarce. Around 20:00 when the sun went down, the temp dropped rapidly to around 10 degrees, and poor Derek was suffering as he turned up in shorts. There was a good bit of good natured banter which he took in the way intended……Even when he managed (don't ask me how) to hook a branch 20 feet in the air.

I was glad of the all out when it came; the guys either side of me managed 9oz more than I did - I only had 2lb - another poor match :-( But the guys at the shallow end did much better as did Colin Hart who was t the right of Derek but had an empty peg to his right and caught a good few fish in the margins at the spare peg.

As the water gets warmer, I'm going to have to learn how to feed - in the winter, the answer is "not much" but I'm going to have to figure it out for the warmer months.

They really are a bit mad.......

Sunday March 25th - Magiscroft Winter League Match 4

Sunday was another day of unbroken sunshine, no wind, and 20+ degrees - in March!

This was the final round of the Magiscroft Winter series, and as I'd only fished the last one and wan't in contention, I had already decided to try a new bait.

With the warmer weather of the last week, I had hoped to draw at the shallow end of the Island pond, but it wasn't to be - P26, which is a great cold weather peg, was drawn:-( Davie Smith had over 57lbs from it on Wednesday, but normally the fish will have moved…….

I was drawn with Tommy Lauriston and John Perrela to my left and Dave Minard to my right. Of these only Mr Minard was in the running for the winter championship so I made a mental note not to fish anywhere to the right of the centre of my peg - normally you can go half way, but as he was in the running, and I wasn't, I didn't see any point in being silly.

Today's bait was to be hard pellet - over the last few weeks small roach have become a real problem, attacking 2, 4 and even 8MM soft pellets.

But I did start with soft pellet and snared a couple of small carp in the first 30/40 minutes. Next door, Dave Minard was catching steadily underneath the tree directly opposite hi - to the left, John and Tommy were much the same as me.

I then switched to hard pellet, but I doubt soft would have helped - the fish just were't there - from me and to the left, folk were struggling to get a bite.

Normally I would sit it out on the far bank/slope to pick up a carp or 2, but I decided to spend the middle 3 hours targeting roach, hoping I might pick up bonus carp or chub. I managed 30/40 small roach, but nothing bigger, so for the last hour I went back to the far side with hard pellet and managed another four smallish carp.

Meanwhile, Dave M had continued to catch regularly, which won him the match with 27lb+ - Tommy and John had stuck it out for carp and both had managed more than my paltry 4lb - 12oz.

Full results can be found here.

I wasn't happy with how the day had gone, so I fished on for another 2.5 hours, which did get me another 4 carp, but it was hard work - not a good day.

Wednesday 21st March - Island Pond @ Magiscroft

It looks like the last of winter *may* be over - but don't' say it too loudly :-)

Wednesday was a beautiful day to be outside, with the temp hitting around 13 degrees and a gentle breeze, ( at least where I was fishing!) and the sun on my back.

I'd got to Magiscroft just in time for the 9:30 draw, to find the expected 6 competitors had grown to 11 with some good opposition. I drew P20 on the island, which I was quite happy with and headed off to setup.

I hadn't prepared any bait for today's match, so just decided to use the pellets that I had left over from Sunday's event.

Normally go for a far shelf rig and another for the bottom of the shelf, but thought I'd see if I could fish at various points down the slope.

I spent Monday night fitting grey hydolastic to one of my top kits, so I set this one up for fishing about a foot down the slope with the white hydro setup for fishing tight to the reeds on the far bank. I first used 'hydro' as it's known, last weekend when I used the white variety. The colour relates to the strength with white being in 6-10 and grey in the 10-14 range. Balance is important so I was using a 0.08mm hooklink with the white and 0.12mm with the grey. I have to say it was very good - nice and soft for the first couple of meters and getting progressively stiffer as more is taken.

Fishing with one of John Perrela's diamond floats tight to the the far bank reeds, I caught a nice 2lb F1 on my first put which was quickly followed by a mix of stockies, mirrors and smaller F1's for the fist hour - around 12 fish. As ever the bites dried up, so I then moved 3 feet off the bank with my 'on the slope' rig and picked up another 3 decent sized fish - bites were not prolific, but the fish were around. Then the small roach moved in and I got loads of ultra fast bites that I couldn't connect with.

So I fished for roach on the short line about 3M out for the next 2 hours with the occasional foray with ether the far bank or slope rigs, this time with an 8mm pellet to discourage any roach from having a go - but nothing doing.

