The Fishing Coach

Last week I visited one of my local tackle shops, Thatcham Angling, and the first thing I saw when I entered the shop was a new centrepin reel on display. It was not a type I recognised so I picked it up and began examining it. I am very enthusiastic about centrepins and one of my many failings is I tend to fish swims that are suitable for ‘pins rather than those that hold fish. Guilt prevents me from actually counting the number I own but those of you who have met me know that I am a bit of a tackle tart and the shop owner obviously knew as well. He asked me what I thought the price was and surprise, surprise, that was the exact thought that had been preoccupying me.

My reputation at stake, I considered for a while, thinking that the reel was similar to the Lewtham Engineering Leeds reel which can be picked up on Ebay for about £60 in mint condition. The reel was quite free running, certainly free enough to trot all but the slowest rivers, much better than the reels that Shakespeare used to produce, which I always thought to be too expensive.

The reel is called Shadowlanda and is a ball bearing type centrepin, six inches in diameter which makes it larger than most, and seems to be made of some kind of pressed alloy, making it very lightweight for its size and more suitable for trotting a float on rivers for medium sized fish than margin fishing for carp.

On the back are two knobs, the black one at the top switches the ratchet on and off but the silver lever type applies an anti-reverse mechanism similar to a fixed spool reel. The reel also has another innovation - the two handles seem quite small and while this is an advantage when “batting” the reel with the fingers on the rim to achieve a fast retrieve they might be difficult to grip with cold hands when playing a fish. However, on closer examination they are telescopic in construction and when pulled out they double in size. Now that is clever and something I have never seen before!

My estimate of the price proved to be way out… I bought the reel and got change from a ten pound note. Yes, a large diameter centrepin reel for the price of three pints of casters. It is not the same high quality engineering as the Youngs reels but it does the job.

I have since discovered that that a five inch version is also available. Thatcham Angling is now out of stock but the owner assures me he will be getting some more in.

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I had bought a new brand of soft hookable pellets to try out with a view to using them for float fishing for barbel but every time I tried to put a hook through them they fell apart. I tried several different sizes and patterns of hook, all to no avail. These pellets are 8mm in size and look and smell great. I wanted to use them on my coaching session on Friday but the problem persisted.

I then remembered a book on tench fishing by Len Arbery called Catching Big Tench that I had read some years ago (it was published in 1989). In this book he describes a way of mounting a boilie on a brush bristle tied to a “hair” coming of the shank of a hook.

I left my student for a minute and returned to my car where I keep a stiff brush to clean mud off my boots and to sweep out the back of my car. I snipped a few bristles off the brush and returned to the swim. Using a Drennan Hook Tyer I whipped a bristle onto a length of 6.6lb bs line, having flattened the end of the bristle to make a spade end.

The hook is then tied on using the knotless knot and the tip of the bristle is cut at an angle to aid penetration of the pellet.

The pellet can then be mounted on the bristle without splitting and the hook is free of the pellet to enhance hooking. It worked for my student but whether it will work on fast flowing water, despite the attentions of little fish, remains to be seen.

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Yesterday I was fishing for tench at Shepperton Marina on the South Lake, something happened that caused me to lose a fish and I think I should pass on the warning. I was float fishing with paste in about ten feet of water next to some lilly pads and hooked a male tench of about three pounds. He gave me a good fight but as I brought it towards the waiting net he dived under the rim of the net into the side of the mesh.

I was using one of the Middy paste hooks I have mentioned here before and the coil that the paste is moulded round caught in the mesh and the fish was able to unhook itself and escape. This seems to be a disadvantage of an otherwise excellent product.

This was the only bite of a hot and sunny day’s fishing.

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Steve Gray who runs All Things Piscatorial (”Your one stop coaching site”) is the manager of a syndicate on the South Lake at Shepperton Marina and had convinced me to join this season. After the way he showed me up when I took him pike fishing he should have let me join for nothing…

Anyway, today was the opening day of the new season on the lake and was to be the first time I had fished it. I met Steve at the lake with Nigel Botherway (also a syndicate member) and we had a chat about the lake. I would liked to have stayed and chatted longer as I know Nigel from his days at Heathrow and there were many stories to re tell but I wanted to get fishing. I imitated a News of the World reporter and made my excuses and left.

