Spring is in the air....!

Well there are some signs of spring around the corner in Australia but not sure if these ducks have started their breeding nookie a little early just to try to keep themselves a little warmer here...it has been bleeding freezing most nights !

I got this picture only last weekend at a new venue we fished here. It's a venue some of the older anglers use to fish years back but has had fishing banned from it for a number of years now mostly because of the bad habits of a few native anglers leaving litter and leaving a hook in a swan at one time. Finally after some discussions with the local Council we have gained the sole rights to use it for the members of our newly formed club here in Sydney. We have also secured permission to fish another huge waterway just a few minutes from my home in the middle of a golf club that has never allowed fishing. It is stuffed with carp, some huge koi's as well as native fish and we're just waiting for all the paperwork to go through before we can get in there. You would not believe the paperwork needed just to go fishing here in Oz. Insurances, permit for this, permit for that, Health and Safety this, Health and Safety that............................anyway...

"NSW CARC" (Coarse Angling Research Club) is the name of our new club here....sounds really scientific doesn't it....?

Having noticed how many of the venues are getting closed from angling here because of the disregard for the local environment from mostly local anglers and the twice a year type anglers we decided that a 'fishing club' doesn't sound the best when applying to fish in the waterways with the authorities. A fishing club here in Australia is more seen as a bunch of blokes out swigging a few beers here on a Sunday and messing around, then leaving the empties (plus what other rubbish they have in their cars) behind on the bank before going to the local for the rest of the evening....Many of the lakes in local suburbs and parks are controlled by the local councils and over the last few years it seems it's cheaper just to ban fishing from them than trying to police it. There is just the one Coarse fishing club in Sydney or was, now there is two. As they only hold one match a month and a few of us were a little keener to fish other weekends as a group and have a few knock ups we decided to set up another proper club, get a members insurance cover and all the other legal stuff needed to avoid any problems with councils and also maybe show them that most coarse anglers are responsible on the water and not litter louts. We are still all remaining members of the Sydney club, but it does mean we can now have a few extra matches and already have 15 members joined plus now have a club venue to fish any time hassle free. We have just set up a new website in some hope of getting the sport a little more promoted here and are setting dates for a new club league. So far 3 other exiled UK anglers and a Croatian match angler living here recently joined that didn't even know there was any fishing here.

The more the merrier.........

http://www.nswcarc.com.au/Index.htm

It still needs some work but over the next few weeks it should be going proper and we are currently working with some dates and venues for a club league starting from next month.

Now back to some fishing.

I didn't have any match since my last blog with the Sydney coarse angling club as the next winter league match isn't till August 9th, but have had plenty of pleasure session with a few of us going out together here

The first one was at Glenwood lake were I had fished a month or so back. There was just the 3 of us but we decided to draw for 3 pegs, $10 each and see how it went ( it's hard to keep that competitive nature from match anglers...!) I had been running late that morning and called ahead telling Paul and Yorkie to go ahead and would fish whatever peg they left for me. Both had just started fishing when I got there and Paul was into a carp as I was still setting up. The J range elastics I had ordered from the UK had arrived midweek so I was keen to see how they went today. Its a shallow venue here (only about 3 ft at 13 mts) and the average size fish is 1.5 to 2 kgs so had the pink and yellow stuff in my tops to try out.

After taking about 40 mins to get set up and settled in I fed 2 balls of groundbait and a cup full of chopped worm and hemp at 11 mts while Paul who was beside me was now netting his 3th fish. I fed a margin line also but hadn't much confidence in it as the nights had been all clear skies and really cold. After 20 mins or so I had the odd liner and after another 10 mins got my first fish in the net on a piece of worm on the 11 m line. The next 2 hours I had 6 fish and pulled out of 3 foul hookers but the last hour and a half it picked up and had 8 more fish while Paul's swim seem to die on him. At the end I weighed 43lb 12ozs to Paul's 26 lbs. (that will teach them to give me the duff peg next time ......!) I had all my carp on a piece of worm or bread punch which are usually the top baits here in the colder weather. Also the yellow J elastic seemed to work perfect with a pull bung all day

Myself and Paul also had another midweek session on Caddis creek where I had fished some matches a few months back and with a big head of small fish it was perfect to give me a chance to try out the pink J elastic in my pole. Once again the cold nights slowed the fishing down somewhat but both of us had a good 25 to 30 lbs each of small carp in 3 or 4 hours mostly again on bread punch or worm although Paul did lose a few fish and rigs in a snag in his swim and packed up a little earlier than me as he was having one of them sort of days by the look of it..............After a big fish snapped his white hydro, he then snapped a hinge on his box while getting a new rig out so he reckoned it was safer to pack up or next he could see a pole section going in half.........!

Caddis creek...always a good venue

Our next session was on the new lake in the park that we got permission to use from the council for our new club. There are about 15 pegs on the main lake and it doesn't need any work at all as it's in the middle of a park and gets maintained weekly by the local council. Our new club has also offered to help with litter clean ups when we're on there. I still can't get over the way people leave so much crap behind them in the parks here in Australia. The lake itself has Carp, wild goldfish, eels, mullet and bass (and it will be getting some new little baby tench this year in the spring.., I know that for definite as I've got a few pairs in my pond ready for breeding !)

