RUDD

No, neither are some of the other traditional reels!Does a jam jar and small hand net count?

That's genius, I still have to make an L with my forefinger and thumb!

As I own a Shimano Triton bait runner can I claim to be a traditionalist bait runner user?

I only used braid for a few seasons, didn't like the sound it made when reeling in and it was banned by the local angling club as a mainline. I did use a leader as I was casting hefty sized feeders a good distance and the braid was very thin. I like my fingers to work Never found any damaged eyes on the rod (think they are Fuji) but that noise really was an awful screech.

Carbon tips have a major drawback. Generally being thinner than glass tips smaller eyes are used. Smaller eyes may make the rod look nice and neat and for many anglers are not much of a problem. For anglers used a braid mainline they are. Anglers using a braided line also use a mono leader, for the leader to work correctly it's the length of rod plus a few turns of reel handle. The leader aids casting out a loaded feeder, saves fingers, gives you something to put rig on and a shock absorber when landing a fish. A mono leader needs a knot. No matter how small a knot you tie at some point you will get a bit of weed on the knot and it won't go through the tip eye. Worst case scenario is that you don't notice and break the tip. Carbon tips are easy to break, I have done it countless times. I use a MAP parabolic special edition for general tip fishing and it has a lifetime guarantee. After taking or sending back many broken tips Map/Leeds/Madison/h young recommend cutting the new tip back to the second tip eye which was bigger,turns out that's what all their sponsored anglers had done to solve broken tip problems and as most had found the last inch of tip to be too sensitive and more of a hindrance than any use.

Ever tried inline olivettes instead? No weakend line, less chance of a tangle and I would of though the denser tungsten will have a smaller surface area than bulked AAA hence a smaller and neater rig?

But I am not a dedicated carp angler!

Anchor double down to an 8 then Preston in sizes any smaller.

You have more chance of catching a white claw Cray!

Three hour's Jan 1st 45 Roach and one Rudd All gave me a smile, the Rudd the biggest. All on waggler, dead red maggot over liquidised bread apart from the Rudd which took a corn husk. Had some carp feeding on floating crust of all things but with only 2.5 mainline didn't think it wise or fair to cast a bait at them. A sparrowhawk landed in the tree next to me attracted by a Robin or two attracted by a few freebies. Session cut short by an almighty tangle, as gear put in car the heavens opened! Nice start to the year, bait cost so far 40pence! Happy new year to all

No Cod in East Anglia

Still no Cod on East coast, not even little ones

Sundries Retex 2 piece for course or Sundries SAS 2 piece for beach. Mid layer - craghoppers thermal lined trousers or a pair of jogging bottoms depending on temperature, montane prism jacket for top half. Helle Hansen thermals as a base layer. Seal skin thermal socks covered with seal skin waterproof socks. Hot boots or walking boots. Neoprene gloves, fleece snood and fleece hat.

They must have some bigger parents?Live baits or 2 inch + Perch pattern shads may attract mama

I have been riding a 26 full suspension kona and a 27.5 hardtail bianchi.Love em both and my angling has taken something of a bsck seat. I even ride at night off road, a bike ray iv lights the way!

Can't answer your question but will say any rod blank that uses a dolly section to increase its length loses its balance once the section is added. Once balance is lost the extra length becomes a burden and presentation suffers.

The rattles are fish attacking the feeder- full stop. I know this from fishing both method and block end maggot feeders on Stillwaters. It's amplified when using 2mm pellets as feed on the method with the tip constantly shaking. This is how a pellet feeder works. The baited or banded hook is placed inside the feeder- and plugged with soaked pellets. During experiments in clear water I have watched fish attack and suck the pellets out of one whilst bashing it about.

Hi Emma having lived on the East coast both sea and coarse fishing for most of it my findings during an easterly is to go freshwater lure fishing. Easterlies are caused by high pressure and both coarse and sea fish don't seem to feed. Like and Perch for some reason will have a go at lures. A high pressure easterly normally means cold north sea winds and active lure fishing is a good way to keep warm.

Do you mean chalking it?

Are you using a softer bomb rod or a stiffer method rod. When bomb fishing you generally need to strike as the bomb is quite light and the tip very sensitive compared to a heavier method feeder where a stiffer rod helps set the hook.

Oh forgot to mention, every natural or hardly fished venue I have fished including my two said above have been hard cookies to crack! Un-fished for fish are ultra cautious of bait, I have found very small amounts of small baits (2mm pellets, pinkies, chopped worm, punched bread) to work best.

A few years back I posted about a big fish kill at a venue I adored. Before the fish kill the lakes thrived with fish but apart from Lillie's and bankside plants there seemed to be hardly any insect or small aquatic life. Hardly bothered by insects when fishing. The place has now made a recovery, over four tonnes of weed covered in life was removed a few months back, there are loads of fish which have been seen but not anywhere near the numbers before the kill. Catching them from that particular lake is hard work. Now loads of flying beasts of an evening causing annoyance as well. I think before the fish kill an overstock of fish ate everything. I also posted a bit about the deep clear water venue I fish. Since the big carp all died (of old age, not SVC as many think) the smaller species have thrived,clouded up the water and seem to have killed off the zebra mussels? There is not much aquatic life in this lake either. I think the carp used to eat everything including spawn and fry. Now the hundreds of small Perch and Roach eat everything. To conclude, the fish in your lake eat anything before you get to see it. 20lb natural carp can hoover up plenty of natural food when in the mood!

I started with a 10meter Shakespeare telescopic whip as well.Cut the end off, stuck on a bush and elasticated the top two sections with no4 elastic. This was soon upgraded to a heavier grade as decent fish had to be landed on the full ten metres with the thing behind me at around 45deg!

Stick a bush on the Stick a bush on the end to help with lubrication, should stiffen it up

I watched a u tube video he has made on hook sharpening, whilst he made some valid points (excuse the pun) I found him to be some what obstinate. Think he spends his time crap fishing whilst talking carp and is a butcher by trade.