Match 4, BAC Winter League, Boyle Canal

Boyle Canal is a one of those venues that can turn on you in a heartbeat, you will either have a nice steady day catching small Roach, you can have a day scratching for very small fish but still getting bites or you can totally blank. Today for me was a scratching day on small fish.

We all met at the large carpark adjacent to the Boyle River near the green bridge, looking at the power in the river it was a safe bet that the 1km canal stretch that leads up to the marina would be full of fish taking a break from the strong currents of the river.

The draw bag was good to me again and giving me peg 1 which is just on the bend heading into the long straight

Thats me, the red dot :-)

Boyle canal has a unique feature in that its banks are lined with chicken wire, this can claim many hooks and plummets if you are not made aware of it and spans about 3m from both near and far bank. Depths in the middle along the stretch vary between 3.5 and 4m deep give or take a bit each way and not knowing how it was going to fish means a few different rigs will needed to cover all possibilities.

Bait

• 1lt Caster
• 1lt Hemp
• 0.5lt Red Maggot
• 0.5lt Pinkie

I mixed two different groundbait mixes up for today one inert the other active.
Mix 1-Active

• 1kg Champion Choice Etang
• 1kg Champion Choice Gardons
• 0.5kg VDE Dynamic Feeder
• Coriander and Sweetener to taste....
• Black Dye

Mix 2-Inert

• 1kg VDE Damp Leam
• 2kg Top Soil
• 0.5kg Champion Choice Canal 
• Black Dye

Plan

• Feed one positive line at 10m 
• Feed one negative line at 13m to my right
• Feed one loose feed only line 13m to my left

 On the all in I cupped in 3 fairly particle rich balls of the active mix at 10m, 2 balls of the inert soil mix with a few casters, some hemp and a pinch of dead pinkie to my right and dumped a cup full (250ml) of hemp and caster to my left.
 The first line to try was the 10m line I kinda figured if it was going to be solid it wouldn't take them long to zone in on the fizzing groundbait on the bottom, no bites yet. A move over to the soil line saw my first fish fall to single pinkie under a 0.6g Sensas Eric on 0.08mm mainline, size 22 hook on 0.06mm hooklength! It turned out this was the only rig and swim I would catch on all day, the float bearly moved when a bite registered and when your swinging fish on a single 3 elastic you know there small.. 

 It was pretty simple fishing from there on in, topping up with a golf ball size ball of soil with a few offerings.when it went quiet, then while the fish settled back check the other lines for a bonus fish.

 None of the other 2 lines produced fish at all, I wasted to much time trying to make them work in the last hour as I had heard Tomaz was bagging at the other end of my section, i should have tipped away at the tiddlers and not paid any attention to what was going on around me, a valuable lesson learned! I missed out on a section win by 80g, i weighed in at 1.960kg and Tomaz 2.040kg 

Bugger... 

Match 3, BAC Winter League, Alberts Loch

Due to high water levels all over the place this weeks match pushed us onto Albert Loch Co Roscommon, it’s not a venue we like to use for league matches in general as it can be very peggy and there is always the chance of clashing with other clubs that also use the water, but the way the weather is at the moment it looks like we could be back there again for match 4….

17 of us lined up in the normal orderly fashion eager to get our lucky draw hand into the bag, my hand goes in and out came end peg 1, although its an end peg it really isn't where i fancied to be honest, its the furthest point from where the marina meets the river, it would be the shallowest peg on the match stretch and i had no boats directly across from me to act as cover.

Like a mirror

On the plus side, i have a end peg, i have a easy cast of a waggler to the far bank and the option of casting a small cage feeder to my right if things begin to get tough and im just picking off fish here and there. We had a small bit of a recci here mid week just to see if there was fish present and there was, both ends seemed to fish very well so a positive attack was to be my approach today.

Bait

• 2kg Champion Choice Etang
• 2kg Champion Choice Gardon
• 1lt Caster
• 0.5lt Red Maggot
• 0.5lt Pinkie
• 0.5lt Dead Reds

Look at the quality of the bait!

