ooarr_not_a_maggot

As for rod rests - Assuming you're set up sensibly with bite alarms etc and sitting close to your rod, the baliffs will turn a blind eye. More than 2 rods is generally frowned upon, bite alarms or not. I can assure you that Mr Brown was not using these methods.

Picturesque? Well It used to be before Mr Brown and all his gadgy mates ruined it! Loch Lochy has been plagued by a minority of inebriated lowlanders for the past few years. Some clever ned slashed the nets of the local trout farm, "about 10 years ago" (funny that, eh Mr Brown?), filling the loch with approximately 50K 6-8lb rainbow trout. Word soon got round and the bucky brigade turned up in force, for an easy catch. Since then, the Lochy has been destroyed by these people. Gadgys guide to a weekend fishing the Lochy Clothing: preferably something you've had on all week so that you've got a "rite gud reek" about you (keeps the midges away) . Trakkies and trainers so you can make a quick get away from the local who just caught you trying to nick his boat from it's mooring. A Celtic or Rangers top so you can still be a dirty biggot and fight amongst yourselves on the shore. A camo jacket so you can pretend you're a real fisherman. Tackle: Multiple 11ft spinning rods. 5000 size reels, loaded with 20lb mono. 50g bomb. Size 8 hook encased in flou.pink Power Bait. V-shaped stick to use as a rod rest. Survival equipment: bin-liner to keep your "heed" dry. 4 bottles of Buckfast and a 24pack of super lager, to keep you warm and hydrated. A loaf of "breed" to soak up some of the alcohol. A big knife to wave at anyone who looks at you funny and of course to mark out your swim - "Sambo woz ere" carved into the nearest tree. A lighter to set fire to your mates and general surrounding area. Now I know the above sounds a little exaggerated but I can assure it's really not. This is what I've been seeing for the past 10 years on Loch Lochy. The shoreline resembles a rubbish dump. Smashed bottles and beer cans litter the bank and margins. Trees have hacked up and chopped down for fires. Excrement is left out in the open and bogroll is left dangling from the trees. Boats and outboards have been stolen/vandalised. Peoples property broken into. Natural fish stocks were ruined by the release of these alien fish. Brown trout caught out of season and left dead on the shore(why!?). The list goes on and on. Fortunately the Loch is now into it's recovery stage. Local angling clubs have been cleaning up the shoreline. Baliffs are keeping away the pseudo fishermen and selective fishing/netting has cleared out most of the rainbows. Trout and Salmon stocks are slowly recovering. Sorry for the rant guys. I feel strongly about this, what with it being my home and all. I'm sure you can relate to this in one way or another (hungry poles ring any bells?)

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. I should have said in my first post that the rods are for fixed spool reels. Already have my own multiplier setup for heavier work. I spend 90% of my time lure fishing at close to medium ranges, either from the bank or canadian canoe, so anything much over 6-7ft becomes a chore to handle. I've bought many reels from the states in the past, but never rods. Don't trust them to be delivered in one piece - USPS are reliable I take it? Also I felt my budget was a little tight to justify buying from the states - maybe not. The Ugly Stiks certainly seem to fit my requirements but a little out of my budget at UK prices. I've owned a Ron Thomson rod in the past. A short, ultra-lite outfit (6ft-ish eliminator or something like that?) which was outstanding and wish I still had it. So I might be looking into the energiser, although it's a little on the long side.

I had one of these off eBay a year or so ago. Someone had bought a case in from the states and was selling them off cheap. Think the shop name was "deepinvader" but I can't find it now. Paid less than £20 for it, if I remember rightly. Fantastic little rod that's punched well above it's weight on a couple of occasions. Cork handle was cr@p though and split off after a month - easily replaced and has been going strong ever since. I'd go with Kens advice and just have a new one shipped over.

Evening folks, just after some advice on buying a couple of cheap lure rods - sub £50 for the pair. I'm Looking for rods capable of casting 20-50g wobblers/spoons/plastics and ideally no longer than 7ft. I know the budgets tight but these are just knockabout rods for the missus. Nothing flashy, just reliable. I've had good experiences with Abu rods in the past, but these were always in the lighter ranges. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I've seen Pike hit red bubble floats before so i'm sure if you added a couple of trebles to that, it'd work .

