Month: <span>September 2022</span>

After a busy spring and summer I seem to have time to go fishing again and spent a couple of hours on the canal catching rudd and an eel and went back to a water that I haven’t fished for about a year. I used to call it my “go to” water as I could always be sure of catching something then I began to blank. I can’t have been the only one as there was some discussion on the club’s Facebook page, apparently the ammonia levels in the water were too high and it was suggested that we leave the fish be for a while. This lake is next to a farm yard and the surrounding fields drain into it so it was not going to be a quick fix to sort the problem out

Anyway, I got to thinking about the lake and wondering how it was doing and so I took the Missus out for a walk one evening and we had a look round. I took some floating pellets to see if we could attract any carp to the surface. The first swim we looked in there were several carp lurking and they made short work of the pellets. We walked around the lake and I saw several signs of fish, bubbles, swirls and a couple more carp and so I decided to come back the next day.

It was later than I had wanted the next morning due to having to run several errands so it was nearly ten by the time I arrived. I parked the car next to the lake and quietly made my way to the first swim and saw a couple of fish just under the surface next to the bank. I fetched my stalking rod which at eight foot just fits into my car already made up along with a landing net and mat and put a piece of bread crust on the hook and I was off! I threw out some pellets to get the fish feeding and then lowered the hook onto the water. After a few seconds a fish took the bread and left the hook so I re-baited and tried again. This time he took the bait and the hook and I was in! The fish didn’t put up much of a fight and was soon in the net. I had left my scales in the car but it seemed a good high single / low doubles fish and seemed in good condition. I carefully put him back and decided to take a walk around the lake and see if I can could catch some more. This time I used a pop up boilie as bait but couldn’t get the fish interested so went back to the car and got out the gear I needed to set up in the swim next to it.

I put the carp rod out with a method feeder and white pop – up boilie and then set up my float rod. I mixed up some groundbait and sat down in my new chair ready to fish. On my first cast the float went under and I was into a little rudd which fought more than the carp size for size! I went on catching rudd and roach for a while but nothing on the carp rod, the buzzer stayed obstinately silent. After an hour of fun I decided to change over to my ledger rod which has still got a swing tip attached to see if I could get a bigger fish off the bottom. I continued using red and white maggots and although the tip was shaking a bit it never developed into a bite. I tried elsewhere in the lake but still with no luck. By now it was lunchtime and as it was quiet I thought that I would get my sandwiches out. This tactic sometimes catches a fish and I was halfway through my lunch when the buzzer went off and I was into a fish. It didn’t feel like a carp though and that is because it wasn’t, it was a bream! He came to the net quite easily on my carp tackle and I soon had him on the mat where I could see from the mark on his back that he had had an encounter with a cormorant or something sometime in his life! A quick photo and I weighed him in at 3lb exactly before putting him back. The rod went back out and I was able to finish my lunch in peace.

After lunch I decided that I was bored and got the float rod out again! I soon started catching rudd and roach until the float dipped and a fish jumped a few feet away! I reeled in and there was another bream, slightly smaller than the first one but just as lively, in fact while I was attempting to take his photo he flipped himself off the mat and back into the water!

Then it was quiet for a while, I changed the boilie on the carp rod to no avail and was just thinking about packing up when the float disappeared. I struck and there was something bigger than a small rudd as it was pulling hard. I gently applied pressure and brought it to the surface where my worst fears were confirmed, It was an eel! Now I know that eels are amazing fish that travel across the Atlantic and are now an endangered species (not around here though!) but I don’t like catching them. They twist and turn so that you can’t get hold of them and invariably in their greed they swallow the bait and the hook and you have no chance of getting it out. This eel had done exactly that and so I cut the line and let him go free. That was it, time to go home.

So, a decent session where I proved that fish were still alive in the lake and seemed to be thriving. What about the chair? Well that was OK, it didn’t collapse on me and was comfortable enough, not too comfortable that I would fall asleep but OK to sit on for a day’s session. To be honest once I was fishing I forgot about the chair and concentrated on what I was doing so in some respects it wouldn’t have mattered what chair I had bought!

Anyway, I got to thinking about the lake and wondering how it was doing and so I took the Missus out for a walk one evening and we had a look round. I took some floating pellets to see if we could attract any carp to the surface. The first swim we looked in there were several carp lurking and they made short work of the pellets. We walked around the lake and I saw several signs of fish, bubbles, swirls and a couple more carp and so I decided to come back the next day.

It was later than I had wanted the next morning due to having to run several errands so it was nearly ten by the time I arrived. I parked the car next to the lake and quietly made my way to the first swim and saw a couple of fish just under the surface next to the bank. I fetched my stalking rod which at eight foot just fits into my car already made up along with a landing net and mat and put a piece of bread crust on the hook and I was off! I threw out some pellets to get the fish feeding and then lowered the hook onto the water. After a few seconds a fish took the bread and left the hook so I re-baited and tried again. This time he took the bait and the hook and I was in! The fish didn’t put up much of a fight and was soon in the net. I had left my scales in the car but it seemed a good high single / low doubles fish and seemed in good condition. I carefully put him back and decided to take a walk around the lake and see if I can could catch some more. This time I used a pop up boilie as bait but couldn’t get the fish interested so went back to the car and got out the gear I needed to set up in the swim next to it.

