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| You won't find any fish up there, Tim |
The fishing famine continues as the nights draw in. This is the first weekend I have had at home for several weeks only to discover that my fishing partner (Tim) is not around to go fishing this weekend. Typical.
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| Great little book |
My other 'iron in the fire' has gone cold. I have been trying to get a look around my local fishery. but the fishery manager has not been available at the times I could make it and was going to call me this week to arrange another visit. It is now Saturday morning and I am still waiting for a call, I suspect he has been busy as he has a full time job as well. I will give him a call today and see if I can arrange a visit for tomorrow.
In the meantime I have been playing around with end tackle and knots. There is so much basic stuff to learn, the lack of actual fishing is not too much of a problem at the moment. I do like clever little gizmos that help a novice like me achieve a result. The Matchman hook tyer I bought and mentioned a few weeks ago, see
HERE, works really well. I think I am at the stage where I can actually tie them without but it is still much quicker using the Matchman. So impressed was I that I ordered another one for Tim. Now it has arrived, there is a bit of a problem - it's PINK! I am now wondering if my little brother will think my uncharacteristic generosity will be taken as joke...
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| It's PINK! |
Talking of gizmos, I found a simple loop-tying tool. I don't have any trouble tying loops but they are usually on the large side. Tim, on the other hand was getting into all sorts of trouble on the bank, I think his fingers were just cold - or he is just getting old and his dexterity has gone. It's okay to say that here, he never reads my waffle.
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| Three loop tying tools |
I thought this might be another little aid that was worth its few pennies. I bought a couple and discovered they are available in different sizes. For the vast outlay of a couple of pounds, I had three different sizes and the smallest one had a very small disgorging tool - ideal for the fish that Tim will be catching. Tying loops with these things is simplicity itself.
I know it is possible to spend a fortune on tackle, and tempting as that may be, I am determined to not let it runaway with me. I started off with a pile of cheap waggler floats that came with my 'starter' set and another lot that were sold in a tube in Aldi. These are not very well made, and indeed some let in water and others simply broke.
So I bought three branded ones the next time I was in the tackle shop. Apart from the fact that it looked slightly better made and it had the cocking weight printed on it, the new float also leaked and became slightly bent! an attempt to straighten it resulted in a kink. A spin and a pull over the steam of a boiling kettle removed the kink. but I now have a wobbly waggler that may still leek - I will let you know if it still works!
Also, during this enforced dormancy, I have been looking at feeder fishing and leggering. I found some safety clips and other bits of end tackle and intend to spend some time making up a few rigs to try out next time I get to a water's edge. To this end I had another 'click' moment on eBay and bought a rig-box and four small tackle boxes that all fit inside a neat little case for a shade over £10 including the postage.
Fishing line
Now there are two innocent looking words. Until recently the only contact I have had with fishing line was to hang things up without making the method of suspension too obvious. Now I find there is a whole store-full of lines that all have different properties. Fairy early on I discovered that my preconceptions of the stuff were simplistic to say the least and that more often than not, the thickness of the line was just as important (if not more so) than the breaking strain. I may be wrong but I have a feeling that it is a lot simpler than it appears and I need to discover what I need for my narrow field of current fishing interest.
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| My reel has been pre-filled with 12lb line |
So far I have worked out (been told) that the line on my float fishing set-up is far too heavy at 12lb which measures about 0.28mm. I know it is 12lb because that is what it is labelled as on the spool supplied with the reel. The carp reel I have is also pre-loaded with 0.28mm line. I am assuming that is12lb too... A lot to learn here methinks.
Ralph.
