Heyup folks, Wraggy here reporting for duty fresh from two stunning weeks in Mexico! Best holiday I’ve ever had, hot weather for the missus, good food, and I even managed to sneak a bit of fishing in from some huge sand bags on the beach. Apparently Hurricane Katrina swept through the area last year and the sand bags were used to reinforce the defences, and they provided an ideal spot to fish from!
You could see everything that was happening in the clear water too, which made it exciting fishing, to say the least! The water was only waist deep but it was alive with all sorts, I’ve no idea what they were but some were like angel fish from a tank, others resembled the wrasse that we catch from our shores, and some of them had the look of a sea bream, and they all had different colours within their own species. Mandy even got in on the act, and one of the days we counted eight different species in under half an hour, until our session was brought to an abrupt close by a shoal of barracuda that kept appearing whenever we hooked one of the “angel fish”.
Head Start!
She found that reeling in the heads of the fish, still twitching, a little off putting so we retired to the sun beds bloodied but unbowed! I’ve since found out that these angelfish were in fact a type of trevally, an oceanic species renowned for their fighting qualities, and boy did they pull! The biggest might have been the size of a dinner plate, but they fought harder than a 5 or 6-pound ghostie, although, I suppose that may have had something to do with having a three-foot barracuda snapping at their arses!
For the technically minded among you, tackle was a Daiwa cavalier canal rod, modified to break down small enough to fit into a suitcase and trimmed to eight feet long, six pound line direct to a kamasan B911, usually a size 14. a half gramme pole float was plenty to get the bread hookbait into position & down to the fish, and we could see them taking the bait anyway so it wasn’t needed for bite registration. I did learn a couple of things while fishing off those sandbags though:
– 1. As good as B911s are, they’re no match for a ‘cuda!
- 2. Although nearly all the Mexicans speak excellent English, they’ve yet to master the art of understanding a broad Sheffield accent – the question of “nar den pal, ‘as tha’ gor any idea wot sooert o’ fish this is?” was met with completely blank looks, from which I can conclude that
- 3. Mexican people can speak better English than me.
Journey Home
Anyway, the journey home came all too soon for Mandy, and strangely the blow wasn’t softened any by me putting a loving arm around her and mentioning that although the holiday was over there was always Sunday matches at Bank End to look forward to, I can only surmise her ‘somewhat terse’ reply can only be down to the fact that she’s not been there yet?
Saturday was left free for shopping and getting rid of the jetlag, but Sunday morning saw me parked up early on the front at my mate Ian’s house raring to go despite there being two to three inches of snow on the ground. The back roads near to the venue were a bit hairy to say the least, but we got there in one piece, paid on and waited for the draw.
Not Another Flier!
A quick glance at the previous couple of weeks results showed the fish had spread a little, and whereas pegs in the teens and early twenties had thrown all the weights up prior to my holiday, other areas now seemed to hold enough fish to give you a decent chance of competing. On the way I’d remarked to Ian that I would draw 22 and he would be on 14, so when 23 stuck in my mitt my catchphrase sprang to mind, ‘better to be lucky than good’, but my prediction for Ian was a little way off, cos he drew 23!
That’s four times from six matches, believe it or not, that we’ve drawn next to each other at Bank End this winter! Popular opinion was ‘just a bit away from em kid’, but I fancied the peg for a few and it didn’t disappoint. I had a bite a chuck from the first cast right through till an hour from the end, when Ian started to catch one or two. The fish seemed to have spooked off my feeder line and set up home in front of him, but fortunately I’d done enough to win the match by that time with 33lb, and an added bonus was that Ian’s late catching spell boosted him up to second place in what was an otherwise tight frame.
The final icing on the cake was that there was a match there the following day; bank holiday Monday, so the bits I’d learned could be quickly put into practise. Before I cover that one a quick look at the gear we use might be useful. 11 foot tip rods are perfect for here, my choice being the now-discontinued MAP Ultra II ones, they have a nice soft action ideally suited to the small fish in the venue that average out at around 8-12oz, but the anti-lock action of the blanks give you a fighting chance of landing the very occasional bigger fish that does turn up from time to time.
I like to use 3lb reel line, the reduced drag seems to help with both casting and coping with the strong undertow present, and I use 0.10 or 0.12 hooklengths depending on which bait I’m using, and of course how well I’m catching. I prefer a feeder with the holes taped up, you’re fishing in 14-16 feet of water so you need a solid feeder to make sure most of the bait gets to the bottom, but also the type of bait that is going into the feeder also necessitates taping the holes up.
Atomic!
