Martyn White | Thursday, 25 April 2024
It's been a quiet week on the fishing front for me, I got out for an afternoon at the local carp after work the other day. Unfortunately, except for that it's been raining and keeping the rivers a bit too full and dirty for sight fishing. The lack of fishing gave me a chance to top up the carp box, which I've really let go in recent months.
The other main thing I've been doing is getting ready for float tubing. Next week is Japan's Golden Week, a week full of public holidays that the rivers will be mobbed and means I won't fish at all. It also more or less marks the start of when warm water fishing starts; largemouth bass, cats and bluegill. Last year I barely went out on the tube. I'm not sure why really, but probably a combination of other interests and the fact that the places we fish were still really struggling to recover from a big typhoon a few years back. Chuck is much more of a tuber than me and he stuck it out and reckons it's recovering pretty well so I've resolved to get back to it. I do enjoy it, even catching gills on little topwaters when there's not much happening on the bass or catfish front.
The thing is, I seem to have terrible luck with punctures. I'm not worried about drowning, it'd be beyond even my misfortune to puncture all 4 bladders and sink. I am worried about ruining fishing days however. WIth that in mind I pullled the tube out the cupboard and took all the bladders out of the skin, turned it inside out and threw it in the washing machine. When it dried I got in about it with the hoover, so I'm fairly sure I don't need to worry about any jaggy things inside causing me trouble. I also invested in a pressure gauge for the hand pump, apparently overinflation is a major cause of punctures so I'm keen to avoid that in future. I can't imagine I've really been overdoing it that much with a hand pump but it's a variable I can control. Essentially the plan is to take "luck" out of the equation and focus solely on the fishing. I'm also wondering if getting the inflation levels spot on will make the seating more stable as I often find myself sliding down the seat. It's a small thing but it does get a bit annoying after the 25th time!
Anyway hopefully I'll have a smooth summer's tubing and remain fully buoyant.