A great day honing the fighting skills. Superb sport! Three over 10LB, beast 16LB .

In my opinion, this is just as challenging as fly fishing for game fish.. I really respect the canniness and speed of these carp.

Anyone who says that I am not using traditional flies and therefore it is not proper fly fishing should take note: I have watched these fish taking leaves, flies, feathers etc, so the bogbrush is not so out of place.

 

The point is with carp is that they are very cautious and taste things before they decide to eat. I hook about 1 in 8 takes and I reckon I am reasonably quick!

 

I am beginning to enjoy this too much.

So cheap to do: Shakey #7 Caimore reel, Mullarkey mill end, plus backing, some nylon and a bog brush! ( the rod, a discontinued Odyssey, Brilliant rod!!!!)

 

Total cost: £60

 

That's the cost of two visits to some 'trout lakes'! 

 

And the fish we catch are wild!

more carp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_PmrV26A2M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQRXYHG-AcM

boring if you don't like carp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2y1DjfTTEo

Worth a look

Fishing has been great!

Just an update!
Done some fly fishing, done some 'pellet waggler'!

Bone (Steptoe) had a nice Brown out of Blithfield

 

I had over 100lb of carp plus the odd barbel on my first go on the 'pellet waggler', the crudest form of fishing I have ever done but thoroughly enjoyable!

 

Please note the careful choice of camo. Stealth is so important on a commercial fishery

 

And a nice carp on the fly

Also had a couple of excellent days up Wolfscote on the Mayfly!!! No pics same as last year!

 

 

Smoking fish

 

This is about hot smoking with a  fladen model.

As  they come with no instructions, I thought I would do the  following...
Take some trout, caught by fellow Tamer : Jon. Yes, I blanked today but Jon caught when no one else did. Was pretty good angling.

 

 

 First fillet the trout,  I watched a couple of you tube vids. I'll get there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put some wood shavings in  some foil and stab

 

 

 

 

 

Put some meths in

 

 

 

Line the drip pan

 

 

 

Load the fish Put the lid on an wait until the burners are finished.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

This is delicious!!!

 

 

Just a diary insert really.
Had some good days on Blithfield but two treasured days on The Dove at Wolfscote.
Mayfly has been brilliant once again. Where do these fish hide during the rest of the year? Had them competing for my fly and chasing my fly when bounced along the surface. Manic! Bottom of the river coming up. I reckon it is the nymphs loosening it.

Happy and Sad.

 

I have not posted for a while. Well I have not had chance to fish with my great mates until recently.

The weather has been terrible. We have had three outings; all on Blithfield.

Although we did not fail to catch on our first two visits, I have to say the cold conditions did defeat us. We did not stay as long as we would have. Leaking waders did not help and I felt the pain of being really cold.

The third visit last week is filled with mixed emotion.

 

Sunday 07/04/13

Steve Parton RIP.

 

When I heard  the news I was terribly saddened. I used to visit him regularly at his unit in Long Eaton.

He helped me so much in the few years I knew him. From the off he made it clear that I either listen or bugger off. He did not suffer fools. So listen I did.

He made me 4 fine rods.

He sold me lots of super fly tying stuff at prices that I knew were well below what he normally sold them.

He'd make me a cup of tea, play the gob iron while sitting at his PC in only his boxer shorts and shirt.

His floor was his ash tray.

How this place never went up in smoke (quickly) is a mystery!

We had interesting chats about all sorts of things. As I progressed to being more interested in river fishing, the more we chatted even though  his heart was on the reservoirs. There was always something we chatted about and we put the world to rights on several occassions.
I can always remember his views on the sad demise of British manufacturing and if you use crap Chinese hooks you deserve what you get.

 He always asked with genuine interest to what I was going to do with the materials he sold to me.
He rang me a few times with offers of prototype rods, and no, he didn't 'see me coming' as £14 for a test rod ain't bad is it?
I know many folk never got on with him and indeed, I can understand why. But we just hit it off. I feel he felt sort of sorry for me, having no previous knowledge but because I listened and showed a bit of respect to an obvious expert in his field, he accepted me. I will miss him.

