I had a few hours fishing on peg 2 this afternoon. Worm and corn being my method of attack. It worked!

I had 2 small perch in the 1st hour but then added 30 or more Taranka in the next couple of hours.
I also lost 2 larger fish in the reeds.

Oh yes! Another Catfish has gone from here to Trastikovo. A 21kg Catfish went there 2 weeks ago and a larger one went there today.

Woke up to this lot today!

There were more than 30 cormorants on the lake this morning. Each bird eats maybe 500 to 750 grams of fish per day. That works out to more than 15Kg of fish being eaten every day.

Not good.

Everyone who fished the late October and early November matches were puzzled as to why the weights were so low. Less than 500g won the 30 Oct match.

I think this goes a long way to explaining what happened:

Lake Turnover

As the days get shorter and cooler, and energy is transported away from/out of the lake, mixing becomes easier.  At about 50⁰, the cooler water (with a higher oxygen content) at the surface begins to sink into and through the thermocline, forcing warmer and less dense water to the surface, eventually erasing the temperature stratification built up over the summer.  At some point, the majority of the water in the lake reaches an approximately uniform temperature.  Now, storms and sustained high winds can begin to perform the task of overturning and mixing all of the water in the lake — referred to as fall turnover.  The deep water contains an abundance of decaying matter and sulfurous gases; when it reaches the surface, it produces a telltale odor that indicates the process has begun.  Eventually the turnover mixes fresh oxygen into the entire lake mass, replenishing the deep waters with the life-giving stuff and cleansing the sulfurous fumes from the water, allowing fish to return to the depths where they will spend the winter months.

 

We had a major storm on 23 October and no doubt that stirred everything up.

 

I witnessed someone catching 16 Tollostolob today, on the dam wall on rod and line and almost all hooked in the mouth. I don’t agree with the method he used and he himself said this was not sport but was basically fishing for food.
But, be aware, I caught 2 Tollostolob from peg 4, plus carp.
Smile, it’s all for fun

Sunday September 4th, 2011, will be the day of the ‘Big Fish Off’ at Yaz Manastir. This match will decide the overall Trophy and Wooden Spoon winners for the summer period of 2011.
The list below contains the names of those eligible, to date, to fish in either or even both elements of the match.
There is still one more match to go so the list could change. It’s your last chance to get in the ‘Big Fish Off’.

The list includes all matches fished here from the 19th June 2011.

Trophy Winners

19 June     -     Rado
26 June     -     Paul
3 July         -     Vlado
10 July      -     Gencho
17 July      -     Yovcho
31 July      -     Paul
7 Aug        -     Allan
14 Aug      -     Rado
21 Aug      -     Paul

Spooners

19 June     -     Yovcho
26 June     -     Gary
3 July        -     Nevyana
10 July     -     Plamen
17 July     -     Nevyana
31 July     -     Gary
7 Aug        -     Gary
14 Aug      -     Steve
21 Aug      -     Gary

Both elements of the ‘Big Fish Off’ will be decided on total weight. The competitor with the highest weight in each category will be declared the winner.

 

First of all, apologies to our regular readers.

We’ve been extremely busy recently and have had no time to update the site with recent match reports.

We’ll try to get things back up to date in the next day or two so please bear with us.

Again, apologies to all.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

1st of all, I apologise for the delay in publishing these results, we have a big problem with EON which we are trying to sort out.

14 anglers attended Sunday’s match.
The weather for the day started out OK but we did have rain.
We used 2 sections for the match, the House Bank was section A and the Wall section B, each with 7 anglers.
This week the Brit split was even, 2 on the Wall and 2 on the House Bank. I drew peg 5.

In my opinion, the lake didn’t fish all that well, i expected almost everyone to be into small fish as soon as the match started. As it turns out, most people struggled to catch anything in the early stages.
I had maybe 10 Taranka in the first 2 hours and it was at that point, I decided I needed a beer. So I did.
Obviously the beer worked because I started catching fish as soon as I got back to my peg and finished with 70 Taranka, 1 Grass Carp and 2 small Carp. I was broken by something big as well.

Results:

Section A

1. Tikomir    -  7.45Kg   – Peg 3
2. Paul           -   6.35Kg   – Peg 5

Section B

1. Vlado       -   12.59Kg  – Peg 12
2. Rado         -   9.86Kg    – Peg 8

Ladies

1. Plamena  -  5.73Kg   – Peg 1

Wooden Spoon

Neviana   – 100g         – Peg 11

 

The question of banning certain fish was raised on Sunday, after the match.
There are reasons why I would ban things in a fishing match, namely if methods being used in the matches directly threaten the well being of either anglers or the wildlife.
If any angler employs fishing methods which are intended to deliberately FOUL HOOK fish, that angler will be disqualified and asked not to return in the future.
I will not be banning Tollostolob or any other FAIRLY CAUGHT fish from the weigh-in.

