After all the boat fishing it was was back to reality this week with an evening blank on Pitsford. I started on the North shore but the wind was light but blowing into your face. I moved a few spots down the bank and into Stone barn bay. However no fish moving and no interest. Mike turned up and we flirted with the Gravels but when we got there it didn't seem fishy.
We got the bins out and spotted fish being caught of Stilton point so off we went.
Another hour off the gorse bank and now it was getting colder and didn't feel as though it was going to "come on" so an early pint in the George at Brixworth was the best option.
Friday 22 May 2009
Saturday 16 May 2009
President's Team win Barclays Bank National
John Wilson the Barclays Bank Fly Fishing President dedicated 
Third Place went to Radbroke Hall with 22 Fish for 58lbs. Paul Ravenscroft, Dave Currie, Bill Robinson and Steve Blundell.
the win to Paul Elliot who has fished for the club for many years.
We were hoping to get Paul along to fish this year but as he undergoes another batch of chemotherapy the club wish him all the best. John Wilson, Neil O'shea, Karen O'shea and Martin Williams caught 22 fish for 59lbs 3oz to lift the team trophy.
Mike Philpott had the The biggest fish Trophy was shared Martin Williams had
best catch of the day between Gerald Farnell and John the most fish with 8
with 8 fish for 21lbs 8 ozs Wilson, 5lbs 10oz Rainbows for 20lbs 10oz
What another excellent two days! Although I had to organise it with Mike it went off smoothly and I enjoyed the fishing more than I was expecting.
Practice day went well and we managed to get all the way round. The Di5 and a tequila blob seemed to be working best. We had fish on a damsel but I just didn't feel I could catch on a natural even though there were fly's hatching and a few fish on top. The high winds seemed to have churned up the shoals and coloured the water but it was clearing fast. After the high winds this week it was a nice ripple and strengthened slightly during the day.
We started a dream catching big fish just outside the boat dock and as you can see here Mike is taking the fly from a 5 pounder.
With that spot in the bag we drifted all our way round finding bigger fish at Dunns bay and rainbow corner. With 3 main spots and a method we were ready for the competition.
Would you believe it, it was a complete change on the competition day and even the wind had gone around 180 degrees. The boat dock was devoid of fish and so was Dunns Bay. We managed to pick up one a piece near the tower, I had decided to reel in and bang a fish was on. Mike said they might need roly poly, and bang he was in to. It still went quite. We had heard that Karen O'shea had 3 on a single drift and Powie and Clarky one each in rainbow corner so although it was a difficult morning we still had to work hard.
The day completely changed for me when Mike had his next fish off the inlet on a size 14 Cruncher. It suddenly proved that they would take the naturals if they were in front of them. I then rigged up the midge tip with a Damsel, hares ear and cruncher and was feeling confident. This is when the Micky take started that i couldn't catch them properly. The next 4 fish were lucky - it does help!! I had one as I pulled in to a short line, started the motor out of gear, lifted my rod and thank you very much! The next I was convinced took correctly but turned out to be foul hooked! Then I cast out, got off my seat to get lunch and of it went, finally as we cut the motor and cast in it took the fly off the top. It proved to me that they would take the fly static and this helped later.
Karen and Neil, Powie and Clarky had added any more, Tony Hague and Dave Kilburn were anchored up as were Phil Kidd and Martyn Denton. Doug Scott and Vernon Beak (aka Charlie Drake) were also persevering but struggling. A move was needed!
We decided to see if other fish had woken up now that the wind had got up a bit so decided to start off the boat dock. As we pulled in, I couldn't believe that the only other boat on the water that had found these fish was Dave Currie and Bill Robinson, trust Dave! As we drifted behind Dave had a fish on but i kept seeing Simon Summers and Derek Thompson bending into fish off the dam, so over we went to drift alongside and bang we were in. We then proceeded to finish off our limits by 4 pm on a mixture of the same flies.
