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Chris, the isoblobs are easy enough to do yourself with a few different diameter pieces of silicone and a few other bits. You will have to remove the top eye to do the job, but it is easily araldited back on. BTW, I love my i-power. It has a great action and plenty of power when needed, comes with two tops 1.75 and 2lb. Bob does a great job on the build of them. I would get your order in though as the wait is now around 4 months I blieve.

Chris, without bursting the bank the i-power (which I know you know of) is an awesome rod. Wychwood do some great rods too, used a couple a few seasons ago, and at around £50 a real bargain. Grey's do some nice rods but I find them too soft, although I do have one of their staker rods that I use on the Teme. To be honest, I would go with something with a Harrison blank, just great rods.

http://www.tackle-trader.com/rc/default.asp

Only just noticed this. Can I go too please and Malc would like to come. If I am late then it is my own fault.

I am also in the process of organising one for the Itchen again. It will not be until February sometime, so will post details nearer the time.

Cheers for that just ordered one.

Knotless knot, palomar and grinner. These are the three I use for most of my fishing. All easy to tie and all very reliable.

Thanks for your help.

I have seen the shoals of mullet in the marina and know you cannot fish for them. I go there reguarly to play golf, but have never tried to fish. I also know they run fishing trips from the marina. So from what I gather, light float tackle is all that is required. What line would you recommend? Would 6lb be adequate?

I am shortly off to Spain and was intending on doing some fishing off the rocks as I am not one to sit around the pool all day. I was wondering what sort of rod would be adequate? (remember it does have to go in a suitcase) Also, what size hooks and leads would I need? I only intend on fishing with bread as i know this does catch. I am going to Benalmadena. Cheers

I get nearly all my tackle on-line these days. I use various sites like Harrisons, Lathams and these are quite good for some more specialist bits www.specialist-tackle.co.uk

Leon, I fully understand about the conditions of flying over here and would much prefer to learn here. I did this when I learnt to dive, rather than the nice warm seas of abroard, I decided on the icy cold waters here. I was told at the time if you can dive here you dive anywhere. Believe me in February it gets very cold in some of the gravel pits here. The seas on the other hand do not drop as much as the inland venues. As for keeping your licence, I am under the impression that you have to do at least 12 hours of flying in any 2 year period to keep it upto date. Not to bad, as a solo flight works out at around £110 for an hour. As for time to complete the course based on a couple of hours a week flying, then this would take around 6 months to complete.

Leon, just had a look at some sites in America and it does look a lot cheaper to do out there. I have some family in Arizona, so might be worth me looking around there. It does look like I will have to put more hours in than I would over here though, so a month might be needed to complete over there. Where would I stand if I did it in America with that licence? Surely I would still have to do something over here. ahammond, where did you train for yours and what was the cost of it when you did it? The cheapest I have seen over here is around the £6000 mark compared to America where I can do it for around $4000. I also see that over here now there are 2 types of licence, one of which allows you to fly in Europe and the other that only allows you to fly here.

I have been meaning to try flying for some time, managed to try it for the first time this week. I had a 1/2 hour trial lesson bought me for christmas and have only just managed to use it. I could not believe that they actually let you take control of the plane virtually immediately and one of the best parts for me was seeing where I actually fish on numerous parts of the river. The most fantastic feeling was actually landing the plane myself under the instructors guidance. I asked him at the end how much of it was me "it was all me until we were on the runway" was his reply, then he took over to slow it down. I enjoyed it so much, I went straight back for another 1/2 hour, would have done an hour but time was a factor and they could only fit me in for the 1/2 hour. I am now seriously considering doing it properly and learning to fly and get my personal licence. Anybody done this and think it was worth it? I mean at £7000 to complete it does seem a lot of money. I also know that it would not be cheap to fly after completing the course. I think it would be a great achievement and as I said it something I have always wanted to do.

I too use this torch and it's absolutely brilliant. I vary rarely use the bright led light, most the time it is the red light. No need to switch through different modes to get each light, you simply switch it it to the left or right for each diffferent function.

Newt, so what brand do you use? I only use it for hook lengths and I use Wychwood upto 10lb as this is as high as it goes. Over this I use Suffix invisiline. I am a big fan of Bass pro excel for my reel line, a top quality line, soft and limp and never had it break on me. I have been using this now for about 3 seasons.

River carping is down to 2 things really. Firstly location, find them, then you can go about catching them. I have seen it so many times when people arrive and start fishing for Carp when I have never heard of one caught, or seen one myself. Secondly, pre-baiting will get you better results rather than tryimg to catch them straight off. Get them use to the bait going in. Don't spend a fortune on kilo's of boilies but use things like Vitalin, groats etc along with pellet and a few boilies.

Papa, if you have not got in touch with Steve, then do so. He is a fantastic chap with a wealth of knowledge on the Severn around Bridgnorth way. He is only too willing to help fellow anglers. www.caravanonthesevern.co.uk/

I would also recommend the STI 2 man, that is what I will be buying. I borrowed the 1 man to use and was very impressed with the ease it went up and the stability of it. You can pick the 2 man up for about £160 on the net with free delivery.

On low and clear rivers the daytime can be appauling, unless you can find where they are holed up. Most the time they just lie in the weed beds out of sight. Rolloing meat is a good way of winkling out a few fish. I have sat there all day with static baits and not a touch, then as soon as the light starts to go they come out to play. I very rarely fish the daylight hours these days except when the river is coloured and I know of swims that will produce in the day, consistently too. Stef Horak does catch a lot of fish from low and clear rivers with his hemp, caster and maggot approach. It is a well used method for these conditions and does work well. The groundbait method also works, using a darker coloured groundbait. Feed the swim and then leave it for at least a hour before you cast a line. The only downfall with this is......... Bream.

River was up around 2 ft at lunchtime today and looked steady. We have had some huge deluges though in the last couple of hours here, so this may push it up a little more. Hopefully going to pop out tomorrow afternoon for a session so will updaye you when i get back.

Cracking Phil, right time, right place I guess. Any photo's of it?

Latest reports have the river only a foot up now on NSL , but with rain forecast for the weekend I am sure it will be well up again soon. I should have gone out today, but have been out two days running and needed to catch up on some sleep. The good thing about all this extra water is that the matchmen are not getting on the water as they are cancelling all the time, leaving all the river for us true fisherman. I will see what it is like Monday and hopefully be out then.

Phil, the simple answer to your question is that there are none. I wish there was as this is the river I fish most and some upto date info would be great. A the minute I have been getting my reports from a friend who has been passing the river alomst everyday. I was out yesteday and the day before. The river is still up, around 2 ft with colour and dropping. It was 3 ft up the day before so you can see how fast it is dropping. With rain forecast again for this weekend expect it to rise quickly though. I can update conditions on this thread if it would help you as and when I getnthe reports.

We often have fish-ins, usually at least 3 or so a year. I organise one on the Itchen, but this will be next winter, usually around February time. I did organise a fish-in on the Avon last year but the turnout was very poor, debating whether to do one this year. Tony U usually does one for the Test too.