Merry Christmas

To one and all, may all your hopes and dreams be fullfilled and if not just get pissed and eat too much

It's not impossible

Now it's not that often that a programme comes on the tele that blows me away, but it did last week when I watched my first episode of Martin Bowlers Catching the Impossible. What an absolute credit to himself and the world of angling this is, no swearing, no blatent plugging of DVD's, brilliant narration from Bernard Cribbins and photography to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I can't wait to see the remainder of the series if its half a good as what I have watched already.

Come on England

With the 2nd Test due to start in Adelaide tomorrow night our time, it is refreshing that we go into it neither 1 nil down nor as the underdogs. For me the aussies are mediocre at best, their attack bowlers are lacking in the threat department and were it not for a bad umpiring decision in their first innings, they would have been lucky to reach 250. Gone are the days where Ponting could throw the ball to Warne, McGrath or Lee and say ' win me the match' and invariably they did.......oh no not now and we are maybe starting to see Ponting in a different light and under pressure. Botham was enjoying every minute of the 5th day in Brisbane, constantly commenting on the lack of support from the aussie fans and when he was joined in the box by Shane Warne came up with line which went something like ''I have seen people come to matches in fancy dress, but never dressed as plastic chairs''...........priceless. Get stuck in England, there's nowt better than seeing the aussies close to tears.

Fore

The weather today was lovely, after a frosty start the sun came out...............time for a game of golf I thought. Nipped down to the local club and after a practice on the range I went out for 18 holes, unwisely I played off the back markers which, due to the wet conditions was a real test of my long game but was thoroughly enjoyable if a tad tiring. I was round in 3 hours and back home by 4.15pm.........time for tea.

Final Fling

Decided to have a last bash on Sunday evening, prospects didn't look good to be fair as the air temp was deteriorating day by day but, as they say, you never know. Anyway I got to the dam at around 3pm, Peter a local carper was there and had caught 2 fish during the day. I fished from 4pm till 8.30pm and had 1 run which resulted in a carp of 19.3/4lbs, the air temp at packing up time was 3.8 degrees, I must admit that I felt a slight amount of satisfaction in that I had caught in difficult conditions.

A lesson from the master

Fished last evening from 4.30 to 8.30 with Jeff who owns the Canadian Carp Club in Long Sault, me, well I had the first run but lost the fish to a broken hook length (first time ever) after that it was the Jeff show as he banked three fish of 12, 28 and very plump 33.5, an excellent performance in such a short session. The temperatures are set to drop from now on so the rods may get put away till next season but we'll see.

What a strange session

click on photos to enlarge

Tuesday afternoon saw me heading down to the Power Dam, the weather forecasters had got it spot on, after a cloudy start the sun had started to break through and it was getting much warmer. I arrived at my drop off point as due to the walk being fairly long we drop the gear halfway before parking up the car. The fox sorry walmart barrow comes in useful here. On arrival at the swim I took the water temp 12.4 degrees with the air temp coming in at a sultry 23, not bad for October. I set up the mountains of gear and prepared myself for what I hoped would be a good nights fishing. I didn't expect action straight away, but the occasional carp showing on the surface did get the blood pressure rising, After approx 2hrs I picked up the rod to recast and felt something pulling back, thinking I had foul-hooked a carp I brought the fish to the bank only to find a 8lb musky had attacked the yellow boilie on the retrieve...............well at least a blank had been avoided. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful other than a couple of locals fishing for walleye, then at 5pm I had my first run but lost it to a hook pull (bugger) then lost another one shortly afterwards and a third well into dark went the same way. It was my intention to have a rod out through the night but around midnight the rain started so I made the decision to reel in and fish at first light.

