31 January 2010

"Wind up"

Today my mate and I planned to go fishing ! but unfortunately it's weekend and we all know what happens at weekends don't we! Anyway I have just rang him and asked him if he was ready he replied by saying "he has been ready since six o clock". I then asked him what time shall I pick you up then? he said you can come right away cause I am on the floor now Ha! Ha!

Joking apart It seems as though we are experiencing one of the worst winters for some time. However in my younger day nothing would have stopped me, I have broken the ice on many occasion in order to catch a few fish. But I never seem to get much out of pleasure fishing, besides without having one of my favorite bait's for winter fishing for example "Boodworm
" It could well end up to be a pointless exercise.

Of course there are still the rivers but these days I am not geared up for them, so I am afraid it's a trip to the tackle shop today.

Thinking about tackle, you will appreciate it is important to keep your tackle in tip top condition and as organized as possible if you intend to compete in any sort of competition.

Having said that when pole fishing I wonder how many times have you placed the float you were using on the wrong winder when packing up your gear ? and when you come to use that favorite float you are not sure what line or hook is on it. If so then this might be a good tip for you.
It may require a great deal of time and patience but it can also be a fool proof way of keeping things more organized.

Why not colour code your system with the use of coloured silicone tubing for example.

Brown = 10lbs
Black = 8lbs
Blue = 7lbs
Green = 6lbs etc.

By doing this you would be able to look at the rig and tell at a glance what main line is on the rig. If you are like me and prefer to fish direct to the hook for carp on commercials, then this could be of use to you. Although It is a simple matter to add hook lengths if necessary or change a hook!

However just as with most systems there are certain obstacles, and In using this method myself I have found it somewhat difficult to obtain a substantial amount of the right diameter and also colour of silicone tubing.

The problem I have encountered is that some times I prefer to fish with a wire stem as opposed to the more common carbon stem, especially in deeper water and windy conditions as they are more stable. To my knowledge the most common diameter for pole floats stems is 0.5m although some pole floats on the market recently are being produced with far thicker stems. However you can purchase 0.5m quite easily! and this will fit wire stems as well as carbon. But try and find a suitable length of this in various colours I believe you may find it difficult.


It was in fact whilst I was in the tackle shop that "Jeff Moors,a brilliant angler" who was all way's looking for an edge put me on to this system, what else do I have to say if it is good enough for him then it is good enough for me! I have since thought of using hollow pole float elastic as you can purchase this in the right diameter but being dual core the wall thickness is too great. this would also be far too expensive and too brightly coloured for my liking.

There is of course some manufactures who do a range of colours and diameters and I do happen to know one, but what I have found is that there is insufficient in the packet or they are already cut to size.


I don't know about you but personally I like to use three rubbers on my floats and cut my own , using a longer piece at least 1/2 an inch for the bottom rubber, a small piece for the intermediate one. The third and final one under the body of the float slightly longer than the middle one about 1/4 of an inch.

At the end of the day you might however think all this is taking things to the extreme,and is a bit of a wind up,"excuse the pun". But you could if you wish go even further by having two different colours of tubing on your float rig, also denoting the hook line strength being used. Anyway enough of this nonsense we don't live in a perfect world do we!!

Roll on summer tight lines.