Porth 21st september 2009

I’m a big fan of commercial carp fisheries, especially the more natural type. But every now & then I go through phases where they bore me to death. It’s not necessarily the fisheries themselves but the constant carping. The problem is that commercials are so prolific that even when pleasure fishing for different species, you are sure to catch a run of carp at some point. Recently I have been having one of my ‘phases’, probably due to the fact that I can’t get out as much due to a new job. Anyway with this in mind I decided that I would visit the Porth Reservoir, down near Newquay in Cornwall.

A moody Porth.

Now at this point you’re probably thinking this guy is some sort of nutter. Why would somebody travel an hour and a half to go and catch probably a couple of pound of silvers? Well although I had never fished Porth before, I knew of it through the angling press and the fact that it’s used in some of the White Acres festivals. In addition, its one of the reservoirs managed by the South West Lakes Trust. I have visited a couple other reservoirs down here that are part of the trust, and they were both beautiful areas of the countryside. Porth is also a nature reserve, teeming with birdlife, so even if I blanked I was still guaranteed a pleasant day out. Another thing that intrigued me was that, generally from what I could gather, matches were pretty much dominated by roach, perch and small skimmers, with the occasional big bream. It was the bream in particular that I fancied a crack at. Again though, from what I could gather, these bream were very few and far between, and with such an expanse of water to go at, I wasn’t exactly 100% confident. However, after a bit of research it appeared that pegs in the 80’s were fairly consistent, so armed with a feeder rod, a chair and a bit of terminal tackle I set off.

The Dam wall.

Peg 88.

The walk to the peg was a pleasant one, even if it was a bit of a trek. Fortuanlty I only had the minimum amount of tackle with me, and I would hate to think what it would be like trying to get a full set of match kit around the lake. There were plenty of little silver fish topping, along with plenty of bird life. The sun was bright and there was a slight breeze going down the lake. After about 10-15 minutes I reached the pegs in the 80’s and decided on peg 88. This was purely because the swim was wide enough to position a feeder rod at a slight angle. First job was to mix up my groundbait. I make some of my own groundbaits, as I find it satisfying to catch on bait you have made yourself. Unfortunately I didn’t follow my Bream recipe very well when I made this particular mix up. I used the same ingredients, but I foolishly guestimated the quantities. As a result it was hemp heavy, far too coarse and far too sticky. Never mind, it will just have to do. Along with the groundbait I had a pint of maggots and a tin of corn.
After I set up and got comfortable, I had my first cast. I only cast about 1/3 of the way over, as this would have struggled with accuracy. After a couple of casts I began to catch a steady run of small roach on double maggot. Then after about half an hour the tip went around a bit further and a skimmer hit the net. That was a bit more like it thought, now for its bigger brother. About an hour and a half had passed and I could only manage small roach, so I decided to try some sweet corn. First cast and the feeder had hardly settled when the tip went around again. This skimmer must have thought it was a carp by the way it pulled the tip around. After a few hours it was apparent that bites were going to ba at a premium, but by ringing the changes I managed to keep them coming. It was far from frantic, but I chopped and changed between hook size and the length of the trace. I also had a couple on hair rigged corn, but I couldn’t keep the corn on the hair long enough as I left my hair stops at home. Using a small piece of grass like when you were a kid was only going to so effective!! The rest of the day pretty much panned out the same way. When bites tailed off on each bait I just switched over until eventually the bites from the skimmers tailed off considerably. I did bump a decent skimmer and miss a decent bite at the end, however I sat it out corn and even double corn to try and snare at least one decent bream, but it wasn’t to be. I finished up with about 10 very rewarding, decent skimmers and about a pound of small roach and perch. I have to say that the peg looked lovely for a pole attack somewhere about 13m. I recon I could have probably had a few on the pole line, as there were plenty of small roach and perch to have a go at during the quiet spells. But that’s hindsight for you & I suspect it takes a great deal of skill and knowledge to really get the most out of these pegs. Still, in the end I had a really nice day. It made a pleasant change from the carp and I shall certainly be going back, there’s some decent bream with my name on them somewhere in that lake.

My catch.

