USA match diary

Back to back flops........!

2006-06-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well after my last blog things were looking good for me here in a few matches......Oh how long they don't last and you quickly come off the little cloud you can be on.....!
I don't have the full results yet for the club champs. But all I can say is things just didn't go according to plan for me on both days. The first day match was fished on Naperville police station pond and the day started off bad with me sleeping it in and having myself and Paul who was traveling with me late for the draw by about 1 hour and we had about 40 mins to get set up when we did get there...I had drawn peg 8 and Paul was on 9 and when I seen we were fishing the deeper section 40 mins was lots of time as I had decided just to fish 2 lines anyway....There was a strongish breeze blowing slightly to the right or straight at me (it would change a little) but the pegs were close enough together for this match so I had decided to fish at 11 1/2 mts....In pleasure fishing here you can catch carp close in like 5 to 8 mts but I always find in matches they stay a little further out....This of course proved to be the wrong decision and the last hour was the wrong time to cop on to this ....I set up 2 rigs for the long pole at 11 1/2 mts at which I had almost 10 feet of water at....One was a 1 gram for fishing just on the bottom and the other was a 2 gram just incase the wind got up and I could set it well over depth to hold against the drag.....It is very open around this lake we fished and a tow can develop quick enough on it....Another thing is the bottom here as it is a man made lake it seems to be bowl shaped in depth too and just gets deeper and deeper as you go out and levels off at about 12 to 14 Ft at 20 or so meters.....It starts at 2 Ft deep at 2 mts and then almost 10 Ft at 11 mts so you get the idea.I also set up a whip at 3 mts for the bluegills but didn't think I would be using it too much as they are small in here and if someone starts to put a few carp together then you will need a lot of the little buggers to keep up with them. I cupped in 5 small balls of groundbait and some hemp/corn at the start on the long pole and kept dropping a few maggots and some cloudbait in on the whip line..After 40 mins all I had was a few gills and some liners but Mirek on the peg to my left had a carp and I could just see one or 2 elastics being stretched on the other pegs around the corner to my left so decided to sit it out and see....After 2 hours I had just 1 small carp and about 15 gills and could still see they were catching on the other side but didn't really have much signs of fish either on the long pole.....Out on the whip and it was a bluegill a chuck so I said I would just stick with them and maybe get into the top 3 or 4 and hope for something in tomorrows match.....15 mins later the swim just died suddenly and that usually means a carp or cat has moved in, quickly threw my whip on the bank and out with one of my top 4's with the long line rig and some corn on it....40 secs and bang the elastic went out and out and out and ping............My hook pulled out....I wasn't sure but I think it was a big cat more than a carp as the carp are small in here and manageable to land but I have got cats well over 10 lbs here and they can be real goers on the first run they make....After a while the gills moved back and I had cupped some corn and pellets just outside my whip line at 5 mts to see of anymore came in...I fished over this for the last 40 mins and hooked 3 carp and got 2 in the net for a total of just shy of 15 lbs for 4th on the day...Derek who's elastic I had watch being out of his pole for most of the 4 hour match landed 13 carp for 47 lbs I think got 1 point and had a good weight advantage over everyone for day 2 which was fished on Bear lakes...Penny who was second had 1 small carp and a lot of gills for 27 lbs for second and Trevour just went over the 15 lbs with 5 small carp to nip in front of me for third...The lake didn't fish as well as I thought it would but on a lot of the venues here the carp are still spawning or just finishing off and I think that is having an effect on it at the moment.......

Trevor's 3 rd place catch on day 1...................................

If the fishing was a little off the first day on the 2 day match then it was certainly fully off or the carp at least were fully switched off for this one
I had pleasured fish this lake a few times in the last few weeks as it is also going to be the venue for the US opens later in the year and is with 35 mins drive from my house here....All 3 times I fished here I had lots of small carp up to 6 lbs in close,long pole and on the waggler or feeder too....There is an abundance of bluegills too and 40 to 50lbs is possible if an angler set his stall out purely for them and ignored the carp....However as Derek had such a weight advantage and I was pretty convinced he would fish for carp again and I was also pretty convinced we would catch a few today I chose to ignore the gills and go all out for carp again...It seem perfect.....There was a little drizzle,a nice steady breeze putting a nice ribble on the water and a few fish rolling as we set up...I drew peg 5 in the middle and had Derek to my left and Elise to my right
I fed a line at 8 mts to my right just on the drop off with some pellets and a few pieces of paste (which I got a few carp on here pleasure fishing ) and another one at 12 mts straight out with some groundbait, a few pellets and corn......Also a close in whip rig was set up and a few maggots dropped in for a few gills to start with.....A small feeder was also set up just incase for later....
I got a few gills at the start just to keep my net from being empty and then sat for 2 hours once again on both lines with no carp....!...However as I got see and hear neither was anyone else catching any along the lake.....I had been constantly feeding my whip line with a few maggots all the match and said I would try the feeder first just to see.....After 5 quick casts I got 2 little perch and a gill but then struck and pulled out of a carp...I fished it for another 20 mins to no avail and had watched Elise beside catch a lot of gills so decided to join her for the last hour and see what weight I could do.....I was getting one a chuck as fast as I could get it in there and had them feeding just a few inches under the surface and at the weight in had just over 15 lbs of them.....Didn't I say somewhere earlier that 40 to 50 lbs was possible here.....?......It certainly was a weekend of hindsight for me in the 2 matches and I ended up in 4 the again and I think also 4th overall with Elise just beating me for 3rd by getting 2nd place today with 26 lbs of gills.....Penny however had won today with over 30 lbs of gills on the higher pegs at the other end and with Derek finishing 3rd with the only carp caught and gills for 24 lbs meant that she was to win the club champs this year on points with a 2 and a 1 score for 2nd and 1st each day...Well done Penny and she must have had well over 350 bluegills in 8 hours of fishing to get those weights too....Myself and Paul also took a walk over the other side of the lake after the match to see a lot of carp in a shallow bay spawning still so I think its definitely the reason why we had a poor weekend carp wise here.
The full results should be up on the CBA website (check it in my links section) soon for anyone that is interested and sorry not to get any more pics up but I got my camera wet here on the second day match and it is still out of order...Also I have now joined up with the JJCAC and am helping them get a new match fishing section set up....We are going to be holding a few knockups here in the next few weeks so I will also post those for anyone interested and also a new website soon too....
Our next CBA match is back on Barth pond here in July and with all the hindsight I have acquired after this weekend (which is as always great to have "After" a match or should i just say it in the words of Homer Simpson......Duhh....!) , I am strongly thinking of turning up for this one with just my whips, some cloud groundbait, maggots and bluegill rigs and ignoring all the carp and catfish, well they have been ignoring me anyway it seems but it would be interesting just to see if an angler didn't waste time on the long pole or feeder,etc, and went all out for the greedy little buggers what sort of weight would be possible in 4 hours.....?
till next time............

