The Fishing Coach

If you are a tackle tart like me -READ NO FURTHER!- any failure to comply with these instructions will cost you serious money.

However, if you really need a new centrepin for trotting even the lightest float on your local river and money is absoloutely no object, read on.

A lot of rubbish is talked about centrepins (did I say that out loud?) but you will find an excellent article examining the uses and advantages of these reels here and although I don’t agree with everything he says there is no need for me to elaborate much further. If Paul Whiteing will allow, I will expand on one point from his piece, this concerns the physical characteristics needed for a good centrepin.

All the centrepins I own fall into one of the following two categories, those I use for heavy float work and legering and those intended for light, sensitive trotting. As Paul says, running freely for a long time after being spun is not necessarily a measure of a good reel. Lightness of the spool is just a important since the heavier the spool is, the more force is required to start it turning and the greater its tendency to carry on turning. This is not so essential when legering or fishing with a heavy float as the line used tends to be thicker and therefore more manageable.

When trotting a light float it becomes critical. The force applied to turn the spool by the small float in slower moving water is much less and should the float be stopped by the angler to cause the bait to rise, the force may not be sufficient to start the reel turning again. In addition to this, since much lighter lines are liable to be in use when trotting a small float, a tendency for the reel to run on when the float has stopped taking line may go unnoticed with disasterous results.

This is why I prefer the lightest and most free running centrepin reels for light float fishing and the best I have found is The Bob James Lightweight Centrepin marketed by Masterline. This is a superb piece of engineering and a true joy to use. Not the reel for loading with thirty pound braid and fishing close to snags but an ideal light trotting tool.

The recommended retail price is £299 and well worth every penny. Excuse me while I go into the shed and play with mine again.

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I’ve just read through my copy of a monthly fishing and shooting trade publication called Tackle & Guns from David Hall’s publishing stable. As a PAA coach I am sent a copy of this magazine each month and it helps to keep me up to date with new tackle and angling trends.

This month one small article caught my attention and I was moved to sit down and write a post about it. Over the last ten years or so many anglers, especially those involved in matches, have moved away from rivers onto commercial still waters and the range of tackle offered by the tackle trade has tended to follow this trend. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see that Preston Innovations have launched a new range of stick floats consisting of two different shapes, one domed and the second with a shoulder. (The floats are so new they’re not even on the website yet.)

I am sure that many of today’s anglers don’t know what a stick float is and have never experienced the joy of trotting one down a steady glide on a river. Part of my coaching activities involves introducing the unenlightened to such delights. I really enjoy luring the carp angler away from his bivvy and bite alarms to teach him or her how totally absorbing presenting a float properly in running water can be.

I don’t expect to convert these people away from their chosen branch of the sport but a knowledge of other types of fishing will hopefuly broaden their experience and perhaps keep them in the sport longer.

Regretfully I have not yet been able to find any dealer stocking this range of floats but I will get my hands on a set and review them on this site when I do.

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Week five of the summer holidays and back to Twynersh with the assistance of Lee Blundell with kids from PAYP Slough.

Tuesday 23rd August was the first day - our usual swim on the match lake was occupied so we set up in the corner of lake seven. By the time I had gone to Slough to pick up the mini bus and collected the students, Lee had, as usual, set up the tackle and got the fish feeding in all the swims. We had probably the best day’s fishing of the holidays with one lad catching more than thirty five fish. Roach, bream, perch and even dace were caught.

The second day we returned to Twynersh with a slightly different compliment of young people and a new key worker Steve, but the weather was very different. It rained all day, heavily at times with blustery wind and the resultant drop in temperature overnight was not condusive to the fish feeding very well.

All the students managed to catch fish but it was very difficult and their attention began to wander. This led to some mischief that resulted in one lad being banned from the fishery by the manager Paul. The boy in question continued to lie about what he had been seen doing by both myself and the fishery manager, making matters much worse for himself. I had a long chat with him afterwards and explained that had he owned up and apologised he would have got off much more lightly.

Maintaing good behavior with such children is hard work and I would guess that some of the people these kids have come in contact with have not been prepared to make the effort. The young people have been able to avoid trouble by creating a confrontation that the person in authority was not willing to give the time or effort to deal with. This is not a criticism of the key worker Steve who did not witness this incident and was totally suportive throughout.

The day was cut a little short because everyone was wet through and the result was that I spent most of yesterday drying out my coaching tackle.

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This was my last outing with Reading PAYP this holidays and I met a new key worker Becky. She had never fished before and like her charges proved an enthusiastic pupil. Frobury is an excellent fishery for coaching and has yet to let me down, it always produces fish that fight well and can be caught by even the most unskilled novice.