The swim Steve had recommended was peg one and had a patch of lillies to the right and an overhanging tree on the left but I was surprised to find it was thirteen feet deep. I just managed to fish it with a 3AAA Drennan Tench waggler float rather than a sliding float. The stop knot would have caused problems passing through the small rod rings when casting with the centrepin reel I was using. I fed some hemp and trout pellet. I was trying some tinned hemp from BCUK that Dave from Oham Lakes had given me.

It smelled good and was very oily but today was not the day for a fair trial. The wind picked up soon after I arrived and then switched direction to come from the North, it was very cold and we were soon shivering in its blast. More like February than “Flaming June”.

I had my fist bite after an hour but as is so often the case it came when I was talking to a passing angler and I missed it. How do they know when you’re not looking? You watch the float all day and it doesn’t even twitch but you pour a cup of tea or look up at a singing bird and when you look back you see your float comming back up.

Shortly afterwards my second bite produced a hard fighting male tench of about three pounds that justified my decision to use six pound mainline. It tried to reach the lillies and when I turned it it went for the overhanging tree.

It’s always good to “break your ducrk” on a new water on the first outing. I will be spending a lot of time at Shepperton Marina this summer - there are problems to be solved due to the depth and my lack of knowledge of this water but I’m sure that this venue has great potential and I’m very much looking forward to it.

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A couple of weeks ago I was asked by an aquaintance of mine, Dave Cohen, for a recommendation for a set of digital scales. Since they first became avilable for anglers I have had a couple of sets, one was useless and unreliable and the other I lost before I could give the a real trial. I always went back to my old Avon dial scales but about a year ago I bought a set of Rapala Sportsman scales on Ebay

These have proved to be very reliable and I had no hesitation in recommending them to him. Dave has no computer so asked me to find him a set.

I found him a set on Ebay from a seller I have used in the past, Roger the Pike. I ordered the sacles at about 11.30am on Monday and paid by Paypal. At 9.45 a.m. the next day I received a telephone call on my mobile from my partner telling me they had arrived. Now that is what I call service!

I was able to hand the scales to a very impressed Dave Cohen at the monthly meeting of the Molesey Anglers Curry Club that evening.

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On Thursday I held my first course of the year at Twynersh Fisheries Complex. My student had fished when he was a young boy and was returning to the sport on his retirement. Roger had fished a couple of times with some friends but had experienced some trouble with modern techniques and felt that he was not catching as many fish as he ought to.

I took him to pit one ( the lake on the left as you enter the fishery) and quickly found that he already had some skills and knowledge. He was able to cast quite accurately and was soon asking all the right questions. We started off with a standard waggler set-up and I showed him how to fish the bait on the bottom. This is difficult at Twynersh as the water is very deep (nearly fourteen feet under the rod tip). Bites came instantly and a few small rudd and roach soon showed me that he could handle a rod and reel with some confidence.

Constant loose feeding of hemp and maggot had the larger fish feeding very near the surface, so I set the waggler very shallow and Roger was soon into the better fish.

He caught a lot of this size fish each giving a good account of themselves on fairly light tackle and his confidence grew. Meanwhile I had set up a fifteen foot Shakespeare Aerial Gold carp waggler rod with six pound line on one of the Shimano reels I spoke about last week. This rod was set up to fish the lift method but I was trying out a new hook to nylon from Middy.

As you can see from the picture these are hooks ready-tied to nylon with a metal wire coil on a “hair” (or short extension of line comming off the shank of the hook). This enables a ball of paste to be fished moulded around the coil and clear of the hook, to enhance hooking. As you can see the size twelve hook we were using is tied to six pound line also.

This method produced a couple of tench that put up a better fight but small fish were making bite indication a problem.

Since the beginning of the lesson I had not only been feeding close to the bank but had been firing balls of pellet laced groundbait thirty yards out with a heavy duty catapult and I set up a Harrison heavy float rod with another Shimano fixed spool reel (a 5000GT bait runner) loaded with eleven pound line. The float I put on is called a “baggin waggler” and Roger had never seen anthing like it.