A Charity weekend

2006-06-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

A charity weekend.............Is this weather jinx we have here for the weekends ever going to let up....? Paul had talked me into fishing what is now in it's 12th year here and is a local fund raiser on a venue in a western surburb of Chicago.....It was going to be a little different than most of the matches I have ever fished as they have some difference in rules that i normaly fish to.....First it is just the heaviest fish that counts and wins, you get to pick your peg on the lake, you can groundbait as soon as you are there and also you can fish with 2 rods too.....Sounds like a specimen carp match ?...Well it would but the average size of the carp in this venue , which is really just a surburb pond here, was about 4 to 5 lbs....So what the hell I couldn't lose in this one ...Or so I thought...!
I left the house at 4 30 am to pick up Paul and make the 40 min or so journey to the venue on sat morning...We were at least going to be sure to have a choice of pegs to choose from...But it had rained heavily from about 2 am and continued right up till and after we got there, and continued,and continued, and continued....I got soaked right thru just walking the lake as it got daylight just looking at swims first and then again after changing clothes and getting to my swim to set up....We both pick 2 swims each side of a tall reed bed at the shore on a corner of the lake thinking we wouldn't have any interference from locals later as we bagged up trying to cast between us...It continued to rain as I set up and plumbed my swim......I had 5 Ft at 11 mts, and about 3 Ft at 8 mts and the lake was up about 8 inches and rising still at this stage...I had seen a few fish roll all around so thought it would still fish despite the cold rain. I was all ready to go at 7 30 and fed an 8 mt line to my right in 3 Ft of water towards the reeds with some pellets and corn and an 11 mt line straight out in 5 Ft of water with some groundbait,a few micro pellets and a few pieces of corn too and I decided to drop some pellets just past the end of my net in 2 1/2 Ft of water as I had seen a carp just cruise right in there too....I first fed all this and then went of to pay my entry fee...We fish from 8 till 3 .....Crazy or what....?....
I practicably ran back from the registering to get to my peg to start bagging and went straight out on the 8 mt line with a piece of corn and waited.....10 mins and nothing......! Right try the 11 mt.....10 mins and nothing....hmmm end of my net rig...10 mins and nothing again...Paul either who was almost in front of me on the corner also had nothing to show...After almost an hour Paul hooked into and landed a small carp on the pole and shortly after I got a few small gills I then hooked one and had the hook pull out....At last they are coming ...I waited almost another 45 mins, at which stage Paul had 3, for another bite and again the hook pulled...I changed up from a size 14 to a 12 and tried the feeder for a bit only to bump of another...Now I was getting frustrated....After 3 hours Paul had about 6 or 7 fish landed and lost a few too but all I could get was some little gills.....Not even any liners....At about 1 pm I set up a waggler to try a little further out and nearer to Pauls swim....Well there didn't seem to be any rule about this either so why not....It's all about adapting on the day to me....LOL...I couldn't just get all the way over to it but didn't matter anyway as I still couldn't get a bite and by 2 pm I had sort of lost interest in catching anyway as my swim I choose seemed to be a grave yard....Paul was getting them regular now and had about 12 to 14 fish...I could have moved swims but between getting soaked thru twice already and all my gear in a mess I just didn't feel up to re setting up again and decided to call it a day and head over to see him catch for a bit....The fact that everything was wet thru also accounts for no pics here from the day either as when I took my camera out it too was all fogged up and wet....By 3 pm Paul had about 16 fish and the heaviest went 5 lbs 12 oz I think and got him 2nd place , some local kid got a 10 lb'er out on a worm in the last hour to win it....It was fun thou and there was lots of stuff after with raffles, free food and all sorts of give away prizes but was certainly a different sort of match for me.....Maybe had it been a pegged draw I would have chosen a better swim randomly in the draw....LOL ...who knows ?

The next day Sunday was the annual Fish for a Wish event held on Lake Arlington which is a venue I had mentioned in a previous post here...All the proceeds from this go to the Make a Wish Foundation here in Illinois...17 anglers fished including some in the younger age categories and a few from the CBA also in the open section...
I had fished here one afternoon last week as I worked nearby on a job and got finished early and just happen to have my gear in my jeep with my tools ....we all know how that goes ....I had lots of gills and roach but also a few carp to 8 lbs as they come into the bays here spawning...I had also got smashed by a few too and this is one lake where I would usually ignore fishing for them as they are always so unpredictable in feeding and so so hard to land...Plus I had about 45 to 50 lbs of gills in about 3 hours on the 3 mt whip so that had seemed a better bet for the match.....However when I drew peg 16 which was out of the bay and into the main lake and I found I only had about 2 foot of water out as far as 8 mts I was wondering if the gills will stay in here for the match which was just a 3 hour affair..Or even come into feed that close in the shallow at all...I set up a 3 mts and 5 mt whip in case I had to switch over and back...They can be easy catch but do move about and esp in shallower swims as you hammer them out...By fishing the 2 lines I thought I may keep them going by resting one every once in a while....I set a heavy .25 mm rig also on my old black magic top 5 just in case any carp moved in on the feed too on the whip lines.....With a vespe solid 22 at least I could water ski for a few seconds as they take off on that first run before they would break me.....!..Just before the start I also decided to try this rig on the pole at a full 11 mts and with only 3 Ft of water I would be almost at 16 mts because of the rig being on a top 5 like a whip and decided to loosefeed some pellets and corn on it close to a weed bed I found....
At the all in ( this was fished to full proper match rules by the way ) I fished the whip for the first 20 mins and was getting gills but felt they were just in and out and not staying in the shallow water long....At the end of the first half hour I proberly had about 8 lbs of gills in the net by switching lines and decided to try the long pole and see what was there while constantly feeding loose maggots on the whip lines....1st put in a gill straight away,then another,then a roach, and then nothing.....That was a sign of carp as I had noticed a pattern here esp with the spawning carp....While the roach are not too big in numbers here on this venue I think the ones that are here hang with the carp when they spawn here, everyone I hooked last week in practice was just after the gills would back off and then catch a roach or 2 and then bang a carp...I switched to double corn and 2 minutes later got a bite, lifted my pole into it gently and whoosh !......It took off out the lake and ping !!! .....My hook straightend...And it was a kamasan animal eyed 12 too.....I know there are some real lumps in here as last year I walked around the lake and seen some fish well into the 20's and possibly 30's cruising around...Getting them out is another thing thou....I re fed some more pellets and went back on the whip for another 25 mins and got another 5 to 6 lbs out before switching to my pole again...This time no bites from gills or anything but about 45 secs later I was off again after getting another sail away bite.....I almost got my water skis on this time and held this one for at least all of 40 secs before it smashed my rig....! Right enough of that, threw the pole behind me and out came my waggler rod from the holdall...I hastily set up a small 5 BB waggler on 6 lbs maxima straight thru to a 10 animal hook...I loose fed some pellets and a little corn again and back on the whip for abit...It was a lot slower this time with the gills and I decided to fish it on till the last 40 mins and then stay on the waggler for a lump up till the end...Elise who was pegged next to me had stayed on the whip for most of the time and certainly had me beaten with small fish...I reckoned I had about 12 to 15 lbs so she had at least 18 to 20 lbs and I didn't think I would catch here with the speed I was catching on whip now....
50 mins to go....I couldn't wait..LOL..Out went 3 pieces of corn on the size 10 on the waggler and for the next 3 casts all decent bluegills , all 3 adding to more than 1 lbs total, maybe I could catch up afterall...Next cast not a touch and after 2 mins bang here we go again...Except this time it can run as far as it wants to, well at least 100 mts anyway before my spool emptys, but it didn't....After a short enough battle I netted what I first thought was going to be a small carp but turned out to be almost 10 lbs...I continued on the waggler till the end but no more carp but plenty of gills and a lot bigger stamp than I was catching on the whip too....
At the weigh in Elise had over 22lbs of gills in 3 hours which was great going and well done to her, my "small" carp of almost 10 lbs added to my 18 lbs odd of gills however just edged her out to 2 nd place with 27lbs 6 ozs and I got my first back to back wins here of the season (well counting proper matches anyway) as the bay itself didnt fish too well for gills but most there hooked and lost a few carp also....I really enjoyed this match and will be back here again for a session or 2 to see about getting a few more of the biggies out
Speaking of biggies ..Myself and Paul also hit one of the habours here of Lake Michigan one evening in search of some 20' and 30's ...I managed 3 runs but broke off on one and two hook pulls on the others all on the BCUK aniseed and shrimp bollies....Paul did manage to land a few mid teens including the bigest in the pic below....18 lbs I think it was ...but we seen lots of fish cruise around...the spawning isnt over yet so we may have another crack at them soon and will keep you posted....It was enjoyable to fish also with out the presure of a match for a change and just sit and enjoy the weather (which was beautiful as it was a wens and not a planned matchday here.....) and the scenery around the lake and city is nice too......
ok enough of the sloppy stuff....next weekend is the CBA club champs on 2 different venues on sat and sun...Naperville pond and Bear lakes....the second one is also the venue for the US opens later in the year so it should be interesting to see how it fishes....I have fished both here recently and all produced plenty of carp and lots of gills too to a few different methods but the carp are small on both places (average 4 lbs)...so I wouldnt bet against an angler winning by just setting his stall out for a netfull of gills as 50 to 60 lbs of 3 to 5 oz fish is quite possible on both venues on a short whip if you get them going...but I aint saying anything else for now.....!....untill next time.............

