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Wingham Fish-In Catch Reports 2012


Steve Burke

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I've checked and found that it was bigger than the previous lake record after all (I had in mind it was higher).

 

However I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to count it as an official lake record, which remains at 4-09. I will though keep it in the Fish-In catch report at 4-13.

 

But you can certainly be justly proud of it's deliberate capture. Well done indeed!

 

Thats fine Steve I understand it cant be counted as it wasnt verified etc. Had I realised the true weight of it on the night I would have called budgie or someone to come and witness it as I knew the record would be over 4-02 but didnt actually know what it was. But as it is I am more than happy to know that had I not messed up with the scales I may well have been a wingham record holder :clap2: . A lesson learnt there. Shame I was so tired when I got up to land the eel or I wouldnt have made such a basic error. I am still totally over the moon with it and doubt I will get another larger for a long while. I have to admit though I seem to have been bitten by a strange bug while I was at Wingham as I am now thinking about a few sessions on the river targetting eels to see if I can get a few big ones out. I actually really enjoyed going for them. Who needs pesky tench :D

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Thanks for the photo, Neil. It very much looks as though it's spawned out. I suspect that the perch spawned late this year, possibly just before the Fish-In, and hadn't got their heads down yet.

 

As many of you will know we usually get a good number of big perch on Fish-Ins, including 3 pounders. A short while ago and again in a few weeks this fish would be a three.

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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Well what can I add to the thanks already given by all, Fabulous hospitality to all from the time you arrive to the time you leave.

Thanks to steve for the bacon buttie and coffee, Steve, Peggy, Terry, Glyn, Stuart... (you lucky *** !) Terry, Budgie,Tony and Sue.

 

What a great place, catching really is a bonus ( nice though :D ) Steve, should I be lucky enough to gain a spot next year could you book time to sit by me, I promise to feed and water you all day :) Glyn,thanks for picking up a sack of vitalin for me :thumbs:

 

also nice to see a few new faces and old familiar ones back again. THANK YOU ALL.

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I am still totally over the moon with it and doubt I will get another larger for a long while. I have to admit though I seem to have been bitten by a strange bug while I was at Wingham as I am now thinking about a few sessions on the river targetting eels to see if I can get a few big ones out. I actually really enjoyed going for them. Who needs pesky tench :D

 

 

As with most species at Wingham its all to easy for us to get a bit blase about the weights! A near 5lb eel is a great eel by any standards well done indeed.

 

Eels are a very strange creature indeed! I often sit/lay there at night hoping I dont get a run! but when I do the old ticker still starts racing!

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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As with most species at Wingham its all to easy for us to get a bit blase about the weights! A near 5lb eel is a great eel by any standards well done indeed.

 

Eels are a very strange creature indeed! I often sit/lay there at night hoping I dont get a run! but when I do the old ticker still starts racing!

Thank you Budgie. The first night I had 3 eels and then took my worms off the hook and went to bed as I didnt want to catch anymore. The second night I had a strange compulsion to catch more and never once considered taking the bait off in favour of sleep. Thank goodness I left it on. I think (but dont tell anyone) that I actually enjoyed fishing for them! I had put a fair amount of effort into the baiting of the area throughout the day and it really paid off. It was 2:50am when I got the run and I dont think I have ever moved as fast to get out of bed at that time of night. I have to admit I do like the fight put up by eels. They dont often scream line off the reel while playing them but they like to drop anchor and can put up a good scrap when they hit reverse gear. Its just the bit when they are out of the water that can be a pain at times. I found the larger ones much easier to unhook than the smaller ones though. :D .

 

 

EDIT: Also I forgot to thank you for the loan of the bedchair. It was a welcome resting place after driving so far and being awake for so long. Thanks.

Edited by AddictedToScopex

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Despite being able to fish Wingham any time I want and in "normal" years the early part of the year being my favourite time,I still (rather strangely I admit :rolleyes: ) regard the AN Fish In as the "start" of my season there!