This float is attatched to the main line justlike a normal waggler but is fished with a very short hook length (four inches of ten pound flourocarbon). I used a size eight hook with a hair attatched by a knotless knot. A ball of ground bait again laced with pellet and consisting of a high percentage of powdered pellet was moulded around the coil at the base of the float. A special groundbait can be purchased for this, it is called Method Mix but dampened pellets can also be used instead of ground bait. A soft hooker pellet was then mounted on the hair and I cast it out to the area where the balls of ground bait had been fired. I did the cast because a gentle lob is required or the ball of ground bait will break up and Roger was not an experienced enough caster.

The result was the ugliest carp I have ever seen but it did give Roger a good fight and I was able to give him some advice about his playing techinique.

The rest of the day was spent with the paste rig on the fifteen foot rod fishing an area I had been constantly feeding with hemp, pellet and the remains of the groundbait. The paste we were using was made from Dynamite Baits Source base mix and raw eggs with a little of the Source liquid flavour. I have caught tench, carp, barbel and chub on this paste.

Roger caught another tench and then the rod really arched over and a fish began taking line. As the fight developed Roger followed my instructions to the letter (so much easier when a student does!) and even on only six pound line was able to bring this lovely mirror carp to the net.

It weighed sixteen pounds ten ounces and more than doubled his previous personal best.

I have since had an email from Roger and I think his words sum up the reason I do this job.

“Martin — Thanks for an instructive day out — I not only learned — I also caught — especially the double figure Carp & the nice Tench. Very enjoyable day helped by the nice weather.”

I hope I have set him on his way to a hobby that will enrich his retirement.

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I was so pleased with my first day’s tench fishing this spring that I was desperate to get back onto the water, without the gale force winds, so that I could use one of my centrepins to catch these hard fighting fish. I called the manager, only to be told that the owner’s family would be using it on the Saturday. He called me back a few minutes later to say that if I didn’t mind doing a bit of coaching I could join them for the day. No problem, I love sharing our sport with others.

I arrived at 8 a.m. Saturday morning and had three hours fishing before the family arrived. The first fish I hooked was a beautiful common carp weighing nearly thirteen pounds. I was so glad I was using a centrepin as this fish knew where all the snags were and tried for each one in turn. I wish I could have captured the sunlight highlighting the burnished gold of the scales of this very attractive fish.

This was followed by eight or nine tench and a smaller common carp. All the fish took bloodworm paste fished under a float over a bed of bloodworm and trout pellets. These fish were kept for a very short time in a large “carp friendly” keep net to show the owner and my two students, his brother and brother-in-law. When they arrived I suggested to Steve and Jeremy that they use my tackle as it is easier for me to coach when the students are using gear I know is suitable for the job in hand.

Just before Christmas I had bought four new Shimano Nexave 2500 FA reels from Bob and Brian at BB Angling, they have a stall at Kempton Park market on a Thursday and I have known them for years (they both featured in the “Itchen Incident”).

I chose these reels especially for coaching as they have an excellent front drag which is very sensitive and can be finely tuned to suit the less experienced angler. I have only just loaded these reels with line due to the wrist problems I have had over the winter and I was amazed by the perfect line lay I achieved with such low priced reels. Another triumph for the Shimano stable.

Steve and Jeremy were the first to use these reels, loaded with six pound Diawa Sensor line (also from BB Angling) and carp waggler rods. I expected that this would be a good test for the drags (or slipping clutches) on these reels, as hard fighting fish and inexperienced anglers are hard task masters for any reel.

They caught ten tench between them and most of them were males so they fought really hard - a good test for the new reels which they passed with flying colours.

A strong east wind picked up shortly after they arrived and the tench stopped feeding so enthusiastically but various changes of bait maintained the bite rate. Fish were caught on bread flake and worms, it was nice to see that good old fashioned baits still work. Steve caught a nice linear mirror carp on bread flake that really tested the slipping clutch on the new reels, particularly as he would be the first to admit that he has little experience at playing big fish. it weighed 7lb 11ozs.

I can hardly wait to introduce some of my other students to this great fishery.

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I originally published this review on the TryAngling website but we’re in the process of redesigning that site and part of the plan is to move tackle reviews, catch reports and so on to this blog for instant publishing.

