Thursday, May 17, 2007
Baliff & Test Session LCL 13th May 2007
Weather:
Rain
Pressure 1001 mb falling
Wind Light 2mph NE
Relative Humidity 65%
With a 4 hour window in a hectic weekend this was a quick bailiff and testing session.
I awoke at 0800 having returned from Salisbury at 0130 hrs after attending my Nephews wedding, Had a quick peep through the curtains to view the weather – The forecasted rain had not yet arrived so I made the decision get up and go.
Ann (Wife) was away on our Daughters (Emily’s) Hen Weekend in Spain and my mate Steve coming round to watch the West Ham / Man Utd Premiership football match at 2pm, with rain on the way I had to be quick.
This was a 2 test item session:
Rain
Pressure 1001 mb falling
Wind Light 2mph NE
Relative Humidity 65%
With a 4 hour window in a hectic weekend this was a quick bailiff and testing session.
I awoke at 0800 having returned from Salisbury at 0130 hrs after attending my Nephews wedding, Had a quick peep through the curtains to view the weather – The forecasted rain had not yet arrived so I made the decision get up and go.
Ann (Wife) was away on our Daughters (Emily’s) Hen Weekend in Spain and my mate Steve coming round to watch the West Ham / Man Utd Premiership football match at 2pm, with rain on the way I had to be quick.
This was a 2 test item session:
Item 1 – Suzy – Our 2 year Old Jack Russell
Test Objectives: Will she be content in sitting with me for a long period. Given that there should be no one else fishing the only distraction would be the ramblers and dog walkers that frequent the lake...
Item 2 - TFG Force 8 Day Shelter (10 second Erection).
Test Objectives: Erection Time – How much of my tackle can I protect and still fish sensibly– Does it leak
Having arrived loaded all my Tackle on to my Chub Barrow and walked to Peg 18. – I always take most of my gear – Always gives me the flexibility to change modes of fishing, but the downside is that it takes up a lot of space but I have the loading/ offloading to fine Art – I had the addition of the TFG Force 8 day Shelter which is quite bulky but laid across the top of my pile on the barrow.
The Shelter was an internet purchase from Fishtec 3 weeks previous for £69.99 – The price of a Quality Umbrella I thought but with added bonus Bivvy types protection plus the promise of quick erection time. The day I received this I was surprise by the length of it when collapsed, but even more surprised how long it took to figure out how to erect it, the photo based instruction sheet is not that clear – For someone with an Engineering degree I was embarrassed that I could not immediately understand the physics of it. My 1st was 30 minutes to erect the 10 minutes to collapse.
Test Objectives: Will she be content in sitting with me for a long period. Given that there should be no one else fishing the only distraction would be the ramblers and dog walkers that frequent the lake...
Item 2 - TFG Force 8 Day Shelter (10 second Erection).
Test Objectives: Erection Time – How much of my tackle can I protect and still fish sensibly– Does it leak
Having arrived loaded all my Tackle on to my Chub Barrow and walked to Peg 18. – I always take most of my gear – Always gives me the flexibility to change modes of fishing, but the downside is that it takes up a lot of space but I have the loading/ offloading to fine Art – I had the addition of the TFG Force 8 day Shelter which is quite bulky but laid across the top of my pile on the barrow.
The Shelter was an internet purchase from Fishtec 3 weeks previous for £69.99 – The price of a Quality Umbrella I thought but with added bonus Bivvy types protection plus the promise of quick erection time. The day I received this I was surprise by the length of it when collapsed, but even more surprised how long it took to figure out how to erect it, the photo based instruction sheet is not that clear – For someone with an Engineering degree I was embarrassed that I could not immediately understand the physics of it. My 1st was 30 minutes to erect the 10 minutes to collapse.
The key thing I learned was that the font rods must not be clipped to the skin(not in the instructions) and that you have to twist it over the centre Front rod swivel to erect relatively quickly and then unclip but maintain the swivel in its erect position to collapse. After 5 attempts I got it down to 1 minute. I am sure the 10 sec claim relates to when you have it laid out sliding the centre section slider. The best way I found was to invert it then push the centre slider.
