Not that I'm tight

Now I'm not tight ,but when it comes to waders and boots I've wasted time and money in the past dealing with sub standard garbage that has failed first time out. In addition, continued to do so when replaced. Following on from this, the last waders I bought were a pair of Visions from Diver Dave in Aberdeen. He sells returns which are fixed, actually quality checked and retailed again by Dave at a decent price.

These have been a great buy for £100, season 5 I think. I did notice a few leaks here and there at the weekend so brutally repaired them with Neoprene Queen. I've used this wetsuit repair material on feet before as well as these waders last season. I didn't expect to get another year out them but I'm now intending to finish the year with these. Yeah, a disgrace, I know. I'll treat myself to a new pair from Dave before I go to Denmark in April 2019. Barnacle covered rocks/saltwater knocks the shit out of this kit.

Neoprene Queen might provide a handy leak solution in the field if you're not fussy about the look.It dries faster than the clear alternatives, especially in the warmer months.

My boots aren't any better. The soles are OK, still intact with studs, not sure how they've survived. Second pair of Scierra Riptides in 8 years, not bad going. The insole collapsed last time out and recess for the stud burst the stocking foot, again, Neoprene Queen sorted that. I drew around my foot on an exercise mat and made some inserts. They might not last but I've about 6 feet of it left :0)

I'm sure if you're reading this thinking about gently treading through gravel on a chalk stream in a pair of £600 Simms you'll be laughing. Wait till the barb wire fence gets you! These will be going cheap in November, you can get in touch and I'll throw in a free box of hankies....

I've also rinsed the last of the value from my Daiwa Certate 10 3000. It's still working but I'll break it for spairs maybe? At £90 for a spare spool( I have this one and a spare) and an RCZ double handle. This was £75 when I lost the original walking to a mark! Believe it or not, the standard handle was also £90 to replace, the RCZ was a bargain eh? It's been a good reel but me, along with a lot of others are over the Magseal nonsense. In addition to that ,at the start of last year Daiwa were looking at £300 to put it right, almost the same price as a new reel. Daiwa did fix it year 1 after it ended up at the bottom of Cork harbour for a wee while. At that point they replaced the the gears in it under warranty, kind of strange it needed this done in year 1 though? It's now 6 years old, caught a lot of fish so I shouldn't complain too much I guess, or should I, at nearly £400 when it was new?

The now retired Certate at the front and its better value little brothers up the back

I like Daiwa reels/products and I want to support jobs in Scotland but I'm done with high end reels for fishing in this country. There is adequate specification at a much lower price point for my fishing. With that in mind I've added another 2 Excelers to the stable, a new 2500 A and 3000 HA to add to my 2506.These reels have a decent specification and both come with spare spools. I bought both of these last week for £110. I did consider the new Daiwa BG, looks the business, great reviews but no spare spool.

That should be me well covered for reels and line options without breaking the bank- happy days!

Lean machine

Nice to be out again two weeks on the bounce. I cant complain, would have liked a better picture of this fish, preferably in June, when it will have packed on some weight.

       4 jumps and a couple of nice runs before it was slipped back, 52.5cm

I had a couple of other fish as well, nice day when I was out of the wind. The week ahead looks fun, amber weather warnings and the beast from the east! I'll be giving it a miss next weekend anyway, hopefully we'll be in a milder spell next time out. 

Like a few other bloggers I'll start listing the gear I use on my sessions. I'll update any posts made  this year on the off chance it's of interest to anyone reading my blog now and in the future. 

• Rod- Century HPR 9ft 5-28g
• Reel-Daiwa Exceler 2500HA
• Braid- Sufix 832 0.14
• Leader- Seaguar  Red Label fluro10 pound BS, Riverge 2mm ring connection
• Lures-Magic Minnow D360,black/silver and "the German"UV Tyskeren

Everyday is like Sunday

River at full pelt , not surprisingly the water level was way up in the loch with the snow melt. I switched on the Lowrance , 2.8c ,oh dear... That is very cold, ever the optimist I pushed off in to the greyness with an earworm and Morrissey's lyrics in my  head. 

All of the above I chose to ignore...

Not much to show for a days fishing, at least one Pike fancied a snack, the free hanging treble was pinned to right of the last tooth mark, in the root of the tail, typical.