I will be the first to admit that I am no longer in the first flush of youth (anyone who knows me will be nodding their head at this stage, if they are not in hysterics) and that some of my faculties are no longer as sharp as they used to be. One of the first things to deteriorate are your eyes and whilst I can still see a quarter of an inch of the tip of a Drennan “Stillwater blue” at forty yards (it’s a float), anything closer than arm’s length tends to blur nowadays. This is aggravated by poor light such as first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening and means that the simple act of threading anything less than six pound mono through the rings of any rod slimmer than my barbel rods has become very difficult. When it comes to setting up one of my twenty foot match rods with three pound braided mainline then the air can turn blue, which is not a good idea when you spend as much time teaching kids as I do and the last thing I want is for young Rodney to go home with a colourful new non-fishing vocabulary.

I have found a new product marketed by Ultra Fishing Tackle that enables me to set up the long match rod in any light, even total darkness, in no time at all and it all but eliminates the risk of missing out one rod ring half way. (Isn’t it funny but you never notice you’ve missed one until you have finished shotting up your stick float shirt button style?)

This very useful little tool is in the form of a needle with an elongated eye, the line is threaded through the eye and pulled towards the blunt end where it is trapped by the taper of the eye. The pointed end is then passed through all the rod rings, pulling the line after it. Should you drop it, it will not be pulled back through the rings - which is an advantage when threading a fly rod with heavy fly line behind the leader. I now own three or four of these tools and use them every time as they speed up all operations, even with heavy line through large rings.

This item is an essential for every tackle box, even if you can still tie spade end size 24’s to 8oz hook lengths by hand under the stairs…! It will speed up the threading of any rod, particularly in bad light.

Update, 9 April 2006: If you have any trouble obtaining this product from your local tackle dealer, contact Shaun Stenton at Ultra Fishing Tackle Limited on 024 7671 6500.

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I originally published this review on the TryAngling website but we’re in the process of redesigning that site and part of the plan is to move tackle reviews, catch reports and so on to this blog for instant publishing.

As you may know one of my favorite methods of fishing is trotting a float on a river with a centre pin reel. The floats I prefer are fixed to and bottom usually with two pieces of silicon tube and are buoyant near the top. When fishing small baits in steady currents I will use a stick float but when bigger fish are my quarry I will use an avon or heavy balsa type float. The reason for using a top and bottom float is that they allow me to hold them back in the current so that the bait can be made to travel at less than the speed of the current. In order to do this effectively the line must float to give the sensitivity I need so that the tackle is not pulled off line during this process, this also assists when striking at long range.

If you have read the article on float fishing for barbel I wrote for Coarse Angling Today magazine you will have seen that I recommended Shakespeare Bionic Dynacord braid in 10lb breaking strain (4lb mono dia.). No sooner had the article gone to press than it was announced that Shakespeare were no longer selling it in the lower breaking strains. This braid was ideal for the purpose but had one drawback, it was so limp that it tended to tangle around the bottom rod ring on the cast.

I have found a new braid that is fused together with a resin and is slightly thicker than Bionic Dynacord and is slightly stiffer. Whilst this does not impede presentation, it prevents tangling. This braid is made by Berkley and is called Fireline. It’s available in breaking strains between 4lbs and 50lbs and is easier to use than ordinary braid and I know of anglers who use it straight through to the hook when legering. It’s more expensive than monofilament but is not adversely affected by sunlight and will last much longer. Like other braids it has very little stretch which makes it ideal for long trotting but should be borne in mind on the strike, I favour a few feet of monofilament of a slightly lighter breaking strain between the braided main line and the hook length. For example when trotting for Barbel with 10lbs braid I use four feet of 8lbs fluorocarbon between the float and a 6 or 7lbs co polymer hook length.

This winter [2002] I have been using Fireline in 4lbs breaking strain (1lb mono dia.) trotting for Grayling on the river Itchen with great success. It mends beautifully and sets hooks easily at long ranges. I have had no problems with cracking off on the strike due to using a through action rod but the abrasion resistance is not as high as some manufacturers would have you believe.

Another winner from the Berkley stable and if you want to try some, BB Angling do the best deal I know of. Contact Brian on 0208 640 3567. Elsewhere you will pay up to £20 for 100 yards.

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At the end of the previous two days courses I had chopped up the remaining dead baits and thrown them around the dead weed bed that had been the focus of our fishing. Imagine my frustration when on Thursday morning I arrived with another group from Slough, to find the pre-baited swim and the swims either side occupied.

