WHY DO I DO THIS?

[Janet]

I'd mentioned to Shelley that I'd call by for a quick chat on my way home from work tonight, so I grabbed a couple of packs of sandwiches for her, and headed off there when I got back. I also wanted to let her know that I've booked tomorrow off work for a nice long session from early morning until as late as I could.

 

I was a bit put out when I got there to find that somebody had set up in the peg I wanted to fish. I really hoped they weren't going to be there all night, as I'd noticed a few bivvies had appeared since I was there yesterday.

 

I needn't have worried! She came racing over, and said "Come and look at this!" Honestly, that girl is just priceless! She'd been up to the tackle shop during the day, and bought a pack of size 14 hooks (I don't think she'd ever seen any that small before...), some worms, maggots and sweetcorn, and a small waggler float, and got it all set up for me in the peg I liked so that I could get a couple of hours fishing in, as she knew I wouldn't have any gear with me. I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall when she asked Steve for a float! I'm sure his jaw is still on the floor!

 

She'd had a play around with it herself, but said she didn't like it. Said the float kept going under and there was nothing on the hook, so she got fed up! (and this from someone who spends hours waiting for something to happen on a carp rod?) Like I said, she's absolutely priceless!

 

Well of course I had to have a go, so stayed for a couple of hours instead of heading home to the ironing mountain. What a delicate, finely balanced setup it was! A Ron Thompson specimen carp rod, massive Shimano reel, 15lb line, goodness knows what hooklength, a small waggler and a size 14 hook already raring to go with a ready prepared worm (which unfortunately had managed to bury itself into the ground while it was waiting for me!) She proudly told me that she'd even borrowed a plummet to check the depth (which I must say she'd done to perfection). It was so surreal! In all the years she's been fishing, she's never used a float!

 

Once I stopped laughing and finished my brew, I dropped the worm into the margins, with a few maggots to keep it company and settled down contentedly, feeling all the stress of the working day vanishing. I got some very strange looks from other anglers arriving for the evening - there was I, still in my office clothes, handbag and all, fishing with the strangest setup I think they've ever seen! Some of them walked past and pretended not to see. Others stopped and stared, and one asked "Have you just started fishing dear?" Oh noooooo! I'll never convince them that I'm an angler after that, will I?

 

Still, who cares? The fish don't care what tackle you use, do they? After a few missed bites, I struck into something which torpedoed off into the centre of the lake. I could tell it wasn't as big as the carp I had yesterday, but it was certainly something with an incredible burst of speed. Didn't take too long to get it in the net, and there it was, a beautiful gleaming female tench of about 1 1/2 lbs. Lovely. Only the third one I've ever caught. Shelley netted it for me, and she was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat.

 

Did I care that it wasn't another double figure carp? Not a bit of it. It was just as much fun to play it and watch it slide over the edge of the net. That was soon followed by a nice little skimmer which managed to shake the hook as I brought it in and several missed bites. Just for once I'll blame the equipment, and not my angling technique! It was far too hefty a rod for what I was doing, but what the heck, it was still fishing!

 

What a smashing couple of hours, and what a nice gesture from somebody who I only met properly for the first time yesterday. Cheers Shell! You're a star!

 

Janet

[ndeezy]

Ha ha, brilliant! Can't wait until I next get the chance to go out but it could be weeks!

[matty49]

Sounds brill day. Now start catching 30 +

[gozzer]

You disappoint me Janet, I thought you were always prepared.

I would have thought that you would at least have had a few floats, hooks, shot and a reel of line in your handbag, just in case.

Maybe a telescopic rod in there as well?

 

John.

[Dick Dastardly]

Nice one Janet!

[Rich Habbershaw]

Well of course I had to have a go, so stayed for a couple of hours instead of heading home to the ironing mountain. What a delicate, finely balanced setup it was! A Ron Thompson specimen carp rod, massive Shimano reel, 15lb line, goodness knows what hooklength, a small waggler and a size 14 hook already raring to go with a ready prepared worm (which unfortunately had managed to bury itself into the ground while it was waiting for me!) She proudly told me that she'd even borrowed a plummet to check the depth (which I must say she'd done to perfection). It was so surreal! In all the years she's been fishing, she's never used a float! ...

 

Blimey girl...15lb on a waggler, seriously heavy duty *lol* I don't even have that on my 2.5lb TC carp rod, it's currently 10lb, although I do admit to having some 12lb and 15lb on standby for when I want to play with the big 'uns.

