A chance to try some new kit
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Kennet, Thatcham, Friday 10th September 2010
I’d been mulling over the idea of an evening session all week. I don’t generally fish evenings because there always seems to be stuff to do in the house after work, dinner, chores etc. Today was different though, I was working from home and my evening was free so it was an ideal opportunity to try out a couple of recent acquisitions, a new reel and some Power Pro braid.
The venue was carefully selected, I’d be wading mid river and trotting off the rod tip in a reasonable flow so if the reel turned out to be a bit tight it wouldn’t matter. It’s an Allcocks Match Aerial claimed as unused by the seller, a seemingly accurate description. The braid was bought as an alternative to Fireline Crystal which is good stuff but has one or two characteristics that I don’t like.
I did pre-bait a couple of swims on arrival but as I only had three hours or so fishing time I started straight away. The bites weren’t quite as immediate but third trot produced this 2lb 9oz chub;
That was particularly satisfying, it came from a spot in the swim which is difficult to get close to consistently…maybe I need a pole, but then where would I put the reel? Thereafter a number of reasonably sized brownies did their best to dissuade me from buying cod and chips on the way home but they all went back.
Moving downstream to the second swim I was delighted to meet this chap first trot;
Not large but any grayling from this venue gets its photo taken. He had me a bit worried though, it’s the first time I’ve deep hooked a grayling whilst trotting and it took a while to get the hook out. It took even longer to make sure he was ok and at one point I was convinced it was a lost cause, holding the fish facing upstream the gills were working and there was an occasional tail wriggle but if I let go he just went belly up. After several minutes and some very cold hands the fish could stay upright in the flow, a few seconds later he zoomed off as if nothing had happened.
The mobile rang and that was the end of the session. My wife’s social event was shorter than anticipated and she was at home….could I pick up dinner on the way back? Hmmm.
The reel proved to be really good, every ‘pin addict should have one of these in their collection. They were introduced over 40 years ago and can still hold their own amongst much more modern kit, I think that’s very impressive. Ok I’m not a fan of narrow drum reels but that’s more personal preference and probably lack of casting technique than any fault of the reels.
The Power Pro braid was much more supple than Fireline and was less sticky in the rod rings. The red colour made it visible (not as much as the white Fireline) and I generally found it to be nicer to use. It is early days though, we’ll see how it wears after few sessions. One downside is that it tends to unravel into its fibres when trying to untangle it, the Fireline stays in one thread and so you’ve got a chance of sorting it out. No chance with Power Pro I’m afraid, get it knotted and that’s it.
A very enjoyable couple of hours trotting. I must fish evenings more often, you get the feeling that conditions are coming to you rather than going away as the sun comes up at dawn.
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