The Old Hough, Lakeside Open 10/11/19. Big Max.

Woke up to another below 0C morning 🥶. Packed up the car and headed off to the venue. A nice cup of tea and a bacon buttie welcomed me at Old Hough which was a great start to the day, at the draw pulled Peg 3, right on a corner and hemmed in on the left by an aerator and the cable and 2 small islands to them. Not concerned as my plan was to fish bomb and pellet 3/4 out to the centre island and cage and pellet on the mud line, with options at 10.5m, 7m and left margin. First hour switching between bomb and cage resulted in not even a knock, nothing was happening on the pegs to my left and right either. Decided to change up and target the silvers as the f1 and carp were just not this side of the lake. Balled up 50/50 Burt Baits f1 sweet and Burt Baits Xpander groundbait and fed 10.5m, 7m and margin. Burt Baits Polony 2mm at 10.5m and 7m with corn and Burt Baits 4+6mm F1 sweet pellet in the margin. Spent the rest of the match switching lines and feeding in the hope the f1’s would show. Roach was all that was showing, not even a skimmer. At the weigh in I clocked in with 4lb 2oz, nowhere near what I was expecting from this lake. I was the only angler from Peg 1 through 10 who weighed in, my Burt Baits surely giving me the edge. Winning weight was 19lb something with 13lb and 10lb all coming from the back of the lake pegs 22 – 27. No coin and just outside the frame, so not dissapointed at all.
Margin, 8-12 elastic, 0.13 mainline to 0.10 hook length, 18 banded hook. GORTINI 4×14 margin float.
7m, 5-8 elastic, 0.10 mainline to 0.08 hook length, 18 forged hook. GORTINI 4×12 round body float.
10.5m, 8-12 elastic, 0.13 mainline to 0.10 hook length, 18 forged hook. GORTINI 4×14 round body float.
Bait: Burt Baits; f1 sweet carp, Xpander groundbait. 2mm polony, 4mm and 6mm f1 sweet carp pellet.
Corn, dead red and worm.

Another huge milestone in my fishing presence.

I have been accepted as a sponsored angler by Burt Baits. I am hugely honoured to be selected to promote and support Burt Baits and the sponsored anglers who are part of this team. I was introduced to Burt Baits by a fellow angler and friend Ian Alexander who is also a Burt Baits sponsored team member. I have used the Burt Baits products since that introduction and have promoted them as my bait of choice in my Blog. This is huge for me and I hope I can promote Burt Baits as my sponsor and as a bait supplier who constantly display that their product is raising the game on the bank side.

Havannah Flash, club match 3/11/19.

After the torrential and persistent rain of yesterday I wasn’t expecting any great weights for today’s match. The Flash was up a good foot and some, a lot of the pegs on the front were underwater and the colour was like weak coffee. I pulled Peg 26 and wasn’t unhappy with that, I had framed a few times off this peg and also won from it, not disappointed at all. The peg is well in the trees and down a steep bank making it difficult to ship back on a long pole, the peg out to 16m was covered in leaves and as there was no wind they weren’t going anywhere.. Not withstanding, I set a 13m line a 9m line and a 3m line on my whip. Balling in ground bait has proved negative in my previous visits so I chose to feed from my cad pot and not put in too much too early. Setting up and plumbing my lines was about as exciting as it got! 2 hours switching lines and bait choice I hadn’t even had a knock, to my right neither had the other 2 anglers on this section, so I wasn’t alone with a dry net. After 2 1/2 hours John M to my immediate right had a small skimmer at 13m, If that is where they are going to show then I needed to be out there. Shipped out 13m line and spent the next 1/2 hour switching baits and feeding for nothing, John’s fish was solitary. 3 hours in and my peg was still filled with leaves making my presentation non-existent. I lifted my whip to change bait and I thought I had caught yet another leaf, but it turned out to be the smallest baby skimmer, foul hooked! for no weight. I didn’t even bother to put it in my keepnet. With 1/2 hour to go to the all out I threw in the towel and started to pack up my peg. Not a good day and one I will be happy to forget. 3 on our section and only 2 fish between us…

Fished with GORTINI 4×12 round body floats on Pole and GORTINI 4×12 chianti on whip.
Bait was; big red, caster, worm, 2mm expander, 4mm expander, Warburtons mighty white, for punch and liquidised.
Burt Baits; 50/50 Silver Sensation/Natural Silvers. Sweet F1 additive and spray.

Weather scuppered us!