Home made groundbait. Cheap, effective and rewarding.

Hair rigged pellets on the pole

Towards the end of last Autumn & the beginning of this Spring/Summer I have been experimenting with hair rigging a hard pellet dead depth on the pole.Hair rigging a hard pellet is nothing new when shallow fishing, either on the pole or the pellet waggler. But it is less common to hair rig a hard pellet on the deck with the pole. It is more common to see anglers either using soft pellets with a conventional spade end hook or a banded hard pellet straight onto the hook. Both of these however have their disadvantages.Soft pellets aren’t very durable & often get ravaged by silverfish or come off the hook on the strike. Either way the result is a lot of unnecessary shipping & in & out & that means lots of wasted time. On the other hand, a banded hard pellet is more durable than soft, however it is too obtrusive on the hook & that can lead to a poor hook hold.This is where the hair rig can come into play. With the hair rig, you have the advantage of having the same hook bait as the feed. As well as the durability to withstand silvers & because you are effectively fishing a bare hook, the benefit of a secure hook hold.However as ever in fishing terms, all is as straightforward as it appears & there are one or two tips that can hopefully go some way towards a decent rig.

The first point to consider is the size & shape of hook. Currently I am experimenting with my two favourite patterns & they are a size 16 eyed B911 when finesse is required & the stronger size 16 Fox series 2B for bagging, which is noticeably a bigger size. Both are good dependable hooks with fairly wide gapes. I have found hat both these hooks just about match a 6mm hard pellet. However, I do intend to experiment with smaller hooks in order to see if the are more productive.

The second point to consider is tying the hair rig itself. Firstly I have found that it’s best to use a bait band to mount the pellet into. The band is more versatile & gives you the option of changing the size of pellet of using completely different bait if required. To tie the bait band onto the hair I have found that a 4-5 turn grinner knot is best, wetted & pulled tight whilst the band is put under tension. This ensures that the band hangs straight & neat without any kinking. Another good tip when tying the knotless knot, is to make sure that after you initially thread the hook length through the eye & have chosen what length you want the hair to be, make sure you wrap the hair once around the shank. Then after you have proceeded to pull the knot tight, unwrap the hair from the shank. You will notice that the hair now hangs directly from the back of the shank, as that initial wrap will counteract the twisting that occurs when you tighten the knot. When tying the knot, the less turns you put on it, the more manoeuvrable the hair will be.

The third point is shotting patterns. So far I have had good results by using a double bulk of 2 no9’s four inches from the hook, followed by another bulk (depending on the shotting capacity) twelve inches further up on the hook length knot. This is a very positive set up that ensures positive registration. However I still have a variety of hook lengths made up to twelve inches in length, should I feel the need to have a spread out pattern, or no droppers at all.

Finally as with all methods, missed bites can be a problem. In tests so far I have only had a very small percentage of missed bites. I have put these down to the direction that the hook enters the mouth. When fished over depth, I have noticed an increase in bottom lip hooked fish as you would expect with a ledgered hair rig. When fished dead depth I have noticed most hook holds coming either to the side or the top lip as you lift the rig vertically on strike. Because I am continuously searching for the perfect rig for any given situation I have begun experimenting with a 360 degree rig. This to try & see if I can create more top lip hooked fish by increasing the manoeuvrability. This is achieved by adding a small swivel approximately 4 inches from the hook. By ensuring that the swivel sits in the loop it effectively creates a 360 rig. In theory this can only make the rig more sensitive resulting in the fish sucking the bait in with confidence & hopefully accentuating more top lip hooked fish. By incorporating the swivel into the floats shotting capacity, there is no need for a second bulk.

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating:

I pitched up at my local fishery today in order to put the theory into practise. Peg 20 is on the spit & gives plenty of open water to play with. At 11-12 meters the bottom levels off giving a nice flat area to work from. The water was still a bit cold so caution would be the order of the day. I went about setting up four rigs. One with an eyed B911 & a standard 12 inch hook length with a double bulk. The second with an Eyed B911 the short 4 inch 360 rig. The third with an Fox series 2 & a 12 inch hooklength with a double bulk & a fourth with a fox series 2 & a short 4 inch 360 rig.

