Dunk Fairley

All, don't apply lighted matches to rod blanks*. On cane rods, ALL glues used react badly to heat. Originally, one of the glue ingredients was melted down horses hooves (I kid you not!). Carbon, Kevlar and Graphite blanks are heat treated as part of the blank building process. They are heated to the same temperature along the entire length, to give an even curing to the resins used. Any heat applied at a section of the blank, which differs from the background temperature of the blank as a whole, will create a weak spot. Gaffer, the only option is to cut the varnish back to the blank, by rubbing gently with fine wire wool. This gives a gently sloping edge. Apply a few coats of Yaught Varnish to the cut back area. When this has dried and cured for about 2 days, you can flat it back using T Cut (from Halfords) If this is done properly, the repair should be invisible. If you know a rod builder he could do it for you. I reccommend Yaught Varnish, as it doesn't react with any other varnish. Cellulose varnish, reacts with Acrylic, Acrylic reacts with Spirit based etc. I know this from my motorbike restoration experiences. Regards. *except when replacing tip rings, which are usually held on with "Hot Glue", which is a stiff wax, which will melt at a tempewrature below which damage will occurr.

All, don't apply lighted matches to rod blanks*. On cane rods, ALL glues used react badly to heat. Originally, one of the glue ingredients was melted down horses hooves (I kid you not!). Carbon, Kevlar and Graphite blanks are heat treated as part of the blank building process. They are heated to the same temperature along the entire length, to give an even curing to the resins used. Any heat applied at a section of the blank, which differs from the background temperature of the blank as a whole, will create a weak spot. Gaffer, the only option is to cut the varnish back to the blank, by rubbing gently with fine wire wool. This gives a gently sloping edge. Apply a few coats of Yaught Varnish to the cut back area. When this has dried and cured for about 2 days, you can flat it back using T Cut (from Halfords) If this is done properly, the repair should be invisible. If you know a rod builder he could do it for you. I reccommend Yaught Varnish, as it doesn't react with any other varnish. Cellulose varnish, reacts with Acrylic, Acrylic reacts with Spirit based etc. I know this from my motorbike restoration experiences. Regards. *except when replacing tip rings, which are usually held on with "Hot Glue", which is a stiff wax, which will melt at a tempewrature below which damage will occurr.

Tyke, I couldn't sit still after the last posting, so I popped out and spun up a prototype. Are you sure the eye at the bottom actually loaded the float? The one i've turned up, would need a bit of modifying to take a loading, but it may be possible. When I can figure out a way of putting a picture of it up, I'll drop it into my next posting. Either that or I'll just post it to you critical approval. Regards

Tyke, I couldn't sit still after the last posting, so I popped out and spun up a prototype. Are you sure the eye at the bottom actually loaded the float? The one i've turned up, would need a bit of modifying to take a loading, but it may be possible. When I can figure out a way of putting a picture of it up, I'll drop it into my next posting. Either that or I'll just post it to you critical approval. Regards

Tyke, if you could answer a few questions, I may be able to knock up a couple of floats for you, which should be like the one you had nicked. Firstly, are you sure it was balsa all the way down? Solid balsa floats are a pain to turn and actually dont work very well. The stem is usually in Cane,Wire or Lignum, which helps the float balance better. Also, what was the approximate diameter at the top and bottom of the float (a guess will have to do in this case, as the sample has gone. You say that this float was about 3"-4" long. It was probably one of a set (usually 5), did you ever see any of the others? They would have increased in size, by 1BB loading increments. If you can give me a bit more, I'll have a go for you. I'll try by the start of the season, but can't promise it. I'm quite busy fish spotting at the moment, but if the water is too coloured to see, I'm in float making mode.

Tyke, if you could answer a few questions, I may be able to knock up a couple of floats for you, which should be like the one you had nicked. Firstly, are you sure it was balsa all the way down? Solid balsa floats are a pain to turn and actually dont work very well. The stem is usually in Cane,Wire or Lignum, which helps the float balance better. Also, what was the approximate diameter at the top and bottom of the float (a guess will have to do in this case, as the sample has gone. You say that this float was about 3"-4" long. It was probably one of a set (usually 5), did you ever see any of the others? They would have increased in size, by 1BB loading increments. If you can give me a bit more, I'll have a go for you. I'll try by the start of the season, but can't promise it. I'm quite busy fish spotting at the moment, but if the water is too coloured to see, I'm in float making mode.

