Preston Carbonactive Excel float rod

Everybody had only nice things to say about the Preston rods and the Excel was their most expensive float rod. About two years ago when I was looking for that allround float rod that I would use for everything from small roach to up to 10 lbs carp this was supposed to be THE ROD for me. So I bought it and the first impression was excellent. The action was crispier than that of rods I previously used and the overall aspect was very nice. Absolutely thrilled with it, I fished it about 20 times until when fishing for small carp using 3lbs Korum line, the upper part of the middle section snapped just under the spigot joint. This was replaced of course but living in the wrong part of Europe the delivery took about three months. And after a long period of expectation: it broke again exactly the same way! So the next thing to do after the section was replaced the second time was to trade it for another rod.

So, it is indeed a beautiful rod but would I recommend it? Of course not.

Jiāng Xuě

I think this beautiful Chinese poem called 'River Snow' portrays an appropriate image of these times. With all this harsh weather I can but only think about angling from the comfort of my warm home drinking hot cocoa.

 This roughly translates as:

Thousands of mountains and no bird in flight

Tens of thousands of paths where the footprints disappeared

A lonely old man in a boat with bamboo cloak and hat

Angles alone in the cold river snow

Knot for the spade end hook

This spade-end hook knot is by far my favorite. Simple and strong, it can be used with fairly low diameter nylon and needs less lubrication than most. I usually wet the hook-length with water or saliva before tying it but even if you don't it still tightens up in a way that doesn't damage the line. The basic diagram is this:

How I tie it:

The piece of line that I twist around the shank about ten times gets fairly twisted but it straightens up once it gets pulled on the other side. The ends must be pulled to tighten properly afterwards. 

The Valley

I don’t remember much about the days before I started fishing but about 23 years ago with a willow rod and some stronger-than-average thread, a needle bent on a screwdriver as a hook and a float made of the dried tip of the corn plant I was ready to explore the wonderful river seen above. As a five year old kid I instantly fell in love with the hidden water world and the wonderful creatures that swam the depths. And the first fish I caught there was a gudgeon. The Romanian name of the fish for reasons unknown to me roughly translates as ‘piglet’ and there were lots of them back then. Later on I discovered some of the other river residents like the rudd, the prussian carp or the catfish and managed to land a few of them with my rudimentary tackle.

I won’t be able to tell you the name of that small river since I guess it never had one. Back then it was called as it’s called today: the valley.  

This was my very first swim:

Although I live at a considerable distance from it, I still get the pleasure of fishing there a few times a year. I would advise any ‘unfortunate soul who suffers from a passion for angling’ to do the same and return from time to time to the water where he or she got the addiction. And at different times of the year if possible. 

Daiwa Laguna 2500 XT

The Daiwa Laguna 2500 XT is a discontinued model which closely resembles the Daiwa Capricorn A and Cabela's Prodigy A. It's my most used reel. Tough metal body, reliable smooth front drag, simple gearing. The only 'minus' I found was the one-click handle which may seem unbalanced for some.

Here are some pictures taken during the cleaning and greasing of the gearing: