Lee Swords Fishing

It has been a good fishing month without doing a vast amount of fishing if that makes any sense whatsoever. It has been good in that I have caught up with lots of friends and acquaintances at the Barbel Society National Convention that was held somewhere below Leicester and into Warwickshire…I cannot be too specific as I was asleep for the most of the journey there and back and wasn’t very good company for Danny or James Johnson.

Inside the venue there were the usual suspects waiting to ply their wares, a nefarious bunch of reprobates that for the most part looked to be nursing the odd hangover here and there.

Not that I am knocking a good hangover, it is part and parcel of having a good weekend…Unless it goes too far and some unfortunate person ends up sleeping in their car all the following day unable to enjoy proceedings because some idiot had two bottles of whiskey in his camera bag…Sorry Tony….My bad.

My only concern would be the lack of punters, willing to buy from them. I know these things are not compulsory and you cannot force people to attend but marketing can make a massive difference.

Barbel are the biggest draw on running water therefore barbel fishermen make up the greatest percentage of running water anglers, it should follow suit that occasions such as this should be rammed to the hilt and money be changing owners hand over fist.

There are some clever chaps out there in the fishing world that have a big voice and a lot of clout, I think it is time the Barbel Society seconds them onto a “steering committee” that will focus on getting more people into the Society and more people through the door of the National and Regional meetings.

But that is a subject for other people to  discuss and a problem to be sorted on another day, I simply say things as I see them and for me the Barbel Society is shooting too low and not punching its weight.

Like I said, it was good to catch up with old friends but also to meets some new ones, here is a chap called Christophe Pelhate of Razzia Fishing Systems who promotes the “Bang On” bait delivery system that takes the old pike anglers trick of using balloons to drift a bait out to a  whole new level.

Christophe called it the poormans baitboat but I think that is doing it a little bit of an injustice, I think it is for want of a better word ingenious!

It mixes method feeders with PVA tactics as well as giving the angler a whole new delivery system, it WILL catch fish if used correctly.

Paul Fisk was also on site with his range of almost indestructible swim feeders and I treated myself to a selection of 4-6oz feeders that should last me the whole season…I bought 6.

I don’t like fishing ultra snaggy swims on rivers as I don’t like losing tackle, therefore these little beauties should last the duration with very few worries.

I have some of his original hair roller feeders that are three or four seasons old, they are ace but I have to say I prefer his new soft metal feeders that bend and can be reshaped at ease.

Feeders are the original re-usable PVA method…Ignore them at your peril!

Andrew Field of Lure of the Float with his traditional handmade fishing tackle  had a stall with a selection of his handmade floats, which were for want of a better word ” art”, if ever the term ” Fishing Porn” was to be used in the correct context it would be for these beauties, stunning workmanship that covered a wide variety of scenarios,I especially loved the large quills and pike bobs…they were bloody tremendous!

What was especially good to see ( even though I am now connected with The Hookbait Company) was the reemergence of my old mate Dave Mason and his superb range of baits, how can I say that when I am with Hookbait Company you may ask, quite simple really, I say it as I see it, I am not one of these sponsored anglers that swap and jump from one superb all fish catching company to another, I pick and choose my connections carefully and money doesn’t come into it, its about integrity. The Hook Bait Company produces some extremely good baits and so does Dave Mason and Andy Clitheroe of A.C Baits, in fact their ranges are very complimentary towards each other and if truth be told mixing and matching some of their produce would provide baits that are greater than the sum of their parts.

One thing I was excited about was the new “Grab and Go” range that has been released by Darren at HBC…We have been playing with the concept of a bucket containing everything needed to fish in a manner very similar to how I would attack the Trent, they are not quite perfected yet and some tweaking will occur but where they are is at a very strong starting point for a concept. In time we may be able to supply individually tailored buckets that contain specific items required to meet bespoke recommendations, what we supply at this point is everything needed to fish for barbel at the drop of a hat.

And that is something I think will make this a winning product, no longer will an angler have to think about pellets, pastes, bag-mix, boillies and glugs…They will all be in one bucket ready to go…and at a tenner a bucket you cannot really go wrong for that!

 

And the added extra…

If you place the bucket outside your bivvy it is guaranteed to put vermin and small children off whilst at the same time attracting beautiful young women and everything with fins into the vicinity.

