Soft Cell, Kelly Jones and a man called Headache...

In a last gasp manner Nico joined derek for a Butterley evening session after chucking in a couple of hours hols last minute.....

It was 'light kit' derek advised and Nico took this to the extreme after a near heart attack last time out on the rocks.

Typically the weather had gone from ' bream perfect' to ' crust on top' with brightness and heat gathering pace after lunch ( the two weather descriptions arent paint colours)

Nico seated his chair after a jaunt across the viaduct ( its good this travelling light) and proceeded to simply cast out ( the rod was already made up - genius)



10 minutes in and a carp was on its way in.....Derek looked on.... drinking orange squash faster than i believed possible, and then standing to urinate against the bank....this was a 15 min cycle for the whole match

Despite looking like an abandoned garage car cleaner Nico began to put together some fish with Derek taking a few but tangles, health, and a snag all contrived to make it harder.

Absolute 80's played on in the background and it finished
Nico 13 Derek 8

Things learned today:

1. Derek never learns - Ale induced headache again
2. Global Warming is real - 23 degrees...April ....arms sore in three hours
3. Deckchair is a winner on feeder on those pegs
4. Maxima may not be Dels next reel line
5. Derek although professes knows little about 80's music

P.S. It was bloody hot!

Little John Lakes - Ollerton

Hat Trick of Practice Sessions - Will it pay off?

Its becoming a full time job reporting on sessions. Coot Catcher kept up the practice sessions as he headed to the Mecca of Spring Lea for a few sessions.

Day 1. Orfe

Fished at the far end. PC first into the water feeling confident after a string of victories - but now at his home venue, on the pole and the Catcher keen for revenge after two Butterley defeats - anything could happen.

PC being first in was also first into the fish. Stockies and carp followed from the off. Princess Bride got into a flow of small fish and the Catcher had zip, nothing, diddly squatt, zilch, blank. Not looking good.

PC kept them coming for an hour or so. Catcher had a decent skimmer, then very little. PC kept ahead. Then bang Catchers elastic shot out and eventually at 6lb carp came to the net. Into the lead and never looked back. PC's catch rate decreased, Princess Brides rate increased in the margins and she could have taken victory if she had better kit. But Catcher held out. Steady but not manic. Long periods of nothing with bright still and hot weather.

Day 2 Horseshoe

Fished the end of the spit. Highlights were that there are more small carp in there and still plenty of Skimmers. Ended up with a similar bag to previous day of between 20-30lb. Again steady but ended up fishing most of the time in the worst part of the day. At one point one of my legs went on the box and I nearly fell in only to be rescued by PB. Not a good look but luckily only pellets, maggots, a bit of shin flesh plus pride lost.

Day 3 Villa Ponds - Near York

Fished a nice pond belonging to friends of the in laws. Fished with Henry on the method feeder after not getting one bite on single red maggot and realising it was a carp dominated place. Method feeder and shellfish bollie did the damage. 5 fish up to 5lb and Henry had 2 of similar stamp. Coaching could be the future.



Roll on Cudmore

In the lap of the Gods

Serpent Peg 8 Tuesday 19th April 2011

8.20am kick off. A few others there but still very quiet for the size of the place. Factor 15 applied and expectation that it would reach 25 degrees. Informed by mobile weather station Nico that it was 6 degrees and rising - cold. Set up for first session on the pole this year. Double red maggot and a few skimmers, crucians and roach followed. Where were all the carp? Then to cut a long story short Zeus came down from the heavens bringing a large fog cloud with him. Lakeview descended in freezing temperatures for the next 3 hours, hands froze to the pole, hoody applied and if I'd had it coats would have as well. It was freezing!!!!!!!!!!

11.30am it started to warm up but by then the damage had been done. Fished ok , enjoyed it. Had a complete mixed bag bream, roach, barbel, crucians, quite a few small tench up to 1lb and eventually the usual carp. Weather was up and down like a rollercoaster ' life is a rollercoaster ' Nico informed me!

Carp came on the feed around 3pm on corn right up to the reeds. Had around 40 fish in the end. Steady. As one bloke said you've had more than everyone else on the lake put together.

The weather aways does us in. Roll on artic, wind, sand storms, snow and 29 degrees on the Royal Wedding.

Bright warm and 5ft deep

4 Bream, a 5lb carp, a small roach and a perch. Peg 32 nearest the car park. Either its a crap peg or the weather did me again. Bright, still and like a mirror. Scope for pole but I think you need features. Where will the fish go on such a large open water. Give it a month, post spawning, cloud, warm and a breeze it might be a different story. Didn't see anyone else catch a thing!

" Caster and a Tiny Feeder under the trees 1.1lb hooklength and Smallest Roach was 12oz"

Nicholson joined the fray for day two of the Butterley Initiation after great reports of JN catching perhaps beyond his wildest dreams ( even more vivid than the Lea Cross Tavern barmaid)

7am came around after an evening with Beverley Hills Cop 3 and a Tesco Curry....Rock and Roll...

John's day started badly when the Gypo prevention bar was across his path....The local bailiff turned up and assumed John was erecting the Waltzer for later festivities.

Derek was remarkably chipper for a man who had decided to live in Swanick with another teacher....the location had nothing to do with it of course

Three men and their Bait trudged to the rocks with Nico on 81 or ' See Saw' as it was known....All in called around 7.45 or so

The mist rolled across the lake and by 8am another pre apocalyptic warm spring day was developing, by 8.15am it was T Shirts only.

Nico struck first , John soon after with Carp of 4.-5lb a piece.....John then taking another couple....

Derek was full of tales of woe, weather, bait, close in, far out, deeper, shallower, reeds, spawning......his tip never moved.....