7am and after a night of heavy rain and strong winds, the bivvy had passed with flying colours and there was now a lovely sunrise to behold. Within 15 minutes I had a run, picked the rod up and it was soon evident that this was a good fish, taking line at will and it was a good fifteen minutes before it was ready for the net.............oh yes it was a good fish but unfortunately hooked in the tail, I weighed it at an ounce under 30lbs, took the customary photo and sent her on her way. I fished on until 11am but with no further action decided to pack away and go home as I had been invited for dinner by friends across the street later that evening, on the way back I made a slight detour to see Jeff who runs the Canadian Carp Club, he had just returned from a trip to the Frazier River sturgeon fishing. We made arrangements to meet up Thurs evening for a session on the dam into dark.....here's hoping

Prepping for the winter

Today I went down to Long Sault to pick the boat up to bring it back to the house for the winter. The events earlier in the year have really knocked my confidence with regard the pulling the trailer, however I reached home without mishap and after winterising the outboard, the boat was sheeted up until May. Temperatures here are on the rise and believe it or not are set to hit a balmy 19 degrees on Tuesday.................a night session looms Tuesday night, watch this space.

Back across the pond

After an uneventful flight (apart from the customery 1 hour delay), I arrived in Cornwall on Thursday evening. Didn't do much on Friday and spent Saturday watching the soccer as we get a couple of prem league matched every week, then I had a drive down to the Power Dam where they have finally opened the visitor centre. I must say though that is very interesting and informative, going into great detail explaining how the dam operates, the history of the area and the mohawk indians and the way they were disrespected during the contruction, so much so that a letter of apology was issued to them eventually. We haven't been able to fish down there for the last 18 months, but now all the work is done we can finally get access to what is probably the best area of all.

Europe.....Europe.......Europe

Well done to the European team for lifting the Ryder Cup and bring it back to where it belongs. The USA tried hard and made a fist of it, but to be honest was the result ever in doubt ??. How those boys produce the level of golf under that pressure is amazing. Well done Monty and the boys you were fantastic.

Rain and rain and rain and...........................

Friday morning 9am and I'm heading to Wazzys' house en-route to the BFW fish-in organised by Chris Pearson and being held at Fiskerton on the River Trent. We had a great time despite the crappy weather. Chris did a sterling job in organising the event which raised £600 for Sue Ryder Care, the cheque being collected by the Barnsley AC president.
On the fishing front, I caught 2 eels, Wazzy caught 3 (edited) Barbel (clever git) and we sampled the beer at the local pub which was so nice on Friday that we were forced to go back for more on Saturday. Hobby made an appearance and offered loads of advice and gave us a lift to the pub, Steve (Richardson) joined us for a beer on Saturday, it was great to meet up with him again and he fished into dark with me. However the river was rising rapidly and with tons of weed coming down fishing was becoming near impossible, so to all those who suceeded I salute you.....well done.
Packing up on Sunday morning was horrendous in the rain and my thanks go to wazzy for his help.
That could be it for me now on the fishing front until I go back to Canada on the 21st, I am looking to doing a couple of night sessions this time, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

A nice end to the holiday

We had decided to have the last 2 days at Niagara Falls, I had been before with Joe but Julie hadn't seen them. It is all very commercialised now but thankfully not around the main event. For anyone who gets the chance to visit do so, they are really worth seeing. Julie took this photo from the sky tower which is around 200ft high, Joe went with her as I get dizzy 10ft off the floor. After spending Wenesday and Thursday taking in the sights, it was time to return to Toronto and our journey home. Not long till 21st October though and my return to Cornwall for 2 weeks

Is it really.....................

over a month since I last posted, apologies to those few who look in. I didn't do much fishing for the rest of the holiday, I went back to the island for a session and whilst I hooked plenty of fish, the weed was a real problem and so after losing more than I caught and worrying about the ever increasing wind (due to being in the boat) I packed up by 11am. Once again no fish got anywhere near a 20 which is very surprising, still that's fishing.

Holiday Monday

Monday was a holiday here in Ontario so after a lie in (9am), we spent the day tootling around the house before taking the car to the car wash. Elliot, Marion and Jeffs nephew was coming out today from the UK so we headed down to Grumpies in the evening to welcome him back.

