How did you get on?

[binka]

Don't let S-Kippy know Steve, the three handles on Hardy pins are another of his "No-Nos", bit like twin handled Shimmies

Lol...

To be fair I actually like 'em, I don't bat the drum for a quick retrieve but instead sweep the rod right back and flick the handle as I sweep around forwards.

No matter how many times I've done it, one of those handles always seems to be in just the right place to naturally place my hand on without having to fiddle around or look down at the reel to see where they are.

Wait for it...

Incomiiiiiiing....

 

[103841]

Talking of pins.

I posted in the thread "centre pin magic or is it", stating how my inexperience cost me a decent fish using a fixed spool. Today just an hours fishing whilst er indoors shopped and who knows maybe the same fish, weighed exactly 4lb, doubling my previous best so a nice pb, infact I don't think I've caught any fish from a river of this size and quality.

But more importantly it was a first for a particular type of equipment, guess I should thank Phillip for starting that thread that encouraged me to give it a go, cheers!

 

[S-Kippy]

Greys Bewick unless I'm very much mistaken. Lovely reel.....my favourite pin.

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Greys Bewick unless I'm very much mistaken. Lovely reel.....my favourite pin.

Think someone's nicked a handle

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Took the high Road to bulith Wells for a practice session hoping for a good grayling.
About 4 grayling to half pound was all I could muster. Very disappointed as the river looked in good nick.

About 20 brownies to 2lb and to make up for lack of grayling found 3 good chub, best two must have been 4+.

Very hard fishing and heavy leaf debris prevented any holding back of the float.

 

[103841]

Greys Bewick unless I'm very much mistaken. Lovely reel.....my favourite pin.

My favourite pin too, the only one I have and have ever owned.

 

[binka]

My favourite pin too, the only one I have and have ever owned.

You'll need another, matching one with heavier line.

Then, you'll want another matching float rod to make it nicely match all around before realising that they would be better served with a pair of matching Avons.

In which case you'll buy the Avons and put heavier line on both reels before buying a third reel, holding the original lighter line, just for the trotting

 

[thecrow]

Steve you really are one of these

 

[103841]

You'll need another, matching one with heavier line.

Then, you'll want another matching float rod to make it nicely match all around before realising that they would be better served with a pair of matching Avons.

In which case you'll buy the Avons and put heavier line on both reels before buying a third reel, holding the original lighter line, just for the trotting

No prompting needed Steve, I'm like a magpie when it comes to angling retail therapy. It was very much the case, "all the gear, no idea" I can amend that slightly now with "a little idea"

 

[S-Kippy]

Steve you really are one of these

Ha ha ha....I bet there's a Hardy logo underneath !

---------- Post added at 21:08 ---------- Previous post was at 21:06 ----------

My favourite pin too, the only one I have and have ever owned.

So far. They have a habit of breeding.

 

[robtherake]

Managed to sneak a few hours at the roach pool this afternoon. I was late getting away and my local shop was out of mawks , so it was about 2pm by the time I'd wetted a line on what was a warm and pleasant afternoon. I put a line out for the roach into fifteen feet of water, furnished with a blockend feeder and complete with a 3" hooklength and fine wire 14 with triple red maggot, fished helicopter-style. I found those little hooklengths the very devil to tie till I used a Sensas loop tyer: now they're a cinch. This rod provided a succession of "netter" roach with unmissable bites whacking the Polaris tip against the rod. Very satisfying to see the set-up working as it should and the 5lb hooklength sorted out the tangling issue that I was getting with a 3lb bottom - pretty sure the extra bit of stiffness in the 5lb line is what made the difference. I got a surprise rudd on this rod, and thought the bigger fish might have moved in when it went quiet all of a sudden, but the big roach were no-shows.



There's a big sycamore overhanging the water on the right of this peg, with a drop-off to 11ft a couple of rods out. This was baited with a handful of red maggots every so often, with a Polaris float/leger rig fished over it. Bait was the usual halved lob, tipped off with a fluoro rubber maggot. Around 4pm, amazingly soon, the light level dropped dramatically and at this moment the float slipped under, and the strike was met with the thump of a good perch. Over the net it was obviously a decent fish and went 2-5 - my new best by a couple of ounces.:w
I fished on into dark for an hour and missed a couple more bites, but was happy enough to call it a day.

 

[thecrow]

Managed to sneak a few hours at the roach pool this afternoon. I was late getting away and my local shop was out of mawks , so it was about 2pm by the time I'd wetted a line on what was a warm and pleasant afternoon. I put a line out for the roach into fifteen feet of water, furnished with a blockend feeder and complete with a 3" hooklength and fine wire 14 with triple red maggot, fished helicopter-style. I found those little hooklengths the very devil to tie till I used a Sensas loop tyer: now they're a cinch. This rod provided a succession of "netter" roach with unmissable bites whacking the Polaris tip against the rod. Very satisfying to see the set-up working as it should and the 5lb hooklength sorted out the tangling issue that I was getting with a 3lb bottom - pretty sure the extra bit of stiffness in the 5lb line is what made the difference. I got a surprise rudd on this rod, and thought the bigger fish might have moved in when it went quiet all of a sudden, but the big roach were no-shows.



There's a big tree overhanging the water on the right of this peg, with a drop-off to 11ft a couple of rods out. This was baited with a handful of red maggots every so often, with a Polaris float/leger rig fished over it. Bait was the usual halved lob, tipped off with a fluoro rubber maggot. Around 4pm, amazingly soon, the light level dropped dramatically and at this moment the float slipped under, and the strike was met with the thump of a good perch. Over the net it was obviously a good fish and went 2-5 - my new best, by a couple of ounces.:w
I fished on into dark for an hour and missed a couple more bites, but was happy enough to call it a day.

