UKCF Anglers.

[Simon Bolivar]

Congrat's Johnny! Nice brace & a 26lb'er is certainly something worth celebrating. I got back from my fishy hols on the Isle of Bute last Tues but then have been rushed of my feet since & away in England for the long weekend. I can't post pics from home so will do so when back on the rig. Suffice to say I broke many PB's but biggest pike was 12lb08. Bright sunny weather @ 22-23oC every day made it a real struggle in clear water conditions. Managed a few nice smokes & will post about them too in due course.

[Johnny Thunder]

Really looking forward to your report Simon. Well done on the fish.

[SHAMZ84]

Not really into fishing...but that looks huge

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Johnny Thunder]

My latest session in France proved to be somewhat more difficult.
This was not just for pleasure, but was also a working party to carry out some major improvements on the lake.
Catch reports leading up to the trip basically told us where the majority of the fish were.
My mate (the lake owner) and myself decided to give the other lads the pegs at that end of the lake as a reward for the work to be done.
A couple of them had a decent week with a few nice fish caught.
I managed four fish for the week but fortunately managed to land a decent sized fish, a Common, of 45lb 4oz.
This was backed up with a Mirror of 30lb 12oz and another Common of 30lb 14oz. I also landed a 28lb Mirror that I did not photograph.


45lb 4oz Common.





The brace of 30lb'ers







And a nice sunset too

[Simon G]

Cracking fish JT... Can't wait to post a few catch of my own on here. Had a few blanks lately, although due sea bass soon!!!

[Johnny Thunder]

I love sea bass.

[Simon Bolivar]

My latest session in France proved to be somewhat more difficult.
This was not just for pleasure, but was also a working party to carry out some major improvements on the lake.
Catch reports leading up to the trip basically told us where the majority of the fish were.
My mate (the lake owner) and myself decided to give the other lads the pegs at that end of the lake as a reward for the work to be done.
A couple of them had a decent week with a few nice fish caught.
I managed four fish for the week but fortunately managed to land a decent sized fish, a Common, of 45lb 4oz.
This was backed up with a Mirror of 30lb 12oz and another Common of 30lb 14oz. I also landed a 28lb Mirror that I did not photograph.


45lb 4oz Common.





The brace of 30lb'ers







And a nice sunset too

Great Pics, sounds a wonderful stay, reminds me to sort out my fishy hols photos & get compressing them so I can post them for you.
P.S. Yeah, I never bother photographing any carp under 30lb either mate

[Johnny Thunder]

[Simon Bolivar]

Simon's Fishy Hols1: I promised earlier today to post some pics from my hols to the Isle of Bute at the beginning of June. Hadn't been able to post at home as I haven't figured out how to compress the photos there, as for some reason I can't post uncompressed photos any more (used too!).
So he's the first few. 1 &2, Hoyo PR 2007 on the first afternoon on the water. The weather was unseasonable warm, with cloudless skies, that remained for nearly the whole week. Not great for pike fishing but whatcha gonna do? Spent most of the afternoon, rowing around, putting in pre-bait (chopped up sardines ) & checking out my old swims. The weed was up more than last year so casting from the bank was very difficult but using the boat was the answer then I could cast to the weed. A modest start, 6lb, 7lb & a 4lb'er all on deadbaits. Next day things picked up with with an early start & I had 7 Pike, again all on DB including 7, 8, 9 & my first dble @ 10lb.Had a Party Short 2007. Day 3 & my friend Andy from the Isle joined me for a 3 day session, he camped out on the Loch. Obviously because he's a real fisherman, who's not bothered by the midges & has a fine strong back, that can cope with rowing all day & sleeping on a bed chair for 2 nights in a row. Me, I had paid for a self catering flat & used it. Well he is 20yrs younger than me! That's him with the decent fish. We went out in a boat together & I had a real scrapper, took me under the boat three times & had my 3lb test curve rod bent dble; we were convinced it was an upper dble but the scales only said 10lbs. Just a really hard post spawn fighting Scottish 10dble. Andy was sure it should have been 13/14lb but we went with the scales. However a day or so later my scales started making even more obvious errors so I paid for a new P3 battery (had to buy a pair) & 24hrs later it died completely. So maybe they were wrong on the day but I kept my records at 10lbs. Glad it wasn't a borderline 20lb'er though!!! To celebrate that evening I smoked a Gold Label Fundy from young Tommy, many thanks again - wonderful smoke, tragic they changed the blend with the new label. Kept putting the pre-bait in & hoping the action will pickup on Day 4, as I am well behind on previous years in number & weight.

