Something from Nothing

Recently a friend set me a challenge should I choose to accept it...How could I refuse, and that was to make something from nothing, basically he told me I had to make a float from a cocktail stick and an old used cork from a wine bottle.......needless to say he didnt realise how I started off making floats but I went along with him anyway.

I cut the cork in 2 and used the better half of it where the corkscrew hadnt done that much damage and put the cocktail stick through and glued it all together before turning it on the lathe to get the body shape. A few scorch marks on the cocktail stick for decrative purposes and some silk thread to give it a bit more rigidity and here is the final result, a small bobber style float which carries 3bb.

The friend who will remain nameless so he is not ashamed....lol, has been sent the float together with the other half of the cork & a single cocktail stick and told now lets see your effort....lol.

Personally I think it was a ploy as he wanted a small float for the Grayling fishing, but it was a bit of fun and shows you can actually make something from nothing.

In the Snow

Todays trip was hampered slightly by the extreme weather we are currently having in the North East with temperatures down to -9 last night and another 3 - 4 inches of snow fell during the night but hey thats all good news for a Grayling angler.

Todays fishing was also to try out my newly bought neoprene waders to replace my last set that were leaking from last week, they have now sadly gone to the neoprene wader heaven....cut up for patches and other bits & bobs.

I have to say Im very very impressed with the vision sub zero neoprene waders that I bought during the week, they claim to be designed for maximum warmth and I have to give them 10/10. I wore only a pair of tracksuit bottoms and 1 pair of socks below them and I was toasting even when standing up to my knees in cold water, certainly gets the thumbs up from me and well worth the £132 price tag.

My usual grayling fishing haunt was impossible to get to today due to the roads so I opted for another easily accessible place where I knew there might be a few Grayling and I wasnt to be disappointed.

I managed 8 today, nothing of size but always nice to get out on the river instead of sitting like a couch potato in the warm with your feet up, there will be plenty of days time for that but today was fishing even though around 2.30pm a white out forced me off the water as there was no signs of it letting up, but another successful day all round. A couple of snaps from today.

Cork & Balsa

Another set of mixed river floats completed and on their way to Scotland. From left to right 2 Balsa on Cane, 2 Cork Bobbers, 2 Cork Chubbers and finally 2 Fluted Balsa's.

Presentation Box for Charity

Some people know each year I put together a float box for various charities, last year it was for Help for Heroes which raised over £80 around the forums. This year again I was asked by some local servicemen if I wouldnt mind supporting them again so how could I refuse being an ex serviceman of 24 years myself.

I got in touch with a good friend who makes float boxes and asked if I could purchase one which after he knew what it was for supplied it free of charge, Thank you Andy Baxter.

The floats are now complete and the box ready to go, so I took a couple of pics just to spruce the box up a bit for the auction. All to a good cause.

Tees Grayling

Decided yesterday that today I would take the cane rod back onto the tees and have a go at matching it to another couple of centrepins.

Athough the forecast was for drizzle most of the day I set off to the Tees with my Speedia and JW Young Purist II to give them a whirl on the rod.

Started off with the Purist and to be honest it felt balanced and in tune with the Rod that I didnt even bother getting the speedia out my bag. Even though the river was up around 2 - 3 ft on NSL it always fishes well with some extra water in it.

Today was no exception where I finished the day with 15 Lovely Grayling on the bank & several lost in the fight. A couple of the Grayling pulled the scales around to 1lbs 14oz, and I actually caught 1 large Grayling twice, once at the top of the pool and the 2nd time at the bottom of the pool easily identified by the distinguishing scar across its back from some sort of attack.

Birchwood Stems for Floatmaking

I know through emails and PM's that some of you are over the winter going to try & make your own floats.

I came home today and found my recent order of Birchwood Stems had arrived from Holland along with a few other things that I get from a floatmaker over there as he can get items on the continent we cannot get here.

I wondered why my bill this time was slighly more than in previous times and when I opened the packaging I found out why.

He had charged and sent me 2000 birchwood stems when I had only ordered 1000. I will never use this amount in a month of sundays so for anyone thinking of doing their own floats before I get them onto a well known auction site get in touch with me via my email as I am selling in bunches of 50 x Birchwood stems they are 3.2mm thick by 300mm in length and brand new, £4 + P&P see picture.

Cane Rod & Grayling

Im afraid I couldnt wait for the weekend fishing session to come around to try out my newly refurbished cane rod so with 3 day old maggots which were just starting to turn, I grabbed a couple of centrepins to see which one would be best suited to the rod and headed off for a couple of hours on the Tees.

When I got there the river was in perfect conditions so started with an old Allcocks Match Aerial on the rod to see how it faired and fingers crossed I was going to catch I waded out to get a really wet & cold feeling on my right leg through my neoprene waders only to find they had sprung a leak....Diver dave will have some business very soon, I wasnt going to let that spoil the moment so just grinned and beared the cold water.

