Ken L

So, if the blade has 64 teeth and rotates at 10,000 RPM, it only gets to take 10.7 chunks out of your finger before it stops. How does it know whether it's cutting through just wood or wood AND your hand ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm It's a bit of a cop out actually. they're not luminous, they're flourescent, so they need a UV light to make them glow. The next stage of the research obviously needs to be getting them to grow there own sunglasses so they don't get cararacts from the UV.

Jeepster. The rod is currently unused so if you PM me your address (and if I get chance to sort out a tube in the runup to my next trip to the tropics) I'll drop it in the post for you.

Be wary of the Trippa. I have the spinning rod and whilst it was fine fishing for chub on the river when I'd go out on the bike, the first Mangrove Jack that hit a lure tossed on it shattered the tip section. The forces wern't excessive but the rod was very brittle. Obviously Cabalas have a fine range and postage, VAT and (HM Customs) "handleing charges" can all be minimised or avoided if you know anyone in the US who will recieve, re-package and post it on for you, with "gift" ticked on the costoms declaration. If all else fails, I have a light two piece Loomis and Franklin baitcaster that needs a new home. It's 6' 6", casts maybe 30g and has a fairly soft action.

Vagabond. Thanks for that. I came across the journeyman rod the other day and will consider it. I already have a StCroix Tidemaster that's 7' long and rated to cast 1.5oz (actually. it'll cast just over 2 with no problems) but I could do with a bit more power and length to bully fish over rocks and for my bait fishing exploits. The other option is a symetrically split 8' uptider, but the travelling length on these is a bit OTT.

Barbel and chub are both native but both have had their range increased through (often thoughtless) introductions into river systems where they shouldn't be.

Thanks Jerry. Unfortunatly the most powerful travel rod available from Cabelas is 7' 6" and casts upto 2.5oz so the Fox rod appears to have it beeten on both length and power - if it does what it says on the packet.

Hi and welcome Gozzer. There's nothing like starting out with a nice easy uncontravercial subject. As it happens, I completely agree with the position that you and Peter ahave taken but may I suggest that you DUCK.

I've also posted this thread on the coarse forum but given that allegedly it casts 3oz, I thought some of our travelling sea anglers might have had a look at it. This rod is 9'6'' and rated to cast 40 to 100gms which would seem to make it just the job for my trips to the tropics. I've not seen one so before I flex my plastic, I'd appreciate any information from anyone who has, particularly about whether the rated casting weight is realistic. Will this rod really punch out (rather than lob) lures upto and just over 3oz ? Any comments of the action would be appreciated as well. Is it stiff or sloppy and is it tippy (fast) or through(slow) ?

Peter. The trout and more recently the perch (redfin) have almost totally ousted the native blackfish as the main fish present in the cool streams of the GDR. I think that the blackfish are now listed as endangered. In New Zealand, it's arguably worse. The only large fish present other than eels are trout, carp and goldfish and although I've never been able to establish whether there were large natives that have been outsted, the trout certanly take a toll of the native galaxids by simply eating them.

Some nice fish. I loved the 32lb pike taken off the surface with a popper !

The Shimano Exage's are nice rods but the most powerful of them is only rated to cast 50g and I already have a rod that'll do that. I thought I'd found just the jobbie in the Askari catalogue in the shape of a 3 piece 2.7m pirking rod from Belzer but it didn't show up on the website and when I e-mailed them, it turns out that they've discontinued the rod.

This rod is 9'6'' and rated to cast 40 to 100gms which would seem to make it just the job for my trips to the tropics. I've not seen one so before I flex my plastic, I'd appreciate any information from anyone who has, particularly about whether the rated casting weight is realistic. Will this rod really punch out (rather than lob) lures upto and just over 3oz ? Any comments of the action would be appreciated as well. Is it stiff or sloppy and is it tippy (fast) or through(slow) ?