When the roach stop bitting it can mean that larger fish have moved in, so just after 15:00, it was back to the slope rig and I was glad I had a strong setup - I hooked into a fish that shot to the right taking most of the grey hydro and pulling like a train - even with the stronger tackle, it took a good ten minutes to subdue and net a lovely F1 of over 4lbs.

In the next 40 mins, I managed another 3/4 carp and I was quite happy that I had done as well as I could when the all out was called at 16:00.

My slope rig used one of Davy Smith's .1g floats, so as we waited for the scales to come round, I walked up to Davy's setup on P24 to see how he'd faired - "I've had a ?*&($ of a day - lost 14 fish" says Davy when I enquired. "No idea what weight I've got" - Then we spotted the scales coming round, so back to my keepnet where I weighed in with 33lbs - 4oz, which put me in the lead. Not for long - Mr Smith, who had "a ?*&($ of a day" had 53lb - 8oz -let's hope he doesn't ever have a good day:-)

Full results can be found here.

Magiscroft AC Vs Orchill AC - Second Leg - Sunday 18th@Orchill

After picking Scott Laird (one of the juniors) at Magsicroft, it was on to Orchill fishery for the return leg of our inter club match.

The grass was still white with frost where the sun hadn't yet reached and it was only 2 degrees at 09:00, so another tough day was expected.

The match was split into 3 distinct sections, and after last Wednesdays sweep, I could only say that as long as I didn't get 26-30 I'd be happy - so typically, I drew P28 which had really struggled last week when the weather was good :-(

Still, I decided to focus on competing with the guy I was paired against, Colin Skeel, and forget about drawing a poor peg. The first thing I noticed was that the 4 rigs that I had setup last week for P20 were all 2 feet over depth on P28 - the pond was much shallower here, although still deeper than the carp ponds at Magiscroft.

Whilst plumbing up on far shelf I could feel a few fish moving so when the all in was called at 11:00, I went straight to the other side and had a nice 8oz Chub almost immediately. And on the next put I got a small mirror carp, and then another. I continued to catch smallish fish for the next 2 hours, but nothing over 8oz. The bites then died up on the far shelf so I tried a line down the middle in the deeper water, for roach, but didn't get a bite. So after 30 minutes, I went back to the far side with a roach rig (size 22 hook with a single maggot) and promptly hooked my largest carp of the day at 2.5lbs. I did manage to get the roach feeding but they were 3 to the ounce, so I went back to targeting carp and the only place I could get bite was tight against the bullrushes on the far side. I picked up a few more small carp, but I was glad to hear the all out called at 16:00 - it had been a cold and breezy day with difficult fishing and not too much fun. I weighed in 9lb-10oz against Colin's 2lbs - 4oz, so at least I beat my opponent.

However, I'd have been happy to blank, as long as the team won, which we did - a resounding victory in both legs. Results can be found here.

B Division Match - Island Pond - Sat 17th March

Saturday dawned bright and cold - The Island pond produced 50lb+ weights twice in the last week, but with Friday being very wet, and the overnight temps being close to freezing, I expected a tough day.

The number 3's were on the high numbers of the Island, and I drew P23 - which is known for having a tree overhanging the far shelf line directly in front of the peg. It was evident that this has caught out previous anglers as there were 2 rigs hanging from one of the low branches just where I'd like to have fished!

I could reach the far bank with the 14.5M section, but given the 2 tree rigs, I setup to fish on the slope about 2 feet from the far bank.

It was a pleasant change to be setting up with the sun on your back, but the water was still pretty cold - so I also setup a short rig for slivers, in case the cold water stopped the carp feeding.

The all-in was called at 11:00 and after 10 mins I hooked a fish which I lost after 15 seconds. But within another 5 mins I got my first carp in the net and another 2 followed within the hour.

I could see that Curtis Craig who was on P21 (the end peg) was catching fairly regularly, but no-one else was.

I kind of expected it to be this hard, and I'd been feeding 5-10 maggots on the short line, so I switched to this line and started catching small roach. And I mean small, maybe 1oz max. Every 30 mins or so I went back out to the far side and managed to pick up another 3 carp by 15:00. I'd also started feeding sweetcorn on the short line and this resulted in a few roach of 4-6oz and a couple of perch up to 3/4 of a pound.