Paul with a mid teen fish from the habour we fished of lake Michigan

Bear lakes which is one of the venues for this weekends CBA club champs....It is also going to be the venue here for the US opens 2 day event in August

My own winning 27 lbs 6 ozs net in the "fish for a wish" event on lake Arlington

2006-05-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Haven't been on here for a bit as I was away for a few days to West Virgina but I still got some fishing in.
we had planned for a club match with the MAC at barth pond again on may 13th but a cold front moved in ...Again,what a spring...And we also had some heavy cold rain...Combined with it being mothers day weekend here in the states I think a few weren't able to get out for this one....4 of us still had a friendly match on the venue but it didn't fish all that good with the extra cold water in there and the temps dropping from the 70's the week before to the mid 30's a few days before....No carp or cats showed at all but the greedy little bluegills and a few shiners(roach) did....
I messed around mostly for this match trying different rigs for catfish but had nothing to show for almost 2 hours then went on the whip for the last 2 hours at 3 mts where I had been feeding from the start and got 28 lbs of gills for first. Paul had 21 lbs also in the last 2 hours on the whip as he too had messed with different methods for a bit..We had 2 new anglers also join us and they done well to to get 15lbs and 9 lbs of small fish also on the whips....
some pics on here also
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d136/irishangler/barth%20pond/
I also fished a session on naperville pond here as we have a few matches there later in the year and there are some pics are also on that link too.....

my next match then was the CBA's third league match which was held at Lincoln park lagoon.I really needed a good result on this one having just got a 4th and 7th so far in the previous matches.The venue itself is a little rowing canal which is connected to a habour of the main lake Michigan very close to downtown Chicago.From April to July each year the carp come in to the canal to spawn and it can be solid with fish and big ones at that.I had fished it a few times last year and had 88 lbs in one 3 hour match there (just 6 fish). I managed to sneak down on the wens before the match for a few hours practice and found there were a lot of carp in there but once again getting some of them in was a problem...I hooked 13 but landed just 6 on pellet or corn despite using my old black magic pole with a vespe 22 elastic in it...I still had 2 fish almost max that out and had a few break off with a .22 fox micro line too.I fished in close for small fish with maggot for a half an hour also and was happy to be able to get a bluegill or roach almost every cast along with some small bass and even a small salmon.This was just in case the carp had just love making on their minds and it turned into a struggle match...I also came down to have a look on fri morn as Paul had been fishing it for a few hours with Tracy and he also had fish lining up on the pole at 7 to 8 mts...althou they seemd a lot smaller than usual but were a lot easier to land

9 anglers turned out to fish this match and the weather had finally settled into summer here...I hope..With a nice breeze and temps to hit the high 70's during the day.We had 2 new anglers fish with us so we let them have both the end pegs to draw from and at the draw I drew peg 7 with Peter Wolan on my right on 6 and his brother Robert on 8 to my left...Was I in for a right hammering or what...?
I set up just 3 rigs for the one pole line at 8 mts all on .25 line to 12 and 10 hooks....I was not taking any chances today....My rigs were 1 gram,1.5 gram and 2 gram...The reason for the different weights is that the canal itself changes flow every 20 to 30 mins as boats go in and out of the habour and also changes from left to right and I have found that you need to keep the bait still on the deck all the time for these fish here.I had about 5 feet of water at 8 mts and fished about 4 inches overdepth to start...I set up a feeder and a baggin waggler just in case as last year I did have a lot of fish there on the feeder way out too...I was just going to use my top 3 and the one gram rig for small fish if it turned out to be a hard match and set up a whip later if I needed to....If one angler got a carp at all in the first hour then I had no choice but to stay at them also as 7 or 8 lbs of small fish still wouldn't be enough to beat an average carp in here...I had got lots of bites on pellets in practice so decided to feed this with some corn instead of maggot and also to try and avoid the small fish (thank god I didn't avoid them all...More later in the results)...I had also noticed that the carp really came in fast on balls of groundbait being thrown in instead of cupping it and at the start I balled in 8 balls with just a few grains of corn in it and cupped in 1 big pot of 4 mm BCUK hi attract expanders and continued to loosefeed a few 4 mm BCUK gtx and hi attract feed pellets around my float every 15 mins in the hope the noise would attract them...I wanted to try out the GTX range and had got a few fish on them in practice and thought they would do well as the water had finally warmed up...My groundbait was a mix of equal parts of BCUK hi attract crumb,some milena (chickfeed)which it seems the carp love here too and a little crushed hemp...I added some BCUK gtx liquid additive also to my mix
I got a bluegill on corn withing 20 mins but had no carp or carp activaty in my swim at all...hmm give them a while I thought....Derek and Mirek had started hooking in to a few at the other end and then Paul also so I though eventually they will move down.Peter on my right then got one or 2 out towards the end of the first hour as also Robert had started to catch now too....hmm no need to panic just yet...
15 mins into the second hour and I foulhooked a fish that came off near the net but then nothing for 20 mins again.
At this stage the 2 brothers each side of me had 3 or 4 fish each and were losing a few too after almost 2 hours gone by and no carp now it was time to start to panic...I could not get bite on corn or pellet and decided to fish maggot for a bit to see and started to get a small bluegill or 2.I balled in 3 more balls of groundbait and another big cup of pellets and a few pieces of corn and continued to loosefeed around my float line as I tried the feeder for a short while but didnt have a bite on it.I then foul hooked another carp about 7 lbs on the pole again which I landed...At last one in the net...I threw another ball in and straight away had another fish on which I lost which made me switch from my vespe 22 elastic to my top rig with my purple 19 h Preston elastic in it which I found is better to control the fish here with and have yet to have it maxed out.I then hooked and landed one almost 15 lbs...2 fish and over 20 lbs in the net in 20 mins well it helped eased the panic a little but I knew Derek and Mirek had a good few fish by now as almost everytime I looked up they were into fish at the far end.I refed again and after a slow period with lots of liners then hooked and after a 15 min battle land a fish which I thought was close to 20 lbs on pellet.For the last 50 mins I hooked into 10 fish and landed 4 of them biggest was about 8lbs I thought and lost another close to 20lbs also near the net too...I took a guess I had about 55 to 60 lbs as the last carp I got a little one about 3 lbs and I prob had just 2 lbs of bits....I walked up to see Derek's second weigh and he total over 68 lbs I think....Mirak then had 69 lbs 9 ozs and Paul had just over 30 lbs I think....I think Peter had just over 50 lbs and was sure when it came to me I would just pip him for 3rd but when I needed a hand to lift my net over the high wall on the bank ( well I am not a big guy anyway) I thought I had a bit more....I think the fact I got the 20 pounder early made me guess the weight of the last 4 fish a little off...Maybe just a little ...
I weighed in 69lbs 12ozs to just nip in front of Mirek for first place and had a carp of 17lbs and just over 20lbs in the net but I will never call them little bluegills a nuisance fish here again after today's match that's for sure
Robert next to me also hooked and landed a 22 lbs fish on the pole and I think everyone got smashed up by as many or more fish than they landed today.There must be some really big carp in there spawnig right now from the main lake and I often wondered how big they do grow out in the huge lake itself.I am also thinking that the BCUK pellets will work very well here from now on that finally the weather is gone into summer mode and the waters are warming up....We have a few matches coming up in June here so keep watch ....Till then......!
The full results from the match should be up here soon also
http://www.geocities.com/fishcba/

Lincoln park lagoon....The venue for our 3rd CBA league match, almost in the heart of Chicago city

Mirek with his 69lbs 9 ozs and winning 2nd place

Robert Wolan playing with what turned out to be the biggest fish caught in the match

biggest fish of the day...Well biggest one landed anyway...Robert with a 22 lbs "pig" caught on the pole....

Another carp heads of for the motorway on the far side of the venue......

my own 69lbs 12ozs......What a close match!!!

Indiana open match..............

2006-05-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

At least the cold front which was predicted didn't manage to hit too bad for the Indiana open...The temps had dropped a little the night or two before the event but by Saturday at the draw it was up near the 60's again for us,,,,I did hear a few that had traveled from warmer areas wonder if it was going to warm up at all but after the winter I had just fished thru here in Chicago it felt just like a summer's morning when I got the to venue...

The first day's match was a late one and the draw didn't start until 12 30 with fishing from 3 till 7 as to give the anglers traveling long distances some time to get there....Steve Watson made the long drive from NC and also Mark Green flew in from Arizona for this match...There was a few cancellations from some from Chicago at the last minute but altogether there was 15 anglers here for the 2 day event and quite a few new anglers to the sport too which is good for the IBA club there
The match itself is done on section results and also each day's results will also count as a leg for anglers who are competing this year in the new AFMA national league here...This league is also based on section points with total weights just deciding ties on points...I really needed to get some good results in this match as I had a blank from the first leg back in march in NC.....