1st couple of trots down the rod took a bit of getting used to, a big difference from a 16ft carbon Trotting Rod but I was enjoying it, I was hoping the 1st fish was going to be a Grayling and wasnt disappointed although it wont break any records it was the first fish on the newly refurbished rod.

I continued trotting happy now that the rod had been christened with the fish I love fishing for the most and this was closely followed by a further 5 fish which didnt want to see the inside of my net and slipped the hook but that didnt bother me as it was just nice to be out using the rod. I decided I now had to give the right leg a rest from the water as it was starting to get numb with the cold so decided to change over to another reel to see how the rod performed with that so I rigged up with An Allcocks Match Special and started fishing another run further above where I had been fishing where I was met with another nice Grayling which obliged the net this time.

After some time i didnt feel as comfortable with the Allcocks Match Special as I did with the Match aerial so swapped the reels back around and continued fishing where I managed to get another Grayling before I finally gave in to the numbness and cold which was eating away at my toes.

My Verdict on the newly refurbished rod is Im really pleased with the job Ive done of it and it will continue to be the rod I use for the remainder of the season which am glad as I ordered another winter project cane rod from the internet last night for £25....watch this space for Rod No 2!

Cane Rod Restoration Complete

As I reported a couple of months ago I had bought an old cane rod off the internet as a project, well I can now say the rod is restored the best I can do it and as things go I think its a good job and cant wait till my next trip out to be able to fish with it coupled with an old pin, A couple of pics from before & after the restoration.

Cork & Balsa Combined

I was asked recently if I wouldnt mind doing a float with a difference, It was primarily for show....which I dont really like doing as its against my principles of what a float should be used for but I agreed and was informed it was to be made from Cork & Balsa.

Ive done these in the past for myself as a bit of a lark to try out new things but to be asked for one to go into a presentation was slightly different. I got the two components together & glued and got them turned on the lathe and here is the results a small one which carries 3bb & the larger one carries 8bb not that they will see any water where they are going, shame really as I like to see my floats used and not hung on walls.

Cork Bobbers

Was asked recently if I could construct a couple of cork bobbers for an angler which were done so as always did a couple more than I should have as I always like to try the floats out I make and these were the two I tried today, Excellent stability with them and the 6bb one was riding high in the rough water, a bit heavier than I m used to fishing but never the less still nice to fish with and they took half of the fish I wrote about earlier in the tees fishing day.

Tees Grayling

Spent another day on the River Tees again today in pursuit of the Grayling. The river was still above NSL with the recent rain but starting to drop nicely but it was bitterly cold even in the warm sunshine and standing up to your backside in freezing water most of the day certainly doesnt do you any good, I think its now time to put away the lightweight waders and dig out the neoprene ones.

Anyway the cold didnt deter me and had 17 Ladies and 2 trout, only a couple of the ladies were of a decent size just over the pound mark the remainder all being fingerings as were the 2 trout, all of which were returned to fight another day.

A couple of pics from today outing.

For the Clyde Ladies

A couple of float orders travelling up to scotland again for the ladies on the clyde. I hope they bring the guys every success .

Perch Bobbers & Chubbers

Was asked a few weeks ago if I could make up a batch of Cork Perch Bobbers & Cork Chubbers for a guy returning to fishing after 35 years absence and he wanted to have some original handmade cork Perch Bobbers & Chubbers. This is what was supplied and am glad that he is satisfied with them...35 Years away from fishing....must have been worth staying away for.

Swimming Porcupines

Another set of Porcupines going swimming in the rivers of southern Britain must have high water temperatures down there for this time of year as thats 3 orders recently all heading to the same area. This angler didnt want any whippings or eyes so was really straight forward.
Tight Lines guys with the Roach.

Grayling & Centrepins

Today's fishing trip I wanted to achieve 2 things, first was to see how well or how badly the centrepin you see in the pictures below performed as it was a budget centrepin reel that was recommended to me by a very good friend and the total cost of it £36 including P&P from Dragoncarp.



Ikonix are selling the same reel for £60 & TF Gear for £100 so a definate bargain, or was it?

The reel handled very well and in some cases put to shame some of the more expensive models that I own, It does have some small negatives but nothing too serious. It worked well and I was very impressed with the overall perforance from it, Its an overall good reel at a very good price. You will not be disappointed if you get one even if your an experienced centrepin user like myself, well worth the money.

To prove the effectiveness of the reel and really put it to the test I went to one of my favourite spots for Grayling on the River Tees and was met with a river 4 - 5 ft up on NSL but dropping all the time. It did not disappoint me and gave me a full day of fish totalling 51 Grayling including a nice fish of 1lbs 14oz and a 5lbs Chub.

The fish were being finicky biters today and my cane rod building friend Gary and myself bumped off endless amounts of fish, some very big Grayling and another chub, with the joke of the day being I wish I had a £1 for every fish I bumped we would both be millionaires.