As ever in a match, I was keeping an eye on what was happening around me, and only Curtis was catching much - But at about 15:30 Alan Welsh (P22) went out to the far shelf and got a carp within seconds. So I followed and finally the carp were over the area I'd been feeding. In the last 30 mins I landed 6 carp with a couple of 2lb+ and Curtis and I knew that it'd would be a close call between us. Closer than we thought as it turned out - The small roach had made the difference, and I weighed in 2oz more than Curtis - and even better for me, the match had been tough for everyone and I took the section and overall win with 15lb - 6oz.

Full results can be found here.

Now I'm looking forward to the club match at Orchill tomorrow.

Wednesday 14th March - Orchill Snake Lake

With the return leg of the Magiscroft AC v Orchill AC match due to take place on Sunday 18th, a few of us decided that instead of fishing the Wednesday Open at the 'Croft, we'd head up to Aucterarder to fish a sweep with some of the guys from the Orchill team.

I've fished the Snake 3 times before, once in the Scottish Seniors last September, and a couple of times last summer - but never with a pole, so I figured it would be a useful learning experience.

Alan Hird, John Perella, Heather Lauriston, Scott McAuly joined me from the 'Croft team, with four Orchill guys there to show us how it should be done.

I drew P20 which I was told was a good one, and I started setting up. The Snake is around 15M wide at P20, and much deeper than the ponds at the 'Croft, so I spent some extra time setting up a couple of longer rigs to cope with the 9 feet of water that was in front of me. I also set up 2 rigs for the far side, where there were a few features, mostly bullrushes. The far shelf was just under three feet deep, and it wasn't very wide. So one for on the shelf and a second one set for about a foot deeper which would put my bait on the slope of the shelf.

The all in was called and I shipped out the shallowest rig to the far shelf where almost right away I hooked into a carp of about a pound. I continued to catch on the far shelf for about an hour, but the carp were replaced by a shoal of tench, all of about 8oz - very nice fish, but not very big! So I changed rigs to the 'down the shelf' rig and started catching some larger carp. The bites continued to come, but the wind picked up enough to blow over my pole roller twice and presentation was becoming increasingly difficult. But any time there was a lull, I caught.

The all-out was called at 16:00 and I weighed in my best match catch to date at 41lbs - 6oz. But young Scott at the other end, had managed 51lbs, which was fantastic bag! John Perella was next up with 30lbs and then Heather with around 25lbs, so the Orchill folk were a tad upset that we had hammered them -:)

But it was just a fun match, Sunday is the real deal!

Magiscroft AC Vs Orchill AC - FIrst Leg - Sunday 11th@Magiscroft

This was my first club match since 1975!, and I was really 'up for it'

I wasn't that bothered about which pond I would draw, but if pushed, I'd have preferred the Island, and that's what I got - although P28 is considered by many to be the worst peg on the pond :-(

The pond on P28 is a full 16M wide, and with the seemingly obligatory gusty wind, it was going to be a tough day.

I spent the first 15 minutes on the far shelf looking for fish, and managed to hook into what I think was a foul hooked F1, which got off when still 7M out.

I then managed 2 F1's in quick succession at around the hour mark, but after another 30 bite-less minutes, I decided to try my favourite bottom of the shelf line. Almost immediately, I get a positive bite, which gets me a 6oz 'stockie' carp, but then nothing - for 30 mins. I spent the next hour alternating between the far side and the bottom of the shelf, but nothing....

So, as this is a team even, I decided to target roach, and start feeding a swim at 2M with loose maggots. This got me another 2-3lbs of small-ish roach which means I end up with 6lbs - 4oz and 18 points for the team.

Not a great weight, but on a day that was hard for some and easy for others, a reasonable result.

Sat 10th March - Junior Winter League - Top Pond@Magiscroft

I was supposed to be working on Saturday, so Mrs J, had booked herself a day in Edinburgh. As seems to be the norm these days, the work was cancelled on Friday PM, so I just went fishing instead, as a guest in the Junior Winter Match.

The guests were assigned pegs 16, 18, 1 and 3, and I draw 18 (which I fished a week ago).

My thoughts were firmly on Sunday's match against Orchill, so I tried some new pellet flavours, which seemed to work, getting me plenty of fish for 11lbs - 3oz on a day when only Peter Dick weighed in more.

A one point, I thought I'd snagged a tree root (or similar) but as I applied some pressure, the 'tree' suddenly woke up and shot off to my left - I spent 20 minutes trying to get the fish under control, but whatever it was, the hook pulled free and I didn't even get to see what it was :-(

Full Results can be found here.