Honest.

 

 

 

    Time to knock Halal and Kosher on the head!!

 

I am a meat eater, I love eating meat, it is natural to enjoy eating meat, it is what we as a species was designed to do, look  at our teeth. We have a combination of incisors, canines, bicuspids and molars, we are omnivores…

But Halal and Kosher meat processing is an abomination to humanity, it goes against everything that modern evolved humans should hold dear.

No animal should be put through the anguish of having to be processed that way, it is wrong!

Halal is creeping into everyday life to appease the minority but highly vocal Muslim populations of the world, Kosher it seems slips under the radar as the vast majority of Jews are content with their lot and do not wish to press their requirements on the larger population.

And that is where the larger population needs to wake the fuck up and start opening their mouths a little bit more and state in no uncertain terms that “We are not having it, it is not our belief system that states Halal ( or Kosher) is the way that that meat needs to be processed, we do not require an Islamic ( or Jewish) prayer to be said as the animal has its throat cut and is allowed to bleed out so that we may enjoy our portion of meats upon our plate.

What we need to do now is get “choosy”, no longer should we simply pick up what is placed before us like mindless drones, we need to start saying “No”

It really is that easy, ” No, I will not eat your lamb, mutton, goat or chicken, no I will not eat your religiously processed beef, you can leave it to rot on the fucking shelves because I am not eating it!”

And the easiest way to avoid it is quite simple…

We need to eat more pork.

Pork is forbidden in both Islamic and Jewish culture, therefore pork is processed in a far more human manner in accordance with animal rights legislation and pork comes in many different shapes and sizes to suit the tastes of the consumer, why have turkey bacon when the pig produces real bacon?

Either that or source your meat from a local butcher or from MORRISONS Super Markets that only stock locally ethically slaughtered meat, that way you know that your conscience is clear.

Here is a statement from  MORRISONS
“We only sell 100% British fresh Beef, Lamb and Poultry, non of it is HALAL. The vast majority of our fresh Beef and Lamb is processed at our own abattoirs in Britain. Our own labelled Beef and poultry is all UK slaughtered and not Halal.”
“Our own labelled frozen Lamb is currently sourced from New Zealand and is Halal. The interest in this subject has resulted in us reviewing our labeling policy”
“All of our meat from the UK as stated is definitely not Halal.”

So if we avoid the frozen lamb at MORRISONS and stick to the UK labeled stuff it is all good, we can eat with a clear conscience.

If we win this first battle we can then move on to the next stage and emulate Denmark in banning Kosher and Halal meats from the food chain, or at least from the resale and general food supply chain so that is does not  get into general population supply, people that for the most part find the concept repulsive.

Muslims and Jews can still buy it for home consumption but it will for all intents and purposes be banned from all other outlets unless they choose to register as Halal and Kosher Outlets and have a large sticker on show in the window so that consumers can decide whether or not they wish to partake in this barbaric practice.

In the short term sign this petition!!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/51469

Lets have a butterfly and bug update to lighten the mood a bit

The Butterfly season is well and truly up and running now, the fodder plants are really starting to fly up and come into blossom and it is this that triggers the cycle of emergence, there is little point in butterflies emerging whilst their fodder plants are still too small to be a worthwhile target. at this point in time I am on eight species at Bowden Houstead which are Brimstone, Small White, Green Veined White, Orange Tip, large White, Comma, Peacock and Small Tortoise.

On top of this I have been seeing some really nice bugs..if bugs float your boat that is…I like bugs, they serve a purpose in the greater scheme of things even if I don’t understand the scheme of things myself, they deserve a little respect.

take the little Green Long-horned Fairy moth as an example…

I have no idea what purpose it serves in the circle of life other than it makes me smile when I see them fluttering about.

And do you know what…that is enough for me.

Or this super-sized weevil type creature busy filling its face on some Hog Weed…It was certainly not the lesser of two Weevils when compared to the tiny little panda faced weevil I saw on the river Loxly, a tiny little thing half the size of a grain of rice.

I have no idea what species they are…but I like them.

For all I know they may be invasive, destructive parasites that could doom us all to destruction…then again they may be Church of England.

 

P.S

I am an idiot…I have done 9 species of butterfly not 8…how could I forget the Speckled Wood!