albipesca february

Hi all well yet again another fishing blog for all you anglers out there, and again a brief one at that.
I had a quick practice session midweek just to try out a few different baits more than anything,i have been patiently waiting for a little upturn in temperature so i could try an old but equally great winter bait bread or to be more specific to those of us that are in the know Warburtons.
I fished the 8 meter line for two n a half hours and had around 15 kilos of carp on punched bread,not a huge weight but none the less a nice session considering the carp are wild here not f1s and are quite cagey in the winter months.
Luckily i had my better half with me to capture some pics so thanks caz you did a great job (under protest) i may add!!!!!!.
Also last week i managed to fit a training session in with albipesca my fishing club on the feeder as we will be competing in the national championships of portugal in cabacao in september and vila real in october. We have 6 members including me who will represent our club in the nationals and i hope we can achieve a little success.I caught around 20 kilos fishing to the fips rules which i have to say are alien to me but alas have to be adhered to so as to make ot fair to everyone,but unfortunately for me i have a way bigger spectrum of techniques i could use but am not allowed.
I have a club competition this sunday 12th march the first this year so looking forward to that especially as it is forecast to be 21 degrees and sunny yippee.
That,s all for now catch you later.

Parque verde bonito

Just a quick post here from a fishing session in early February on a cold winters day.The fishing was hard to say the least,but to be expected this time of year.Normally in summer on a good day it's possible to catch around 30 to 40 kilos.

Portugal fishing

Hi everyone well a great start to the year for me besides a new sponsorship i have been invited to fish for the albipesca team in the national championships in Portugal. These take place over two weekends in September and October, and as far as I am aware i will be the first English angler to take part for a Portuguese team. I feel honoured and privileged but also a little nervous as it is a long time since i used to fish the nationals in the UK. We have a practice session in a couple of weeks so i will do an update then.tight lines.

Charming village of Monsanto

We have been out and about during the Christmas break and one trip took us to a village in the granite mountain of Monsanto.
The village, in 1938, was named as "the most Portuguese village of Portugal" in a class of twelve classified historic villages in Portugal, but in my opinion it is more of a unique village rather than "the most Portuguese" village in Portugal.

It dates back to the Roman times, with the fortress being built on the granite mountain and where the village was developed in between impressively big and miraculously balanced boulders using the as roofs.

Monsanto is a lovely tourist village, well worth a visit for the climb up the rocky mountain up to the ruins of the castle fortress and then the walk down into the village which has cafes and restaurants with amazing 360 degrees views.

Finally decided to fit a log burner!!!!

Well after 5 years we have finally installed a log burner. We have previously looked into it but decided against it because the situ of the open fireplace would not allow us to have a back boiler fitted which would have enabled us to have run a central heating system from it. The reason being that behind the fireplace there are steps leading down into the basement and it would have been impossible to fix a boiler there so we were sort of put off the idea of having a log burner. However, common sense eventually prevailed and we decided that we were losing too much heat from the fire going more up the chimney than into the room. Also because the fireplace is large we were burning way too much wood and by the time the room was nice and cosy it was time for bed!

And so we went to look at burners and found one almost instantly with a delivery arranged for the next day. I could tell you the story of the delivery and I feel like "naming and shaming" the company who supplied it but it's Christmas so I will let that one go. Obviously they aren't easy items to deliver with the burner itself weighing 160 kgs but hey ho over that panto now thanks to some strong guys from our local builders merchants!!!!

The first job was to remove the cast iron backplate, take out the existing firebricks and remove a few of the marble stones so the burner could be placed lower down to the ground level. Rob then had to refit new fire bricks and render the back and sides. We asked a local welder to make us a steel plate which was cut to size to fit and a hole cut for the chimney flue to slide up in the open space above the fire.

Photo of the removal of the existing bricks and fireplace.

Replacing new firebricks

Inserting the chimney flue and then fitting the steel top plate


Once the flue had been inserted Rob had a bit of rendering to do at the back and sides of the fireplace. It was impossible for Rob and myself to lift the fire into place so once again the guys from the builder's merchant came to the rescue and help lift the burner into place!!! As there was very little manouvreability space at the sides of the burner it was only once the fire was in place that Rob could finish off with the firebricks and tiling the top of the hearth.

And finally all we can say is that we really regret not installing a log burner in 5 years ago! It throws out so much more heat and the consumption of logs is much much smaller! Well happy !!!!

Talaguira fishing season

As the fishing season is almost over for this year just a small recap on how things worked out. To say it has been only my first full season at Talaguira the results have gone really well. All in all I've achieved four wins, three 2nd places and four 3rd places. Hopefully next season i can improve on it as i have had more practice this year on the venue and feel on top of it now. Strangely i have only drawn one peg all season on the matches that i actually fancied so i feel with better luck at the drawbag i can be a bigger success. Had some great weights in the four hour timespans going up to 140 lbs. Also to finish my year on a real high i will be sponsored for next year by a UK fishing company. Happy days.

"Lazy Bloggers"

Hello everyone !!!

Well it's been a good time since we last did a post! I am afraid there are no excuses other than we have just been plain lazy!!!!

We did have a lovely summer and made the most of it by using the local river beaches and socialising which really does take up a lot of your time!!!! However now the winter months have set it you find yourself with more time to spare cosying next to the log burner which is going to be the subject of our next post so look out for that one soon.

Just in case Christmas should come before the next blog we would like to wish all our readers a Very Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year. Boas Festas

Some photos from the summer album