I put the carp rod out with a method feeder and white pop – up boilie and then set up my float rod. I mixed up some groundbait and sat down in my new chair ready to fish. On my first cast the float went under and I was into a little rudd which fought more than the carp size for size! I went on catching rudd and roach for a while but nothing on the carp rod, the buzzer stayed obstinately silent. After an hour of fun I decided to change over to my ledger rod which has still got a swing tip attached to see if I could get a bigger fish off the bottom. I continued using red and white maggots and although the tip was shaking a bit it never developed into a bite. I tried elsewhere in the lake but still with no luck. By now it was lunchtime and as it was quiet I thought that I would get my sandwiches out. This tactic sometimes catches a fish and I was halfway through my lunch when the buzzer went off and I was into a fish. It didn’t feel like a carp though and that is because it wasn’t, it was a bream! He came to the net quite easily on my carp tackle and I soon had him on the mat where I could see from the mark on his back that he had had an encounter with a cormorant or something sometime in his life! A quick photo and I weighed him in at 3lb exactly before putting him back. The rod went back out and I was able to finish my lunch in peace.

After lunch I decided that I was bored and got the float rod out again! I soon started catching rudd and roach until the float dipped and a fish jumped a few feet away! I reeled in and there was another bream, slightly smaller than the first one but just as lively, in fact while I was attempting to take his photo he flipped himself off the mat and back into the water!

Then it was quiet for a while, I changed the boilie on the carp rod to no avail and was just thinking about packing up when the float disappeared. I struck and there was something bigger than a small rudd as it was pulling hard. I gently applied pressure and brought it to the surface where my worst fears were confirmed, It was an eel! Now I know that eels are amazing fish that travel across the Atlantic and are now an endangered species (not around here though!) but I don’t like catching them. They twist and turn so that you can’t get hold of them and invariably in their greed they swallow the bait and the hook and you have no chance of getting it out. This eel had done exactly that and so I cut the line and let him go free. That was it, time to go home.

So, a decent session where I proved that fish were still alive in the lake and seemed to be thriving. What about the chair? Well that was OK, it didn’t collapse on me and was comfortable enough, not too comfortable that I would fall asleep but OK to sit on for a day’s session. To be honest once I was fishing I forgot about the chair and concentrated on what I was doing so in some respects it wouldn’t have mattered what chair I had bought!

Not long after I ordered my new chair I had a message saying that it would be delivered between eight and six that day. Not as good as some couriers who give a tighter time slot but never mind. As it happened it came just after lunch which gave me time to unbox it the same day.

It was delivered in a stout cardboard box although there was no packing inside. In spite of this it was undamaged and I soon had it out of its plastic bag. The first thing I noticed were the large mud feet, although it has hardly rained at all in my neck of the woods it will one day and they will be very useful!

Setting the chair up it looked sturdy and the fabric looks tough. I thought that it was a bit low down for me but that it would be OK when I pulled the legs out. In fact it was still a bit low but I tried it out and I can manage. 

OK, so it doesn’t look anything special, it is just a chair which is what I want. Here is a front view where you can see the badge, if you can’t read it then how about a close up? Got it? I have to say that it is not bad for £45! I will have to see how it is when I take it fishing.

As I wrote in my blog last week my chair broke last time I was out and since then have been searching for a replacement. I bought the chair secondhand just after I started fishing again and it was a Fox model about twenty years old. I got it dirt cheap as the pull out stops had broken and I had to replace one of them with bolt and wingnut so that I could stop the legs folding up underneath me and it was this bit that failed, probably because the bolt was thin for the hole and there was a bit of play which led to fatigue and the bracket breaking. OK so I could have put a plate on it and made the legs rigid but it wouldn’t help having the back legs sticking out when I wanted to shove it in the car with all my other stuff or carry it to the bank and in any case it would still leave me with a twenty year old chair with sticking feet and non-matching mud feet where I had to replace one so I thought that I would treat myself to a new one but what to get?

You may remember that I am always looking for a bargain and I started looking on the Internet to see what I could find and there were hundreds of different kinds at all price points. I was confused, I knew that I didn’t want a low chair because I am old and tall and the knees don’t work as well as they used to and I need to be able to stand up easily. Apart from that I didn’t know so I thought that I would ask on Facebook. I got lots of replies ranging from “Why don’t you mend it?” to “This one with non-adjustable legs suits me and it is cheap.” Cheap appeals but I am often fishing on sloping banks and I have to have a chair that can be levelled. Then there were the suggestions, Korum, Fox, Matrix etc. etc. but one of the most useful comments was that I shouldn’t buy a chair without sitting in it. Obvious really when someone points it out to you! 

