River Mersey Testing Session.........AT LAST !!!!!!!!!

River Mersey. Loaded Inserted Stick - Testing Session - One.

Got up late but all my gear was sorted the night before and rigged up a special float I had made specifically for this day.


Loaded Whipped Inserted Stick Float



  I loaded up the 
" Mighty Megan " and hot footed it down the M62. Craig and Casterman were already watching their floats sailling down the River Mersey when I rocked up with all my gear. All the good pegs where still avaliable so I asked Castermans advice as to where I should  have a dangle as I had never fished this stretch before or indeed the river for that  matter.




I opted for the next peg down from Craig and quickley set up as light  as possible for the resident roach and perch that frequent the stretch we were fishing.

It didn' t start well as I boshed my carfully prepared rig on my fith cast. I set up again using stotts instead of split shot to minimize any false bites while feeding hemp amd fishing maggot on the hook. Second trot down my Loaded Inserted Stick Float dipped and then disapeared under the surface. With a quick strike I hit my first River Mersey fish, but, just as quick it was off, the first fishe bumped, not another omen I thought. Two casts later my float dipped again and I was in. I looked up to see the bend on my new Acolyte as a roach of about 4oz came to the net. " Right ".I thought. Lets see if I can get these going.

The next 30 minutes resulted in me snaring about a dozen or so roach up to 7oz  with the Inserted Whipped Stick Float but I missed a lot of bites. The float performed ok but I wasn't happy with the balance of the float while casting so I will be using a lighter alloy for the next float. Hopefully this will result in a more balanced set up.

My swim for the morning.

After the first dozen fish the bites stopped. Don't know why but they did. i slowly got fhe fish going but it was very touch and go. I would have a couple of fish and then the bites would stop. I would search the water colume for ten minutes without success, go back to my original depth and get a few bites.

I tried letting my float travel futher down stream as I was fishing about 10 feet deep........success. The float slowly slid under and I was into something a little meatier. The fish kited towards me to a small weed bed on my right and nearly snagged me but The " Acolyte " was easily up to this test and the fish was beaten. It  was a perch abou 10oz, very nice to catch on light tackle....

I heard a cafuffle behind mas as Casterman came through the undergrowth with his flask and a picnic.......He really does take care of himself on out little outings.
( Good job really cause I take nowt .........pmsl )
Another poor cast by myself and i was tangled. The second rig of the day bit the dust. This was the que to try another new float. It is a variaton of my
 " Retro Stick Floats ". I have just made the tip a little more pointed
than normal so I can dot it down when fishing for roach and smaller fish. This worked very well and in the next hour I bagged another half dozen fish but I couldn't get into any kind of rythem due to the lack of bites.

My time had drawn to an end and it was time to have a look at my catch. A smidgins over 20 fish. I was a litle dissaponted I didnt catch any more but happy to catch a mixed bag of of roach & perch on a Greater Manchester river.

The days catch and the Loaded Inserted Whipped Stick Float.

The days catch and the Pointed Retro Stick Float.

All in all a good day in good company. Pity the roach didn't feed as well as they can. Craig had good net though. Well done pal.

----------------

On a brighter note, Danny Belfield is testing one of my new pike floats today and I have just recieved a very nice picture off him !!!!!!!!!    :)


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If you would like to look at all of the hand crafted floats I make please click on the link below and it will take you to my float page.


TTFN



Peanut.







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