We were sitting pretty at this time but the fish gradually came on the feed and a good number of people took advantage especially Neil o'Shea and Paul Ravenscroft who took 6 and four fish in the last hour. Fortunately a good number of people caught in this last hour and made a great difference to the overall competition making sure that most people caught fish. A few others bucked this trend and caught steadily through the day at anchor including Shane Tibbetts and Neil Felton and Dave Sutton-Lloyd and Gerald Farnell. The rain managed to keep off thankfully and it only started raining as we we tucked into our meal. After the prize giving we managed to down a few pints to round off a great few days.
The other results were:
Second Place was Barclaycard with 58lbs 5oz and Ian Pow, Kev Rowley, John Clarke and Mike Philpott
Second Place was Barclaycard with 58lbs 5oz and Ian Pow, Kev Rowley, John Clarke and Mike Philpott
Third Place went to Radbroke Hall with 22 Fish for 58lbs. Paul Ravenscroft, Dave Currie, Bill Robinson and Steve Blundell.
Tuesday 12 May 2009
Talbot Butler Trophy
The Haddon family were great to be around when I was younger. I worked for Arnold on the market and in his fields at Pitsford and they were a second family for me. James taught me to fly fish and together we had some brilliant fishing expeditions all over the country, The Lairg Trophy, opening day on the pines at Pitsford and Drinking/Salmon fishing around Edinburgh to name but a few.
It was fantastic when Arnold beat his fight against cancer so this charity match to help raise funds for the ward that helped him through I had been really looking forward to it.
It was my third day on the trot this week and I was hoping for a nice day, anchored up ticking back some nymphs but that wind just didn't let up! I was fishing with John Wilson - not the one off the telly but the one from Barclays who I hadn't fished with for a while. John is a great friendly competitor who keeps me on my toes as well has having a nice day out.
It was a difficult choice at the start of the day, table bay or Stone barn? After making room for Dobby to get into his boat and rescuing another that went adrift from the platform we were in a chase with Powie and chad who had also decided on table bay.
It was difficult to anchor in the wind. We shifted position a few time but the first few hours were going to plan with 4 fish caught between us on my melanistic buzzer and a daiwl bach. It was clear then it was going to be a tough day for many. The fish then switched off and John decided to try a wet2 and caught another along with a few takes on the blob. Damm! This made us think that if we want to catch more fish we were going to have to drift and cover more water and yes nearer the dam in the white horses.
We battened down the hatches put on the Di5, Sparkler booby and blobs, pulled in the anchor, threw out the drougue and took a deep breath.
As we drifted from the Pines to the overflow the number of takes increased. It was difficult to keep in touch with your flies all the time hense a number of missed takes but we did manage to catch fish. We had our drifting line sorted to hit the red buoy on the way to the overflow, next time around john would say "make sure you aim for the blue bouy" next time was "make sure you aim for the yellow buoy" Yes, Yes so I realise now it was actually green! And the micky take didn't let up and after a couple of last minute motor starts and drogue retreivals John says "just in case kev, that sign on the on the dam says turn off your engine when travelling down the overflow" Great!. I got my own back on the journeys upwind as i timed the wave splash perfectly with sandwich mouthfulls!
Well by this time we were thinking we were doing alright and would be in with a good shout when John Goodman shouted over and asked what we doing. We thought nothing at the time of saying we were catching on blobs because they would have had to work hard to catch up. But fair play to John he went along the dam further and managed to get the anchor to hold off the point and then proceeded to bag up up in double quick time on the recent stockies.
We then realised that if we were to be in with a shout we needed to do the same and managed to catch the last few to finish off with 8 fish each. We would have finished earlier but as John had what we thought was his last fish on it was pulling very hard and we were convinced it was a big fish. As I sat there with john's net in my hand I did what they called later "an Arnold Haddon" and as it made a run round the back of the boat it got caught on one of the flies on my packed up rod. As I lurched forward to free it, the fly stuck in my fingure, the fish went free and John's net went overboard and - as Gavin and Simon who were looking on, later recalled - floated out of site. Nice! I then pulled out the prizes list and reminded john that if he finished in 4th place the prize was a new net. 3rd place must have seemed like an anti climax! here's John Wilson weighing in.
The weigh in was a simple occasion as the weather had affected the catches more than I had thought and perhaps only 8 to 10 people had caught out of the 50. Dobby summed up the day in his usual way, with his pants down.
