41.12

Paul Browning fished Commons with his Dad and his bros as part of his birthday pressie. He wanted to break his PB and bank a 40 for his 40th and he did better than that!

His first fish out was a new PB at 37lb 10oz and during a busy week, Paul went on to smash his PB again and get his first 40 with a 41lb 12oz common. Not content with that, Paul went on to break his PB for the third time with a 44lb 6oz mirror.

Happy 40′s to you Paul!

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Meet Cynthia! She’s a Sussex laying hen, a pondeuse, and we bought at Boussac market this morning. She’ll spend a few days in a pen to get used to her new surroundings, and then we’ll let her range free with Madge and Limpy.

Now, what do Cynthia and a man called Franz Reichelt have in common? An inability to fly. OK, chickens can fly, but it’s more like panicky-fluttering-cum-controlled-falling. There’s always a lot of feathers and wing whirring and clucking. The record for a flight by a chicken is 13 seconds. None of my girls have come anywhere near that length of time.

Over to Franz. I missed the centenary of his death on 4th February since I’ve only just found out about him. He was an Austrian who came to live in Paris in 1898 where he soon became known as Le Tailleur Volant (the Flying Tailor) because he invented a parachute coat. He was obsessed with flying but didn’t follow some of his contemporaries into experimenting with large wings or flying machines. Instead he sewed up his special outfit, which weighed 70 kg. He generously intended it for other aviators, to hopefully save their lives if their rickety vehicles fell apart in mid air.

The first few tests with dummies ended up with them smashing, but our Franz wasn’t put off. He worked on making his costumes lighter, and ended up with one weighing two thirds less at around 25 kg. He tested this himself by jumping 12 metres onto some straw. He broke a leg, but persuaded himself the only reason he had apparently failed was because his parachute outfit hadn’t had time to open properly. So he decided to jump off the Eiffel Tower. Just like that. He didn’t bother testing out with a dummy first and so, sadly, on 4th February 1912 jumped to his death from the first storey of the tower. His parachute cape had wrapped itself firmly around him. He was 34.

This page has some photos of him taken on the day itself. http://www.past-to-present.com/avportrait07.cfm

Many inventors have died as a result of the thing they invented or discovered. Marie Curie died from cancer after studying radiation, Horace Lawson Hunley drowned in his submarine and John Godfrey Parry-Thomas was killed in his record-breakingly fast car Babs. You can’t help thinking that their deaths occurred because they were contributing towards general scientific advance, whereas that of Franz Reichelt … well, wasn’t. He went off at a bit of a tangent from mainstream progress. But you have to admire his confidence, courage and spirit. Rest in peace, Franz.

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70lb

Congratulations to Rick for setting the new Old Oaks catfish record with a 70lb moggy!  Last time out this cat was 60lb.

Carp in the 50′s and 40′s are still coming out week after week.  This really is a fantastic year for Old Oaks.

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31.02 – Brad’s Oakwood PB

After all the hard work we have done recently I had been itching to get the rods out to test the new bark chipped swims.  I had promised my friend Brad a nights fishing on the lake after he helped me build a covered seating area so the anglers can enjoy there meal times in the dry should it rain.

We set up in the two end swims the plateaux and rhododendrons. I must say the swims were pure luxury even in the rain. Brad didn’t even get time to put his bivvy up, he was straight into a fish after less than 10 minutes!

The result was a 31lb 2oz golden common and new PB for Brad. To say he was a happy chap was an understatement!

A BBQ followed the fish capture and then it was my turn for my first take of 2012 at around midnight.  A very welcome 27lb 9 oz mirror graced the net.  With perfect proportions I recognised this fast growing baby as an off spring from the original stock. She has the potential to become a very big fish being only 5 years old.

Both fish fell for the “lake special” boilie tipped off by a 12mm matching pop up from Carp Company.

No more action followed that night as the cloud cover disappeared and temperatures plummeted but a great time was had by all.

Well looking forward, we are off on holiday for a week tomorrow and I have some family members coming over to look after the lake and no doubt have a fish as they are keen anglers.

Here’s the video of Brads PB common…

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