Malters

answers: 1. None that i know 2. No 3. B 4. Reuben Heaten flyweights or weighmasters (normally go to 12lbs...two spins around a face devided into 6lb increments showing all 16oz in each pound)

Must be in very good condition with spare spool. May consider the cheaper ST version if it the price was right.

you will bag up float fishing bread for chub, unlikely to catch a barble though, although i am sure it happens.

A friend of mine who is a charter skipper is currently undergoing the same problem, again some 60 year old fell of his boat while getting into the tender, moron, and somehow that is the skippers fault, despite the fact that he has been operating for nearly 10 years and this is the first time it has ever happened. The guy wasn't even seriously hurt i don't think, maybe a cut and a bruise.

Anybody any experience with the korum kxi?

Some soft plastics mate. Look for slug-gos in 4.5 inch size (whatever colour you want), plus texposer hooks, potentially some belly weights also, depending on how far you need to cast. small shads to be mounted on jig heads.

The reason for the new reels is because i am fed up with the sticky rear drags on my shimano 5000 gte-c reels.

Would appreciate opinions on these baitrunners from users; Daiwa regal 3500 x or z Shimano 4000 dl fa or the st fa okuma interceptor pro will be using them for tench on stillwaters and barbel on the bris and hampshire avons.

That's great news. sadly I am in Cornwall now untill the end of the season so my river fishing season is over really. Can't wait to get back up and search for the striper though.

With the river season drawing to a close my thoughts are starting to turn to stillwaters. My winter river target of a 2lb roach was a spectacular failure (however due to half my year being spent in Cornwall i can only river fish in short bursts) i am now looking towards my next disappointment (I thought about continuing the roach quest, only from a still water but decided that the only true 'two' is a river 'two'). I have decided that my first 3lb perch is in order (not the 'prime' time of year i know but still very do-able i think), and there is one local water that i reckon could produce one, however, i will only have perhaps 5-6 sessions max in which to catch it. GAME ON! Have any other river fisherman set themselves any closed season still water targets?

might be worth having a look on the fishtec site for one of matt hayes' TFG compact jobs, I imagine they would be good quality and well within the budget.

Guys, you have confused me, what has line twist got to do with using a quivertip rod rather than a spinning rod?

A shockleader is a heavy length of line tied to the end of your main line (google 'improved allbright knot') for when you need to cast heavy weights a long way. Mostly used in sea fishing for beach casting, especially the pendulum cast. however, these days it is also used in long range carping, when using a method feeder, or when casting very heavy leads on the big barbel rivers such as the trent. The idea is that you wind on enough shock leader to go around the reel at least four times plus the length of the rod and the drop down for the cast (distance between lead and rod tip when getting ready to cast). This ensures that during the cast the initial 'shock' on the line, caused by the stress of suddenly coming under huge tension during a powerfull cast, is absorbed entirely by this heavy line and therefore doesn't snap your comparatively weak mainline. If you tried to power cast a heavy method feeder or grip lead on your normal strength mainline it would snap during the cast. The strength of shock leader used for beach casting and pendulum casting should be 10lbs for every ounce of lead used plus an extra 10lbs. Indeed I have snapped a 30lb mainline when pendulum casting 5oz so a shockleader is a must for distance fishing. There are many commercially available shockleaders, I can recommend greased weasel (drennan i think) as a good one, however any bulk spool of high strength line will do, there are also tapered shockleaders available designed to give a much smaller join knot. In a coarse fishing sense I wouldn't use a shockleader for anything under 4oz really, (and then it would be much lighter than the sea fishing rule above) unless you are using a very light mainline, anything over 10lbs and you won't require a shockleader untill you are casting 4oz really, and only then when trying to really blast it. So a shockleader is only required when casting long distances, or casting very heavy weights (such as a spod or method feeder) a reasonable distance. Hope that helps.

Their are swivels at either end of the wire trace. I wasn't just tying on a length of wire, I carry pre-made traces in the little lure box.

Two absolute beauties!

The joys of TV 'magic', the book that accompanied catching the impossible lets you in on a few little editing secrets if my memory serves me righlty.

Lure rods will on the whole be shorter and will have a stiffer tip to ensure that the lure can be really jerked and darted shaply via sharp tugs on the rod to ensure the lure looks like a distressed fish. However, I have taken many jack pike and perch on my quivertip during roach fishing sessions when I have been 'piked out' simply by taking the rig off and replacing it with a wire trace and a small plug (which I always keep in a little box in the bag for just this situation, and it works just fine), you can then release the little thieves at a more distant location up or down stream. I wouldn't like to hook into a monster with it though...actually it could be quite alot of fun!

A largeish solid PVA bag filled with whatever you want, use as light a weight as you can get away with for fishing the distance you need (100 yards?!! on a 4-5 acre lake?!! you would be casting over the far bank even at its widest!), fill the bag about a third full, drop the rig in lead and all (i'd use an in line flat pear lead with a soft braid hooklink 6-8inches) then fill the rest of the bag up with bait and seal it (use a lead with a tail rubber on it and position it so the tail rubber sticks up through the top of the bag, you can then use this to seal the bag onto using damp fingers, make sure you leave enough empty space at the top of the bag to allow you to seal it). Cast out, the bag is big and un-water dynamic so will sink slowly and land on the silt gently, therefore sitting on top of it, and dissolve leaving your rig on top of the silt and surrounded in free-offerings. Bobs your uncle.

I am definitely a geek in a rugby players body (geek in disguise), especially when it comes to fish. Like steve i let my obsession run to a degree in ecology, and then when i worked out this wasn't that employable, decided on doing an Msc in surveying (which is full of 'true' geeks). I agree with steve, interesting people are interested in things. I wouldn't change my hobbies and interests for the world. I have never thought of fishing as in the least bit 'geeky', which was the reason for the thread...wanted to see how others regard angling, personally I hope they do see us as geeks...that implies they think we know what we're talking about!!!

Just realised I am sitting here with a fishing programme on the telly, a fishing book by my side that i am thumbing through at intervals, while surfing a fishing website on the laptop. It is very hard to gauge the image of your hobby from the inside...my question is, do you think outsiders see fisherman as being in the same league as trainspotters, garden shed engineers and those guys who sit in the pub wearing cardigans discussing the best traffic routes?

Just had 'Roach, the gentle giants' and 'Perch, contemporary days and ways' by John Bailey delivered today, looking forward to them.

I religiously record my trips, same as the above. However, I have recently got an olympus 'tough' which is waterproof and thought it might be nice to record underwater as i release them (if they don't shoot off). Might be a bit tricky as most of my fish are caught in low light or darkness, or at this time of the year in very coloured water.

Gripper lead A little on the pricey side as only two per pack. However, i think they would work when you tightened up to them so the swivel faces down the slope, can't see tham sliding or rolling, thats why they use them for marker float work.

How about these? for all light conditions, never had a broblem with any of my airflo gear (jackets and waders) all have been brill, wonder about these. Airflo glasses

what is a dendrobaena then? I use them often but what are they in relation to red worms or brandlings?