I plumbed up carefully with a plummet & then with an SSG to ensure I was dead depth. I then added an extra inch to allow for the tow. I intended to just flog one swim today, although i presumed I could catch steadily, I didn’t expect fireworks. The idea was to try the different rigs & see how the fish responded to them. The fish on this lake back off after a bit of disturbance & it defiantly pays to rotate lines, resting them in the process. Unless you are on an island peg, you must have more than one option to get the most out of the peg. If there had been a match on today I would have had at least two lines on the go. First put in was with the eyed B911 with a double bulk. After catapulting half a dozen pellets around the float a few pimple bubbles appeared. This is a giveaway sign of fish in the swim, usually carp & after a couple of minutes the float tip buried. A quick lift resulted in the No.10 Latex pouring from the pole as an angry carp took off. The carp in this lake fight harder than any other I have caught, there isn’t an explanation, expect to think that the owner feeds them steroids! By keeping the pole tip low the carp soon turned back towards me. Steadily shipping back I had the fish under control, that was until until It found a snag of reed roots too my left. It shed the hook leaving me with just a rather nasty clump of roots for my efforts.

The next hour produced 3 more carp, a couple of roach & two nice skimmers, but the action was far from frantic. It was time to tryout another rig; so on went the short four inch hook length. The reaction was slow & not what I was expecting, but I did manage two more carp, a couple more skimmers & two nice brown goldfish. What was noticeable was that all the fish were hooked cleanly in the side & the top of the mouths with a good hook hold. Although bites were drying up I can’t say it was down to the rig as the lake seemed to be fishing poorly.[Photo] This brown goldfish took a liking to the hair rigged pellet. The third rig had the fox series 2 with a double bulk & after two hours I only managed 3 carp & the odd skimmer. I felt that I was over feeding with the catapult on what was obviously going to be a hard day. So I put the catapult down & placed a small pot on the end of the pole. Trickling in just 4 pellets enticed a couple more fish, but I now started to suffer with liners as the feed was too tight. What was supposed to be a simple day was turning into a bit of a nightmare!It was time to try the fourth rig with the fox series 2 & the short 360 swivel. With no immediate response it was a case of sitting it out patiently for just two more carp that must have got lost & stumbled across my hook bait!

By now it was mid afternoon & getting very warm, the whole lake seemed to be fishing very slow & apart from a pleasure angler fishing floating bread crust, everybody was struggling. Getting a bit annoyed with proceedings I decided to have a re plumb. I was shocked to find that for some reason I was fishing two inches off bottom. How the hell had that happened? For the life of me I couldn’t explain it, the only thing I can think of is that I had made a schoolboy error & hadn’t plumbed up properly in the first place. I quickly deepened up on the first rig & spread the second bulk to effectively create two droppers. The response was llitterel immediate as a decent bream hit the net on the first put in. The next couple of hours were a bit better, with a couple more carp, tench & skimmers showing. However the wind had picked up & because I now effectively had a very short length of line from pole tip to float, presentation began to suffer. In addition, I believe I had already spoilt the swim by feeding too much previously whilst not even fishing on the deck!! The damage had been done & although I sat it out a bit more, in reality I had given up.

So there we have it, to summarise the whole day was a bit of a balls up. The results can only be inconclusive, as I failed to get some basics right in order to do the rigs justice. Perviously I have had much better results. I can’t be certain until I give all four rigs another thorough workout & with a match next week, all I can say is...watch this space.

The pellet feeder my way.

With a few hours spare this morning I thought I would take myself up to my local Milemead Fisheries for a spot of carp fishing using my version of the pellet feeder.

Before I set off however, I had to do possibly the most important thing for the day & that was to prepare the pellets. I prefer 6mm Skretting trout pellets for this method & with a little careful attention its possible to create what i believe is the ideal feed. One kilo of dry trout pellets would be ample for today's session, if it was a match I would probably double that amount just in case. I start of by soaking them in cold water for thirty minutes after which I drain them thoroughly, then leave them for another hour to finally absorb the remaining moisture. What you end up with is a perfect soft pellet that sinks instantly, but retains its shape without going mushy, that can happen with coarse or expander pellets. By introducing them through the feeder you leave a lovely attractive bed of feed that carp in particular find irresistible.