It was then to the pub for a few beers and nice meal and the obligatory speaches. John Goodman took first place, myself second, John third and Simon took 4th and the best fish of 3lb 6.
Nice day!
It was fantastic when Arnold beat his fight against cancer so this charity match to help raise funds for the ward that helped him through I had been really looking forward to it.
It was my third day on the trot this week and I was hoping for a nice day, anchored up ticking back some nymphs but that wind just didn't let up! I was fishing with John Wilson - not the one off the telly but the one from Barclays who I hadn't fished with for a while. John is a great friendly competitor who keeps me on my toes as well has having a nice day out.
It was a difficult choice at the start of the day, table bay or Stone barn? After making room for Dobby to get into his boat and rescuing another that went adrift from the platform we were in a chase with Powie and chad who had also decided on table bay.
It was difficult to anchor in the wind. We shifted position a few time but the first few hours were going to plan with 4 fish caught between us on my melanistic buzzer and a daiwl bach. It was clear then it was going to be a tough day for many. The fish then switched off and John decided to try a wet2 and caught another along with a few takes on the blob. Damm! This made us think that if we want to catch more fish we were going to have to drift and cover more water and yes nearer the dam in the white horses.
We battened down the hatches put on the Di5, Sparkler booby and blobs, pulled in the anchor, threw out the drougue and took a deep breath.
As we drifted from the Pines to the overflow the number of takes increased. It was difficult to keep in touch with your flies all the time hense a number of missed takes but we did manage to catch fish. We had our drifting line sorted to hit the red buoy on the way to the overflow, next time around john would say "make sure you aim for the blue bouy" next time was "make sure you aim for the yellow buoy" Yes, Yes so I realise now it was actually green! And the micky take didn't let up and after a couple of last minute motor starts and drogue retreivals John says "just in case kev, that sign on the on the dam says turn off your engine when travelling down the overflow" Great!. I got my own back on the journeys upwind as i timed the wave splash perfectly with sandwich mouthfulls!
Well by this time we were thinking we were doing alright and would be in with a good shout when John Goodman shouted over and asked what we doing. We thought nothing at the time of saying we were catching on blobs because they would have had to work hard to catch up. But fair play to John he went along the dam further and managed to get the anchor to hold off the point and then proceeded to bag up up in double quick time on the recent stockies.
We then realised that if we were to be in with a shout we needed to do the same and managed to catch the last few to finish off with 8 fish each. We would have finished earlier but as John had what we thought was his last fish on it was pulling very hard and we were convinced it was a big fish. As I sat there with john's net in my hand I did what they called later "an Arnold Haddon" and as it made a run round the back of the boat it got caught on one of the flies on my packed up rod. As I lurched forward to free it, the fly stuck in my fingure, the fish went free and John's net went overboard and - as Gavin and Simon who were looking on, later recalled - floated out of site. Nice! I then pulled out the prizes list and reminded john that if he finished in 4th place the prize was a new net. 3rd place must have seemed like an anti climax! here's John Wilson weighing in.
The weigh in was a simple occasion as the weather had affected the catches more than I had thought and perhaps only 8 to 10 people had caught out of the 50. Dobby summed up the day in his usual way, with his pants down.
It was then to the pub for a few beers and nice meal and the obligatory speaches. John Goodman took first place, myself second, John third and Simon took 4th and the best fish of 3lb 6.Nice day!
Sunday 10 May 2009
Boat 13. Unlucky for some, frustrating for us!
It was the first round of the Midlands Eliminators 
this weekend as we all embarked on the route to try and fish for England.
I practiced with Phil as I showed him around the water for his first time on a Rutland boat. It was blowing a gale and very difficult to control your flies but we managed to catch 7 between us and had 3 good spots. The fish were coming well to a Di5 with a Blob, cormorant and a sparkler. Not my usual techniques but needs must and I can pull along with anyone. It got to just before lunch and we found a few fish in Yellowstone when all of a sudden there were boats everywhere, the whole water was crawling. It appears that there was a Youth National championship on.
