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The moon & the sledgehammer

27 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

55, cardinal, carp, carping, dexter, fishing, glass, Hardy, iv, lea, mark, moon, old, petley, phases, river, rod, school, skool

Last summer  I spent the day with author and angler, Dexter Petley, searching out river Lea carp. After many emails sent back and forth from his base camp in Normandy, Dexter finally made it to London while promoting his new book – Love, Madness, Fishing after a thirty year absence. It turned out to be a memorable day (Dexter writes about it in Fallons Angler issue 9) success came in the shape of a large Lea common. I was happy that it was Dexter that caught the near twenty, he only had one chance while I could return anytime, I felt it was the only outcome. What stood out  that day was Dexter’s boyish excitement and confidence in catching a carp, gifted by the fact we had a new moon, perhaps his whispy grey hair and talk of moon phases  captured me, spellbound in some form of carp wizardry? It was a great day, the new moon cast its spell and I became a moon child.

Almost one year on and the river season has commenced, I have been keeping a close eye on the river but the carp have disappeared, perhaps the dry spring sent the carp to deeper more oxygenated waters? On opening day I met with friends Garrett and Tony for a traditional 16th and despite many bream feeding on our groundbait our carp baits only spooked the twitchy bream, the carp were merely ghosts.

So last Saturday we entered a new lunar phase, I woke feeling half-hearted about getting up but the celestial pull took me to the river at a respectable 8.00 am, if the carp were enchanted then hopefully they were still under a spell. I arrived at a usual spot and looked into the river, below were three large carp, boisterous in their swagger as they pushed their way around the swim searching for food, it was the first carp I had seen in a while, their tails in the air, the moon had switched them on, they danced on moonbeams. River carping is not easy but sometimes it all drops into place, it did last year with Dexter and today it looked hopeful. I lowered a bait just one foot from the bank, I felt the line and watched the rod tip, thirty seconds passed and then wham, like a sledgehammer hitting the rod, the tip pulled down as the carp headed downstream, for five knee trembling minutes I fought the carp and finally landed a common, probably just under the twenty pound mark, just like Dexter’s common from last year. The wizardry of carp fishing strikes again!

The joy of engineering – The Hardy Altex

21 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in Tackle

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

altex, british, fishing, Hardy, jack, luke, mark, no2, reel, v

Continuing on with the theme of  British craftsmanship in angling,  I move from artisan float builders to Jack Luke, the engineer.

Jack Luke was an employee of Hardy’s of Alnwick from 1936-1987, a man dedicated to his job and the reels that he made. Why am I interested in Jack Luke? Well, he built my Altex Mark V No2 fishing reel over fifty years ago, having his initials stamped on the reel would have added a sense of pride to the makers at Hardy, no mass manufactured reel could adhere to this level of craftsmanship.

Why do I like these Hardy reels over more popular reels like the Mitchell 300 or the Young’s Ambidex, although both still excellent reels? The Altex is an engineers reel, the spokes on the clutch control adjuster and the tiny anti-tangle wire bar that is fixed in the bail arm are all finished by hand using soldered parts. Every reel seems to have a ‘signature’ that you don’t get with the mass produced reels. Some find the Altex to be the ugly sister compared to the french curves of the Mitchell but I like the deco looks with its combination of burnished metals.

The question now, is it any good to fish with? Yes, its excellent, despite the spool being quite narrow the Altex can cast a long way with little effort and the line lay is extremely even. The bail arm is automatically closed from an internal pawl, this makes for a very smooth action as it is triggered close to the reels central spindle, needing less inertia to trip the bail arm. And talking of smooth, the Altex clutch is exquisite compared to the Mitchell 300, it is a pleasure to turn using the front four spoked brass adjuster.

Designed originally as a spinning reel for salmon (it was probably considered too expensive for the lowly coarse angler) but it has now become popular with traditional carp anglers mainly due to the fine clutch. I shall be using it with lines from 5lb to 12lb and for a wide range of fish including chub, tench, barbel, carp and pike. This year I’m keeping my angling more simple than ever before using just one fixed spool reel, the Altex and a few centre pins where suitable.

Hardy Altex Mark V No 2
Hardy Altex Mark V No 2

Hardy Altex Mark V No 2
Hardy Altex Mark V No 2

Hardy Altex Mark V No 2
Hardy Altex Mark V No 2

Hardy Altex Mark V No 2

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Dropped in tonight to see the magnificent Balcombe Lake, Spent many nights here as a teenager mainly catching bream.
Fallons Angler 21 has arrived, the creative guns are blasting for 22 and 23, for me though the cameras have laid relatively dormant over the last year, but slowly we are picking up pace, plenty of new films organised and ready to shoot including this one ‘Wildie’ which includes an author and conservationist, a farmer, a musician and a load of feral carp, wrapped in a stunning landscape. #wildcarp #feralcarp
#local
Down by the River today #sussex #cuckmere #chubbing
TBH we’ve spent most of the day by the fire
Part of my cultural apprenticeship, thank you #ripchickcorea
Just when you turn a corner...#saveleamarshes
Thinking about the merits of moving to a derelict house in Sussex #littletollerbooks #greenmanofhoram
I’ve been aware of this kit bag all of my life, it went on family camping trips in the seventies but I only understood what it was about ten years ago. It’s a great thing #raf
Good to be out filming today. Covid compliant
Pleasingly grey today
You know 2020...
Sanctum #hackneymarshes
Keep it in the family- Back cover for the forthcoming issue of Fallon’s Angler by Lucy Merriman

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