All students as usual caught fish and Becky caught her first fish - she is now a convert to the noble art.

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Following my last two days coaching when very few fish were caught I was in desperate need of a few fish for myself and a bit of tranquility. The Kennet is always the answer at such times and the main reason I belong to the Wasing Estate syndicate is to find this peaceful environment. Although the Kennet is a shadow of its former self at the moment I still love this river and often seek sanctuary on its banks.

So Wednesday found me on the Warren beat with my Drennan Super Stick float rod and trusty lightweight centrepin looking for the roach and dace. I had purchased a lot of cheap casters from Vince at Davies Angling and with about half a gallon of hemp I was able to feed heavily all day. A size 18 hook to a two pound hook link was suspended under a lighter avon style float than I would use in this swim for barbel and I proceeded to catch a fish every cast, all day.

Now I never use a keep net but had I done so this day I would have been unable to lift it up the high bank I was fishing from, it would have been so full of fish. I wish that some of the people who say there are no small fish in the Kennet could have seen all these fish. The biggest dace was about ten ounces and the roach were no bigger, but a wonderful day’s fishing.

I was embarassed once by a barbel of unknown size who intercepted my single caster fished off the bottom and proceeded to smash my two pound hook link on its way to the nearest snag. I was not after barbel that day, although they are probably my favourite fish. I needed to catch lots of fish, without any dramas, using the sort of finesse that comes with light trotting and that is just what I got.

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Week four of the summer holidays and I had promised PAYP Slough that I would organise a different venue for the two days this week as a special treat. I had arranged with Les Weller to take them to the fishery he manages at the back of Sandown Park racecourse called Wayneflete and provide a barbeque as well. I then recieved an email from Bury Hill Fishery asking me to take part in the filming of a promotional video on the second day of the course. When I replied that I would be unavailable that day due to a coaching commitment, David DeVere invited me to bring the course there. It would have been rude not to, so plans were changed.

On the first day we arrived at Wayneflete and drove to the car park where we were met by Les with a tractor and trailer filled with bales of hay. This was our transport to the banks of the Snake Lake where we were to fish. I should explain at this stage that the Snake Lake is so named because of its shape but some of the young people who were brought up on a large urban housing estate were concerned about the reptiles they thought it had been named after. It took us a while to re assure them but this was spoiled when one lad saw a grass snake swimming across the lake. If your only knowledge of snakes comes from Hollywood, then all snakes are deadly and such fears are understandable.

The day was very bright, making fishing difficult, although eveyone caught something. At lunch time Les and key worker Jackie cooked sausages and burgers on the barbeque and shortly afterwards we were visited by the owners (James and Lionie Wickes) who had kindly given us permission to use the fishery. They spoke to each of the children and their visit was a welcome addition to the day for the experience of the young people. We were even invited back!

After lunch I set up a twelve metre pole to fish under a bush on the far bank as the only real chance of hooking one of the lake’s carp. This is quite a difficult thing to handle, being only a cheap pole and heavy at full length, so only the stongest of the group could use it. Jackie, the key worker, was the first and under close tuition caught the first fish.

Later one of the young people, a well built lad, had a try and caught one even bigger as the group shot shows.

During the day Les was a mine of information on both the history of the site and its management and although the fishing was not great on this particular occasion the varied experiences the young people encountered made the day worthwhile. However one lad broke a rod (only to be expected and not a tragedy) but the sad thing was he was unable to own up to his mistake and sent the rod to me with someone else. A lot of work yet to be done!

The next day we went to Bury Hill where David DeVere had not only reserved us four swims on the famous Miltons Lake but had given us permission to drive the mini bus right to the lake side.

I had explained about the fishery on the journey there and had told them all about John Wilson making one of his TV programs there. So we arrived with great expectations but again the weather was hot and bright and the tench and crucian carp for which the lake is famous failed to show. It would seem that David had chosen the wrong weekend for his promotional video as none of the lakes showed their full potential, we caught a few fish but packed up early due to the intense heat.

Just as we were going to load the tackle on to the minibus, David and the film crew appeared. I quickly set up three whips with plastic casting weights and we demonstrated the pendulum exercise (those of you who have done one of my beginners courses will know what I mean) just for the cameras.

Thanks to Les Weller for this picture.

Having justified our attendance, we made our way home.

