Saturday 31 December 2011

ARBROATH SHORE MATCH - 28th DECEMBER 2011

The last shore match of the year took place at Arbroath on Wednesday in some very difficult conditions .... With the severe winds forecast there were a few call offs, however six members braved the elements and had a decent nights fishing. 

The match was to be the Christmas Hamper event run in conjunction with other clubs in the West Of Scotland region, however the  Firth Of Clyde guys called off with the weather and the five Ardrossan guys and I decided not to run the match as the clubs wanted to fish different areas.

Our members decided to head up to the cliffs to try and get some shelter from the severe winds ..... because boy was it blowing !!!  We split into two groups of three and hreaded off ....... Sandy Wason, Nico Wilson and myself headed to the area round Red Head whilst Jamie Soons, Stuart Cresswell and Robert Edmund headed to Rumness.

Our group got off to a great start when we climbed down the cliffs only to find the tide to far in to get through a cave to the fishing area ...... so it was a climb all the way back up and walk along half a mile and then all the way down again. We walked back along the shoreline and fished a coupled of gullies getting a few fish out. The westerly which was coming from behind us above the cliffs was managing to come round the headline only yards away in an easterly direction straight into our faces and was so strong you could hardly stand and keeping the rod rest from blowing over was a nightmare .......... I have never seen such conditions in all my years fishing --- still we caught a few fish.

After a struggle back up the cliff and then across the fields straight into a force 8 or 9 wind we were absolutely knackered to say the least ........ 12 rounds with Tyson would seem like a walk in the park to the way we felt !!

We all met back at Vicky Park for the weigh in ... When we arrived the other guys were already there and had a couple of Cod lying out for the weigh in ........ Yeah that'll be right >>>> Mr Cresswell then produced his bag of Cod and a bloody good bag it was ..... 9 Cod for 49lb is a cracking bag of fish in anyone's book with his best going 9lb 12oz.

The overall results were :

1st Stuart Cresswell - 49lb 6oz  .. 9 Cod  biggest 9lb 12oz
2nd Sandy Wason - 17lb 7oz .. 5 Cod
3rd Willie Kennedy - 16lb 8oz .. 4 Cod & 1 Rockling biggest 7lb 15oz
4th Robert Edmund - 8lb8oz .. 2 Cod

By all accounts Jamie was actually fishing .... And using bait !! .... Just don't know if he actually cast the bait out into the sea or not ? 

The final results for the year will be pulled together very soon and these will be updated on the website, blog and forum.

Unfortunately there are no pictures .... we only realised this when we had gutted the fish anyway it was getting late and all of our bodies were stiffening up and hurting in places that that we didn't know could hurt. 

Stu, Jamie & I stayed overnight at the travel lodge at the north end of Dundee and fished Usan for three hours the following day ..... The sea was pretty calm by then and we only managed a couple of Cod of about a pound n half each. 

I think the fishing could be damn good over there when we get some easterly winds ..... Although the forecast is saying that won't be in the next week or so.

Have a great New Year

Willie

Thursday 29 December 2011

Steven & Richard's Etive trip



The lads visited Etive in Steven's new boat a Sea Hog Commodore (with all mod cons apparently) They initially fished the priory area with plenty of Spurs to 8 pounds straight from the outset as well as Thornies to 6 pounds. They then had a move up the loch that produced some small Spurs, Dogs and this nice Ling for Richard which by now will be well scoffed!

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Final club match of 2011 and regional Xmas Hamper Arbroath area

Fishing times 2pm till 8pm with registration at 12noon at McDonalds -



£10 entry fee for the sweep - 100% payout.
Prises ...
Heaviest fish - £50 from the WOSR
Heaviest bag weight - £50 from the WOSR
Sweep - 100% payout.
Heaviest fish - 40%
Heaviest bag - 30%
2nd heaviest bag - 20%
3rd heaviest bag - 10%
Fishing times ... 2pm - 8pm
Registration 12.00pm at the McDonalds in Arbroath.
The match boundaries will be decided on the day to suit weather conditions

The troops head north as told by GG

Two days in the frozen North West
I'd been holding on to a couple of days floating holiday hoping for nice big East winds and some decent cod bashing in the far flung parts, but as we all know the weather has been a bit hash over the last few weeks. A couple of weather windows appeared between storms, so thought it a good idea to make the best of them?

Thu 15th I headed up to Loch Sunart with TheHappyHooker and his nephew Ross who was visiting from sunnier climes in Australia. The roads North were ok on the way there and we got afloat and settled for the day on a favourite mark near Salen. The bigger spurdogs have not been as abundant this year as they have over the last two years, but we managed a steady stream of fish throughout the day up to 11lb. Ross got educated in how not to get spiked and everything went well.
………….That was until about 5 minutes after we left Salen on the way home and heavy snow began to fall. By Resipole the road was completely white and by Strontian we came across a snowplough that had got stuck in the snow! We helped dig this out along with other drivers and slowly got back to Ardgour for the ferry. The road up through Glencoe was “testing” to say the least and the whiteout continued all the way to the top of Loch Lomond when it changed to heavy rain.