Soaked & ready to go. The perfect feed for the pellet feeder.

I sat myself down on peg 20 today as it has a nice attractive bed of Lillie's to fish towards. The carp will feed confidently here & it is an easy chuck. Generally i will start tight to them, going down the same hole each time, but I will come back, left & right a yard or so as the session progresses.

Peg 20 on the match lake.

My set up today consists of a ABU Garcia Suveran feeder rod fished at eleven foot six inches coupled with one of my trusty Daiwa Tierra reels, loaded with 4lb Maxima. This peg is snag free hence the relatively light mainline. However i wouldn't hesitate to step up to 8lb Daiwa sensor should the conditions dictate. I like to set the rod up so it sits against my box rather than have it across the legs, simply because it allows me more freedom of movement should it be needed, however, once the fish are having it, I will just place it on my legs as the bites will start to come instantly. Rig wise, i like to keep it dead simple & no nonsense. I modify a Drennan grip mesh with twizzled power gum, that makes it a little more forgiving from the constant casting. I thread the feeder onto the mainline so it is completely free running, followed by a buffer bead, then a Korum quick change bead. Attached to this is a pre tied hook length of .20 power plus to a size 12 Fox series 2 eyed barbless with a knot less knot. Finally sitting in a micro bait band on the hair is an 11mm Skretting coarse pellet. Its vital to have plenty of hook length pre tied as they will take most of the abuse throughout a session

Loaded & ready to fly!

Loading the feeder is simply a case of pushing the feeder through the soaked pellets. However don't be tempted to squeeze them in too tightly. This will ensure that they spill out from the feeder once it has hit the deck. As with the method, the carp will attack the feeder in order to get to the pellets, so ideally a short hook length can be best. However the rules here dictate a minimum twelve inch hook length. If bites start to slow then often it can pay to give the reel half a turn to bring the hook bait back into any feed. Or alternatively twitching the mainline can provoke an instant response. Loaded & ready to fly.Today's session took literally 2 casts before i was into fish. Bites are savage with this method as the idea is they hook themselves against the resistance of the rod tip. For this reason i use a 2oz tip. Finesse is defiantly not a pre requisite. You have to sit on your hands & ignore the inevitable, liners & knocks on the feeder & wait for the tip to fly around & keep on going. In addition to the pellets going through the feeder I like to catapult pellets over the top. I use the same 11mm as on the hair & these will attract any inquisitive fish close by.

A decent mirror!

Constantly casting & not leaving the rig in the water for any longer than a couple of minutes got me a fish a chuck today. A quiet spell would lead to a much better fish pushing 5lb hitting the net. I am convinced these bigger fish bully the smaller ones out for a while, that's why the swim seemingly goes quiet for a few minutes. later on i moved the feeder around slightly from left to right & continued to pick up fish for the full 5 hours. I soon lost count of how many fish I had but I estimate i was close to the ton.

Milemeads carp fight like stink!

So there we go, my way with the pellet feeder. Following the golden rules of pellet preparation, simple rigs & constant casting has given me one of my best catches today. Its not the be all & end all however, obviously on certain pegs different methods & techniques will outscore. But on the right peg it really is a devastatingly selective method.

Back to basics

Peg 30 on the match lake.After a quick walk around the lake I decided to sit myself down on peg thirty just by the entrance to the match lake. I was at the wrong end really because the wind had been blowing into the bottom end all week, taking a lot of fish with it. I could see plenty of them just lazing under the surface, but I really couldn’t be bothered to carry my gear down there, so peg thirty would have to do. Besides, I had plenty of open water in front of me to draw fish from. Also, practising somewhere different is far more advantageous, because come match day you could draw anywhere & we teach ourselves nothing if we sit our backsides on flyers all the time.

Peg 30 on the match lake.

My main method of attack today would be the long pole on the deck with banded hard coarse pellet over loose fed coarse pellet. All the fish in these lakes love pellets but feeding & presentation are the keys to getting the most out of any peg & often it is a case of rotating two or three swims. Today however I was confident I could keep the bites coming from just one swim.

