Update No. 1

Just trying to bring you up to date with my activities over the past month or so. So, what have I been up to since my last update?

Work, work and more work I suppose.

Both of my administrators have decided to hand in their notice, one of them left on 5th January 2007 and the other will be leaving at the end of Feb (after I persuaded her to stay until the end of Feb as she was hoping to leave mid Feb), see picture below!!!. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not an ogre or anything, one of my staff left to go and work for her friend/cousin which included a promotion (wait until it’s pay day, she may be back), the other one is leaving in order to dedicate more of her time to setting up her own business. All that I seem to have been doing is interviewing of late. In addition to the girl that provided me with a list of her attributes (see below), one of the girls that attended for an interview was a tidy trainee fitness instructor (in her spare time). She was nearly offered the position for that alone, but alas, the job was offered to someone else with a steadier career history. You never know, she may be offered a job in the near future if the new girls don’t work out (geddit?). At the moment, I am trying to do my job and help with training and to assist the other staff with their job/tasks.

Well then, how has my fishing been going. So, so, is the straight forward answer.

For a breather, I went to an old stomping ground of mine, Raker Lakes just outside York. After gathering a bit of info, I went armed to the teeth with the intention of catching a few roach and the odd carp as the carp haven’t switched on yet. I had a word with Paul Connolly in the car park and he informed me that it was a roach affair, fishing with caster, some areas are ropey and other areas are full of fish. He advised to fish and feed caster. NO Groundbait. Paul ‘PK Peanuts’ Kozyra (try saying that when you are Brahms and Lizst) told me to fish caster over groundbait. Who to believe?

I put my hand in the bag and managed to snare peg 16. When the weather is warmer, the carp can be plentiful, but at this time of year it is stuffed with roach and skimmers, with the possibility of carp over to the far side. The peg is some 18 – 19m wide and the base of the far slope is at 16m. 5 minutes before kick off, I had a quick walk around the lake to see what was on people bait trays and to get an idea of who had drawn where. Connolly had no groundbait and Peanuts had groundbait.

I decided to knock up some Sensas Roach (neat) laced with a few pinkies and Casters. I set up 3 rigs:

Rig one was a 4x14 Drennan Roach rig on .10 direct to a size 20 Preston PR 23 hook. I plumbed up down the middle at 13m and found that I had about 7ft. I used white hydro to complete this set up.

Rig two was a .8g Series Top float on the same set up as above. The reason for the heavier float was to try to get the bait down quicker if I was getting a lot of fast bites and was also in case the wind decided to pick up. White hydro completed this set up.

Rig three was a 4 x 12 Series Top. I attached this to .10 Fox Match Plus line direct to a size 18 Preston PR 23 hook. I plumbed up at the base of the near slope, which was some 7m out to my left. Maver Yellow Dual Core completed this set up. The reason for the bigger hook and the stronger elastic, was that I felt that there was a better chance of a carp on this line than on my 13m line.

At the all in, I catapulted a few pinkies out to 13m and put some maggots and caster in at 7m. I baited up with a single maggot on the hook. My first indication some 10 minutes into the match resulted in a roach of about 2oz. Although it wasn’t a monster, a fish is a fish at this time of the year. After some 30 minutes and a couple more pairs of eyes, I took a gamble and decided to put in a golf ball of groundbait at 13m. I also put some micro pellets in at 7m with a few more maggots.

I started to get indications some 10 minutes after putting in the groundbait. I caught a skimmer of about 10oz. The bloke on peg 15 had managed to snare a carp and the bloke on peg 17 had a couple of roach. I started to cup in about 10 casters after every fish and the fish were starting to come thick and fast. After about 20 minutes, some bubbles were coming up on the 7m line where I had fed the micro pellets. I quickly swapped over to my 7m rig, baited up with double maggot and dropped in. The float buried straight away, a liner. I dropped back in and waited and waited. After about 5 minutes, the float buried and a roach of about 8oz was soon in the net. Not what I expected, but it’s 8oz more than I had.

I swapped back to the 13m line, baited up with caster, put a few casters in the tosspot and proceeded to catch roach for the duration of the match. I put in a few micro pellets to try to bring in more skimmers, this failed to bring in the skimmers and it also knocked the roach on the head for a time. I put in another couple of balls of groundbait throughout the duration of the match and proceeded to plug away, fishing caster over the odd ball of groundbait and feeding casters via a ‘TossPot’. At the all out, I weighed in just short of 9lb of roach and skimmers. The lad on peg 17 had a carp of about 7lb and 2lb of bits for just over 9lb, and the lad on peg 15 sat it out on the floating pole all day for 6 indications and 4 carp for 11lb odd. 22lb of skimmers won the match, with 21lb of little pasties second.

I enjoyed myself. Every time the float went under, you had the anticipation of the fish being a skimmer (they run to over 7lb), a good roach, a tench or even a double figure carp. I might have to go again sometime soon.