Apologies!

I just thought I'd try and squeeze this one in so the June section of my blog list isn't a blank, the apology is for the lack of blogging, there's not a lot going on, I've only been out a couple of times since my last blog and there's only so many fly fishing trips I can talk about and blanks are not even worth wasting keyboard time over.

 

However, on my last blanking trip, after Zander, I had a little experiment with something a little different as bait. Sea baits are not commonly used for Zander however I have caught several Zander using both Sprat and Mackerel, on this trip I was giving Squid a go as I had some left over after a bit of a cooking session the night before, I love squid.

 

I didn't think things were going to work as we remained bite less for a good two hours, a local passer by informed us that the short stretch of canal we were fishing had been drained for maintenance over the winter and the fish moved, after wasting a couple of hours here we made a move to another short stretch which we'd both not fished before. It looked promising, very fishy with plenty of features, Barry made a B-line for an area he liked the look of and I did the same. My first chuck in with the squid resulted in a good pull and a fish on but it threw the hook before I could confirm it's identity, the Squid seemed to be working.

 

I had a couple more dropped takes during the session so the slimy white stuff looks as though it'll be on my list of Zed baits for future sessions, I'll be definitely giving it a go again.

 

That'll be one bag of frozen squid for me and one for the freezer bait drawer.

Just needs fish.

Something I have been working on is another garden DIY project, a raised pond. More on that later.

Anyone for 'T' ?

It was at the last fishing show at the Ricoh Arena that a brief discussion was had about the association not having any merchandise to sell at such events, well, we now have merchandise.

 

Working in the fashion industry it seemed the right time to put my design skills to use and drew up a few ideas, these were presented to the committee and two designs were selected to take through to production, the first small test batch are now ready for association members to buy and wear.

The first design is fairly traditional based around one of the old enamel badges the association produced several years ago, it was given a bit of an 'on trend' twist and kept fairly conservative with black graphics on an olive shirt.

'Splat'

I'm no model but you get the idea.

The second design is aimed at the younger angler, It has a shortened club title and a snappy street style 'graffiti' font, the bright orange on olive looks striking and could quite easily be worm off the bank as well as on.

Graffiti 1

Again, you get the idea.

Keep an eye on the association's Facebook page for details on how to buy.

Going Quackers!

I've had a break from Ryton, the sun was out (for a change) and it was time for some action off the top, so, it was over to Jubilee for a bit of fluff chucking. My first fly flinging session was a bit of a non starter, I lost a good sized 'ghostie' at the net, my leader parted and it wasn't a knot failure, just sheer bad luck. Another spot of bad luck almost saw me land a very good sized goose, you take your eye off them for a split second and....

 

The next day was much better weather wise with hot sunshine and the surface of the pool was peppered with big dark shapes cruising around. A scattering of biscuits started the slurping and out went the first of several casts but these fish were wary of everything that looked like a biscuit, the trouble with sunny weather, everyone fishes on the top. It took a while but I hollered out "Yes" when I hooked the first Carp much to the frustration of Barry fishing the swim next door and it wasn't long till I had a lovely sized mirror in the net.

A zip fourteen.

 

The second fish was hard work, a couple of lads had started spodding biscuits to the middle of the pool and the Carp followed the sound of the dinner bell and out of our swims. The odd fish drifted back and it was one of these that I managed to pick off, it was a lovely common and a little smaller at twelve pound four ounces.

A nice scrappy common.

I had a quick walk around the pool to see if I could find another pocket of fish willing to feed but it was hard to find any, fish just dispersed as biscuits landed on their heads and it took ages to get any to feed, it's a good job I take plenty of biccy's.

 

Barry eventually got a fish on the bank but it was almost the end of the session when he did, this also meant that the little quackers got passed back to Barry again.

Finding it Slow.

I'm finding the fishing at Ryton a bit slow, I'm catching but not what I'd like to see on the bank. The Tench are snaffling up the boilies intended for Carp so the recipe is working, maybe it's more suited to a Tench's palette. The popped up boilies have been on target as well and I've had some lumps roll over the top of the bait so I can only presume that I'm getting done.

Plenty of these.

Quack!