The 3x5 man sections of river that were used all were a little different in depths and A section which I only fished the once is a lot shallower but as myself and Paul took a look at it before the draw I could see several suckers in the shallow water and seen 3 or 4 carp roll out further....I didn't see a sign of a fish in the deeper B section or in the even deeper C section at all...C section was where we both practiced last week so I know there are some fish around there....By the way following from the last post it was Paul who had over 100 lbs of fish and all on the feeder too....Most of the fish fell to a 10 mm BCUK aniseed bollie ...So we both had said it was better go with a big fish approach for this match as the carp didn't seem to be coming into the pole range too much and those that did proved very hard to get into the keepnet

At the draw Paul drew B section and I had drawn the deeper C 13 which put me in the middle of the section....The draw had been generous to me and I had 2 new anglers both sides of me but had Mick Thill on the end peg also to watch for....I was confident enough going to my peg of getting a few fish together on the feeder and as Mick rarely fishes the feeder though I could keep his usual small fish approach at bay for this one.....I set up 2 feeder rods for halfway across and 2 pole rigs both at 11 mts but one using the Craullso surf float was to be fished at 9 mts....This was our tactic we had talked about during the week and about trying to tame these carp here should we hook some on the pole.....The problems we were having was they just take of for the main flow when you hook them and it is almost impossible to stop 8 out of 10 of them....Our idea, that by using the surf floats which can be set to stay in the flow while holding back either a mt or more both outside or inside your pole tip, was that if you held it a mt or so inside your pole tip you would be striking the fish from the outside and it should make it swim towards you on that first crazy run they make when you hook into them instead of heading for the far bank and then on to the next State.....I had had a few hours on the Chicago river last week to try this and it worked there fine and lost no fish but this river was a little bigger and I think the fish also take a different steroid too.......My float was a 10 gram and just held the bottom at 9 mts and I used a 20 gram on the 11 mts rig....My feeders were all 70 grams and I used braid this time instead of mono which I had in practice but still had a few fish snap me off.....I threw as opposed to cupping in 4 balls of groundbait on each pole line at the start as we did notice the carp did come to the noise almost straight away in practice and then had 5 quick casts on the feeder to get some bait in....I decided to stay on the feeder for the first 30 mins from there (thank god) and hooked and landed a 10 lb carp after 20 mins....phew was I relaxed then....And thought it was going to be even better than it had fished last week....How wrong I was....I didn't have another bite for the next 2 and half hours after on both the pole or feeder but looking around me either was anyone else catching....Mick did hook into a carp on the pole in the last 40 mins but got smashed and I went also on the pole to see if I could add anything else to my net for the last 30 mins and got 3 small bluegills on worm....The whole section fished bad and in the end my solitary carp and 3 minigils was enough for section 1st with 10lbs dead.....Paul also managed to win B section with 24 lbs of carp also on the feeder and it was poor there too....A section was won with over 40 lbs by Mark Green but the rest of the weights there were poor also....Given that this venue is rarely fished here I wonder is it that the fish just shy away from all the bait going in and the disturbance and hoped it would fish as it usualy does better on day 2...At least I had a section win in the AFMA league now and as we are just counting your best 6 results I can drop my NC result at a later stage in the league

Day 2 saw both Paul and myself draw beside each other on A section with me on 2 and he was on 3....Once again there were a few fish rolling out halfway across as we set up and my hopes were fairly high of us catching a few here today...Mark Green had drawn B section and also had Mick Thill with him in that secion for today's match...Again I set up 2 pole rigs ...One for trotting slowly thru with 10 grams on it and another for holding back with 20 grams..Both cralusso floats...And decided just one feeder rod with braid again...I just cupped in 3 balls of groundbait on the pole but also some chopped worms and maggots in a dropper to see if I could sneak out some suckers.....And started once again on the feeder but after 25 mins I didn't have a bite....I went out on the pole and as I did Paul next to me hooked a carp on the pole and landed it...About 10 minutes later I hooked what I also though was a carp first but it turn out to be a 4 lbs plus sucker which was a big one for here as they mostly average 2 to 3 lbs....He wasn't getting a section win that handy....!...I refed some more worm and went out on the feeder for a look and 30 ins later had a nice 10 lbs carp in the net....However shortly after so did Paul get another on the feeder and also Mirek who was pegged below him...After another 45 mins I couldn't get any bites on anything or either did Paul and came up to see if I was getting any.....The sun at this stage had come well up with a full clear blue sky and I had said to him that my next thing was to go right across to the far side with the feeder where there was a few trees between me and him giving some shade to the river if I got no more bites....."Good idea" he said and back he went to his peg......You can imagine what happened next....?...We did get a few bites there for the last hour and a half except he landed all his...And I didn't...!....I had one fish take off almost 2 pegs downstream at an alarming rate and then snap my 15 braid on the way and had 2 more snap my hooklenght which was now at .28 dia (12lbs)....Paul fished a 50 lbs braid I think with a big carp specialist rod and managed to get in 3 more carp and a catfish to slightly "pip" me for the section win with over 40 lbs of fish to my 14 lbs.....Next time I aint telling anyone my plans..!!!....Only joking Paul...Full congrats on the 2 sections wins there...

Mark Green had a good day on B section to catch over 70 lbs of carp again on the feeder and won the overall having tied with Paul on points but had a better weight advantage and it was well worth the trip from Arizona for him even if the weather was a little "chilly" for him (low 70's at this stage)...I tied with Derek A from the CBA for 3rd place but got beat by weight to 4th overall as he also had a good day on the fishless day 1 C section with over 30 lbs of fish, again on the feeder.......

Even with the fishing being a little patchy on the river for the 2 days it was still a great and well organised event hosted by the IBA....There is also a rule here at the moment on all the AFMA matches that have a fishing and baiting ban in place on all venues prior to the events for 4 or 5 days before and I wonder if it was lifted and there was bait going in a few days before would it help to improve the fishing somewhat and get them a little more use to it and settled.....I think so....!!!
Anyway at least i got 3 points in the bag towards my AFMA league total and Paul got 2 which is good as we are both working together here this year in both our matches and our sponsers....the full results from the match can be seen here i think
http://fishcba2.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1147293418

Next Saturday I have another club match here with the MAC back at barth pond and then after that its off to Lincoln lagoon for a CBA club match with some more big carp which I hear are there at the moment for spawning and this should be a good match and usualy throws up some big weights....Till then.........

the overall top 5....Well done again to Mark Green (center) with 2 section wins and a total weight of 118lbs for the 2 days

my own second day catch....14 lbs 6 ozs...

Paul with his section winning day 2 catch.....41 lbs 8 ozs

St. Joe river ...................

2006-05-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Not much to say here this week only that we went to the river last weekend here for the day to practice a little for this weekend's 2 day match on there..............
we did catch fish...Both carp (and some big lumps to 16 lbs) and some bluegills.....We didn't catch many small fish or suckers or cats at all so I have a feeling if the weather stays ok it is going to be a big fish match....It can be a tough venue too as the carp will switch off if a cold front moves in and we all could be scratching for bits....?..And that will be tough as I don't think there are feck all bits there...!...I have be following the forecasts here all week and it started with a cold front moving in on fri but its seems to be moving further back day by day so hopefully it will push out till after this weekend in Indiana

We both tried a few different methods ...Both different feeder rigs,bolo rigs and pole rigs and all caught fish and also over both a fishmeal or a breadcrumb groundbait too...(I ain't giving too much away here just yet...!)....These fish are not too fussy there baitwise but can be hard to hold and land on the pole.....They really go out to the middle of the river into the faster water when you hook into them and I did get smashed 4 or 5 times by some real lumps....I had one fish stretch my purple Preston hollow lacy almost one and half times the length of the 11.5 mts of pole I was using before my hooklenght gave way.....Scary sh..****..t...Believe me....!
The river itself is fast and I found I needed a 10 gram float to hold back for the big fish and an 6 to 8 was fine for trotting it thru....The section we fished was between 8 to 10 feet deep but just past the 12 mt mark it got a little faster paced and when you struck into a carp and he got into that it was thanks and goodbye....
Paul and myself have also just got ourselves another sponsorship deal with Cralusso and were just lucky enough to get our package here this week from Hungary (thanks Karoly...Just in time too...)...These floats are just the biz for a river like the St Joe here and also for the Chicago river where we had our winter league just go by..(check out their site there in my links)...
On our way home from Indiana we talked about all the fish we lost there and ways of trying to cut our lost fish numbers down...esp on the pole....We did come up with one idea involving one of the range from the Cralusso floats and went to the Chicago river near us on wensday for a few hours to try it out....I hooked 5 carp on one of our normal float rigs we use there and landed 2 but had 9 bites on our new rig and landed 9 fish to 18 lbs and none of them headed for the far bank or downstream like they usually do at a frighting rate.....Could we be on to something here...?.....Well will tell you next week how it goes for us .....
oh our practice session...How did that end up.....?...Well lets just say that one of us had well over 100lbs and the other was a little bit behind.......?
till next week............................