I had forgot what a great event these are as everyone tackles up on the boat dock awaiting John Mees to give us a briefing and then everyone milling around awaiting the klaxon to sound. There is great banter, Mark Haycock taking the piss out of my bib and braces asking if I was going course fishing! and many more.
We started next the boat, flat calm and bright sun, a complete change from yesterday, another argument not to bother! We had a take each on the Di5 but it didn't feel right so we headed off to Stockie bay where a few other Loop team members were. As we arrived fish were being caught and Brad Gifford was doing the best with 4, he had another and quite surprisingly headed off. Fortunately he finished off with 8 early in the afternoon just into the North arm.
Paul was quick to change onto the floater but it took me a few minutes to work out what I was going to do. Daiwl Bachs and buzzers I thought and changed to the midge tip. Paul was off and running on a Daiwl Bach with the first fish and then a second. We followed Ed Foster and Craig Barr into the point off Stockie Bay and I was watching Ed play a fish when I felt a tap on my line, concentrate! stop the retrieve, start again and the line tightened up and I was into my first fish, YES!! That's it I can relax into it now. We had sussed that the fish were in a very tight shoal and when we got it just right we were into fish. The number of Holographic red Diawl bachs increased on my team and more fish came. Ed and Paul were on the fast glass, again it took me a while to change but then I was keeping pace again.
Ed and Craig got themselves into the A1 position and it was flat calm they just had fish after fish and as Craig bagged up at 12.20 Ed was only 10 minutes behind him. Ed had been ahead and was catching the better fish and as he ended up winning the day and it was very well deserved.
We slotted into the spot and Paul took full advantage and I just managed to hold onto his shirt tails. It was flat calm, deathly silent apart from me banging about in the boat with my net, boat seat, fly boxes, you name it, Oh and Paul laughing and taking the piss. Yes Ok it's been a while. At 1pm Paul had 7 and surely the 8 would be a formality. Well this was where the luck changed. From now on it was going to extremely frustrating for both of us. It didn't matter what we did but he couldn't buy a take and ended the day on 7. I on the other kept loosing fish 3 or 4 maybe but they just wouldn't stick.
Last couple of hours both tearing our hair out - well me at least!! we headed off to the church. The wind was increasing so we were back out with the Di5's to release some frustration. I managed to catch a few and get myself to 7 but not without loosing more fish.
We both ended on 7 a piece but a frustrating day in boat 13 could have been so much better for both of us. I managed a creditable 27th place so it's all still to play for a Grafham next month.
It was a very sad occasion as the weigh in was delayed. Dave Hodgson complained of chest pains over the last couple of days and sadly died of a heart attack in the car park with paramedics fighting to save his life. What a way to go on the banks of Rutland having bagged up and in the top ten of the eliminators! I was not close to Dave but I know many of the club member are.
It was a grumpy day for Ash who couldn't bring himself to share and info ( that's if he had any ) when we caught up in the North arm but at least he and Sheamus kept their spirits up for the photo below in the weigh in Q.
I'm shattered and fishing again tomorrow!
this weekend as we all embarked on the route to try and fish for England. I practiced with Phil as I showed him around the water for his first time on a Rutland boat. It was blowing a gale and very difficult to control your flies but we managed to catch 7 between us and had 3 good spots. The fish were coming well to a Di5 with a Blob, cormorant and a sparkler. Not my usual techniques but needs must and I can pull along with anyone. It got to just before lunch and we found a few fish in Yellowstone when all of a sudden there were boats everywhere, the whole water was crawling. It appears that there was a Youth National championship on.
I had forgot what a great event these are as everyone tackles up on the boat dock awaiting John Mees to give us a briefing and then everyone milling around awaiting the klaxon to sound. There is great banter, Mark Haycock taking the piss out of my bib and braces asking if I was going course fishing! and many more.
We started next the boat, flat calm and bright sun, a complete change from yesterday, another argument not to bother! We had a take each on the Di5 but it didn't feel right so we headed off to Stockie bay where a few other Loop team members were. As we arrived fish were being caught and Brad Gifford was doing the best with 4, he had another and quite surprisingly headed off. Fortunately he finished off with 8 early in the afternoon just into the North arm.
