The MasterBlanker

As you know I am linked to Carp-Forums and as part of that link I was invited to a a social in the frozen wasts that are the area of the UK above Watford… other wise known as “oooop North” . With all inoculations in place and with a suitable supply of currency with which to impress the natives ( coloured beads, BIC biro’s and disposable lighters) I set off. After going through passport control on the outskirts of London…. enough with this frivolity

Anyway The lake was easy to fnd and a mere 2 hrs after leaving my house I was in the wilds of up north which was as kind of like the south but the people were friendlier.I was soon ensconced in a swim and set up ready for the 3 days of hard fishing that lay before me. I was told to look for gravel patches and so stick and a few boillies were dispatched on to a patch in the middle and 2kg’s of slimy pigeon conditioner was dispatched on to a margin spot. To cut a long story short apart from a tench and several screaming takes that came to nothing ( which as put down to the massive eels that the lake contains) as well as some pike attacking the fry with such force I managed to get splashed… the weekend was quite from an angling perspective.

However, that was not why we were here. This was a social, the social of the year and it was all for charity.

As you can see above some the sponsors had donated a huge amount of tackle and other prizes to be raffled off to the eager anglers, and so it began mainly with lots of beer and lots of interesting banter. It was really interesting to hear from some of the other carp anglers about their seasons so far and what has been working for them. I definitely got some tips I will put to use as well as making friends.

Something that you can see from one of the above pictures was that ECHO in the shape of Ruth Lockwood and Richard Crimp were also in attendance and although they kept the ECHO official line to the background it was good to see Ruth and Richard supporting events like this drumming up support at the grass roots level. I could see many anglers nodding their heads after finishing a discussion with one of them, no doubt many other angers at the event have now seen the light and have decided to join.

Then it was on the serious matter of the raffle, sadly yours truly only managed to walk away with 3 tins of sweet corn ( dynamite strawberry) but what the hell it was all for charity and some of the lads managed to win big, well done do them and well done to the people who constantly bid and re bid at the end to drive up the price of some of the collect ables in order to get a good amount for the charities ( ECHO and Macmillan Cancer Suite)  which I am sure will be appreciated by the beneficiaries of the money. It really felt good to be contributing to something worth while as well as enjoying myself. The amount raised this year was 2500 Sterling, a massive achievement and the money was  split 50/50 between ECHO and Macmillan Cancer Suite making this event a huge success.

The star of the show, was of course, the great Rod Hutchinson. Who despite his fame was a very approachable chap and even signed a sweatshirt that was eventually bought by Chris himself for a very grand sum of money.

If you click the picture you can just make out that Rod has circled a very strange stain… pointing out that it was most likely the work of his fishing partner, Mally

Anyway sadly carp wise the weekend was not so eventful and just as I was about to reel in and wander around the lake to join in the party that was going into the small hours, I had a massive run ( eels ? ) so decided to stay put. The evening ( for me at least) was ended listening to the sounds of Ruth Lockwood ( of ECHO and Yateley Angling fame) as well as Rod singing and playing their instruments on the other side of the lake. What a perfect end to a perfect day.

I leave you with a picture of Rod claiming in writing that he had noting to do with the mysterious stain….Don’t worry Chris, that top will be valuable one day and thank god it was the right size for you

Here’s till next year !

Spodding is a chore that few of us enjoy, it can be back breaking messy work and one messed up cast can send every carp in the vicinity scurrying for the hills as your spod sends up a great gout of water as it slams into the surface. Imagine if I told you that there was another way… a way in which spodding can suddenly become easier, mess messy and a hell of a lot less back breaking ?

Well there is such a way.. enter the SPOMB

What is it ? well unlike a traditional spod, the design of which has not changed for several years it is not just a rocket shaped design with an open back but a fully enclosed bait delivery capsule. This has several massive advantages,

• You don’t need to have groundbait / mud handy to pack the back of the spod
• You can bait up with pure hemp / small particle with out having to clean it off your back / head
• it flies like an arrow
• It retrieves over the surface skipping like a coot

The last point is what steals it for me, my biggest bug bear with spodding is the retrieve. No matter which spod you use it is like you are trying to pull ( in effect) a small parachute back through the water towards you. This is what really wears me down and is one of the reasons I was considering buying a bait boat. However with the spomb this is now a thing of the past.

Lets see how it works :

1st you need to load it, to do this press the red button on the front till the 2 halves pop open and load up with your chosen bait. The only thing you have to remember is not to load the front compartment ( the part with the opening mechanism ) as if you don’t it wont open up. Note here I am loading up with pigeon conditioner normally something that is very difficult to spod out due to its size. once you have it loaded snap the 2 halves together and prepare to send it skywards. Note that on 1st glance it spears that it is smaller than an average spod, I took the largest Korda and Fox spods and filled the spomb from each and there is room for more bait… this thing really can get a lot of bait into the swim fast.

The next part is just like a normal spod, except you have not had to pack the back of it with ground bait to stop annoying spod spill. I suggest a 5lb+ test curve spod rod as this thing is really heavy when you have it fully loaded far more than a Fox TB1 spod for example. I used my standard 20lb bread straight through on a Fox warrior 5.5lb TC spod rod and a Diawa Emblem Spod reel and had no issues at all however if I was going for massive distance I would be tempted to go for a 50lb arma cord leader or similar to stop any accidents. Of course as with any spodding / braid work a finger stall is essential other wise you will be going to casualty with one finger missing. I noticed immediately that this thing flies like a missile seemingly unaffected by wind and I had to tone down the amount of power I normally put in to a cast and none of the “corkscrewing ” that can occur with normal spods.

Once the spomb hits the water you can retrieve instantly, there is no waiting around like with a normal spod. Once it hits the water it opens and dumps the load instantly. It doesn’t matter if some of the pellets float, they will leave the spomb you will note that the spomb is skipping back over the water ( click for a higher rez pic) and it comes in completely evenly with a nice even tension on the line. The fact that you dont need to wait for the Spomb to empty is really one of the massive advantages, I managed to spod out 3kg’s of prepared pidgeon conditioner in about 20 mins something that would have taken me far far longer with a traditional spod. I also remained relatively un pepered by spod spill, a massive advantage.

Conclusion

Everyone I spoke to said one thing after seeing it in action… “Where can I get one?” and “how much are they?” it is the kind of invention that makes you think ” why has no one thought of this before ?”

I love it, you will too. Yes it is not as bomb proof as a normal spod so if you regularly cast onto the other bank or hit rocks / trees then perhaps you need to pack a conventional spod for these occasions but for the rest of us, the spomb makes spodding easy and removes the back breaking effort.

Definitely my product of the year so far !

Spombs can be bought direct from www.spomb.com or from Yateley Angling center as well as other stockists, go get one you know it makes sense.

My thanks to Richard for the photo’s