Anthony78

I've started to hear good things about the SPRO range but I, like alot of others, am reluctant to move away from a brand which has proven to be so reliable for so many years. I needed some small baitrunners for my quivertip fishing for chub and barbel and decided to go away from Shimano for a change and bought some Okuma amazonium's which has a double handle supplied which I do prefer and these are great little reels but they have started to show signs of wear and tear already and they haven't been given any more abuse than the shimano's. Do you have the SPRO's yourself? How long have you had them? How long has this company been trading as I have only recently heard of them? Ant

Hi tinctinca, That does look like a cracking little real. Does it have a baitrunner? if not how many turns to go from freespool to clutch setting? Ant I have a set of the 8000GTE's for my carp fishing and they are quality reels which I wouldn't part with. Bn looking at these as they have the baitrunner facility as well as being a mini big pit style reel. They seem to tick all the boxes. Anybody have any experience of these? Ant

QUOTE (Richard Capper @ Apr 24 2011, 08:52 PM) How far are you hoping to cast? I'll be fishing Smiths/Hardwick lake on the linear complex for the bream so probably no further than 70/80 yards at a push! So not extreme range but it is long range compared to what I'm used to. QUOTE (Anderoo @ Apr 24 2011, 08:36 PM) I have blown up a 1.5lb tc barbel rod on a big cast. The rods you linked to should be fine though. Barbel rods in general are not really suitable for this big pit, hard casting type of fishing. They do make superb fish playing rods for fishing closer in though. I've been using large maggot feeders for the tench and while I love using my barbel rods they do seem to struggle punching 2.5 ounce feeders loaded with maggots any distance hence the stronger rods. Thanks for all the suggestions guy's I will check them out. My apologies if you thought that I'd be fishing at extreme distances but long distance for me for this equipment is around the 80 - 100 yards range so I was looking for a reel which would get me to this range with as little effort as possible. Any further and as Lutra said I would be switching to my Carp rods and big pits. Thanks again for all the advice guy's. It's appreciated as always. Regards Anthony

Hi, I've just bought a set of the Korum Neoteric 12ft Twin Tip which have 2 tips with test curves of 1.75lb and 2.2lb. I'll be using these for my long distance Tench and Bream fishing in sping/summer and for Zander and Barbel in the Autumn/Winter. Now I need to decide on which reels to buy. I currently have some Shimano 5000RE which I currently have matched up with my 1.5lb rods for close in work and small river barbel fishing but the spools are very small on these reels and although the line lay is superb they aren't really designed for punching feeders/leads out a long way and would take an age to crank back in. Does anybody have any recomendations on reels and reel sizes that I can match up with these rods? Would a 6000 size reel be too heavy and unbalance the rod? I've been looking at the Korum Kxi 50 Freespin as the spool looks slightly larger on this reel. Does anybody have any experience of these reels? Any advice would be helpful? Regards Anthony

Hi Ali, There is not a standard rig for stick mixes. It's probably good practice to use a stick on every rig you cast out as it'll not only help to prevent tangles, it'll allow you to pull back a little after casting to allow the rig to straighten out and will add instant attraction around your hookbait. Ant

After being shown the Albright knot at the Wingham Fish-in last year I've been using it ever since and have 100% confidence in it. Ant

If you got some old candles lying around you can pull the wick out of them and they become perfect inline surface floats. Just add a bead and a float stop at both ends. They cast a mile too!! Ant

I'd also go for the Chubs. Had a play with them before and they feel like a quality bit of kit. Decided on the Prologic XLNT in the end though as they were just a little thinner in the blank. Ant

Hi Lozza, First of all, congrats on your cracking tench. A 6lb 10oz male is a fantastic specimen. Now I do not pretend to be an expert at catching tench but I do know that they can easily get preoccupied on small food items. What bait were you feeding? If it included hemp or groundbait then it could well have been that they were eating only that? Did you continue feeding the same bait all day or did you put a load of bait (hemp or groudbait) in first thing and then feed something else to top the swim up over the course or the day? as they may have eaten all of this initial feed and then moved on to your "trickle" feed as the day proceeded. It could also be that you happened to be fishing over a bloodworm bed which are extremely active this time of the year and they were feeding on this in the morning and the slow introduction of feed from yourself over this has slowly turned them onto your bait. Either way I think bait is the key and I would try changing this until you start getting bites. Personall I would try caster and hemp 50/50 split or, if there are not too many small fish, red maggots which can be a fantastic tench bait. Sorry, probably not much help but I do know how frustraiting tench fishing can be but also know that the answer usually lies within your choice of bait. Regards Ant

