Cloonahee Slider pt 2

Cloonahee Lake

Sunday was a total washout with very high and cold winds coming from left to right making it virtually impossible to fish the slider with any sort of comfort. Callyn had changed a worrying colour so we called it off and was home for dinner!

Tuesday on the other hand was a bit better, the winds were still high and cold but it had eased enough to fish a slider at 35 turns, i opted for a 16g Zero Slider to give me the weight to punch out through the wind with accuracy, the bulk was set approximately 1m from the hook and 40cm off the bottom, the micro swivel and 2 number 8's spread evenly laid on the bottom seemed to be enough to slow the rig down.

As i was the only one on the venue i chose to feed a pole line at 13m in the hope the fish will return to the area, too much bank disturbance will send the fish away for a while until you have settled and remained on your box.
 You can guarantee if you have a keep net with a few Roach in a Pike will pay you a visit at some stage so I had a Pike rod on hand for a additional bit of sport.

My super cool diagram!

Initial feeding comprised of 6 balls laced with Squatts fed in a small cross formation, 1 at each point and 2 down the middle, this forms a 'grazing' area and can be easier to pick off Roach from the edges when they are still a little cautious. From previous experience i wasn't expecting any bite here for at least an hour, and as it was a planned day for the slider i will be hoping not to use this line at all...

Groundbait for the slider was the same mix, 50/50 Secret and Blackmagic, laced with squatt with the addition of a small amount of caster and hemp, 12 sausage balls went in straight away in the hope that any fish that turn up will stay around.

 It took 40 mins before i got my first bite on the slider, during this time i loose fed the pole line with hemp only and tried it 3 times but still nothing there, i continued to catch on the slider and a fairly steady rate with some nice fish coming to the net.

4th Roach

After about 40 mins of catching it started to slow up so i fired out 5 more nuggets and came in on the pole line, at this time of year it is best to feed what ever line you are on and move to another for a while, for some reason they do not like it on there heads on this venue when its cold and will back off for a bit.
It took a few minutes before i had a bite then they came steady while the slider line rested. I noticed my keep net twitching so knew i had a visitor at my feet. it took less than 10 seconds after the Pike float hit the water for it to sail away....

I cupped in a particle rich ball back over the pole line and then continued to fish the slider till lunch time catching continuously and nipping a few fish from the pole when i fed the slider, the weather got up and it was too cold by 2pm so called it a day, 4 hrs fishing and 3 hrs catching in high winds and low temps produced just over 4kg at a guess..

A 4kg guess

I'm looking forward to a day where i can sit on the pole line and not freeze my arse off and have to lean into it to hold it still :-)

Slider Fishing - Cloonahee pt1

Part 1 Preperation

The first part of this has been pre-written in front of the fire on the Saturday evening as it is fkin baltic out there ! Sunday isn't promised much better with a high easterly wind  27-48 kph giving a air temp of 2° and a wind chill of -5°, the barometer is currently reading 1008.1hpa and 98% cloud cover for the day...
With the above information in mind it was probably not my best choice of method for the day but nether the less i will give it a go and see how we get on.
Callyn (my son) will be fishing besides me on the feeder on the same line so at least we will have an idea if the fish will prefer a stationary bait rather than one on the move that the slider will create.
My choice of  float for the day is a 14g Cralusso Zero Slider, these floats have no weight loading in the float at all giving me the option to fish the full 14g down the line, 13g of this will be in form of 2 Cralusso Globular weights, 8g and a 5g on a 12cm rigid tube. (Hungarian tube method) with solder wire wrapped around for fine tuning.

