Vidar6

Here they are eBay goodies

These fish was caught on Chew reservoir last autumn and was a part of an 11 Perch haul where the smallest fish weighed 2Ib 6oz, and the remaining 10 was between 2Ib 12oz and 3Ib 3Ib......three of the Perch was over 3Ib. This was truly a red-letter day

You haven't seen my latest toys either

I'm up for that too

Actually, the rod in question was a Shimano Scorpion in-line baitcasting rod and as such had nothing what so ever to do with Fox Contrary to popular belief in-line or guideless rods still very much exist, but mainly among Japanese high-end manufacturers of sea angling and jigging rods.

Podcasts are audio or video files, or combination thereof, that can be downloaded from the net. Normally it would require you to download the iTunes software, which is easily available free of charge. It just another way of making and almost endless amount of information available for Joe public

Braid & barbed hooks are banned. Grayling and barbless hooks are not necessarily the best combination Lure fishing is allowed (remember no braid, though) and during the last AM fish-in I caught two absolutely mint looking low double figure pike on a cisco spring dawg.

Budgie, you are 100% spot on Actually, all my high end Japanese lure rods from Megabass, Evergreen and Daiko uses counterbalance weights on the butt and they a pure joy to use. Megabass info You can buy various universal counterbalance kits that would fit almost any rod from retailers like Bass Pro and Cabelas. Holding an unbalanced or tip heavy trotting rod in you hand all day is absolutely no fun so not only lure rods would benefit from being correctly counterbalanced

Here is a few examples of fish caught ice fishing in Norway last winter.....unfortunately not by me though.

Great post and very much spot on

Yeah, I’m sure showing pictures of a species non existing in the UK caught with products not available here either and with techniques known by only a handful of UK anglers will lead to a surge in the manufacturers sales I’m a member of a host of American Bass fishing & tackle forums and it’s very, very common to show off pictures that also incorporate both the tackle and bait used to catch them.

Now that I have seen it with my own eyes

The guy is a Swedish angler fishing for Grayling on a Norwegain stillwater and the clip has been shown on SVT, which is Swedens version of BBC.

Take a look at this Pike attack

Great read

Had a genuinely fantastic time and my deepfelt thanks goes to Steve for making it happen

Probably scared everybody away now

Brown Trout & Arctic Char simply don't crossbreed, period Norway, where we have Char & Trout living side by side in thousands upon thousands of still waters has as far as I’m concerned not produced one single confirmed case of crossbreeding. Brown Trout with a rather golden belly (even sometimes reddish) is not that uncommon and I’ve caught it and seen it on more than one occasion. Very nice fish though

Most 100% fluorocarbon lines are relatively stiff and springy and are as such more or less useless on spinning reels. Without being careful to the extreme or using spinning reels with spool design more or less specially aimed at fluorocarbon you will easily experience line coming off the spool in coils when casting, giving you some horrendous birds nests to deal with. A lot of fluorocarbon line is also very brittle and extra, extra care must be taken when tying knots. I never got around to trying them out, but in America it’s very common to use semi fluorocarbon lines such as Yo-Zuri Hybrid soft on spinning reels and apparently they work well.

The fish was 17.4kg / 38.25Ib and apparently 80cm around it's girth I don't think it was full of spawn; it's a bit early in the year. I rather think it had been gorging on white fish (Sik in Norwegian) on which the still water where the fish was caught is stuffed full. In fact, white fish is so plentiful in some of the large Norwegian inland lakes / water systems that they are fished for commercially during a short autumn period. The rod you see in the picture is a typical ice fishing rod, 4 feet long and used when fishing for pike, Zander or Burbot, and can normally either be fitted with a multiplier or spinning reel. Large enough holes in the ice are not a problem as you can buy some very large diameter and extremely efficient ice-drills, which for the lazy ones among us even can be powered by a small petrol engine

Just thought you guys wanted to see a few pictures of an amazing pike caught ice fishing (biggest pike ever caught whilst ice fishing) in Norway, a little more than a week ago This fish is almost fatter than any steroid driven English trout reservoir pike What a lucky guy - I just wish it was mine

Asp is not a new inhabitant in Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden) at all; in fact, the species has been present there for over 6000 years. Asp did indeed spread to Scandinavia through the Baltic Sea more or less simultaneously to Zander, Chub and Rudd, but after having inhabited Scandinavian waterways for more than 60 millenniums I think it’s fair to describe the species as indigenous The Swedish record was caught in 1974 and stands at 7.69kg / 16.90Ib. The Norwegian record was caught in 1987 and stands at 5.30kg / 11.65Ib. Unfortunately, in Norway Asp has a very limited spread, as they are more or less limited to one particular water system and so as a consequence they are the only freshwater fish that are on the endangered species list.