We moved a couple of hundred yards up the bank towards a corner into which the wind was blowing and set up there. I had just got the four baits out when the sky went black and the wind stepped up to what must have been about force six. The temperature plummeted and it started to rain.

The next two hours were uncomfortable for me with my wet weather gear but a misery for those less well equipped. At their request we packed up early and retreated in ignomy, fishless. These are the chances you take booking days fishing in advance this time of year. I am sure we would have caught in the other swim despite the weather.

All the students are looking forward to further courses in the Easter holidays.

The saving grace of today in my eyes was that despite having to really punch the baits hard into the strong wind to get any distance and even with barbless hooks no baits were lost. The Solu-Ties were tested to the extreme and passed with flying colours.

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Back to the Predator lake on the Wasing Estate on Wednesday, this time with a group from Reading. The weather was much the same as yesterday but the young people were slightly older and some had a little more angling experience having attended my courses in the Autumn and at Christmas.

All the treble hooks I used today were totally barbless and not one bait was lost during casting thanks to the Solu-Ties. These are really a great find and have already revolutionised my dead baiting as I can use barbeless hooks and make unhooking so much easier.

The first fish was not long in coming and weighed in at twelve pounds twelve ounces but unfortunately the lad who caught it was afraid to hold it.

The second fish was hooked by a total novice who had never caught a fish before and as soon as he struck I knew we had something a little special. The fish tore about fifteen yards of line from the slipping clutch and kited across the swim in front of us over the top of the other lines. Luckily they had been sunk very deep to avoid the surface drift so crossed lines were not a problem.

Despite his lack of experience he did very well and followed my instructions to the letter.

It weighed exactly sixteen pounds and he gained a great deal of credibility within the group by being brave enough to hold it.

It was a little deeply hooked but this gave me a chance to demonstrate safe unhooking procedures and to explain the need for the proper tools.

During the day I received a phone call from the estate office passing on the apologies of the manager of the gravel extraction contractors for the boating incident yesterday and the offer of a cheque to the value of £50 for the charity of my choice. The ACA will be £50 better off as a result and is much appreciated.

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Once again the management of the Wasing Estate allowed me to use their Predator Lake for three days during the winter half term to run a series of Pike Handling Courses. These courses are probably the most valuable courses I run as far as coarse angling as a whole is concerned, as well as the most beneficial to the sort of young people I teach.

The value to coarse angling is that young people who would probably end up fishing for pike anyway, learn to do so safely and in a way less harmful to the fish. This preserves the stock of pike in any waters they may pike fish in the future and hopefuly they will pass on the skills I have taught them to others.

The benefits to some of the challenged young people are that they are often frightened of pike and gain even more self esteem when they conquer that fear and often that lack of self esteem is a major part of their problem.

We started on Tuesday with a group from Slough and I picked up the minibus from the Council Offices and collected them from the Haymill Centre prior to driving to the fishery. The day was mild with sunny spells but a strong south west wind made bite indication a little difficult. I solved this problem by sinking the rod tips very deep to keep the line away from the surface drift.

I used the Solu-Ties as mentioned in the previous post and when tied around the treble hook in the base of the tail of the frozen sardines allowed me to really punch the bait out without losing one bait all day. These are an excellent product and although they don’t dissolve very quickly in such cold water, this does not seem to be a problem. Tomorrow I will use some traces made up with all barbless hooks and try them.

The day started slowly with only the ducks feeding.

Then at about eleven thirty we had a dropped run - this is where a pike, usually a small one I believe, picks up the bait and then drops it after a short run. This got the young angler’s attention and the ducks had to fend for themselves.

An hour later one of my students struck into a fish and after a short but lively fight was rewarded with his first pike.

When we had arrived at the fishery I noticed that on the far bank, some three hundred yards away, a mechanical shovel was being used to extract gravel. I thought no more of this but as we were returning the pike a large tug boat type of craft came across the lake from the area of the gravel workings. The pilot drove his craft to within thirty yards of where the young people were fishing, right over the top of the dead weed bed around which I had arranged their baits. He motored up and down and then returned to the gravel workings but the damage was done and no more bites were forthcoming. I rang the Wasing Estate office and complained, they said they would look in to it.