Wednesday Open 7th March - Woodside Pond - Magiscroft

As we are now into March, I hadn't even considered that the weather could still cause problems - how wrong was I!

With Sunday 11th bringing Magiscroft AC Vs Orchill Central AC(teams of 21 anglers), I was keen to draw a decent peg on the Woodside Pond, but once again I managed to draw Peg 3, in my opinion, the worst Peg on the pond.

Still, given that Sunday's match would have 18 anglers on the Woodside and 24 on the Island, it was a good chance to see if the Woodside was fishing well.

The match had barely started when it started to hail, which quickly turned to snow. Prior to and during the snow I landed 4 small carp, but with the sudden arrival of a load of ice cold water, the carp disappeared. Over the next 4.5 hours, I only managed 4 more bites which all resulted in a small carp, giving me 3lbs - 8oz - A poor day, but another lesson learned.

I've been a bit lax in posting, as I'm currently on a job hunt........

B Division Match - Island Pond - Sat 3rd March

For today's match the '3s' would be on the low numbers of the Island pond - and I drew P3, which is another i've not fished before. The pond is a full 16M wide on this peg, so I hoped to be able to find some fish at the bottom of the shelf at some point as my pole is quite difficult at full length.

But with all the bankside noise of a group of anglers setting up their gear, I decided to start by fishing at full distance on the far shelf.

After being pestered by small roach in last Sunday's match, I opted not to use micro pellets as an attractor, and instead had prepared enough 4mm pellets.

The all-in was called at 11 sharp and I shipped out with a 6mm pellet on a size 16 under one of John Perella's diamond floats, with 4 feed pellets in the pot, to a spot around a foot from the far bank.

Almost immediately, I got a typical F1 bite and landed a fish of just under pound, and on my second ship, I got an instant bite but didn't connect. And that sets a pattern for the next 2 hours - I managed to hit every 5/6th bite and land 8 carp, but had to re-bait frequently as the pellets were being eaten by, I suspected, small roach. Weather wise, it's wasn't cold, but somehow the wind blew from the left, and then from the right making presentation really tough. At around 13:00 the carp disappeared, not just for me, but the un-hitable bites continue and I eventually land a 1 oz roach using a 6MM pellet on a size 14 (which I changed to to help keep the pellet on the hook).

Over the next 2 hours, I tried, pellet, maggot and corn at various points from the near margin trough the middle and back to the far side, but like those around me, I struggled.

But as is often the case, after 15:00 the positive bites once again return and I managed another 4 carp to finish up with 10lbs - 11oz, which put me 4th in the section.

My biggest issue today was that I lost 3 good fish due to getting my main line entangled with my feed pot thus stopping the elastic from deploying, so I've decided to convert all of my top kits to use a dacron connector, which should stop this happening.

Next weekend is the first of a double header between Magiscroft AC and Orchill AC, with the first leg taking place at the 'Croft. I hope to get picked for the match!

But I'll be back out on Wednesday, when i will try something a bit different.

Full results from the B Deivision Match can be found here.

Wednesday Feb 26th - Top Pond @ Magiscroft

There were only nine of us for today's match, which took place in 10 degrees, but with a biting north westerly that mad the fishing tough for everyone. I drew peg 18 which I had never fished before, but knew it was in the shallow section, and at this time of year, that's not good!

On Sunday I managed 13 carp for 30lbs - today I had 16 carp and 2 roach for 4lbs - 10oz :-) You can only catch what's there, and even that was tough - I started on the far shelf in around 2 feet of water and had 2 'micro' carp in the first 30 minutes. I then tried the bottom of the shelf which was still less than 3 feet deep, but nothing doing. As usual I was keeping a lookout for any signs of fish moving, and I spotted a swirl in the margin to my left - I caught all my remaining carp from there, but they were all pretty small, with a couple of even smaller roach, all taken on 4 or 6mm pellet! So a frustrating day, but I still picked up a couple of new ideas, that I will try out in Saturday's B division match :-)

The match was won by the old fox, John Perella, with Davy Smith second and Douglas Phillips third.


Full results can be found here.

Magiscroft AC - Winter League Match 3 - Island/Top Pond

As the first 2 winter league matches were in 2011, I wasn't eligible to fish in them, but as a Magiscroft AC member for 2012, I made my debut in a 'club match'.

