JOHN.H

Hi Si , I am old school and still use home made monkey climbers where I actually want to strike a running fish instead of self hooking on bolt rigs . They are in my opinion excellent for eels, catfish and perch .Mine are made by cutting up different lengths of small bore white plastic overflow pipe , this gives you different weight "monkeys" to counteract undertow etc. I use grey metal knitting needles as they are coated and never rust . The needled are pushed in at the required angle and height to suit the conditions. I like to use the lightest weight" monkey " for the conditions and to have it drop off asap so it needs only travel 2-3 inches .Obviously the reel is fished with the bail arm open. Cheap as chips and used in conjunction with my old Optonic Super XL`s as good a method of bite indication as you will get where fish are intolerant of resistance , and you want them to run . The old Optonics work with just line running over the wheel so you are fully aware even when the "monkey " has dropped off. For those who do not know the set up is positioned directly under the reel.

I do not think they are pliers as the jaws have a scissorlike action rather than a gripping action . The "knobs " on the inside edges indicate some sort of stop , so some sort of cutting device leaving a known residual ???

Hi Wotnobivvy, earler this year I was at Potter Heigham and the river was stuffed full of silvers , mainly roach and perch . Two fisherman , with steady feeding , a few magotts a cast were taking a fish a cast this was above the main road bridge . Downstream , Yarmouth side there is Womack water with a parish staithe , but also some public mooring , though this would be a 10-15 minute walk to the village . It seems such a shame about the bait situation so, how about this for a solution, at Womack village staithe there is a small tackle shop ( cannot guarantee they would have bait but worth a try ) and at Potter you have an angling centre ( no longer called Lathams ) but they always seem to have plenty . Could you not just get a pint or so and simply use them all up so storage does not become an issue. The bait around here , I get mine at North Walsham and I would suspect from the same supplier is generally pretty fresh , I have been turning casters in my shed ( not fridged up) I bought them last friday and they only really just began to cast on wednesday so suitable shade on deck might be an answer. The water at both these venues is obviously tidal however this influence at Womack ( supposed to be a decent pub in village) is basically up and down . Potter is a different kettle of fish , depending on the tide it could be going either way but, the fishermen I mentioned were catching on the flood. Bread would be an alternative but if you wanted a couple of hours of fun Magotts are the answer . I think you would struggle to get magotts any where else . Hope you have a great time ,John

Fair comment , enjoy your holiday . John

I would moor up at a pub the first night, have a right good drink then deliver a night of unbridled passion. Next morning casually mention how amorous the boat makes you feel and that you are so excited you cannot wait to get moored up again tonight at another pub .Continue this tack on a daily basis until she either backs down and tells you to buy some magotts or simply enjoy the week !

Hi everybody, I am thinking of buying a Greys Strata All Weather jacket or a Daiwa Wilderness XT 3/4 . Can anybody recommend either or a viable (pricewise ) alternative , Many thanks in advance.

The "bream" at least to me , looks to have quite a bit of roach about it .

Firstly , power is measured in watts . Secondly additional batteries in parallel ( assuming the same battery specification ) will only "double " the capacity for the first extra battery , if every subsequent battery doubled the capacity a lot of the worlds power problems would be solved. Ampere hours are , or can be considered to be a guide i.e. 12 v 10 aH , 1 amp for 10 hours or say 5 amps for 2 hours . Any calculation should also take into account other factors like temperature etc. A factor of 0.7 will take this into account . Incidentally voltage readings should be in parallel and current readings in series . Best to seek expert advice as you will not pass electrical principles reading some of these posts .

Would have thought that a softer or compound taper might have made the quarry "hang on" a bit longer , that said a 1" pull is a !" pull so amplifying or accentuating the bite would in my humble opinion be impossible , but hey I apparently do not know the complexity of the Palomar knot only having used it for about 40 years so ignore what I have said .

Whatever---------------------

Since I assumed that semi intelligent people were reading this I did not think I would have to explain that the rod would have to be re threaded , a new leader is being attached , or am I the stupid one ?

If only happy with a palomar, remove the spool and pass this through the loop .

Trust me ,there is nothing wrong with my spine.

Going to bed , on site again tomorrow so will not be available until 18:00 hrs or so , still awaiting a response !

If a South American catfish wears a beard yes.