I'm not bragging but . . . . . . . .

It's nice when a plan comes together and it certainly did that for me on my last trip out to Burton on Trent, a bit of rain and a small rise and fall in river levels followed by a nice warm spike in the weather had me scrambling to get my gear ready for a mid-weeker.

I don't often 'show-off' but it's nice to just remind folks every now and again that as well as build rods, and offer advice, I know what I'm doing with one too ;)

So although not a p.b it's still a very good fish and a real beauty in the flesh, excellent condition and when it 'woke up' a proper scrapper!

Tipping the scales at 13lb dead on, this fish came just after midnight and was well worth the effort, catch of the season so far, I do love the autumn and winter for these bigger fish, makes putting up with the winter worthwhile !

* Mental note to self: next time get all the TTR logo in the picture on my new embroidered hoody !

Happy new River season !

Well the new season's finally here, my start wasn't too clever on the River Severn, with just a chub, a 5lb bream, and sunburn to show for my efforts ! And apparently, I did OK compared to half a dozen others there who blanked ! The bream was full of breeding tubercles, so I think that tells it's own tale  . . . . .

Inbetween a few services I dug a bit of kit out. . . . .

So I thought I'd get ahead of myself in a rare moment of forward thinking efficiency by making some heavy leads for when the inevitable rainy season starts  . . . . . . . .

So i cobbled together a mould (smartgrip mould) and a few tools......

 Dug out my trusty Hippolito stove and filled it with paraffin. . . . . .

 A bit of extra help from a gas torch to get the lead to temp' and away we go. . . .

 Here's a few from the batch I knocked up that were then powder coated.....

 The finished article :)

 

Barbel Landing net repair for the new season !

Well the new river season has arrived, and as usual, I left last season with a list of things I'd so for myself, and then forgot       : |  like I do every year ;)

This was one of them, my Gardner barbel spoon landing net, great bit of kit and I was very lucky to net a few lumps in it last year, but even that action of the frame just flexing is enough to loosen the screws, as pictured, which I've re-tightened enough times now for it to be getting annoying!

 

So I decided to do away with them altogether for something a bit more substantial.....

 

Drill the spreader block out to about 5mm. . . . . . 

I drilled the block out first, then inserted the 'arm' and then drilled it out, I 

did it this way because the arm then goes in a touch further, which in my mind 

is a little bit more secure, it certainly feels solid once in. 

And done. . . . . . A couple of M5 nuts/bolts, and then the threads are ground off on a bench grinder flat and smooth after making sure they're cranked up tight, hopefully I'll never have to fiddle around with it again, please take note, Gardner Tackle

Do it properly, and you only do it once  . . . . . . . . ;)