2023 - April 29/30th METMASK Arboga classic

Arboga is the great starter for the Swedish season and it never fails to produce the goods , well for most but not for some  (cough-cough) 

Saturday Day 1 

Friday night Jamie completed a live draw for the following days pegging and my reward was Peg 15

During the set up process friend from long ago , Paolo Assi turned up to my surprise and we spent the next  30 minutes talking times from the past . He might return to the fishing fold ?

Well the match started after the initial bombardment of 6 balls on the pole line with 10+15gr flat floats . Then a few casts as 26 turns to place some initial feed on that feeder line .

First hour for me was rock hard with just two Ruffe yet Russ to my left and Jamie to my right were connecting with nice skimmers and Bjorknas !!!!! WTF was i doing wrong ? I started to ease of the chop worm in the window feeder and just pack it hard with a few casters and two small worms on the hook .............after 2 hours still nothing ! ...........3 hours nothing ...........now i was worried as tried everything , i am not a bad angler but what has happened ? 4th hour a Roach and a Rudd surrendered to me and that was it !!! ...........i was beside myself as tried everything .......... what a nightmare !!!

Thanks you good night and 450 grams !! 

I was not in the best of moods and i went on the weigh in to the first two sections and their results were rather much better than mine !!

SUNDAY Day 2 of the competition 

Peg 5 for me , will i have it better ? 

The weekends winner with 2 section wins - Lars 'Lisse' Lind

Russ known as Ben Dover

'Scores on the boards'

DAY 2

DAY 2

Final analysis

Wanted : Lessons on how to feeder fish and fish flat float in a strong wind , all suggestions and comments are welcome, i mean it !!

2023 - Nykoping bridge 22nd Saturday of April

Hottest day of the year greeted the Five intrepid competitors down on the Nykoping river as it enters the sea.

On arrival there was two ladies fishing and they were taking some Ide (for the grill) fishing shallow in deep water ........ i wonder if they know the water well and expect a lot of fish in that area , i wonder ?

The scenery for this event is stunning 

Looking out to sea

Pegs were drawn and for my trouble i received peg 5 furthest out from the bridge 

After the initial 10 minute pre-bait it was all in and for the first 50 minutes i was blanking yet the others were catching quite well !!? 

on the 50 minute mark i negotiated my first fish a roach . straight after i took a decent Ide. For the next two hours it was awkward fishing as the water in front kept circulating then pushing hard then stopping . There was never a settled flow to fish .

I persisted and caught several Ide and a few roach and Bjorkna

Came that time to weigh in and 5.9 kilos for me 

Mats faired a lot better with 7.6 kilos and he caught 65 fish 

Tom on peg 3 took 11180

The days winner was Jonas with just over 20 kilos !!!

Henrik took 14 kilos with some decent Ide

Score board says it all 

2023 - April 9th , Easter Sunday at Trosa

Back to Trosa for the last time before i embark on three weekends of fishing preparation and matches then i shall return after the expected shoals of fish migration into the system for some expected great sport.

Today i sat in my usual place on the board walk well to the right and next to the moored boat so as to avoid the anglers casting lures and spinners everywhere!!! . Just before that on my arrival i parked up and watched them as here were many early anglers and i could see right the way their heads were turning around looking at me as by now over the last few months they have seen my car and recognise as such that i fish there plus i communicate with the local bailiffs.

It was quite interesting that within 10 minutes 4-6 anglers on this side of the water decided to move on and i noticed one angler throw back fish (they were dead) . So was he embarrassed that he had caught too many ? OR he felt that i had been spying on him and his friends clearly had been taking quite a few ? 

This visibility of people who show concern for fish and what amount of fish you can take is clearly starting to take an effect as later one of the main bailiffs ; 'Passi' (I hope i got the spelling correct ?) was on his rounds and also fishing a little . What i noticed straight the way that there was an acceptance that you must have fishing permission cards and from what i could see there was no refusals on the bank . 

Admittedly, the fish were being badly treated as most (in fact all ) anglers had no floor mats to place the fish on so the fish they caught endured a good scraping on mostly concrete bank mixed with gravel . Care to take out treble hooks and singular lure hooks was not the best but at least the fish got back in the water , be it a little roughed-up !👎😑 

My fishing on the day ;

I started on feeder and clearly the whole system was covered in fish as the tip never stopped twitching and i had so many line bites . I started with Big bread punch hoping these fish could start taking a visible bait but i had nothing in the first hour then i took a skimmer and a Ide in successive casts but then nothing so i changed to corn after feeding my pole line also. I then took a further 4 bream and 1 more Ide , biggest fish about 1.5 kilos the rest about a kilo and less . I further foul hooked two large Bream that came off with scales on the hook .

The sun really warmed the proceedings and by gone past midday the town was covered in walkers and tourists so its time to go home , me thinks .

Umm .........where is that large Bream i caught ?
    

Silly me , left it in the net , dohhhhh!

A female Bream where the rest had been Males 
 

Okay , next few weekends it is ;

- April 14/14/16 - Arboga , and river bank preparation in readiness for the 29/30th April matches

- April 23rd - Nykoping bridge small competition 

- April 29/30th - Arboga

- May 1st - Varnan

- May 13/14th Nykoping Feeder

2023 - April 2nd - awesome news from TROSA - They now have 8 Bailiffs policing the water !!!! This is Brilliant News !!!