 

The weather this year has been most strange and unsettled to say the least! Both the lakes over there have been very slow to "wake up".However when they did it was with a bang! All species in both lakes seem to have had a very good winter and none have lost weight over the Winter. With it all starting to happen just before this years fish in things looked very promising indeed.................however Sods Law came into play and the change (again!) in conditions killed the sport again. Us regulars accept this and although a "waste" of our limited and so very precious days know that our chance will come.For guests though its a real shame as this is their one (maybe for a few years even) chance to get among some of our monsters. But as any angler knows that's the nature of the game you just cant control/predict weather conditions so far in advance.

 

However poor fishing aside its great to see that so many guests can still see beyond the big fish and get a taste of why Wingham is indeed so loved by most of us.Just being there is often experience enough and any fishing/catches just the icing on the cake. For me I love the Fish In despite the extra work it brings as I just love meeting up with everyone both old and new.Seeing familiar faces walk through the club house door early on the Saturday morning full of anticipation is really great! (I know I'm a sad old fart!) The Milk Monitor (Steve Campbell) slaving away in the kitchen producing mountains of bacon and sausage butties makes it feel even more "homely".A nice time to catch up on what "friends" have been up to since last seen. Its sometimes hard to drag myself away and start ferrying people to their swims!

 

This year people seemed to arrive earlier than usual and as many were back for another time they knew the score and as such by an incredibly early 09.00 most were in their allotted swims and getting ready to fish! Most strange as us bailiffs and the members who had come down to help then had almost an extra day to fish our selves!

 

I had come over the lake and set up on the Friday so that I wasn't rushing around on Saturday evening (we usually get down a few days before so we can have a nice relaxed set up and a few days to fish ourselves but both Glyn and I had Hospital appointments so couldn't get over till Friday morning this year and Tels recent back injury prevented him from fishing) Glyn decided to base himself on the Course Lake and have a go for his beloved Tench (he's even got one tattooed on his back!) and I went over to the Carp Lake to try as usual for the eels. Andrew joined me as well (he's a syndicate member and also helps out with the pegging and other jobs).Andy wanted to fish for carp as he normally fishes the Coarse Lake for Tench. To make a bit more room Steve got us to go and fish the double Left and Right Orchid Swims. We can then have a bit of a social as we dont get to see each other a great deal,its handy for the clubhouse and by sheer coincidence Left Orchids (Andrews swim) has been THE hot carp swim so far this year! ;) I was in the not so often fished Right Orchids,

 

2011_06200027.jpg

 

The sun goes down in my swim on the Friday evening before the Fish in.Conditions werent to sad ...........then!

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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I fished four rods (one of my "bailiff perks"!) two with "JS" (John Sidley) rigs on and two with "CD" (Colin Dyson) rigs,both rigs obviously named after the anglers credited with developing them.The JS rig is the most basic but effective of rigs for fishing a bait resistance free hard on the bottom.

 

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It consists (as hopefully you can make out in the photo) of a 15lb mainline with a buoyant ledger stem,free running ring and 2 ozs lead running on it tied to a size 8 swivel then a few feet of 20lb Amnesia (this helps stop tangles as its a stiff "memory free" mono) with another swivel and a 35lb Kryston Quick Silver hook length. More about the hook set ups in a bit. The Quick Silver is far more "tooth" resistant than mono and a lot kinder to any other fish that takes the bait than wire. A lot of people ask about the use of wire/eels biting through mono and indeed while eel anglers use such seemingly over the top tackle (ie 3lb TC rods and 15lb minimum mono or braid equivalent) for such relatively small fish.Basically it all comes down to the simple fact that while smaller eels might not be able to bite through mono (some have far more developed teeth than others) THE eel we are all hoping for certainly would be capable of this and would definitely need tackle of this calibre to land it! But anyone who has caught a 4+ even will attest to the sheer power and strength of an eel compared to other species! I will show you a great example of this later!

 

Strangely enough eels often feed well off bottom ( I say "strangely" as anglers generally regard them as a bottom feeder).They are not allways the bottom feeding "scavenger" but often an active "hunter". Ive caught as many (of all sizes) on live baits as I have on deads. As fish baits are not allowed at Wingham I limit my self to worms on this venue.Despite this though it is still worth fish worms off bottom as well.For this I use the "CD" rig-

 

2011_06200037.jpg

 

The "CD" rig for off bottom fishing.Hope you can make it out from the photo as a diagram would have been better but I'm a bit to busy to draw one at the moment.If you forget wire and trebles a quick look at my "pike" version HERE will show the components and how the rig "fishers" in the water better. Not sure just ask.

