Jim Murray

Yes I Googled myself and found similar reports elsewhere. I was just asking because the furthest North I've seen them has been Inveraray. Heard reports of Oban fish also but your link above speaks of fish in the Hebrides and Orkney as well ,which I really wasn't aware of. What are the odds on Shetland ;-)

Stromness - are you 100% sure they were mullet? Just asking because I've fished for mullet and had reports from most of the good areas and up until now the furthest North has been Inveraray ;-) If they're up in Orkney that would have to make them some of the farthest North mullet ever I'd have thought.

Didn't realise it was so technical - anytime I've used dropshot technique before, you really don't have to impart much action anyway. Def not buying two rods so may well take your advice thanks.

Ideally a rod for both Steve.

Ideally a rod for both Steve.

Closest match would be a very old 10' leger rod (threaded tip ring), it's quite stiff. Or an 11' glass with a spliced quivertip. I don't have a light spinning rod at all hence the need for this one.

Planning on doing a bit of dropshotting on my local canals for perch. Just wondering what rod would be recommended, I'm thinking a longer one than needed for eg boat fishing? Would spend anywhere from £30-£60 on one; my local shop has the HTO's, I'm going in this week to check if he has any others there. Would prefer cork handle but can't see too many out there. Any recommendations or advice?

Got this sorted now. Used a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water then brushed it on. After 3 coats it is now a lot stiffer and almost stands up on its' own. Will give it a couple of coats of Fabsil and job done.

I'm already using similar to these at the moment but every design I've seen has been aimed at carp/pike rods, just a little big for general use although they do suffice. Such useful items I'm lookin at getting a pair for all my rods, even fly rods as they spend a lot of time in the back of the car - so was looking for a nice snug version.

Anyone know if they're available in smaller sizes to suit float/quivertip rods etc? Can't see too much out there other than the bigger ones which can do a job but tend to float around a bit...

They give us Lenovo T440s laptops. They are extremely light and the shell is what appears to be a brittle black plastic, almost like Bakelite. When the lid hit the counter it didn't stand much of a chance.

Unfortunately the company only supplies a specific model - I'l see if it's available in a hardened version, for next time.

I'm aware that nothing will save it if it's drop kicked into touch. I dropped it in the kitchen and the open lid just caught a corner on the worktop. It was enough to do the damage. A thin rubber skin might have just saved it - would certainly be better than nothing.

Just managed to write off my ThinkPad display by dropping it. Has to be repaired by IBM to retain the warranty so will be approx £550 total cost. It's a work machine so they will pay but going forward it would be good to try to protect it more. Crazy to think that a thin film of rubber may well have prevented the damage. Looking online there's lots of protection in the form of sleeves etc available but what is needed is something akin to a phone case which will protect it all the time whilst in use. Ideally there would also be radiation protection builtin (laptop spends a lot of time parked on my lap). I can't see too much online - anyone ever seen such a product? Would have thought the market would be huge.

Thanks for all these suggestions. Since I'd already got Flickr installed on my phone, decided to give it a whirl since had read good things about it. It took over 3 days to upload 600 images(on wifi only). Fair enough on a first run. However when I logon to Flickr on the laptop, I can't see any of them - Googling suggests that I've logged on with 2 different accounts but this isn't the case. Can't see anything else wrong - anyone know what's wrong, or is there a process to follow the first time to get your pics n video visible? I can see old images from last time I used Flickr, 2 years ago, but not these new ones.