Bait, good old Skretting's 6mm pellets.

Rig for the day. I had about four & a half feet of water on a gentle slope at thirteen meters. Rig would be a Sensas Desque .20g fished dead depth. This is a lovely little float for the pellet. Its slim body profile offers very little resistance. It is slightly delicate for the rigours of carp fishing, so I give it the hard as nails treatment to toughen it up a bit. This would be attached to .18 Ultima power plus & attached to this would be a hook length of .14 Bayer perlon & a spade end, size sixteen, kamasan B911. Two number eight’s just above the hook length knot & a single number nine dropper finishing of the rig.

Sensas Desque .30grm.


Big F1!




My ever dependable Trabucco GM Carp 1.

A chunky Common.

After about ten minutes of first putting in I hit my first carp, a nice common of about two pounds. Bites were coming regularly by feeding just six to eight pellets over the top with a catty.

This Gobio Gobio was a bit keen!

During the next couple of hours some nice skimmers, brown goldfish & some chunky F1’s made an appearance before the carp really got their heads down. Simply lifting & dropping the rig every now & again to work the bait saw the odd carp hit the bait as it fell, resulting in them hooking themselves, which was a bonus. Resisting the temptation to over feed kept the fish near/on the deck with just the odd foul hooker.

Latex!! Awesom stuff.

I am running latex through all of my top kits now & today I was using 1.4mm through a match kit of my GM Carp 1 pole. Removing the number one section & bushing the number two section. For a carp pole it really is a delight to use. I am totally sold on Latex & use the Garbolino brand. It’s possible to subdue fish on it so quickly that even the chunky mirrors & commons take less than a minute to land. The just do not pull back on it.

A chunky goldfish.

After about 3 hours I decided I would give the ‘hook in the loop’ method a bit of a practise. I haven’t really fished this method a great deal so wanted to get to grips with the bites or in my case the missed bites that I seem to suffer from. First put in with a new HITL & the float buried instantly. Shortly after a nice common hit the net, followed by some more brown goldfish & more carp. It really is a deadly method, bites are so positive. I am still not 100% certain I understand what is happening with the hook, but sure enough just about every fish was hooked in the top lip. I did inexplicably miss probably 1 in 3 bites, but that just seems to be part of it. I suppose at the end of the day as long as its productive then there isn’t really a need to know what is happening exactly, the double bulk has got to play a big role, as has having the second bulk so close to the hook.So there we have it, all in all a very productive day. I have finished up with over 25 carp, some skimmers & goldfish for about fifty pounds in four to five hours. Obviously it is always different come match day, but as the season progresses & the water cools, these methods are going to play a big part in proceedings. I am really pleased I practised them today with such good results; it can only be good for the confidence.