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On Thursday 8th August my pole sections arrived from Dave at Oham lakes and the next day I went to Davies Angling in Staines to see Stuart with a view to buying the kit to elasticate the new sections. Stuart was not there but I spoke to Vince Davies and asked his advice. He sold me what I needed and fitted everything while I waited, the total bill only came to £20. This is how all tackle shops should be, what a shame that Vince is leaving the retail side of the tackle trade.

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Week three of the summer holidays began with another outing to Frobury fishery with Reading Connexions. This time they provided a minibus ably driven by Tom Woolmer who had just passed his minibus test. It was a pleasant change to have someone else to do the driving, at least from Reading to Kingsclere and back. All three lads caught plenty of fish including carp tench and golden rudd.

Later that week I had two more days with PAYP Slough at Twynersh, this time with just four students. Again lots of fish were caught, even the key worker Lee Teiderman had a go.
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On the second week of the summer holidays Lee was still unavailable and I was booked for two sessions with PAYP from Slough with eight pupils each day. I had asked Richard Metcalf (another PAA coach) to come all the way down from Blackpool to help me and I had “sweetened” the request with the promise of a day on the river Kennet inbetween. Richard was on the same PAA course as me at Brooksby back in 1999 and is now training other coaches.We have a reunion every year at the NEC fishing show and he has always wanted to come for a day on the Kennet.

Those of you who have met Richard can guess the fun we had on the two courses this week. The kids from Slough had never met anyone like him. It was great to watch him work his own particular brand of magic with them and I am sure they will remember him for a long time. Twynersh produced the goods as usual and everyone caught fish, including one girl who screamed in terror every time she swung a fish in but she still managed to catch eleven.

On the Wedneday I took Richard down to the Wasing Estate to fish the Brimpton beat. Richard chose to fish the weir pool and caught a mixed bag on the maggot feeder while I trotted a float for the dace and roach. A week before I had been surfing on Ebay and had found a Drennan Super Stick float rod in good condition which I managed to win for £44 including postage. I used this rod in conjunction with my B.J.Lightweight Purist centrepin reel with a one and a half pound hook length (the river was too low and clear for the barbel). What a fantastic rod, why haven’t I had one before now? I must have caught over one hundred dace and roach trotting a small avon float, about the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Richard really enjoyed his day on the Kennet and I enjoyed his company, it was a pleasure to work with him too. Perhaps I can lure him down again later on in the year for a day on the Itchen.

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I do not consider myself an expert pole angler but over the last year or so I have been learning how to pole fish in order to broaden my skills base and be able to teach others. After my recent successes at Marsh Farm I decided to take my pole there and practice on the tench and crucians. I have a Shimano Technium Competition 1250 and I am told it is a good pole at a reasonable price and as I have no intention of fishing matches, £200 is enough to spend.

On Thursday 21st July I arrived at Marsh Farm and trundled my trolley around the back of Richardson’s Lake to the swim I had fished last time, as I knew it was ideal for the pole. I caught a few small tench and crucians but pulled the hook out of some big fish after playing them for five or more seconds and I went home puzzled and disapointed. I asked several of my friends what I was doing wrong and received many differing answers, none of which seemed to be quite right. I knew it wasn’t the hook as I have every confidence in the Kamasan 611 and had even changed up to a size 14 and the elastic wasn’t too tight as this was the first thing I checked.

I mentioned the problem to Stuart at Davies Angling in Staines who is an excellent pole angler and he asked me what pole I was using. When I told him, he explained exactly what was wrong. The Shimano Technium is supplied with top two sections not top three like many other poles and this means that the elastic on my pole only went through two sections. Stuart demonstrated how with a bigger fish the short elastic soon loses it’s stretch under pressure and stiffens up enough to cause the hook to pull out.

I have ordered three number three sections from Dave Higham at Oham Lakes and I will run all my elastic through three sections and hopefully will have solved that particular problem. That is the wonder of this sport - it is so varied that there is always something new to learn and someone more experienced than you who can help you. That is what the PAA should really be for, not just training coaches.

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Tuesday 21st July saw my first day of coaching of the summer holidays and I had two more full days that week. I had forgotten how hard intensive coaching can be and by the end of the week I was shattered. Lee Blundell was unavailable on the second day but Barry Smith from our curry club stepped in to help. He was a bit worried about not being a good enough angler to coach but his communication and people handling skills (he was an Inspector in the Metropolitan Police before retirement) more than made up for his lack of experience.

The third day was at Frobury Fishery with a group from Connexions at Reading. These lads had a great time and caught lots of small carp and tench. I had the opportunity to meet Tom Woolmer the key worker who I had only spoken to by ‘phone and email.

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