Purplepeanut007 PP007 FLOAT MAKING & FISHING ADVENTURES - THE RIVER IRWELL AND BEYOND.

I have been playing with the lathe again. 😁 Below are a prial of  " Irwell Sticks " With feather inlays.   I have quite a few of these at various stages of completion  and have some in my float tube for when I eventually get back on the river. 😁  These floats are best suited for fishing shallow runs for chub, grayling etc. Casterman  aka " Derek Kenyon " has been on the phone reminding me we are long overdue a river session together. He has already got one of these so hopefully we will have some fish and float pictures before christmas. TTFN Peanut. If you would like to look at my handcrafted floats just hit the link. http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/handcrafted-floats-2017.html?m=1 Join our club......Its FREE !!!!!!! http://salfordfriendlyanglers.co.uk/join/

As I have said before I am giving my stick floats and up grade. The next styles to be up-graded are the  " Domed Alloy Stick " & the  " Inserted Alloy Stick Float" These patterns used to get used the most before I made the  " Irwell Sticks ". The  "Domed Alloy Stick"  much longer than the  " Irwell Stick "  and is for more general fishing. The "  Inserted Alloy Stick "  is primarily for roach fishing on slower stretches of river. This particular pair are made from balsa with an alloy stem, red , black , gold and violet were my choice of thread. I'm not sure of the weight capacity of these floats yet but I do not expect them to be much over 8 no4s. I will be giving these an outing on the Rivers Ribble or Calder in the next few weeks. TTFN Peanut. If you would like to look at my handcrafted floats just hit the link.

After my recent grayling session with  Adam Mack we sat down at the car and had a chat. http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.com/2018/09/chasing-ladies-with-adam-mack_2.html?m=1 The subject revolved around the shop bought, shouldered, 2 no4's stick floats we were both using. Adam liked them. I didn't. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the fine tip needed removing for the fast runs we were fishing as they where of little use. I decided to make some miniature " Irwell Stick Floats " ( Larger versions to follow )  to try out the next time we go together. The two below are hand turned from balsa with an aluminium stem taking two and three no4's respectively. These also have quite a steep tapper to reduce weight capacity and give a wide visible tip. I have some larger ones under construction for larger rivers I'm looking forward to trying these the next time we go Adam. 😉 A twenty pence piece was added to give the picture some scale.7 H

To day was the day that myself and Salford Pete were heading off over to the wrong side of the hills, up the M67 and over to Yorkshire. Our target for the day were  Yorkshire Ladies . . . .  Ladies if the stream that is . . . . .  Otherwise known as. . . . . GRAYLING !!!!!!!! Being born and bred Mancunians grayling are a foreign species to us and, unfortunately neither of us have bagged one on our travels.  ( Well. . . . . I have had one from Lymm Vale but I don't count still water grayling ) We were meeting a friend of mine and a new member of my float making group on face book, Jordan O'Halloran, a local Yorkshire lad with bags of knowledge regarding ladies. 😉😉😉😉😉😉 ( Dont tell the Mrs.... 🤣 ) We met around 08.00 on the River Don. Unfortunately, the river was high, coloured and pushing through at a fair old rate of knots. Not the best grayling conditions but this trip was planned months ago so we all decided to give it a go. Jordan kn

I have just acquired a new club card for myself and Salford Pete. . . . Wigan DAA I have fancied this card for a while as it has good waters for my favourite species. Barbel Grayling Crucian Carp Tench Its not a bad deal either.  £30.00 for me £16.00 for Salford Pete Check it out via the link. http://wigandistrictangling.co.uk/ Salford had a lot on his plate this week and therefore was unable to join me on this session  ( which is a shame and something I will elaborate on at the end of the piece ) This was an out and out Barbel hunt ad I haven’t caught one for over two years which is far too long a wait. I took minimal tackle, kit bag, bait, net &  ”Creature Reacher “. I really wanted to put a good bend in the C.R. Them 7 lb bream Pb river bream I caught on the Irwell was a lovely capture but hardly a big test for the C.R. I arrived in good time and beat all the traffic. The M60 at Whitefield can be  . . . HORRENDOUS !!!!!! The