Wingham Fish-In Catch Reports 2012

[badexcuseforanangler]

Will start of with a huge thankyou to everyone that makes the trip to Wingham possible I can't remember all the names but you know who you are

 

I arrived Friday afternoon to miss the carpark that is the M25 and a silly oclock start on Saturday morning.

Met up with Andy and Budgie that were just setting up on the carp lake nice to see them again after a two year break from Wingham

 

Steve took me up to show me my swim for the weekend to save a bit of time the next morning morning then it was back to the club house for some food and an early night.

 

The morning arrived and I was first in the queue for a lift to my swim

 

My swim was at the top end know as right canadian. Things looked really good a southwesterly wind blowing into the corner of the lake I was sat in its where I would of picked if I had been doing the chosing.

Steve told me the main features and looking at the google maps photo I picked a few features to fish. Turns out there was quite a bit of weed in the area infront of me a couple of spots were not as thick but had to be very carful not to pull the feeder or lead back too much.

 

The fishing was bit slower than what I would have liked but it was just great being at Wingham nice to relax away from work for a weekend.

 

I managed one pike about 2lb in the end this was one pike that took the worm rather than the feeder that was chased many atime as I reeled in.

 

I decided a change of tatics on the last night as things were not happening risking the chance of getting eeled out I decided to put some chopped worms in the ground bait, testing in the margin when it hit the water it lost all its colour and realy stood out which didn't look good so need to darken it up some how. Thank you Mr Mole I remembered some mole hills on the way to the peg so off I went and colected some nice dark soil to the mix !

The last night I even left a worm out on one of the rods to get some action other than just the pike but to no avail I cast settle down to have nap and it was 7am the next morning !

I swopped both rods over to running feeders with the chopped worm groundbait and soil for the last few hours at Wingham for this year. At 8am I had a huge line bite (rods up in the air with long bobbins) bobbin went up and down 3 times then a fourth it went much quicker (I should of sat on my hangs) I didn't I picked up the rod Struck into thing air

I didn't need Steve to tell me what I thought he just confirmed looks like I had the bream in my swim, If only I had sat on my hands !

 

Bite less for another 3 hours

 

Another great year at Wingham - Catching is just a bonus!

[AddictedToScopex]

Just got back to sunny Preston from windy and overcast wingham. On the first night I had 3 eels to 3-02. The lack of tench showing on my side of the lake influenced me to make a concerted effort for the eels on the second night. I am glad I did as I caught my first specimen sized eel at 4lb 2oz (now known to be 4lb 14oz!) as well as two others at 2lb 6oz. Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and got to witness a lovely looking 15lb pike for JK who was on the swim down from me. Shame the tench decided not to show for me although I did have a dropped run on a yellow popup boilie on the second night that I would put down to a tench or pike. All in all it was well worth the effort travelling down and I was rewarded with a pb specimen eel for my troubles.

 

 

EDIT: Just had the shock of my life while looking at the pictures of my eel. I hadn't zeroed the scales!!! I meant to check them this morning as I had a feeling I hadnt when I went to bed that night after unhooking and returning the eel. Looking at the photos they are 12oz out. I have just got them out of the car and checked them again and they are still 12oz out. This means the eel was actually 4lb 14oz!!!!!!!!! I am totally over the moon. I weighed the eel in a plastic bag so if anyone can tell me how much that would weigh I can subtract that amount from the eel and have a definite final weight. I have added the photo below for your viewing pleasure. The eel was so thick. The picture just doesnt do it justice. I knew it was a good size but I didnt know it was that good!

 

The eel:

 

 

The un zeroed scales:

 

 

The eel groundbait:

 

 

The rig:

 

 

The view:

 

 

 

Big thanks to Steve and the crew for a great weekend and for all the effort they put in. Was good to see the usual faces and some new ones. Shame the conditions didnt favour a good catch of tench.

Edited May 21, 2012 by AddictedToScopex

[Dales]

Thanks Steve for giving me a place and many thanks to Peggy for some fine BBQ's and cheers lads and Sam for all the work getting the place ready. the work you all put in is appreciated. Plus many thanks Steve C for the bacon sandwich, a cracking way to start the day

 

I don't have a great deal to report on the catch front. Steve put me in a cracking looking swim but I failed to do it justice. I had high hopes of getting some big eels. I managed 2 both coming late at night both around 2.30/3.00 am and weighing 3-07 & 3-02 and had a few nuisance Jacks of around 2lb. It was a very odd experience to leave worms baits out all night and still reel them in the next morning still intact.