After we had packed up and returned to the minibus I found the battery was flat and I was unable to start it, I suspect that my new electric cool box may have been the cause but I kept that quiet at the time. A call to the AA had us on our way in twenty five minutes, well done the AA.

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A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a company called PCI who offered to send me a sample of their products to help with my coaching activities in return for a link from this blog. Most of their products seemed aimed toward the carp fishing market and so I replied expressing my interest but explaining that I would be unlikely to be able to field test the products until the spring.

The result was a phone call from a lady named Becky Bailey who seemed very knowledgeable, pointing out that they had a product called Solu-Ties that may be of use on my pike fishing courses. I found the fact that she had obviously done her research and read this blog very impressive and most unusual in the angling trade, this is a company to watch!

I was further impressed when she offered to send some products to the Davies Angling Show the next week, by means of a friend who was exhibiting there, so that I would have the Solu-Ties ready for my pike handling courses the following week. So on Saturday a group of us attended the show where I collected a huge parcel from Alan of Kent Particles from PCI. This was too large to carry round the show so I left it with Bill and Virginia Rushmer on the Anglers Mail stand.

This also contained some of their bait buckets which I will review at a later date.

The Solu-Ties are like the plastic cable ties that you can buy in any DIY shop that when pulled tight around something lock in that position acting as a clamp but they are made of PVA which of course dissolves in water.

My favourite dead baits for pike are sardines but their soft flesh makes them difficult to keep on the hooks when casting and even when used frozen they tend to fly off during all but the most gentle cast. This product should keep the hook in the root of the tail in place and although I will still use the baits frozen they may enable me to dispense with barbed hooks altogether.

I’ll report further after the Pike Handling Courses.

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A couple of weeks ago I lost a part of one of my old Shimano reels. This reel, a Power Aero 4000 FGT, is about ten years old. The part concerned is the adjuster for the front drag and also serves to hold the spools on. I didn’t think I would be able to replace it but as this reel (I have three) is one of my favourites, I did a Google search and found Harrisons Tackle.

Although there is no mention of spares supply on their website, a brief telephone call resulted in the missing part arriving by the next postal delivery. Excellent service and worthy of my highest recommendation.

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I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I had lost a handle for one of my purist centrepins. I spoke to Garry Mills of Mill Tackle and he asked me to send a stamped addresses envelope. I have just recieved the new handle,free of charge, by return post. What a shame the rest of the tackle trade can’t match this standard of service. All you centrepin enthusiasts out there, take a look at this website and bookmark it. He also does servicing for fixed spool reels and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him.

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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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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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When I am approached by a parent who wishes me to teach their child or children I always arrange to visit them at home so that they can decide if I am a fit and proper person to have custody of their children. This also gives the potential student a chance to get used to me in the presence of their parents so there is no shyness during the course. I have found this always works well and the benefits outweigh the time spent (I do not charge for these visits).

It was during one of these visits recently that the nine year old lad I had gone to see produced a fishing set he had been bought by a relative. The rod was a six foot fiberglass spinning rod with a fixed spool reel that seemed ready to fall apart on what was probably only its second time out of the box. It was loaded with that white monofilament line that exudes a white dust and had more curls in it than a Spanish water dog . It was about fifteen pounds breaking strain. Also in the kit was a mackerel spinner, a packet of eyed hooks, a couple of split shot and a round float that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Christmas tree. I gently explained that this kit was not meant for the type of fishing we did in this country and told him that he would not need to bring any tackle on my courses as I would provide everything he needed. His parents told me that the kit had cost about twelve pounds from a local tackle shop.

I will never understand the mentality of the tackle shop staff who sell these kits to kids. Had this lad’s parents not sought proper coaching for their son, this poor boy would have gone with his mates to the local canal or lake and tried to copy what he saw other anglers doing. Poorly equipped, he would have struggled and probably gone home frustrated, thinking fishing was too difficult. Surely when a tackle dealer is asked to equip a young angler with his first rod it is in the dealer’s interest to foster the lad’s enthusiasm - this boy could turn into a regular customer for years to come. It would seem that a quick sale is more important, perhaps the wholesaler offers more profit on such items. Even if there is a mark up of ten pounds on these kits, consider what even a young angler will spend on tackle and bait in one year. For twelve pounds the lad could have had a four meter whip, a couple of ready made pole rigs and probably a cheap landing net and been well on his way to becoming tomorrow’s angler. Within the year he would have been back for a rod and reel and been buying hooks and bait in the meantime.

