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

 Morning all, I have managed to finish these wagglers this morning. The lollipop style float is mine for a local lake I fish for tench and mixed species, the other eight floats are for someone else. Once more balsa and hardwood make up the body of the floats. Eyes have been excluded from this build as rubber float connectors will be used. Stained, painted in slate grey with black and gold whippings these floats are now my go to still water float when fishing depths of less than six feet, a very sensitive float, great when maggot, caster or punch fishing. My self and "Salford Pete" should be having a social session on a local commie next week so I should get a few fish and float pictures fir a blog. TTFN   Peanut.  Please subscribe if you would like regular updates of my adventures with the floats I make.  If you would like to look at my handcrafted floats click on the link below.      https://purplepeanut007.blogspot.com/2021/02/handcrafted-floats-fish...

A long over due trip on the  Lower River Irwell  to test out my new stepped stick floats was tonight's mission. Many in our club would like to know where all the silvers and small barbel have gone ? So tonight was a scouting session to try and find them !!!!!!!!!! I opted for my Abu 704 closed faced reel tonight as the wind was a little gusty coupled with my 14 foot Acolyte Plus. Bait was two pints of white maggots, a pint of hemp. Two stepped stick float rigs were knocked up at home and stored on line winders. All was ready for my little experimental session. 😁 It took around 30 minutes or my first bite and fish, a lovely chunky dace of around 5 ounces.  I shallowed my rig a little and placed a No 4s back shot on about 15 centimetres from the float to aid my presentation and got and instant response, small but very welcome. 😁 Felling a little more confident I steadily upped my feed of hemp and maggots hoping to attracted the larger fis...

I have just completed a new  " Balsa, Domed Stick Float With An Alloy Stem " I have given this particular float a day glow red/ pink tip and a white contrast band plus black, scarlet and violet whippings. The dome is twice the width of a standard  " Retro Stick Float "  to enable use with bigger baits or for trotting at distance. Great if your eyes are not the best . . . . . . . .   like mine !!!!!!! This is a prototype and takes 7 no 4s to cock it. I am very happy with the way it looks so I have left the float featherless for a change as I feel it would detract, not enhance the floats appeal. I am sure Andrew will let me know how it performs. In the meantime I think I will make a few more of these for when we hit the  River Ribble  on opening day of the season if all goes to plan. . . . . Lol I have also personalised the float with the nick name of his new born daughter. Until the next time. . . . . ...

Closed face reels are not for everyone. As a float angler however like them immensely. 😁 These reels are great for catching silvers with on the float but they have a reputation of being poor for specimen fish due to the poor drag associated with the design. This model may change all that though. We shall see! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! All my other closed face reels are Abu's. I have a 506 M for finer fishing ( up to 3 lb line ) A 704 for medium fishing ( up to 5 lb line ) & I have just splashed out on an  Abu 507 Mk2. ( 5 lb plus . . . ) It's for barbel and big chub really and for just £45 new with three spare spools it was just to good a bargain for me to miss out on. 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉 I much prefer a closed face reel for trotting in the wind. Casting is much quicker and easier using this type of reel and it is easier to strike when stick fishing, for me anyway. A couple of my pals have 507 MK2 and have landed double figure barbel and 5 lb plus chub on...

A long awaited trip saw me trundle off down the M62 motorway to meet Neil Johnson for a perch hunt we organised a quite a while ago. I got up late so the traffic was terrible on the motorway but I arrived . . . . eventually . . . .at Neils perch pool.  I had not seen Neil for over 12 months so we said are hellos and quickly caught up with things . . . .he makes a lovely cuppa which we had two of while we swapped a few fishy tales while setting up our kit. Not to mention a bacon buttie !!!!!!!! They like to take care of themselves these specimen boys don't they lol  ! ! ! ! ! 🥓🥓🥓🍽🍽🍽 We were live baiting for perch today using my larger perch bobers. I was named as  " Head bit basher " and was in charge of catching the live bait we were to be using for this session while Neil chucked a few lures about. My bait tray consisted of pinkies and a little ground bait. Just what you would expect to catch some small silvers on. I resisted the temptation to u...