 

I would have been concerned at the hook size, perhaps going for a 12 or 10 if your targetting the bigger fish. I've known the smaller hooks to straighten before.

 

Have you ever used a quivertip feeder rod? Really easy to setup a basic running rig using a small maggot feeder and your usual bait on the hook. Still capable of landing the big 'uns, but without the need for the bite alarm and indicators we carpers so love.

 

Rich

[Janet]

Hi Rich,

 

Many thanks for the good advice. I do hope you don't think it was MY choice to fish like that! I cringed when I saw what she had set up for me, but it was all she had available, as she's only after big carp. Bless her, she did her best! She'd made a special trip up to the tackle shop specially to get hooks, maggots, worms and a float for me (you have to remember, she has never, ever used a float!) It's certainly not what I'd use myself, but I wasn't going to say no for the chance of a bit of unexpected fishing. She was so pleased that she'd set everything up for me, and it was a really nice gesture. If I'd had my own gear with me it would have been considerably lighter and better balanced! Still, the fish didn't seem to mind... they also don't appear to have a subscription to the angling magazines either, as they were quite content with simple maggots or worms, and didn't seem to realise that REAL fish won't take anything less than bacon, egg and black pudding boilies, individually hand rolled on the thighs of a Cuban virgin...

 

Yes, I've used a quivertip feeder rod, and it's one I'd recommend to anybody starting angling as I did. In fact it's the rod that I use more than any other. It was the first rod I bought when I started last year, following some excellent advice from Steve at my local tackle shop. Dirt cheap, but extremely functional. It was the rod I caught those two double figure carp on. It's the rod I pick up before anything else, as it is so versatile. It's the rod that will always be my favourite! I can use it for (almost) anything and feel confident that it can handle it. I recently bought a John Wilson float rod for my float fishing, but I hate it. The butt is too long, it's too stiff and I just don't feel comfortable with it, so until I either shorten it and learn to love it or find a rod I DO like, I'm carrying on using my feeder rod as a makeshift float rod. I only used it with a feeder for a couple of times, found that a bit too easy, then I discovered float fishing....

 

It appears to me to work absolutely fine, so I'm not actually sure if I really need a specific rod for float fishing. It handled those two double figure carp with no problem at all (although it did bend almost in half in a very scary way!) My only real worry was that my line and hooklength wouldn't be up to the job if the fish made a serious break for freedom. However, if anyone can tell me what advantages there are to having a rod specifically for float fishing, I would be very interested to hear.

 

Janet

[nursejudy]

Excellent write up as always Janet

[Rich Habbershaw]

However, if anyone can tell me what advantages there are to having a rod specifically for float fishing, I would be very interested to hear.

 

Never really thought about it before, but I can only assume (ready to be wrong) that float rods have more ring sections so as not to put a lot of strain on the lighter float fishing lines. Probably all a marketing ploy to fool us into buying different rods for different setups

 

My carp rod has 5 rings, the feeder has something like 7 rings, whereas my float has a good 10.

 

If your feeder rod happily handles lightweight line and you have a sensitive glass tip, then I would have thought it would be fine for float fishing. Never tried mine for for that purpose, but then I am easily fooled by the aforementioned marketing ploys

 

Rich

[Janet]

If your feeder rod happily handles lightweight line and you have a sensitive glass tip, then I would have thought it would be fine for float fishing. Never tried mine for for that purpose

 

I only tried it out for float fishing because finances at the time dictated that I could only afford one rod and after I'd been fishing for a while, I really wanted to try fishing with a float. I think the tackle shop gave me good advice, as it has been a great all-rounder for me. Your comments regarding the line guides make a lot of sense. Now I know a bit more about float fishing, perhaps I should go and have a look at a new rod. This time I should be able to make more of an educated choice, now I know what I am comfortable with.

 

Janet

 

Incidentally, I went out for another day with Shelley on Thursday, and caught just one perch (mind you, it went at least 5 - inches that is, not pounds!) and three bream in a twelve hour session! One was only about a pound but the other two were a lot better, and the last one was close to my PB of 3lb 8oz. It wasn't a very good day, with rain lashing down most of the time, but I wasn't disappointed. After all, if you don't have poor days, how can you appreciate the good ones?

Edited August 17, 2007 by JSD