I opted to float fish a sardine at one point but I had also underestimated how cold it was. I couldn't hack it after 20 mins sitting still. My layering under my drysuit wasn't right today, something I'm putting down to hurried prep last night. No hot drink either, schoolboy errors really.

I made some nice trippy screen shots with the plotter screen on structure scan overlay, the wind caught me and I spun around. I've not used this much but played around with it today being cold and bored senseless for the most part.

One of my perch spots on the top right, it kind of adds a dimension as you travel. I should get my arse in to gear and set up Insight Genesis. That's job for next week, it could just help me catch that one fish on day like today when everything was stacked against me. 

So I'm having a glass of wine  and drying my eyes, boo hoo.... Not sure what to get up to next weekend? It wont be here:0)

• Rods -Savage Gear 7ft Big lure/jerk 150g/ Rovex Quad Pro 8ft 20-40g
• Reels-Okuma Citrix/Daiwa Caldia X
• Line Powerpro 60pound/Sufix Tritanium 18pound
• Lures- various, Westin Monster Teez,Fox Pro Shad, Bass Assassin Sea Shad
• Hobie Outback/Lowrance 7Ti

Morethan acceptable

The sea trout season started last week, on a Sunday as it happens. As such , I had to to wait till today to get my fix, it's been months since I crunched some shingle under my boots! My Century HPR stayed in the car on this occasion as I had a new rod to play with today. I recently picked up a brand new Daiwa Morethan AGS 88M Shooting Commander for Savage Gear money off of eBay. It would need to be some rod to take the place of the Century for my sea trout fishing so I was keen to see what I made of it.

 The first spot I that tried a seal popped up within minutes so I moved about 100 yards away. It wasn't active and stayed where it was, it looked like it was sleeping, probably on a full belly. I did have few light knocks, these were transmitted down the blank much better than I would have imagined. This would have been greatly improved if the fore-grip was an inch shorter. I found not being able to put my forefinger on the blank annoying. That aside,it was certainly sending the 18g D360 line thru out some distance and I had to hold back as I could empty the braid spool on my Daiwa 2500. The AGS is 8inches shorter than my Century and it did take me a short while to sort my casting out, both rods are very different ,certainly a nice rod to fish with though.

 The best way I can describe the subtle takes you get from seat trout sometimes is that it's almost like a vibration. I felt this and on the third stop the fish took the lure, almost under the rod tip.

The usual thrashy close range scrap ensued with the fish  lodging itself in some bladder wrack but that was this years account opened at least.

After a move the sun came out, and when it did, it helped me spot some fish following the lure. Putting stops in the retrieve made no difference and after changing lures a few times I tried a teaser below the lure.

This got me two small sea trout in four casts, nice when it works like that!

This is the set up, oval split ring to the treble, heavy fluro from the hook eye to fly. 

It looks industrial, it can tangle and don't even think about it with suspended weed in the water. It will do your head in. It is however effective with a sparsely tied fly. I vary the length of this section, today it was about 8 inches of 19 BS pound Seaguar Ace Hard.

 It has to be pretty stiff and abrasion resistant or you just spend more time sorting tangles and worrying about it breaking.

Having had one last move I was walking between some trees with my net across my back from my shoulder to my hip. I'm never far away from some bawbaggery and today was no different. I clearly misjudged the gap in the trees, my net got caught on both sides, it gave a crack and broke into several pieces. I swore and told myself that I needed a new net anyway, at the same time, keep the new rod out the trees....

I had one other fish before the seals took over, four of them this time, out gunned by the locals I headed back to my car. Hopefully on Sunday I'll get my first Pike of the year.

In truth, I bought the rod for use on my kayak and also as a back up to my HPR for shore bass fishing. I think it will be great for that. The rods poky and with a casting rate of 7-40g I suspected it would be too heavy for my sea trout fishing and I was correct, in all but the most extreme conditions. These rods are known to be fragile, the guides cost a packet to replace if you break one, would I pay the RRP for one? No I wouldn't.

In terms of what it cost me it was great value, roll on summer and the start of my bass fishing.

• Rod- Daiwa Morethan AGS 7-40g
• Reel- Daiwa Exceler  2500HA
• Braid -Sufix 832 0.14
• Leader- Seaguar Red Label 10pound fluro/ connection Riverge 2mm ring
• Lures -Magic Minnow D360 UV sinking wedding, black/silver and Hansen Herring black/red, white/red.