Direct Drive

Sorry about the picture , but more to follow . I have just discovered the Gildex Reel . What a piece of craftsmanship ! This will be paired with a Hardy LRH No 2 for the winter Pike fishing , especially from the decks of " Finatic" .

The reels are direct drive so casting and playing fish is direct off the reel . Should be a hoot ! Especially with a lovely Arun 20lb Pike on the end ......i wish !!

Computer Issues

I have changed computer and had a few issues in accessing this blog . Anyway all sorted now , but a few trips have taken place , books and tackle bought and read ( and in some cases bought and sold ! ) , so time to catch up .

I have decided to re read some of my fishing books . One of the first to get the treatment was Fred Bullers Pike and the Pike Angler .

A Cracking read ( Gromit ! ) and all the techniques that are supposed to be " new" are described here .

The next one was " The Domesday book of Mammoth Pike " , . Oh boy are there some great Pike in this 'tome .

The obvious next stop was ...

Then a quick sort through the shelves and I found this one ...

I am just reading this book and the advice on weather and times of the day to fish are really relevant .

A Float on the Arun - Finatic's maiden voyage

Jeff has a theory about boats , " each one is a compromise " . Which coming from a man with a whole fleet to choose from is probably good advice . So following a discussion about the coming season and prospects of fishing on the tidal Arun we decided to explore the possibilities of getting afloat again . The boat will be used for trotting for Mullet and hopefully some Roach ,Chub and Bream , plus of course my favourite fish the Pike .

 A trip to Dartford sorted out the purchase of "Finatic" a 16 foot Orkney Strikeliner . Yesterday was her maiden voyage from Littlehampton up to her moorings at Houghton .

 

 I skippered her up the river while Jeff did the van journey .

The journey was lovely . Arundel hopefully the scene of some Mullet captures in the next few months and Houghton , the new base .

Roll on the new season !

Trout - A new horizon or a step too far ?

On reading some of my old angling books I have been fascinated by the fishing methods and accounts of the fish that were caught from the Thames weirpools . I have been lucky enough to have fished some of the weir pools mentioned in the books with Mark Colvin , a really great experience and we had some great catches of Pike . But I always harboured a thought towards those Trout . So after a few e mails and phone calls I am off with Steve Roberts for an opening day trip to the Thames ! I will do my home work and keep reading the books .

 

 

 

 A proper float !

A Bit of a catch up

I have had my eye on a local lake for ages , but never managed to find out who owned the fishing rights . An off chance  conversation in the local pub however got me the phone numbers I needed and I joined the club .

 The locals were friendly too !
I thought I would start with a spot of float fishing with my new favourite bait ....prawns . The Carp seem to like them !

A couple of other trips to other club lakes have been great fun , and the locals took great interest in me ..

The rain although expected was tremendous

This gave me a chance to have a tidy up in the tackle box while sheltering under the brolly

Maybe I need to trim down the contents ?

On the subject of subtractions and additions , my growing collection of cane rods has now included a Rodrills sample . What a great rod ! Its a three piece " Avon" although to be fair I think its more of a light Carp rod . Its fast becoming my favourite .

In addition my new found favourite reel has become the DAM 330. These are superb !

March 26th 2015

Having had a wander round the three lakes yesterday , I  decided that I would fish the middle lake in an attempt to catch a few Perch . I picked a swim and decided to feed maggots , regularly and to fish a large worm hookbait . Pretty soon the tactics worked with the first of few Perch gracing the net and of course adding a new species to the TFF list .

 

 

Then I caught this monster Perch ! Unfortunately I didn't have my scales with me , but who needs to put a number on such a fish ? I know it was bigger than my previous best of 3lb 12oz .

 



March 25th 2015 - The TFF Float Rod sallies forth

I was very fortunate to receive the offer from Ashbycut , from the Traditional Fisherman's Forum of the use of an Aspindale's " Severndale" split cane float rod . The rod was for my use until I had my own cane float rod . I would then pass the rod on to a fellow TFF member . What a generous offer !

So I popped over to the club lakes and decided to fish the top lake of the three , which had some decent Roach and Rudd , which I hoped would test out the TFF rod.

 I was using one of Jeff's upside down swan quills , which worked really well . I had a few Roach and the best one was probably about 8oz , as below .

 Traditional Quills .