I always start my beginners off on a whip with the line tied directly to the tip ring - there is less chance of them getting tangled, they can feel that all-important fist fish and enjoy the fight without worrying about working a reel. The kids on my courses had landed some very good fish on just an unelasticated whip with a three pond hook length.

While I am on my soap box about tackle dealers, have you ever been into a tackle shop where you were not known, only to find the salesman drinking tea or smoking and talking with his mates? Were you ignored for some time and had to find what you wanted on your own? Familiar story isn’t it? Well just imagine if you were a beginner of even worse the mother of a potential angler. Not very welcoming is it? Is it any surprise that tackle shops are closing down all over the country? Your local shop owner will tell you that the mail order businesses are taking away his trade, this is true. Just remember the next time you get an item of tackle from a mail order outlet for five or six pounds cheaper, when your local dealer goes out of business will you be able to get a couple of pints of maggots,a packet of hooks or a tub of split shot, the day before you are going fishing, from your mail order retailer. I believe, however, that some tackle dealers are their own worst enemies, their shops seem to be run as a hobby rather than a business.

Rant over! I’ll wish you all a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and see you all in January.

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As promised last month I am going to continue with my float fishing for barbel saga by talking about hooks and floats. When using small baits such as maggots, casters, corn or tares then small strong hooks are needed, no place for fine wire match hooks here and size sixteen is the smallest you will need.

When using bunches of maggots or casters (my favourite baits), I will put three or four on a size twelve or fourteen. My favourite hook is a Drennan Super Spade and I have never been let down by one of these, but many of the hooks designed for commercial carp fisheries will do.

When using larger baits your choice is more limited as many hooks over size ten are designed to cater for the specimen carp angler and are very heavy in the wire. Drennan Carbon Specimen hooks are ideal when you can find them, but I am sure there are others. If I need a size four hook for a large piece of bread flake or a piece of luncheon meat then I don’t want something that is so heavy it could support a side of beef and will necessitate the removal of two or three split shot from the bulk shot.

That brings me nicely on to floats - big ones. Some of the guys who see my barbel trotting floats for the first time are amazed at how much shot they take, particularly if they are not used to fast water. I have found that barbel like to feed on the bottom and the current down there is often much slower than it is at the surface. A bait that is being towed through the swim by a float in the surface current is not behaving naturally and the float is liable to cast a shadow over the fish before the bait gets to it. The water on some barbel rivers can be clear and the fish are likely to be wary, an overhead shadow will not improve matters. The float fisherman needs to slow the float right down to prevent this happening and to present his bait at the same speed as his loose feed is being carried. This needs more weight down near the hook than most people would believe, if the bait is not to rise above the feeding fish. The minimum size float I will use carries 3 AAA and I will go up to five or six swan shot or more if conditions dictate. Barbel really do not mind towing a big float under, they will take the rod out of your hand if you are not careful, bite indication is not the difficult thing, bait presentation is!

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Now the next instalment of Martin’s barbel float fishing adventures. The next item of tackle I want to talk about is the line, because most of my trotting for barbel is done with a float attached top and bottom to give maximum control over the presentation of the bait, therefore the line must float. This enables me to mend out any bow in the line between the rod tip and the float, caused by the current, which would otherwise pull the float out of line when I tried to slow down the speed. To remove the bow I lift the line off of the water and lay it back behind the float by means of the rod tip, this must be done smoothly or the float will be pulled off line and a line must be used that can be lifted easily.

A braided line made of Dyneema filaments fits the bill perfectly as it floats on, not in the surface film and has the added advantage of having very little stretch, so even a large forged hook can be set at long range with out a strike that is liable to part the hook length. I used to use Bionic Dynacord made by Shakespeare in 10.4 lbs breaking strain but they stopped selling it and now only sell 15 lbs, which works just as well.