Plan

• Fish just 2 lines on the pole one at 7 sections (12m) and one at 4 sections (5m) of a Z12
• Feed 5 particle rich balls on the inside and 3 on the far line
• Catapult mini sausage shaped low particle groundbait balls onto the waggler line every now and then

Setup was pretty simple as always

•  4g Cralusso Pro-Match Waggler on 0.16mm
• 0.5g Cralusso Helena on 0.14mm (double bulked)
• 4x12 Preston Chianti on 0.12mm (strung out shot)
• 0.5g Pencil Style float on 0.12mm (tapered shot from mid depth)

Plumbing up the swim gave me about 1.5m at 7 sections, this seemed to be the deepest part of my peg, i went out to 8 sections for a look and it shallowed up buy about 15cm so i opted for the deeper part for my far line, working your back at half meter intervals will give you an idea of the contours of your peg and my 4 section line is approximately 1.2m there is no prominent shelf just a gradual gradient towards me. back onto my far line for sec, i take a look both to my right and left and it appears to be slightly shallower each side but this isn't true as such as its a different line that i'm plumbing, even though there both 7 sections out, this is because your are creating a arc when moving from your mid point.

So if you decide to fish to your left or right its easier to add on a butt section and fish inline with your main catch area and save having to either adjust your floats or have separate rigs set up on the day but today i wasn't going to fish off to the side because i was sure i could work between my front lines and keep fish coming for the 4hr duration.

Plumbing the waggler was a waste of time, i had just under 1m in depth in the bay and weed so i dont think this will come into play during the day so would be better to concentrated on a feeder line if needed, this consisted of a 3.3m Stillwater Rod, 0.08mm braid, 6m 0.24mm leader, a 20g 4 hole cage feeder to 0.12mm hooklength to a 20 serie 18 hook.

My feeder line will be towards the boat with the red strip..

Joys of a end peg

The all in was called and i cupped 5 balls on the inside and 3 on the far line. i then dropped in my lightest rig in close with double pinkie on a size 18 Drennan Carbon Match to 0.10mm Cenex line, the float dips almost straight away to a small Rudd, 14 fish come to this line fairly quick but these are small fish, not really weight builders prob 40 to the kilo jobbies, I drop onto my far line and get a similar run of the same fish, I tried maggot and caster on both lines to try and tempt some better fish but really struggled to get a bite on bigger baits, loose feeding over the top seemed to put the fish I was catching off.
 It didn't matter what rig i layed in all i could catch was dinky fish and these were now coming in dribs and drabs my only option now was to try the feeder, a few chucks and i get a small but large in comparison hybrid easily worth 7-8 of my pole caught fish, next chuck i get another! i think this could be the way forward and then out of nowhere the fella who owed the boat with the red stripe has come to clean it, inside and out and that killed my peg stone dead both pole and feeder..

He finally left with about 40 mins to go and i'm probably sitting 4th in my 5 man section with about 40 fish, all i can do to catch very small rudd is a drop in a golf ball sized ball of neat groundbait every 10 fish and i manage to put together 35 more fish in the time remaining between my 2 lines, thankfully this pulled me up to second in my section with 2.100kg and a valuable 2 points nowhere near the winning weight of 5.5kg from Dara Finnigan on the opposite end peg.

A tough 2.1kg!

Conclusion

• Alberts can be very iffy at times, there was no way 5kg in my peg probably could have pushed it for 3kg if i just fished for those small fish from the start, either way it was the same result.
• Next time i will feed a negative line out to the right incase the same thing happens again (leam and a sieved groundbait)
• I should have just stayed on my inside line for the duration and tiddler bashed.
• My elastics was too heavy, single 5's and doubled 3's, both pulled the fish splashing on the surface, something i try to avoid.

I have recently set up midweek matches on this venue which is great, it gives you the option to get to know a place and try things out and the fact you know where you will be going each week has such an appeal.

9 of us turned up for the first wednesday match and after a few tweaks to my approach i improved my catch rate a won the match after a good battle from Josh Kavanagh off the next peg.. that will be the next blog for you to read :-)

If you like the read please share on your social network sites and leave any comments below.

Thanks

Leigh

Swapping from Tumblr

I recently tried out Tumblr but didn't really like it so i copied and pasted the blogs i had published on there to here, that why the format doesn't quit look right on the blogs below..