A day in the water

Sunday saw us up early as we headed down to Long Sault to pick up the boat for a session off one of the islands. When we reached the spot there were fish all over the finder so we deposited some cracked corn over the mark hoping they would get their heads down. We were sat in the water casting 60 yds into 20ft plus and by the end of the session we had done ok managing 12 fish but losing the same amount in the bank of weed in front of us. Nothing big with the best scraping 16lbs. It was a great day to be out though, 34 degrees plus and a slight breeze.......catching was a bonus. God I love this place.

It's not all fishing and golf you know

Saturday saw 'kitchen duties' taking down the old units ready for new ones to go in their place, we went down to Long Sault in the afternoon and took the boat out to feed our swim and then we threw a few spinners about to no avail, still the weather was marvellous and there aren't many better places to spend a few hours than on the lovely St.Lawrence Seaway.

It's on..............it's off

Fished 'the bridge' on Friday morning 5.30 till 11 am, one fish caught and 11 yes 11 lost, sharp hooks but maybe too long hairs. We had loads of sharp quick runs which stopped abruptly before you could get to the rod and one one occasion all the bait had been stripped of the hair. I have some ideas which I intend to try out next time.

A disaster but if could have been much worse

4.30 am on Wednesday morning. We were up and ready for the off with plenty of bait ready, this was going to be a serious session. We drove down to the Motel and picked up the boat. The forecast was for the winds to increase during the morning so I decided to launch the boat at Dickinsons as it was sheltered and closer to the area we intended to fish......what a mistake this turned out to be. We left the Motel and turned into the parkway.....as I drove along I kept glancing through the mirror to check all was ok when suddenly to my horror the boat had somehow come off the ball and was rearing up behind the car. Now in hindsight I realise that I should have coasted to a stop but in the heat of the moment rationale doesn't kick in and I braked. Yes I stopped but the boat didn't and smashed into the tailgate of the car, we jumped out to be met by carnage, half the tailgate was pushed in and there was a puncture through the skin of the lid made by the initial impact, unfortunately the connector for the electrics had not come apart and that had helped to keep the boat in tow behind the car. Gutted to say the least, we re coupled to boat and went back home via the Motel. 4hrs later and after a couple of estimates, it was apparent that a new tailgate was required at a cost of $1500......... deep joy.
Hours later when you think about the events that unfolded, it starts to sink in that actually things could have been a lot worse......no-one was hurt but what if the boat had come off and hit an on-coming car or a pedestrian, what if we had been on the main road, the list is endless. What I really wish is that the wind had have been calm and then we would have launched from the marina, but it wasn't and we didn't so I must take the consequences. Lessons have been learned though and measures will be in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.
Anway I'm off to bed now as it's golf tomorrow.............bugger the fishing for tomorrow anyway.

Messing about in the boat

No fishing on Tuesday as we are continuing to bait a swim ready for the weekend, the weather is great to be on the water so we spent the afternoon running around with the fishfinder. Joe took his ring with him with the intention of being pulled behind the boat, didn't work out that way though as he was uncerimoniously dumped in the drink within a matter of minutes.......I promise I did not laugh at all. When we got back to the marina, Jeff was there and asked us if we wanted to go out in his proper boat......how could we refuse and what a trip it was, there are fish everywhere but when will they get their heads down if at all, it is all very frustrating.

Sharing the river with carp killers

Couldn't get on the bridge on Monday afternoon so we went into the parkway, the going was tough but I did manage 1 of about 12lbs. At around 4pm we decided to go back to the bridge to see if the swim was vacant, it wasn't as a family of chinese were still there. We decided to fish across from them and in the next three hours they proceeded to catch 3 carp which, having been landed, were taken under the bridge presumably to be despatched for the journey home....now bearing in mind that they had been there all day I dread to think how many they actually killed. It is unfortunate that at he present time they are doing nothing wrong.....hopefully this will change in time. Oh we had one of 17.1/2 lbs. Not a good day really.