Sun 18th I was lucky enough to get an invite to fish Loch Etive on the Tartan Spartan. We were accompanied by Winston and The Wee Mincer who were fishing on Paisley Pete. The sweep was agreed to be the heaviest fish with the losers to buy the pints in The Drovers on the way home.

Leaving Taynuilt we turned left and headed to the West of the Loch. I had fished last week further east with very poor results. Paisley Pete was already on the mark early on and within the first hour had managed a fine spur of 9lb 5oz – a difficult target to beat.

The sunrise was quite spectacular over the cloudless hills and soon bathed the loch. Like prize eejits we thought the day would continue like this – how wrong were we? Later in the morning I managed a decent fish of 9lb 2oz, but this wasn’t good enough and was still leaving us two pints out of pocket! A few dark clouds came over from the South West and ten minutes later we were in the middle of a thick snowfall. Zippo handwarmers – you are a lifesaver. The skipper decided to head for another mark and we got settled down. Things weren’t going too well though with only a small doggie bite in the first hour. A couple of sausage’n’bacon rolls were devoured with great delight and then the fish came on. In a frantic spell we had boated three thornies and my rod buckled over with a decent spurries banging away. This one decided to take a wee tour round the other lines in the boat on the way up, but we got her on board and she weighed in at a beer winning 9lb 10oz.

Just after this, Jason had a nice thornie at 5lb, and then we saw paisley Pete sailing towards us. We thought she was joining us at the new mark, but this lily livered crew of noodle wristed big lassies decided to pack in early because their wee tootsies were getting cold and giving each other a cuddle was no longer enough to keep them warm.
More importantly, they were welching on the bet – unforgivable



Tuesday 13 December 2011

Helicopter Sunday in the boat championship @ Loch Etive

A close call in the final boat match of 2011. Some decent fish were caught  with Les winning on the day,...well done big chap! Steven was second and Jason third.

A big congratulations to Steven  for winning the 2011 boat championship, as you can see by the picture the Champagne was on ice and the tension was high.......

Hard luck to Gordon & Jason who finished second and third respectively with one point between first and second and three points between third and first. The club web site will be updated shortly with a report on the day. There might be a blog post about how things came to be won and lost ,drama involved and a Christmas night out that might just have been a deciding factor. And by the way, when did Les become a haulage contractor/skipper ???? Well done anyway Les, care in the community, always high on your agenda.





Saturday 10 December 2011

River Tay 24th Feb 2012

The club is planning a day outing to the river Tay on Friday 24th Feb 2012. It's something different at a time of year when there's not much happening other than the east coast if the weathers right  or another monotonous Etive trip....

It will be limited to 8 anglers £25 each with the option to stay a night if anybody is up for it.  As you can see by the fish pictured below there is potential to connect with what would be a cracking fish for anyone.

Speak to/email Martin

Monday 5 December 2011

Match results for 3rd Dec

1st  ... Willie Kennedy with 42 fish for 730.5pts

2nd ... Stuart Cresswell with a cod of 4lb 13oz (h'st Cod) - and 491.5pts with 14 fish

3rd ... Scott MacAleese with 9 fish for 235pts

4th ... Joint 4th with 198pts Martin & Jamie - Martin with 9 fish & Jamie with 2 Cod

5th ... John Wilson with 7 fish for 197pts

6th ... Robert Edmund with 6 fish for 115.5pts

7th ... Shane Wilson with 5 fish for 61.5pts

8th ... Chris Grant with 2 fish for 50pts

9th ... Iain Grant with 2 fish for 45pts

Next Match ... ASAC combined Regional Christmas Hamper 28th December - Arbroath Area

Sunday 4 December 2011

SW Club match December 3rd

Tough conditions again for our club match last night down in the SW but the good news was that the rain stayed off bar a brief shower here and there. Ten anglers fished  in the 20-30mph winds and a few were rewarded with some Cod. The match was supposed to have been on the east coast but as you can see there a few Cod around. Full match results to follow, but for the moment  Willie with an outstanding 42 fish winning catch and Stuart with the best Cod which was a nice fish at 4 pounds 13 oz. Ten Cod caught and the balance of the catches were made up of Flounder, Dab, Dogfish, Coalie and some nice Whiting, decent turn out, and some fish to be had.

Thursday 1 December 2011

Next match 3rd Dec

The next club match is this Saturday, please speak to/email Jamie or Martin if you intend to fish. No speedos please and pack a waterproof jacket. Ten anglers attending so far, come along, stand in the rain, enjoy the breeze, check out the wildlife and you might see the occasional fish too. The good news is you can miss Christmas shopping for another weekend! What else is there to do on a Saturday night in December? ( with no easterlies)