DAY THREE BLITHFIELD

So after the bad news, The Tamers decided to have another day on Blithfield.
10/04/13
Bone, Jon and me.
Well they were not on buzzers even though it was warmer. Two fish in total off the bank in flat calm conditions in two hours. Not good for The Tamers.
I had a coffee and watched a bloke having some success on a lure. But what lure?
Stuff it! Out of respect? Or because his death was on my mind? I found an outragous orange lure that I had tied a couple of years ago from a pattern out of Steve Parton's book.
The fish were suicidal.
I had five in 30 minutes. Then take after take with no hook ups in the next 30 minutes. I checked my lure... No hook!
Cheap Chinese hook? I don't know.
I only had one of the orange ones so  tied on something else. I had a few more but nothing like the action with the broken fly.
Maybe Steve was laughing!

I have since tied many more of the simple orange fly that did the damage. I have used a quality hook.

Thanks Steve Parton

 

My prints are dry. Got to go to Three Shires again soon.
For anyone interested:
Mamiya 645 with 55mm lens
Delta 400 (far too fast but that's all I had) Next time Pan F. The bridge and stream picture was taken at...
1 sec at f22 and I had to accept over exposure by about 3 stops (no ND filter available so had to sort it out in the darkroom).
D76 for the film, uni dev for the out of date Ilford multigrade (15 year old paper) off ebay.
Printed at a grade 3 adjustment on a Durst variohead.
Roganor 80mm f4.
Unfortunately, scanning to digital loses so much. Having said that, who could have ever imagined, only a few years ago, that one could actually do this and share?

Rather cold this morning. Even so, I decided to venture out and up the hills to the junction of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire to try and capture the beauty of Three Shires Head. (could be Three Shire Heads).
I took both my DSLR and medium format film cameras.
Not many folk around and a howling wind to contend with but I managed some nice photos.
Here are a couple of digital pics; I am just waiting for my black and white prints to dry.
The River Dane looking splended.

 

 

All working well in the 'darkroom'. The kit I've bought is superb!

It has brought it all back to me. So many happy memories. Mixing D76, loading film on spirals, safelights, fumbling in the dark etc. But hey...the quality of the results!

I have spent virtually nothing on the darkroom, having scoured ebay for job lots and selling the surplus on. A lot of work but believe me, well worth the time and effort.

I was in the photographic trade for many years and this is a set up I could never had afforded in the past. I have even splashed out on a battered Mamiya 645 which must be over 30 years old but works perfectly on an equally old Manfrotto tripod. Add the Metz CT1 that came with it with old nicads that take an age to charge (but I have only 15 shots a roll) it is truly 'happy days'. 

Yes, film is expensive; so too is the paper and chemicals but it is teaching me to be more selective and careful. My first few results have gained me many compliments and raised eybrows.

 

 

I will put some examples on the blog soon, even if they have to be scanned and converted to digital!

Back to the basics

Getting there!
My daughter wants to know what it was like to make proper photographs!
This should do it!


All old tech. My daughter's 'new' darkroom. (XMAS PRESENT)
Ta Glen Pointon for the 6x6. I have added an OM 1 which I got cheap and replaced the seals with closed cell foam.

 

 

Superb Durst Mod 70 enlarger with top lenses, picking up the rest off ebay next week. Happy days to come!!!!

Bullhead!

 

Bullhead. Not Bonehead!

Half term!

I might have to update this tomorrow, but I have had a great couple of days with good friends.

Yesterday we nipped off down to a local river to try to find some difficult bug.gers.

 

I knew where they lived ( 20 minutes from where I live) and Bone managed a good one. Unfortunately I caught another out of season trout which was rather large! Out of season so no photo!

 

Today we were mostly going a piking. 

Different fish...same bloody leaf!

out of season trout

This afternoon, me and Bone nipped down to one of our club venues to trot a river for grayling. We are allowed to do so at this time of the year. In  a short session, I had over 30 trout and grayling from the same peg. The fish, some large, were ravenous and in tip top condition. It is the close season for trout but they are an unavoidable capture.
It is recommended  that you should move pegs if catching trout. I didn't as it would not have mattered. (Bone proved it, catching trout from several areas).
It was suprising to see how many fish there were in such a short run, and there is no way I caught them all!
Things are looking good on this river!
No Pictures sorry!
 

