New Boots

I saw some boots advertised in Angling Times and decided to take a chance, a few cold and wet sessions and many more to come have spurred me into action. They seemed like a bargain, £9.99 from Used Tackle in Nottingham 01159 631777 and I picked them up from the courier today.
So, there I sat in my dinning roon with my brand new Conquest Moon Boots on and what did i think? Well the removable fleece inner boots seem quite snug and theres a thick insulating insole to keep you off the cold ground so all well so far. Looking at the actual boots themselves and I'm not so sure, the rubber of the boot seems really thin,soft and without much shape. I could be wrong but I think where the upper meets the heavily moulded sole is a definite candidate fot splitting. I reckon their life is going to be measured in sessions rather than seasons but hey what do you expect for a tenner?
I'll let you know.

Willow Lakes

Back in early october I managed a trip to Willow lakes, its a venue I quite enjoy because of the high likelyhood of getting a run which sort of restores my confidence after some knocks. I arrived nice and early in the hope of getting a good swim and being set up and ready for first light. Finding the gates locked was the first of many surprises of the day so I decided to get some sleep ready for them opening at 7.
Once on the bank I made my way to the far bank of the match lake and positioned myself mid way along the bank. The sky was like lead and the rain fell relentlessly so up went the brolly! Next my new Warrior rods and new Baitrunners went on my new(ish) pod. I opted for shortish hook lengths on semi fixed leads attached with corda safety clips on both rods. The hook lengths attached via a loop to a quick release clip rather than a swivle, this allows PVA stockings to be threaded on and sit just above the hook bait. These can be tied up prior to reeling in to save time.
I cast both rods into the gully short of the bar which runs down the centre of the lake seperated by 30m and settled down to wait. And still it rained!
It didnt take long before the left hand rod screamed off, I reached down and struck........ and that was my first mistake! Having never used a bait runner before I had forgotton to disengage the free spool, I was gutted to see the resulting birds nest. Luckily I managed to untangle the mess and was amazed to find the fish still on!After a short scrap a small mirror of about 6lb was in the net.
Frustratingly the next 4 runs , all on the left hand rod, all seemed to slip the hook after a few seconds. A switch to inline leads and fresh hook lengths saw the next 3 runs result in 3 fish on the bank, the best being a common of 11lb 6oz. Not bad considering I was the only one who seemed to be on the fish, even stranger is that all 8 runs came to the same rod. Was I landing on someone elses bait from a previous session?
About 3 in the afternoon the skys cleared and the temperature plumeted and runs seemed to stop immeadiately.
in an attempt to more accurate with my casting I'd wrapped small pieces of electrial tape around the line just beyond the tip ring when I'd initially cast but not wound down so evry cast could be feathered down when I heard the tape going through the rings. Sounds perfect in theory but in practice I found that when playing a fish on a taught line the tape catches on the rings and gets pushed down the line.
So what did i learn? Well firstly I need a better shelter as my feet got soaked sticking out of my brolly, anyone got a secondhand bivvy for sale??!! Secondly the tape trick doesnt work, you can never be 100% sure the tape stays where you put it. I'm considering painting the line with tipex, does anyone know of any reasons why this isnt a good idea for nylon? And finally the right hand rod stayed more or less silent all day, I should have experimented with different positions, rigs and baits to bring about a result.
A great day and a good test for the new gear