I haven’t updated in a while

Posted:   07-11-2013, 11:01 by Dave

Here I sit, at a car wash typing away and it’s occurred to me, the blatantly obvious is now official, I haven’t made and update to backcast in a while - 58 days to be precise and while a lot has happened, not much really has! Fly casting and fishing has been virtually non existant, its been the first time since I can remember that I’ve missed the opening weekend of the fishing season, but I’ve been cycling and my Campagnolo collection is growing!

I must say, I’m looking forward to the coming weeks which will be filled with plenty of fly fishing, fly casting and cycling - the jittery feeling I’m getting in my guts is akin to the feeling a pig gets when its buried knee deep in shit! And while my fingers haven’t been doing much talking these last few weeks I’m priming them up for some huge typing sessions, the camera batteries are charged and to say I’m pumped is an understatement.

During the downtime I went on a spending spree, while I’ve been trying to keep my money close the ability to resist temptation has been to hard, here’s where the hard earnt has been going:

Campagnolo Bullet Ultra

If you’re a keenly serious cyclist you’ll realise very quickly that one set of wheels is never enough!
You’ll have a set of lightweight clinchers for climbing, a set of aero wheels for going fast and some kind of training wheels for training! I’ve got a set of Fulcrum Racing Zero’s for climbing, newly acquired Campagnolo Bullets to provide the aero advantage for going super fast and an old set of Most Chall’s for sticking on the wind trainer.

Here’s what they look like on the bike:

GoPro Hero 3+

I’ve been wanting a GoPro for quite some time now so as to better capture cycling, fly fishing and casting. The 3+ has a few better enhancements to the 3, like the SuperView ultra wide experience, smaller housing, 30% better battery performance and sharper lens to name a few.

I got a few extra mounts along with the purchase; head mount, tripod mount and cycle mount. The Hero 3+ has already captured a special moment, Jake my son; his first ever pedalling experience on his bike!

Here’s my first attempt at an edited video clip from the GoPro:

Tacx T3075 Bicycle Workstand

Solid and stable work stands are important, a couple of years back I purchased a cheap Fluid work stand on sale at Anaconda, both my bikes have almost fallen off it on a number of occasions. The Tacx T3075 was exactly what I was looking for to replace the well worn and used Fluid...

Not the greatest of photos (excuse the mess), the black baby (my Scott Foil 20) positioned on the new stand:

Scientific Anglers Textured Trout 5wt Line

Addicted to the Expert Distance line, I’ve decided to try something new; the Textured Trout line which I believe has a very similar taper to the Expert Distance. As stated on the packaging, its a dry fly line, me being the typical me; I’ve been throwing tungsten bead headed nymphs with indicators and big chunks of lead - on a 5wt rod (used on both the Scott G2 and Sage One) the line handles these rigs reasonably well.

Sofala CAS Carp Blitz

Finally coming up soon is the Sofala CAS Carp Blitz, this year its on the 24th November, no guesses as to where it will take place...

Nothing is finalised yet, but I’m hoping to be there doing the usual fly casting lessons and if practical I’d like to introduce some fly fishing stream craft into the mix.