2006-04-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well our trip out to Aurora ,west of Chicago for the CBA league match 2 on the fox canal got off to a bad start with me sleeping it in and having Paul also getting there late for the draw as we were driving out together for this one.....We were about 40 mins late on getting there but had pegs reserved so had got peg 9 drawn for myself and Paul had been drawn on peg 3.....Not the ones we wanted as most results I had seen from here have shown the end pegs to win all the matches fished there...there were just 10 anglers fishing so I thought I may have some chance been just one spot from the end peg....I had Peter Wolan on my right on the end peg 10 and Mirek Rydlewski on my left on 8.....At least I was on the right peg number for this match....!...Derek Aniolkowski had drawn what is usually the flyer peg 1 nearest the bridge....
I didn't get a chance to fish it during the week as planned but Paul had fished it a few times before and we had talked about it...He thought it would probarly be tough going in the middle section ...It is a good venue for pleasure fishing but it seems for matches the fish seem to move out to the end pegs ...After getting to my peg I had about 45 mins to set up and it was plenty as I was going to keep it simple enough for this one....3 mt whip for shiners and bluegills with maggot and liquidised bread, pole at 8 mts with a rig for carp and another rig set up for small fish incase it was going to be a struggle and fed 3 small balls of groundbaits with a few pellets,maggots and a few pieces of corn in it at the start, I also set up a rig at 11.5 mts but just fed one small half cup of pellets and corn on it at the start as it was a little windy and was coming in sharp gusts and made it difficult for presentation. Paul had also said that it is possible to get a carp or two from the feeder tight to the far bank so I fed 1 small ball of groundbait there also just incase for later...
He wasn't too far off with saying it was going to be tough....After 2 hours I had about 10 small bluegills and a few shiners (roach) on both the whip and 8 mt line and it was quiet also on both sides of me....Peter had a small carp as had Mirak on the other side..But even the small fish weren't steady...In the third hour I had seen Paul play a good fish on the feeder so decided to go out on it also....I had no sooner cast out and peter then hooked into his second carp on the pole next to me but decided to cast a few more times on the feeder and get a little more groundbait out...Peter then hooked another carp next put in, so I tried the pole again thinking they might be at last moving in but no bites at all even from small fish on both lines I had fed...After 20 more minutes out went the feeder again with corn on the hook and within 30 sec the tip flew around and I soon netted a 6 lbs carp...At last I thought but it went all quiet again and with about 25 mins remaining I had the smallest knock on the tip and waited 30 sec...waited ano 30...and still waited... but nothing happened...A small fish I thought and decided to take it in and rebait...I lifted the rod and it took off ....Only for the hook to pull a few sec later....F****k it..........I stayed on the feeder for another 20 mins but nothing and then back on the pole for the last 20 mins of the match but no more carp and just added a few more minigills to my total weight of 7 lbs 5 ozs for 4th on the day.....Derek won from from the flyer peg 1 with over 40 lbs of carp with Peter second from peg 10 with 24 lbs...Paul got 2 carp on the far bank for 22 lbs for third and also missed 2 more fish.....And wasn't too far wrong with his prediction for the venue either.......
I didn't get the full results but they should be soon up on the CBA website...I also forgot to bring my camera with all the rushing in the mornig but there should be some pics up on there later
http://www.geocities.com/fishcba/index.html
our next match is the Indiana open which is a 2 day event (may 5th and 6th) on the St. Joe in Elkhart IN...This promises to be a good event if the weather stays warm with big carp,suckers,catfish and bluegills from a fast deep river....It is also going to be 2 legs of our new National AFMA league here...I have fished here twice last year and there are some big wild hard fighting carp in this stretch of river..There have been reports already this year of 30lb plus fish coming out of it...Paul and myself are going there this sat to do a little practice and have a few ideas put together on some methods to try and see can we land a few of these pigs.....I will tell you how we got on next week....

The St. Joseph river where the Indiana Open is being held here on may 5th and 6th

2006-04-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

Barth pond....it is a nice venue to fish...and stuffed with small fish too

my peg for this match...peg 3....or is it 6....?..7 maybe ?...who cares , it was still a nice peg to fish....!

LESSONS LEARNED
Well our first Midwest anglers league match went ahead last sat and we had 14 anglers turned up. There was quite a few missing with it being easter weekend I suppose and family stuff going on. It was warm all week and there were lots of fish topping on the water before the draw.I had got a few hours on the wens before to fish the venue and it was full of bluegills and shiners (roach) on the whip as close as 2 mts but I had also got a few big catfish on the pole at both 12 and 8 mts every 20 to 25 mins on pellet or paste...The fact that the water was just warming up made me think that's why they were that little bit slow showing, plus none had been stocked this year so these were all that was left from last years stock...Most American anglers here take any they catch home for the pot ....
I drew peg 3 in the draw (and wished I had fished it too but that's another story at the end....!) and had 2 classic anglers either side of me....The classic division is made up from new anglers here who are starting out in matchfishing in our leagues and they move up to the open division after 3 wins in the classic one...Mick Thill was on the next peg to the left,then A new angler to the matches here ,Trevor Burgess was on the next to him on an end peg...Nobody had draw the other pegs at the end...Anyway my plan was simple enough....1 line at 12.5 mts fed with a cup full of pellets and some corn at the start for cats and carp (if they were not all spawning)...1 line at 8 mts to the left or the right depending on the wind and tow is fed with pellets and a few pieces of paste and the whip at 4 mts first and also set one at 2 mts for a little bit later when the gills really got going...I fed some liquidised bread and a few maggots on the 4 mt whip line first and then fed both pole lines and started off with pellet on the hook at 12.5 mts as there was a few fish rolling when we were all setting up....15 minutes later I got a cat about 1 1/2 lbs,fed another half cup of pellets and then went on the whip...I was getting a small bluegill ranging between 2 to 4 ozs each cast and and estimated about I had about 7 lbs of fish in the net after 40 mins (including the cat)...Out on the long pole near the hour mark and another 1 1/2 lb cat...Plan was working perfect...1 hour=10 lbs plus of fish and from what I had seen Mick was just catching small stuff and Trevour was sitting it out for big fish and just had 2 or maybe 3 cats about the same as mine....Usually 40 to 50 lbs will do well here on this lake in most of the matches...I re-fed the long pole line again and went back on the whip and was getting slightly bigger gills now plus I was able to draw them up a little bit shallower by feeding maggots each cast, I prob had another 7 or 8 lbs in the next 30 mins and then tried the long pole again but just had a bluegill....In with some paste on the 8 mt line and I got a cat about 2 lbs straight away....I had seen Trevor also net 3 or 4 more fish by this time too and thought maybe there were a few more cats around so decided to try the 8 mt line again ...Mick was still just catching small stuff all the time...10 minutes later I stuck into a carp which snagged me and I ended up pulling for a break...Which it did...!...Out on the 12.5 mt and put it in the rests while I put on another paste on my top kit and I got another cat....Here we go...Or so I thought...!....Then for the next 20 mins nothing but 1 gill....Back on the 8 mt line and nothing either on paste,corn or pellet and another 20 mins wasted....Trevor had continued to net a fish there every now and again while I had this quite spell too so it was close but I couldn't just tell what size they were or how light he was fishing....Time to catch up on the whip and keep up also with Mr Thill who was all that time plugging away on the long whip with the small gills....I had been feeding a few maggots since the start on the 2 mt line and started to catch straight away and most were good size gills and prob averaged 4 or 5 to the pound...and as the last hour approached I was wondering whether to stick it out on the whip or go back out for some more cats or maybe a carp or two....
I reckoned I had about 25lbs at this stage but my decision was quickly made when Trevor netted not just a big cat but also a carp too...Also the classic angler next to me ,Tony had netted one on the feeder...I got another cat on the long pole fed a little pellet again and then 1 straight away on the 8 mt line on paste...Then nothing again for the next 10 mins....By now even Mr Thill had hooked into and was still playing a carp....About 40 mins to go and I had decided that the carp I had snagged was my bonus fish gone for the day so would try both lines for the next 10 mins and if no fish was going to hammer it out on the whip for the last 30 mins....No bites and when I had started on the whip I wished I had done this an hour or two ago and thrown my long pole up on the bank....The gills were right under the surface and I was catching 2 and 3 a min with my rig set 10 inches deep at 2 mts and using a single or double maggot on a size 16 hook....I had at least 10 lbs in that last 30 mins....
When the final whistle sounded I wasn't sure how it would fare out.....The size of Trevor's fish I wasn't sure of plus Mick's carp...I knew I had close to 40 pounds and my gills seemed to be a little bigger than what Mick had been catching.....Trevour was first to weigh in and had 43 lbs 15 ozs on peg 4...(4..?)...and just had 6 small bluegills...2 carp,a goldfish and the rest was catfish....All on pellet, he didn't even have any maggots in his bait bag with him....! Mick was next to weigh in and had 1 carp and 2 small cats and the rest bluegills for 47 lbs 5 ozs....That had me bet anyway...But on peg 5...?...I was suppose to be on 3 ...?...hmmmmm....?...So then next Tony had 31 lbs on peg 6 next to me so then I noticed that the peg I was on was peg 7 but yet the little flag marker beside my box clearly had 3 on it....hmmm ?....Anyway I weighed in 38 lbs 3 ozs for 3rd overall.....The other side of the lake fished a little tougher with no big fish showing at all but Patrick Mills fished well to win that section with 30 odd pounds of all smaller size gills than ours and Paul my traveling and bait buddy done well to finish second from a very tough peg in a shallow bay with 21 lbs of tiny gills and bullheads and had just 10 fish after 2 hours...I bet his fingers were proded to bits from them little bullheads...!....After the weigh in I asked John who had pegged this match to count to ten and slowly...Just to see if the Americans had a quicker way to count from 1 to 10....It was then we figured out what had happened to my peg...number 3 ..Or where it was anyway....!...John had decided to put 2 markers down...One at the walkers path which runs all around the lake was about 20 feet or more back in places from the water's edge and one at the edge itself just so that the new guys would know exactly where to fish from...Both had numbers on them but the one on the path was the one with the proper peg number on it.....and the other was to be used as a marker only...and me, of course coming from a farm back home in Ireland and not being very familiar with paved roads...!... Would or proberly could never think to use the walkers paved path but instead hike across the field with my gear to get to my peg...shortest route...and never seen the other marker and with just one angler to my right i presumed he was peg 2....Maybe I should fish in the classic division here for a bit...At least till I learn to count my numbers ?..LOL...Or maybe I was right to throw one set of flags in the bin as I helped John clear them up after from the venue....One marker is enough from now on I think...!..Anyway we had a laugh about it after and it was just a club match but mine wasn't just as loud as his esp when I thought about how the real peg 3 would have put me to the left of Trevour and Mick on pegs 4 and 5 and also would have been on the end peg too....Not that funny now at all.....I was also convinced had I left the long pole down for the last 2 hours and stayed on the whip I certainly would have broke into the 50 lbs mark....Too many times also this has happened to me last year and have wasted too much time looking for big fish on some venues here and could have won some matches just by sticking it out on the whip with the small fish....one lesson i have learned "again" here today .......
anyway enough for now....My next Match is the CBA league match next Sun 23rd April on the Fox canal....This venue I have never fished before but hope to get a few hours there thurs afternoon all going well at work....lets hope the pegging isnt as confusing too .....Till then........

