Rod Rack Erection .....ooh er !

I have been planning on building a rod rack for a while . I have hunted around on the interweb and found some lovely plans . Now I must admit I am no DIY enthusiast . In fact I will qualify that even further I am useless at anything that requires building or making anything  , or sawing in straight lines . So the build of such an item was going to be a bit of a challenge .

I recently had to actually mend some shelves at home and a visit to the local wood shop allowed the fine chap behind the counter to do all the cutting for me ! Result ! So my plans were set to get the sizes of wood required for the rod rack ,  all cut by the kind and sympathetic man at the wood shop.

I then started to realise ( you can tell DIY is not my bag !) that I needed glue, screws , and varnish in addition to the wood . So I started to tot up the costs of my simple rod rack ....£50 and that was before I started to build the bloody thing ! There had to be an easier way .

So a quick search on the bay of evil and I found a wooden rod rack exactly like the plans I had drawn up , for the grand total of £22. I ordered one .

No instructions , but how difficult can it be ?

Easy actually !

It works !

A Cruise on the River

Melanie wanted a trip on the river , so with a beaufiful morning on offer we took a pootle up and down the river , with a cream tea at the end . Lovely !

The skipper did well ! She was a natural !

Beautiful landscape on the river .

The Search for a Shakespeare Catalogue

The 1977 Shakespeare Catalogue was one of my favourite reads as a young fishing mad  teenager . The picture of the bearded chap on the front , with his large Pike always grabbed my attention .

A post on the TFF soon had some guidance as to where to find one , and now its here !

Pye are Squared ?

The Dennis Pye rod needed a good outing , so I loaded it up with a Cardinal 66 and took it along for a trip up the river .

I must admit the rod did not immediately feel right ! In fact I would go so far as to describe it as a stick : even if it is a bamboo one .

The casts it produced resulted in the paternostered tackle baits , leads and floats doing all sorts of loops and wobbles in flight . I am no scientist but something was amiss !

I was using a Dave Lumb P2 on the other rod with exactly the same end gear . That landed in the water with no issues . However a slow underhand cast seemed to work better with the DP rod .

The river was lovely and the weather beautiful . An 8lb fish soon snaffled one of my deadbaits but unfortunately on the P2 .

I then decided to have a go with the DP rod and a centerpin reel . The idea being that an underhand lob , rather than a cast might assist in the " whiplash " cast issues .

So I partnered the rod with a JW Youngs " Seldex " .

The traditional casting seemed better with no " whiplash " issues .

Very soon the float disappeared and the result was a feisty 8lb Pike to the DP ! ( Please excuse the silly hat ! ) The rod is great to play fish on and with a centrepin , the whole set up seems complete .

Jeff took pity on my attempts at Wallis Casting ( Thats what I called it , it was more like a Wally Casting ! ) and suggested casting direct from the drum of the reel .

Well blow me down ( the wind nearly did ! ) it worked . An underhand lob and the reel was spinning , the bait looping out to the far bank 10 meters or so away . Hurray !

My initial views on the DP as a "stick " might have been a bit harsh , but it did seem to work better with a 'pin .

I have a few Seldex reels after a mistake on E Bay ( Doh ! ) so I might have a go with them for a few other species . Now a Season on the 'pin . Now there is a thought !

A Fool and His Eel

I have really enjoyed reading this book by Mark Walsingham . A great read and some superb pictures . Cant recommend it enough !

Fishing with a friend

Jeff and I went to one of the club lakes in search of a Perch ( me) , and Pike ( Jeff ) . A lovely day emerged from the cold grey morning .

I adopted the tried and trusted worm and maggot approach and this was how I manged to adopt a " friend ".

Robin ( the Robin !) liked maggots and worms , alas the Perch didnt !