RULE:

FOUL HOOKED FISH ARE NOT TO BE WEIGHED IN AS PART OF AN ANGLERS CATCH IN ANY COMPETION ORGANISED BY ME AT YAZOVIR MANASTIR.

The above rule applies to ALL fish caught in matches, whether they be large or small.
Application of the above rule relies on the honesty of all participants.

RULE:

THE LARGEST HOOK THAT MAY BE USED IN A MATCH ORGANISED BY ME AT YAZOVIR MANASTIR IS SIZE TEN. (10)

 

I forgot to add, the next match will be Sunday 10th July. Same time, same place.

Sue and I organise fishing matches here at Yazovir Manastir.
Initially the intention was to attract British anglers because that was the only thing we knew. We were happy with the 6 or 7 anglers that attended the early matches.
In truth, we had no idea that there was an active match scene here in our area. It was a very pleasant surprise to discover that there were so many Bulgarian anglers who wished to attend here. In fact we feel it’s an honour to host ‘our regulars’. We’ve been privileged to meet some really good people, Brits and Bulgarians alike. The reality is, everyone who has attended here is on our ‘people we like’ list.

So why do we organise matches here?

Here are a few reasons why:

• I (Paul) enjoy fishing matches
• We like the friends we have met at the matches
• We have fun, you have fun
• They are social events and we meet as friends

We make no money from organising matches. The only time we show any profit is if I win some of the pools.
Yes, we do charge for sandwiches and drinks but in truth, we make nothing from those.

It actually costs us to stage matches here.
If we take our outgoings into consideration, we run matches at a financial loss. The only people to profit from the fishing here are the concession owners.

Why do I feel it necessary to make this point, you may ask?

A lot of effort goes into staging fishing competitions. Here more than most.
All that effort is put in by us, Sue and I. We try to ensure things run smoothly and as efficiently as we can.

When people complain about an aspect of a fishing match here, we listen. We try and rectify the problem. For no financial gain.
Don’t think for one moment that any part of the 5 lev fee paid to the guards is given to us. It’s not!

There have been complaints from anglers about recent matches (there were complaints last year too). Whether those complaints are justified or not is not my decision, but rest assured, those complaints have been thought about. By us.
I’d like to think the concession owners have thought about them too.

So, from now on in, if you have a complaint about any aspect of the fishing here whether that be the condition of pegs, or which fish are allowed/not allowed, I suggest you take it up with the people who you pay to fish here. Or resolve it yourselves.

 

 

9 people attended last Sunday’s match, 5 Bulgarian and 4 British anglers. The luck of the draw determined that all the Brits were on the wall and all the Bulgarians fished the house bank! Interesting.

Rado has organised a trophy for the winner of each match to be held here from now on. It’s a great idea I think.
The cost of each trophy will be taken from the pools money.

My tactics for the wall are pretty well known by now, go for the big fish, which is what I did.
Within the 1st hour I’d hooked and lost 3 Tollostolob. This was to be the pattern for the rest of the match.
At the end of the 1st hour and a half,  I hooked and landed what turned out to be a 5 Kg Tollostolob.
I found there to be little activity from the Taranka in the first half of the match and at the halfway point, I had only 1 Tollostolob to show for my efforts.
Simon, on peg 11 had also landed a Tollostolob but had also caught quite a number of small fish too, so I thought i was behind at this point.
Allan on peg 10 was also struggling, like me, to catch Taranka. For some reason, they weren’t there.
Gary on peg 8 had been catching Taranka and from his frequent updates, everyone knew he was catching regularly.

Taranka did make an appearance in the 2nd half of the match and I had 2 Kg of small fish during the period. I also landed another Tollostolob of similar size to the 1st fish.

I hooked and lost a total of 16 Tollostolob during the 5 hour match. Most of them were foul hooked I believe but I believe at least 2 or 3 of them were hooked in the mouth. I hooked and played these 2 or 3 fish for a long time (10 to 15 minutes each?) before losing them to an unstoppable final surge.
The two I landed were both hooked in the mouth.

Results:

1. Paul Mansley – 12.10 Kg
2. Rado                 – 8.78 Kg
3. Vlado               – 7.96 Kg

Due to popular demand, we will be holding the next match on Sunday 3rd July and for those of you who just can’t get enough, another on on Sunday 10th July.

See you there.