Fishing

Still the go-to, a smear of lithium grease is better for brass ferrules. The reason I didn't recommend it is that any more than the lightest application on carbon affects the joint fit.

yeah fair play! think it just has slightly better materials / less plastic

Erm. No.
Carbon fibre spigots shouldn’t have anything at all on them.

Correct in both analyses, you might need them but I don't and some of my 6 must be 8 years old at least. They get used very heavily.

@adroit, they don't need anything initially, but the spigots on my 40 year old fly rod need candle wax due to age. Overfit joints on the other hand should never need anything, but will jam if put together too forcefully.

The one place I always use top-end reels is offshore, because of the pressure they're under anything mediocre will pack up.

If the spigots have worn the correct solution is to remove a small amount of the female section. Adding wax can cause it to bind. If it binds the force (twisting) to get them apart can delaminate the fibres.

Thought about that, but I'm damned if I can find a colour match for the original whippings. It is very rarely used (it was yesterday) and I have not had a problem with the bodge. There's also carbon build up products, I don't fancy those either. I have had enough fun finding a colour match for late 50s and early 60s Hardy claret whipping silk!

I worked for Hardys as a rod maker between 1976 and 1978. I used to lay up special carbon / fibreglass weaves for special projects (tournament casting) and assembled a lot of Palakona cane blanks for special orders. I must have whipped miles of maroon silk! I have a suspicion it was Gudebrod silk but the colour was altered by the varnish, as the silk wasn’t sealed first and went dark and semi translucent. The varnish had a very distinctive smell but came in Hardy branded bottles.

That's what I thought too, but Gudebrod with cellulose dope was far too bright. I settled on a fairly coarse fly tying thread after quite a lot of tests. For reference, MKIV Avon and 1961 Perfection #4.

You have my total respect!

That's what I thought too, but Gudebrod with cellulose dope was far too bright. I settled on a fairly coarse fly tying thread after quite a lot of tests. For reference, MKIV Avon and 1961 Perfection #4. Wish I knew it wasn't sealed, but would've been snookered by the varnish anyway.

You have my total respect!

@bobble and I had a bit of long day out yesterday. Cold and windy out on chew, and saw very few fish. Tried everything and anything to tempt trout on our first time out on the lake but nothing doing - as it turns out we should have moved around a bit more to find the fish. We did connect with a toothy critter unintentionally who snaffled a size 6 sculpin lobbed into the margins, and the pike fishermen caught trout on 8” pike flies 🤷‍♂️

1 Attachment

Use a fry imitation and catch a pike, not the biggest surprise. Thrash out a budgie imitation and catch daft stockie trout, ditto.

Just to annoy you, the Darent fined down and cleared on Friday, this is my first on the 3 weight and dry (klink) of the year. There were 3 others, all rising to a hatch of olives

Never fear, it rose 1' yesterday and will be unfishable for a week...

2 Attachments

Yeah true, we did throw everything and anything at them before that. Even had a couple of nice olive hatches when we got out of the wind which were completely ignored. Everyone else we met blanked too, bar one boat who caught loads.

Had a quick session on the frome on Friday and nothing doing there either. Been a cold old April

Sad times at my syndicate lake. After getting a donation of approx 200 Carp ranging between 7-20lb from Edinburgh Zoo a few months ago, a contracting forestry company working on behalf of the council let a tree fall on a section of the fencing surrounding the lake and there has been mass predation (suspected Mink).

The lake is closed for 2024, they're just waiting on the insurance to provide member refunds and a lake netting to fully understand how many carp were killed.

I think I'm going to join the Scottish Carp Group and have a crack at a couple of the smaller waters.

Mass predation of large carp is almost certainly otters.

Yeah probably

woah

Good year for tadpoles.

I didn't know there was a fishing thread. I'm afraid I've put the above catfish in the wtf thread. Oops.

Did my first night of the year for carp last night on the syndicate lake. The fat, greedy, wobbly bastards treated me with utter disdain. Redeemed myself somewhat by switching to tench and bream in the day, a lovely 7lb tench and 7 bream between 7 and 9.

@EB, I feel your pain, I understand the years of hard work that must have gone into it.

2 Attachments

Whenever I've fished with lures before, the hook is always visible. Does anyone know how these savage gear sand eels work with the hook appearing buried?

1 Attachment

Extremely well! The hook emerges through the back when a fish (eventually) takes it, brilliant for bass in weedy and rocky areas.

First encounter this year with a spotty fellow yesterday eve. Hooked and lost his much bigger brother which is a shame, but a bit rusty and struck to late. Few mayfly about now but weren’t having any of it and preferred a really scraggly chewed up black caddis

3 Attachments

They are soft rubber lures right? Hook buried in a slot in the rubber so it doesn't snag until something squeezes (bites) and the hook point comes up out of the "back" of the lure. As Colin says good for weedy areas, often described as a "weedless" setup I think.

As I can't do much else at the moment, I'm fishing a bit more than normal. Last week I did a night for carp with 16mm baits, which the tench liked. Gave up counting at about 30, probably caught 50 between 4 and 6lb (zero sleep)! Finally caught 3 carp, biggest 21, with an unusual and rather beautiful scale pattern.

On Friday I went to the Darent and caught probably the biggest wild trout in the stretch on my 3 weight and dry size 16 klinkhammer. I caught and returned the same fish 2 years ago and she went back again unharmed this time.

2 Attachments

In reply to @Ben689908 in the Golf Club thread, who suggested than most coarse anglers wouldn't know where to start on a fast river. True, but neither would most game anglers as most of both breeds spend the majority of their time on overstocked holes in the ground. The ability to Spey cast competently doesn't indicate being any good at fishing, neither does being able to chuck carp baits 120 yards. My original point was that it takes a high degree of skill to coarse fish fast water, particularly with a float. The modern YouTube anglers who only know how to mimic others and spend vast amounts of money on 'essential' gear will always remain clueless.

Rant over. Here's a lovely brownie from yesterday caught on a dry in fast flowing water, using a 1961 Hardy Perfection and 1970s Marquess (I bought the rod because it is the same age as me).

1 Attachment