Today was a big match, with 32 people fishing, which meant splitting it between the Island and Top ponds. Today's event was also a doubles match where pegs are paired prior to the draw, kinda like a 'Secret Santa'.

The draw was called and I joined the end of a long line - there were only 9 pegs left and I drew another peg that I have never fished, P29 on the Island pond, which is paired with P7 on the Top pond. James Woodrow (Scottish Internationalist) drew the pair peg - I couldn't have wished for a better draw from a partner sense!

P29 is on the top bend of the Island Pond and I quickly found that there were some steep drop offs on the far shelf, so I setup to fish in a channel on the far side at 15m and a second rig for my usual bottom of the shelf spot at 13m.

When the all in was called I'm was maybe 10 seconds behind everybody else but within 15 seconds of getting my float out to the channel in the far shelf, I hooked into a nice F1 of around 2lbs.

I was using 4 and 6mm pellets but kept getting bites that I couldn't connect with until I hooked a small roach on a 6mm pellet - which dropped off, but at least I now knew that the small roach were the cause of the 'un-hitable' bites. I then moved to using 8mm pellets as there is no way any roach under a pound could take a pellet that big - I still got the bites, but my pellet stayed intact, allowing me to just drop the rig straight back in. Which got me another nice F1.

And then it happened - I had both pole rollers setup to cope with shipping back 16m of pole - and the pole had gotten entangled with a tree beyond the second roller - so rather than pull it past and damage the paint finish on the 16m section, I tried to move it by lifting it from the business end - which promptly snapped my no 5 section.

But all I did was take the top bit of the broken no 5 section and push it through the bottom bit - as all sections are tapered, it fitted snugly and gave a useable, section, only 2-3" shorter.

The 'un-hitable' bites from small roach continued, but ever 20 mins or so, I connected with a carp - I lost 3 through stupidity, but still managed to land 12 F1s and a solitary common carp which at the weigh in, gave me 30lb flat.

The match was won By John Baird Jnr on P23 with 49lb 10oz, Dave Minard was second with 40lbs 6oz and Stuart Dalgliesh third with 31lb 9oz. So 4th in my first club match, and Woody managed 21lb 15oz, which gave us second in the pairs match behind John Baird Jnr/John Perrela.


Full results can be found here.

Ton Up? - Island Pond Thursday Feb 23rd 2012

Yesterday, I missed another Wednesday match so after having blanked on Peg 26 in last weeks match, I thought I'd give it another try today.

There was quite a variable wind from the south west, but it was between 10 and 11 degrees, so the frequent light showers weren't a big deal.


It was too windy to fish the far bank (16m) so I plumbed up a line around 13m at the bottom of the far shelf.


Within 5 minutes I had a small tench of around 8oz, and this rate of bites continued for the whole day! I was fishing my own flavoured pellet at dead depth under one of Davy Smith's 0.1g floats with a size 16 Drennan wide gape.


I had planned to fish 10:00 to 15:00, but ended up staying 'till 16:30


3 tench, 20 stockies, 5 big F1's of 4lb+, and another 38 carp of 1lb-3lb (F1's, Commons and Mirrors).

3 Tench 1lb
20 Stockie Carp 10lb
5 Big F1s 20lb
38 1-3 (say 2lb avg) 72lb

What an awesome day - easily my biggest ever haul. Keepnets are only allowed during a match, so all the weights are estimates, but I'd bet the numbers above are on the light side........

And I had a witness, Tommy L who was running the fishery on Thursday.

I'd be very surprised if the ton mark doesn't happen in a match on the Island sometime this year.

And from about 15:00 on there were fish topping all over the place - just like summer :-)


No doubt my next match will be a tough one.............

B Division - Woodside Pond - Sat 19th February

After Wednesday's Big Blank, I was hoping for a better day in the latest of the B Division Matches at Magiscroft.

Once again, I managed to draw P4 on the Woodside, which I wasn't too happy with, but at least I would be out of the biting North Westerly that was gusting hard.

The match was scheduled to start at 11AM, so after plumbing up 3 separate lines, the all-in is called and we're off!.


Within 30 minutes, I knew it was going to be a tough day - I eventually got my first bite 1.5 hours into the match (6.5 biteless hours of fishing!!!) and land a 4oz carp from the far shelf, which is followed by another 15 minutes later - all this while the snow was falling fast, and the wind had picked up, even on my sheltered peg.


