One of the problems of not having fished for over 25 years, is my tackle has not been used in all those years. One item that didn't age well was my tray box. All the foam that holds the floats in place had fell to bits. And getting foam today for floats is impossible.
So I got some foam strips for door insulation and then used a very sharp knife to cut the foam once I had put it in the box. And here is the end result, my float tray almost back to how it used to be.
Well today (13th April 2022) I decided to fish on Bowker Vale in Blackley, another of Broughton Anglers waters. I remembers many years ago there were two waters owned by Bowker Vale Anglers and the waters were well known for their Chub, which is a bit more unusual for a stillwater.
There were once two waters, a lower lake and a upper lake. The lower lake is no longer, and is all but filled in apart from a small part. But the upper lake is still there and is a lovely little water.
Bowker Vale.
I had no idea what to expect fish wise, so I went armed with two rods. One being my match rod, fished with 4lb line and size 14 hook, the other rod I fished Carp style, 11 ft Avon rod with optonic bite alarm and swinger bite indicator.
For bait I planned to use Maggot on the Match Rod and changing to Sweetcorn when needed. As I fished I soon found out there seemed to be a never ending supply of small Roach. So I would change to sweetcorn to slow bites down and hopefully catch a better specimen or two.
On the Carp rod I was trying something partly new, for hook bait i was using Broad Beans, which i have used before many times. But I decided to add boiled hemp and crushed broad beans as a ground bait. I first tried to use a blender to break the beans up, but it turned to a mush, so I chopped the remaining beans. Next time I will chop them instead, because a mush just does not work.
For ground bait I have been using a worm/hemp mix, with added crushed hemp and my own boiled hemp, and as an added attracter I save the water I boil the hemp in and add it to the ground bait.
So firstly I set the carp rod up, I used a simple running lead and a 6 inch hook link with a number 6 hook, the bait went on the hook. Line was 6lb.
Lift Float set
Then I set the match rod up. Simple Lift waggler and started of with maggots. Bites soon arrived and I was catching roach after roach. There seemed to be loads in my swim, so I changed to sweetcorn in the hope of picking up a nice specimen. A few bigger ones came along plus the odd Rudd or two, but nothing major. I kept changing from Corn to Maggot throughout the day.
