Mini Social November 19th Rib Valley

[micklen]

Absolutely cracking day

Everyone caught
I won't say much as I know Stewart is going to do a full write up
I will just say thanks to Charlie for the invite to his home water
Which is splendid BTW
To Stewart for bringing some burgers ;D
And to Martha just for being there ;D

I personally had 6 AND didn't fall in ;D ;D ;D

[Charlie]

Well done Mick, you obviously got home safely while we have been in the pub

As you say, a new record - eight of us showed up, EVERYONE caught, and you didn't fall in ;D

Great to meet Waterwhipper and Pierre for the first time and big thanks to Stewart and Martha for bringing both a BBQ and the burgers to go on it. The weather was fabulously warm considering the overnight frost and it was a allround a fabulous day.

Must do some more "mini socials" - maybe Elinor next time or back at Rib in the Spring.

Charlie

[waterwhipper]

Had a great day, many thanks for arranging it all and already looking forward to the next one. See you all soon!

[Rich]

Thanks Guys for arranging this, a great time had by all...

Good to meet those who i hadn't met before and also the familiar faces...

Big thanks to Masterchef Pitsford 'all stockies are evil and must be destroyed' Pirate for the lift and his culinary skills.

Hopefully i will catch fish throughout the day next time, rather than just saving them for the last hour or so..

Glad everyone got home safely

[pierre]

As the other I like to thank you for the great fishing day I have.
Special thanks to Stewart and Martha for the BBQ and to Charlie for the invitation and the advises and the fly on which I caught my. Next time I will come with my own flies, I know what to tie now.
I am sorry for my early leaving...I forgot to say good by to every one...
Next time I will stay longer.
It was a real pleasure to meet each of you I hope we will do it again soon.

[pitsfordpirate]

We picked up Rich and Mark (Starsky) at 8.15am from St Albans Thameslink and made it to Rib for 9.00am, having first stopped off at Hatfield Tesco, where Rich very kindly added to the 'Barby' menu.

Absolutely superb supermarket, loads of fantastic produce at very keen prices and not a single picture of Jamie Oliver in sight. Oh and spend fifty notes, you get 5p per litre off the finest refined Iraqi black stuff, what a feckin deal! I love that place, can we go again soon Martha?

Anyway, when we arrived, the Krauts had already grabbed the sunbeds, with Micklen, Pierre, Gary (Waterwhipper) and Charlie on the marks.

A beautifully crisp, chilly but sunny day and fantastic time had by all it appears, no blanks and 40 fish between 8 anglers, a very good rod average of 5 fish considering the conditions at many stillwaters presently.

All but one fish taken on lures, mainly of the white & green variety, Martha taking one of hers on a Bill McIlroy Spanflex Buzzer.

A huge thanks to everyone for the superb company as usual and not a pillock amongst us apart from moi ;D

Scores on the doors!

Charlie ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D (spawney fukker as usual)
Micklen ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D (Had a can of 'Sure for Men' with him, stayed dry all day)
Rich ;D ;D ;D
Martha ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Pierre ;D (only fished the morning though, spent the afternoon putting the fire out on his Citroen)
Gary ;D ;D ;D
Mark ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Pirate ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Great company and chat at the pub in Hertford afterwards, pints of 'London Pride' beside an open fire, lovely, thanks to Mark and Charlie for humouring my tastebuds, pity Micklen, Gary and Pierre weren't there, however am sure Pierre has had enough of fires lately

Now for some pictures, apologies for the volume and quality............

Martha on her way to bash some stockies..........



First cast and a fish, Starsky off the mark.......



Autumn can be so lovely, pity when some ugly Cockney bastard gets in the way though.........



Three fat stockies.............



Martha in the distance giving casting guidance to Charlie..........



Just before the Warden arrived, thinking we had set fire to the lodge.......



Left to right, Pierre, Micklen, Mark (Starsky), Charlie, Pirate, Rich and Gary (Waterwhipper)............



Pip pip!

The Pirate

[chef]

looked like a great day , glad you all caught

Tim

[waterwhipper]

"Three fat stockies............."



Shouldn't this read three lean fit hard fighting stockies? ;D

[kevzim]

So pleased to see you all had a fine day, and that there wasnae a blank between youse. Top stuff. I'll be well up for any repeat performance in the spring.

Chris and I managed a few fish out of Bewl... the spawny get got three jacks to my one (and did it using my lures to add insult to injury ;D ), and we managed a fat rank stocky on a buzzbait half its size as well (one for Charlies "trout are stupid" theory methinks.

Hope you could all feel your toes by the end of it,
and thanks for sharing your day with us,


Kev.

[micklen]

Hope you could all feel your toes by the end of it,

Kev, most of us were down to our shirtsleeves
Charlie even took his hat off
It was like a midsummers day

Three fat stockies.............

I blame the cut of my trousers ;D ;D ;D

[fishingthefly]

Hi Stewart

Looks like you had a great day!

Did you give the line I sent you a good stretch on a fish?

We had a float tube gathering on the loch today too. Not the best day for it as the entire loch was frozen in the morning, but once I "attacked" the ice, we had a whole lot of fun and the fish were rising ...... Cool!

I have posted some pics on the site at p209.ezboard.com/ffishingtheflyfrm24.showMessageRange?topicID=37.topic&start=61&stop=65

Maybe you'll come up and give it a crack some time???

Best wishes
Mike

[pierre]

Hi, Not only you caught many in the afternoon but I miss the pub, what a pity ! My major concern was not the fire at that time but my wife...As we say in France : "What wife wants god wants" and she wanted to go shopping although I bring around 3Lbs of food at home.
Why on earth did shopping center plan a "special offer day" when I go a fishing ?

[starsky]

Hi all,

Had a great day with great company as usual.

It was also nice to double my total from Wally for the season(Sep start)in one dayat Rib

I was starting to forget what my net was used for.

Special thanks to Stuart and Martha for the lift and barbie.

Hopefull we can do it again sometime soon.

Cheers Mark

[beat3]

Hi chaps, glad you all had a good day, shame I couldn't make it, some nice photos and I'm jealous! Mind you, was nice keeping the visitor company watching the rugby! God that pub was warm! Deffo gonna do the next one though, and yes Charlie, I did have a hangover as well!

[pitsfordpirate]

fishingthefly said:

Hi Stewart

Looks like you had a great day!

Did you give the line I sent you a good stretch on a fish?

We had a float tube gathering on the loch today too. Not the best day for it as the entire loch was frozen in the morning, but once I "attacked" the ice, we had a whole lot of fun and the fish were rising ...... Cool!

I have posted some pics on the site at p209.ezboard.com/ffishingtheflyfrm24.showMessageRange?topicID=37.topic&start=61&stop=65

Maybe you'll come up and give it a crack some time???

Best wishes
Mike

Hi Mike

Your line is superb mate and was going to give it the review it deserves under the tackle talk section shortly.

I'm going to have a chat with Chris and come back to you with regards to the possibility of organising a social up at yours next season. We have a lot of Scots lads on here that don't get properly represented at the socials and I think we need to spread our wings a little and give more people the chance to meet up in other parts of the country. Will be in touch.

Tightlines

The Pirate