2nd place Trevor Burgess was unlucky not to pull this match off with his big fish approach on the small fish stuffed lake

1st Mick Thill with his 47 lbs 5 ozs catch......

my own 3rd place 38 lbs 3 ozs....

2006-04-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Paul and myself set off from Chicago at 3:30 am to make the 180 mile trip to Indianapolis for this new open match being organized there by the IBA.As both of us had never seen or fished the venue before we weren't too sure what to expect. The weather once again as seems to be the norm now for every weekend we have a match had taken a severe drop in temps and heavy rain fell all day at the venue on the Thursday and Friday before.As the venue is a cut of canal from the main river and is controlled by locks it wouldn't flood or increase in flow but when we did get there for the draw it had a nice color on it...16 anglers turned up for the match which was good considering it is the first match for the city here ever...There were also a few newcomers to the sport along with some of the familiar faces from Chicago too
I drew peg 2 from the hat and was one peg downstream from a footbridge on the venue...I had Tracy from the MAC on my right on peg 1 and my traveling companion Paul on my left on peg 3....CBA's Peter Wolan was below him on peg 4 who is prob one of the best and most consistent anglers over here in match fishing and next to him was Steve Watson another top angler here who had some good results back in the UK on the open circuit before moving here to the US.
As I wasn't sure about the venue but knew it had a bit of flow to it I had set up rigs from 1 gram to 4 grams and also a few cralusso's from 4 to 6 grams...The venue itself has carp,catfish,suckers,bluegills,bass and shiners(roach)...I plumbed up to find it was almost 4 ft at 12.5 mts and there was a slight shelf there where it shallowed up then to the far bank...It was about 3 ft 6 inches at 7 mts and 3 ft at 4 mts..I could just about hold back properly with a 3 gram float and decided to use a 4 gram cralusso bubble at 12.5 mts for carp..I set up a 3 gram bodied rig at 7 mts and also a 2 gram rig on a 4 mt whip....I cupped in some pellets and corn on the 12.5 mts at the start and some plain white crumb,maggots and some BCUK Particles Hemp & Bloodworm particle mix on the 7 mt line..And a hand full of the same and some maggots to my left and downstream on the 5 mt whip line....I started on the 12.5 mt line but after 15 mins had no bites and had seen Steve already swing a few small fish in on the whip...I went out on the 7 mt line and missed a bite and got a bluegill on the next put in..I got a few more and as I could get bits running it thru I decide to use the whip instead over this line...I continues to catch small roach and bluegills steady for the next hour from this and still continued to feed a little hemp and maggot on the 5 mt line to my right also...I continued to catch for the second hour steady by switching over and back between each line and had about 6 to 8 lbs in the net going into the 3rd hour...I had tried the 12.5 mt line 3 times but no carp and only 2 bluegills was all I had to show and as no one else got had got any carp from what I had seen I decided to stick with the small fish....After the last 2 matches I had fish last month I was just glad to be getting bites....!
disaster then...I had seen Peter land what I thought was a carp and wasn't just sure what size it was....Going into the last hour I had about 10 to 13 lbs I had guessed in the net...I didn't think Peter's fish was that big and knew he had spent a lot longer on the long pole than me waiting for a carp and didn't have me on small fish but knew Steve had been catching small stuff well below him...I had to decide what to do sit it out for a biggie or stay on the small stuff for the last hour ? Also the fact that Peter usually manages to sneak out a carp or 2 no matter what or where we fish didn't help...Ok out with 2 small pieces of corn on a size 12 and hold it back and wait....10 mins later my float twitched a little and slowly went under....I lifted it and as quick as my elastic went out ...It came back with a small bluegill almost flying its way across to the keepnet....Ok enough...I decided to go back on the whip and cut my rig down to 4 mts instead and see about getting some speed up for the last 50 mins...By constantly feeding a few grains of hemp and 5 or 6 maggots each second cast I soon had mostly roach and a few gills one a chuck for the last 30 mins...I nearly forgot where I and thought I was back home on the roach filled Shannon for a bit there...!..!....It was really fun and I wondered if I had approached my swim like this from the start would it have continued for the match..?...Maybe not..?...At the final whistle I reckoned I had between 14 to 16 lbs but wasn't sure what had been caught further down..I knew I had beaten both Tracy and Paul next o me but wasn't sure about Steve and Peter and his carp...I went down to follow the weigh in and was surprised to see it didn't fish as well in the lower numbers and also the Peter's carp was actually a 2 lbs plus sucker.....I was second last to weigh in and Steve had got 16 lbs and was winning...It was going to be close so I thought but was surprised to weigh in 18 lbs and win on the day and some $$$....I must have been really day dreaming on the Shannon for that last spell and not counting....Sorry Steve...!!!
anyway it was a great first event for the area,perfect venue,well organized by the IBA and another one I hope to return to again....Next match is the MAC club league 1 this Saturday 15th , so till then....
here is the full results from the match plus some pics too

2006 Indianapolis Open Matchfishing Event
Official Results

Classic Division

Angler Peg Weight Place
1. Steve Beers 15 6# 5oz 1
2. Ron Sommarco 13 5# 2oz 2
3. Ross Beers 12 3# 3oz 3
4. Wendi Sommarco 14 2# 11oz 4

Open Division

Angler Peg Weight Place
1. Dara Finnegan Â Team BCUK Baits 2 18# 1
2. Steve Watson 5 16# 4oz 2
3. Peter Wolan 4 14# 13oz 3
4. Paul Wells Â Team BCUK Baits 3 10# 13oz 4
5. Derek Aniolkowski 9 10# 5oz 5
6. Tracy Jordan 1 6# 11oz 6
7. Robert Kraft 6 6# 7oz 7
8. Brian OÂ Connor 8 5# 12oz 8
9. John Wilkins 11 4# 9
10. Tom OÂ Connor 7 3# 15oz 10
11. Fred Rhodes 10 2# 9oz 11

Tournament Summary

Tough Conditions Â 40 Degree Temperature Drop Overnight!