Batman

Ok, so it's blurred but I was determined to get a shot of one of the bats that fly around my back garden. Taken a few weeks ago. I guessed the distance, put my camera on manual focus and shot away in the darkness at barely visible silhouettes.

Anyone know the species? Bet RR does!

PIKE!

We went a piking.

We went with an expert (Phil) to a small lake not 4 miles from where we live. We went with Phil, 'cos we had no idea of how to unhook them. I've put my fingers into some strange things in the past; but sorry, unhooking a pike was something I was seriously worried about.!
Cheers to Phil for making it look so easy. Bone and me unhooked our pike and they went on their way, without damage. Good instructions, unhooking mat, barbless hooks, and some seriously long pliers.

 

A tiddler

 

 

 

Bone has a bigger one than me

 

 

Bone went the next day and caught the SAME fish. Shows how well we looked after them.

The point of this latest post is: Don't go fishing for pike if you are not confident or do not know how to unhook them. They are beautiful fish, give a good account of themselves and deserve the same care as you would with any fish you are releasing.

More carp 'on the fly'

I don't want this to become the most boring blog  ever by showing more pictures of carp caught off the top  but I think it would be a good idea to share some interesting observations. Some would say 'secrets' but that word has no place in my philosophy as for fishing techniques.
 Lots of folk put a great deal of effort into trying out new methods or even honing older ideas, adapting them to modern advances in tackle and our ever changing venues. Some decide to keep it secret but I think it is good to share techniques that you have had good success with.

 

 

My carp floater box. Some are better than others.

 

Wine cork with the hook at the correct angle ( i think )

 

This one was 12lb 11oz

 

 

There are some fellow bloggers who must agree with me like Glen Pointon, RR (dryfly expert) and Mick Martin(Derbyshire on the fly) who all share their experiences in incredible detail.

I have been on a mission.
Carp on the fly is not new by any  means. But it can be the best fun ever if you do it right.
So here we go. My secrets for anyone interested.....
My previous posts show how much I had to learn. I was even tempted to remove them, but no it is progression.

First of all we found that cork had to be the the correct shape and size. Sounds obvious but it is a silhouette the carp see, not colour or even smell.
Just glueing the cork to the hook was not good enough. We missed so many 'takes' you would not believe.
We have now got close to perfect. I t is all down to the angle you glue the hook.
Looks obvious now but it took some working out.

Last weekend I set up the fly rod ( bought some excellent three piece #8 Shakespeare three piece jobbies for £20) and shared them with my mates.
We visited a lake advertised in the Angling Times. Everyone fishing on the bottom. Carp on the top. Bone had two on bread, I had 3 on cork. No one else caught. Enough said!

My turn

Here are my results from today's venture.

A lovely mirror with a strange glow!

This one gave me a right run around!

 A pig of a fish

Mick broke his rod yesterday playing one of these brutes. I have to say I was more than a little worried when this one decided it was not giving up. My rod was locked solid several times.

I use an 8 weight Airflo 40 plus with a floating cheapo line, 9ft 2x tapered leader, cut back to about 6 ft ( i reckon it's about 15lb at this point) and 5 ft of 10lb flouro. Cork shaped from last night's wine epoxied to a #12 extra strong Kamasan buzzer hook.

We are really pi..ing off the regular anglers who sit all day with their Strawberry boilies sitting on the bottom, alarms, trollies, wheel barrows etc while the carp are feeding on the top! We turn up for a couple of hours and have some great sport with free 'bait' and a bag of el cheapo dog biscuits. Cost: £1 for at least 4 sessions!

Happy Days

Bone's back on fire

Ok, it's been a long time since I blogged but lots of personal probs for all of us and I'm sure Mick (Bone) won't mind me mentioning the sad passing away of his lovely wife, Angela, a couple of weeks ago.
As you can imagine, since our super mayfly days on the Dove we have not really been in a position to do much. And when there was a window of opportunity, we were often defeated by the weather.

My new bivvy. Impossible to see.

This is how the fish see me. I would imagine

But we have been busy in other ways: A 24 hour fishing match for Douglas McMillan cancer charity with 15 of our good friends, some days struggling on trout lakes and an all nighter on a lake trying for some elusive large carp.

