Phil Adams

Right all, Im looking for a new lure rod. Im looking for somthing which has: 7ft ish Suitable for use with a multiplier reel casting weight of 20ish to 70ish (that type of range) and has a longer handle, i.e not a single handed bait caster. Does anyone know of such a rod? Ive found a couple which has been branded as "jerkbait" rods, which is fine, but I would thing that the blank would be very still if the rod has been designed to hurl larger jerkbaits etc. Any ideas? Thanks

As the title says really lol, does Emberton park still have a closed season or not? I've not been up there for quite some time. Thanks

For 100 squid you can get a rod, reel and a whole bunch of bits n pieces. Basicaly an entire float fishing setup if you shop around. You can get a lot of carbon for your money thesedays.

I love making bits n bobs. Most recently a set of uber lightweight indicators from some soft hosing. I would love to make some rods but havent yet plucked up the courage. I must admit that with alot of modern gear, reels etc, I tend to junk rather than mend.

You can slack line and still use a bobbin/visual indicator. I tend to use a very lightweigh Solar hanger which is barely enough to pull any line tight at all. I do find however that by using a lightweigh bobbin, that indications are registered better, I think this is due to the sligh weight making the line contact with the alarm more effeciently. Although with the Delkims (great choice btw) it shouldnt matter. Give it a go.

Showed this to Lou my fiancee.............ur in trouble lol Thanks all, I'll spend some time looking through all of those ideas

Thanks mate, anything like this will be helpful. I forgot to mention in my previous post, but anything around the Bedfordshire area is welcomed. Thanks again.

Hello everyone! Ive been a busy lil bee just lately.......planning a house move, applying my'self at work and getting engaged! Thankfully it's all paying off and I'm very happy to boot. However, both my'self and my fiance would love to have our wedding outside, near water...... This is where it gets tricky, so I'm asking for any help that you may be able to give. Does anyone know of any places that fit the bill? somewhere where we can have guests, maybe an outside dinner?? I have been looking but its proving tricky. If anyone knows of any places where we could marry outside, near a pretty lake could you please help? or any ideas/suggetions? You might even get an invite

Its a nice setup and would do many people proud. However, without knowing what type of fishing you will be doing, size of waters etc it is difficult to say if this is the best option for you. You could spend less and get very similar setups, or spend less on a more "complete" setup for either ledgering or float fishing. Do you have any experience at all of fishing? or have any friends/family that could introduce you to the sport? All in all, it is a good setup, but you will need lots more bits n bobs to go with it.

Hi mate, welcome to the forum and welcome back to fishing! Were you fishing at that place in Maulden? (not fished there my'self) Try all of the above, but also dont be affraid of using a heavy float. I find that when using lighter floats it can be difficult to mend the line without moving it from where you want to be fishing.

Im just trying to work out how to get pic off my phone, then I can upload it. I have to say the pic isnt very good, but it does show the size of the beast laying in the bottom of a 26" landing net. Im still over the moon, my target fish this season are a double barbel, chub and a good roach. Ill post the pic when Ive worked it out.

Well, where to start... The past few weeks have been truely stressfull. Im a graduate teacher and have been working my socks off in preparation for my final assessment, the build up was truely horrible lol, Im not a nervous person but this final really got to me. However, I did bl##dy well, and following some of the comments by my assessor, I'm now 99.9% sure that I have dont the business! So..... Today I decided to get out of the house and go for a spot of fishing on a local river, mainly fishing for small silvers, simply for the fun of it. After catching bleak after bleak, and small roach after smaller roach. I decided to get my shoes off and go for a paddle with the dog lol, taking my 1lb TC Fox Specialist and a few slices of bread, my net, scales and some odds n ends with me. I must have walked 70yrds down stream and under several small trees, till I found a deeper hole, with over hanging willow and tempting raft. Hooking a chunk of bread onto a size 8 Drennan Specialist, I freelined down a fast glide to the raft, letting the chunk sink and waft a few feet under the tree.... WHAM!! the rod nearly being yanked from my hands as an obviously good fish nailed the bread. The fight it gave was tuely awesome, not wanting to give line I clamped down hard, teasing the fish from the roots of the tree. The fish dove hard mid river, using all of the strong flow to its advantage, till I eventually began to win the battle, easing the fish towards me I could see the bright white lips of a chub. It wasnt until I peered into the net that I realised just how big Mr.Chub actualy was, weighing.........now bare in mind, that my biggest chub to date is only just over 2lb.........it weighed 6lb 4oz. After taking a few snaps on my phone and releasing the fish back to its snaggy home, I began to walk back. Looking upwards at a main road I was "summond" by a footyshirt wearing skinhead, who expertly shouted "nah nuffin wurth avin in derr is it mate". Looking back at my new found expert, I simply replied, "nope.......nuffin....." and walked away with a grin from ear to ear. To say Im chuffed is an understatement lol, I was gobsmacked, still am. A great day yesterday with my assessment, even better day today with an amazing fish excuse and typo's, im working my way through a fridge full of cold beers. Have a great one all !!!

Location Location Location Ive not fished rivers for carp (yet) but everything I have been told and read, says to find the fish first and pre bait. I guess thats the hardest part, once you know where the fish are and have them feeding, catching one "should" be easy.

Could well have been crays mate, they can give suprisingly good indications sometimes. Chub are possible, but I would have thought that you would have connected with at least one eventually. Try shortening your hair rig, so that the bait is tight to the hook, or disposing with a solid pellet and using paste molded around the hook rather than hair. If your still missing good bites then I would blame crays.