A nice short session

Fished running water at the first bridge on saturday evening 4.45 till 8.30, we managed 7 fish to 17 lbs and lost 3 (Joe had 4) which was a decent session despite the horrendous weed coming down, one reason for this could be that the carp have spawned again and the size of the fish are generally much smller than usual. The big girls must be out there though and we intend to give it another go on Monday evening....fingers crossed.

It started with a.................................blank

Fished this morning 7am to 12 noon, only 1 run to me and lost it (on the right hand rod Dave), the temperature was just hitting 29 degrees when we packed up with the water not much colder. Fish were showing but not feeding and evidently it was the same all over, never mind tomorrow's another day so they say.

We've arrived.....well nearly

As I type we have just left Toronto Railway Station (wonders of wifi) on the last leg of our journey, only the small matter of a 4hr train ride and we will have arrived in Cornwall. Got to the station and called in at the baggage dept to enquire whether I could take my bivvy box on the train due to its size and there being no baggage car, no problem, a porter was called and not only did he take both bags on board early for us but reserved our seats as well......$10 tip well earned i'd say.

Counting down

Next Tuesday 20th sees me and Joe back over the pond for 5 weeks, can't wait to get back into the carp fishing and pottering about in the boat. Temps are going to be high but certain swims have the deep water and will produce. We are going to do a couple of overnighters this time which could be fun and it will be interesting to see how the area fishes in the dark....watch this space.

A proud day

Yesterday my youngest son Joe who is 15, told me that his mum was going to drop him off on the River Calder on Sunday so he could have a couple of hours fishing. I have been unable to do anything for a week as I have been laid out (literally) with a bad back, so I was quite pleased with his enthusiasm. I did think however that he may be wasting his time but never mind I thought at least he is showing willing. So off he went this morning and I awaited a call. About 10am he rang me and I asked how things were going...........I'm getting knocks on the pellet he says and I've been in the next swim down watching the chub taking pellets. Great I thought well at least it's not totally hopeless, 11am............Hey dad I've caught, great I replied what was it??, a 3.l/2lb chub followed next cast by a common carp of about 7lbs. Bloody hell I thought, keep the bait going in I said and well done. He wasn't finished there though, he ended up with another 2 (Brown Trout), lost one to a broken hooklink tied by yours truly and then just to really finish of the session caught a BARBEL which he estimated at around 5lbs. He packed up at 12 which meant that in 3 hours he had 1 Chub, 2 Brown Trout and a Barbel and had his licence checked by the Police. So the lad did good despite his dads doubts............but then again what does he know.

The fishing licence

I have read on various websites, the mumblings and grumblings of individuals with regard to how our current licencing procedure operates. Having come back from Canada recently, their system seems quite effective and is one I feel we could adopt. Firstly you go into your local tackle shop and complete a paper licence which is given to you. A copy is then sent away to the fishing board and you are sent a credit card type licence which you carry with you, It contains details of your date of birth, height, eye colour and obviously your name and address. Then at the start of each year you simply go into a fishing tackle shop and purchase a 'tag' which is stuck onto the back of your licence.............job done and this can be repeated for 6 years, no need for i.d as it's on your card, it seems such a simple method. Maybe though it is just too simple for our lot.

Friday

Today we both leave for home, I had a busy morning cleaning the house prior to my departure, Dave however managed a couple of hours fishing and caught 7 including a 20 and 5 doubles. His total catch for the week was a creditable 71 carp in 8 sessions including 11 x 20+ and 46 doubles, considering the hot weather and spawning fish he did very well indeed. Fortunately I looked at the itinary for the flight home and noticed that we actually left at 5pm and not 7.30 as we had somehow thought............bit of a rush but we made it in plenty of time. So another May passes by (they seem to come round quicker every year) but for me its a short spell back in the UK until I return in July with my son Joe for some summer action.

