Barrys blog!

The plan was to go to Petes on Saturday to do some work on his heating system, stay over and go fishing on the Sunday.

Sunday morning duly came and we were greeted by a thin blanket of snow and temperatures of -4 degrees. Due to the temperatures, Pete decided on Woodland View. We were fortunate as the aerators had been on and the majority of the complex was ice free.

We set up on Ghost pegs 6 and 7.

Due to the conditions being very cold but windless, I opted for a very simple plan based on pellet at 13m.

The first rig was to fish on the bottom. For this, I opted for a Middy purple solid elastic (4-6) and a 4x10  RW Flexi dink on 0.15 guru n Gauge mainline. This had a bulk and 2 no. 11 droppers. The hook length was 15cm of 0.11 of the same line with a Guru F1 pellet hook in size 16.

The second rig was to give the pellet a slow fall just in case the fish were up off the bottom. This rig was the same elastic and mainline but the float was an RW Maggie in a 4x10. This was shotted with 2 no. 11 at 10cm apart with the remaining shot evenly spaced at 5cm intervals. The hook length was 10cm of 0.11 n gauge with the same hook. Both floats were back shotted (it's something that I always do).To slow the fall of the pellet, the pellets were not pumped but left to soak and absorb the water. The weight of the hook will overcome the buoyancy.

I started very negatively with the deck rig. This entailed cad potting in literally a dozen or so fishery own micros. I lifted the float just clear of the water and lowered it in on top of my feed. I waited for a couple of minutes before the float buried. A little F1 of 8oz or so graced my landing net. This continued for a while but it just didn't seem right. If I didn't get a bite as the float settled, then I had to wait for a few minutes. I tried the slow falling rig but it didn't really work.

I went back to the deck rig and realised that the fish must be literally hovering off the bottom and watching the pellets fall before deciding to have a go. I then fed the same amount of micros but instead of lifting just the float out, I lifted the bulk out, let the rig straighten and then lowered it very slowly. This small change had an instant response and made a big difference to my catch rate.

During the session, Pete wandered over with his shiny new Airon F66. We laid it on my rollers next to my Air. The first notable difference was the taper. The Airon is much thicker because of the fast taper. I had to admit that the F66 is stiffer than the Air and extremely well balanced (to be honest - I loved it !!). I particularly thought that the titanium reinforcement on the joints was a great idea. The finish on the sections was excellent and slid through my hands with ease. I also think that the thickness helped.

I had been on the lookout for some decent pole rollers that would extend to a reasonable height. My existing rollers do not go high enough to allow me to ship over a fence on my local venue. This of course, means having to break down at least twice.

Pete showed me his new Colmic rollers which are brilliant. Not only are the horizontal rollers on bearings but the legs extend to over a meter which would be perfect (2 on order for me).

The session was cut short due to me having a long drive ahead of me. Meeting up with a good friend and fishing again (just like the good old days), made for a fantastic weekend. The only negative is the money that I am going to have to find for the goodies - and maybe even a new pole !!! All your fault, Pete.