 

I've stuck it out with the hope of a Carp which has cost me some good fishing for the smaller species and I've had to sit next to Barry and watch him bag up on Roach, Rudd, Perch, Bream and smaller Carp, let's just say that I am currently in custody of the ducks.

 

The Stump!

It's peg building season again. I've been asking a few questions about the peg we've put in at the back of the island for a while and it was about time that it went in. The sand bank now has two pegs, the original peg at the bottom of the sandy slope faces the island but we've now added another peg to the right of this that faces the road bank.

Tree's cleared.

We had the platform structure, the legs and a load of other timber and tools to shift and typically the peg we were building was at the furthest point away from the pound. We were going to have to do several trips back and forth carrying arms full of wood and tools, that was until Barry found and old shopping trolley tucked away in a corner, it was put to good use shifting the gear over to the far side of the pool and was nicknamed the 'Hurdy Gurdy', she served us well.

The Hurdy Gurdy

A few tree's had to be taken out and a rather tricky tree stump had to be chopped into to make the wooden platform fit, typically the stump was at an awkward angle to get at from the bank, waders had to be put on and into the lake I went to tackle the stump head on. The water infront of this peg has a good depth and was right up to the top of my thigh waders as we sawed and hacked at the stump. I was a bit concearned that the length of the legs being hammered into the lake bed at the front of the peg were not long enough to make the peg sturdy but once the platform was fastened to the legs and the shuttering between the bank and the back legs were filled in with rubble and sand the whole structure firmed up, it ain't going anywhere!

 

I made one classic error after rolling down the waders to collect some more gear from the pound, I jumped back into the lake and only realised they were still rolled down when they filled up with chilly lake water. It soon warmed up.

View of the finished peg from the road bank.

It takes the weight.

The finished peg looks rather nice and gives fishing access to the fronts of the now closed pegs along the section of road bank beyond the point, it's a tricky cast to be up close in front of the tree's so clipping up is advisable.

 

we came up with the pegs name, 'The Stump', for obvious reasons.

Tench save the day.

Still no Carp showing at Ryton and boilies had been dispensed with in favour of a few grains of maize with the hope of bagging a Tench or two. Barry had handed over the ducks at the beginning of the session but only one of them was heavy enough to sit beneath my pod in the strong wind.

 

Barry was first to bank a small Roach and he enjoyed letting me know that he was once again ahead on the duck challenge. It wasn't long before I had a slow take which resulted in a Tench in the net, the duck turned to look at Barry!

A nice example of a Ryton Tench.

The session was a bit of a slow one and ended with Barry catching one Roach, one Perch and a very nice Rudd, I don't think I've ever seen a Rudd with fins as Red before. My tally was Two nice Tench which out stripped Barry's bag so sadly the ducks never visited their new house and had to be taken back to Barry's again.

Barry, bring them with you next time?

Since last week, the Carp have woken up and a few have seen the bottom of a landing net.

 

Bit short notice this one, a couple of new pegs are going to go in over the next couple of weeks at Ryton so if anyone wants to give a hand your more than welcome, bring sledge hammers and spades.

Give 'em up!

Looks like the weather is breaking at last so roll on those warm summer evenings with a fish or two on the bank. A couple of weekends ago there was a brief spell of sunshine that saw us head off to a stretch of water for another round in our duck challenge.

 

It was late morning by the time we got our lines in the water and sitting in the sunshine was very pleasant, if it wasn't for the five layers of clothing it could have been mistaken for a normal spring day! It didn't last long, a large patch of black cloud moved over and it started to snow. It was during this snow shower that I saw Barry lift into a fish, "the jammy little" I thought and went over for a look, he'd had a small Bream on maggot and this seemed to be the way to go as big dead baits weren't being picked up.

First fish to Barry, a Bream.

 

then another Bream

 

and a Carp!

 

Several snow showers later, with a little bit of sunshine in between, I still sat there fish less willing one of the alarms to signal a take. Barry was bagging up on the opposite point with Bream, Carp and Ruffe and it looked as though those Duck's were coming home to roost at mine.

 

Even though those Ducks are officially mine, Barry seems reluctant to give them up? It's been nearly a week and a half since they were 'won' and they still haven't been handed over.

 

C'mon Barry, give 'em up!