Teach-Fish- Lincs

A quick qualifier catch up, I was lucky enough to purchase several fishomania tickets. This year concentrated on more local venues, still a massive learning curve fishing against the best in the UK. Also dropped on Maver Match This qualifiers, some great angling and experiences.This season I've focused on the pole, the new Preston X75 is a lovely pole for the price point, no other purchases made thus far. Looking ahead will be visiting Messingham Sands on their winter Rod Only League as needing to finish in the top 10.Plenty of objectives to meet before 2027 arrives, have a pro day booked end of Sept searching for those extra 1%. Apologies for the lack of write ups, more will be included moving forward to keep me busy, Messy on Island tomorrow 🤞

Couple hours at Lindholme on the corn 🌽

Quick update , jumped on the Saturday open at Lindholme. Beeches pond for the day, main focus was getting to use the new pole at 14+ metres fishing shallow. After a nice breakfast drew corner peg 12 🚀 which apparently is decent, plumbed up 4 lines, margins and long, couldn't resist setting the 10ft feeder rod too.
Primed the shallow line for 45 mins,dropped on it after seeing some swirls, bosh nice F1 next chuck a small carp... unfortunately that was it, kept feeding two pinches of casters, fished on the deck and around 1 meter around, just couldn't find them. Something I've been practicing is to watch others around me, however no one's catching ....nothing see !!!Time for a rethink, grabbed the rod couple of gentle lobs into the middle, 5mins it's gone around, repeated a couple more times, this were I had to be disciplined, I came for practice on the pole not the rods 🤡 The clocks ticking down , several attempts on the shallow line later and it's still not happening, thoughts moved to prepping margins in search of some monsters! Beeches plumbs up like a pool table, so no concerns, I selected areas off the bank because of tree roots and debris. Potted in 200mils of expanders , sprinkled with dead red maggots with a view of swopping between 3 lines in the last 2 hrs and ,keeping busy..

Margins (Ring the dinner 🔔)
Indications of fish with plenty of liners, couple of carp which were very welcome lost a couple lumps at the net, no hook pulls so happy with the set up. Did change to a bigger hook and larger piece of corn which stopped the small fish,the 5 dead red maggot approach was binned as perch loved them.
Finally the all out was heard 🥳 I'm my head around 30lb, had local expert Chicken on 14 so expected him to have beaten me, quick chat he had 4 fish all day and the ponds not fished well. On weighing in ,Alex said the point had 50-60lb so a thanks for coming 😁. Today was about continuously improving, muscle memory, some weight training.... pole work 💪 more importantly enjoying fishing and the outdoors!
Next qualifier is at Oaks Sessay, couple of rigs to sort, and bait on Thursday 😁. Sorry no pictures this time, the heaven were about to open up at the end.
Coach Mac.

🎣

Getting ready for my first Fishomania qualifier of 2026, making sure rigs and tackle are perfect 😁. Have something special planned Sept. If you're fishing this weekend tighlines 🎣. In

So what is KHV? 🤔
KHV is a viral disease of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and all its varieties - such as mirror, leather, ghost, koi etc. The disease occurs at higher water temperatures (16˚C+), is highly contagious and may cause up to 100% mortality. Infected fish shed the virus in faeces, urine, and mucus from the gills and skin. The disease is transmitted by fish to fish contact, and also via angling equipment and contaminated water.(Landing & Keepnets)

What do I look for?😇
If you have a fish health problem, ask three questions:
Is it mostly carp dying while other species are unaffected?
Is it summer, with water temperature above 16°C?
Are the fish displaying clinical signs of KHV?
Clinical signs of KHV can include:

Lethargy, “hanging” in the water, gathering at water inlets or points of aeration. Although such fish superficially appear similar to basking fish, sick fish won’t “spook” away as vigorously as a healthy fish, if at all.
Damaged gills – with patches of pale, dead or rotting tissue
The eyes can appear sunken
The mucus covering the skin can appear as if flaking off, making the fish feel dry and rough when handled. There may also be secondary infections caused by parasitic, fungal or bacterial pathogens.

We cannot emphasize the importance of drying nets before or after a session 😎 and washing of hands

Head Coach 🎣

First MMT 2026 qualifier completed today, drew peg 17 Dannies Pond end of island which meant nothing to me. Set couple of rods and finally got to use the new pole, really happy with the new purchase so far. Unfortunately I couldn't really test it only had 12lb on the clicker so tipped back, had the pleasure of drawing a peg next to Dale Shepherd so was a great learning experience 😎. I did catch something that I've never before, 13 meters out the float went under , me thinking a decent carp, only to drag half a rod and reel 😂 looking at it a Diawa TDR so someone had a expensive /worse day then I. Some much needed prep needed, I'm looking at getting additional spare sections soon, as today was a pain with only 1 no3 with a good depth to the peg. Tighlines everyone 🎣

Much needed updated pole, opted for the Preston Innovations Superium X75 16m package. Considered the G90 and XTR 600,a wiggle and a waggle later the X75 felt better and within budget, only time will tell, it's getting used this weekend 😜 The Browing Xitan Z8-3 served me well for the last 3 years.Amazing how technology can change in a sort time feels great at 14ms. 🥷 Bring on margin monsters and f1s shallow ✴️ Have recently won a Angling Trust run Charity raffle a days fishing with the one and only master Nick Speed to arrange which I'm sure will be a amazing experience 🎉
Really looking forward to seeing what this year brings..🤞