One critisism I do have of the JW Barbel rod is that it's heavy and is not a great tool for casting. I've had some for over 12 months now and although they are a great rod for fish playing, due to the very small eyes on the avon section they'll struggle when you need to cast to the horizon! I'll be swapping mine for some Korum twin tips. Ant

Congratulations That's an incredible feat of angling and on tench gear too! This is torture! We have another 7 weeks before we can get the chance of fishing this incredible lake and we've already seen a brace of giant bream, a bag full of early season tench and now a 40lb carp. What an unbelievable place Wingham is. I just wish it could be moved 200 miles north then I could put my name down for a ticket Well done Ant

That makes 2 of us then. After an hours journey too

I've been really lucky and only ever found one mouse (he say's while touching a piece of wood!) in the garage and managed to catch and release it down the canal. I wasn't expecting so find these bl**dy things eating their way through my bivvy though Ant

Hi Andrew, It's just over an hour for me but Cliff is based in Hereford so would probably add another 40 mins or so to his journey. Was hoping to find somewhere mutual for us both. A very experienced angler has mentioned the Linear complex which sounds perfect but is a bit of a treck and currently I can only do weekends which probably means that it will be very crowded because of the carp but I'm not interested in these at the moment. Did you have anywhere else in mind? Thanks Anthony

Hi Andrew, Thanks for the suggestion. Just checked and it looks as though it could be a bit too commercial for me and it appears to be dominated by carp in Molands. Thanks for all the suggestions though Ant

Hi Andrew, That's a cracking shout! Just checked and it's 40 mins from me. It's a little further for Cliff but hopefullly he'll think it's worth it. It is a shame that they don't do night fishing but hey we can't have everything and they do allow nights at the linear complex which I've now found out has bream and tench to double figures  but is just over an hour for me. Have you ever fished Kingsbury? Do you fish Broomey Croft pool if you do? Thanks again. Ant

Always amazes me that WD40 can be used as an attractant for perch etc. It's a degreasing agent!! Thanks for identifying the little blighters and how to get shot of them. Mothballs on the shopping list...check!! Ant

Hi Rob, Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately Larford has gone all commercial and the large lake which used to hold carp to 30lb and bream well into double figures has now been reduced in size to create 2 more match lakes and is now overrun with pasties . Shame really as when it used to be owned by the BAA it was very natural and full of monster fish. Keep em coming! Ant

Hi Guy's, Does anyone know of a day ticket gravel pit which is less than an hours drive from Hereford/Worcester? Myself and Cliff want to get some practice in for the Wingham fish-in this year so needs to be suited to medium to long range feeder fishing. Thanks in advance. Ant

Hi Guy's, I've had a spring clean in the garage today and to my horror I've found these little blighters eating their way through my bait bags and even my bivvy bag. Any ideas what they are? I guess that they are some kind of moth as it looks like a chrysalis in the pic but I also found some maggot looking thing chewing it's way through my bag of tiger nuts. Any ideas? Cheers Ant

This was the kind of thing I was thinking about. Runs on AAA batteries and gets to 180 degrees in seconds. Look here What do you think? Am I on to something here? Ant

I think it may come down to this if I can't find an easy solution. Thanks Ant

Hi Tommo, What style of fishing are you planning to use this for? And do you own a pole? I only ask because unluss your looking at speed fishing for fish of around 2 - 6oz then I see no advantage to owning a whip over a pole. Ant

Hi Renrag, Tried exactly that. Dropped the flame down as low as it would go and even though I shrunk the tube down sufficiently a quick pull on the braid showed that the flame was deffinately weakening it which meant that I had to start all over again . Ant