 

So those are the two basic rigs but I will now mention the two different types of hook arrangements I was using.The first is my standard "T" system that Ive been playing with to try and eliminate deep hooking (a time old problem with eels and if honest one of the reasons many dont fish for them)-

 

2011_06200030.jpg

 

Simply a size 7 G4 ESP Raptor hook (barbless) with a length of stiff rig tube mounted across the shank like an anchor.Im not sure on the exact length of the T piece as still playing with it but I feel it needs to be worked in relation to the size (width) of the expected eels head. Simple thinking is the T stops the hook being swallowed! Still very much a "work in progress" as Ive had varied results. As I mentioned earlier the hook length is 35lb Quick Silver.Also you will notice the Quick Change link at the end.Handy for swapping hook links at night.These are from a mate of mine and this was the first time I had tried his ones as many other "carp" ones I have tried in the past are fiddly or simply not strong enough. As the bait is worms (I prefer 2-3 Dendrobaenas rather than one large Lob) I always use a bit of rubber band (or more often than not a plastic maggot these days) as a stop to save the worms wriggling off the barbless/micro barbed hooks.

As deep hooking has long been a problem with eels Ive allways (like most eel anglers) been looking at ways of avoiding this.Many years ago Newt sent me some circle hooks to try for Pike and Catfish etc.Great for cats but I didnt personally like them for Pike.However been meaning to try them fo both Perch and Eels and just not got around to it! So thought I would make the effort! So I decided to fish a CD and A JS rig with my normal hook set up on the left hand pair of rods and the same with circles on the right hand pair-

 

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Size 8 circle (cant remember the make but reccomened to me by a fellow ANer who I also cant remember! Renrag?)

 

So about 8.30 as the sun started to go down I baited up and cast out.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Normally on the Carp Lake as other syndicate eel anglers (Dales, Wyeknot) will confirm its pretty instant once the suns down until around mid night then it quietens down a bit.In previous years we've had some hectic eeling with a very high average size! in fact the best Ive ever heard of! But.......................

 

This year with the conditions being poor and deteriorating rapidly it wasn't to be.By midnight the only action I had experienced were a couple of heart stopping screamers that were pesky carp banging into the suspended lines of the CD rigs! That is the biggest problem on the carp lake getting troubled by carp! be it liners or them loving worms..........infect on other waters they can be a real problem on the small deads and live fish used as well!

 

Just before light and all hope lost I had a screaming run on my right hand bottom bait.As I fish with open bail for eels and use the line clip and totally resistance free Rollover type indicator most eel runs are like this-

 

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Zandavan Rollover indicators. Great as they have no clip to cause a "change of resistance" and automaticly "flip" off the line

 

As the run was on a rod I had rigged with a circle I resisted the urge to strike (I wont go into it here as I'm sure most are familiar with the "mechanics" of how a circle hook works?) and wound down hard.The rod hooped over and I felt that satisfying thump of a good eel. Now its not often that even the biggest of eels actually runs but you do get absolutely huge thumps on the rod,They make even a powerful 3lb TC rod feel flimsy! A couple of slight back winds of the handle simply when the thump is that hard is the only line actually taken.This eel felt good! I had cast the rig about 70m to a 4' deep area (I have no idea what features/depths etc eels like so just vary where I put baits!) as such it was becoming hard work to get this eel in! As the fight progressed I started to really believe this was going to be "my 8"! ( among eel anglers an 8 is regarded as a major achievement and massive milestone to break) The power was amazing and I was cacking my self that the fine wire circle hook would hold up! I was starting to tire let alone the eel! Having had near 200lb Catfish and 80lb+ carp my estimation of this fish was going up after every painful metre of line was recovered.Still no runs just massive powerful resistance and heavy unbelievable thumps on the rod! I had even started to seriously consider that this might be THE eel! Surely even an 8 couldn't fight like this (PB 7.2)? And sadly it couldn't............ :rolleyes:

 

