bikenut

I've had a Diawa 125m for about 20 years and this year bought an Abu not sure which one but think its a 704. The Abu is a beautiful bit of gear, superbly made and finished. The Diawa is and always has been wobbly and ricketty compared to the Abu, but the Abu just doesnt work as well. Seems to need much more of a press on the line relase button to release both pick up pins, and as for the drag, well it is a drag. But in principal, they are really good for trotting, especially for folks like me who find a centrepin a bit of a chore, and find accurate casting under the trees with a pin difficult. Bikenut

Whereabouts are you fishing bbigbob? bikenut

Could anyone enlighten me please. My stepson has a small (about 6 gallon) freshwater tropical tank, containing assorted barbs, one corydoras and a rapidly growing plecostomus. My worry is that the fish have always seemed to be struggling for breath. They show no other obvious symptoms, and don't seem to be particularly in distress. We have had problems with the filters clogging with decaying plant material and I added a second internal filter a while back, which resulted in both of them clogging in the outlet side and nearly causing a wipeout while we were away last week. Fortunately our friend who was feeding them noticed and changed some water. When I returned on saturday, I put the fish in a bucket of tank water, cleaned the sand which had turned black (in the tank water) then let it settle and syphoned out the muck. Refilled the tank using the bucketful of old tankwater that the fish were in, and fresh water with Aquasafe or similar. The fish were ecstatic, loved the clean tank and water and were breathing at a rate I considered normal. Its now 4 days on and 3 of the Pentazona barbs have snuffed it, and the others are fine, but breathing fast again. OK the deaths could have been from either damage caused by the near wipeout, or perhaps an ammonia or nitrate spike as a result of the drastic cleaning, but why the rapid breathing? The tank isn't overstocked, I added an external power filter at the weekend as extra precaution against the filtration problems and the water now is belting around and I'm sure they are getting the oxygen now that perhaps they lacked before. Could it simply be the temperature too warm. We have a glass thermometer, and it shows towards the top of the "green" zone, which I always assumed was OK. Could gill flukes or some other parasite cause the sympton, they dont seem to flick themseves any more than any other fishes. I'm stumped. Thanks in advance, Bikenut

I was up at the crack of Dawn, but my wife found out.

My word, the tadpoles are growing big this yeart!

I thought that "If God Was..." was by Joan Osborne. Didn't know Alanis did a cover of it although its her style of song! There is also a version that goes "What if God smoked cannabis" also by Joan Osborne I think. Been trying to play the guitar for 40 years, but I find having no memory, no sense of rhythm and no co-ordination sadly a slight disadvantage. Can listen and appreciate though! If you like gloomy music, try The Handsome Family. Their "Weightless Again" has recently been covered by Ceris Matthews. Music to slash your wrists to. Makes Loennard Cohen sound cheerful Have fun, and I agree that a nylon strung acoustic is probably a good place to start. Bikenut

I have some music on minidisk that I want to put on CD now the minidisk player has died. Is there any way of getting them onto my PC so I can burn them to CD? Bikenut

Bum, I'll have to miss it, 2.30 is when I'm going to the dentist. Bikenut

Mines creently "Isn't life Strange' by the Moody Blues Bikenut

Halle Berry, in those black undies in Swordfish. Or singer/actress Natalie Umbrella for her eyes and lips. Debbie Harry, Kate Bush, Raquel Welch as already mentioned. My Fiancee when I met her, not now though unfortunately. Nora Batty.

Yes Tony, we came to much the same conclusions, but how on earth does the fish eject them (if at all) as some were quite sizeable, and numbering about 10 in total.

Had a weekend in North Wales trout fishing on a day ticket lake. My mate gutted the fish we caught and one of them had its belly full of pebbles which he said he had never seen before, (and he's gutted a few fish in his time!) Any ideas why this might be?, the other fish were full of pellets. Thanks, Bikenut

30th June 1954 Bikenut

There is a TV presenter by the name of Kate Humble. Perhaps she could hold the secret of where you could find the worms you seek. Bikenut

Did the motorcycle test, scored 33 0n part 1 and 32 on part 2. I PASSED YIPPEE. Bikenut

First single I can remember buying was Scarlet O'Hara by Shadows spin offs Jet Harris and Tony Meehan about 1963. First album was much later and I think it was Disreali Gears by Cream, followed closely by Wheels of Fire, Live at the Fillmore also by Cream. Rock on Bikenut

Ah, Johnny Winter, perhaps not the greatest guitarist in the world, but probably the whitest. I'll be listening to Cream, XTC, The Who, Steely Dan, and Lynryd Skynryd if I can prise it away from my lady. Bikenut

Elton, I have the same phone but I don't have this happening to mine. Although a couple of times the battery has flattened suddenly for no "apparent" reason, perhaps the same is happening to me without me realising it. Not much help either I'm afraid. Bikenut

I wonder if Hitler had visited a house party in Liverpool. bikenut

Well done and congratulations. I found that the next 5 years are the dodgiest ie 25-30. Good luck. Bikenut

Hoping to get a refund on the Suveran and looking for another reel. How do you guys rate front drag as opposed to rear? Is it just what you are used to or personal preference? All my other reels over the last 20 years have been rear drag, and I think I'd like to stick with it. The reel I fancy is the Shimano XT-RA series. Not sure I want double handles, don't want a "big pit". I think the 2500 size would be right for me. Discounted they seem to be about £90-100. Any advice please Bikenut

Still having trouble with these batteries and its driving me nuts now. I'm not sure if its the charger or the batteries, perhaps I have charged them wrongly the first time and they have become frozen, but I thought the 2300 ma batteries didnt suffer from memory effect. Perhaps the only way is to buy some fresh ones and be more careful charging them. I tried fully discharging 2 in my shaver, it ran very slowly but for quite a while, then they wouldn't take a charge. Have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the charger as its a Uniross sprint and has a timer on it, spinning the batteries to make sure they are making contact with the charger etc, all to no avail. Help please. Bikenut

Anyone remember the last Fast Show which was shown in 3 parts at christmas about 3 years ago?. Are they available on dvd? Amazon list a last ever series but I'm not convinced they are on it. Which was nice, Bikenut

Have finally got an answer from the shop on the state of play with my reel. Abu Sweden have returned it to the UK dealers, reporting that the clicking noise is inherant to that type of reel, therefore they can't fix it. I have been offered an Abu credit note, or a full refund. (or my clicky reel back!) What would you guys do??? Bikenut

Brilliant, Thanks Bikenut