This may be a bit long, but.... Boy oh Boy have I been waiting for this one! Many might know that I am a previous member of SACG, now a life member of SAA. I'm also a member of the June the 16th club, started when the closed season was scrapped on stillwaters, following pressure from carp puddle owners and the like, who had thrown in a few trout. The June 16th club, was not started as any sort of political lobby or group, but more of a small register of protest by a few anglers who basically said that they believed the closed season should be retained. I'm not sure what the club is doing now, or even how many of the original members still don't fish the closed season. It doesn't matter anyway, because what other people do, doesn't affect me very much. I don't fish fresh waters for coarse fish between the old closed season dates and that's what counts. As far as SAA goes at the moment, the SAA is opposed to the removal of the closed season on Rivers. The vote was taken when the issue was discussed and was unanimous in that respect.Be assured, that if the matter is discussed gain, there will be at least one in SAA, who will fight tooth and nail to keep the current SAA stance. Of course, there are a lot within SAA who fish during the closed season and I wouldn't want to stop them, it's up to them. However, i will have no problem with any debate which might ensue, if the stance is considered for revision. If I lose my corner, I will be pleased to maintain my standpoint, but will continue to campaign. It won't be a problem within SAA, because I'll be campaigning as an individual within SAA, hoping to bring others around to my own point of view. At the moment, the NAA are unified, however it is impossible to keep everybody happy all the time. Therefore there will be disagreements over issues, but these will be sorted within the groups, whereas before issue were dealt with by "outsiders" or non-angling politicians. One of the problems with scrapping the closed season is that even though a fishery owner may retain a closed season on his section of river, someone else may control the bit where the fish spawn. Spawning fish may not feed when feeling randy, but they do not like disturbance of the river bed/weed situations where they lay their eggs. If there is just one disturbance to a patch of weed or gravel, such as can be caused by people wading, or pulling out weeded or snagged fish, large amounts of eggs can be dislodged and swept away. Therefore the chap who doesn't want the closed season and allows fishing, is affecting the chap who does. The same obviously applies to stillwaters, but unfortunately the closed season retention lobby was not active enough to prevent the lifting of the break at the time. That is despite a poll in one of the weeklies at the time, saying that 80% of anglers asked, were in favour of retaining the break. Roll on June 16th!!

This may be a bit long, but.... Boy oh Boy have I been waiting for this one! Many might know that I am a previous member of SACG, now a life member of SAA. I'm also a member of the June the 16th club, started when the closed season was scrapped on stillwaters, following pressure from carp puddle owners and the like, who had thrown in a few trout. The June 16th club, was not started as any sort of political lobby or group, but more of a small register of protest by a few anglers who basically said that they believed the closed season should be retained. I'm not sure what the club is doing now, or even how many of the original members still don't fish the closed season. It doesn't matter anyway, because what other people do, doesn't affect me very much. I don't fish fresh waters for coarse fish between the old closed season dates and that's what counts. As far as SAA goes at the moment, the SAA is opposed to the removal of the closed season on Rivers. The vote was taken when the issue was discussed and was unanimous in that respect.Be assured, that if the matter is discussed gain, there will be at least one in SAA, who will fight tooth and nail to keep the current SAA stance. Of course, there are a lot within SAA who fish during the closed season and I wouldn't want to stop them, it's up to them. However, i will have no problem with any debate which might ensue, if the stance is considered for revision. If I lose my corner, I will be pleased to maintain my standpoint, but will continue to campaign. It won't be a problem within SAA, because I'll be campaigning as an individual within SAA, hoping to bring others around to my own point of view. At the moment, the NAA are unified, however it is impossible to keep everybody happy all the time. Therefore there will be disagreements over issues, but these will be sorted within the groups, whereas before issue were dealt with by "outsiders" or non-angling politicians. One of the problems with scrapping the closed season is that even though a fishery owner may retain a closed season on his section of river, someone else may control the bit where the fish spawn. Spawning fish may not feed when feeling randy, but they do not like disturbance of the river bed/weed situations where they lay their eggs. If there is just one disturbance to a patch of weed or gravel, such as can be caused by people wading, or pulling out weeded or snagged fish, large amounts of eggs can be dislodged and swept away. Therefore the chap who doesn't want the closed season and allows fishing, is affecting the chap who does. The same obviously applies to stillwaters, but unfortunately the closed season retention lobby was not active enough to prevent the lifting of the break at the time. That is despite a poll in one of the weeklies at the time, saying that 80% of anglers asked, were in favour of retaining the break. Roll on June 16th!!