[Johnny Thunder]

Fantastic report Simon. It sounds like conditions were seriously against you.
You adapted to the situation though. And them smokes look great.
I would love to get hold of a gold band Fundadores.
Looking forward to the next instalment.

[Simon Bolivar]

Simon's Fishy Hols2: Day 4 So finally on the Friday things started to pick up. I'd like to say my financial outlay on sardine on half a dozen kilos was bringing rewards but to be honest I only caught one fish that was spewing chunks these up; they just weren't on the areas they usually are at this time of year. They had left the spawning areas & were more generally spread out over at least 2/3 of the Logh. Had 9 fish today no dbles but had the best days total so far - 57lb. Making the most of the glaring sunlight I had a ERDM NL 2011, these have some along, wasn't impressed on release. Followed by a Party SdConNo3, as fine & dependable as ever. I had to go into town to get extra supplies & beer! Took the pic of Andy in the boat as I disappeared over the hill. The bivvies were from a Glaswegian bunch who stayed for 4 nights & fished the same swim all the time, must have carp'ers blood ;o)
The last pics are of a wee jack, caught whilst smoking, rarely did I manage to finish a cigar without getting a run or two.

[Johnny Thunder]

Excellent. That is a great day of fishing Simon. A good bag.
Nice smokes again too.

[Simon Bolivar]

Simon's fishy hols 3:Sat:4th June 07:54. Having had 3 jacks to the lure this morning this cheeky bugger managed to break the tip of my rod whilst going crazy by the side of the boat. Just cut the tip down to the next rod ring & carried on, was a bit stiffer & although trickier to judge tight casts, did mean I could play them a little harder. By 10:25 I caught my 12th pike of the day, a mean 7lb'er. I was having an amazing morning approx 55lb total already & with the conditions looking set for the day, knew I could be on for the Ton or more. Then a crazy pike that I was playing actually jumped into the boat! It was bashing itself against everything & even though it had thoughtfully landed on my unhooking mat, it still found the things to strike against. I had kept my neoprene waders on to protect from flying hooks & so got astride it to take control, when the flying hook found my thumb before I had a chance to put my hook proof glove on. Still attached to the pike, this could have been rather unpleasant. I first unhooked the pike from the first treble & slipped it over the side. Then cut off the trace & the two cut the two other points off to prevent any chance of hooking myself further. I put my thumb on the boat seat & pulled as hard as I could to extract the hook. Didn't budge. Tried to push it through as hard as I could but it was right into the thumb pad & I just couldn't move it either way. So I resigned myself to having to stop fishing for a while & go & seek help for the Clinic. Put on a couple of plasters to stop it catching whilst I rowed across the wind to the bivvied up visitors & asked Peter who happens to be a nurse, if he could possibly take me to the clinic. He agreed & I was surprised to find it was only a 5min drive away. Two priority cases meant we were there for 2hrs but even though I said Peter didn't need to wait he insisted on staying with me to take me back. Many thanks mate! I explained to the Doctor how I wanted this to go, local anaesthetic & then push the hook through pass the barb, cut the barb & then withdraw, He agreed to the plan but just like the dentist, was keen to start before the thumb was fully numb. When I complained, he replied, it's only the thumb tip that's not numb. Yes, I replied, just where the hook is! The nurse suggested I swing my hand about & encourage the local to circulate & this did the trick. I guess I could only feel 10% when he pushed it through. But as a tip, I was using the sharpest hooks & he still really had to push to get it through so I wouldn't recommend you trying to do that unless the point is just under the surface. Once the barb was exposed I picked up their cutters (I had taken my own just in case!) & cut off the barb so the doctor could remove the hook. A betadine dressing later & a few vinyl gloves in my pocket to keep the dressing dry & we were heading back to the loch.at 04th June: 14:05 Back & fishing again after a 3 1/2 break going to the clinic. Things had obviously hadn't slowed down as I had to wait 5mins for my next run, a nice 9lb'er on Lamprey. 14:45 & I had a 12lb'er, scales having died completely now despite a new 9v battery I borrowed Peter's. Had a few missed runs before crossing the 100lb barrier at 17:10 :O) 16:45 The best of the day @ 12lb 08. I would have assumed it was the same 12lb'er but it jumped out of the water x3 & no way would it have had that energy if it had just been caught. Took a break & smoked an R&J Cazadore 2005, the designed Havana to smoke outdoors.
18:35 went back on the boat & with the breeze still brisk, I rowed up & down across the far bay getting regular hits on trawled pollen & smelt. I was fishing as hard as I could, going now for the 150lb mark. I was at 147lb 21:35, having moved up to the top end for the last hour, I picked up a 6lb jack on a orange mega curly tail, which also was my 25th for the day. So my last targets left were to beat my previous PB for a day at 160lb & get 30 pike. One more at 21:40, & 21:45 took me to 160lb & casting with the Spinnerbait caught me my final fish a 5lb'er taking me to 165lb+ with 29 fish. Fished until 22:15 but couldn't get No30. Finished happy enough to go from 17POB to 29 is a heck of a new PB & still leaves me the target of 30 for another year.