Thursday, a day to remember

So this is it, the last full session for my May trip, Dave and I had discussed where to fish the night before and decided on the Pontoon swim, mainly because a) it had been seriously baited for a couple of weeks b) it is a known swim for producing big fish and c) it is next to the restaurant where they serve big breakfasts and loads of coffee. I arrived at approx 5.30am and Dave was already there and after spodding out plenty of particles we sat back and waited. After about an hour there were fish crashing out all over but the going was slow, so slow that by 4pm we had only caught 4 fish between us but as we had been working hard all day putting the bait out, we decided to fish on for a couple more hours…………..what a great decision that was, despite the fact that all fish activity on the surface had now stopped, the fish went on the feed and during the next 3 hours we added another 13 fish. It was during this period that the moment I had waited for over the last four years finally arrived, the take was slower than normal and the fish held station just taking line as and when it pleased. It took probably ten minutes before I saw the fish and as it came to the net I saw the biggest fish I had ever caught in my life. Safely in the net I lifted it out of the water and Dave confirmed it was a big fish, I could hardly bear to look at the scales as they registered 32lbs on the dot (photo above), needless to say I was ecstatic and looking at the fish it was so beautiful with absolutely no sign of spawning. A quick call to Jeff to let him know, a shake of Daves’ hand and a couple of photos and she was safely released. I cast out again and within 5 minutes was into a 23.5, not bad for 2 runs. We finished the session with 17 fish………a 32, 2 x 20’s and all the rest big doubles on a great day shared with a great mate in a great place, what could be better.

Wednesday

And just to prove how frustrating this carp fishing can be, Dave fished Tuesdays swim again and struggled compared to the day before, although he did manage a 20 and 5 doubles in his 7 fish catch. Me, I had a nightmare, the first area I went to was unfishable due to floating weed ripped up be the spawning carp, I then moved and had the same problem but worse, until finally I joined Dave but only ended the day with 2 fish although one was a 23.

Tuesday

I didn't fish today as I had some work to do at the house, Dave fished a swim which can be very productive with flowing water ideal during this hot spell. In total he had 29 fish including 4 x 20's and 2 x 19's making this the best session of the holiday. Strangely at around 7pm when the sun had finally gone down and the conditions seemed perfect...................the fish stopped feeding.

Monday

Fished one of the more productive swims today but it did not produce, only 1 fish for me, Dave managed 7 mostly doubles. The weather is now hot, hot, hot and the fishing is hard. It just goes to show that even with so many fish in the system, nature rules.

Sunday

We returned to the swim I had fished on Thursday. It is fast becoming evident that early morning and evening are the best times as the heat during the day is putting the fish down. The weather now is more like summer than spring. Sure enough the fish are now spawning and the sights in the bays are something you have to see to believe with thousands of carp crashing about in the shallow water. We managed 11 fish between us with Dave getting the majority plus the biggest fish of 26lbs. It looks like it may well be tough going for the rest of the holiday but hey......that's fishing.

Saturday

Today we fished a swim at one of the bridges, Dave was getting liners from the start and managed a total of seven fish with the best going 24lbs-6ozs. I had a bad one with only 2 fish. The east wind continues to make things difficult and the hot weather could encourage the fish to start spawning. The next few days will tell.

Friday

Dave has arrived and we made an early start. When I got to the swim Dave was already there and all looked good but it didn't work out that way though as the wind had swung round to the east and along with the really hot day we only managed four fish between us to 21lbs.

Thursday

Best day up to now, caught the first fish at 7.45am and by 12 noon had 11 including 3 x 20's and 2 x 19's. Left at lunchtime to do some work at the house, fished the same swim on the evening and had another 4 fish in a couple of hours................weather is really starting to warm up.

Slow Going

Fished tuesday but only managed 6 fish, although the number of fish starting to show are increasing day by day. The water temps are now just above 60 degrees and the place should catch fire anytime soon although with the air temps pushing 80 we will need some wind please. It is noticeable that the bites are more savage now as the fish wake up and not all fiah are small, just look at this one Colin caught with his first cast ......all 31-4 of it. My mate Wazzy arrives today so we will be up and at em from Friday. Me, well I'll be out first light in my persuit of the elusive 30 pounder.