Water Color Â Slight Stain
Water Temp Â Dropping
Air Temp Â45-50 Degrees
Water level/Flow Â Slightly low Â Flow moderate

Shiners showed in 1st 7 pegs only. No carp on the day. Several carp showed themselves but were not caught.

Species caught Â Bluegills, Golden Shiners, Longear Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Spotted Sucker, Rock Bass.

Club Records
Steve Watson Â 8 Â¾Â Bluegill
Dara Finnegan Â 9 1/2Â Golden Shiner,
Peter Wolan Â 2# 1oz Spotted Sucker

Congrats to all the anglers for catching so many fish with the tough fishing conditions. Thanks to all who traveled to match. Looks to be exciting, unique match venue.

Indiana Bank Anglers

first pic is Steve Watson (Misfits AC) who finished 2nd and Peter Wolan (CBA) 3rd next pic

This was a match i really enjoyed on a very nice venue and the cold didnt turn it into another struggle match...it was nice to catch so many roach for a change.....now to see about getting some bream stocked over here....!!!

Dara (BCUK Team America/MAC ) 1st with 18 lbs of shiners (roach) and bluegills

Lincoln park zoo

2006-04-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

no matches for us here this weekend in Chicago...But at least the weather is starting to warm up a little and signs of spring are finally starting to show...Myself and Paul had decided to give Lincoln zoo paddle boat pond another go this Sunday 2nd...The last attempt there was hampered again by a cold spell. Its a shallow venue with almost 4 feet being the deepest anywhere on the pond..It has lots of catfish,crucians,big goldfish and common carp too close to 20 lbs...I had a grass carp there last year well over 20 and it also has loads of bluegills....The main reason I really wanted to get out to fish here was to have proper session using some of the BCUK pellets,pastes and groundbaits I had got here.
we both got to the venue about 8 am and were fishing by 9...I fed one swim at 12.5 mts with just 1 small ball of Active Commercial Hi-Attract groundbait and about 30 Active Hi-Attract Feed Pellets 6mm with a few grains of corn mixed in the cup too and another to my right at 9 mts with 2 balls of groundbait and a handfuls of Active B1 Feed Pellets 3mm with a few nuggets of BCUK Worm/Attract Paste which I had mixed the night before.both rigs were .04 gram floats on .016 maver genesis straight thru to a kamasan b611 16 hook on a maver latex number 8 and 6.my swim at 9 meters was about 2 1/2 feet and 3 feet deep at 12.5.within 5 mins of starting I was getting a little bluegill every put in and after abit was getting frustrating as they can be quiet greedy little buggers and knocking my pellets off the hook on the drop.it was the same on both lines so I cupped in a handfuls more pellets on each and took a walk to see how Paul was getting on....Same story there...Paul was fishing maggot or corn and even on corn it was a bluegill a chuck...He also had a few pellets that he had jellied the day before in different sizes so I borrowed a few and went back to see if they would keep the bluegills away....First put in with a 6 mm on the hook at 9 mts and I hooked into a catfish,same next put in and then I pulled out of one...I fed another small cup full of pellets with some loosely pack groundbait in it ....As the wind started to pick up I concentrated on the 9 mt line from now on and continued to pick up catfish with a few crucains and the odd goldfish for the next 2 hours...I was just feeding 20 or so pellets each 3rd fish or when bites slowed up a little and in the third hour started to get more goldfish and crucians on a single 6 mm or 4 mm pellet on the hook...The jellied pellets seem to do the trick to stop the little bluegills knocking my bait off the hook each time...Cheers Paul...Who was now packing up to head home...He had got a few cats and goldfish but the bluegills were really having a go at him and he couldn't get a bite on the jellied pellets in his swim...?..The wind then died a little after a brief rainshower so I decided to try a rig I had set up for fishing the paste....A .10 grm float with no shot on maver genesis .016 straight thru to a kamasan animal 14 with an 8 maver latex elastic..I moulded a piece the size of a large walnut on and missed the first 5 bites I got in a row...! But then got 5 cats (and the biggest of the day) out before the wind really started up again and made it difficult to fish with the strong tow starting...I went back on the 9 mt with pellet or corn on my rig and continued to catch more crucians and catfish for the next hour till I packed up...I proberly had over 50 lbs of fish in a little more than 5 hours which isn't that bad considering the weather had just warmed up here this week...So of the bites were finicky today and I had to really careful with how much I fed even with us having the whole place to ourselves...But I will def be back here soon to try out more of the BCUK baits and can see them working well on a good number of venues here this year esp ones that have good stocks of catfish...A lot of the catfish here are stocked into venues 3 or 4 times a year and are all farm raised fish and would have been reared on pellets...I didn't get any commons today but I think the water is still just a little cold for them to feed here yet but was well pleased with all the goldfish and hybrids I got on the pellets...These can be a very tricky fish to catch here in this pond and bites can be finicky from them even in the height of summer on maggot or corn and I think the hooker pellets made a huge difference today....
anyway that's it for now...My next match is a new open match for the USA in Indianapolis on a nice stretch canal that runs thru the city and is being organized by the IBA....It has carp,catfish,suckers,bluegills,roach,and bass...I wont get a chance to get up to practice on it with work and myself and Paul are just traveling on the sat morning to it so both of us will be fishing it on the blind having never seen it before.....So till then ............

2006-03-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

My peg 9 in the AFMA league first leg on the venue in North Carolina

Alexander Rak's winning 65 lbs 4 oz in the first leg of the AFMA league held in North Carolina

Lake Arlington.......our matches are usually pegged on the shore to the right of the pic....it can be a fun venue to fish on the whip and long pole....just wasn't this month for us..........

2006-03-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

My Match Diary (USA)
Hi there, welcome to my month by month diary of all the matches I fish here in the USA. While the sport of match fishing is still just really starting here there are a few clubs here mainly in the Chicago area that have their own club leagues running here for quite a few years now. This year however with the new forming of the AFMA (American Match Fishing Assoc.) sees the matches being a little more organized with dates, rules, etc and a fresh bid to try and make the sport itself get more promotion and new anglers started here. The AFMA also this year have a new league running which will be used for both the starting of a national ranking system for all the match anglers here and also for giving each club involved the chance to run a major open match in their own local area to help with each of their promotion and advertising efforts. The US Opens and the US Teams champs. which are both 2 day events will also be included in this new leagues overall scoring for all the anglers that fish it. Throughout the year we will have a lot more matches being held here with all the majors ones for the AFMA league being held on the first weekend of each month and then the CBA,MAC and the IBA club matches being held on all the remaining weekends. So from the month of April on there is almost a match each weekend up till November when the weather starts to head in to the harsh winter here. We did hold a winter league this past winter on some stretches of the Chicago river which is fed by a few different warm water discharges and is about the only piece of water that doesn’t freeze over or fishes fairly consistent throughout the winter. We had catches of over 70 lbs of carp here this winter in some 3 hour matches ! Anyway as we are almost into April here enough said about the winter weather and lets get on with some matches and catching some fish.