Match 2 BAC Winter League, Lough Levally

Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions we faced during this match i didn't get to take any photo’s, i have one of those high tech phones that decides to turn itself off in damp weather! If you have read my last blog then you will have an idea of the venue, just try to imagine the mountain disappearing, rainbows, bent trees and large waves to get an idea of todays conditions.

 Upon arrival the first thing we noticed was the water levels have risen dramatically totally wiping out one of the planned sections so a quick reshuffle put 1 section on the first shore line (pegs 12-16) and 2 sections mid way up the lake(1-5, 6-11)

First to draw and out comes peg 5, an area which none of us have fished yet and a walk of about 10m to the bank which i can happily manage without fuss :-) I didn't feel the need to wade any distance today just enough to be comfortable as i wasn't going setting up a pole in that wind, just 2 tip rods and a waggler rod.

Feeder rods are from the Black Viper range 3.6m and my waggler rod is 4.2m and reels are all 640 Black Burners, feeder reels are loaded with 0.8mm sinking braid and 6m of 0.24mm leader, i had a 2oz tip for the far line to cope with the tow and a 1oz tip for in close, both with a 35g browning window feeder, 0.16mm hooklengths to size 12 B560’s

The reason for the waggler rod was that the last day i was here it worked for me when the tip line died close in, i think a moving bait (in the tow) can pick you up a few extra fish from time to time. this was coupled with a 12g Cralusso Arrow, 0.18mm mainline, size 14 serie 18 hook to 0.14mm hooklength.

 Bait

• 2kg Dutch Danger Mad Roach
• 2kg Champion Choice Gardons
• 2lt Caster
• 1lt Cooked Hemp
• 0.5lt Red Maggot

Dutch Danger Range

Plan

• Feed 8 sausages via catapult @ 20 turns at the beginning and every 10 mins while i fish out @ 60 turns. simples. if the fish come in to the inside line i could catch quicker if not then the 60 line produce anyway.

The last few times i fished this venue it had taken a minimum of 40mins to get a bite and up to an hour so i was surprised when my tip went round on the second cast, a few chucks later and i had another crisp Mayo roach, i could see Marcus Kirwan 2 pegs to my left had also had a few fish, i had about 10 fish in the net before Rory Dunne next to me came in on his shorter line of maybe 35-40 turns and started getting bites, 45mins had passed at this stage and i had continually fed at 20 turns so i thought now would be a good time to drop in and have a look.

It did take a few minutes before i started catching on this line but fishing in closer than others has its benefits especially when you have someone as quick as Rory catching next to you at a greater distance, it kinda levels the playing field a bit.

The fishing was fairly steady, not exactly bagging but steady, you would go through periods of catching fast and catching slow so it balanced out so to speak but when the fish average 6-7 to the kilo you can’t complain :-)

75 fish later and the all out is called, Rory next to me has 85 fish, i put myself on about 10kg and Rory reckoned his fish was smaller maybe 10 to the kilo, as always i didn't believe him so i had him on about 12kg and i wasn't far wrong..

First weigh was Martin Keating on peg 1 with 5.920kg mostly caught on the pole, peg 2 was Robert Urbanski 2.820kg. Marcus snuck out a sneaky 10.440kg for 65 fish which made me think i'm going to get another 3 points, i think Rorys bum twitched a little too to be honest , but not for long as his 85 fish gave him 11.940kg, next up was my turn and last in section A, a quick look into the keepnet and i have a good weight and thankfully the scales tipped in my favour taking the section by a whopping 100g extra, 12.040kg! that gave me 1 section point and €1 off Rory !! :-) Result.

12kg Section Win

More pictures can be found on the Ballyhaunis FB Page here 

A few calls down the bank and Ollie Doyle had won C section with 10.620kg, Larry Parkes cleaned up in B section with a match winning 12.280kg. Some impressive weights off a new venue and a venue we will be visiting again soon……

Conclusion

I beat Rory off the next peg, enough said!

In reality there is always something more you could have done to put more fish in the net and if i ever figure that part out i’ll let you know… 

Match 3 could be anywhere at the minute,  with water levels rising it will be  a last minute call from Shane, hopefully Derryhick lake in Mayo, another gem of a water… 

Finding New Waters, a Hidden Gem

This week i found myself on a absolute gem of lake just outside Pontoon in the heart of County Mayo. Lough Levally

 Mayo would be more known for its top quality wild Salmon, Trout and Pike fishing rather than a mecca for silverfish, Levally in particular is a lake IFI use for restocking Pike from the likes of Cullen and Cong possibly because there is a massive abundance of Roach for them to feed on, who knows..