Not all a bed of roses

Went down to Long Sault early this morning (Monday), on arrival the wind was pushing straight into the bank and I saw a couple of fish show on my walk down to the swim. One fish caught and one lost in the first ten mintes made me think it was going to be a good day. After about an hour Colin arrived with Lee, the guest of CCC, he had been fishing another swim when a couple of EE's appeared, yes they're here too. Despite there not being enough room for them they pushed their way into his swim and on catching a carp........promply bumped it on the head and deposited it in a bin liner. Utterly and not surprisingly disgusted by the whole episode Lee packed up and Colin came for him, after giving them a piece of his mind, he brought Lee to my swim.
Being the gentleman that I am, I made room for Lee and for the next 4 hours I took on the role of ghillie as he totally outfished me. No problem there, it was his last day before flying home later this afternoon......hope you had a pleasant trip mate.

Short, but nice and sweet

Sunday I spent most of the day pottering about the house and the garden, the weather is getting better every day and today the temp reached 20 degrees and sunny. I Went for a few hours fishing late afternoon and in 3 hours banked a 12, 17 and a 23 which looked and fought like a 30, not bad for a short session. I put half a bucket of corn in before I left ready for the morning. With the temperatures set to increase on a daily basis here's hoping the wind blows as well.

A laugh and a joke and fish to boot

On Saturday I spent the day fishing with Lee who is the guest staying with Jeff and Marion. We fished a swim that is barely 4ft deep yet it can be full of carp without them giving themselves away. During the course of the day we had plenty of liners as you would expect but we only managed 7 fish between us with the best going just over 20 lbs. Lee is a great lad and a good angler despite coming from Nottingham ( we have to live somewhere) and we both had a great day with plenty of laughs, at the end of the day aint this what fishing should be all about.

Frustrating day in paradise

Fished friday, it was a frustrating day as you would pick up a few fish, then it would go dead, then a few fish and so it continued. Packed up at 5pm, best fish 21 lbs. Jeff brought a father and son down so I let him fish the swim I was in, the lad had never caught a carp before..........................he has now

Out with friends

Marion and Jeff invited me to a barbeque tonight (thursday) at their motel along with Colin, Jason and their angling guest Lee, what can I say, great food including a lovely steak cooked by Jeff and smashing company.....what more could you ask for, thanks again guys. Off to bed now as its an early start tomorrow

Fishing the Polaris Float

Over the last week, with the water and air temps being well below the average for the time of year fishing has been hard............fishing the lead was a waste of time due to the fact that bites were so finicky. The carp here are crazy fish and fight all the way to the net, this week however whilst fishing the Polaris the bites had to be seen to be believed. I watched today as my float dipped but didn't go under, went under but no fish there, I could have been back in Ireland catching those dog roach, but no, this was carp fishing, but different to anything I had witnessed before. If I had been fishing the lead, there is no way I could have seen those bites, talking to Jeff he said that the Polaris regularly out performs any other method and I can understand why, plus that fact that personally I find it a far more pleasurable way of fishing. No doubt when the temps increase the fish will feed harder, but until then give me the float any time.

It just gets better for the Canadiens

Having scraped into the Stanley Cup playoffs by the skin of their teeth, then dumping out the favourites Washington 4-3 in the best of seven series, they did it again tonght by seeing of the defending champions Pittsburg Penguins 5-2 to take the series 4-3 in Pittsburg, all that stands between them and the Stanley Cup final is a confernce final against either Boston or Philedelphia. To put it into perspective it's like Burnley beating Chelsea and Man Utd in best of seven games each.

Warming Up

The weather is finally getting warmer, fished the same swim as Tuesday and caught 10 fish, best going 19lbs but all the fish were doubles. Packed up at 3pm and headed home. Temps are set to go into the 20's by the weekend, you can already sense that the fish are moving around more and every day there is more activity on the surface.

