Let’s come at this Sideways for the Go Carp racing, and then lob out a pebble for pike at Pebley. Hi folks this is my first little ditty on our site so I thought I’d start of by telling you all a bit about my background and how I hope to fill this bit of space I’ve been so kindly given . My Family are from a farming background in Wales in the most part and as a child I spent most of my time herding sheep and cattle and pigs around various uncles farms sneaking off to watch the cats hunting mice and rats or sitting in the milking shed and watching the cats sit lined up in the doorway as uncle Stephen shot a stream of milk straight from the cow down each of there throats twice along the line and then the cats would move off their rat catching payment received and these were proper ratters not the namby pamby house cats of town these had the extra Claw at the back for gripping like an opposable thumb of instant death as I found out one day when I tried to pick up one of the oh so cute kittens that were really mini demons from the ninth level of hell, one minute I was reaching down to this fluffy little bundle of cuteness next I was trying to retrieve a shredded hand from a tiny whirlwind of teeth and claws that moved like lightening and every bit of it seemed sharp all that fluff had turned into razors, I learned a very good lesson that day about things not being what they seemed . As for hunting well I have not done any to be honest not real hunting anyway. I have been out with a bow and shot targets in a wood but I’ve never used a gun to feed myself and I hope with the help of some of the lads on this site that I’ll be able to correct that don’t get me wrong I’m not a blood thirsty type and I abhor suffering but from what I’ve seen so far on here there is very little suffering involved with despatching their quarry but I’ll certainly give you all an honest report on anything I get up to. So in short I hope to make my little bit of web space more about the countryside as a whole rather than just the fishing I’d like to add things about the country life and what goes on within the seasons in and on the land, if I’m lucky I’d like to make blackcaps escapades a mini Out of Town like Jack Hargreaves used to do and to that end I hope people will invite me along to other events in the countryside calendar such as horse drawn ploughing or cider making nudge wink. Right back to what I’ve been up to recently fishing wise and was I looking forward to it, what with family matters and my leaving of another site under somewhat of a cloud. Breamy our young computer whizz invited me to have a day out with himself dad and paste at a new fishery for me called sideway farm on the A6060 just through Thurcroft south Yorkshire It is a single oblong pond with a central island with an average depth of about 5 foot the actual size of the whole lake is about that of a very good football pitch with wooden well made pegs all round, to be honest they are a tad close together especially on the corners, but it was very neat and well kept and once the trees and other vegetation have grown in the place will be very pleasant and should feel quite secluded and cosy. I was going to be at the venue for opening at dawn but as they say the best laid plans of mice and men or rather in my case sick moggies and Man, why do cats have to be ill at the most inappropriate time and then run away half way through so you have to clean up various stop points around the house grrrr I hate cat sick especially at 06.00am in the morning. Anyway I clean up get the gear ready and then I’m off and manage to get to the venue at around 08.30 to find Paste already ensconced at the short side nearest the house and stables so I choose a peg 36 I think it was opposite the bottom of the island and set up my Korum chair with it’s new telescopic feeder arm that I got for my Birthday thanks to my lovely Daughters. All the time I was setting up Paste (Matt) was catching at about 11meters with single red or white maggot on a size 20 hook elastic was 12 but the bottom was only 2lb to start off with, he did drop down to elastic weight of 8 and a bottom of 1.5lb . After a few chucks I did manage to get the fish coming on the usual method for me Moby dick quivertip rod with 6lb main line and low diameter hook length of 4lb I wasn’t getting as many fish as Matt but it kept me interested then Breamy and his Father arrived and set up on the long side closest to the carpark both set up with pole Breamy fishing out in the water whilst his father tried the margin ,but for some reason they both struggled they did manage a few fish each but it was hard going in the chill wind and with the influx of cold rain . Paste was really showing us how it should be done and there certainly was a selection of fish to go at the small pasty carp were the main protagonist’s but there were golden orfe and goldfish caught along with Skimmers, roach, Ide and even the well according to Breamy the non existent Perch, the saddest part of the day though was the health and quality of a fair number of these fish which had sores and other small wounds along there sides but I even managed to make the lads smile about that , Well Matt (paste) had, had a wander round and noticed that they had got a single bit of tape going from the bank to the island so I said that I new what the damage was on the fish it happened during the Go Carp racing they were doing it was crash damage chortle and the tape was the finish line ,this seemed to tickle Matt the thought of Carp racing round the pond really got his funny bone especially when I said the winning carp the week was called shoe mackerel he was grinning and shaking his head as he wandered back to his peg ,now it could have been because he thought I’d lost the plot ,but I’d prefer to think it was my sense of humour that got him to chortle. I missed a few real pull rounds because I was sitting with my arms crossed against the cold and Breamy’s dad was snapped off by the best fish of the day and that was about it really the venue is very pleasant and will get better as I said it even has a loo which is very nice for the older and female fisherperson I’m not sure what plans are afoot but they were certainly being busy now whether that was for the stables or the fishery I couldn’t say we’ll just have to go back to see oh what a shame and at £4.00 a pretty good deal. So that was my first trip out in my new guise as Blackcap where next well Si and Juggla AKA Penfold had got it set in there minds that a trip to Pebley Res to see if we could see any of the resident course fish and perhaps if we were really lucky we might come across a toothy critter of the largish size you have already heard that the three musketeers arrived at different times and how we set up in the first three pegs well the other two had pegs me I was on the beach amongst the tree roots with the wind blowing into our faces we all thought and when I say all I mean even the Bailiffs thought we were in for a good day but there had been a lot of cold rainwater entering the Res which just slapped the course fish down and stopped them feeding but Si and I ever the gluttons for punishment tried all day but as he said we never had our maggot sucked all day which was a shame but the views across the Res and the different cloud formations and shafts of light like a lighting effect from a biblical epic was worth the ticket price anyway without Juggla’s bonus fish I could hear the pair of them nattering away when suddenly one of Georges alarms springs to life beep, beep I see him lift the rod wind down to disengage the bait runner then sweep the rod up in a smooth arc which was suddenly stopped as the hooks bit and he found himself attached to something that was not a happy little bunny at all infact he suddenly realised his reel did have a clutch and this toothy lady was going to test it ,how’s the elbow I enquire as the 2lb plus test curve rod hoops over and the clutch ticks away as the pike takes line from the spool Blinkin marvellous or words to that effect comes the reply from a fella with a huge grin on his face then a look of deep concentration slips back into place as the fish surges off again but gradually the battle is won and the fish after a brief surge on the surface slips over the net expertly handled by Si and like a team we all cheer in unison score one for the musketeers’ all for one and one for all and the wind wasn’t quite as cold and the sun warmed us a little more than it had and Penfold was positively glowing with his capture and he got warmer still when he weighed it and it went over 17lb, we didn’t tell him at the time but to get the fishes tail just at ground level the beasties muzzle was at Georges Chin that was a long, long fish or was it that Penfold wasn’t that long giggle whichever, it was a great capture and a great day putting the world to rights and reminiscing over old fishermen’s tales of the good old days over a nice pint at the Angel inn as the light failed it didn’t matter that Si and I had not caught The Three Musketeers were back together again and all is right with the world. And that’s it for Blackcaps first instalment I hope you enjoyed it and any comments will be greatly received so until next time Best Regards Malc.