 I’ve always heard rumours of large Roach shoals in the Moy system, the spawning Bream being seen travelling under the bridge at the hotel, but you never really take much heed until you experience it yourself, and there was always that joke going around that we should put a match up there some day, so we did.

6 of us went up to test it out in the hope that if it fished any way reasonable we could hold one of our winter league matches up there. As it is a completely new venue pegging it out was pretty random, we don’t no depths, snags or flyers so we found a spot near the middle of the shore line and paced out 20m between anglers,

The shore line and bottom of the lake is very solid so wading out isn’t a problem and to get a bit of depth on the pole you do have to wade. On the peg i drew there seems to be a definite drop off at 13m to maybe 3m with a count of 8 at 35turns and a count of 10 at 70 turns (Browning Black Magic Burner 640) Shane next to me had shallower on the pole line but found a 14 count at about 58 turns (Daiwa TDR 4012) and lads further down had 4-6 counts wherever they was casting and about 1m at 11m on the pole (which Martin caught in the day before).so we have a fairly uneven bottom in the middle of the lake.

It was like a summers day, no wind, bright sunshine and gin clear water so fishing was tough to start but once we got a small breeze the Roach started to feed on the far line and you couldn’t catch them quick enough, hanging themselves would be a better term and better suited.

I’m not going into the schematics of the match this time as this isn’t a match report and wouldn’t want to bore your, we have our next winter league on there Sunday 19th October with 16 anglers booked in so will go into more detail the next time.

One thing i will mention is this was my first day out using my newly purchased Black Viper MK12 i’m really impressed so far, plenty of power for reaching your desired distance, as well as being soft enough for cranking in fish and fishing close in and still light to handle. more to follow once its been abused for a bit longer.

 You have to see this venue for yourself to really appreciate it, 1.5km of perfect shoreline, parking all the way along with very little walking, (if any) great scenery and stuffed with Roach averaging 7 to the kilo, with a added bonus Healy’s Restaurant and Pub very close by and another just around the corner….some might say a perfect location for a 2-3 day competition.

Watch this space…… lol

O'Briens Bridge-Interpro's

This year saw Munster host the annual Interprovincials on the River Shannon in O’Briens Bridge, Co Clare. Ulster didn’t field a team this year for one reason or another but in reality it was probably due to the fear of the Connaught team.

The draw took place in the car park of the rowing course with 2 sections up on the dam (pegs 1-6) and the remaining 8 on the rowing course (pegs 7-30) each mini section was one man from each province (3) so all you had to do was beat two fella’s for your section win and a point. 

Word had it that the dam section wasn’t the place you wanted to be as it hadn’t fished well during the previous weeks, so after a chat it was decided that Gary and Ollie Doyle were venue experts as they had fished it once a few years back, i put myself forward for end peg 7 which was the up stream peg and the nearest to where we was parked. This turned out to be a wise move on my part as the last section was so far away i think the time zones changed……

Peg 7 turned out to be even nearer than i thought so i had all my gear carried down in a matter of minutes while the others trundled off fully loaded or pushing trolleys, i did start to feel a little guilty, but this soon passed and a was setting up my platform just at the edge of the river parallel to the bank, on goes the box and once everything is level the keep net, feeder arm and side trays all go on followed by my roost kit. i’ve got into the habit of doing this in this order every time i go out, it might seem a trivial thing to do but after a while it becomes second nature and you can set it up in minutes, next i sort out my bait, 2 pints of caster, 1 pint of red maggots, 1/2 pint of pinkie and 2 pints of hemp, i have 2.5kg of worm left over from the World Pairs so i take a good handful out and fill a 2 pint tub incase i need to chop a few.

Word up the bank was no fish were caught on the feeder all week by the Leinster lads and that 4kg would be a very good weight and hard got on the pole line. A quick chuck around with a  28g bomb found me a nice count of ten at 35 turns 9 at 30 and 9 at 40 (on a Black Magic Burner 640 reel, 99cm retrieval) so decided to fish the one line in the deeper part of the river.