Lots of helpful info here guys. It's much appreciated . quote: What is it that your trying to catch and what's your prefered method ? I'm after the brown trout and rainbows in my local river, as well as ocasionally going for the jack pike that hang around the mouth. I'd normally get out the fly rod for this kind of fishing but a lot the bankside is so overgrown with trees and rhododendrons, a back cast almost impossible. So i've moved onto using a nice short UL spinning outfit, which gets me into all the tight spots i can't get into with the fly rod. I might give the jigs a go. If they can catch 8lb steelhead, i'm pretty sure they'll catch the rainbows...which i've had up to 5lbs. I'm still looking for the spinner flies, though. They were always very effective for pike on the fly rod, so they should be great on the spinning gear when that extra bit of finesse is needed. As for the whole wire trace debate.....I'm now a user . In 10years of fishing this particular river i'd not once caught pike. But last season while salmon fishing, old esox took a black and orange devon. Guess that's why it's called the poor mans salmon . Fortunately it was only just lip hooked and didn't manage to get to the mono.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll certainly be looking into some of the suggestions . Anyone had any experience with those light jigs from the states?. Looks like fairly good value if they'd be successful with UK species. Anyway, the search for the holy grail continues . Cheers

No, but he ended up with some interesting looking love bites on his arm

I remember the first time seeing these things on a local water. Looked pretty stable and safe to me and i got thinking about the potential to fish waters that you just couldn't get a boat on. Then i watched a cob swan charge out of the undergrowth from near it's nest and beat the crap out of said float tuber. Needless to say i nearly p1$$ed myself laughing and was put off the idea for life . [ 28. May 2005, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: ooarr_not_a_maggot ]

These are the ones i saw on ebay cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...7159781561&rd=1 I'm just looking to have a bit of variety in my UL tacklebox. Cheers .

Just wondering if anyone knows where to get hold of spinner/fly hybrids. I saw some on ebay today but can't seem to find them anywhere else online. The local tackleshop had them years ago because i remember using them to catch jack pike on the fly rod, but they no longer sell them. I'd like them for using on my UL spinning outfit when the trout are too shy for a small mepp or toby. Cheers .

Went back out today armed with some decent swivels and removed the first 10yrds or so from the spool, which was looking kinked and shabby after picking out so many tangles. No problems whatsoever after this . If all continues well, i'll be filling my 5501 with powerpro too. Thanks for all the help guys .

Label up .

Midges!?!?!....pah!!!!. Get yourself a midge hood, or better still a midge jacket. They won't bother you after that. Just make sure you get them in black so you can see what you're doing. Don't bother with the lighter coloured material ones because you'll not be able to see a thing. The ones with the plastic visors in them are useless, too!!. They just distort your vision and you end up tripping over your rod. As for the fishing up here....well there's nowhere near the number of species as down south. If you're heading for the Highlands, there's plenty of free fishing for pike and brownies in a lot of the bigger lochs, aswell as Ferox, Arctic Char and Salmon if you know where to look and get lucky. If you're feeling energetic, you can't beat a hill lochan for brown trout fishing. 30+ fish in an afternoon is easily doable if you're any good at fluff chucking. Plenty of places stocked with rainbows too, if you're willing to pay a few quid for a day ticket. Also one or two places where you'll find them floating about free of charge.....just look for the lochs that have rainbow trout farms on them, where there's always escapees to be found. You can also pay to fish a quality salmon river, as already mentioned.

Over the rim whilst the spool was on it's side.

First of all, thanks for the swift replies guys. Ok,I've got the line on my Abu 602 filled to about 3mm from the lip. That's where i'd fill to with my mono, so it's not an overfill problem?. When spooling up(50 yards or so) i made the line wet and wound in under slight pressure, so it's not packed over tight, nor too loose. Haven't wound while the clutch is slipping either. My moneys still on the swivels, so i'm probably going to go with some of DL's. Am i right in thinking larger swivels work more efficiantly than smaller one?. The spin doctors been on my shopping list for a while too, so i'll give that a try and the anti-kink vain.....if i can find them. Local tackle shop just looks at you blankly when you ask for things like that . Anyone know where to get these online?. Cheers

Afternoon all ... I just recently made the switch from 6lb mono to 20lb powerpro for light lure work and i'm experiencing worse line twist than i ever had with the mono. I'm using small plugs, spoons and spinners all around the 5-12g mark which were casting fine before the line switch. I've checked the eyes over with a cotton bud and there's no damage there whatsoever and everything else is straight and in order. I suspect it's just the below average swivels, but they're all i have at the moment. Anyone got any suggestions or advise me which brand of swivels i should be using. Or should i be looking at getting an anti-kink vane or some of those double/triple swivels from askari. I don't want to give up on the powerpro because i'm loving all of it's other benefits, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

I know you're not going to find any striped bass up here in Scotland but there's plenty of info HERE that applies to all lure making. There's also some free downloadable lure making guides HERE . Also an online lure building section in the above site. Hope these help

Hi Dave. Do you know the diameter of those grip wires?. Cheers

Thanks for the replys guys . I'm going to look into the ebay and the welding wire, though i'm not sure if 1mm is going to be fine enough for my lighter lures.....nor do i want 350M of the stuff . Will let you know how i get on.

Afternoon all. Does anyone know where to buy spinner shaft wire in the UK. I've searched online and all i can find are then pre-cut lengths from Glasgow Angling Center. I'd prefer to buy a coil, like you find on US sites, so i can cut my own lenghts. Thanks