I agree I’ve done exceptionally well on Fox 5” Chubby Shads over the 18 months or so, catching a large number of both Perch & Pike. In fact, last autumn a Fire Tiger Fox Chubby Shad caught me 11 Perch between 2.4Ib and 3.2Ib with three being over 3Ib, in one amazing session

Why not???.... How incredible boring life would be if we always just kept buying and using run off the mill products with little soul or personality. Considerable amount of punters like to own a Morgan sports car because of its classic looks, but it also has ultra modern high performance properties. You can't even begin to compare the casting performance this reel has, with lures in the ¼ - 1oz range, to any available Shimano Calcutta reel, with the possible exception of the DC version. I can tell you one thing; this Abu reel will work perfectly, years and years after the digital computer circuit fitted in the DC reel has given up. Fact is, modestly customised Ambassadeur 2500C reels fitted with Avail lightweight aluminium spools holds almost every long distance baitcasting record in the world, talking about the 5/8oz class, inducing the British record. By the way, the British record currently stands at 116.98 meters Oh well, every one to their own

With a bit of TLC, this is what can be done to an Ambassadeur Ambassadeur 1601C12 IAR, by UT Reel Technology Ambassadeur 1500C was at its introduction 1977 one of the most successful ABU reels ever made, well built and specially engineered for ultra-light fishing. The spool bearings and the centrifugal breaking systems were both tailored to match the characteristics of that era’s monofilament line, vastly different from the braided lines typically used by today’s ultra-light anglers. The introduction of braided lines have completely changed the reels operating conditions, causing substantially more wear and tear on internal components, requiring a much more accurate spool control to avoid horrifying backlashes. The drag system, with its large washer diameter, was at the time considered extraordinary, but with today’s high expectations and use of braided lines it doesn’t really compare. UT Reel Technology have completely disassembled the original reel and modified its construction, not only to address its known original weaknesses, but also in order to create a reel with true world-class performance characteristics, vastly exceeding what’s available in the market. This reel is specially tailored to be used in conjunction with braided lines, whilst being engineered and built to give its owner a life long trouble free angling experience and maximum pleasure. Modifications: The High-speed system (spool, spool bearings and levelwind system): 1) The frame is blue printed to an angular accuracy at about 30 seconds of arc in three dimensions. 2) The spool is a super lightweight aluminum spool from Avail in Japan, where the spool shaft has been carefully measured for straightness. 3) Three spool bearings (ceramic hybrids with metal parts of stainless steel and balls made out of Silicon Nitride) are installed to eliminate all power throbbing vibrations in the spool shaft. The bearing tolerances are optimized for use with lures in the 5 - 40 grams range and treated with Yellow Rocket Oil. 4) The Centrifugal breaking system is installed with one break-block in size 1844, which can be considered an excellent starting point. However, a mixed set of break blocks of different sizes and weights are supplied, for a true optimization to the owner’s rod, casting technique and intended use. 5) The idler gear is weight reduced and has two; tolerance matched ceramic hybrid bearings added for minimum friction and inertia whilst casting. 6) The original worm gear bushings are exchanged with tolerance matched ceramic hybrid bearings, lubricated with Yellow Rocket Oil. The low speed system (crank, power train and drag system): 1) The original drag washers are exchanged to CarbonTex washers. The metal washer is ground flat with 600 grit and all surfaces are treated with a smallish amount of Cal’s 2speed reel grease before assembly, giving an ultra smooth, rugged, extremely capable, moisture and temperature independent drag system. 2) The IAR-bearing is cleaned and treated with a special lubrication to keep out water and moisture, securing max functionality over the widest possible temperature range and minimizing the risk for corrosion. 3) The reel is fitted with a 80mm long dual paddle handle, made out of chromed brass, with two roller bearings installed in each knob.