FlyFish30Plus

 Grr Fly reels (well mine anyway) take 50 yards/metres of backing and a full fly line so why do manufacturers insist on supplying backing on 100m plus spools!!! Just spent the morning measuring out the 50m I need from a 100m spool and then the next 3 hours trying to untangle it, as the whole 100m only cost £6 there is a huge temptation just to bin the tangled 50m and use the 50m that is still on the spool. Surely there is a way of either just supplying spools of 50m (cardboard would be fine) or marking the backing every 50m so that you could just take it from the spool to the reel knowing that you had 50m!!! It should not be this hard

 Hurrah its Wednesday and looking forwards to my new jacket arriving which it duly did at 12:30 Quite impressed is my first impression, it is thicker (warmer) than I thought it would be and has decent sized bellows pockets and a couple of zipped handwarmers, it also has a zipped inside pocket that would easily hold a phone and some keys. No D rings apart from on the back for a net which probably won't be used but the addition of a couple of clip on zingers sort of makes up for the lacking D rings The only other slight irritation (which again I knew about) is that there is no inside stash pocket but I think I can live with that Can fit it on with 3 layers including padded jacket below it so think I am pretty much sorted for any weather I am likely to be fishing in Really looking forwards to trying it out at the weekend Another new arrival today was an airflo 6th sense sweep DI5 which I have been trying to get hold of for ages - at least July last year - no welded loops which is a bi...

 Strange to think that this time last year I had only been fishing 3 times in 30 odd years, strange how once the interest is retriggered it becomes (with me anyway) a little bit obsessive. Whilst looking back on the enjoyable 1/2 day I had last week it occurred to me that rather than trash my other jackets I should probably get myself a dedicated fishing jacket which with a bit of luck would also have enough pockets etc to store all the little bits of stuff that you 'need' for a days fishing Had a bit of a search online and to be honest was a all a bit disappointing, there is no way I am paying £500 plus for a SIMMS jacket, particularly as it has SIMMS plastered all over it in large letters and I also do not want a wading jacket as the type of fishing I am currently doing does not require waders and I would rather have a longer length jacket to protect the top of my legs somewhat. All I was looking for was a 3/4 length waterproof jacket with handwarmer pockets, pockets large en...

 Weather has turned far less pleasant again with 35mph gusts forecast for Saturday with only slightly lighter on Sunday. Was planning on spending a couple of hours at Haywards farm following on from last week but that is now not going to happen as my days of doing battle with 35mph winds are I believe over. However being the nightmare I am I decided to stock up on a few new flies, selection of mini muddlers in sizes 10 and 12, a few buzzers in 10 and 12 and a couple of size 10 and 12 cormorants. As I was ordering these I was definately thinking I should start tieing my own again, the only issue is that I will need to research vices as I don't need a professional one but have learnt in the past that buying the cheapest usually results in buying twice So this weekends task is to research vices and try to make a decision

 Dying to get out and try my new Stillmaniac but do not have the time to go to either Draycote or Eyebrook so decide to return to the scene of the purchase at Sportfish Reading and try my luck on the Haywards Farm water that is run by them Arrived at the 9:00 opening time and was somewhat surprised to find about 15 cars already there as I had phoned yesterday and they said they only had 2 people booked in. Never mind went into the lodge and got myself a 2 fish plus catch and release ticket, quick conversation revealed that had been fishing well with the fish high in the water and the right hand bank was suggested as a good start point (the bank outside the lodge was already pretty full) Tackled up - Stillmaniac Slo Mo on the Stillmaniac with a size 10 Apps Worm, floater on the Onki with a size 10 Red Butt Buzzer on the point and a size 12 Orange Okie Dokie on the dropper Wandered round and found the first open spot on the bank, started with the Stillamaniac, wind was against me and...

 With the new season about to get underway as the weather turns a bit warmer (I took the decision that fishing is meant to be fun and I no longer have any desire to fish in temperatures of anywhere near freezing) I thought I would remind myself of how much my equipment changed over the last 12 months which was effectively my first full season for 30 odd years. Beginning of 2022 Season     Rod                         10'6" John Norris 2 Piece from the mid 1980's     Reel                         Wychwood SLA 2 Cassette      Lines                        Wychwood Floater, Fast Inter, 10' sink tip, DI3, DI5, DI7     Net                      ...

 Finally got round to going to try out a new rod, I have decided I need 2 purely from a convenience point of view as I am extremely lazy and on several occaisions over the last season I was thinking that I should change lines at various points in the day but on a significant number of those occasions I did not bother as the thought of changing back after 1/2 an hour just seemed too much hassle. I will never know whether or not that cost me fish but I think having 2 rods set up will encourage me to swap more often I absolutley love my 10ft #7 Vision Onki but am looking I think for a rod with a bit more grunt for sinking line work, the only 10ft#7 I did not test that was in my price range (anything up to around £600) when purchasing the Onki was as it happens the Vision Stillmaniac, so having confirmed they had one in stock went to Sprotfish to give it a whirl Has taken me this long to back to testing a new rod mainly due to the fact that the wind has been a bit ridiculous over the l...

 Spent the last couple of weeks catalogueing my flies and making sure I have links to the suppliers websites if I need to replenish stocks. Started off buying flies in quantitites of 5 to make sure I would not run out on any particular day, now revised that policy as there are a reasonable number of flies in my box that I will not use very often (if at all) so now buying them in 2's with a view to increasing the number once I am confident in using them, this will mean hopefully that over time the flies in my box will only be the ones that I actually have some confidence in

 Bought the new Onki last July and generally really really pleased with it. Would like to try the Stillmaniac also by Vision as I am wondering whether it has a bit more oomph for dealing with heavy sinking lines, which I am using less but still come out at some stage on most trips Sportfish Reading have one in that I can try out so off there to give it a cast alongside my current Onki. Not a good day for testing rods - gusts of over 35mph meant that any comparison was meaningless, nice rod though and definately stiffer and heavier than the Onki Will need to come back on a less windy day to give it a proper test as I cannot justify spending £400+ without a decent test