Back to the session. I set up a ledger and Alarm with Spam and gently lowered the bait into the Margins in peg 26 and walked it back to my Swim. It was time to set up the shelter as it just started to rain. Much to my amazement I had it up within a minute. I did not peg it down as I wanted to have the ability to move it around if the wind got up as anticipated. I set up my Pole Roost within the Shelter – it has enough depth to hold one section length of my middy Hot Spot pole. The barrow (including bait sack) to my left and the Seat box in the centre – All rather cosy.
That said this would certainly not suit Match Fishing _ well with the gear I go with – If I reduced that down to a classic match fishing kit then it maybe Ok– ideal for pleasure session in the rain though – I like the Pole shipping with a robust vent Velcro fixing to hold down if not using or to hold up when in use. However being a tall guy with my seat box up high the vent is too low which meant I kept missing it when naturally shipping back. For a normal sized angler (95 percentile) should be OK..
As the wind shifted and veered – in several different direction I received an occasional flurry of water. When the wind shifted to front on the sheltered did try to lift off, That was the signal to peg it down – I used my Bivvy (Chub) pegs as the peg supplied do not look substantial enough..
Item One – Suzy – What can I say - she was brilliant – did not wander off too far – although I did have to exit the comfort of the shelter a couple times as she had gone out of sight behind but only sitting patiently behind the shelter. She sat contently on my lap even during when I was fighting Fish (3lb Tench and 3lb Common carp ) with the Middy hot spot – What a good buy that ahs been so well balanced fighting fish one handed with a dog sat n my lap !!!
I managed to take the picture on Suzy on my lap with my Phone camera at Arms length.
Back to the session. I set up a ledger and Alarm with Spam and gently lowered the bait into the Margins in peg 26 and walked it back to my Swim. It was time to set up the shelter as it just started to rain. Much to my amazement I had it up within a minute. I did not peg it down as I wanted to have the ability to move it around if the wind got up as anticipated. I set up my Pole Roost within the Shelter – it has enough depth to hold one section length of my middy Hot Spot pole. The barrow (including bait sack) to my left and the Seat box in the centre – All rather cosy.
That said this would certainly not suit Match Fishing _ well with the gear I go with – If I reduced that down to a classic match fishing kit then it maybe Ok– ideal for pleasure session in the rain though – I like the Pole shipping with a robust vent Velcro fixing to hold down if not using or to hold up when in use. However being a tall guy with my seat box up high the vent is too low which meant I kept missing it when naturally shipping back. For a normal sized angler (95 percentile) should be OK..
As the wind shifted and veered – in several different direction I received an occasional flurry of water. When the wind shifted to front on the sheltered did try to lift off, That was the signal to peg it down – I used my Bivvy (Chub) pegs as the peg supplied do not look substantial enough..
Item One – Suzy – What can I say - she was brilliant – did not wander off too far – although I did have to exit the comfort of the shelter a couple times as she had gone out of sight behind but only sitting patiently behind the shelter. She sat contently on my lap even during when I was fighting Fish (3lb Tench and 3lb Common carp ) with the Middy hot spot – What a good buy that ahs been so well balanced fighting fish one handed with a dog sat n my lap !!!
I managed to take the picture on Suzy on my lap with my Phone camera at Arms length.
Time came to pack up. With the shelter being wet I did not attempt to completely pack it up – just collapsed it and put in the back of the car – on top of the other tackle.
This is where the limitation of having a single Garage full of everything bar a car To dry the shelter out you need a single garage with nothing else in it . With the rain we have had since this session I have been unable e to get into the garden to pack it up correctly so it is still in its open collapsed state in the Garage.
Verdict:
Suzy: Passed the test with flying colours – will be comfortable in taking Her on any Pleasure session.
Shelter: Worth every penny. Once you get the hang of it –a doddle to erect, did not leak and water run off OK with a good shake. Not sure what the centre cover sheet is for – beautification to cover up the centre rod stack maybe ? – No real function as I can see. Will not suit me for Match Fishing – That will be under my collapsing brolly as before By the way Big enough to get a bed chair in ideal for those upcoming balmy nights. Need to test it in real wet /windy conditions.
Labels: Pleasure Fish