I must say what fantastic news i learned today whilst fishing in Trosa - They are coming down hard on people who do not take a fishing card and also keeping an eye on excessive extraction of fish by anglers and that in some cases its actually working as i witnessed today 👍😄🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

Awesome specimen angler Stefan Johansson , a true friend to the fish species as he appreciates what he catches , photographs it and releases it , a true environmentalist.

(I have no objection in taking a few fish to eat ) 

 

Setting out from Sodertalje 

Arrived in the centre on opposite side to the Bohmans hotel and watched the anglers to see if they were taking any fish .

This anglers took two fish , one he kept the other he put back , very sensible. 

After the family of three left to me left i decided to set up 

I had a pole rig at 11m and fed 6 balls of GG and dead maggots . Decided to leave that for an hour then proceeded to fish a feeder half way across the river section .

First cast and my feeder tip would not stop moving yet no takers ? There would appear to be thousands of Bream out there but not taking my dead reds ? So i went on 12mm punch bread and filled the feeder with a combination of Brown/white ground bait ........after 10 mins .....i am in ! ..........first ide of the day and it was a decent fight with about 2 kilo. Another 30 minutes then a second fish and in-between i hooked a couple of Bream but they shook the hook (foul-hooked) .

Then the most momentous situation arrived when i heard via Stefan that Bailiffs were perambulating the water side and also fishing themselves but importantly they were asking for anglers fishing card proof !!! This is great and exciting news as finally TROSA can see the value of policing the waters for the benefit of the majority and not for the cheating minority !!

These are just two fine fellows of apparently 8 bailiffs who have been tasked to police these waters !!

Also very important is that anglers adhere to the limits of what they can 'take' . On this morning i did see a few anglers exceed the limit however the presence of these bailiffs slowed down their takes and this was noticed by Stefan and myself as the anglers taking were putting every fish back known that i know they had two plastic bags of fish in their vans , maybe 10-12 fish ? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

The presence of authority quite rightly has them scared and with more signage about CATCH and RELEASE and LIMITS this will certainly make this fishing club more viable for more proper , decent specimen anglers to come and fish these fish-rich waters 

HERO's and LEGEND'S 

My place for the day 

Now for photo opportunity time 

Up the two Ide come 

I was bloody cold so forgive me trying to give a smile 

2 and 1.5 kilo size fish ...........both on 12mm punch 

2023 - March 26th Nykoping river below the bridge

The weather was looking good for this weekend about a week ago then suddenly the weather became very changeable and Sunday became the worst day which Mats and i had planned for . Undaunted by the days cold Mats was first to arrive and by the time i got there he was already fishing but awaited the first indication of a feeding fish .

I arrived and immediately we started to talk of the match possibilities of this venue and prospectively how many anglers we could fit in ? After about 15 minutes i started to get cold so i returned to the car for a hot coffee and added more layers of warmth to my head and body.

I decided to walk the match length and take prospective photos and videos .

Mats waiting for an indication 

Good view of the bank opposite that could be used in a larger match ?

Walked up to the road bridge where the river was really pulling through due to the previous days heavy rain and melting snow .

From the bridge looking opposite where fishing positions are attainable 

From the bridge looking down the boardwalk which could house 12-15 position easily , all comfortable positions .

 

End of that boardwalk and it dog-legs and still available could be 4-5 positions ? 

Looking back to the bridge 

So , today i actually doubted our sanity in coming out on a day in the damp freezing cold however a breath of fresh (cold) air is always good . Most importantly this reconnoiter is valuable information for the match we intend to run here on April 23rd (hopefully not so many boats in the water then ?) We also will run possibly a 2 match weekend on October 22nd/23rd again depending on boats moored up will determine its go ahead .

2023 - March 19th - Trosa ..........any Ide ?

My good friend Stefan Johansson told me of his day at Trosa a few days ago and he managed to take one good Ide of 2460. So with expectancy high i decided a visitation was necessary . However in between that capture the rain was heavy and especially on the Saturday therefore the water was brown and cold , so no takes were possible .

 

Lovely place to park up and set the gear up . Even though no activity it was just great to get out in decent temperatures with the sun threatening to make an appearance . 

2023 - March 12th , Arboga on a scouting mission

 Saturday night 3 of the Metmask team stopped at Lord Jamie Cooley castle in Kopingshire . We were entertained with a fine selection of beers and wines plus a great steak meal ..........I forgave him for beating us 1-3 (on tv)  (Leicester 1 Chelsea 3)

Criminals! .......... be careful of these characters people - They are Metmask Mafia .

This picture is on a visit to a small river full of dog roach and good chub , Jamie's secretive water ???

Back to Arboga and we have a plan !?

If the flow is not too strong then we could place 6-8 pegs above where we normally fish ?

Lord Cooley of Kopingshire directing the pegging placement 

Beware of these dodgy looking characters ............ Mafia

Arboga 'Massive' 

Sat down , talked about getting the pegs sorted in readiness for the Arboga spectacular .

Jamie will give you more information about the amount of pegs we can fit in and if all goes well we can get 32 in without using the very bottom street like last year . All bodes well , watch this space .