Jim_UK

So they put it in the river Huron!!! Jim

I got mine from Argos and after 5 years it is still going strong. One thing I did replace was the usual spike for a screw in one. Jim

Exactly the same situation as the tops I buy then. If I pick the brand carefully I will be able to boast that once I was XXL but now I am down to M(medium) Jim

A couple of waters that I fish on have maximum hook sizes (10's) so not sure how that would work without a defined size for hooks. I bet if I bought size 10's in the Fox hooks they would be quite suitable for hanging sides of beef at the butchers. Jim

It is impossible to buy clothes just by their label descriptions of S, M, L, XL, XXL etc as manufacturers do not have a fixed definition of what these sizes actually are. I have a top that is marked as L and fits me with lots of room. I bought another marked as XXL and found that it was too tight. What has this got to do with fishing I hear you ask. Well I discovered yesterday that a similar situation exists in fishing tackle - namely hook sizes. I went into one of my local tackle shops to buy some smallish hooks suitable for small floating baits and asked for some 14's. The shop owner suggested that I try some of the 18's that he had at which point I suggested that they would be far too small. How wrong I was - the 18's that he produced were larger than the 14's I had in my hand. Now when I was in my youth you could be sure that the hook sizes went larger as numbers got smaller - 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 etc but it seems that that is no longer the case. My mate and I were discussing this last night and trying to determine just what it was that made a hook a particular size. Could it be the gape of the hook? NO as we could see that the gape on the 18's was greater than the gape on the 14's. Could it be the gauge of wire? NO as the 18's was a larger gauge than the 14's The hooks that I had in my hand were Fox Match 18's Just what determines the size that a hook really is? Jim

Yes I guess if he hasn't found a pole he likes after 11 years then he is very fussy, Jim

Same here - Prawns do look like large shrimps. It is possible in some areas to walk into the shallows with a fine net and catch shrimps but prawns are from deeper water I think. Some Prawns are quite large - say about 4 inches but prawns are about 1 inch. Here Shrimps are also expensive - come to think of it --everything here is expensive. Jim

Prawns have been the most successful bait I have used on commercials with good numbers of:- Carp, Tench, Golden Orfe, Trout, Perch, Roach, Rudd, Chub, Gudgeon, Bream and Barbel The ones I use are the ready cooked ones in trays from Just about any Supermarket. I dip the cooked prawns in boiling water for about 10 seconds to toughen them up a little. In those trays there are always bits (less than whole prawns) and these plus about 1/2 the tray are broken into small pieces with a small number thrown into the swim about every 5 minutes. At about £2 for a days bait they are even cheaper than worms. If the fish are slow then you can help them out by eating a few yourself but take care as just when you have eaten the last they are sure to come on with a vengeance. Jim

The problem of course is not knowing what is going to pick up your bait. I have had lots of carp to 16 pounds on the previous Maver pole and finally of course down to the last two sections but I would not like to hook one of that size just on the top two sections. Hence the margin pole which will save my power tops some grief. I have measured the top section of the margin pole at 5 foot but am still unsure whether to just elasticate that or that plus the next section. I intend to elasticate with at least 18's so as to be able to put some pressure on to stop fish getting into snags. Of course the longer the elastic the greater the chance the fish has of getting to those snags. Am I convincing myself to just elasticate that top section? Jim

How can you go fishing and then sleep? Anyone coming next week? I am going sleeping!! Sorry but it makes little sense to me. I have done a lot of night fishing in my younger days for eels on the Ribble and Wyre and not once was I tempted to sleep. I had after all gone fishing and not sleeping. Jim Edit I tell a lie. I once went up to Cumbria to fish a night tide for Bass. On the way up I dug lugworm and on arrival at the beach decided to get an hours sleep as the tide was so far out. I woke up in the morning with the tide gone waaaaaay back out.

Thanks for the reply. I already have the margin pole so do intend to use it. It does seem to be very robust which of course is what you expect of such a pole. I am not worried about the extra weight of it being composite as it is quite short and I always use a forward rest and also a rear "hook" (clever claw). The question is whether to elasticate just the top section or the top and composite second section. My top kits on the Maver pole are elasticated with Prestons hollow 14-17 elastics which should be more than adequate for the fishing I do. Jim

I have only had experience of sounders from a boat but know it is important to have the gain turned down as low as you can to get readings. Too high and you get spurious readings. Jim

I have never owned a margin pole before and I am a little unsure about the elastication. As you know each section of a pole slides into the next size up when you dismantle the pole but if you chose to elasticate the top two sections then you can no longer do this and need a separate pole tube to hold the top during transport. The margin pole that I have bought (Ebay) is a Garbolino 6.5M which is a carbon composite three sections and full carbon top. Is it usual on a margin pole to elasticate just the top section (just over 5 foot) or would you elasticate the top two sections necessitating carrying the top two in another tube. Please only answer if you actually do pole fish and have elasticated/used margin poles as I really do want to get this right. I would normally just use the power top two of my standard pole to fish the margins but have experienced the problem of trying to add extra sections when a lunker has made off with the bait. Thanks in anticipation Jim

Great - Many thanks for the link. I had not seen that on the TV. I had only read about it in a book at some time. Jim

No one spotted the mistake there? It was not of course Edinburgh as the Romans turned back when they got to Scotland not wanting to cross swords with folks that ate brains in sheep's intestines. It was in fact York that they were seen. Jim