As I flicked the head light on as the "eel" came under the rod top I saw the flash of a flank deep down,but there are no bream in here I thought as surely only a 20lb + bream would fight like this? :confussed: As Andrew (at last thankfully awakened by the commotion and now at my side with the landing net) lifted the net all became known....a blooming great Mud Pig! :angry: I was absolutely shattered both physically and mentally...not to mention totally done! :rolleyes: We unhooked the circle (just nicked in the hard lip as they inevitably are) easily and we let my unexpected visitor rest for a while in the net while we prepared the weighing/photography gear.I say "we" but really should say Andrew as I was physically incapable of doing anything.On the scales she went just over 44lb but once the maths were done for the sling we settled on 43lb dead.

 

I mention the 44lb as despite the disappointment I felt that figure kind of put it all into perspective for me.Despite having caught carp double that size abroad for the bulk of the years I fished and indeed when I was a real keen carper that figure of 44lb (Dick Walkers old Redmire record) was very much the figure we all aspired to and dreamed of beating...it was now a "nuisance fish" to me! Jeeze how times have changed and what an ungrateful old **** I am! Poor old bruv would have cut his bits off to land that! No maybe not what I was after,maybe not a creditable capture considering it was accidental,maybe a complete mind blower as it "conned" me into thinking I had the Mother of all Eels but hey great fun all the same and another good tale to add to the repertoire! :D

 

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43lb "The Mother of all Eels"!! ;)

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Well I did go onto get a few eels including a new lake record of 5lb 10 ozs (much to Glyn the previous holders relief!) and as usual the few I did get were a good average (in fact great average) size. It just wasn't good conditions. We all noticed that we were all catching them quite late in the night (all after rather than before midnight I believe) so must have been down to conditions.

 

Interestingly enough all my "real" eels :rolleyes: came to off bottom baits.

 

Best of all though is that the circle hooks worked well the only one I took on a circle being very neatly hooked in the very tip of the bottom jaw........................however all my eels were on this occasion (in fact so was Andrews on a maggot rig with just a plain hook!) so need a lot more to draw any conclusions.But looking very promising. A good thing was also the carp clearly showed that despite the fine gauge wire that I was worried about (especially when you consider the heavy tackle used and rather "bullying" style of playing that needs to be used) they were more than up to the job. And that leads me onto some thing you might find interesting rather nicely!

 

On the Saturday night I had the only eel I lost.It wasn't particularly massive at around the normal (for the lake) 3-4lb mark but as I went to net it the mesh had caught on the staging.I couldn't lift the net and the eel took advantage of this and backed out of the net.As it was lip hooked it caught the hook in the spreader cord and became snagged on the net.While I was trying to unattached the netting it made good its escape................and this is how-

 

2011_06200029.jpg

 

And I'm sure you will agree that's (or was!) a pretty meaty hook! And people wonder why I fish for eels!

 

So a bit of a strange one this years Fish In! but as usual a great time,great company and even greater BBQ! Made even greater by the fact it will be my last ever one as once Ive had my by pass later this year my days of "porking out" will be over! Well as a bailiff there its a bit daft of me to thank bailiffs or even Steve for letting us fish there! but there are still some that must be mentioned!

 

"Team Groombridge"! all Tel and Kim's kids allways throw them selves into helping out at Wingham but the special mention has to be for Sam.Not only dis she run around the whole weekend making tea and generally helping but the weekend before was gutting out the clubhouse (including the "Bait Freezer that time forgot"!) the weekend before! Peggy goes without saying as despite the busy time shes been having with the recent home move she not only did us proud with our BBQ's but also a lot of the back ground Admin as well. Thanks also to all you ANers who made the event what it is a contributed to out "Bailiffs Box" to help cover the fuel expenses.Hope to see you all again next year.

 

Said I wasn't going to thank Steve but I feel there is one thanks he has to get and that's THANK YOU VERY MUCH for creating such a terrific fishery in the first place mate/boss!

 

And as I sit here reflecting oh the pi$$ poor conditions we had the suns out (as promised) and the high pressure is moving back in! few more days and it will be time for me to pick up the Tench rods and return to the bank! One year you guys have got to get lucky with the conditions. :rolleyes:

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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