As you are probably aware Nath and myself are taking a SWSF Road Trip around Cornwall at the end of August. I need to drum up some support before we commence battle as we will be fishing for the glory of our respective affiliated counties - myself for Cornwall and Nath for Devon. So I am sending out a rallying call asking all Cornish SWSFer's to get on board (and support me!)

Why the reference to that irritatingly catchy song by The Proclaimers I hear you asking? Well, that's what it feels like I have done this weekend. All my well laid plans to go and explore a couple of marks near Fowey were shot down early doors by an ear infection. I didn't want to potentially ruin the day by being a wimp and coming home early if it got too bad so I decided to save that trip for another weekend. That being said, the aforementioned ear infection behaved itself in the end which was just as well as I ended up walking a decent stretch of the south-west coastal path from Stoke Point around to Old Cellars Beach, before catching up with Jack for a night session off Lions Den on the Hoe.

In my last post I told you that I was in a bit of a quandry of where to fish this coming weekend. Well after studying the map for hours this week a location finally jumped out at me. I'm heading west to Fowey. My Saturday is now planned from sun up to sunset - I intend to dig both rag and lug on the morning low tide, then i'm going to head down and scout the river Fowey for good fishing spots and then I am going to head to Lantic Bay to fish through to darkness.

Well last week i was lucky enough to get a hold of a 6 and 7 wt snowbee prestige that was matched with the new 2010 Snowbee Geo reel.
Before i even picked up the rod i could tell that major changes have taken place in the look of the rod in general they have darkened the woos on the reel seat giving a deep luscious look and warmth that is associated with rods of 3 times there price. Well time for a feel, i pick up the rod and nitice how light it is! I have been using sage and helios rods ofr the past 7 months that are indeed very light and responsive though cost at least 2-3 times the price. A quick flick through the air and tracing is excellent. Off we go into the field for dry testing and fitted with the new hi floater line introduced this year. We set a target at 40ft away a reasonable close range cats is all thats needed. double haul like i normaly do and bang the line has landed 70ft foot away? Hmmmm that should have happened i retrieved the line and et up again with out double hauling and bang in 40ft cast on the nail. The rod tracked perfectly, so we continued to 80ft cast with accuracy though this was with double hauling to get the extra speed needed for distance casting. Exactly the same with both rods they are exceptional. So off to the ply with a box of small flies that are designed for dry fly and wet fly methods allowing the dries to site perfectly i sit in the bank hiding and snap casting to cruising mullet, i only have an hour before the tides turn. Wet flies go on and again no problem at all. Bread flies go on and no problem at all i fished with a bung on the leader with no issues. Could i drop to a 5wt for mullet fishing? With the action of he rods i feel they would handle this with ease and a decent bend would be put into the reel. Fianlly hooking a small 2lb mullet on the 6wt the reel screaming off down stream and soon under control the rod tip hanging nicely in an arc, absorbing all of the bang and lunges that are taking place in the water. Bacck again to the 7wt, and fishing the same staic method of trotting the fly past on a dead drift re tracking and mending the line accordingly. A 3 1/2lb fish takes the top dropper and takes off reel screaming through the clutch again, will i tame this on a 7wt??
WEll within 3 mins the fish is banked and released, i have noticed that the rods are evenly matched to the reels with balance and poise. I do feel if i had access to the 5wt this wold handle the average plym mullet with a good sporting fight in the currents. Reel wise is is just superb i cant say enough about it after i managed to break 4 snowbee rods last year mostly through abuse and misuse i started to lose faith, but then again i have broken 11 rods in 12 months of fishing from 4wt through to 10wt in different makes and a lot of them costing a dam site more than snowbee. On this point i would point out that when i di break snowbee's rods they have replaced them with out quibble as soon as i arrived and always apologised for inconvienience. Often i pck up a few tying materials for free to cover inconvienience also custome service is impecable.
The deep blue 8wt. well i have done test n this range before in both 8 and 9wt so this couldnt be that different could it?
Oh how wrong i was, picking up the 8wt 2010 model they have completely redesigned it from the ground upwards. Adding pacific bat uploacking double reel seat designed and lade especially for them, adding a 2nd stripped ring just above the first delaying the line slap with distance casting, thicker walled blanks which in turn are a dam site more resposive. Now i liked the original rods but these new versions? They are punching well above there weight in the price stakes, they have double in price from last year, though they have quadrupled in performance, i teamed the rod with an XSD780 reel in diecast alloy. A couple of casts to get dialed in and bang 90ft casts!!!
I ended up stood in thhe main rod outside of snowbee casting down there alley whilst staff are packing orders in the warehouse, using them as targets and it was getting there. If there is an ideal sounthwwest saltwater fly rod range then the deep blues are it! Not only are they a local business, but there rods are exceptional i can use 6,7 prestige for mullet and mackerel fishing and the 8,9wt for bass fishing and the 10,12 for anything that swims. Matching the rod with the Geo 790 reel in drilled alloy that it is designed to work well with provided the cream on the cake it just sings through the air. My only downside i can find thus far iis the deep blue range only come in a cordura reinforced tube where the prestige are presented in a alloy tube pure looks but would have been a nice touch. In conclusion i will be buying new snowbee rods this year in favour of much more expensive rods that are available.
tight lines all

July’s SWSF shore angling competition was fished at another south Devon venue, Slapton Sands. Once again, support was strong with 18 of our members turning up to give it their all this time around – our best turnout yet and also our biggest prize fund. Given the uncertainty regarding the venues current ‘fishability’ (due to the recent weed problem along this area of coastline) and the unreliable weather of late, hopes were high but expectations were low. Read on to see how it unfolded.

Nath has chief blogger duties in regards to the SWSF shore competition that was held at Slapton Sands on Saturday evening but I thought I would provide a brief summary of the rest of my weekend as I did manage to sneak in a couple of mini sessions as well. Saturday morning saw me stay very close to home as I decided to fish my "home" mark Millbrook Estuary, the evening was consumed by the competition and on Sunday morning I caught up with Nath once again in an effort to use up some bait left over from the night before. This time we headed Saltash way to give Sankeys Yard a crack which was a first time at that venue for me.

The time has come as the eagerly anticipated SWSF shore competition at Slapton Sands is almost upon us. Saturday 17^th July 2010 will see a brave few souls venturing out onto the beach in a quest for immortal glory. Prizes are irrelevant, it’s all about the ego boost and bragging rights that come from getting one over fellow likeminded fishermen (as well as the inevitable banter!).

After 3 manic months scouring Cornwall, Devon and Dorset for fish, racking up almost 8,000 miles and getting up at some un-Godly times just to get to various marks, I am taking what I believe is a well deserved week off from fishing and blogging. I'll be retreating to my summer training camp to get into peak physical and mental shape ahead of the eagerly anticipated SWSF shore competition on the 17th July!