So, off I went to my local tackle shop. It is said that you should support your local shop as it is a case of use it or lose it but when I got there they had the grand total of three chairs on display. Two low ones and one ultra expensive one. Well, that was no good so it was back home to the Internet followed by a trip to the nearest store of a national chain. I had never been there before and to say that I was underwhelmed was about right. I never would have found it if it hadn’t been signposted as it was in the back of a scruffy industrial unit. It didn’t get much better inside, cramped, dull, no natural light and only a few chairs to try, none of which I liked.

Back home it was time to have a think so I looked on eBay and Facebook marketplace and found loads of chairs. The only snag was that most of them were miles away and restricting my search found only a few and when I enquired they had gone. Anyway I had a secondhand chair and barrow and they had both needed fixing so I thought that I would have a new one. So back to Facebook and more recommendations, Decathlon, Go Outdoors, feeder chairs, Korum Accessory chairs, the advice went on. Sitting down to think about what I really needed I began to wonder if I needed a feeder chair and there were several at reasonable prices with arms, trays and all the gubbins. I usually have a carp rod out with a buzzer and either a float rod or quiver tip so that might suit and it would be a good idea to have a tray for all my bits and pieces as well. Decathlon did a couple for either side of £100 but in searching for it I found that my nearest branch had just closed down and I now had an hour’s drive to a famous shopping centre to find one. So, how about Go Outdoors? Would you believe it, my nearest store had shut too and again it was the shopping centre if I wanted to go to one. It began to look as if a road trip was in order and I could call in at a different branch of the national angling chain on the way so that is what I decided to do.

Following my Satnav I parked up where directed and looked around for the store but couldn’t see it. Looking on my phone I found a picture of it and it looked like the building across the road but it wasn’t there. I began to wonder whether that was closed down too when I had an idea, was it around the back too? A short walk took me round the back and there it was. No signposts and in all fairness there was a car park and I would have seen it if the satnav had brought me there. I walked in and this store gave a much better impression. There were plenty of chairs for sale and I tried a few but none grabbed me so I carried on with my quest. Half an hour later after fighting through the traffic and I was there. Well, sort of, I could see the store sign but the satnav wanted me to turn into a road that was the entrance to a factory with a barrier and security guard so I turned it off and drove towards the sign and found the shop. I might as well not have bothered, only two chairs on display and both low ones so I didn’t spend much time in that shop. Fortunately, Decathlon was only a couple of minutes away and they had their feeder chairs on display so I had a sit on both of them. I really wanted one of these chairs to be alright but they weren’t. One was too upright and couldn’t be adjusted and the other didn’t support my back. I did try, honest! I swapped between each one several times but wasn’t comfortable then I sat in the carp chair next to them and it was a completely different feeling, comfort at last! Except….. it was well over £100, heavy and bulky. I didn’t fancy trudging along the bank with it and I wasn’t sure that there would be room on my trolley for it either so I reluctantly left it and drove home

While I was driving I was thinking which was why I missed the turn off the motorway and had to drive on to the next exit and turn around (well that is my story and I am sticking to it!) Did I need two different chairs?  A comfortable carp chair for fishing the lakes and a lighter one for river fishing, probably yes but there was no way I was going to splash out on two chairs! I then thought about my old Fox chair, I suppose that I had got used to it but I never thought about it as uncomfortable, maybe if I am on the bank I am too busy fishing to notice what the seat is like and if that is the case any old seat will do and I might as well get a cheap one. Determined to do no more driving I went home and ordered one off the Internet. It had been recommended by at least one person on Facebook and I had some of the brand’s tackle and liked it so I thought that it was worth a punt. I won’t tell you what I bought until the next blog when I unbox it and do a review but I ordered it directly from the manufacturer at a sale price of £45 including postage. At that price I haven’t got much to lose if it is no good and I can always sell it on and get a better one.

So, that is it. Except that it isn’t really as it has got me thinking about my setup. My carp rod goes into a bank stick with a buzzer on it on my left hand side, my float rod is mostly in my hands and my feeder rod goes in a bank stick to my right hand side. The problem is that although I have a number of bank sticks of all shapes and sizes I can’t use them. I can usually get one in at the edge of the water but find that where I need to put one in to support the butt of the rod I can’t. Either the bank is hard gravel or in the prolonged dry spell we are having here the ground is just baked hard and I end up balancing the reel on a bait box or just laying the end of the rod down on the ground. What I need is a small stand, something like a tripod which I can balance the end of the rod on. I have looked and there are such things for cameras and phones but they have a different thread to bank sticks and so aren’t suitable. So I am a bit stuck at the moment and could do with some suggestions. Perhaps a fitting for the chair would be the answer but I do like to have the rod just a bit further away from me. I can’t be the only angler who has come across this problem, can I? Any answers would be appreciated otherwise I will have to show my ignorance on Facebook again!