It's a cracking looking venue with a series of 2 small lakes with about 8 pegs on them all connected to the bigger lake with 15 or so pegs on it. Most of the depths average from 2 1/2 foot to 4 foot on the pole range and from 5 to 7 foot towards the middle of the lake. We haven't had a look at the smaller ponds yet for depths but would expect roughly the same. The day we fished was overcast and we had a few rain showers but it was cold, probably one of the coldest days I have fished in Sydney yet. Four of us fished and we all got off to a good start with plenty of bites and fish coming out but as the rain arrived the temps kept dropping and the fish seemed to stop feeding.

To make things worse with it being so good at the start I think we all made the same mistake of over feeding thinking it was going to be one of those baggin days. I also had another day of foul hookers after a great first hour at 6 mt I lost 4 fish in a row and then it died for me. I pick up a few later when it got hard on a small method feeder and ended up with 6 carp and 3 goldfish. Brummie Paul made the most of the first 2 hour feeding spell and continued to pick up the odd fish most of the session to finish top rod on the day with almost 40 kgs. Yorkie also managed to get a few mullet in his net with another 8 or 9 carp. Mark Dean our 4th angler on the day didn't start till later but also had 5 or 6 before it switched off. We will be back on here soon enough once the weather warms a little and it does seem to have a few fish in it

Paul with his biggest fish of 26 fish he caught that went almost 40 kgs in total

As I am just after finishing a project with work and not starting the next one for another week or so I had Friday free this week so decided to head back to Glenwood lake for a few hours. Another new club member just back from his holiday in the UK , Andrew was also fishing today. Paul had a job interview so couldn't fish but came down for a chat later and took some pics for me. I decided to fish the corner near the dam end that I had never fished before and Andrew set up next peg on my left. The depth again is uniform with all the rest of the lake I have fished so far being about 3 ft between 11 and 13 m. I had a nice even 2 foot deep in the margins both sides 1 mt or so from the bank and had brought some luncheon meat to try there at 6 m to my left later. It had been cold the previous night but the day was to warm up so after I fed my pole lines out went the bomb with punch bread for the first half hour or so. I just fed one ball of groundbait on each swim, a half cup of chopped worm, hemp and corn at 13 m and a full cup of meat and hemp in the margins and continued to throw in 2 or 3 bits of corn over it every 5 mins or so. After half an hour and just a few liners I could hear some splashing from the left of me and Andy was getting a few fish on the pole. From the few times we have fished this lake the average size of carp seems to be about 3-4 lbs. Both my rigs were . 3 grams on .16 line both to a 16 B911's and again I had my J range elastics in to try out with the green for the margins and yellow for the long line. First 3 drop ins on the margin line with a piece of corn and I had 3 liners and then had a fish almost rip the pole from my hand next drop in. After 5 mins or so I had a fish almost 8 lbs in the net. Nothing for the next 10 mins so I re fed half a cup of meat,hemp and corn there and went out on the long line for a bit.

I kindered in some hemp and worm for the first 3 or 4 put in's and then hit a fish on worm that went half way across the lake before I could slow it down. That yellow elastic don't half stretch ! After a long 10 minutes I had another fish closer to 10 lbs in the landing net. Over the next hour I had 6 more carp in the net all around 3 to 4 lbs and pulled out of 3 but was struggling a little with the yellow elastic as it seemed the cold nights hadn't slowed these fish up one bit. I wasn't losing many it was taking ages to get them in even with a pull bung. Also the wind was starting to pick up and my swim was starting to have a strong tow now to my right to I set up another top with some black hydro and a .4 gram rig. The next hour and half I had 12 more carp in the net all the same stamp size again and all on a worm head or full worm. Andy was getting fish regularly next door at this stage now as well. I was dropping a few pieces of corn in the margins all the time hoping to get a few there later and after putting my 20th fish in the net decided I had to try it. I had some liners straight away and thought this will be good. After 2 or 3 minutes of liners the float disappeared and I hit what was a snag which then started to move around slowly in circles. Another ffff...ing foul hooker I thought and tried to just move it from the swim as fast as I could.

After about 10 minutes I had moved all of about 12 inches and at one stage I thought it most be caught up in something. Eventually after another 10 minutes I started to make some headway with some elastic slowly coming back thru the pulla bung and as I got it close to within netting range could see it was a slightly biggish eel hooked in the mouth. After a struggle I finally got it to stay in the landing. It was over a meter long and weighed almost 7 lbs. I had only about half an hour of fishing time left after all the eel wrestling so went back on the long pole and got 4 more carp before I had to pack up but the swim was still full of fish at 13 m.

In the end I had 24 carp and the eel for 119 lbs in 4 1/2 hours of fishing and Andy had just over 60 lbs. This is one of the better venues here at the moment. I haven't had less than 40 lbs yet anytime I have fished it and its still winter. When you think its all natural and wild fishing it makes you wonder what the fishing would be like here if it had some sort of decent management over it.

I may just have to sneak back on here this week again for a few hours.

Some of the fish we caught ... I had tried to hold the eel up for the pic but it tried to snap on my fingers a few times so decided it was better leave it in the net......!


Am back on the racetrack venue for the final leg of the winter league next weekend so fingers crossed I get a good draw there and a few others have some tough ones........