2ND MAY - TROSA , THE PROMISED BAGGING LAND

After a nice day in the canal at Sodertalje i decided to take advantage of some reasonable weather and get early to Trosa for hopefully a good session . However the wind was still cold as well as the water temperature so i had doubt if it would perform to expectations . This kind of venue suits me as my health in my back legs and knees has worried me as i am unable to take the physicality of matches where i place my body under stress so for now i take the car to the peg options .

I managed to find a decent position next to the moored boats where normally i would fish from but i decided to give them distance as they might start to move during the day . 

I started by administering three small balls of gb to get the peg going however after 20 minutes fishing and bite less i then knew it would not be easy . After an hour i has small Perch and a Dace like fish when at the end of the peg i struck and a Bream of about 2lb came to the net followed by another a little smaller however it stopped there and 30 minutes i was bite less so i decided to change position . 

I moved to the 'boards' opposite the Bohmans hotel and swapped my whips for the pole and immediately struck into fish .

 

View downstream 

View Upstream

Days mix , quite sticky with minimal offerings however i can add to the mix with extra offerings depending on the enthusiasm of the fish feeding .

METMASK maggots still fresh from a week ago , simply excellent bait from some one who know how to keep it properly. 

The day was a great success in the end as i placed 45-50 Bream / skimmer / few Bjorkna / two large Roach and one nice Ide about 1-8 into the net . I had fished some 7 hours and wasted two hours in the first peg so it was truly a bonus to get stuck into some great bagging ........ i struggled to lift the net out and my keep net rims are bent out of shape a little but i estimate i had 65 to 75 lb (in old money)

I managed also to get the right balance in my elastic and hook size as i used MATRIX 4-6 a very soft forgiving laggy and used a SENSAS 3405 size 16 to 14 . I must have pulled out of at least 10 fish as i foul hooked a few .

I hope to get back there soon however the water will get very busy as the boats start to be launched back into the water .

1st May Sodertalje Kanal

Weekend to enjoy to myself so decided to have a double header so i loaded the car and drove for 2 minutes and i was there ! .........the Sodertalje Canal ........memories of great catches of the past sprung to mind but how will it fish today ? Tomorrow it is Trosa .

I arrived at familiar area that has provided me with many great catches several years ago so am i expecting too much for it to fish well today ? I arrived on the peg at 12:15pm and was fishing by 12:45pm , just the one rig . The weather was average temperature considering the recent continuation of this cold North winds . This is really an early visit as normally its June time for some decent weights of fish , let us see .

Decided to just use a bag of Lorenc super with some dispersing leam and maggot as bait 

 

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It only took 10 minutes and my first fish was a wasp (small Perch) , several more followed in next 20 minutes and the North wind was tough for me to hold the pole but i persisted fishing at 11m at 4.5 metres depth . Then a bonus ....... Nice skimmer about 1-12 size ..........things are looking up 

Decided to stop about 16:30 time as the wind had changed 180 degrees and now tougher to hold the pole however what a session i had with 5 decent bream / skimmers 12oz to 2-8 size and about 15 roach (some at 14oz and 10 small Perch ........pleased with that as i thought the day could be an early return home .

What a strange site , a female Mallard paired up with a silly diving duck .........together all day 

APRIL 24 + 25TH ARBOGA 2021

First competition of the year at Arboga organised by Jamie Cool Ey with Daniel Åsland helping out on the scales and results board  . Unfortunately the weather was not the best as the North europe region is experiencing its coldest April for some 40 years ! With the car packed i was ready for the off and so looking forward to fishing this majestic river .

Mr Chelski ..............Jamie the weekends organiser ......absolute top fella .........not bad for a Chelsea supporter !

Russ , front man for METMASK  and now has a team of 8 helping gain the business he is justified to receive.

To my left from my allocated Peg14

4 rigs for me on the pole with a 15gr EXNER BUTTERFLY flat float  , 10gr EXNER DELTA flat float , 8gr EXNER ELIZA rugby ball float , 10gr EXNER BLADE flat float  .

