Wednesday 30 December 2015

Frank has a bad dose of the wind ! and may the Force be with you !

Jeff and I ventured forth in the teeth of another storm . This time it was Frank who was wreaking havoc on the North of the Country , but it certainly felt as though he was having a bit of laugh at our expense too ! At least we had no flooding ( yet ) .We turned right and motored off to a spot Jeff had previously earmarked as a sheltered area against the prevailing wind .

We settled in and after the celebratory seasons tea and mince pies we waited for the Pike to show up .


I was using an Abu  Cardinal 66 on one of the LRH's for the first time . The green and cream livery of these reels is in my view the personification of what a fixed spool reel should look like . I spent ages looking at the reels in the famous ABU catalogues of the 1970's but could never afford them . They are now selling for three times their original prices on the " Bay of Evil " ! I love them !

I soon had a very tentative take on one of my rods ....the Cardinal was in action !

The Pike put up a spirited fight but was soon landed in Jeff's new folding net ( a superb device ! ) and laid ready for unhooking in the " Sladle" . Again a really great piece of kit , that puts fish welfare and safety first . Well done Jeff !

I must also learn to smile in the photo's ! ( I will remember to " Smile for Brian ! " )

We moved a couple of times but the wind and high water levels made life difficult , so an early finish was in order before Jeff went off to greet the " Force " in the new " Star Wars " film . ( A great film which M and I saw last night )




Monday 28 December 2015

Stuck in a Rut ?

I started this morning admiring the lovely red sky . " Red sky in the morning Sheperds warning ". Well perhaps I should have heeded the warning .

I had planned a trip to a local lake , which has to be accessed via a long lane then via a field track . All went well until I had reached the lake . I decided for some reason to move the car and face it back down the track , just in case of any issues with the mud later in the day . Well I got stuck ! Well and truely stuck ! Luckily a bit of tooing and froing freed me and I made good my escape . What to do ? I decided to leave the lake and go elsewhere in search of a dry place to park !

Another local lake beckoned and off I went .

I have been experimenting with a set up  for using a swing tip . It was a method I really liked as a teenager and seemed pretty successful . I had tried a fibreglass Diawa leger rod exactly like the one from the 1970's when I had used it . But it was to say the least a bit of a floppy pole ! So £25 later I had a new Shakespeare Sigma Specialist 10 foot rod with a scew tip ring . A bargain !

The lake has a small population of Perch , so I tried my luck with a worm approach and as I flicked the bait out i remebered the old adage :" a fool at one end and a worm at the other " .  Was I to be the fool yet again ?

I had forgotten that casting with a swing tip demanded a careful approach to prevent a tangle !

One to the fool !

Pretty soon however the tip was dancing to a tune dictated by a number of small Roach .  I got the hang of waiting for the first tremble of the tip and striking on the " up " . A line bite was also easy to read once you had your eye in . I was enjoying the trip down memory lane hopefully there would be nomore mud to trap me  !

Once again the tip trembled then lifted smartly , a strike met with the rod hooping over and the ABU reel churning : no Roach this one then !

The rod handled the Carp ( it had to be ! ) very well  and was surprisingly powerful for what is a very cheap rod.

The lovely looking Carp I estimated at about 8lb and after a quick photo ( the tape is set at 18") I put her back .

I then checked the rod again and found that the rod was described as rated for lines up to 12lb . No wonder it had some hidden power reserves !

Out went the worm again .

One to the fool and one to the worm !

Surprisingly I did'nt get anymore Roach . In fact no bites at all .

Then the rod was ripped out of the rest and the swing tip went into horizontal mode !

The culprit ...

Another Carp , this time about 5-6lbs .

Worm 2 : fool 1 .

I was lucky to get a present for Xmas that has been on my Amazon list for a while ; a barometer . I will be taking it along with me on my fishing forays and noting the pressure . I will keep you posted .


Sunday 20 December 2015

Route 66 ? Will it live up to expectations ?

I have dug out one of the old Abu's , for a quick winter appearance . The lovely green and cream of an ABU 66 will grace the handle of one of the Hardy LRH's , for the next few trips after Pike .

To Swing or not to Swing ?

