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30.9.22 -Enborne/Speen Moors

Bayleaf the Gardener

Entry posted by Bayleaf the Gardener in Speen Moors/Enborne

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With temperatures crumbling as autumn starts to get in gear, I started my migration from lakes to the canals and rivers.

The morning could have been perfect for perch at first light- misty and still, but overnight it had dropped to four degrees, the coldest since spring, and maybe that turned them off. I managed to get some pole practise in prior to the match at Enborne on Sunday, presenting and jiggling a worm right in front of their reedbed ambush points, but only managed one of about half a pound. By the time the sun was climbing and the mist gone, I'd had just 2 more bites, a 5oz roach and having swapped to maggot, a bleak even small by bleak standards.

Sticking to the plan, I upped-gear and stepped it out to a remote swim at Speen Moors. 4-foot deep, not too weedy, far bank vegetation and a good 50 yards+ to trot, it screamed chub and perch, and I'd been excited to fish it since discovering it by accident the other day. But disaster struck. Twice. In assembling the float rod, I managed to snap the tip off - don't ask me how. (Can anyone recommend a 14 or 15ft trotting rod that doesn't have a tip the width and strength of cocktail stick?). Then, though I'd replaced the line last week, I quickly discovered it was as brittle as a witch's hair estimating it about half of its alleged 5lb breaking strain remaining. This would be fine for roach, but if a chub came along, I knew I'd have to be very gentle as any sort of lunge would inevitably cause a snap.

Third cast in, a chub (I'm guessing) did come along. i gave it as much pressure as I dared and had it on for 30 seconds or so before I could no longer keep it out of the snags it was determined to take me to. There it did that inexplicable fishy thing of swapping hook from mouth to snag, and I gingerly landed a section of tree. And that was the end of the excitement. I managed a chublet and maybe half a dozen roach between 3 and 6 ounces, but any hopes that I'd somehow developed any running water fishing skills while on the lakes in summer proved unfounded. The rain brought an almost welcome end to a largely disappointing session.

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Chris Plumb

Ouch! How did you manage to snap your rod tip? My Harrisons' (I now have 3 having acquired Rusty's recently) have lasted me for nearly 25 years without incident (though one has been re-ringed twice!) - not sure if you can still get them - and you'll need to find a rod builder to build one (which at least allows you to have one to your specifications - the one Ian Tucker built me has my name one it and rather handsome English Racing Green whipping!). they might be a bit heavier than modern rods (but it's all about a good balance in the hand anyways) but they appear to be a LOT more durable! This is a review I did yonks ago.....

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Bayleaf the Gardener

You really want to know? Here goes. I use one of those brilliant bags where you fold down rod and reel so you simply get them out next trip without setting up. As I pushed two of the sections together, the tension on the drag was too tight to allow the line to pull off the spool to prevent too much tension and in less than 2 seconds the rod tip had snapped, despite the line b.s. being 3lb if that. OK, I see I contributed to my own downfall, but I really didn't think it was THAT tense. 

At least the rod was a £50-er rather than the £150 Cadence that I'd snapped the tip on twice before giving up at £60 per spare tip. I'll admit to being a clumsy fellow, but neither of those 'deserved' to break (one went while playing a fish!) but with both rod makes, the tip was so, so narrow, damage at some point seemed inevitable.

Thank you for the review which I shall study. I really don't see a need in spending more than £100 tops, if I can help it, and would be more than happy to exchange a more robust tip for additional weight. As you say, comfort in using a rod is all in the balance, anyway. 

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Chris Plumb

Nah - look out for a 15 footer! I know they're expense but as someone once said (And it may have been Mr Gucci) Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten!

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