How can you trot a float with fifteen pounds line I hear you ask. This line has the same diameter as five pounds mono and is lighter to lift than mono. Why use such a heavy a breaking strain? Any finer diameter Dyneema braid has a tendency to tangle easily and the abrasion resistance is not all that the manufacturers would have you believe. This line does not need to be treated with floatant as often as mono but does tend to cast a shadow more than monofilament. Whatever you see in some shooting diagrams, I believe, that however hard you hold back on a float, there is always a bow of line between float and bait that passes over the fish before you baited hook reaches it. This can scare a shy fish so I tie a five feet length of eight or ten pound fluorocarbon monofilament line on the end of my main line.

Fluorocarbon line is very different from ordinary nylon in that its refractive index is nearly the same as that of water, so light travels through it the same way it travels through water and it does not cast a shadow. It is,however, a little stiffer than some of the modern co polymer hook lengths on the market so I add a short copolymer hook length in a slightly lower breaking strain. I prefer Silstar Match Team in 6.6, 7.9 or 10.1 lbs.

Next month I’ll tell you about my choice of hooks and floats.

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Martin at The Tackle Exchange in Walton showed me a new rod from Shakespeare, the Excelsior XL Match a slim line, stepped up, match rod which at fourteen feet is lighter than anything I have seen under two hundred pounds.

This rod is rated at six pound maximum main line but the power reserve in the butt when it is bent suggests they are being conservative. It has a lovely though action compared with some carp waggler rods that are just designed to cast big floats a long way but have a tendency to bump fish of when using small hooks. The tip is crisp enough to pick up a long trotted line both on the strike and in order to mend out a bow. This is the closest thing I have ever seen to an all round float rod. I was very impressed and waited for the price tag thinking that Martin was trying to sell me this rod and had forgotten what I had told him about my client’s budget. (This man has cost me some money over the years but has never sold me anything I have not enjoyed using.) When he said ninety pounds I searched quickly for excuses to buy one for myself but could not justify buying another stepped up float rod.

I bought one for Rob and it is still in my tackle store waiting for his work commitments to allow him another day out with me.

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I promised last month to tell you more about my barbel float fishing tackle and as I have already covered the rod I will tell you about my choice of reel. I am a great fan of centrepin reels and one of my failings in this sport is that I tend to choose swims that allow the use of a centrepin rather than those likely to hold fish.

A centrepin reel is a wonderful tool on which to play fish and it allows you to gain line even when the rod is fully bent into a fish, because there are no angles and gears to create friction. It also enables you to trot a float in fast water with much more control than any other reel.

In the last few years I have swapped from the traditional centrepin which used the point of a small screw on the revolving drum making contact with a central pin mounted on the back plate to minimise friction and allow the drum to revolve freely. This mechanism has been replaced in modern reels with sealed ball bearing races which in my opinion give a maintenance reduced operation.

My favorites are the “Purist” series made by JW Young and marketed by Masterline. Anyone who watches John Wilson’s television series will be familiar with these. At about £250 a time these are beyond the budget of many anglers, but a firm called Lewtham Engineering produce cheaper centrepins that don’t look as pleasing but work just as well.

Now for the controversial bit - I wind the line onto my centrepins backwards so that the line comes of the top of the drum rather than the bottom. When reeling in I seem to be winding backwards and this took a bit of getting used to when I first started. The main reason I have gone to all the trouble to learn this technique is that it allows me to control the amount of line I give a fish and the pressure that I release this line, with the thumb of my right hand. This frees my left hand to hold the landing net or support the rod above the butt.

I hold the rod with my right hand very close to the reel and use my thumb to put pressure on to the top of the spool of the reel. A fish taking line causes the spool to revolve anti-clockwise and because of the way our hands are designed I can maintain or vary the pressure exerted by the thumb because the spool is revolving away from it. If the spool revolved clockwise as it would if the line were wound on in a traditional manner, then the edge of the spool would push my thumb up and away from it and I would lose valuable control.

The second reason for this technique is that my thumb prevents line being blown off the edge of a spool when I am trotting a float and not watching the reel revolving. This is particularly important as I always remove the manufacturers fitted line guard as it prevents me from performing a “Wallis Cast” and I chose to use the word “performing” carefully as this cast is difficult to learn. I will try to explain it elsewhere, one day, perhaps?

I’ll tell you about my choice of line next month.

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