There is a vast array of different fish species here that we fish for in the matches here although because of the availability of carp here in almost every water they usually are the number 1 fish we target in a match. We also fish for bluegills, sunfish, catfish, suckers, shiners (basically almost or is a roach), grass carp, perch, bass, and some venues have large goldfish and all sorts of carp and koi hybrids. Most of the matches are won with weights of carp but on some venues or in colder weather it can be a weight of bluegills or suckers that will do it. I will go into a few details about each venue I fish matches on here each month showing the fish that are there and what I did in the line of methods, bait, etc to get up there on the result’s sheets or maybe what methods wont get you results here..….?
I really have just got back into fishing matches here last year from taking a break from it for 3 years when i first moved to the USA from Ireland. I moved to Boston first and found there was no matchfishing scene there at all so just left my match gear in Ireland and invested in some big carp rods and specialist carp gear I found was available to purchase online from wacker baits (http://www.wackerbaits.com/ ) in the USA and spent my time there trying my hand at fishing with bollies,bite alarms,etc...I almost broke the 30 lb mark with a 28 lbs 6 ozs fish being the biggest i got out of almost one hundred 20's and god knows hom many below the 20 pound mark (there are carp everywhere there too....!) but still got more enjoyment out of catching big bags of smaller fish...there is some cracking venues there with all the same fish we catch here in chicago in them too. A few venues there also had lots of rudd in them which was fun to be able to catch for a change. After deciding to return to the USA after leaving Boston I decide to try Chicago this time and brought all my gear with me to fish some of the matches i had seen were going on here thru the internet already so this year will be my first full year to start here
The one thing I found so different when I first started fishing here in the USA was that all the carp here are wild fish and none are stocked at all except for a few grass carp in a select few ponds. This has had me having to change a lot of my tactics and approaches to the matches here from what I was use to back home. Being from Ireland where almost 80% of my match fishing was done by targeting bream and roach mostly on a feeder at long range or if fishing a pole it was fishing to hand most of the time and using large amounts of ground bait and loose feed. Using the bombardment style of ground bait I was so use to was soon out the window for all the matches I fish here as I quickly learned (and did it the hard way too) that the fish do not respond to it here on almost every single venue I have fished so far. Most of the successful matches I have fished have been by starting of feeding light at the start and increasing it as your catch rate increases. I think the reason for this is because of the fish being wild and also the fact the most of the venues here receive very little angling pressure in the form of ground baiting as in match conditions and it takes them a while to respond to it. I found my European approach had great results pleasure fishing my peg from a match for a day or two after the match but not the day it self but catching 100 lbs of carp on a Monday or Tuesday after a Sunday’s match wasn’t going to win too much here !
At the moment the leagues are just starting here in Chicago and will be in full swing by the month of April .The winters can be rough here and almost all the ponds and lakes freeze over for 2 or 3 months. I have already fished in the first leg of the AFMA league which was held all the way in North Carolina on march 4th and hosted by the newly set up Misfits angling club. This is a club started there by UK ex-pat Steve Watson who now lives near Wilmington , NC. I was fortunate enough to fish the venue around xmas time for a day while I was traveling around the country for my holidays. I did manage to get a carp there about 12 lbs and lost 5 others plus a few small catfish in the few hours I had there. It is a run off type canal connecting to and from the Cape Fear river there and is also tidal. There are carp, bluegills, catfish and shiners in this venue and I got to also practice for a few hours there the day before the match too. Three of us, Paul Wells, Libby (all CBA members) and myself drove the 1200 mile journey from Chicago and arrived there on the Friday afternoon. We met up with Attila Agh who originally fished for Hungary at a junior international level and is now based in New Jersey who had traveled 2 days before and had a good bag of fish on the Thursday there. I did mange to hook and land 1 carp and a few small catfish there but mainly just setting up some rigs for Saturday’s event. The weather had taken a turn for the worst thou on both the Thursday night and the temps even dropped even lower on the Friday night and was unusual for it to be as cold as it was in the normally mild part of NC. This combined with an afternoon low tide which meant the venue would be almost run off shallow and static for most of the match and just starting to fill up again for the last hour or so meant it could be a tough event and getting the scratching gear out along with the heavy carp stuff. Only 9 anglers fished this event but as this was really the first match fishing event to be held in these parts so we had expected low numbers anyway. After drawing peg 9 which was almost where I had fished at xmas I wasn’t too excited when I plumbed up to find just over 2 ½ ft. of water where I had 4 to 5 ft back in December. I was about 2 pegs away from the first bend which opened up into a bay on my right and I knew was a little deeper and my only hope was in the last hour and half when the tide would change it would help me draw some fish up from it as the flow would start to go into the bay from my peg. Steve W. was next to my right on peg 10,Paul was on 11 and Alexandra Rak from Serbia (another ex international now residing in Florida ) was on the last peg 12 right at the start of the bay. All the rest of the field were on the pegs to my left on the straight and much shallower stretch. The water was now almost finished dropping to its lowest level and would remain stagnant for an hour and half or so before starting to move again.

I cupped in 2 balls of ground bait and a pot full of BCUK Hi Attract pellets and some corn at 11 mts in the deepest part of my swim to my right to fish over later for carp as I would have to hold back on this line as the flow picked up. A pole full of chopped worm and some maggots went in at 10 mts to my left to fish straight away for catfish, bluegills or shiners and a few nuggets of liquidized bread also on the 4 mt whip line incase there were a few small fish around. I also set up a small waggler to fish tight to the far side incase I was really struggling later and to try for some of those mullet which were leaping clear of the water all over the stretch of canal. Well to cut the story short it was a struggle I remained bite less for the 5 hours except two turtles which was the case with all the anglers to my left except for 1 catfish caught… (I hear Steve is now including a pools for the most turtles next time……! X ! X ! ). Alexander had the carp in the bay in front of him and landed just over 65 lbs including a 17 ib’er with Steve landing one out of the five carp he hooked for 11lbs for 2nd from the snaggy peg 10 and Paul got a few small cats for 3rd place. It was just a shame the way the weather went and put off what is usually a good venue even for small fish. It was still a great weekend and an event I will be returning to again and hopefully it will get bigger as Steve’s new club there starts to grow

Also there are some pictures from the event and the venue itself on here
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d136/irishangler/nc%20open%20match%20pics/
My next match was the first of the CBA club league matches on march 18th of which there are 10 to be fished from now till November and your best 5 results to count for the overall league results. This match was held on lake Arlington back in Chicago. This venue is a large shallow manmade reservoir and has large numbers of big bluegills that can be caught quite close in on whips from 3 to 6 mts and on the long pole/short line tactics too. I had fished this last year in both an MAC club match which I won with 14 lbs of gills early in the year and in the CBA club match in late October which I also won with 45 lbs of fish including a 9 lb carp. I also fished the US opens on it and came 3rd in my section on the second day. It’s a venue well suited to fishing to hand when the gills are really having a go and one I really enjoy fishing. There are carp there but they can be unpredictable and prove hard to catch in matches so usually bluegills are the main target with carp just being a bonus. The gills here average about 4 to a 1lb and when you get among a shoal of them it doesn’t take long to build up a decent weight. Past matches on here have been won with up to 60 lbs of them in 4 hours and they can be caught right in at 3 mts on many of the pegs. Once again the weather has being against us and the week leading up to this match also sees the temps drop well below freezing in Chicago for 3 or 4 nights before the match. The day itself was just above barely freezing and bright and sunny, I didn’t think it was going to fish too good at the draw as it is shallow and only about 3 ft deep at 13 mts.

Nine anglers braved the cold for this match but it was nice to be back at the CBA league again and fishing a lake for a change after fishing on the river here since last November. I drew peg 6 and had young Max Ford on peg 7 to my right and Derek Anoilkowski to my left on peg 5. I set up 2 rigs at 13 mts both for gills , one .4 gram float for catching off the bottom or on the drop and a .75 gram for holding back near or on the deck in case the wind picked up as it often does here and it is a very open lake and causes quite a tow when it does. I set up a 4 mt whip just incase they did really feed but I didn’t think they would and had decided to start on the waggler at about 25 yards out in 8 to 9ft of water. At the start I cupped in 3 small balls of liquidized bread on the 13 mts line with some chopped worm and a few maggots and catapulted a small ball of fine crumb over my waggler each 15 mins. for the first 45 mins. After 1 ½ hours no one had a bite and it was really going to be a struggle. At the 2 hour mark with still no bite I set up a bomb and tried over my waggler line but still no bites. Derek got a fish then at 13 mts as did Max to my right also and 1 or 2 more had also got 1 each going into the 4th hour. I switched over and back between the pole and waggler lines but still nothing. Then on a tiny piece of a worm I missed a bite on the bomb out where I had fed earlier on the waggler. I missed another finicky bite again on my next cast and then got a fish on my third attempt. That was to be it for the day and I got no more bites for the last 35 mins. Paul Wells won with just 4 fish for 1 lbs 1 oz all in the last hour on the feeder fished far out and it was all ozs from there for the rest of us. I finished with the smallest weight…2 ozs.. for 7th place before the only 2 DNW’s that there were for the day. …..Did I say earlier it was good to be back……?……………..

Check out here also for pictures from the US Opens event also fished on this venue in June 2005
http://www.geocities.com/fishcba/gallery.html
Well at least April will or should anyway warm up somewhat and maybe these results will be the last of the struggles for the rest of the year. This year also sees me starting a new sponsership deal here with BCUK baits who are setting up and selling both their match and carp range of baits here from April on in the USA. I have had some good sessions using their ground bait and pellets already on the Chicago river here in the last month or so and think the natural flavors like the worm and bloodworm stuff will work well here for the style of fishing we have here and have had a lot of carp on the river using their expander pellets on the hook too. I am really eager to give them a proper go on some of the lakes and ponds once the water does finally warm up….next month I am off to Indianapolis for a new open event there on a new canal venue recently discovered and hosted by the IBA, the 2nd CBA league match on the Fox canal, and also the first MAC club league match of the year on Barth Pond along with a few other practice sessions that I can fit into any other free days I have here…………………….