 

As usual it was nice to catch up with familiar faces and meet a few more AN members. Well done to all those who caught in testing conditions, it looks like we should take tagged along with Tony and Sue for a bit of Trout fishing on Sunday afternoon

Edited May 22, 2012 by Dales

[Steve Burke]

This means the eel was actually 4lb 14oz!!!!!!!!! I am totally over the moon. I weighed the eel in a plastic bag so if anyone can tell me how much that would weigh I can subtract that amount from the eel and have a definite final weight.

 

Obviously it depends on the plastic bag and whether there was any water in it. If not the weight will be almost nothing. If you deduct 1oz you're probably about right, which makes the eel 4-13. It's not a lake record, so this is the weight I'm going to record in the catch report in post 1 of this topic.

 

An unfortunate mistake to make on a PB, and one that you'll probably never make again.

 

However many congratulations on an excellent specimen deliberately caught!

[J.K]

As has already been said a MASSIVE thank you goes out to the Wingham crew for organising the event, the young and not so young

 

Landed two pike, one of 15lb and another literally on my last cast of 8lb while waiting to be picked up.

 

Thanks for the piccy AddictedToScopex

 

Ok the fish may not have come out to play but it was great fun and will be back again in the future.

[AddictedToScopex]

Obviously it depends on the plastic bag and whether there was any water in it. If not the weight will be almost nothing. If you deduct 1oz you're probably about right, which makes the eel 4-13. It's not a lake record, so this is the weight I'm going to record in the catch report in post 1 of this topic.

 

An unfortunate mistake to make on a PB, and one that you'll probably never make again.

 

However many congratulations on an excellent specimen deliberately caught!

 

Thanks Steve. It was just a standard asda bag. I dunked it first and then upturned it to empty it and then slipped the eel in. I think an ounce is probably about right for the drops of water left. Still 4lb 13oz is more than enough for me. As you say it was caught by design and this is what makes it so satisfying. You really whetted my appetite when you visited that night and mentioned that a 4lber is classed as a specimen which made me even more keen to get one. I am feeling the affects of it today. That one came at 2:50 am and I had already been up 3 times by that point with the 2 eels and the dropped run. Well worth the lack of sleep though. Thanks Steve.

 

J.k No probs mate. It was a lovely looking fish. The picture really doesnt do justice to the vibrance of the colours. Nice to hear you got another. Must have been predator corner where we were.

Edited May 21, 2012 by AddictedToScopex

[Steve Burke]

Post 1 updated to I hope include all the catches I know about. If I've missed you or got it wrong please post here.

 

Overnight (except for those targeting eels) it was a bit of a grueller, and the conditions were no better today . It was certainly cold, which is not surprising given the fresh, gusty northerly wind. Late afternoon the sun weakly made an appearance from time to time, and the wind swung to the NW. I even saw a tench roll in Logs then, exactly where Rik had baited up for his eels!

 

Unfortunately the weather badly spoilt the catches. I really feel for the guests as Wingham had been fishing its head off, including last weekend, and indeed just the day before when the Carp Lake produced another 2 40lb+ commons. Now everyone's gone home the weather is improving again! Syndicate members are OK as they can fish it any time, but guests of course get only 1 opportunity a year and have to take their chances. It's a shame that after 5 successive years of fabulous catches the weather has given us a mediocre and a poor year. However everyone seemed to enjoy the event and the venue.

 

So congratulations to all who recorded PBs, particularly in such difficult conditions.

 

Please keep the reports coming!

Edited May 21, 2012 by Steve Burke

[J.K]

Steve, any chance you could post a link, picture of how you put the bobbins together ? Think I will make a few up for myself as they seemed to work well. Should give me a chance to experiment and learn to read them a little better.

 

Im sure I missed a few fish due to not knowing what the bobbin was telling me, was only after our chat I started to understand what was going on but it was too late as the fish seemed to vacate the area

[Steve Burke]

Steve, any chance you could post a link, picture of how you put the bobbins together ? Think I will make a few up for myself as they seemed to work well. Should give me a chance to experiment and learn to read them a little better.

 

Im sure I missed a few fish due to not knowing what the bobbin was telling me, was only after our chat I started to understand what was going on but it was too late as the fish seemed to vacate the area

 

Go to http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Ultimat...lt#entry1905416. That post describes the components and the one a little earlier on the same topic shows a picture.

 

Some of us were discussing bobbins in the clubhouse today and engineer Paul Westcott (tincatinca) suggested an improvement that I'm going to incorporate. That is to attach a snap swivel to the hole in the Gardner line clip and tie the wire to that. This will avoid having to twist the catapult elastic to line the bobbin up in use. Now why didn't I think of that!

[Inspector Gadget]

Steve, a big thanks to you and everyone involved in this years' Wingham Fish-In. As promised, piccy of my new PB tench of 9lb 4oz attached below. Thanks again, tight lines, Gadget