Category: fishing

Zandering in the Rain

As we only had 1 day and as Bosbaan’s lines were still in myself and Marcel decided to go out Pike fishing. It had been good weather all week so we decided that Sunday had to be good.  Err welllllll, it rained. It raid a lot. It rained so hard I thought we were going to have to build an ark. I had to bail the boat out 3 times else I would have been sitting in 3 inches of water, and, as I write this post it is still raining.

Due to the inclement weather fishing was tough going, we needed a huge drogue just to stay vaguely on track in the water and with the wind turning the rain into horizontal bullets, our hears were not in it. Just after 2pm we decided to go and fish on the other side of the Nieuwe Meer Sluis, so with heavy hearts we moved on knowing that apart from jack pike there was not the chance of a good fish.

How wrong could I be ? with in 20 mins of starting fishing Marcel proclaimed to have missed a bite and the next cast this was his prize.

DPP_00066Not a bad Zander all things considering and a welcome end to the day. Hopefully next time we will be more mindful of the weather as there is no shelter on a boat when the weather turns like that.

Fox Coretex Review

Over the years I have been through the whole range of material to make hook links from. When I started carping on the distant past we used mono and then quickly progressed to black Dacron which as I was fishing a clay pit must have really stood out against the bottom. Strange that in the 20 odd years since I started carp fishing that we have effectively gone back to mono with the surge in the usage of flurocarbon ( for which I myself am guilty). Anyway recently after having issues with other hook link materials from another manufacturer a friend suggested that I try cortex. I dutifully bought a spool from my local tackle shop and had a play.

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As you can see it comes on a rather handy spool that is comprised of 2 plastic halves. This has the effect of sandwiching the cortex as it comes off the spool making over runs a thing of the past. On the rear of the spool ( not shown above)  there is a cut out that allows you to see how much of the product remains on the spool, handy to check before a foray to  the tackle shop. Continue reading “Fox Coretex Review”

Fox Stratos FS 12000e Review

Well after my lovely wife bought me 3 Fox Stratos FS1200e’s  I had to just get out there and use them. This review is a little late in coming as I have been busy using them.

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The Reels, well 1st thing you notice is that they are super smooth. There is no sense of wobble when you reel in fast with them that is common with other big pit reels. the clutch is smooth as silk and the bait runner is as positive as you could ever wish for. When I was debating what to ask for as a present I was considering the magnesium versions but after seeing Ian “Chilly” Chilcott cranking in a big conger with the graphite versions my mind was made up. Regarding the clutch, a lot of people back wind, I am not one of them and believe that the clutch is there for a reason. In France this year the clutches were tried out to their limits with carp to 39lbs being landed and several times the clutch saved me when a fish made an unexpected turn. On previous reels I had been used to a “grabby” clutch and so had the clutch set far far lighter then I normally would, not so with these reels, it is set dead on as I have that much confidence in it.

The Stratos 12000FSe’s are not only silky smooth but thanks to their graphite bodies they are super light as well. For any of you that doubt the long term durability of graphite in reels I draw you attention to a set of old graphite bait runners which are 18 years young and still going strong and are used today for lure fishing. Casting is a dream with large coils of line looping up the rod with every cast and there is a little rubber “wiper” between the rotor arm and the spool that stops any line causing a nasty tangle should it ever get loose. One thing you have to get used to if you have been a shimano person is that on the fox reels the baitrunner lever “goes the wrong way” ie it is against the reel body when disengaged and popped out when engaged. This seems non logical at 1st but then you realise that it is better to have the lever out of the way when playing fish !

Over all I love these reels, out of the box they will add a huge amount to your normal cast allowing you to explore areas of the lake that were impossible before. The build quality is second to none and they are available at a price that must make other reel manufacturers wince.

Rating : Good solid buy.

Pike, ohhh we love pike

Well back from the 1st pike trip for the winter season 2009, and what can I say… it went well. Arrived at the lake far later than I anticipated due to oversleeping and not wanting to get out of bed. Anyway at 08:30 I finally arrived at the lake to find perfect conditions. I set up 1 rod with a dead bait ( mackerel tail) and one on lure ( a Rapala fat rap ). The conditions looked perfect and setting up near a fallen tree I soon had the dead bait out. The lure was prepped and sent on its maiden voyage. With in 20 seconds of retrieving the lure there was a massive swirl and there was a very angry double figure pike makings its way to the snags with my lure in its mouth. The rod I was using was a Fox trek 4 piece lure rod that has been to and fished on several continents. Well the rod was just about coping and for the 1st time this year my lure reel was singing as it released line. After 3-4 severe runs I finally had the pike under control. Or so I thought… Have you ever had a pike tail walk away from you ? well at close range it is not only spectacular but also gets you soaked very fast.

