Indicators

In the beginning there was floats, these in my opinion when properly set up are the most sensitive form of bite detection. Unfortunatly watching a motionless float for more than a few hours quickly becomes tiring and float fishing isnt always ideal. For ledgering one of the earliest bite idicators was a piece of silver paper on the line between the first 2 rod rings. The main problem with free hanging bobbins is that they can blow sideways and make bites difficult to spot.
I've seen all sorts in the chase for bite detection from pennys rested on reel handles balenced over tin cans and washing up bottle tops as bobbins.
This problem was initially solved by rolling the silver paper into a tube and slotting it onto a rod pushed into the ground to prevent sideways motion. In later years this technique was refined to a plastic tube which slid up and down on a PTFE coated needle and gained the name 'Monkey Climber' and was the be all and all in carp fishing. And thats where I left the game.
When I re entered 12 years on I found things had changed somewhat and instead I was led in a different direction. Thats when the Fox mk2 swingers made it below my optonics. I found the swingers had 2 main advantages 1, they are unaffected by side winds, and 2, with a sliding counter wieght they can be set for a huge range of resistance. The attention to detail is great with a low friction line clip and a resessed drilling for a luminous isotobe. At £15.99 each in my mind they make the most reliable and versatile option on the market.

Farlows

I managed a day off from work in early february and managed a late day session at Farlows. As usual I picked the motorway bank near the entrance gate for ease of getting out once the gates were locked. I set one rod up on a running rig and one as semi-fixed and baited up with shelf life dynamite baits spicey chicken tipped off with plastic sweetcorn for a bit of visual attractant. I PVA bags of pellet groundbait, pellets and tuna Were finally threaded up the hook length. Both rods were chucked into the far side off the channel in front of me though I wasnt particularily confident because of the cold but bright conditions.
Once chucked in I sat back to wait for a run I was reasonably happy wouldnt come but iy was good to be back on the bank again. Within 20 mins the semi fixed lead rig was off! It felt like a decent fish, bearing in mind my pb is currently 13lb, and was played carefully into the bank. There were no real dramas untill I reached for the net only to realise that although it was out of the holdall it hadn't been set up! I eventually managed to spread the arms and mesh and draw the fish right upto the front of the platform, on the 3rd attempt the mesh finally closed around it!
On the bank the scales went around to 16lb 10oz, a new pb which is a coincidence because my previous pb had come early last year from the same water. Unfortunatly my camera lense had some crap on it so the pics didnt come out too well.
A short while later a pair of bream around 3 to 4lb threw themselves onto the other rod.
On a day when according to the balif no one else was doing much I was fairly pleased with myself and packed up around 9pm as the temperature fell again. I returned the next day to the same spot with the same bait and rigs and couldnt buy even a twitch. The only difference being the second day was amorning session when maybe the water still hadnt warmed up.

Trent in flood

I havent been on the bank since before christmas so I snatched a quick session on the river Trent this week. The bad news was that it has been raining for nearly a week solid and the river was about 8 feet up and full of debris.
I set up a float road and a ledger rod with a lump of meat. I was gambling that the fish would be in the margins out of the main flow so I started off running a stick float through but the current was so quick that the float was dissapearing into the gathering evening gloom within seconds. The float rod was quickly sidelined in favour of the ledger rod wich I dropped more or less under the rod tip. The quiver tip kept giving what looked like big lunging bites but I failed to conect with any and decided it was just debris hitting the line.
Needless to say my confidence was completely gone and it wasnt long before the gear was back in the van.
I still reckon the fish were in the edge!

New Boots 2

The new boots were half tested at Willows, I say half tested because I didnt have any distance to walk in them and spent most of the day slumped on my chair with only the heels in contact with the ground!
That said though, they were comfy and warm on a bitterly cold day. I'll reseve full judgement till I've done some walking and some standing around in them but so far they look like being worth the tenner I paid for them.

Cold and frosty!

I managed to sneak off for a day at Willows again last week right in the middle of a cold snap. I arrived about 7.30 and found only a single set of tyre marks in the frost and luckily they led to the far side of the lake to my intended spot. It was nearly 8.30 before I had both rods out and the kettle on. I was fishing pva sticks of tuna in oil and hallibut pellets bound together with pellet groung bait, a few brocken boilies finished off the bags. The sticks as usual were threaded onto the hook length then conected to the main line with quick release clips. The difference this time was that I was fishing one rod on flourocarbon hook links with size 12 hooks on a d ring rig and the other on a standard braid link with my usual light braid longish hair.
Pete was due to join me later in the morning after rattling off a quick plumbing job (that'll be £500 please missus!) so I settled down to make a brew and contemplate which would arrive first a fish or Pete. I lit the stove and 10 seconds later it went out. Picking it up I gave it a shake, plenty of gas, and lit it again. 10 seconds later it went out! It was so cold that the gas wasnt vapourising in the canister, PANIC!!! No tea! I was now willing to see Pete come around the corner with the remedy!
About an hour into the session the right hand rod with the new fangled flourocarbon link give an almighty twitch and I was surprised to see no movement on the swingers as I was fishing a running lead, slack line and a light indicator. Shortly after a second twitch managed to yank the rod tip around and I sudenly realised the line was frozen into the rings! Unfortunatly no run followed.
My confidence was dropping rapidly on acount of the temperature when thankfully the left hand rod on the semi fixed lead rattled off. I knew this might be my only fish of theday and played it carefully into the net. Opening the net on the mat revealed a mirror of about 8 or 9lb which was quickly returned.
Recast and settled in the sun my wait for tea finally ended when Pete arrived. He didnt have a liquid fuel burner which would run in the cold but in his bag I knew he'd have his brazing torch to heat the gas cylinder to run the stove!! It doesnt look very safe but it works a treat and I certainly wasnt complaining. On arrival he looked witheringly at my pod and comented, as I have, that it could do with being 18 inches longer. The last laugh was mine though as i watched him trying to get a bank stick into the frozen earth. Oh how I laughed as an hour later what looked like a series of twitches turning into a run actually turned out to be the rear bank stick falling over!!
We both had a few twitches and short lifts which only Pete managed to conect with a couple of bream with one going a good 4lb. We sat chatting and drinking tea untill at dusk we both started getting odd twitches. Like a coiled spring I was ready for the off, that is untill Pete pointed out that the lines were trapped in ice and the ice was moving. By 2 hours after dark we called it a day, the ice was now right accross the lake.
So what did I learn from the session?
1. Tipex as distance marker on the line doesnt really work, it rubs off onto other parts of the line giving false marks. Casting to a marker float and using a marker knot is my next plan, if I think the knot has moved I'll recaster the marker and check my knot.
2.Geese are as sneaky and sly as swans.
3.Camping gas stoves dont work in the cold, which I already knew but tried burying my head in the sand.
Next year I'm going to try the farm lake at willows where the stamp of fish is slightly better but first I'll have a cast around with the marker rod.

Cheers everyone and Happy Christmas

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