PB on the Polaris

Fished on Tuesday and managed a new pb on the polaris float of 26.1/4 lbs, cold NE winds ensured that the going was tough so needless to say I was well pleased

Just the one

Went out for a few hours this afternoon (Monday), over the weekend the weather has been crap with snow flurries on Sunday, consequently the water temp had dropped by an incredible 10 degrees in three days so to say I was not very optomistic is an understatement. Nevertheless I managed a nice well conditioned 23 and went home happy. Evidently the weather is set to get warmer from now on so the fishing should improve. The fish here are no different to those back home, there may be more of them but if the conditions are hard then so is the fishing.

Up the Creek - no paddle required

Whilst talking to Jeff, owner of the Canadian Carp Club on thursday evening, he mentioned that he was going to fish his favourite swim on friday morning to see how it performed, he asked me if I would lke to take over from him at 11.30 as he had some business to take care of, we left it that he would ring me friday morning to let me know how he was doing. Jeff rang at 9.45am friday to say he had caught six and lost a couple so I packed my gear into the car and arrived at the swim by 11am. By this time he had caught 12 and netted another as he was packing up mainly mid doubles but two 26's, I took over and by 6pm had caught a further 12 and lost 4, best fish was 17.5 half of them doubles. Best thing was that all the fish were caught on the polaris float and although the fish were on the small size, the sport was great.
So in total 25 fish came out, over half were doubles, two best were 26 and in reality this was a slow day, you gotta love this canadian carping.
Today the weather is bad, NE winds and rain so its around the house for me and tomrrow doesn't look much better but next week should improve.

Off the mark

Went out for a couple of hours on Wednesday with the waggler, although there were a few fish showing I didn't manage to connect with one. On Thursday however I did manage to land a well conditioned 24 and a 14 in between the thunder showers and gale force winds. Not far away a guy was taken to hospital having been working on a house which was struck by lightning, the owners had only moved into their brand new home 3 weeks ago, makes you think it does. In the ice hockey Montreal Canadiens came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 tonight against the Penguins and level the best of seven series 2-2.......the Stanley Cup dream lives on and goes to Pittsburg on Saturday.

Oh Dear

Woke up at 7am Monday, its raining. Finally got away at 10am and was in the swim by 12 noon. put out 20 spods of bait and cast in at 1pm. By the time I packed away at 6pm I had 1 liner and saw one fish show well out. I tried different baits, fished the lead and the float all to no avail, the fish simply were not there, never mind as they say tomorrow's another day (or maybe Wednesday).
Talking to Jeff and Colin consensus seems to be that very shortly the place will catch fire, another few degrees in the water temp and we will be off.

Feeding Time again

Went back out in the boat this afternoon, checked around the marker, all the corn from the day before had gone , put out another bucket in the same area and just got back before a thunderstorm hit, it is still going on as I write.

Preparation day 1

Friday, the first day....got the boat ready, put the motor on and gave it a test. Thankfully it started first time so I then went down to the corn supplier and purchased two 40kgs sacks of maize, started to soak the first sack ready for the prebait and I already had some in the freezer which had been thawed out ready.
The swim I had in mind was one we had been over before when we had the big boat, on arrival the fishfinder showed 9ft at around 50 yds gradually shelving up towards the bank, I put the marker in and deposited a large bucket of maize around the area and as the water is clear you could see the yellow corn on the bottom, question is will it be there tomorrow when I return ??. Called in to see Marion Jeff and Colin at the Canadian Carp Club then we went to Grumpies (the local and only bar) for some tea and beverage before going home.

