All and nothing

I haven’t posted much of late mainly for the somewhat obvious reason that I haven’t actually been out fishing. We have had a fair bit work getting done at Unfamous Towers of late and weekends have for the most part ( apart from being wet a lot of the time) been used to do small bits of DIY to get the house something like liveable again. We are pretty much there now though and so hopefully I have the time and the health to allow me to get out. To be honest things have been a bit shaky on that ground of late, my hands in particular causing me a lot of problems. With luck it will pass or calm down a bit, I have the consultant to go see again this week.

However stuff has been happening. The SCAC AGM was at the end of February. I have appended an over view of this at the foot of the page on the Stirling Castle Angling Club.

The Glasgow Angling Centre open weekend was last week. I was given a pile of vouchers for GAC by my work colleagues for my 50th birthday which I was very grateful to them for. I was going to GAC in any case to meet with John Edwards of Fish Recreations who I comissioned to make for me a replica of the stunning 3lb 4oz Grayling I caught on the River Annan back in February 2012. I was gutted at the time not having a decent photo of the fish though the video of the entire fight with the fish was posted.  John has never been asked to make a Grayling model before. Part of the issue was the fact that like myself, most anglers return the fish to the water so there are few taken to be used in making moulds from. However a few weeks after speaking to John about my desire for a Grayling replica, he got wind of a similar sized fish that was in a guy’s freezer. The chap agreed to give John the fish and so we were on our way. I deliberately went out my way not to look at the images John posted to facebook and his website but as he posted a few images it went quite “viral” and the replica got the most likes and shares of any replica John has made to date. I was quite excited to see the fish and was due to collect it from him last Sunday. The fish had also raised a lot of positive reaction at the show and he has received a number of similar orders as a result.

What made my day though was I was able to get the fish while pictured with my two fishing heroes, Hywel Morgan, a good friend, and the legendary Paul Young who stopped to have a good blether with me and my fishing buddy John who just happened to turn up about then too.

Me pictured with the legend that is Paul Young and famous angler and good friend, Hywel Morgan

My new 9′ 6″ 6# rod arrives

While at the GAC event I also got chatting to my mate Hywel and I was asking him about a rod to replace my two broken rods that I have got through this year. It seemed like a good way to spend the vouchers I was given. I had held the new Daiwa New Era SLR’s recently in Angling Active and was impressed in particular with the lightness of such a powerful rod and also liked features of the 6# in particular. I had held the 9foot #6 but was quite keen on getting a slightly longer model in a 9foot 6″ which I feel would bteter suit my boat fishing. The 6# is also capable of handling a line weight either side and so I can use all my 7# lines with it. The thing I really liked though was the rod I seen sported a Half Wells handle which I need due to my buggered hands. I asked Hywel if I could have a shot in the casting pool and he duly obliged getting me a 7# line to try it with. Initially I have to say I found it a bit lifeless, somehow, certainly the rod is way better than my casting abilities. I then tried the new Lexa model. This felt brilliant and I was putting out quite a nice length of line though it was slightly softer. After a wee while of this I asked could I try the New Era again. I put a bit more effort into the casting, maybe I was a bit frightened by it before, I am not sure, but what a revelation. It was totally effortless at putting out a load of line I was hitting just shy of the far end of the casting pool and am sure would have gone further with a bit practice. I was sold, only thing was the handle on the 9ft 6″ 6# was a Full Wells.

I picked my new rod up on Saturday- chuffed to bits with it I am.

LASAC

A fishy looking bend in the river, though I imagine its quite overhung by trees in the Summer

I joined another club this season, Larbert and Stenhousemuir AC who have the fishing on Loch Coulter right behind the village where I live. It’s even closer than Pendreich for me and has ample boats. Having been a guest there twice last year I am looking forward to a few outings on this bigger water in the forthcoming season health permitting and will maybe be able to meet up with Tommy, one of my regular visitors to this blog who was so kind to invite me up unsolicited last year.
The club also has rights on the River Carron round Denny and Larbert, again not far from me. I have never fished it but hope to get out a few times on the river this season if at all possible, and so today took the opportunity to go have a wee recce of some of the river to see what accessible. It struck me the way I approached it, that all the easier fishing was from the far side, but on my OS maps I can’t see how to access from there. But I did find some promising spots that I hope to try this season again if I can get to them to fish on the day.
The new season starts next Saturday, so to all my regular visitors, Tight Lines for the new season.