We failed with the elusive large carp but have recently got it sorted with some nice carp on fly tackle at a lake less than 5 minutes from where we live!

It all started after I put a 'bog brush' thing on a fly rod in the 24 hour match. I promptly hooked and lost a large carp.
The next week, Bone and me had another go, throwing out dog biscuits and putting our deer hair balls amongst them. Lots of takes but no hook ups.

So we got our heads together. It would be so easy to glue a hook to a dog biscuit but we didn't want to do that so we got some wine corks and I cut them, shaped them and balanced them with hidden shot so that a nice size 10 Viper circle hook would sit on the top.

Well that did it. On Thursday, I nipped down for an hour and had four!
Today we had an even improved version! I lost a fish of about 15lb after playing it out and waiting for Bone to net it. In fairness to Bone, it was my fault because: 1, I had forgot my net and 2, I had to wait while he landed his!

Bone with a well deserved carp on the fly rod.

We had a great couple of hours.

Fair weather fishermen?

It really is about 'fair weather fishermen' but please stick with me, this is all relevent!

Our club has over 600 members, some of the best fishing in the midlands. Ok it is not cheap but for £235 you get so many venues you are spoiled for choice. The club is well run, you get a mix of top class trout streams, stocked lakes and lot's of prime coarse fishing spots.
We have rods on various reserviors. Blithfield is the one we go to; only because it is close to us.
Some folk reckon the club is expensive. Yes it is if you don't bother to fish!
I have made some mistakes in the past by joining a 'one water' club. The problem with this is that distance might be a problem. You feel pressurised into going to get your money's worth, your mates might not be members and you end up not bothering to go as much as you should to justify the cost.
This is what happened to me. Some folk like to fish on their own, which is fair enough. I do sometimes but I do like the banter with friends.

So, I'd like to give you a breakdown of the economics of joining our club so far this season:

Blithfield:
9 great visits to Blithfield. That would have cost £22 a throw. I make that £198 and plenty of eating for friends and family.
The Manifold:
A lovely river. One visit this year. Can't put a price on a freestone river.
The river Dove, Wolfscote:
Almost two miles of superb fishing and scenery in the peak district. Ths is the beat next to Charles Cotton and Issac Walton's. Now if you want to fish the Cotton/ Walton beat it will cost you dear. I think you have to book an overnight stay, be royalty, know someone or something. Out of my league; yet our stretch is better!
I can't put a price on this but you can't possibly fish nearly two miles of pristine limestone stream, brimming with wild trout and grayling for less than £40 per day, can you? Unless poaching!
I have visited this stretch five times so far since March, the start of club membership.I have had some amazing days!  Again, there are other beats of the Dove we can fish but I am only mentioning the places I have fished so far in this club year.

Therfore I reckon I have had easily had my money's worth and it is only Mid June!

OK..Fair weather fishermen?...TODAY!

Today's weather forcast was bad: Heavy showers. I checked the EA website and it looked like the Dove was fining down after Thursday's rainfall. It is the tail end of the Mayfly. Worth a try!

Bone and me decided to give it a go. We set off rather late as Mick had to work. He had left home at 5.00am to finish a job at Telford; a 80 mile round trip! That is dedication to fishing...He managed to pick me up at 11.00. As we drove we talked about an alternative venue, should the maximum rods be on the river.
Arriving at noon we were amazed that the car park was empty!
Saturday 16th June, and mayfly season! Happy days...

The river was a bit high but far from unfishable. Where were the other members? Fair weather fishermen?

We had the river to ourselves and caught...

Lots like these...

 

Some little greedy ones...'

All on these roughly tied jobbies. Yes, the tail is too long... and yes, Mayflies are not that colour  but I like it and so do the trout and I don't have an expensive Pantone pen selection.  I put some green spots on the body and wings with a green permanent marker from the pound shop. To be honest I don't think it was necessary as I think it is more about the profile.  I had a few refusals but I put that down to the leader floating now and again.  Oh and this is not a freshly tied fly. It is one I used today and has caught many a fish. Very robust, just a wipe and re-gink the elk hair!

 Thank you fair weather fishermen.