Greeting to everyone..

[Watermole+]

Hello to all!

I found this Forum by chance, yesterday and enrolled then, but being "The Ides of March", thought it prudent not to tempt providence and delay the saying of a few words until the morrow!

I have lived most of my life in the western end of the Great Britain and grew up beside a small but secluded and delightfully peaceful moorland river there.
I started (proper) fishing for trout, occasional sea trout-and very occasional salmon-in 1948 and have more-or-less continued to do so ever since, firstly with a home-made rod and worm, then later with the fly-sometimes a spinner-but almost always with fly, which I love.

Other species of fish were unknown and unseen until about 1961, when on a rare visit as a guest on a North Devon river, I caught my first non-salmonid..a dace on a fly intended for trout!

I freely confess to having only a very limited idea about what are rather-in my opinion-misnamed, 'coarse' fish and their pursuit, but have since that time, caught (only a few) carp from a small lake and have been on an expedition to the River Wye in an attempt to net a barbel. My hosts caught several of the species up to almost 13lbs. but I have yet to experience hooking one..! I have however, landed one tench of about 5lbs. on a replica RW Mk.5 Avon rod and "Rapidex" reel, also did successfully net my one-and-only grayling, a fish of a respectable 2lbs. on upstream nymph from The charming River Monnow, from day-ticket water.

My first 'proper' rod was an A.E.Rudge, 2-piece 'boy's rod', which I still have, on which I once landed a 6lbs. salmon. Apart from a 9' Hardy "Gold Medal", which was a wedding present, still in use, all the rods I own are of my own make and design, a hobby I started in the '50s and continue yet, making everything required at home, with the aid of an ancient but serviceable, small hobby lathe.
I also make my own flies, lures and other tackle such as nets etc., dress my own silk fly-lines and do repairs on other peoples' fishing paraphanalia. I very recently completed my first, completely scratch-built, 2 3/4" fly-reel and am currently working on a small 7' 6" fly rod to go with it.
I intend to do a little more "coarse" (I do dislike that term) fishing in my more senior years, to which end I have made a double-built, 3-piece barbel/light carp rod, and have plans to make a reproduction "Perfection float" rod, to go with my-as yet, new and unused-Allcocks Match Aerial reel and much look forward to learning as much as is possible about the subject from this wonderful forum!

With regards to all,

watermole+

[Snape]

Welcome to the forum watermole+ feel free to join in :hat:

[Mark]

Welcome to the forum watermole+, a small community that I hope you will enjoy. :hat:

It sounds like you have skills that I can only dream of and as for the word ‘coarse’ I agree, it is not the best of words. I class my self as a 'pleasure fisher', a more pleasing term I think.

[J.T]

Welcome to the forum Watermole+. :hat:

[MGs]

Welcome. It would be nice to see some images of the tackle you have made, when you have settled in.

[SeanM]

:thumb: Excellent. Look forward to some interesting discussions on tackle.

[Tony1964]

Welcome aboard Watermole+

[Watermole+]

Many thanks to you all for such a warm and friendly welcome! ..already I feel quite at home here and will contribute to the Forum as and when suitable.

I will post some pictures of past tackle projects soon...

Once again, Thank You!

wm+

[Beresford]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds as if you have some very special tackle.

May I ask about your MkV Avon, how does this differ from the MkIV?

[Watermole+]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds as if you have some very special tackle.

May I ask about your MkV Avon, how does this differ from the MkIV?

Thank you Beresford; I made this one some time ago now and at the time, did not have the official taper specifications, so the result was something a little stronger and more tip-actioned than the B.James version, but not as powerful as the Mk.4 carp rod, of which I also made my own version, (being 5/8"AF to 5/32"AF continuous taper over 10'). It was also devoid of intermediate tyings and has a handle length of 22" as against the correct 24".
This rod is due for a refit soon as I was never happy with the line guides, viz. always thought the huge butt ring looked disproportionate to the rod.( in my opinion it was never necessary, even with fixed-spool reels). I will post some pictures for you when complete on the rod-making section..

With regards,

wm+