After finally subduing the fish I then had the deep joy of removing the lure that the fish had quite literally engulfed but I am happy to say that after a small amount of very minor surgery the fish swam off strongly. No pics ( sadly) as the fish had put up a tremendous fight and had been out of the water for 10 mins as I got the lure out from 6 inches down its throat I didn’t want to press my luck.

Other than that 2 other jacks in the 5lb class rounded off what was quite a successful few hours on a brand new pike water.

Amsterdamse Bos

Fished 24 Hrs on the Amsterdamse Bos on the weekend. Not a bad session fish wise considering it was my 1st night session on the water

amsterdamsebos

Had a really bad experience with a bailiff this weekend, here is what happened

was fishing a new water that I had never night fished and it was only the 2nd time I had really fished it. There was one other angler ( that I heard from his bite alarms) about 250-350m further along the bank. The banks were very over grown with forest right up to the water. My swim was very tight to the water with only 1m between the entrance of my bivi and the butts of my rods with the back of my bivi against the tree line.

About 23:00 I saw car lights in the direction of the other angler which was strange as there are no roads on that side and I thought nothing of it. Suddenly I saw a car coming straight along the bank (note not on the path) with it headlights on. I thought that they were on full beam but it turned out that the car was an SUV and so they were just high. The car kept on coming (at speed) and eventually I had to run towards it waving my arms shouting as I was afraid that if he kept on driving he would run over my rods or my bivi, or indeed me.

The car stopped and a bloke got out, by this stage I thought that I was about to be robbed or that there were a load of drunken miscreants in the car intent on trouble. The man has a torch which he shines in my face. By this stage, to say I am a little concerned is an understatement. I am really worried that I am about to be attacked and I don’t do violence, you could say I am allergic to it.

I shouted “who are you” (in english my dutch had failed me) and he shouts back “controle” ie license check. Anyway turned out he was a park ranger checking licenses.

Whilst I am showing him my licenses he sees my shaking hands ( i am not embarrassed I was scared, I was alone a loooong way from help, a car had just driven up at speed and someone had just shone a torch in my face) and he had the audacity to say “you shouldn’t fish here at night if you are afraid of the dark”

What an idiot….. I know that the dutch have a strange sense of humor but he made no friends that night. I am not afraid of the dark. I am afraid of groups of blokes in cars and of being run over.

With that he then left driving his suv along another path 30 years behind me at an estimated 30-40 KPH ( it is a foot path), if he had met a dog walker….

oh well on only the 2nd time I have ever seen a bailiff in 4 years so I suppose I would be greatful that someone is checking licenses.

If you are a bailif and you are reading this, think before you approach people late at night. You might cause them a lot of stress as they have no idea who you are and will think the worse.

Flyfishing

There are some times that I doubt myself for fishing. Blanking for a week in France was one of those times. Then there are times when you go out, do not really catch a lot but have a superb time. Last weekend was one of those times. In the last few months I have really grown to love fly fishing, some call it elitist, for people stuck in the wrong age, for people who do not know what a fixed spool reel is…. well some of this is right… what it really is, for me at least, is manna for the soul. The sound a fly line makes as it whistles through the air and then alights on the water as gently as a damsel fly.. Then you stand there wondering what the last 5 casts didn’t do that 🙂 wondering why you have been thrashing the water to a foam only to have 1 cast go perfectly. Oh well that is fishing. If you are interested in guided fishing in Northern Ireland, give Packie Trotter a call on +44 7821538548  I have used several times, he is a real gent and I am yet to blank.

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Oh and by the way those waders do make your arse look huge….

New Personal Best

Just back from a superb trip to France arranged by Ron from the fishing ship in Uithorne, tired but very happy would be by comment. Went with some of the best, funniest people I have ever met. They really tried to make me feel welcome and a great time was had by all. Final tally for me was 21 carp, 2 bream and a pike and many roach and rudd ( err yes 🙂 )

Any way crowning achievement for my was a new PB of 39lb’s ( UK lbs in case anyone thinks I have gone native with Dutch pounds) which was sadly taken at night ( as were 99% of all of my fish) so you can’t really see the full glory of the shots. Fish was taken on the ever reliable CCmoore Meteor tipped with a strawberry hell raiser dumbbell popup. I will post a full blog article later but for now here is the pic

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Successful session at Bosbaan

Just back from a successful session at the bosbaan, was meant to be a 2 day session but after catching 7 carp through the night topped by a 21lb mirror I decided to cut it short. For a weekend the baan was very quiet and even the rowers were strangely absent.

Anyway all fish were on CCmoore Meteor with a small stick of meteor and milkimin pellet complimenting the presentation,

baan-21trust me it did weigh 21, but sometimes it is the way you hold them 🙂