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Fly Fishing, 11th August 2018

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A 60th birthday present for a friend turned into a boys day out for three of us at the weekend. Graham turned sixty in May, his present, a day's fly fishing tuition with Trevor Coxon at Surrey Fly Fishing . It was a great excuse for me to also learn to chuck some fluff!  Our third member is Carl, neighbour, friend, chef and drinking buddy to us both. A number of calls to Trevor and a few dates where booked in to the diaries and finally we settled on August at Albury Estate Fisheries . What do you get? Trevor outlined what we would expect of the day over the phone calls.  Our package consisted of the following: 90 minutes casting tuition 2 hours guided fishing Hire of all equipment As for Trevor's fishing CV, it's very impressive, he has been fly fishing for 45 years and fishing in general since he was 6.  With Trevor celebrating a very big birthday this year he has been on the bank for almost 74 years!  I'm sure Trevor doesn't mind me giving his age

How End Fishery - 2 Dayer, 5th August 2018

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After a great nights entertainment consisting of beer, bbq and many laughs, mainly at Mr James around the table and a night on the sofa I was up early for another day at How End.  Breakfast was a quick run to the village shop to stock up on provisions and most importantly water! Remember Darren to check the bottle of gin to see whether it's neat or premixed... here end the lesson. Today I'd be on Yasi's and to be honest a lake I enjoy more than Dani's.  The weights on Yasi's yesterday had been quite up and down and one area that I didn't want to end up on was peg 1. The Draw Third last out of the drawbag and I just knew that I was getting Peg 1, not really where I wanted to be if I'm brutally honest however today Pebs had repegged the match as one of the lads had to head home.  Peg 1 it turned out now had a free peg either side of it. Set-up No rods, all pole and a different choice of bait today.  So the lines where quite simple. Shallow rig R

How End Fishery - 2 Dayer, 4th August 2018

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2 years have past since I last fished the 2 Dayer at Phil and Tarnya's place, How End Fisheries. I was certainly looking forward to the weekend after reading about the every increasing weights coming out of both Yasi's and Dani's lakes. Random draw for partners this weekend however that would be after the main draw had taken place.  As the lakes where closed for the weekend fishing was 1130-1730 and the sun was beating down on us. Plenty of banter in the club house and great to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too. The Draw The big red bag produced Dani's Peg 18 today which was a very good draw according to the locals. Plenty of local knowledge to help out too especially as it had been sometime since I was fishing a match here.  The best advice from Darren James, aka "Parker" to Lady Carla. Neighbour for the day would be the lovely Kathy and we would be the only two on this side of Dani's. Set-up I'd been given som

FAL - Pairs 2 Dayer, The Glebe, 7th July 2018

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Day 2 on the pairs, after a night in the pub with the lads trying new drinks such as double vodka and strawberry slushies it was back to a day in the lovely Leicester sunshine and the Glebe Fishery. The Draw Yesterday saw me drawing Peg 2 on Pool 1 which I fished two weeks prior, today when I put my hand on the strips bowl, Peg 90, Pool 6 came out, guess what, yep, that was the other peg I fished two weeks prior.  Now what are the chances of that?  Same two pegs drawn from two week earlier, I reckon its about a 1 in 1152!  Maybe I should get a lottery ticket on the way home! Set-up After my blow out yesterday and trying to keep things simple I decided to try the same approach as 2 weeks ago again, so feeder to the far bank, pellet waggler for the cruising fish, 5 metre pole line and left and right hand margin lines. All-In Determined to perform better today I was setup with plenty of time to spare and sat on my box for a good 20 minutes before the match simply observing what

FAL - Pairs 2 Dayer, The Glebe, 6th July 2018

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Two weeks after my last two day pairs event at the Glebe and I find myself with the Facebook Angling League (FAL) lads for another two day pairs event.  Hopefully I'd learnt from that match earlier and I had a match plan to keep things simple. The Draw Random draw for your pairs partner, FishyPhil was this weekends unlucky victim.  I would be drawing on Pool 1 for today's match.  Home for the day would be peg 2. I drew this peg 2 weeks ago, what are the odds of that?  Well with 48 anglers, I'd hazard a guess at 1 in 48! Set-up A small change to the plan from the previous weeks effort.  I set-up a feeder line to target the area between the fair reeds which would double as my bomb and pellet line, together with a pellet waggler. Pole lines at 5 metres and both my left and right hand margin.  I'd cut down the bait menu to pellets, corn and some dead reds together with a bucket full of groundbait. All-In The whistle went and it was straight onto the feeder li

MFS - HillBilly Pairs, The Glebe, 23rd June 2018

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A very quite night in Bosworth and a cheeky curry with the lads.  The sunshine had definitely taken its toll on me.  A couple of pints and that was me done for the night and my lovely windowless room in the Bosworth Hotel beckoned. The Draw Peg 2 on Pool 1.  I've been here before last year on the Munkees vs Shandies match.  Very pleased with the draw. Set-up Even though I'd been on the peg before I decided not to fish the feeder across, instead I opted for a bomb rod to fish 3/4 over pinging pellets and to back it up the pellet waggler. Pole lines as yesterday, 5 metre corn line and right hand margin line. All-In Given Neil's start yesterday on Pool 6 on the 5 metre line I decided to drop on that line first to try to snare an early few fish meantime pinging a couple of 8mm pellets over my pellet waggler and bomb line. Well after 20 minutes nothing at all was happening, so it was onto the bomb and pellet line where I started to catch from the first put it.  Bi

MFS - HillBilly Pairs, The Glebe, 22nd June 2018

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Peg 90, Pool 6 Neil, owner and general great bloke from Hillbilly Floats , very kindly sponsors the aptly named HillBilly Pairs event at Roy Marlow's Glebe fishery in Peckleton. 48 anglers descend for the two day event where mystery pairs partners are picked at random to battle it out for the title. The draw for the pairs is always full of banter.  My partner for the weekend would be Herbie, our great leader of MFS! The Draw Pool 6, Peg 90 with Ruddy and Neil as neighbours, it would be a battle for the golden nuggets.  Not forgetting Les H who was further down Pool 6 on the end peg.  Today could turn out quite expensive! Set-up Very simple today. Feeder clipped up to the far bank which could if required be changed to bomb / pellet Pellet waggler clipped up to the far bank also Pole line at 5 metres Pole line on the right hand margin  The sausage roll king! On the menu for the fish, sweetcorn, hemp, dead red maggots, 6mm and 8mm pellets together with some do