Plumbing up the pole revealed top 6 at 13m and top 5 at 11m, i decided on the 11m line as its a bit of a better depth for catching small fish quicker, i also set up a 5m whip incase it was solid and i could get them in close.

Floats were simple, a 1g Cralusso Alan on 0.14mm Browning Hybrid line to a 18 serie 2 hook on a 15cm 0.12mm Cenex Hooklength. this rig consisted of an olivete and 3 No10 droppers spread out for a slower rate of fall. This was coupled with a double 3 solid elastic.

The next rig was a 2g Cralusso Alan on 0.16mm mainline with a 16 Serie 2 hook on 0.14mm hooklength, an olivette and 2 No8 droppers at 15cm intervals to a doubled 5 solid elastic

My groundbait mix for both my feeder line and pole line was a mix of Champions Choice Grand Slam, Champions Choice Gardons and Dutch Dangler Mad Roach all made by Browning and some brown crumb to bulk it out, i

On the whistle i cupped 6 balls in at 11m, 2 down the middle and 4 in a circle roughly 50cm from the center to spread it out a bit, mixed in was a handful of hemp and 1/2 a handful of casters to hopefully kick the swim off.

A look to the right, 2 pegs down saw Munster angler Martin Keating catching a few fish 6m to hand while i was still cupping in balls, i was tempted to follow suit but decided to get 10 good feeder fulls of food out at 35 turns, 10 chucks later with a baited hook and still not a bite, Martin was on 9 fish to my none, i dropped in on the pole and had 2 run throughs, no bites..Sean Brereton on peg 8 also still had no fish. the next chuck on the feeder i decided to put in a good pinch of finely chopped worm and then my first bite, then another and another all on double maggot, i then tried 3 maggots on the hook and got a few bigger fish, if the bite didn’t come within 20 seconds of the feeder hitting the bottom you wasn’t getting a touch, the fish wasn’t coming one a chuck but i had to keep casting in and out to get bites, a quick shout down to Martin and he was only on 12, i was on 10, Sean was on 2. A few hours passed and i was up to 40 and Martin was still on 12, and Sean on 5. 

I then decided to cup in 2 worm rich balls on the pole to see if i could maybe get a few fish with a hour to go, a few more chucks on the feeder gave me 4 more fish and a bit of time for the pole swim to come alive (i hope) on the second run through i had a nice Roach and they came steadily for about 30 min giving me an extra 18 fish by the final whistle.

A total of 62 fish for 7kg was a very welcome victory and top weight out on the whole rowing course section. out of the 8 sections on this stretch Connaught won 7 giving us a clear lead going into day 2…

Day 2

Everything was the same setup for day 2, nothing to change not even the depths of the rigs which was a result, the only thing thing i did different today was start on my inside line after seeing Martin catch early on yesterday, this turned out to be invaluable as i had 28 fish in as many minutes for over 2kg and that was pretty much it for the day, after 5 hrs of torture i had 32 fish for 2.3kg , the leinster lad had gone home and the munster fella only had 2 fish so another clear point in the bag and a very well earned victory for Connaught :-)

Next year we host the event so fingers crossed the cup stays in the west :-)

Lough Scurr, Match 1 of Winter League

The anticipation of the winter league is always exciting, getting your gear ready, from cleaning it, retying rigs, filling your hook boxes to digging out the winter clothing always creates a bit of a buzz. Picking venues is always tough and thankfully Shane Dunne has taken over as Match Secretary so nothing falls one this year, it’s a thankless job and is the toughest position in any club but we all still try and put our influences in for venue selection, this time all of us bar Shane wanted Scurr as recent results on the run up had been really good, hard to ignore to be honest, weather had been settled and warm so it was a easy decision….. then it rained, frosts appear and the winds picked up, winter weather! something not noted for catching fish in shallow waters.

I drew peg 10 out of the bag which I was happy with, 1-6 was section A on the Rocks so I was the 3rd peg in from the first set of steps on the Pump House. B section.

During the time it took to bring my gear down i had noticed a lot of fish activity from the shore line outwards so was thinking this could be a good day, i decided there and then that i would attack the pole line fairly positively and ease into the feeder line depending on bites.

