FROM UNDER THE BROLLEY
Never trust the weather forecast. Honestly, I think they would do better if they just put a fir cone on the window sill or looked to see if the cows are laying down sometimes. It threatened non-stop rain from 9 am onwards today so I took leger rods and put my brolley up before anything else as soon as I had chosen my swim. I had a couple of nice old avon rods with me and two Delmatics that I had recently acquired. I had stripped off the old thick braided dacron that they came with exposing the tiny cores on the spools that threatened to swallow an immense amount of line and the consequently poor line lay presumed to be inherent on old reels. Sure it took a lot of line to fill them but I had a bulk spool of 8lbs Sensor that needed using and the line lay, once I had wound on God knows how much line, was impeccable.
My plan was to fish two 6" helicopter rigs just above a 15 gram feeder on both rods and cast them both into the same swim 30 yards out. This approach differs from the modern angler's in that although the rig was set up similarly, the feeders were light at 15 gms with most using 2 oz in these days of zero subtlety and self hooking rigs. I know it is more effective but I don't enjoy using leads any heavier than I need to. It is clumsy and in my opinion, hard on the fish as are the rather unforgiving carbon rods heavy enough to throw these weights. Just my opinion of course, nobody else has to agree, but it fits well with my attitude to fishing in general. If I miss a few, I just don't really care that much.
I watched an angler on the tube recently explaining that he didn't need to cast with pin point accuracy to fish this method, he was quite happy to drop all his bait in an area the size of two billiard tables. It wasn't hard to see why he was a better angler than me, all clipped up (my old reels don't have clips) and still dropping all his feed in an area that I can only dream of. I'm happy if I get it in the water half the time these days. Again, I don't care anymore, I am just happy to be there.
As roach were again my target, I added dead maggots to my groundbait and fished them on the hook, occasionally changing one of them for bread popped up off bottom. I was off to a flier, when a 3-4 bream came to the first cast. I lost another on the second and that was it for hours. I did have half a dozen good liners, the bobbin rising and returning to the exact same position, and that suggested they might be closer in. I cast 5 yards shorter after that but although the liners disappeared, I still only managed a couple of probable bites. As those had removed a couple of my four maggots, I suspected small fish.
It did rain, for about 45 minutes all morning and float fishing would not have been uncomfortable but I'm not up to lugging a mountain of gear to the bank to cover every circumstance these days. I decide at home and see what happens. Honestly the amount of gear some people take to catch a few fish is mind-boggling. My roach campaign is faltering but at least the few fish I have caught have been sizeable and there is always tomorrow.
My plan was to fish two 6" helicopter rigs just above a 15 gram feeder on both rods and cast them both into the same swim 30 yards out. This approach differs from the modern angler's in that although the rig was set up similarly, the feeders were light at 15 gms with most using 2 oz in these days of zero subtlety and self hooking rigs. I know it is more effective but I don't enjoy using leads any heavier than I need to. It is clumsy and in my opinion, hard on the fish as are the rather unforgiving carbon rods heavy enough to throw these weights. Just my opinion of course, nobody else has to agree, but it fits well with my attitude to fishing in general. If I miss a few, I just don't really care that much.
I watched an angler on the tube recently explaining that he didn't need to cast with pin point accuracy to fish this method, he was quite happy to drop all his bait in an area the size of two billiard tables. It wasn't hard to see why he was a better angler than me, all clipped up (my old reels don't have clips) and still dropping all his feed in an area that I can only dream of. I'm happy if I get it in the water half the time these days. Again, I don't care anymore, I am just happy to be there.
As roach were again my target, I added dead maggots to my groundbait and fished them on the hook, occasionally changing one of them for bread popped up off bottom. I was off to a flier, when a 3-4 bream came to the first cast. I lost another on the second and that was it for hours. I did have half a dozen good liners, the bobbin rising and returning to the exact same position, and that suggested they might be closer in. I cast 5 yards shorter after that but although the liners disappeared, I still only managed a couple of probable bites. As those had removed a couple of my four maggots, I suspected small fish.
It did rain, for about 45 minutes all morning and float fishing would not have been uncomfortable but I'm not up to lugging a mountain of gear to the bank to cover every circumstance these days. I decide at home and see what happens. Honestly the amount of gear some people take to catch a few fish is mind-boggling. My roach campaign is faltering but at least the few fish I have caught have been sizeable and there is always tomorrow.
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