If its possible for a fishing method to immediately tranform me back to my " evergreen" youth , then its the swing tip . I really liked the method and it seemed to suit both the slow flowing stretches of the rivers Ouse and Uck that I used to fish at the time . When I moved to lakes , it immediately worked with many Tench and Bream falling to " my " method .
I also managed to regularly catch Pike on my legered worms at " Highlands lake" on the tip , which was great fun and probably sparked my interest in the species .
So in my re visiting of my youth I have dug out the old books from the WW library ...
 This was the classic . Old Fred was "on it "when it came to the tip . Then chapters in various other books developed the method . I must admit my own method was a small feeder with " Expo" groundbait and crumb with maggots , corn and worms on the hook . Seemed to work !
So the re development of the old method required a rod , as none of mine had a threaded tip ring . A search of E bay soon found a bargain and for the grand total of a fiver I got a rod exactly like my old schooldays one ! Once I had hold of it i realised that times have moved on ! I will use  it,  but the fibre glass construction and floppy action , and a lack of enough rings may limit its use . The problem with all the lakes I fish locally can be summed up in one word : Carp ! Now I like catching Carp , but NOT when I want to catch other things , as you either lose tackle to the Carp which I hate to happen , or up the line and rod strength to give a chance of landing safely one of the Golden devils ! Unfortunately the Diawa may not have the guts to do the necessary ..... we will see .
I also supplemented my swing tip collection ...
Also a quick search of the internet revealed a Sigma carbon leger  rod from Shakespeare for the grand total of £26 , so its on order. I know its not cane , but .....

The next stop is some water !

Saturday 19 December 2015

A Day with the Elite

Today was the first trip out for the New/Old Intrepid Elite . I had filled the " match" spool with 100m of my favourite Drennan Floatfish line in 6 lb , but I slightly miss judged the capacity as the spool is obviously slightly larger than I thought , so a back fill will be needed at some point .

The reel works really well but the clutch is shocking ! So backwinding it is or finger control on the rotor .

I set out to try for  Perch and the usual approach of red maggots and chopped worms , with a large " snake" on the size 6 hook was the order of the day .

I missed a sail away bit first chuck ! Doh !

Jeff joined me after a few traffic issues , to again try his hand at the Perch .

Anyway all was quiet until the rod was nearly pulled in and the Elite went into " churn" mode !

The culprit ...


I would put this a " Wild" Carp , it certainly put up a scrap !

Jeff managed a nice Perch late in the day , before the rain set in .

We decided to stay on into the dark and see if anything might develop. But the Perch did not make an appearance .

Friday 11 December 2015

Fishing with Float and Fly by William Child

A great book !

I read and re read this as a teenager . It was one of about 10 fishing books in the school library . I think I was supposed to be reading " proper" books when I was in there but I usually reverted to one of the fishing books ! Probably explains a lot !


Monday 7 December 2015

In Desmond's Footsteps

Jeff had been out earlier in the week and had had what can only be described as a " Red Letter Day " . Eleven Pike from this river is an achievement in one days session . Yet when one is a twenty , and two doubles plus some high singles ....wow ! Well done Jeff !

So I only had one day at the weekend , so hoped that the river would be in the same conditions .

The onset of Storm Desmond and his rain and wind lashing the north of the Country would I have thought put paid to the fishing , but the river stayed at its normal levels , despite a howling wind and some very persistant rain .

We motored off to fish the favoured areas and pretty soon we had some action . The above Pike weighed 18lbs and seemed to have been in the wars with a number of cuts and growths . It was a very large fish which if I had been asked to estimate its size , I would have put it in in the mid twenties . Perhaps a fish that is on the decline ?

As Jeff had the fish in the net , I got a run and landed a 9 lb Pike which Jeff recognised as one that he had had in his RLD session .

Jeff then landed a 7 lb Pike .

Gildex and Hardy LRH 's ready for action .


Then it was my turn to get in on the action ! Cane bending into action.
A 16lb fish for me , then a 14lb er . Excellent !

The Elite

I always viewed the Intrepid reels as a " Bit Inferior" to the ABU and Mitchell stables . Shame really as they were very good .I saw pictures from Barrie Rickards and others who used them but didnt get to try one ...till now !

Jeff Smith kindly agreed to turn four rubbish " Elites " into one user .

So here goes with a new / old reel for the winter campaign !

The reel will be loaded up with line and set to use against a few fishy foes .