Rod Porn

Fishing has been crap of late with no tench gracing my net for well over a month, but with the arrival of new rods for a big birthday, I needed to get out.

The new rod were built by Dave Lumb of D.L Specilist Tackle to my specification primarily for tench fishing on gravel pits and estate lakes.

Blanks are a coloured (burgundy) Harrison Chimera, 12ft in length and 1.3/4tc with fuji rings and reel seat, full slim cork handle, stainless steel collars and butt cap, plus a little inscription and gold finish to the whipping.

The rods have a old feel or classic feel about them, I suppose its the colour scheme which reminds me of some of the old Dawia Cavalier match rods of the late 80's early 90's. They have been paired up with some old school Aero GT 5010 baitrunners.

I've managed to get out twice now to use them and they are lovely rods and so far they been tested using 28-50g maggot feeders, 1oz inline lead and pva bags to distance of around 50 yards.

On the second trip, I targeted a large still water which has started to produce a few fish. So with an early morning start to beat the rain, I got to the water for the crack of dawn.

With the barrow loaded I trudged along the path to fish an area that has been kind to me over the years and I was soon in position and mixing up the ground bait ingredients.

Whilst the ground bait settled in the bucket and absorbed the lake water, the the rods, buzzers etc were set up whilst taking in the sights and sounds of the bird life.

With the gear setup, the baiting process began and I soon had ten tennis ball sized baits out to around 40 yards. This would be in easy reach for the new rods and should allow me to see any rolling tench or bream. The wind was abit of an issue to start with as it was blowing straight across the swim, not ideal, but it was due to shift during the day and blow staight into the bank I was fishing by midday.

The rods were tackled up, with a helicopter rigged open feeder, with caster/corn on a size 12 hook and a inline maggot feeder, double red on a size 10 on the other.

With the rods out and set up on the buzzers, it was time for a brew and breakfast, but with the wind brought the rain and time for the brolly.

With breakfast cooked, tea drank, baits needed freshening up, so the rigs were retrieved, reloaded and recast. The first effort was abit off due to the cross wind, but the second attempted was bang on the money.

I'm not one for sheltering behind the brolly on a chair, it frustrates me as I like to see what's going on, so for a while I stood in the rain and wind whilst watching Common Terns dancing in the air and Great Crested Grebes facing off each other with puffed out crests. When the wind dropped, the rain stopped and I could see a few bream porpoising over the baited area. With the sighted of the rolling bream, came the indication on the buzzers that they had certainly moved into the area.
But after an hour of rolling and line bites, all went quiet. Perhaps the hatching Mayflies had preoccupied them from feeding on the baited area.

I rebaited the area with five balls of ground bait, just in case those rolling bream seen earlier had infact cleared up.

Midday came and I started to get bored, seven hours without a proper bites make the old grey cells tick and I thought about rig/bait changes for the afternoon session.

The heli was replaced with a paternoster open-end feeder rig, with a 4ft hook link, 4lb line and size 16 hook loaded up with double reds. The second rod was changed to a method feeder with a short braided link, but with a size 14 hook and corn/caster combo.

Five more balls of bait went out over the revamped rigs and I turned towards the stove in order to started the process of getting another brew, but with the bobbin still settling, the alarm on the paternoster rig bleeped.
Soon the bobbin was rising, and I lifted into a fish before it had chance to hit the vanish.

The fish felt reasonable and for a short while, I was unsure what was on the end until the tale tail nod gave the game away.

This bream had a large frame to it, so a quick weight show her to be over 6lb, just.

 She was soon unhooked, quick snap for the blog and released. Rod christened, monkey off of back.

The feeder was reloaded, hook bait replaced and recast, just in time as the kettle and boiled. Time for tea.

With the brew warming the hands, the same rod was away and another bream was attached to to the line.

This time it was a male, similar in size to the first, but a bit more feisty and it gave a good account of itself.

Upon unhooking, the rig was in a tangle, which can be an issue with paternosters, so instead of unraving the mess of mono, it was cut above the knot and retired.

I half expected the bobbin not to settle, but it did. I had a few twitches and late in the day a third and final male Abramis Bramas came to the net.

With a impending storm on the horizon, and with everything just about dried out, I packed up and head for home.