Today was the day we had booked to go lake fishing in Sweden. All the internet advertising garb looked really nice, and some of the photos we had been sent looked idyllic. Not so much once at the lake and marina we had booked. It was still breathtaking views but the boat was tiny, just enough room for the skipper and 4 people, not even a proper cover over the deck. It was torrential rain and blowing a gale when we got to the lake so we were not expecting too much in the way of comfort, but the waves were well into 12″ and higher. The skipper said he would not go out in that as it was too unsafe, so we were left high and dry. We had only paid a 15% deposit in the UK and we got that back. Bummer is that to fish in Sweden you need a permit and these take a week or so to be issued, which is why we booked through a guide as everything was included, just a day permit though so we cant transfer it to another day. Not deterred we headed back into Stockholm City and headed for the Vasa Museum on the island of Djurgården. Quite a few museums on the island, we gave the Abba museum a swerve honest, the Vasa is the Swedish equivalent of the Mary Rose, designed by an idiot as it rolled over and sank in Stockholm harbour on its maiden voyage. Lost in history for over 300 years it was eventually found again and raised in what can only be described as very good condition in 1960 or so. The museum that was built to exhibit it is climate and humidity controlled and you have to go through 3 sets of air locks to get in and out. Once in though it really is amazing how good the ship looks after sitting on the sea floor for 300 years. Viking museum is pretty small and there are only a few things that you don’t see on a Friday night in Liverpool city centre at kicking out time 🤣🤣🤣🐱‍🚀. Day wasn’t wasted, just dissapointed we didn’t get to fish. Fishing from lake bank sides isn’t a thing over here and everything seems geared to fishing from a boat of some sort. No worries as Stockholm is an amazing city. One thing we haven’t seen though is Swedish money, everything is cashless, even hot dog and ice cream sellers in their vans do not take cash, bank card or a card called swish that is like a top up card for the kids.

Not the start to the day I was expecting!

Slipped on leaves in the garden while carrying my seat box to my car this morning, yep right on my arse and boy did it hurt. I am limping about like a 90 year old. So, no fishing this weekend for me. Next weekend (Sunday) I am off to Sweden for a week to do a bit of Trout and Grayling and a day of big perch fishing. Normal service will be resumed on Sunday 3 November, which will be my next outing on the Bank Side.

New addition to the Gortini pole floats range.

A little 4×10 Dibber. Going to give it a test on Sunday, at Lagoon, and put it through it’s paces. All up 55mm long; 32 x 1mm carbon stem (takes 0.8mm rubbers perfectly), 9.5 3mm bristle.
I have chosen the shot pattern in the pictures so it gives me options on bulk weight, fishing very shallow and slapping the rig or strung out shot, fishing a bit deeper and allowing me to ping pellet or maggot as the line drops through the water. Added bait and maybe another No11 stotz will bring the bristle to just a dot.

Thanks to Brian for again giving me the opportunity to be the test pilot and the first to evaluate one of your floats.

  • 4×12 short shallow next to 4×10 Dibber

Havannah Flash, Club match 6/10/19

Wasn’t expecting too much today after all the rain we have had. This week theFlash had been in flood, then levels dropped, then back in flood then again levels dropped slightly. The water level showed signs it was rising slightly as the match progressed as well. Drew Peg 1 on the tow path, well dissapointed, until I was told that permanent Peg 8 had been pegged as 1 for this match. Permanent Peg 1 to 7 underwater! Set out 3 rigs and my 4m whip.
1. GORTINI 4×10 chianti, 0.09 main line to 0.06 hook length and 24 fine wire hook.
2. GORTINI 4×12, 0.11 main line to 0.09 hook length 22 wire hook.
3. GORTINI 4×12 chianti, 0.11 main line to 0.09 hook length 20 forged hook.
Whip. GORTINI 4×12, 0.09 main line to 0.06 hook length 22 wire hook.
Hook bait was 2mm expander soaked in Burt Baits red glow liquid and caster.
Burt Baits Natural Silvers light ground bait fed from my cad pot. Fished shallow all day at 7 and 10m on my 1 rig, just bits with a few fair size stamp and a couple of skimmers 10 mins before the All out. 60 roach and skimmer for 1lb 9oz and a thanks for coming, as was expected the twangs produced the heavier weights. Brolly blew inside out and has bent a few prongs and the stay, but still a good day in my book. I am consistently framing in the middle of the pack so at least my fishing isn’t getting worse 😂😂😂.