How to guide - Using the Slider Float

After my recent trip to Shearwater I was contacted to explain how my set up. To be honest this was the first time I had fished the slider in a few years, so I was almost a case of re-teaching myself. The slider is a great method for float fishing deep venues on what could be described as almost normal waggler tactics. Unlike Polaris floats which work on a float/ledger principle, slider float fishing is essentially heavy duty waggler fishing. Once you have cracked it, it is a great method and viable alternative to fishing deep on the pole or short range bomb/feeder work. There are also a few hints and tips which make the whole process of fishing using the slider a whole lot easier.

Trip #70 - Shearwater Lake

I really need to practice other styles of fishing other than pole fishing. It's my first port of call whenever I go to most venues. I find it allows for greater presentation, a concentrated feed area and usually a bit of fun. I also prefer watching a float to watching a tip, but that means that a lot of my other fishing skills have gone to rust. Feeder or straight lead fishing is something I do in the winter or when targeting specific species and conventional waggler fishing is something that rarely gets a look in at all. This has to change, and with reports that Shearwater Lake was putting out big bags of Bream despite the freezing conditions this presented the perfect opportunity to ditch the pole and give rod and line an airing. I find the idea of fishing new venues exciting, and the prospect of a day on the Feeder and Slider float meant I was one giddy kipper going to sleep Friday night – A kid at Christmas comes to mind. It was going to be an early start, but arriving at the lake just before 8, and to be greeted by this view meant I wasn't disappointed.

How to attach elastic to an elastic connector.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked at my match top 3, and recently after switching all my heavy elastics to Dacron connectors I have unfortunately neglected my number 6 elastic, which has well and truly perished. I had to do the fiddly job of re-elasticating my top kit, I decided not to use a Dacron connector on this lighter elastic, and went with the more conventional elastic connector. In the past I have been asked “what are the best knots to use when using tying elastic to connectors?” I never really thought about what knot I used at the time, so now when refreshing my elastic I decided to have a look at a two variations and answer the question. There are 2 types of knot which I have used, and neither of them have ever failed (on me) but have a look at see which one you’d prefer.

It's that time of year when elastics get changed!

Trip #69 - Tough times at Somerset's finest.

This was going to be my first coarse fishing outing of 2015. To be honest it was a tossup between going Pike fishing on one of the local(ish) drains or going for a bit of a confidence boost on a commercial. In Somerset I am spoilt for choice for quality venues, The Viaduct, Summerhayes, Trinity, Land's End and Sedges - a lot of which I am yet to fish! I mentally flipped a coin and decided to fish a commercial. Aiming to get up and head for a new venue was my original intention, but not stirring from bed until 8, meant my initial choice of Sedges or Summerhayes was cast aside for a trip to the Viaduct, where I arrived just after half 9. My last trip to this venue was fantastic with F1's and Carp popping up on every put in, so I was hoping for the same. With a match on Campbell and 4 pegs taken out of Cary I chose the Match Lake (again) and opted for peg 45, hoping the fish were in the feeding mood!

Plenty of options on Peg 45

Trip #68 - Cold Knap Beach

Another year has come and gone and coupled with a very busy Christmas and a mystery stomach bug over the New Year meant that my extensive fishing plans for the festive break were reduced to 1 trip sea fishing. Still, I couldn't complain as it was set to be lovely day out with my brother and grandfather. We decided to pick a fairly easy venue and opted for Cold Knap near Barry. Admittedly we should have looked a bit further afield if we wanted better catches, but hearing good reports of whiting and codling from across the Welsh coastline meant we felt quite optimistic heading out. Arriving at the beach, the walk down to the sea front was a short one, although the pebbles didn't prove overly comfortable underfoot. 

I would be fishing in between my brother and grandfather and with an array of bait we hoped the fish were hungry. The gear I used was;

·         12’ 9’’ – Daiwa Amorphous Whisker (Blue) Beachcaster – Reel down

·         12’ 6’’ – Shimano Super Ultegra Beach (Soft Tip) Beachcaster – Reel down

How to attach Hard Pellets

Over the last 2 years there is one thing that has hugely increased in number in my shed and holdall, and that is pellets. Pellets aren’t a particularly new idea and I remember them really starting to take venues apart in the late 90's early 00's when they starting to spike in popularity and it was all still a bit of a novelty. Since then pellets have come a long way, in various different sizes, styles, shapes and flavours. They have gone from strength to strength and consistently form the main stay of many match anglers "go to" bait. In all honesty I steered clear of pellets for as long as possible, believing that more natural baits would produce as well as any pellet, but the more venues I visited and the more lakes I fished, it was clear to see that although natural baits were effective, they just didn't consistently compete with pellets. Wanting to have as successful a day as possible on venues where matches are fished I switched over to pellets and to be honest, I haven't looked back. There has been a bit of trial and error, and when asked recently how I was hooking the hard pellets (on this occasion I using a hair rig) I had a look at my topkits and explained that I had few rigs set up to cover my options.

Fishing Basics - Loop Tying - Preston Loop Tyer

I’ve recently encountered some trouble with my Seymo Loop Tyer, and although the knots have never failed me, they seem to be getting bigger than I require. So I decided to give the Preston Innovations Loop Tyer a whirl. It was a bit of a school boy error, but I managed to pick on up without instructions! So I had to spend a little while working out how to use this little fella, but once I did I was very pleased with the consistent and small loops I was creating. This little tool will be in my tackle box from now on.

If you have one, but are not sure how to use it, here’s how.

BBC2 - Big Fish

Have you ever watched Fishing Guru's, Go Fishing, River Monsters... or even Robson Green's Extreme Fishing and thought "I could definitely do that"...

Here is your chance! 

Fishing Basics - Knot Tying - How to tie a Lasso knot

This is just a quick post in response to a question I was asked a few weeks ago when out fishing using Pellets. I was alternating between a few rigs which had various hook set up's (using the pole), these were;

• A haired 8mm pellet,
• A banded 6mm pellet, and
• A lassoed 6mm pellet. 

I was then asked how I tied a lasso knot, as the angler asking didn't have any pellet bands with him. I admitted of the three methods I like the lasso least as I think the presentation of the pellet is not as good, when compared with either the haired or banded approaches. However, I proceeded to show him how I was taught to tie the lasso knot, and for those wondering, here's how you can too!

Trip #68 - Higher Kingscombe - Lodge Lake - Fits and Starts and Starts and Fits.

I was at a bit on a quandary this week, after my last session at Todber I was looking for another busy session. That being said, I was feeling decidedly lazy this morning, and my choice rested on a coin toss between Revels and Higher Kingscombe. After my last action packed trip, I tossed the coin (heads) and packed the car, and made my way to Higher Kingscombe Fishery - Lodge Lake. This is a great fishery, and I really should try some of the other lakes as there are about 7 to choose from. The fact that the lake has official BDAA pegs meant choosing where to fish was an easy affair, and I hopped onto the peg I fished last time. After all, if it isn't broke, why fix it? Parking up and having a quick chat to 2 Dorchester members we were astounded at the colour on the water. Despite recent days and nights of heavy rain it was gin clear. Not what I had anticipated. It was also very weedy!

Gin clear was an under statement