Vidar6

There is a huge market in Japan for “classic” Abu models and the 1500, 1600 IAR and 2500 was available in Japan long after they had gone in Europe and America. In fact, 1500 and 2500 reels was reintroduced early this year in Japan for a limited time period. ABU1500 & 2500 Likewise there are a dozen of companies in Japan that offers some amazing tuning part for ABU reels, Zpi and Avail being the more known companies. The world record for distance casting (more than 116 meters with a 5/8oz casting weight) was set by an English man using an ABU 2500 reel fitted with a lightweight Avail aluminium spool. The most extreme ABU reel introduced over the last few years, by far, are the limited edition ZPI tuned ABU Morrun AE74 reel. ABU AE74 reel

Why not take it out completely and go for this one ABU 6500 Snakehead

They are very similar, but the Punnisher being hand-built and individually tested before release is much more consistent in its action. I suppose that why the Punnisher costs all that extra money. Saying that, there are some very good mass produced around, such as the Salmo slider and the Buster Jerk.

The André Koehoorn Punnisher is a hand built Dutch lure and I got mine from Lundgrens in Sweden. Expensive lure, but a fantastic pike catcher and a joy to use http://shop.lundgrensfiske.com/group.asp?group=135

Add a Buster Jerk and a AK Punnisher to the list and you are well equipped for both UK and European pike fishing The new versions of the ACE baits with Envirotex finish/coating are much, much better than the old ones and can take a lot more punishment. http://www.fishingpool.co.uk/product.php?pid=jerk7

Just to add to the confusion, there are several types of "jerkbait's" available, which all requires rather different retrieve techniques in order to be used successfully The bulk of so-called "jerkbait's" used for pike in the UK are not at all designed to be retrieved with violent jerks or pulls, but are rather glidebait's or slider's that should be retrieved using relative gentle taps of the rod tip, thus allowing the bait to glide side-to-side in a zig-zag pattern. There is simply a much greater chance of foul hooking a fish on a largish straight retrieved crank bait's and treble hooked soft plastic lures then there is on a correctly fished glidebait or slider.

Spot on

Now this is what I call a flatfish http://www.wildwater.se/freport/report_las...mp;lang=english 202kg / 444Ib The fish was caught out from Vaeröy, which is one of the smaller Islands in Norway's Lofoten & Vesteralen archipelago. Vidar

Yup Snakehead is a revered sport fish in many parts of South-East-Asia put’s up one hell of scrap even on very heavy lure fishing tackle.

Put me down on the list, please

I'll take (or Faye that is) another pike like that any day of the week

Please, put down mine and Faye's name Cheers Vidar

Many thanks to Tony, Sue and Lyn for all their effort from me too Caught some clonking fish, but my god it was cold and wet experience. Oh well, I plan a trip back to the Test some times next week so lets just hope I have more luck with the weather then.

Thanks for thinking of me guys I’m really, really looking forward to this one. Working my butt off in the day job and doing up my new house the since this summer has more or less stopped me entirely from wetting a line or indeed being active on the forum, but things should hopefully be back to normal in a week or two. Cheers Vidar

River & lake Trout fishing is Norway is cheap, very cheap and quality fishing for wild Brownies is available in abundance everywhere you go. The cost for a season fishing ticket (1st June until 1st September) in the mountain lake in question is £35, and around £15 for a week permit. Worth remembering is the lake produces a good number of plump, fin perfect wild brownies to well over 6Ib every single year. The Salmon fishing as per normal was a very different kettle of fish though, but still not silly money compared to some other rivers. Abu Toby is a great lure for both Salmon and Trout, but the lure in question is actually a Solvkroken Vikingsild (Viking Herring), cooper coloured with red and black back. Solvkroken makes some of the best game fish and predator lures money can buy. Solvkroken Vikingsild

I’m recently back from a week in Norway where I together with a couple friends spent the first few days fishing for Brown Trout and Arctic Char in one the many thousands of lakes available within the Hardangervidda Mountain National Park area. The lake in question is located 965 meter (3200 feet) above sea level, and is with its 4 miles length only one of the medium sized lakes within the National Park area, but it contains a great head of Brown Trout and Char. Unfortunately, this year the Char turned in a no show, but the Brown Trout fishing was great and we caught a good amount of fish to well over 3Ib. However the highlight of the trip came when we as planned moved to fish for Atlantic Salmon in one of the West Norway’s Salmon & Sea Trout Rivers. The fishing started on the slow side, but on Wednesday evening I ended up catching two Salmon to over 20Ib with the biggest one being a female fish of no less than 10.5kg or 23Ib in imperial money. Because it was freshly run the fish had the appearance of a bar of silver, in addition it was super fit and put up massive scrap in a river that was carrying a lot more water than normal for early July. Using very light tackle for Salmon fishing, a 10 feet ABU medium light action baitcasting rod paired with my Shimano Conquest 101 DC, it took me around 15-20 minutes to land each of the fish. To catch one 20Ib Atlantic Salmon in an evenings fishing is good going, but to catch two on such light tackle that I was using is truly an amazing experience It's safe to say I was a very happy bunny The largest of the Salmon The river the Salmon was caught from The swim the Salmon was caught from The mountain Trout & Char lake at Hardangervidda

Enjoy yourself guys, but then again I’m sure you all will I’m too looking forward to reading the catch reports and seeing the pictures. Unfortunately, I had to pull out last minute as the vendor suddenly changed the second viewing from Saturday to Sunday on a house we potentially are looking to buy

Looks more like a Salmon to be honest However, a 36Ib Brown Trout is not impossible by any means The Norwegian rod caught Brown Trout record is 15.3kg/33.7Ib, and fish to well over 10kg/22Ib is caught every year.

For the money it's a great piece of kit

1/8oz (3.5gm) and 1/4oz (7 gm) are great sizes for Perch & Chub

Yes, even that

Yes, I have eight of them ranging from 0.75Ib to 2Ib test

Ehh, who is berating what? Ten to twelve feet through action spinning/casting rods are very useful for many applications and fishing techniques, and I use such rods exclusively every time I go back to Scandinavia for some Trout, Sea Trout or Salmon fishing. However, I thought Newt’s intention was to come up with recommendations and advice for soft plastic fishing, and long through action Avon rods are probably the least suitable tools imaginable the for the applications in question. I would be a very interested spectator to anybody trying efficiently fishing a Super Fluke, a surface frog, a Senko or a finesse worm with a 12 feet Avon rod. The average British coarse angler normally has a wide variety of rods suitable for various techniques thus realising the importance of choosing the right tool for the job, so why should it be any different when it comes to lure fishing?

Everything must be put in perspective as at the time the book was written the norm in America was rods around the 6 feet mark. Over the last few years the average length of rods used in America has increased among both Bass and Musky anglers, and for flipping techniques most anglers would use rods around 7.5 feet or absolutely max 8 feet. Peter, an 11 to 12 feet Avon rod is a great tool for many things, but I can assure you it’s absolutely useless for flipping, pitching or skipping

Steve's rod can in American baitcasting terms best be described as having an extra fast action, which is spot on for most types of soft plastic fishing Through action rods, long or short, are simply hopeless tools for any types of soft plastic with the only possible exception when used in conjunction with lures that are straight retrieved. Fast or extra fast action rods will have a soft tip allowing you to accurately cast or pitch lightweight baits, but still have the backbone to set a large single hooks.