Bait

• 1kg Champions Choice Gardons
• 1kg Champions Choice Grand Slam
• 1kg Champions Choice Etang
• 1kg Brown Crumb
• 1kg Worm
• 1lt Casters
• 1lt Hemp
• 0.25lt Pinkie
• 0.5lt Red Maggots

 The Plan

Ball in at 6m and 13m with food rich balls consisting of casters, hemp and dead maggots. To leave these lines for at least 40mins to let a few fish settle with a view to pull them onto the 6m line.

Have a feeder line at 25 and 60m depending on bites. To feed chopped worm on the 25 line as it was deeper than the 60 with a hope of a few skimmers.

On plumbing up i had a reasonable depth of around 2m @ 13m and a very shallow 1m @ 6m, on a 28g bomb i had a count of 5 @ 25m and a count of 3 @ 60. (scurr is at the lowest levels i have ever seen it)

Rigs were simple,

•  4x14 Preston Chianti on 0.14mm mainline with a spread out shot just off the bottom to a size 16 hook on 0.12mm
•  0.5g Cralusso Helena on 0.14mm with a bulk and 2 droppers set at dead depth to a size 16 hook on 0.12mm
•  4x12 Preston Chianti on 0.12mm line set just off the bottom on the 6m line with a 18 hook to 0.10mm, this will act as a half depth rig at 13m too if needed. All tied on Hybrid main lines and Cenex hook length line, 

On the all in 6 balls went on both lines then out with a 30g 5 hole cage feeder at 25m, i had 5 quick chucks to get a small bit of bait down then did the same at 60m, the only difference is i didn’t put and chopped worm out on the far line, the rods i was using was the 3.6m Browning Black Viper with a Black Magic Burner 640 reel for the far line, and a 3.4m Drennan Stillwater for close in with the same reel.

40 mins had passed and not a touch on either feeder line, i alternated between them both, switching baits, dragging the bait, casting short casting long but nothing seemed to produce a bite, this seemed to be standard along the bank as no one was catching really, but to be honest it didn’t really matter what was happening to my  far right as its points were fishing for and my section included pegs 7-11. i had noticed Tomaz on peg 7 was catching some real tiny Roach on the pole but i was determined to leave it another 20 mins before droppin in for a look.

The first hour passed and i was bite less so i now decided it was time to drop in on the pole line and see what was happening, in goes the bulk rig with a single red maggot, no bite. what i did notice that i hadn’t before was Scurr was really really towing from left to right, whether it was the cross wind or they had opened the gates on Lough Allen (might explain the water levels) either way it was proper pulling , i knew in the back of my mind that my rigs were too light now for the conditions in front of me but i did nothing about it, i should have got off my box and set up a heavier rig for better presentation (hindsight is a great thing) buit i didn’t. i came into my last line of attack, the 6m line, shipped out and lowered in a single maggot and the float kept going and i was into my first fish, a Perch about 100g, next put in and my doubled 4’s elastic was stretched and i was into a decent fish but pulled out! i had a few small 20-40g Roach on this line afterwards but no weight builders so went back out to 25m for a look, Robert Howgate had popped down to say hello so i was chatting to him when by tip went round in a nice smooth arc and i was into a decent skimmer of about 600g and just as i was ‘skimming’ it to the net another hook pull !! so i’ve just lost 1kg+ of fish in a matter of minutes!! i have to blame Robert for this :-) after this nothing was happening. all i could do was fish for those Roach in the 20-40g bracket to just build a bit of a weight and keep busy, with 20 mins to go i estimated myself to be on about 800g and 4th in my section, i chucked a bomb out on 25 with 2 dead reds on to see if i could get a bonus fish and i did, a skimmer of about 150g followed by another, a Roach of about 100gs and a Perch around the same weight, i was on fish! next thing….. ALL OUT! Bugger!

Fishing the bomb did push me up a position finishing on 1.3kg for 3rd in my section, 2nd was Tomaz with 1.9kg and Gary won with 65 fish for 2.1kg..

Conclusion

I basicly fished a summer match in a winter league

i should have cupped in less rather than ball in what i did

I think i was trying to make the pole line work rather than concentrate on fishing the tip properly with cost me.

My rigs were too light from the off

i think i split up the few fish that was there feeding 2 swims on the pole

Could i have done better ? most definitely