And in the UK, the EA poison entire ecosystems to rid them of unwelcome aquatic forigners. The fact is that the introduction of carp has been an environmental catastrophy for Australia and it's native fish (not as much a one as the introduction of salminids but that's another issue) and they need to be removed. In this country, we love to knock Rex Hunt but I don't see Mat Hayes or any other British TV anglers taking on the netters that are decimating our inshore waters or changing the entire ethos of the countries angling scene from kill everything to catch and release. Sure, he could do with learning how to use a disgorger and occasionally, his on-sceen fish handleing leaves something to be desired but if we were churning out watchable TV angling in this country, nobody would have to watch Mr Hunt at all. Paul Young - Yawn. That Irish bloke that hasn't got a clue - please. John Wilson - Would you believe it. In addition to making watchable TV angling shows (OK, so a third of the show is now a cooking sketch wich is odd), I've actually learned things by watching Rex et all. Can't say that about any UK presenter other than John Wilson.

When they start becoming a problem species in the Scottish loch that they were introduced into, no doubt some bright spark will blame pike anglers for introducing them as livebaits.

114.8 Kg's Not bad for the first week. That's just about 10lbs old money. It'll probably slow down a bit now though.

Jan. I got back from India on 21.12.05 and am looking to go back for another 6 weeks just as soon as I can sort it out. Cow tipping unfortunatly looks like an urban myth but I've been tempted to kick seven shades out of some of the bad tempered evil bleeders over there. Can't do that without getting lynched though, so I content myself with occasional trips to a restauraunt that's run by a Dutch couple in Goa where I get to eat large succulent steaks and fantasise about which of my "favorite" cows I'd like it to have been carved off. Admitting this did however generate a positivly outraged e-mail from a Hindu friend in the UK.

I got bored over Christmas and dug out my old Friends Reunited entry that nobody had ever responded to and changed it to complete BS. According to my profile, I'm a currently doing time in a jail in the DR Congo for activities related to arms smuggling. I can't sell rubbish or "nothing" over e-bay 'cause it's been done. Any other uggestions should boredom strike again ?

One that i loved was fishing the Severn and walking out around a tree to discover that the run-in to a rock bar was 2 feet deep and weedy on the inside line before shelving up to about 6" over bare rock. The edge was reeds so I slipped on a Moss Boss and flicked it up hard against the reeds and twitched it back. As the lure came in over the barr, I sped it up for the next cast when a low double pike came charging out of the reeads, bow-waving through 6 or 7 feet of water just 6" deep to nail the lure about 3 feet from my rod tip. Having been hooked, it promptly shot off into mid river where it jumped several times and generally gave a good account of itself before comming in. I've had plenty of bigger fish but for sheer adrenalin pumping fun, that one was hard to beat. With carp (yes, I have targeted deliberatly in the past) it's hard to beat the mid double caught in lillies under my rod tip on floating crust. I would only have been 15 or 16 so for me that was a MONSTER - and what a way to catch it, watching those big rubbery lips comming up and sucking my bait in.

Well, I read the New Scientist article this morning and it's made the headlines because experiments based on an obscure German physists (un peer reviewed) work are about to get US government funding. No real progress has been made and most accademics seem to think that the theory is nonsence - even though the theory makes some uncannly accurate predictions about the masses of sub attomic particles that are beyond prediction using "the standard model".

In India, we would fish static baits with grip leads and a big bow but actually caught more fish by using a rolling lead and walking the baits along the beach as the lead gets washed along. Doing this covered a lot of water/fish and the bait could be kept between 70 and 40m out for a good 10 minutes.

I saw the cover and picked up New Scientist on the basis of this story on Friday. I've not yet had chance to read the article though. If FTL travel proves to be possible, it makes the whole extra terestrial visits thing a whole lot more probable.

The strange thing with women is that they think they'll get the same responces from all men that they get from the tame one they've got at home. On the plus side, there's endless fun to be had simply by being honest: Q. What do you think of my new hairdo ? A. Well the perm makes you look like an early eighties footballer. Q. Do you like my new top ? A. Well the top's alright but you're a bit old to pull it off. Q. Do you think that this dress makes me look fat ? A. No. The doughnuts that you constantly eat make you look fat. Q. Do you like my new perfume ? A. Is it the new one by Vapona ?

This from the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4591230.stm I seem to recall that he made several high profile statements on angling but for the life of me, I can't recall what they were.

Thanks for that Nick.