Congratulations on the new perch PB Rob, not sure about your choice of lipstick colour though I always find something a bit more subtle goes down better

 

[Chefster]

I managed to wrangle a day off yesterday,and fished the open at TBF,scheduled for bottom pool,but after much ado and a public vote,it was switched to Jennies..Into the drawbag,and out came peg 8,the "Bunghole",i royally cocked up in the winter league.......started across,2/3rds,just in the deep water on pellet,1 hour -zilch..so went across,into the shallow water,again on pellet,which resulted in a few f1,s,then silly bites,then nothing...
dropped on the track maggot line,which i had been feeding by hand,1 quick f1,then nothing....familier pattern forming here.....i made a decision to change the far line to maggots,which resulted in a run of f1,s,before fizzling out,a look then down to the platform,on peg 9,2 quick f1,s then nothing......another quick look on the track maggot line before the end resulted in 1 f1,and 3 lost f1,s.
Another cock-up!!!......18 F1,s for 39-12-0,and a thanks for coming
My mate Bad H won the match with 73-8-0,from peg 14,2nd was Phil Moore(Rugely Miners),with 49-0-0,and John Johnson (TBF) 3rd with 45-0-0 from peg 2..............I didnt even get the section a the Sensas France angler on peg 5,beat me by 6 oz.....but in truth ,my peg was worth at least 50-60lbs,with missed bites/lost 10 fish,so no complaints really..winter league,round 3 on saturday...tight lines,Gazza

 

[mikench]

Nice perch Rob! I have tried using a polaris float when ledgering but can never get the thing to cock! Something else I must be doing wrong!

What is that black and red object in the net?

 

[theartist]

I used a polaris float once but it was quite expensive and Jeremy Corbyn kept trying to take it off me

 

[rayner]

What a balmy day yesterday sat in the sun it reached 14c and out of the light wind I was sat in a fleece. Mid November, our weather is crackers.

Yesterday for the first hour all I could get were 1/2oz and even more tiny, some couldn't even stretch my 3 elastic and loads were bumped, I'm sure some were last years fry.
The fish got bigger but far slower, best fish were 6 to 8 inch ide. I had a nice run of 4 to 6 inch roach but the bigger roach that I had over the last couple of years are evading me.
All together I had 62 fish of which eleven were ide, I rarely catch ide on bread. Strangely I had only on skimmer, a baby no bigger than my little finger.

 

[robtherake]

Congratulations on the new perch PB Rob, not sure about your choice of lipstick colour though I always find something a bit more subtle goes down better

Preston only do that lipstick in three colours, bud. The blue and yellow ones aren't really my colour either.

---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 15:24 ----------

Nice perch Rob! I have tried using a polaris float when ledgering but can never get the thing to cock! Something else I must be doing wrong!

What is that black and red object in the net?

It's a Preston Innovations Quick Cone, which moulds a small "barrel" of pellets around your hooklink. The compressed pellet barrel is slid down to the hook, where it breaks down to add a little pile of attraction. Handy for straight lead fishing, but I'll sometimes use it with a float, fished overdepth.

 

[mikench]

Rob I knew you were going to say something like that! How did you know i do not have one of those? You never give up giving me ideas and now I want one!

I have a guru set of cones and a garbolino one which I suspect is similar in operation and intent! I use neither

 

[barbelboi]

I decided to take a drive through the lanes for some maggots for the end of the week. Now the thing about living in the sticks means that I have to drive for 15 miles in one direction to get the maggots then drive all the way back again and then drive in 6 miles in the opposite direction for the stretch of river that I wish to fish (not a lot of choice at present with clear water and no flow). Therefore the decision to get the maggots today, come home and put most of them in the fridge, and then have a yomp across the fields to one of the farm ponds for a couple of hours . This would enable me to have an early start, say 10.30, on either Thursday or Friday.

I was hoping for some roach but they were very finicky giving the slightest of movement on a dotted down float. I fished for 3 hours for around a dozen roach, none larger than a pound, and a couple of rogue gate crashing carp. I also had the company of the resident robin for the duration – it’s not easy taking a photo of a bird on your rod whilst it’s in the other hand waiting for some float movement...............

 

[robtherake]

Nice perch Rob! I have tried using a polaris float when ledgering but can never get the thing to cock! Something else I must be doing wrong!

It's probably one of two things, Mike. Once you've cast out, allow the float to rise to the top, place your rod in the rests and wind down until happy with the amount of tip that's showing. If you're already doing that part correctly then it's possible that the lead is too light for the float, so it isn't holding properly. I have a card somewhere with suggested minimum weights. To give an example, the "Stillwater No.1" that I used yesterday works best with a minimum weight of 1/4oz, but in the deep water a 3/8oz lead was just right.

The genuine Polaris floats have two line slots; one for fine lines, one for stout. Lines of 5lb or more are best passed through the bigger slot, tending to hang up in the finer one and thus preventing the float from sliding easily. Don't worry if the float hangs up in a high position when you're playing a fish - the thing's designed to lock on a tight line; it's how it works - and it will easily push back down the line once it meets the tip ring.

---------- Post added at 18:09 ---------- Previous post was at 18:05 ----------

I also had the company of the resident robin for the duration – it’s not easy taking a photo of a bird on your rod whilst it’s in the other hand waiting for some float movement...............

Terrific pics and a lovely venue. I've never managed to get a robin pic that wasn't at least partially blurred.