I'm off

Thursday 5.15am and the doorbell rings, oh no I've slept in and my train leaves at 6.06. Anyway after a quick panic we are off and arrive in plenty of time at Dewsbury railway station.........thanks Julie. My flight was from Manchester to Paris and then on to Montreal, the trip turned out to be eventful to say the least, first tip......ensure you have euros with you in Charles de Gaulle airport, I didn't and was relieved of £6 sterling for a pint of Heineken. Second tip, when eating your meal on the plane, if you have a spill, don't use a red serviette to wipe off stain on a light coloured polo shirt and ensure there isn't chocolate on the back of your hand whilst wiping said stain off. Other than that and losing my reading glasses mid flight all went well really.
My mate Rocket was waiting at the airport and within an hour we were at the house in Cornwall on a lovely, warm April day

One last cast

Out on the Derbyshire Derwent on the last day of the season with my son Joe and good mates Steve, Ian and Tony. A bacon sandwich in the local café preceded the short trip to a beautiful stretch of the river, having not fished in the UK much this season I was looking forward to a day of trotting for the grayling.
Boy was I rusty as it soon became apparent that any fish to grace my net would either be very young, stupid or down right greedy, the former emerged as I managed a couple of very juvenile grayling which were safely returned to the river. Joe however managed a nice trout and his first grayling plus a bonus tree which he somehow managed to hook numerous times and caused Steve and myself ½ hr of grief trying to safely release it.
The other boys fared much better having caught plenty and at the death I managed a nice rainbow on Steves’ rod before having to leave them mid afternoon to visit my mother in Barnsley.
All in all a lovely day spent with mates in beautiful surroundings made me realise that I must make an effort this coming season to fish more whilst I am over here

Meeting up with friends old and new

Last weekend saw me on the banks of the River Severn at Hampton Loade along with members of BFW (Barbel Fishing World). I like these get-togethers as it is a chance to meet up with old friends and make new acquaintances, this year was no different. Which is just as well as the fishing was, lets say, a tad on the slow side.

We had booked a cottage nearby which was made all the more welcoming in that Saturday nights temp reached –7 (so I am told)…….not a night to be under the stars in a bivvy like some were. We had a cracking night in the pub where our southern buddies tried in vain to master the local beers, unfortunately and very funnily they failed miserably. For a more in depth review of the weekend click on Conrads blog (how's the arms matey)

Back in the U.K.

Back from Canada and the wall to wall Olympics which you would expect as they were after all the host country, congrats must go to the Canadian Hockey teams (men and women) for carrying off the gold medals in great style, if there is a faster more physical game anywhere I will be amazed.

The flight back was a nightmare, delayed for a supposed 40 mins which became an hour and fourty minutes we eventually landed at Heathrow two hours late, fortunately Julie had pre-empted us missing our train and drove down to pick us up bless her.

Prospects look good for the fishing this year as the ice is well on the melt with some areas already accessible and by April, the carp should have their heads down for a good feed after the big freeze.

First visit of 2010

Later today I fly off to Montreal and then make the short journey by car down to Cornwall for a 2 week break. Hopefully I will get chance to do a spot of ice fishing with Joe and indulge in some other winter activities.

Improving Times

So the snow has gone at last, even got on the golf course this week and you'd never have known how bad the weather had been.....the course is in great shape. Signed up to attend a fish-in with the new BFW lads which means meeting up with my old (some older than others) fishing mates from the good old days and I'm really looking forward to that provided I can get all my gear dusted down and sorted out in time.
The days are getting longer and will soon be getting warmer hopefully, happy days ahead.

Passing the time away

When oh when is this snow going to clear off, our golf course is still covered with a thick blanket of snow, access to my nearby river is hopeless and soon the snow melt and everything horrible will be going through. Anyway I've been looking through my photos and found this one, taken in Spain in April 2006, we were asked by a group of German lads if we would help weigh a fish for them as they weren't tall enough to hold the weigh bar, imagine our surprise when this emerged.......all 197lbs of it (evidently a river record at the time) , first time I had set eyes on a catfish and what a specimen it was.

A 20lb carp caught on a 1.5 t/c barbel rod and waggler last May,

This is our home and the base for my fishing exploits, Cornwall, Ontario and its only a 20 minute drive from the best Carp fishing in the world. I will update on the fishing when I go out there in May, in the meantime its day to day stuff and the golf I'm afraid.................that is when the snow decides to go