This is virtually a tangle free way of fishing the slider and was shown to me by Irish International Rory Dunne (the shorter one)  The float sits on the bulk on the cast forcing the lower part of your rig away from your float. Simples!
Since using this i have fished the slider a lot more due to it simplicity. To set up using this method couldn't be easier, slide on you float, (not forgetting your stop knot) slide on you ready made bulk rig, either trap it in place with a small length of carbon from an old float or use 2 float stops for it to sit on, both of these ways you can adjust where you want your bulk, tie on a micro swivel to your main line (0.22mm) for your hook length (0.14mm) and to prevent line twist, around 1m from your bulk is a good starting point, place your required droppers in between bulk and swivel, if you need heavier droppers you can remove some or all of your solder wire. I'm guessing tomorrow i will have the main bulk very close to the bottom and will be dragging heavy i shot on the bottom to slow my rig down.
I have been toying with the Italian Chinook floats where 75% of the weight is in the float, using a different anti tangle method and less bulk down the line, i will go into this at another date.

Bait for the day
My Groundbait mix is 50/50 VDE Secret and Browning Black Magic.
1/2 Pint of Red Maggots
2 Pint of Red Squatt
1 Pint of Caster
1 Pint of Hemp.

Part 2 to follow...........

Starting Again..

Well here i am again willing to give this another try, it might be a bit easier this time as i can do it through my phone from the banks with pictures rather than fighting the missus or kids for a computer or laptop.

Just a little bit about myself to use as reference,

I am involved by way of Match Secretary and Treasurer in the Ballyhaunis Angling Club (BAC) over the now 3 years we have been established, i have come to accept that you cannot please everyone, and members come and go, politics caused a split in the club for 2013 and some of the members we lost will be missed and the new ones are welcomed.

Luckily for me i am Sponsored by Browning Fishing  this is a great help and keeps the costs down which is a major factor these days as fuel is a killer! Most of the matches i fish or organize are a minimum of 1 hour each way as i live in Mayo and there just isn't the venues to accommodate, or draw any number of anglers. If i had my way i would live in Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim. an anglers gem!

Its now coming to the end of March and fishing hasn't really been any good, the winter saw most places flooded and now the levels are good its so cold that the fish do not know whats going on. I finished a disappointing 3rd in the Ballyhaunis Winter League, and to be honest it wasn't my most enjoyable league i had ever fished, i made a few errors and it did cost me dearly but it could have gone either way so we will leave it there..

The most notable match so far this year was a team event run by Derek Gibbons on Lough Muckno, BAC put in 2 teams of 4 Team 1 consisted of Rory Dunne, Shane Dunne, Gary Doyle and Myself. Team 2 was Larry Parks, Marcus Kirwan, Ollie Doyle and Paul McGrievy. Team 1 fininshed 5th over all out of 16 which we was all pleased with, a better draw for Shane could have put us easily in the top 3 as there was only a few kg in the difference, or if i had caught a few more :-)

I have been sponsored by Browning for just over a year now so 90% of my equipment is now Browning, it takes a while to swap everything but i am really pleased with everything so far, my eldest son Callyn is even more pleased as he has all my old gear at what he thinks is no cost ;-).
My Tackle;
Poles
16m Z12 Pole
11m Black Magic Slimstar (2013)
11m Black Magic Unlimited
8m Daiwa Tourney Whip

Feeder Rods
2 x 3.6m Champion Choice Super Feeder SW
3 x 3.6m Maver Powerlites
1 x 3.9m Distance Force Feeder

Float Rods (To be replaced this yr)
2 x 4.2m Drennan Match Pro
1 x 3.6m Drennan Puddle Chucker
1 x 3.9m Daiwa Spectron Competition M2
1 x 6.0m Tubertini Concept PF Bolgnese

Reels
2 x Backfire FD
1 x Black Magic 650FD
3 x Daiwa TDR
2 x Daiwa TDM
1 x Shimano Stradic

All my Luggage is the Xitan range and it's defiantly the best made luggage i have ever used, its made for Oxford Cotton and the quality is second to none, the nets, side trays, brollies and clothing are all the same.

Anyway over the next year i will include as many photo's as i can of all the products i use so you can ask any questions, one thing i have really taken a shine to over the last 6 months is the Champions Choice Groundbaits, Dyes and Additives....