PeterNE1

......... yeah, I'd be interested in the answer to that question too!

Just to throw a spanner in the works: a carp match that I think many WILL have fun watching? (Hmmm tried to do it the 'clever' way, unsuccessfully! Maybe someone would care to tweak this for me?)

No experience with this model, but have happily used other Mitchell models for years, without problems. What sort of prices are you talking - they are doing the rounds circa 20 quid|:-)

Ooooh! Never seen blue maggots before!

Great to read these reports and photos coming in from the Ukraine - keep it up!

Hi John - unless you are considering purchase specifically for the side-cast facility, I'd be inclined to look elsewhere. You can pick up a good quality, used Adcock Stanton for not much more money off Ebay, and it will out-perform this reel in all respects by a country mile :-) Other options you may wish to consider might be the TF Gear pin, which now can be bought new for just £40 including postage, though personally I'd try to find an Okuma Adventa pro if you want to buy new: shop around and they are available for well under £60 now!

No doubt others may disagree, but I think you may be going into the realms of overkill, using a lathe-like set-up for shaping cork handles. Cork is a very soft material, and you are likely to remove large amounts of material using such an apparatus, even with fine grades of abrasive cloth, rather than tools. Unless you are hell-bent on trying to produce a perfectly cylinderical handle, I'd seriously suggest that you consider doing this by hand using progressively finer grades of abrasive paper: it takes relatively little time and is a much more tactile process, allowing you to stop removing cork as and when the handle feels 'right' to your hands ... regardless of whether that produces a true cylinder or not. I shaped my first rod handle like this neck-end of 40 years ago (still have and use the rod, as it was built on a very nice (fibreglass ) blank), and have been doing it ever since, most recently just a couple of months back.

Errrrrm ... have I missed something, or is the implication here that this place actually exists outside of the imagination of the OP?

Yep, they're still around in both size and numbers, just not often fished for specifically, so relatively, it's an untapped, little known source!

Hi Newt - have seen the flexi weights before online, though never used them, as they're quite alien, this side of the Atlantic. What's the thought / logic behind them, just in case I'm missing something?

Rain? Wots that then? We had it forecast all day today (as of The Beeb website around midnight). Bright sunshine all day from a cloudless sky, temperatures were in excess of 20 degrees until about half an hour ago too! Lake looks nice, though not too many fish in them fields ... F1's would be sacreligious!

Fair point Phone - I suspect it has to do with nothing more than a basic lack of creativity coupled with the perceived 'ickiness' of dealing with chopped 'organ meat' (by which I take it you are referring to what we would refer to as 'offal' - guts etc, perhaps throw in the occasional liver etc?) John ... where on earth do you find it easier to get worms, compared to visiting the average butcher? - not to mention cost if you are actually buying worms, cos cheap they ain't!

I'm pretty certain that no two anglers are likely to give the same answer here Personally, it depends very much on something intangible - whether or not 'it' feels 'right'. This could be down to a myriad of factors including (but not limited to) how 'fishy' the swim looks, previous history in that swim, the evidence of fish, personal confidence on the day, scenery, weather, the appearance of a large pike / cows / disruption on the bankside etc etc ... no easy answers I'm afraid :-)

Bloody anglers, taking all our fish ... I'll show 'em!

They look pretty enough, but it's the action of them in use that's going to influence whether or not anglers catch, no?