To my right was Leena on peg 15

The weather conditions were still very changeable wind and mostly in your face so headgear and layers of clothing were the order of the day . I cannot wait for the match to start , surely it is a pole day ?

Great view upstream 

My menu for the day is to place initial 5 balls buy hand with two further balls with lots of chopped worm 

The 5 hour match commenced and the pre-baiting happened within the match period . After i decided on a 15gr float and held it on my spray bar then i tried a normal float and for the first 30 minutes no bites but a few to my left caught some roach and bjorkna . Then i hooked a big skimmer and played it to the net and i lost it so i thought not to worry , plenty more of them to come , i hope ? I then had a roach on a moving bait but that was it for my first hour. Most of the anglers i could see were catching well so i was disturbed why i was not ? I then fed regular accurately by cup with hard soil balls laced with chopped worm . I then had a good middle 2 hours when i took mostly roach but i was no way near catching up with the anglers to my left . It became very frustrating so i decided on feeder which proved just a s frustrating with just three roach . I finished the match by increasing the feed on the pole line with no affect so my match was over and my head was confused as why i did not have more fish ? 

Mats Larsson with a 4th in B section with 9.00 kilos

Marcus Enstrom with a 1st in section B 20.100 

Carina with 2750 in Section for 5th place 

In C section Metmask Boss Russ with 28 kilos for first place

Esa 2nd place in C section with 19650

So , first dayended and the fishing considering the cold and wind was really good with some exceptional weights , for most anglers .

Home to Sodertalje 117 kilometres  away and my back , legs , knees were in a right mess but with Ibroprufen i came back to life also with my seat heats on . Thoughts of the day mystified why i had not caught so well so i was hopeful of a good draw for the 2nd day. Jamie and guests stopping at his abode (Esa , Russ Daniels) performed the LIVE draw ...........and i drew ....... peg 15 after hoping desperately for a top 12 peg . Well Leana had that peg on the Saturday and was last so i remained positive and surely it cannot be bad two days on the trot , can it ?

DAY 2  -  My peg today is 15 which is still think could fish on the pole even though it finished last the day before .

Great view of the match length 

Worm attack for me as its Bream or bust 

Jamie to my left on my Saturday peg - ummmm  he has three feeder rods set up .

Still positive i used the very best in Metmask ground bait 

Ground bait porn from the master at METMASK 

The day started like this ; Fed 7 balls with 2 balls potted of worm / soil . 50 minutes later no bites so the feeder came out with both sides of me catching reasonably i had to sit on feeder . Over the next 4 hours i tried the pole line and keeping it fed but to now avail as a similar day to Saturday it became . I reckon i had about 5 kilos that i did not bother weighing in as either side was double figures . Lessons learned , next time take more feeder rods with braid direct. End of match , learn and take with me to next time , next year.

Jesper with 23.025 

Esa with 28075

Lena with a cold smile 

Russ with 16025

Kurt arne 24200

Marcus with another section win and 1st on the day and 1st in the competition . 28700

Rolf with 7275 in C section 

Jamie with an excellent display in feeder fishing 12075 

Daniel winner of C section 

Daniel with specimen Roach and a nice Ide 

Winner Marcus Enstrom

2nd is Daniel 

3rd is Esa

Well run competition shame about the weather however the weights were exceptionally good for most .

Great to be back in Sweden meeting up with friends and familiar faces and really enjoyed my baptism of being well beaten by many skilful anglers . Its obvious i was not better prepared as feeder fishing was the skill over the weekend which i did not gear up with properly. Pole was certainly not the best on Day 2 as feeder dominated the weights . Shame about the weather being so cold however it did not put the fish of too much 

402.500 kilos caught over the 2 days of competition for an average of 25.150 per angler 

Again massive congratulations to Jamie with help from Daniel for a well organised event  .