Good man, thats a fine distance to boast about. Leads will make a huggggggggggggge difference to both the distance and accuracy of a cast. Anyone who is into shooting will have some understanding of how different projectiles can change accuracy etc (Bc's!....im sad). Try sourcing some long leads, I had a handfull of 4oz distance leads that were just over 3" long and flew like rockets, very straight and true. Winds are a pain when distance fishing, both in terms of casting and water tow etc, again its practice and luck.

I've got to get some lure gear togther and try this out. I'l do a search on here for previous posts, but could someone recommend a casting weight for a lure rod for me? I know its individual, but a starting point would be great.

Just my warped mind, but are you sure you have the right forum? Only messing, lure fishing during the late evening is somthing Ive never done. I must say it really does appeal to me though, it must get the pukse going when you hear a fish swipe at the lure!

Welcome aboard!

Good stuff there mate, I think we ALL wish our opening days were that good You should do a write up, methods, tackle etc etc. It could make for a good read. Phil

If you want to ledger, try using a popped up bait, or a zig rig.

I had 4 wildie commons to 6lb and a whole bunch of rudd about 5-6" long. The fishing was hard actualy, most of the fish were very shy and generaly not interested. I also caught the sun.......quite a bit lol *glowing*

The banned use of shock leaders is somthing that insantly smirks of sheer stupidity by the management to me! but its not your fault. You could get around this by using a "snag" leader instead (wink wink) designed purely to prevent damage to the first 25ft of line (nod nod). I'm sure that in the interest of fish safety, and after previous sessions where you have had your mainline either cut, nicked, scraped on something sharp, that the use of a snag leader made sense........(especially with braid, since it can sometimes fracture quite easily). Big spool diametres and widths, should in theory aid the line towards zipping off the spool. This however is undone by the size of rod rings. I see 40mm butt rings and larger fitted to rods, even 20mm tip rings. These are supposed to allow line to fly through the rings with minimal friction when combined with big spools. It does work, but we're talking a few yards extra, and nothing to be bragging about or spending daft money on. You will most certainly reduce the line friction further by using a lower dia line in the first place. Line lay is important, but I can almost bet my own money (woah!) that your line lay will be better with a fine line. But to be honest Ive never been overly convinced that line lay makes a massive difference to a cast, especially when using heavy leads and powerfull rods. Try dunking the spool in water before going for a big cast, the water can help relive friction a tad. As for stance, well its kinda individual. I have watched long distance casters coil themselves into shapes that would require a surgeon with an intimate knowledge of "reverse Kama Sutra for professionals" to get me out of. Start off by moving the rod from overhead, to over shoulder, like you were holding a pole vault. Then pointing the butt towards 10/11 O'clock (12 at ur head). Then, try twisting your body slightly so that your opposite shoulder is reaching around towards the butt (so if your a right handed caster, twist to the right). You can then try casting. You may find it easier to push the rod further from your body, in order to get that lead swinging. Its really hard to give info on technique in text!!!! lol, If I were you I would search around the beach casting pulbications and internet resources. These lads n lasses can reach amazing distances and will have a wide range of techniques. I could go on and on, but I think I've rambled enough for now. Let us know how you get on mate.

I have to agree on the comment about "big pits" not helping much in terms of distance casting. A 100yd+ chuck is easily done with smaller reels such as the 10k, 80/6010's etc. Line diametre, rod choice, and most importantly technique govern distance more than a reel ever will. Lower Dia lines offer less resistance and can put a good few yards on a cast. Although you WILL need to use a shock leader (dont even think about doing it without one lol, anyone who has seen a large lead crack off when giving it the "big one" will testify to this. the lead can go a massive distance). Rod choice is obvious, fast taper rods will help sling a lead to the required distance( and I DONT mean heavy test curves), but they are or can be very boring to play fish on, and great care needs to be taken with fish in the margins. Having said that, softer rods can be used to fish long range too. Which boils us down to...... Technique! Its a bummer, but its all about practice. A simple overhead thump is unlikely to reach the 100yrd barrier. The cast needs to be smooth, with a rapid build up of power to compress the blank, punching through with the reel hand as u reach the 1 O'clock position (12 being above your head). At this point, the rod blank should be fully compressed, allowing you to pull the butt of the rod through with your other hand. If you can, spend time practicing with the gear you have already. Streamlined rigs/leads with fewer baits will add a few yards, lower diameter lines with shock leaders and plenty of practice. If I were you I would save my money. If you need to spend money to reach the distance look at the rods you are using and maybe change them to a long range design, without going for the big test curves. ( I have issues with high test curves, most of which I wont go into here simply because its not helpfull to you. However, people seem to assume that because they cant reach Xyrds, that they need a higher test curve and heavier leads...............this works to a point, but if the technique is poor, then you simply wont be making the most of the rod and consistency will be poor. With good technique it is far easier to compress a lower TC blank for a long chuck, than it is to compress a heavy blank with poor technique. Good technique results in an ability to cast consistenly and still be able to use "sensible" gear.) Its not somthing to be taken lightly, personaly I prefer to find fish elsewhere than fish at distance. (even bite indication needs to be thought about or changed at range) Just be sure its somthing you want to do before shelling out cash on somthing you may not enjoy or do very often. HTH

Come back to Luton

Bummer. I'll try the pole elastic for now, hopefully I can get somthing that works well enough. If not its back to rubber bands! (ive done it before with supprisingly good results lol) Cheers folks.