McGiver

Anyone remember McGiver? Well tonight I forgot my dog lead but managed to swipe Jays shoulder strap from his rod holdall.

Just Looking

I've just come back from a flying visit with my oldest fishing mate Jay Scott. He had been on the water all day and nailed a 16lb 12oz mirror carp at around 8.30 pm. Well done mate.

I Love Monday Nights

I have a stint on the river planned for a few weeks time. Its never easy giving in a whole day when I'm pretty certain I'm going to blank so you may ask why I do it? Why not go somewhere with a known head of fish? Well where would the challenge be there? With my self inflicted blank on the horizon I went back to my local water to get a final shot of confidence in my bait and rigs. DNA's Secret 7 bait is certainly pretty amazing, I've also been trying to get a run on some Nash white pop ups without any luck so far. I had 3 fish last night, an 11lb mirror carp and 2 common carp of 14lb 13oz and 14lb 12oz. The mirror was an odd looking fish with a big head and fins and very small body. Maybe it had just spawned? The 2 common carp, with almost identical weights, were in excelent condition.

Tuesday

I took a visit to my local water on tuesday evening and after my last rip I was eager to keep the momentum going. I tried several approaches including plain bottom bait, 12mm snowman glugged in Nash's squid extract, a trimmed down white pop up and a bottom bait topped off with fake corn. The fish made me wait from 4 oclock to just before 10 when my middle rod went off. A short fight under the rod tip ensued before I slid a common of 12lb 12oz into the net. The last anglers had just left and as I was about to pack up and it just goes to show that its never over until its over.

Crazy Coots

I arrived at my local water in the drizzle on monday, and set up feeling fairly confident. I elected to fish a rod down each margin and a third rod about 25 yards straight out. I baited up with the usual DNA Baits Secret 7 boilies and made a step too far and scattered a mixture of sweet corn, pellet and hemp over the left hand margin rod. I say it was a mistake as a family of coots spotted me baiting up and would not leave that spot all evening, they even managed to snag my lead up twice in a row. As a result I ended up moving a little further out. I had suffered a couple of blank sessions so I was determined to have a successful night, around 8pm the right hand rod raced off and a common of 12lb 10oz led me up and down the margin before slipping in to the net.

I was just contemplating packing up and the rain was falling when the left hand rod sprang into action, after a short fight a small common barely into double figures graced the net and it was a job well done.

Boat Fun

I acquired an inflatable boat for diving and fishing and got my first run out on the river yesterday. The boat is a 14ft Zodiac Futura which needed a lot of TLC, infact most people doubted it would ever hold presure. The engine is a 1981 Johnson 25HP Thunderbolt which I changed the gearbox oil and plugs a few weeks ago. Against better judgement I left the water pump alone as it was pushing plenty of water. The boat inflated and stayed inflated and the engine started first pull and ran smoothly, we pulled off the slipway with me still patting myself on the back. They say pride comes before a fall and sure enough 5 minutes up the river the water tell tale started belching steam. I can only imagine that the water pump stopped effectively doing its job and the engine over heated and boiled off the remaining cooling water. Does anyone have any inside information? As an old boss of mine said 'all boats sink' and as someone else said 'boats are just holes in the water that you throw money into' Anyway tommorow at work will mostly be spent ordering a new impeller and gaskets.

Secret 7 Does It Again

I managed a short after work seeion last week but didnt arrive on the water until nearly 5pm. I set up following the usual rule by fishing into the wind even though I hadnt seen anything moving. Although fishing in to the wind is the usual plan after an hour or 2 I saw fish moving almost anywhere except in the windward area where I was, however I didnt feel that I had enough time to move so I decided to wait out and see what happened. Around 9 pm my middle rod rattled off and after a brief fight, mostly under the rod tip, I slid the net under a fat mirror of 15lb 7oz.