The Dennis Pye Rod is re born

 BEFORE .....

Well I sent the rod off to Steve Boncey for a full refurbishment .

This is the result .....

 What a fantastic result .

 The colour of the cane looks brilliant as well .

Its a shame the rivers are up and flooded , as it would be great to use it , but " all good things comes to he who waits " .

Colin the Carp

The Name Game

After a further chest infection and time off work , I had recovered enough to brave the elements again and what a day it was to prove to be !

Jeff and I met at the boat and we turned right to fish a couple of spots . Its interesting how we anglers tend to give our swims and areas different names . We headed to what we call the " S bends " but also referred to as " The Silent Pool " . I think I prefer the " Silent Pool " !

Jeff soon had a take , which turned into a 12lb 8 oz Pike on a whole Mackeral bait .

The Pike is one which we will recognise again as it had a deformed right eye . Seemed a healthy fish though .

After a move we moved to the " Reeds " a normally very productive spot . Jeff was in again ! I was relegated to the photography . A 16lb 4oz Pike to a Sardine this time .

This turning into a great day : for Jeff !
A further move to the " Pontoon " soon had me testing out one of new Dave Lumb rods . I have had some great success with new rods . My last two  pairs of Pike rods , on their first outing have resulted in a 20 lb Pike ! Would the "P2's" favour me in the same way ?

A resounding yes ! 22lb 3oz of river Pike ! To a whole Mackeral bait .

I very quickly followed that one up with an 8 lb Pike .

Jeff then went into over drive !

16lb to a Sardine

Then if it couldnt get any better ......it did , with a 21lb 4oz beauty , again on a Sardine .

Plus another at 14lb to a Mackeral

Well , a red letter day if ever there was one ! Two twenties and four doubles plus a single figure fish.
What a day !

June 1965 - A momentous month !

I was born in June 1965 . The reason I mention this is that Jeff kindly gave me a few old Angling magazines to read , from his ever expanding collection .

The one that really caught my eye was a copy of " Angling " from June 1965 .

Serendipity is a marvellous thing ! The front of this magazine shows a picture of a pub on the Broads , just down from Horning on the River Bure . A place where I have fished a number of times .

On the rear of the magazine is an advert for the Intrepid Elite . A reel that I have just re discovered and am currently using .

Mine in action yesterday on a very wet perch trip !

An advert in the mag has the following retail prices for some " famous " and collectable items :

• Richard Walker Cane Mk iv Carp and Avon - £10 
• Hardy LRH No 2 - £22 
• Intrepid Elite £4

There is a Mk iv cane Carp rod on E Bay at the moment and its about to be sold for £5000 ! The touch of RW !

A Trip Down memory lane ... Billy Lane ; the master .

I have been re reading Billy Lane's " Freshwater Fish - and how to catch 'em " . What a great book ! The Master was really on form with this one .

Jeff kindly gave me copy of BL 's " Encyclopaedia of Float Fishing " and this again really shows how advanced he was ; a real expert .

I was very interested in his tactics around the use of sliding floats . I will be copying his advice !

I always have a soft spot for " Uncle Bill" as he had a monthly letters page in a fishing magazine to which I was an avid reader . I wrote to him and he replied . As a 13 year old fishing mad kid that was really something .

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 )

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 .