Top lip, a common feature of the HITL

Old School

We all know just how effective the pole is. The rotating of areas is usually essential to get the most out of your peg. But there are almost certain to be periods throughout the day when the fish will either back off or bites will simply dry up, especially on the more mature fisheries where fish have wised up. It is during these quiet spells that matches are often won or lost, as the framers will always be looking to put something in the net.It is with this in mind that I recently set out to have a little pleasure practise on a method rarely seen on commercial fisheries nowadays, the peacock waggler. My theory was that in winter when bites are at a premium the waggler can be an effective way of presenting bait at distance, but still remain sensitive. So why not in during the warmer months? To prove to myself that it could be viable, I set out my stall on peg 2 of the match lake at my local Milmead fisheries. Peg 2 on the match lake is an open water peg away from the major fish holding features that dominate on this lake. It is also a short walk & this was meant to be a pleasure session after all. It has a fairly uniform depth with a slowly tapering bottom & with some careful plumbing up I settled on a comfortable 30m chuck. To plumb the depth I prefer to pinch a swan shot onto the hook as apposed to a plummet, simply because I find the plummet clumsy. I like to spend a good 20-30 minutes casting around my chosen area in order to gather a mental picture of what is going on underneath the water & to ensure that the float is at the correct depth. With very little wind or tow on the water today, I decided to fish just slightly over, in order to present a static bait, but still maintain that sensitivity. Set up for the day would be one of my dependable ABU Suvern 13’ match rods, coupled with a Daiwa Tierra 3000 loaded with 3lb maxima chameleon mainline. Threaded onto this is a small length of silicon tubing, followed by a Drennan Silicone float adapter & a 2 swan Drennan insert peacock waggler. The silicon tubing would be used as a cushion from the 2 swan locking shot. A shirt button style of no.8’s down the mainline towards a 10 inch hook length of 2lb Bayer Perlon tied to a size 16 spade end kamasan B911 completed the set up at the business end. Bait for the day would be corn plus banded 6mm coarse pellets. feed would be the same as well as a few 6mm trout pellets. I always like to add a sprinkling of the trout pellets because their dense nature means they take a lot longer to break down, giving fish coming in & out something to home in on. Choosing a tree as a far bank marker I baited the hook with a single grain of corn & cast out past my swim into about 5.5 feet of water. A few brisk turns of the reel ensured the line sank, pulling the float into position. With all of the cold rain lately I figured a cautious feeding approach would be best, so catapulted out a dozen pellets around the float. I waited as the float settled with just a centimetre of tip showing & after just a minute the tip sank & I got my first bite from a 4oz roach. Continuing, the swim quickly began to come alive with tell tale bubbles from skimmers that had moved in. A switch to banded hard pellet & bites increased quickly as a procession of decent skimmers hit the net.
After about 15 minutes I hit what I thought was my first carp bite which turned out to be a foul hooker. I got it half way in before the hook pulled, but at least it was a good indication that a few carp had arrived. During the next hour or so I began to latch into a few more carp, including some nice commons & some plump mirrors which put up a good account of themselves. As well as plenty more decent skimmers & even some brown goldfish pushing the 1lb mark. However, after a couple of hours I began to get the impression that I was feeding too much too often as bites began to slow. After cutting back on the feed bites slowly resumed again on both corn & pellet, but it was noticeable how selective the corn was. Bites were coming far quicker on the pellet & even though some of the fish were smaller it was defiantly the best bait on the day. After about 3 ½ hours I decided to give it a rest. Could this be a good alternative when bites dry up on the pole? Well to be honest I am still not totally convinced. In a match situation the pellet waggler might have been more productive as fish were showing shallow. After 3.5 hours, which is a lot longer than what I would have stayed on it in a match, I had finished my little session with an estimated 15-20lb of fish. But crucially I estimate that I had about 8lb in the first hour. This 8lb could have made the difference on the day, so the answer is yes, under the right circumstances the peacock waggler could well be a viable method.

A nice chunky common

And its sister to match.

Tha dragon Bites

The mother-in-law & the dragon bites. The mother-in-law & the dragon bites. There’s an unavoidable time in a young mans life when weird & unusual things begin to occur. Usually coupled with vast amounts of alcohol, Mother Nature somehow cast’s her unavoidable spell & before we know it we find ourselves speaking alien words such as love, relationships & marriage. All is well in the beginning, we will go to great efforts in order to charm & present ourselves as worthy of a daughter’s hand. Once accepted, we will find ourselves with this thing called a slightly relieved ‘mother-in-law‘, although she will never admit this. Then, as the years pass & the children grow our relationship with this ‘mother in law’ begins to alter. At first the changes are subtle, almost unnoticeable & it is with this in mind I would like to share one of my angling experiences with you……Picture the scene. My wife, Daughter & I have just flown 13 hours & 5,617 miles to join her parents in Sunny South Africa for a very well deserved holiday. After a short connection from Johannesburg we find ourselves in the glorious town of White River. Situated approximately half way between Pretoria & Durban, White river is set in the heartland of fertile farming country on the border of the awesome Kruger national park. Prioritising our stay, the first thing I do is stop at the local bottle store, in order to stock up with beer. Four cases should do to begin with & as we drive home conversation turns to our itinerary. In addition to the wonderful Kruger park, we are to take a trip to Durban on the East coast, stopping off on the way for a few days at the spectacular drakensberg mountains, aptly named as they resemble the spine of a dragon.