With John and nico taking the odd fish here and there and the temp on the climb it was proving to be a difficult day.....Butterley like a mirror and that only happens a few times a century. Derek took a bream and was again jeed up by the hope but by then the sun was making arms red.....it wasnt to be

As a side note Derek then decided to ( badly) try to fish up in the water.....worth videoing....

It finished a creditable JN 7 RN 6 DN 1 - All fish around 4-5lb....

The Waggle Dance capped a great day for Monsieur History.....again worth videoing....

Edmund Hillary climbs Mount Butterley and meets Paul Hardcastle

He lost his way early on despite the huge summit of Butterley looming before him. But a quick chat with a Ripley local (out and about at 8am?)and he was on his way with directions and having evaded being mugged. He may have been lost but he would soon find his way at the waterside. Reports from Hillary sparked Tenzing into action. A tried and tested formula of curry, beers and a late night with Chief and Wylie had done the usual damage. Up at crack of sparrows and off to Mount Butterley kitted out with mountaineering and survival kit Tenzing was ready. But only ready after applying factor 15.

Having tested out a few base camps Hillary headed toward the summit, Tenzing waving and senting off with a meeting party.

Having climbed the initial peak they set about their task.



Hillary throws out a line.




Well Tenzing had the early run of it and then Hillary set the pace. Fish after fish followed. All to pellet with cage feeder at 30 yards. Every half hour until the sun shone. Simple mature and calculated. Step by step, feeder by feeder he progressed up Mount Butterley.



As the pictures show it became a master class of skill. Accurate, consistent and sticking at it as the fish flowed. Carp PB, bream PB and roach PB in a session. Tenzing battled on but Hillary had raced off. Like a carp lost by Tenzing hours before.



A long session, a trek from Mount Butterley to Nam as PC achieved 19 fish, to Tenzing 11. Its a venue for personal bests. Hillarys biggest bag, bream, carp and roach. As well as my Tenzings. There are red letter days ahead and can you believe it - Tenzing is a local!




Overall the highlights of a PB session 19 fish average 4-5lb 80lb at least approaching the ton. There are better days to be had as it warms and we understand it. Local knowledge is key! Go sherpa!

Roy Orbison & the Shrewsbury Assassin do Folk Dance...

Bag up on Butterley

Well as the title suggests there is only one end to this epic tale. Arrived around 9am and all the pegs on the wall, some on the match stretch Swanick side and all the pegs on the Ripley side were taken - um! Well it perhaps was always going to be the rocks anyway.



Classic Butterley Bream - muscled out by those carp?



Carp coming to the net - notice the feeder.

Ended up fishing the same peg as last time. Feeder rod set up, 1 kilo of fishmeal green groundbait mixed up plus a few pellets.

It then began to rain.

It then began to blow a gale.

Waves and rain crashed against our intrepid hero.

He grasped his tiny fishing box and umbrella stick - he faced the rain.

'Ride the storm, ride it, Moby Dick will not have us this day - the white whale - see the white whale, its back, on men on' cried Captain Ahab.

Well it was quite stormy anyway.

Was bed and the warmth of a good woman a better option - was this the move of a sane man?



Match on, game on, fish on.

Well first chuck and a fish.

Second chuck and a text ' Did you bother?'

Third chuck and a fish.

Fourth chuck and a fish.

Monkey tennis, change reel, lose feeder, nearly fall in, weather a gale - you get the picture.

Slow.

Nothing

Then a fish.

Slow

Nothing

Messed around with pellet feeder.

Odd fish.



This is all you need plus groundbait, rod, reel and someone who isn't a monkey.



Well chipped away. It was steady. By about 12.30pm I'd had 10-12 fish - good decent session for 3 hours. One fish every 15 minutes. However I'd had 30 minute gaps then catch 2 or 3 quickly. Were they moving around? did I need more bait going in? Baliff popped over, I became a member with tales of the water being 'black with em!' and 'their catching them all over'.

How true his words would be.

I now got comfortable, sorted out my kit, weather became calm, reel changed, sun out and decided to fish less than half the distance out that I would usually. Method feeder, pellet and groundbait.

Well gentlemen what can I say. It just came alive. From around 1-4pm It was a fish a chuck. Small knocks would be followed by a rap around. All carp of between 3-5lb, with the exception of one 4lb plus bream. See photo.









In the end I was reluctant to go. Sun beaming and in a T Shirt. Bagging up. It was alive. Lost count of fish - easily thirty fish and my best days fishing - I would estimate I did the ton. It was madness and for £35 per year its crazy prices!

We need to get there soon while the fish are biting and the weather is good. Venue for Saturday and Sunday?

As I walked back - once again breaking my back with too much tackle - I spoke to a guy on the wall - he had had 18 carp and 1 bream and was setting up when I arrived. They are there and they are there in numbers.

'the whale, the white whale'.

TSUNAMI ON ORFE

Went for a quick 4 hour session on Orfe peg 37 was chosen midst a force 9 gale and waves lapping the sides of the lake.Didn't know whether to surf or wind sail but opted for fishing. It turned out to be a good decision, fished a swim feeder to a size 16 hook with a mixture of sensas, ringers dark and maggots for ground bait,and three red maggots as hook bait. After 5 minutes first fish came out and from then on a fish every 5-10 minutes. With the weather being so rubbish i travelled light so unfortunatley no camera. Ended the session with 12 stockies, half pound, to three quaters and fifteen carp,between one and a half and four pounds and a bonus ide about three quaters of a pound.Considering the weather conditions it was a real bonus of a session, i just couldn't seem to stop catching. It was good feeder practice for Butley. I just wished i could of fished on but unfortunately i've a novel experience tonight of a joint stag and hen do. Never heard of this before.