stevetheangler

Thursday 5th March at 0900 I headed off to a local club pool again (SAC-DP), the weather having changed a little, still on the cold side but the rain had stopped (bar for a short light shower at around 1030)….

My intended targets, as much as they were as anything would be acceptable in the circumstances, were to be hopefully perch and bream.

So I set up a float rod that I’d newly acquired via a local auction where I’d obtained an auction lot of 11 rods for £38.

I actually got a good deal with the auctioned items as Googling later I found one of the models in the group (a Hardy’s Gordon Carp Quest) sold at another auction last year for £120 – and are also being offered for online sale for between £180-£225 – so that’s likely to appear on eBay in due course! J

Of the rods purchased I’ve decided to keep the rod in use on this session plus at least one other but possibly up to three. Liz and I are intending to do some car boot selling probably in May and a fair bit of old/surplus fishing gear will be amongst the items on sale – and the rods that we retain from the auction purchase will replace current rods that we use as I find the setup of older rods in terms of ring sizes and spacings are far better in my opinion and the older rods have cork handles as opposed to the recently used synthetic foam types – but saying that I do see a trend amongst the latest rods to revert back to the use of cork. So those rods that will be swapped out of use will head to the car boot along with the auction gained ones that are surplus to requirements – and also there’ll be assorted landing nets, bank sticks, reels, etc, etc – and general household items that are no longer of use.

{There was a CTM 13’6” float rod in the auction bundle that Liz likes and that will now become her standard float rod, her current one to be sold at the car boot}

Anyway, the rod I have put into use is a Sealey Aquarius 13’ float rod – a nice feel to it but the main reason for its use is that my usual float rod is, as are all my rods, permanently tackled up and carried in quiver thus making life easier on the waterside as there is no need to attach reels, thread line, add terminal tackles, etc as thats already done – I just need to clip desired weight to a rod’s snap link if ledgering or push float into the quick change adapter on a float rod (possibly may need at adjust shotting to suit the float if the float intended for use is not suitable on the day). Anyway, due to that modus operandi, my – at the time only – float rod was fitted with a Shimano 3500DX reel with 6lb line and to change to a lighter BS line would involve the need to tackle down, replace the spool of 6lb with another spool containing lighter line and re-tackle. BUT, in the first place, I didn’t have any spare spools on to which put lighter line … so I perused eBay and found a suitable spool available for bidding on … and put it on ‘Watch’ as the auction was not due to end for several days … HOWEVER, the next day I went into town and just happened by chance to wander into Cash Converters and spotted a complete Shimano 3500DX reel along with 2 spare spools (ie 3 spools in all) for sale for just £12! So it got purchased – then along came the local auction and I got that bundle of rods. So, now the ‘new’ Shimano, with a spool of 4lb BS lines sits on the Sealey rod – and the two other spools are loaded with 3lb and 6lb lines.

Anyway, the session …. arrived at the pool around 0930 … went to a peg I’d not fished before, and in fact on the far bank where I’d not fished before, at the windward end but I was sheltered from it to an extent by a tree.

I floatfished with a 3AAA crystal waggler with the bait just on the bottom of the approx 5’-6’ deep water originally starting with 2 maggots on a size 18 hook for the first hour and thereafter changed to worm on a size 10 for the rest of the day …. and tackled down at 1430 in order to be able to pick Liz up from work at 1600 and also grab a cuppa and a doughnut whilst I waited for her to finish. Of the interim period of 1000 when I made my first cast and my finish at 1430 there’s not much to tell … the float floated and bobbed on the waves, some members walked their dogs past while they surveyed the pool and 3 chaps were bush/tree pruning on the nearside bank… Not a sign of any fishy interest in my baits at all.

Next session, looking at the forecast ahead it seems the rain is returning over the whole of next week although maybe not as much as recently but Monday 16th March its saying dry and sunny and warm(ish) and so plans are to fish with Liz then….

PAST:

On Sunday 1st March Liz and I had a good day out at ‘The Big One’ angling show held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. A good day out – plenty of new tackle on show. And Liz and I did our share of buying probably spending around £150 in all J. Jeremy Wade of TV’s ‘River Monsters’, ‘Dark Water’s, etc was there and I bought a signed copy of his book ‘River Monsters’ and, in fact, last year at that show I bought his ‘How To Think Like A Fish’ book which is an excellent read. Also had my photo taken with ‘the man’ :)

EXTRA:

When keeping count/tabs/detail of what I catch when I catch it I find it time consuming to write down every individual capture as it happens or lose count or fail to be able remember weights when I try to memorise in half hour batches or so… And using the sound.voice recording function of a phone has the same problems. So I’ve created an Excel file that I print out that just requires me to ‘tick a box per species’ for smaller fish or to scribble a weight (eg 2-04) for worthier captures…. Although it wasn’t needed this last session! :)

TEMPS:

AIR:                   MIN: 4.8’C         MAX: 14.6’C
WATER:            MIN: 4.8’C         MAX: 5.4’C

AIR TEMPS:

WATER TEMPS: