News and Travel

14 May 2013

Lamson ARX - Jason's Thoughts

When it comes to choosing salmon reels, there are many different views out there. For myself it’s quite easy, Lamson reels for me are unbeatable.
I’ve used many other reels and always find myself coming back to Lamson, reason being is the low start-up inertia and it stays smooth which you get from their conical drag system, even when tightening up the drag, it’s very gradual. Definitely the smoothest drag on the market.

This year Waterworks Lamson has brought out the new ARX which has been purposefully built for spey casting. At the moment I personally don’t think there’s anything out there that’s as good as this for its purpose and for the price.

The build quality and design on this reel is what you’d expect form Waterworks Lamson, just brilliant. Being a fully caged reel that encapsulates the spool so there’s nowhere for the line to snag, especially when using thin running and mono running lines. The ARX has been carefully milled on the bottom third of the reel to expose an area for palming should the need arise. The drag knob has also been designed to provide optimal grip without exposing a portion of the reel where line can catch, even the handle has been moved in a bit to minimise line snagg and your palm catching it.

Being slightly heavier than most Lamson reels, once you’ve put a line on it, it balances out a salmon rod perfectly. Finished with Waterworks Lamson’s HARD ALOX this reel is also tough and reliable, and can be taken anywhere.

Starting at £420 this is a reel that will be with you for a very long time.

For more info on the reel and sizes click here.

10 May 2013

Grangers May Sale

If you haven’t received our current newsletter regarding the sale then below is just a taste of some of the products you can find in the sale:

- Simms Headwater Waders were £329 now just £249
- Sage Xi3 9’ #11 was £669 now just £449

For more products in the sale click here

07 May 2013

Full Time Job Vacancy

Grangers Fishing Tackle requires an EXPERIENCED full time sales assistant to join its team. Good communication skills and previous sales experience in a similar environment are essential. So if you are passionate about fly fishing and think you have what it takes, please send a copy of your latest CV via email to shop@grangersfishing.com

25 April 2013

Syon Park - Evening Rise

My Father and I found the 24 degree temperature at 16:00 too tempting so we hit the outgoing London rush hour traffic hoping to get the possibility of an evening hatch.

After arriving and catching up with the fishery manager Andy Allen we on the water at 17:00. Bright conditions, a slight north westerly and a green tinge of colour to the water I had that funny tummy feeling we were going to catch our tickets.

I decided to go for a Goldhead Daddy which in the first ten minutes proved to be the weapon of choice. The fish were approximately 3ft down and both my father and I stuck to this fly with a slow pull retrieve until 19:30 when everything shifted.

RISES?? No, but they were feeding sub surface creating the illusion of a rise, so time to change tactics, time for GRHE Nymph. Again great success with exciting bow wave follows (GO ON GO ON GO ON) and takes, which as always created a lot of banter between Malcolm and I. This method didn’t last more than 20 minutes and the fish breaking the surface turned in to a full rise with a busting hatch, the lake came alive with fly life and splashes. Because the light was low it was hard to see exactly what hatched so it was time to re-rig our line with 3lb leaders and small Black Gnat sz16 and without the aid of a C&F Fly Threader I doubt we could have threaded a leader through such a small eye. Only had one fish each on the dry but so much fun constantly casting at rising fish and with a low blood red full moon it was a magical evening for us.

We landed four fish each ranging between 1.5-3.5lb but do not be fooled by the size of these fish, we were using #4 and #5 rods and these fish were fighting hard. Of course I lost a bigger fish but that is another story, ahem…

Tight Lines

Ben