The Drakensberg mountain range is situated along southeast coast of South Africa & these spectacular Mountains are a challenge for adventure seekers and a heaven for wildlife lovers. Extending from northeast to southwest for around 1,125 km, the Drakensberg is part of the Great Escarpment and the main watershed of South Africa.Dotted with exclusive hotels, lodges & Guest houses, popular activities include trekking, horse riding & mountain biking. However I had only been away for one day & already my mind was on fishing. Fortunately, situated close to my in-laws lodge is the darkensberg sun hotel, complete with its own dam stocked with trout, not perfect, but it would do.

So after a long day, we retired to bed, ready to get up bright & early as I had promised my daughter a morning at the poolside. It was around about mid-morning that the conversation turned to dinner & we decided that we would have a brai (bar-b-q in real language). I was becoming more & more eager to do a spot of fishing & so it was at this point that I suggested that perhaps we might have trout. That’s a good idea, came the replies, not without an underlying degree of sarcasm.Surefooted & with the bit between my teeth I set off, positive I could hire some tackle at the hotel.They had tackle alright, one knackered old rod & reel that looked like it was from the 50’s. I’ve used worse I thought & handed over the cash. Coupled with a handful of flies, a small net & a rucksack of beer I set off for the dam.The dam itself is idyllic & very picturesque. Basically one of the main streams running down the mountains has been blocked off to create a beautiful lake. Mostly shallow at about 6’, there are a few deeper areas running to 12’ at the dam end & it is here that there is a small bridge where the water overflows back into the stream. But more of that later.

It is crystal clear with a footpath running one side & naturally the other side is inaccessible because of thick undergrowth & trees. So it was with this in mind I figured a boat approach would allow me to cover more water. It was now about 11.30am & the day was beginning to warm up quickly, the lake water was becoming more & more tempting & I could have quite easily gone for a swim.I rowed out into the middle of the lake; set anchor with a big rock tied to a rope & proceeded to teach myself how to fly fish. This is a doddle, I will have a net full in next to no time, I thought. Well 2 hours later & probably the most hopeless attempt at fly fishing, I was knackered. Un be known to me, we had arrived after season & most of the trout had been caught previously from the guys during the season & it was without so much nibble, I was beginning to burn badly from the sun. Add to that the boat was made of aluminium & I could barely sit down, it was so hot. Undeterred I cracked open another beer & decided to persevere. Two hours later after covering just about all of the lake I had to concede, without so much as a sniff. Now at this point I was faced with a dilemma, what do I do? Head back empty handed to the delight of a slightly smug mother in law, or carry on? It was no good I just had to get a fish & it was with this I decided to scrap the lake & with a sense of desperation I headed for the stream. At the bridge there is a gate with a guard to the hotel grounds. A local coloured guy, I said hello & I offered him a beer, on a baking hot day, he eagerly accepted. After we had finished, I began a track downstream stopping off at various fishy looking rock pools, a few quick casts resulted in nothing so I moved on. Eventually after about half a mile I had to give up, & decided to return back to the bridge. I was very disappointed but it wasn’t all bad as I had enjoyed a beautiful track in stunning surroundings. As I approached the the bridge I noticed the guard had been joined by a couple of his mates. We all cracked open another beer & I explained to them what I was up to. It was then that one of the local guys guided me over to the bridge. As we looked over he pointed into the direction of some thick streamer type weed that I had been looking at earlier & in the shadows I could just make out a big old trout barely moving in the mild flow.At last, a fish, & very carefully I tried to lower a fly right on the trout’s nose, agonisingly however, the rod wasn’t long enough & it was just out of reach. So, desperately, I had to climb over the bridge & with one hand hold on, & with the other outstretched, I had another go. With a careful bit of manoeuvring I managed to present the fly, but unfortunately he wasn’t having any of it. However, rather that swim away, he just moved over slightly nonchalantly as if I was just an annoyance. Eventually my perseverance payed off as he instinctively had a go. The water erupted as he hit the bait & the hook was firmly imbedded.The next dilemma though was getting him out. I daren’t risk trying to pull him up over the bridge as I was sure the hook would pull or something disastrous like that, so it was a question of climbing back over the bridge then down the steep sloping side, through the undergrowth, down to a position where I could stretch out & net him. Eventually after a couple of heart stopping moments I had him safely in the net. With a sense of joy & relief I made my way back up to the bridge. The guys watching were very excited & we shared another beer before I left back to the lodge with a proper 2lber in the rucksack. O.K you could be kind & say it was an unconventional capture, but I had done it none the less. The experience wasn’t without pain either as it turned out that I had burned myself quite badly on the back of the neck, which scabbed & bled for a week. Ouch!! The dragon had a fierce bite after all. That evening we did indeed have trout on the bar-b-q. & as I sat there opposite the mother in law beer in one hand & trout on the plate, I couldn’t help but think that this was indeed the finest bit of fish I had ever tasted. Was it worth it…you bet it was.