[Johnny Thunder]

Unbelievable day Simon. Top angling. That is a cracking haul of pike. Well done.
I hope the finger has healed ok.

[Simon Bolivar]

Simon's Fishy Hols4 Cheers Johnny, yep the thumb healed without any problem thanks.
Sun Sun 5th June: Took the morning off & visited St Paul's for the first time & met visiting Bishop Kevin, who had ordained a vicar the previous day, the first ordination at this church in 135yrs. In the congregation I spotted two interesting chaps, who I spoke to afterwards. I was to be rather surprised to our connections. Ed Clark on the Left is an ex USN officer, who after 21 yrs left to join the US Merchant Navy, working in similar ships to our RFA's. He married a local lass & has been stuck here ever since (sounds familiar, that's how I ended up in Antwerp). Cdr Gordon Scott used to be a Medical Assistant in the RN during the WWII & was attached to the RM & was on several opposed Iandings in Borneo. They are now both in the Royal British Legion & Ed runs the museum & shop opposite the Church hall. I dragged them off to the Galatia pub garden for a few beers & a Trini Robusto.
I did fish Sun afternoon, taking the red boat out & trawled up & down but with the sunshine back as relentless as ever & having hit them so hard the day before, runs were hard to come by; finishing with just 6 jacks.

Mon 6th Jun So I started Monday with 60 pike caught so far. My previous best for week on Bute was 70 so a clear target to beat. Possible but 10 pike was more than I had caught all week, except Sat. Soon had one in the net at least I hadn?t blanked then!
Mon evening: With a taxi booked for 22:45 & a target of 11 pike needed to my prev hol PB. I had only 5 & half hrs to catch more than I had caught every day except Sat. Lit a mighty smooth Hoyo des Dieux 2008 & waited for the next run. Started off well enough but slowed down reaching No69 21:50. I lit up a Vegerous Seoane; with two DB's out & had to wait until 22:25 until I broke even with this one for 70, whilst still smoking the cigar. Just one needed for a new PB. I called the taxi company & they agreed to pick me up later. Straight after the call I had a run & landed this near dble. No71 (final fish photo) :O) Time to pack up & head back to the flat. Had to wait ages for the taxi as the original one was written off when it hit red deer stag, the BMW was only a week old, I could almost hear the owners cries from the Lough. From getting back to the flat until 03:00 I was cleaning my gear & packing. Up at 05:30 to catch the 06:25 ferry, train & Eurostar & home by 20:30. Another great holiday on Bute!