I’ve been using a product from G.O.T Baits called ‘Atomic Cloud’, mixed 70/30 with black swim stim, and if you get chance, try this product in the margins of you peg, you’ll be amazed at the results. The cloud lingers for ages and in the low water temperatures we’re still experiencing it looks a real winner. The aforementioned tow is the reason I don’t use it neat, and I have been known to add more ground bait to the mix during the day when I’ve started catching so as to leave a bit of something in the peg for the fish to feed on, and guard against them drifting off with the cloud. Both pellet and maggot hookbaits have their day, on the Sunday I started on maggot but switched to pellet in search of some better fish.
The fish still seem to shy away from any amount of bait going into the peg, but the cloud and groundbait seem to be just enough to spark a response from them. Just before I move onto Monday’s match I must just mention some hooks that I’ve been using that I’m really impressed with. They are a Gamakatsu pattern (that’s almost as hard to spell as it is to say!) called the wide gape eyed, and I’ve been using them in the smallest size, an 18. After a lot of searching I reckon they are the finest wire eyed hooks on the market, but I’d appreciate it if anyone could let me know otherwise? I needed the eye for the knotless knot & hair rig for fishing the pellet’ and I’ve found these to be superb.
If anyone wants to try them they are a black nickel finish, and come in a yellow/brown packet. Not only do they cope admirably with the normal sized fish at Bank End and similar places, they’ve landed all the bonus fish I’ve hooked since I’ve been using them as well. A fact that would pay off the following day!
Mondays Match
Peg 27 was my pitch for the day on Monday, again the common consensus was that it would be too far down to make a frame place a viable proposition, but it had thrown up a weight of 14lb the day before, so there were obviously some fish in the area, and with a section prize to fish for every six pegs I was fairly optimistic. The same approach as the previous day was put into action, with the addition of a pole rig aimed at the venue’s healthy ide population. The section opposite had been won with 12lb of Ide on the Sunday, and I was anticipating a harder match because all the snow had melted into the lake overnight.
On the whistle, out went the feeder full of Atomic and I settled in for what could be a long ‘un. A nice steady pull round after a couple of minutes saw me attached to a much bigger fish than anything I’d had the previous day, and a couple of anxious minutes later a 2 1/2lb fish was in the banjo-full result! Two more fish in the first 40 minutes wasn’t exactly setting a roaring pace but I could tell by the bankside chatter that it was as good as anyone else.
I caught in fits and starts right through the day, but once again had a quiet last hour, during which time the anglers either side of me very nearly caught me up. I’ve got a new hair-brained scheme to sort this last hour shortfall out though, I’ll let you know if it works next time I’m up there on Sunday. 20lb won on the day, again feeder fished maggot doing the damage from peg 21, a peg which threw up a single figure weight the previous day!
The scene of my Sunday success, peg 23, only produced 7lb, despite the lad who drew it coming to me for a bit of advice. I told him where I’d thrown and what I’d caught on, the only thing different was he didn’t use any Atomic, maybe this was the difference? He did say though, that he’d had very few indications, whereas on Sunday my tip was never still, obviously a peg full of fish that seemed to have moved overnight.
All along our bank there were a series of mid-teen weights, and I was starting to doubt the small stamp of fish in my net would be enough, even for a section win. I’d been watching peg 25 catch all day and knew we’d be close, but other peoples fish always look bigger don’t they? Well, it turned out that they were, just! 16lb 12oz shaded my 16lb 1oz into third overall on the day, but it was still a bit too close for comfort!
Phew!
The lad between us on peg 26 had four small fish going into the last hour, but had ten better stamp samples to almost pass me with 14lb, while the other side was even closer! Again, a good last third of the match, along with a couple of bonus 1lb-plus F1s saw him tip 15lb 12oz onto the scales for fourth, a lost fish mid-match costing him dearly. Got to get this last hour blank spell sorted, me nerves won’t hold out!
This mini-carp fishing has really got under my skin, and I find myself seeking out these venues now, rather than trying to do battle with any monsters. I suppose it’s me going back to my canal fishing days, but I enjoy the problems encountered and hurdles you find when you need to put a big net of small fish together. I’m also using some tricks borrowed from the specimen carp lads, hooking arrangements and so on, but I’ll tell you more about them at a later date.
This week I’m off to another of my favourite venues, Grange Park at Messingham. It’s full of all manner of small carp, goldfish, shubunkins and Koi, as well as skimmers and Ide, and the problem here is sorting out the bites more than getting them! I’m there Thursday and Saturday, with the winter final at Bank End Sunday, so it should be a ‘million bites week’, just as I like it! I’ll let you know how I get on, ta-ta for now.
Cracking blog Mark, can’t wait to see you at Barlborough again to kiss your little bald head!
yeah Great blog any pics of these angels or the others from mexico
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