hair rigs

When tying the hair loop & band together using the loop to loop method with fine lines & small hooks, there are two directions in which you can do this. Depending on which direction you take results in what angle/direction the band leaves the hook & that in turn affects how the pellet hangs. I prefer it so the pellet is forced away from the bend in the hook via the tension in the knot as apposed to the pellet being forced towards the bend in the hook, possibly wrapping around & masking the point.

The band on the left is turning inwards towards the hook & when a pellet is in place it to angles towards the hook.

The band on the right however is turning away from the hook & again when a pellet is place the tension forces it away from the hook, i believe resulting in a superior hook hold.

With bigger hooks & stiffer lines it is less of an issue.

Milemead pegs.

Peg 21 at my local, Milemead. This is the 'flyer', lots of carp live against the island here in the reeds. You have to be carefull mind otherwise you spend the day trashing rigs.

Peg 19 at my local, Milemead. As you can see, its perfect for the pellet waggler, hopefully I will draw it soon!!!

Tying hooklengths & hair rigging

My tools for tying 'eyed' hooklengths. There are a number of devices on the market for tying hooklengths, but I have found a simple piece of wood the best for me. Basically it is simply a piece of wood with a series of headless pins placed at specific lengths apart, from the first one there is one at 6", 9" & 12". Quite simply all you do is to firstly tie the hook onto the trace, then hoop the hook around the first pin. Now measure out the required length of trace against the specific pin & pull the trace around it. Pinch the trace together a couple of inches from the end pin & remove. Now tie a double overhand loop, wet & pull tight. Trim off tags & there you have it, perfect hooklengths every time. Without any distraction I can do about 40 an hour. I store them in my home made hooklength box.

Here are a some different ways of attaching the pellet to the hair rig. all involve a knot-less knot.From left to right there is 'the lasso', followed by 'the drilled pellet, bait band & boily stop', followed by 'the plain bait band', & finally 'the double plain bait band' (using two bait bands loop to loop) . My favourite is the 'drilled pellet, band & boily stop', I find that it is the most secure & i have more confidence in it than the others.

Martin Bucknell kindly sent me some of his home made pellet wagglers to try. On first impression they are excellent. Being made from foam they have a very good size to weight ratio meaning you can use a smaller float & cast it further more accurately. The build quality is excellent, as the stem travels straight through the body making them very strong. They are finished in a very robust paint so will not chip. So far I am very impressed, I will post my results after I have actually given them a good workout. Martin can be contacted via the Total-fishing website.

Tying pellet wagglers my way

A step by step guide to setting up my pellet waggler rig.

New reels.

My new reels, the daiwa Tierra 3000 , after some considerable research on what is current & available in the U.K, my search found me looking at what is available in The USA. With the pound being so strong against the dollar i took advantage of a special offer from a U.S retailer & got this pair for £61.00 each including P&P & Insurance. I waited ten days for delivery but it was worth it. Similar to the TD-R range available here in the U.K, The Tierra comes in a variety of sizes, It has a ratio of 4.7:1, so has plenty of power. It has a whole host of daiwa features including airbail etc etc. The front drag is micro adjustable is very very smooth with loads of power. With 7 bearings including 2 corrosion resistant, it really is one smooth performer.