Prospecting For Silver. (Plus a bit of pseudo code nonsense)

I may have mentioned previously that about a year ago I moved to a new location. This means old haunts have become just that, which in turn requires me to go-a-prospecting on the look out for new haunts.

With each new season that arrives in this new place I scratch my head, dive into the angling rabbit hole that is google research until eventually I return to the surface gasping for air and usually with some hair-brained scheme. My fishing and what I fish for is generally governed by the seasons - especially the one relating to rivers.

Whenever I see a photo like the one below pop up in 'memories' on my phone you will always find me tapping the button entitled 'View this Day' as I have no doubt it was a good one.

It's lil-ol-me setting up the camera to take a fish photo, with me in it. Not something I regularly do when fishing alone. 

But before we get to the money shot please indulge me a moment more.

Todays trip to Frolesworth was about practicing fishing with helicopter rigs. With an upcoming trip for tench and bream planned later this week I felt like I needed it as was a bit rusty.

Like all types of fishing with bite alarms one thing you get in spades is the chance to think whilst you wait, so for shits and giggles I thought I'd summarise my helicopter rig mechanics thinking in case you found it of benefit. Please feel free to argue with me.

Of course rather than bore you with paragraph after paragraph of the English language (something I do quite enough of already) I produced the distillation below. Enjoy.

 

One thing I did remember almost straight away was that you don't need much of a drop on the bobbin with this technique. Once a fish hooks itself the lightly set baitrunner should kick in whereas if the fish runs towards you then the bobbin has a good distance to drop to the ground.

And finally on this topic, I had a 4g running back lead which bumped into a float stop set about 4ft above my hooklength ensuring everything around the feeder was on the deck. This lake is deep and although I jacked my rear rod rest up pretty high to try and achieve a straight line between my reel and the back lead my rod tip was beneath the waterline by so much I'm still not sure if I achieved this.  

I had five roach to the helicopter rig during this evening session with the biggest going 1lb 14oz.

I also fished a float rod with worms down the edge for perch and this was my largest specimen for that particular species.

And not to forget this little rascal on the ledger rod which at least gave me confidence in the strength of the rig! 

Finally then, with all the work going on in the back garden at the moment I was pleased to see the local hedgehogs are preparing for their upcoming sports day and getting some practice in for the assault course event. My money's on this guy for the cup this year. 

Cheers.