New year fun and games

A smashing winter 21lb mirror for Dave

Hi all and a very Happy New Year to you all!

I've been working hard on some new baits over the past few months and with some decent results now showing up for myself and the field testers, it wont be long before I start thinking about marketing some of the experiments.

First off I've had a message or two from field tester and good mate Dave Brookes. Him and his friend Dan had a great 24hr session on a local lake near their Cardiff home and bagged mirrors of 18, 19 and 21lbs at a last check in. All three fish fell to one of the new prototype hook baits. It appears that the fish seem to like the bait regardless of recent poor water results and dreadful weather to boot!

A lovely 18lb mirror for Dan!

Joel and I had a short day session on New Years day up to the River Wye at Monmouth. The river was rather low considering the time of year and the cold and windy conditions did nothing to improve the fishing either. We started in a spot on the River Monnow that has in the past done 3 twenty pound plus fish for myself but after 4 hours we packed up without so much as a nibble.

We then headed onto the main river and up to another well documented hot spot. I stuck Joel into a spot I was confident he'd get a take from and within seconds of his bait hitting the water, he had a take on his whole Herring hook bait. The fish momentarily dropped the bait and returned a few seconds later. All of a sudden it was game on and Joels rod was bent double into a serious fighting curve!

The fish fought really hard for a few minutes and I was able to capture some nice footage of her coming to the net and being returned using the new GoPro camera. On the scales she went 20lb 2oz and with a previous PB of 17lb 8oz Joel was absolutely made up with the fish. Another smaller double turned up an hour later but for myself it was a very quiet day.....

A new PB of 20lb 2oz for Joel....well done my friend, cracking fish!

I've got a short overnight session penciled in for Sunday night this week at Hartleton Pool again in Ross with Joel. We've never night fished together but we both seem to enjoy each others company and seem to also have a lot in common too. He drives an Audi like me so we're both in good company! lol

Talking of cars and Audi's....Mine had been giving me some serious ball ache over the past 3 months with intolerable lacking levels of power from its 2lt turbo charged engine....With a supposed 170 bhp it was running at less than 80 at a guess. Not great! Well after good mate Dave came over and helped me install a new Turbo, gaskets, oil feeds and a new actuator and diaphragm. She was actually running pretty dam well. This being said, I really wanted a little more from the old girl and I was also in a hurry to get rid of the dam awful DPF filter and EGR valve that blight modern common rail turbo diesel cars.

Rolling road Dyno fun!

A trip over to GotBoost tuners in Pyle saw me book in the car for a deletion of both the filter and Valve....while I was there I decided on a remap and a new stainless exhaust as well! Couldn't resist!
The date was set and after a 48 hr wait I went to pick her up in the snow and darkness tonight. Well what can I say other than fan-bloody-tastic! Stage 2 remap done, all deletions done, new Stainless Cat Back Milltek 100mm exhaust system fitted, pipercross air filter and numerous other bits repaired/serviced etc....she now runs like a dream. Thanks to Stef, Andy and Dan for all your hard work and I highly recommend their services! I've added a link below to their website for those interested.

GotBoost Tuners

Right off to the land of nod for me so see you all soon x
Keith