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

 Hi all, I have just spent a wonderful afternoon with Derek Kenyon A.K.A.  "The Casterman" I was a little late to our meet and managed to miss most of the peg clearing Derek had carried out......Sorry pal 😆 But i did move a lot of the debris so we could fish which made me feel.a.little less guilty. I promise to be on time in the future m8. 🙄 We both started of on Loaded Antennae Wagglers fishing the count down method using no 4 droppers but after two hours with various shot pattern changes we had one chewed maggot between us to show for it. Derek made the descision to move while I carried on in the original swim. After 30 mins in his new swim Derek let me know he has found the fish and that I should move up steam so we fish together. By the time I set up Derek had caught 6 beautifully conditioned roach. I decided to opt for a new float one made in 2022, in green & one I made this year, stained but have not had the time to test either if them before today. A carbon Stem,...

 Hi all, I had a few spare bodies staring at me in my blank box over the last few months. In December I finally had a few hours spare to try out a new paint job. (New to me anyway) A few test cards later and some frustrated attempts I decided on three colours to play with, Eath Brown, Hunter Green & Canary Yellow plus Standard White and Fluorescent Orange, all of which I made myself. I kept the threads simple using only two, Yellow/gold and black. There are eight of these floats in total, all in balsa and with hardwood stems. Here is a short video of one float which shows it in great detail. I was expecting to ruin a few floats but luckily I didn't, also, I was not sure about the paint job initially as I usually like things crisp and precise which is the opposite of what I was trying to achieve with these floats, but, for a first attempt, I am rather please with the results. The Avons below have the same diameter balsa body, but, are heavier than the previous Alloy Stem Avons a...

 Hi all, After a fishing free month for me (to much going on at home and work) I finally manage to get out this weekend with Adam Mack. We fished a new stretch of river to Adam and a totally new river for me. Both fishing Irwel Sticks (Adams standard & mine a loaded stick) our targets for the day where roach and chub. I have not seen Adam for ages so we had plenty of catching up to do. I love exploring new stretches of river and this session didn't dissapoint me. Fighting our way through ivy and dense nettle beds we found a lovely glide with a little more depth than the rest of the small stretch we had found. I stayed on the run introducing free offerings of liquidised bread and maggots while Adam nipped back to the car for the gear...... Fifteen minutes later Adam comes creeping along the bank like a heavily burdend ninja trying to keep as quiet as possible while carrying two lots of roving gear. 😆  "Any signs of fish Mike"  said Adam as we were both altering the de...

 Morning All, I have been itching to try my New/Old Drennan DRX so Casterman threw down an another silver doller race challange which I readily excepted. We both decided on re-visiting the same river we had our first roach match on where I was well beaten. Link below. https://purplepeanut007.blogspot.com/2017/10/peanut-vs-casterman-silver-dolla-race.html Our target species was obviously wild roach but on this new stretch there was a chance of a few lumps so geared up accordingly. Initially we both opted to fish the bollo/avon....but, after a frustrating hour with the wind tearing up the river I switched to 4AAA Slate Grey Antennae Waggler with instant results !!!!!! Derek was not far behind me with the float change but he opted for the sliding waggler. 1.5 hrs into the session we started putting together a few fish....stamp roach to be exact...derek could not keep the smile of his face.....he's roach mad....lol. As it is a new stetch to us a little experimenting was in order. Derek...

I have been struggling to get on the river I want to lately due to the rain but a conversation with Andrew Boyne got my batteries charged and my mojo firing !!!!! The Ribble was at least 2 metres up at 12.00 pm last night so this was going to be a proper gamble !!!!!! The alarm went off at 5.30 and a quick check on the river level revealed that is was dropping fast !!!!!! " This could pay off "  I thought. I headed off down the M61 to meet Boynie. He was waiting for me at the some noted pegs. " She dropping fast but still high Mike" came the enthusiastic deep mumble from Mr Boyne as he scanned the rivers features. We both pondered the runs in front of us for a moment. " These are not for me today Mr Boyne " said I. " I am going further upstream "  Boynie fancied a further walk so we left the well know fliers and headed to the pegs we thought more suitable. Boynie was the first into a fish, a good dace, then another an...