Cicely Mill Thursday 27 August 2009

Another long day on Cicely Mill, and to be quite honest it was a disaster! I was using hookable pellets with my pole, and using for the first time the pole hooks I bought from North West Angling Supplies. It was a slow start, after an hour I hooked a small Tench, which I thought was massive, as it was a real struggle to get it in, but I had foul hooked it. Then I caught a nice Roach, then it went very very quiet.
One angler to the right of me was catching, and did so through the day, using long range tactics. He was using pellets and PVA bags. Seeing him catch at long distance I switched from the pole to my Quiver tip rod, and I managed to take a reasonable Bream, but that was the end of the catching for the day.
Going back onto the pole for the evening sesion. I was, to put it mildly fed up! so I put lots of feed in and fished over it, just as dusk was setting in I got a good bite and it snapped me off, it felt very very big, I was sick as a Parrot, and then to cap off a crap day I lost another good fish, so I came home ,throughly fed up!
In conclusion, looking back I dont feel too bad as the only angler catching was the chap next to me, and he had years and years of experience of the mill, no one else, me included caught much at all.
I dont thing the weather helped, during the afternoon the wind became very strong, it was hard to keep the pole in one position.

Cicely Mill Monday 24 August 2009

I thought I'd have a long day a Cicley Mill, Got up at 5am, arrived at the water at just before 6am.Set up in the middle peg of the 3 by the carparking area.
I bought some hookable pellets from Baileys to try for thr Tench and Crucians, initally everything was fine, using my pole and the pellets, in the first hour I caught a decent male Tench a nice Crucian and couple of small Skimmers. I then started to be plagued by very small roach, and one of which,no more that two inches long actually managed to take an 8mm pellet. This continued for the rest of the day. I did manage to land to nice Roach, in good condition, but no matter what I tried, even on a good size lump of Pellet paste I was still being pestered by tiny Roach.
The other anglers around me were catching more than me but not much, and not what I would expect from this top notch fisherie.

Sea Fishing at Porthcurno Cornwall August 17 August 2009

I must make it clear from the start I'm no Sea Fisherman,but every time we go to Cornwall on holiday I always take a telescopic rod and some pike bungs and some No10 hooks and 20lb line. This kit enables me to fish from the rocks below the Minack Theatre at Porthcurno.
The fish I'm after is the Pollock,the ones I catch aint very big, maybe a pound or two, but they go like stink and give a very good fight. This time was a time of very low tides, so the sport was a bit thin, but I connected with two Pollock both of which fought like mad.
The major difference between the majority of my fishing and sea fishing is I tend to keep the catch for the plate, Pollock aint the best fish for the table, but if you wrap them in foil and give them 20-30 minutes on the BBQ they melt in your moulth.
If ever you're in Cornwall, near Land's End head for Porthcurno, look for the Minack Theatre and walk along the Coastal Path then scramble along some rocks and look for a flat platform and fish from there, use small bits of Mackrel for bait and fish the tide on the way in, and always try fishing feathers for Mackrel, they're not always there but when they are you're in for some fun!

Pike Fishing the Bridgewater

Pike fished the Bridgewater for the first time in a while on Monday 19 July. Hit 3 Pike and landed one about 4lbs. Caught the fish using the walk trolling method, but discoverd Pike will take with a faster retive, I think the Pike are following the spoon and when you begin to wind in to re-cast the Pike must think they are about to loose a meal so they attack! and strike at the spoon. Had a bite on one of the soft rubber lures.
Will try again later in the week

Fly Fishing

Monday 13 July
Visited Clay Lane Trout Fishery. Very nice venue, good facilities. Only a small water but well stocked. Caught two Trout the first was 1lb and the second was 31/2 pounds, it gave a great fight and took some landing. Will visit this fishery again.

Fishing on Ibiza

Had a weeks holiday on Ibiza the fist week in June and of course took a telescopic rod with me. We went to a resort called Portinaxt very much like Cornwall, lots of coves, and rocks to fish from. The fishing was good caught lots of beautiful small multicoloured fish that would have looked at home in a tropical fish tank.
Using a piece of fish on a number 4 carp hook and a pike float with 15lb line I tried for somthing a little bigger and was rewarded with an eel, it was about 2 foot long and a beautiful copper colour. It had a fin running the whole length of it's body and a pointed head with an impressive mouth full of teeth, it gave a good fight.
It was nice to be able to fish in nice weather, wearing shorts and a tee shirt instead of the usual wet weather gear.
Next time we go there I would tale some lighter gear as I missed lots of bites.

Failed on the Bridgewater

Tried the Bridgewater once again, but failed badly.Tried all the usual spots where I've had fish previously but not a touch, ziltch, nothing.
There was alot of boat movement maybe that had a bearing, cutting down the visability, and there was alot of floating rubbish in the canal.
The weather was in and out, sunny then cloudy with a strong gusty north westerly wind
I tried some of the Pike Flies I bought years ago, I fixed them to meps, although I had no luck today, I think they will work
Saw some very nice boats, one had a traditional engine, sounded lovely.
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