Well, not yet but what a find! My Mum, who is proud of being 87 has lived in the same house for decades. Over that time, she and my late Dad successfully and progressively filled it with
stuff . You know what stuff is; it is the things that do not fit into the essentials category of items that fill our houses. Some people manage without stuff and live in clinically clean and spacious interiors (also known as minimalist). I suspect most of us have things other than clothes, furniture, pots, pans and cleaning implements. Anything else that does not fit into the aforementioned list, including disused kitchen appliances, is stuff! Our mum is in the process of clearing out a lot of her stuff and is always eager when Tim or I show an interest in removing any of it.
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| Thanks Mum! |
Regular readers will know that recently I have been investigating (should I say discovering) the possibility of drowning other things to use as bait other than maggots. One of the roads I have been treading is that of groundbait. Apart from the ingredients, I also needed something to chop it all up in. Using our own kitchen food processor is all right for the bread and biscuit but ground up fish flavoured dry cat biscuit might well be a step too far. Tolerant as she is, I think even Sue will draw the line at adding a fishy tinge to the latest work of culinary art!
I looked through the listings on eBay and they all seemed either on their last legs or almost as expensive as buying a new one I then too a look at the Argos catalogue and even the cheap stuff in the local Tesco. Nothing was shouting "buy me" so I was still thinking about what to do when we went visiting yesterday. I mentioned this to Mum in passing and she said, I think I have one of those you can have... After following a set of directions as to its location, akin to those used by ancient mariners seeking treasure island would follow, I discovered a perfect little food processor just begging to be given a new life.
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| Thanks Sue! |
That will do for the 'softer' ingredients , now I need something for the hard stuff. A cheap coffee grinder seems to be the best bet. Sue picked up a cheap one while she was out today and this looks like it will do the job. Now all I have to do is find something to process/grind. Sue collected a few prices for dog and cat biscuits from our local shops but I think a visit to one of the pet stores in the retail parts might be in order.
The next job will be a visit to the tackle shop to buy a new quiver tip rod and some ledgering tackle for our next great adventure. I plan to try out my home-made ground bait and see how I get on.
I hope to work my way up to having a go with a bit more planning. At the moment I am just casting out, feeding with some bait and hoping for the best. I like the idea of using a marker float and mapping the portion of the lake I want to fish. The idea of using a spod appeals to me. I have a cheap carp rod that will do as marker rod and I might need something to use as a spodding rod. But that is all a bit further down the line, and I really need to sort out what kit I really need. For now we will be using the carp rod for ledgering along with the new quiver tip rod and see how we go from there. I might buy a cheap, single bit alarm and have a play with that...This is all good fun and very enjoyable. To be learning something completely new in my sixth decade of life is very rewarding. Especially when it is something I have never really had a desire to do before.
Ralph.