Ref the Ruffe. A few years ago, Laurie Harper, one of the SACG regulars, started a tongue in cheek "Ruffe Study Group".It made it into one of the weekly angling comics, who actually almost took it seriously. Sadly, Laurie no longer appears to be on the "scene" as it were, so Laurie, if you're out there, drop us a line. Ruffe in the Medway are prolific, but aren't a major problem, unless you find a shoal and are using worms or maggots! If they become a pain, switch to paste for the bream and chub. I've noticed that all the holes where I caught them last summer, are good spots for pike in the winter to closed season period. Big hooks for pike shouldn't be a problem, provided the barbs are filed off and the points kept v.sharp. Myself I prefer to replace big hooks on plugs and other lures, with smaller (Biggest size 2, which isn't that big). If the addition of a smaller hook affects the action of a lure, I balance the lure again by sticking lead wire to the bottom of the lure, with araldite. This is very rare actually, but can make a difference. As a matter of course, I replace hooks on lures regularly, and I find that those on new lures often have huge barbs anyway. My favourite hooks are "Owners". When I can find them in the right size I buy lots! They are very sharp, very strong and have smallish barbs. I not onlr recomend smaller barbs for the fish's sake, but because they are easier to get out of your net, jumper, leg, hand etc. Incidentally,while on the subject of hooks, has anyone had trouble with Fox Trebles being brittle? I've had several occurences of them losing points or snapping. This usually occurs when I leave my rods tackled up between sessions, then use them about a week later, sometimes sooner. the hooks have been on my own made up snap tackles. I've now started using Drennan trebles again because of the problem, and wonder why I changed anyway! The other good thing is that when you snag a Drennan treble, provided you are using 15lb line or stronger, you can pull for a hook straighten, rather than a break-off. This is particularly handy on the Medway, where the EA have been performing their regular "lets chop down all the bankside vegetation and throw it in the river" operations.

Ref the Ruffe. A few years ago, Laurie Harper, one of the SACG regulars, started a tongue in cheek "Ruffe Study Group".It made it into one of the weekly angling comics, who actually almost took it seriously. Sadly, Laurie no longer appears to be on the "scene" as it were, so Laurie, if you're out there, drop us a line. Ruffe in the Medway are prolific, but aren't a major problem, unless you find a shoal and are using worms or maggots! If they become a pain, switch to paste for the bream and chub. I've noticed that all the holes where I caught them last summer, are good spots for pike in the winter to closed season period. Big hooks for pike shouldn't be a problem, provided the barbs are filed off and the points kept v.sharp. Myself I prefer to replace big hooks on plugs and other lures, with smaller (Biggest size 2, which isn't that big). If the addition of a smaller hook affects the action of a lure, I balance the lure again by sticking lead wire to the bottom of the lure, with araldite. This is very rare actually, but can make a difference. As a matter of course, I replace hooks on lures regularly, and I find that those on new lures often have huge barbs anyway. My favourite hooks are "Owners". When I can find them in the right size I buy lots! They are very sharp, very strong and have smallish barbs. I not onlr recomend smaller barbs for the fish's sake, but because they are easier to get out of your net, jumper, leg, hand etc. Incidentally,while on the subject of hooks, has anyone had trouble with Fox Trebles being brittle? I've had several occurences of them losing points or snapping. This usually occurs when I leave my rods tackled up between sessions, then use them about a week later, sometimes sooner. the hooks have been on my own made up snap tackles. I've now started using Drennan trebles again because of the problem, and wonder why I changed anyway! The other good thing is that when you snag a Drennan treble, provided you are using 15lb line or stronger, you can pull for a hook straighten, rather than a break-off. This is particularly handy on the Medway, where the EA have been performing their regular "lets chop down all the bankside vegetation and throw it in the river" operations.

If I remember rightly (which I'm pretty sure i do), the Thames closed season has been a bit iffy to say the least. The closed season only used to be in place above Teddington Lock, Middlesex. That was a far as the "Tidal" Thames went. Above the lock, the river wasn't classed as tidal. When the Thames Barrier was built, the non-tidal classification applied, down to the barrier, making the closed season apply. This upset a lot of anglers, who used to fish the river all year, right through London, even from the bridges, with beach rods. Incidentally as an aside, you can legally fish for eels all year round,anywhere you like (with permission from the riparian owner), as long as you don't use a hook! If anyone's interested, I'll submit the rig to the rig page. As a proud member of the June 16th club, I wish all a very good closed season!

If I remember rightly (which I'm pretty sure i do), the Thames closed season has been a bit iffy to say the least. The closed season only used to be in place above Teddington Lock, Middlesex. That was a far as the "Tidal" Thames went. Above the lock, the river wasn't classed as tidal. When the Thames Barrier was built, the non-tidal classification applied, down to the barrier, making the closed season apply. This upset a lot of anglers, who used to fish the river all year, right through London, even from the bridges, with beach rods. Incidentally as an aside, you can legally fish for eels all year round,anywhere you like (with permission from the riparian owner), as long as you don't use a hook! If anyone's interested, I'll submit the rig to the rig page. As a proud member of the June 16th club, I wish all a very good closed season!