Paul was quick to change onto the floater but it took me a few minutes to work out what I was going to do. Daiwl Bachs and buzzers I thought and changed to the midge tip. Paul was off and running on a Daiwl Bach with the first fish and then a second. We followed Ed Foster and Craig Barr into the point off Stockie Bay and I was watching Ed play a fish when I felt a tap on my line, concentrate! stop the retrieve, start again and the line tightened up and I was into my first fish, YES!! That's it I can relax into it now. We had sussed that the fish were in a very tight shoal and when we got it just right we were into fish. The number of Holographic red Diawl bachs increased on my team and more fish came. Ed and Paul were on the fast glass, again it took me a while to change but then I was keeping pace again.
Ed and Craig got themselves into the A1 position and it was flat calm they just had fish after fish and as Craig bagged up at 12.20 Ed was only 10 minutes behind him. Ed had been ahead and was catching the better fish and as he ended up winning the day and it was very well deserved.
We slotted into the spot and Paul took full advantage and I just managed to hold onto his shirt tails. It was flat calm, deathly silent apart from me banging about in the boat with my net, boat seat, fly boxes, you name it, Oh and Paul laughing and taking the piss. Yes Ok it's been a while. At 1pm Paul had 7 and surely the 8 would be a formality. Well this was where the luck changed. From now on it was going to extremely frustrating for both of us. It didn't matter what we did but he couldn't buy a take and ended the day on 7. I on the other kept loosing fish 3 or 4 maybe but they just wouldn't stick.
Last couple of hours both tearing our hair out - well me at least!! we headed off to the church. The wind was increasing so we were back out with the Di5's to release some frustration. I managed to catch a few and get myself to 7 but not without loosing more fish.
We both ended on 7 a piece but a frustrating day in boat 13 could have been so much better for both of us. I managed a creditable 27th place so it's all still to play for a Grafham next month.
It was a very sad occasion as the weigh in was delayed. Dave Hodgson complained of chest pains over the last couple of days and sadly died of a heart attack in the car park with paramedics fighting to save his life. What a way to go on the banks of Rutland having bagged up and in the top ten of the eliminators! I was not close to Dave but I know many of the club member are.
It was a grumpy day for Ash who couldn't bring himself to share and info ( that's if he had any ) when we caught up in the North arm but at least he and Sheamus kept their spirits up for the photo below in the weigh in Q.
I'm shattered and fishing again tomorrow!
Monday 4 May 2009
Phil Cross wins the MNTFA Jim Collins Trophy
Yes!! What a result!!!!!
A poor fishing weekend for me. Every time I went to look at Pitsford it has been blowing a gale. Sunday morning I did fish off the Gorse bank, Pig Stream and Stilton point and although I knew there were good bags taken on Saturday it didn't feel as though it was going to work for me. I went to look at the small half but in the end thought a walk would do me more good so walked around the small half.
I am pleased I didn't go to Grafham with the Mid Northants as it seemed like a tough day with an average of less than 2 a rod. I may have threw Phil off course as he managed to take 1st place with six fish on the trusted orange pea just outside Gaynes Cove. He pipped Barry Jones into second place who also manged to catch the biggest fish of the day, around three pound.
This is Phil's first win after narrowly being beaten at Elinor last year by Richard Slater.
Very impressive!!!!!!!!!
A poor fishing weekend for me. Every time I went to look at Pitsford it has been blowing a gale. Sunday morning I did fish off the Gorse bank, Pig Stream and Stilton point and although I knew there were good bags taken on Saturday it didn't feel as though it was going to work for me. I went to look at the small half but in the end thought a walk would do me more good so walked around the small half.
I am pleased I didn't go to Grafham with the Mid Northants as it seemed like a tough day with an average of less than 2 a rod. I may have threw Phil off course as he managed to take 1st place with six fish on the trusted orange pea just outside Gaynes Cove. He pipped Barry Jones into second place who also manged to catch the biggest fish of the day, around three pound.
This is Phil's first win after narrowly being beaten at Elinor last year by Richard Slater.
Very impressive!!!!!!!!!
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