I persisted targeting carp with various flavours of pellet with no further bites - I also tried sweet corn on all 3 lines, but nothing.

So the it was on to targeting silvers, which got me 2 small chub and a solitary 1oz roach.

As the weather had gotten really bad, it was decided to finish the match one hour early at 15:00, and wouldn't you know it, at 14:55, the sun came out. But I was glad to stop early as I was having trouble holding my pole, so cold were my hands.


I weighed in a paltry 15oz - Last in my section and not very happy :-(



Fishing wise, for me January was a feast, February certainly looks like famine!

The Big Blank

After a relaxing week in the sun, it was back to work on Monday and back to the Island Pond today. With a forecast of 10 degrees and a medium wind, I was looking forward to getting back to fishing.

There were 13 of us today and I drew peg 25, which I was quickly informed, had produced no fish during Sunday's match - this sounds good to me as expect that the fish once again will be on the move.

Today I have my usual Oxo and fish sauce pellets with a new addition of cinnamon in 4 and 6mm sizes.

The all-in is called at 10:30 but after 2 hours with no sign of a bite, I'm beginning to wonder what to try next....

I even resorted to trying to catch small roach, but the all-out is called at 15:30 and it's a big blank. On my side of the pond only 1 angler catches anyting - 5 of us blank.

A blank is a match where no fish are landed - a big blank is a match were no bites are registered - thankfully quite un-common so far!

Congrats go to Douglas Phillips who takes an easy win with 10lbs +

Full results can be found here.

So not much more to say except that it was a pleasant day to be outside and you can't win them all :-)

'Workshy Wednesday' Match - Magiscroft's Top Pond

As this would be my last Match for 10 days or so, I was looking forward to a pleasant days fishing on the Top Pond at Magiscroft. It's been pretty cold this week, so it was no surprise to find all the waters at the fishery covered by between 10 and 20mm of ice. But after 30 mins or so of ice breaking, we decided that the match would go ahead. Although it was still sub zero degrees, we had a cloudless sky and almost no wind, and it was quite comfortable at the water's edge with the sun on our backs.

On Sunday pegs 6,7 and 8 produced the biggest weights, so I was hoping not to draw one of these, as the fish seem to move around and what is good on one day, very rarely produces in the next match. As luck would have it, I drew P6 but at least that meant that shipping my pole back would be easy as there is a gap in the rear bank at P6.

As folk started to clear the broken ice from their swims, it became apparent that there was an ever so slight breeze that was moving the broken ice down towards the deeper end of the pond, and whilst that helped me, Derek Brady gave up before the all-in as he couldn't keep the surface ice free for any length of time.

By the time the all-in was called at 11:30, I had managed to clear approx 80% of the ice in my swim meaning I could get to the far bank, where I caught on Sunday.

Today I was using one of my own homemade floats on 0.15 main line with a 0.08 hooklength to a size 18 barbless hook. I got my first indication after 10 mins or so and netted a nice mirror carp of around a pound. So I fed 6 micro pellets - and didn't get another bite for 50 minutes, when I caught possibly the smallest common carp in the pond! I decided to feed again, and it was quickly apparent that this was a mistake, as again, I saw no more action for 40 minutes.

Which resulted in another small common, but I didn't feed this time, and I was then able to put together a run of fish, whilst losing three that decided to go under the remaining ice:-(

Bait wise, I had std expander pellets, sweet corn and my favourite Oxo pellets - all of which I tried, but only the Oxo pellets got fish interested.

Around 15:15, as the sun went down a bit, the temp dropped sharply and that was it for me - I reckoned on somewhere between 8 & 10lbs, which from what I could see, would put me in contention.

So the all-out was called at 16:00 and I weighed in 10lbs - 8oz, which was enough to win the match from Alan Hird with 4lbs - 8oz and Rikki Miller with 3lbs - 8oz.

Full results can be found here.

Given the results this year, I'm pretty convinced that the big difference is the various additives that i've tried in conjunction with expander pellets. It seems that a 'salty type' flavour works best - pellets are fishmeal based - imagine the difference in taste between your favourite fish or steak, one with salt and one without - maybe not a great analogy, but you get the idea………

I know I've been fortunate with drawing decent pegs, but I've still managed to get the fish out. Looking back, since the 1st of January I have managed 4 wins and 2 thirds, with a couple of 4th as well.

After only 12 weeks with my pole, I have to be happy with that.