Anderoo

Sounds amazing Steve! What kind of areas are you finding the perch if you don't mind me asking? Earlier in sept they had a kayak trial at Rutland, rather then than me in a water that size, but then I guess they fish in the sea! Might be worth keeping an eye open for another day if you fancy that. By the way, do you need fishfinfer batteries? I have 2 brand new 7ah batteries, unused, that I don't need - want to take them off my hands?

No, nothing wrong with the rod or reel. I can't be bothered with the hassle of a refund, just binned it!

It's the only type of fishing I do where a missed bite makes me laugh out loud Especially when you then lower the lure and miss another bite and while you're laughing you miss another bite... And then don't get any more hits for half an hour making you wonder whether you're doing it all wrong and think you will never get another bite again

Latest on braid-gate, I've ordered some 3kg/6.6lb power pro to try next, which has the same diameter as the 8.5lb jig silk (0.006mm). Even though it is theory less strong than the jig silk I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being more trustworthy. We'll see - 6.6lb does seem on the light side but as long as it doesn't damage easily I think it ought to be strong enough, at least for Rutland.

The Torque 'performance' braid has all gone in the bin, I had it on both mine and Neil's reels yesterday and after just a few hours it had gone from slightly fraying for no reason to just disintegrating before our eyes! I've never seen braid do that before, I've got some PP that's over 5 years old and has had a tough life that's still as good as new, if slightly faded. The pics below are when Neil was jigging in about 70ft, so this line has barely left the reel, let alone had any punishment: Avoid! I replaced this on both reels with some cheap Chinese stuff I keep for emergencies which looks very much like standard 10lb PP, and it was totally fine, albeit a little thicker than I'd like. But at least I could trust it...

It was a really fun day, great to catch up with Neil again and we had enough interest from the zander to keep it interesting, we never went very long without a bite (although we missed most of them ). They were in a funny mood, not really feeding, so lots of little sharp snatches at the lures. The weather was a little bit of everything, the forecasters still have no idea what to say...! Almost all the fish were small (seems to be the way when they're in that type of mood) but we had one good fish each, Neil's right at the start of the day and mine right at the end.

Second impressions of the torque braid are not great - after spooling up its already gone a bit 'fluffy' in places. Even if that doesn't affect breaking strain (which it might) it'll mean more drag on the line. I'll give it a fair go tomorrow but I'm starting to understand the low price

It makes a HUGE difference rusty but do treat it with care! Best knot I found for it was a 5 turn grinner but double the braid up before tying. Oh and pray you don't have to tie it on a windy, choppy reservoir

The Fox Torque braid has turned up, it looks to me exactly the same as bog standard Power Pro. It's the same diameter as the equivalent PP and 4-strand, i.e. will be noisy through the rings (that's never bothered me but I know some people hate it), and looks tough as old boots. The 8lb stuff I have is 0.08mm. However, it is only £6.99 for 150m, instead of £14.99 for PP. I haven't tried it yet but if it is basically the same stuff, it pretty much makes PP obsolete...

Hi Errm, sold! I have all the stuff you need so all you need to bring is food/drink, something to sit on (e.g. unhookinh mat + bungee cords to stop it blowing away) and waterproofs. Fishing is from 8am - 7.30pm, and the cost is about £30. I'll send you a PM and we can arrange the rest there

PS if you need tempting, last Tuesday the weather was very similar and I had a good day, 45 zander and a couple of angry perch. A fair few of the zander were a decent size and one of them was 8lb+, my biggest from Rutland by quite a margin!

Open invitation and apologies for short notice - I have a predator boat booked at Rutland tomorrow and Rich's jet-set lifestyle means I'll be on my own. If anyone fancies a day's zander fishing with lures let me know by this evening Forecast is looking a bit wet first thing then a dry day. (I had a boat booked today too but cancelled, heavy rain all day is not much fun!)

Actually yes, that is what I was looking for, but I couldn't find it in yellow from the U.K. I stumbled on the fox stuff and thought it was worth a punt. I'm pretty sure it'll just be rebadged stuff from China but as long as the breaking strain and diameter are accurate that's fine.

The simulation mode is very good, definitely representative of actual use. Make sure you select simulation on start up otherwise it defaults to demo mode which looks similar but won't save any settings. You'll need 2 of the 7ah batteries to get through a day safely. I switch over halfway through the day. I've got some new braid coming which I'm looking forward to testing out. Fox torque braid - seems insanely cheap but I'm hoping it's more robust than the jig silk, albeit less thin.

Ha, funny, you've picked one of my favourite lures and one of rich's! Be careful with that braid if it's the 8.5lb stuff, it can be a little unpredictable. The tiniest nick in it and it snaps for no apparent reason. It's so thin it's impossible to see when it's damaged. However it is extremely thin!

It's good you have a drogue and fishfinder Rob, all boats are covered in that case I just had a quick look on the Fox Rage website and it looks like they've already discontinued the Ultron rods (I can't see them there anyway). No surprise really where Fox is concerned Let me know if you don't get the v jig and are still looking around for something or will need to borrow a rod. Are you OK for lures, jig heads, etc.? Just to reiterate, I would make sure you have jig heads from 30-50g. Even with the very thin braid I now use, on very windy days I still need 50g to fish, and even then I'm nowhere near vertical! The Friendl;y Fisherman is the best place to get those. It's currently fishing well if you can find the fish, there is a lot of empty water and the fishing can be patchy, but some areas have been very good indeed. A few perch have terned up too which is nice, and the odd small pike. It's been interesting talking to other predator anglers at the end of the day, some have really struggled and others have had loads.

If you can get a v jig on eBay do that - I have one, it's the right thing!

You'll also need thin braid (say 8lb pp), leader material, lures and jig heads. Also a drogue unless anyone has a spare - essential! There's no spare fishfinder as far as I know but you can follow our drifts.

Ok rob no probs, glad you're coming! I have 1 rod I can lend out. Anyone else have a spare rod available? if buying I'd try to find a fox ultron vertical jig spin in the heavier casting weight (there are 2 casting weights for it). They aren't expensive, fairly easy to get hold of, and will do the job well.

Hi Rob, yes - I'll add you, if someone drops out you can share the boat with their partner, if not you can join me and Tigger. On the paddle tail v/ fork tail, very much personal preference really - both work well and I think confidence has a lot to do with it. If it's windy it means you're drifting along nicely and the boat is moving, in which case I much prefer fork tails, and I barely move them. The action of the boat is enough to put action into the the lures, I give them a little twitch now and again and touch down on the bottom now and then to make sure I'm near the bottom. When the zander are active and feeding this is extremely effective, and all my bigger catches have come to fishing this way. If it's not windy and you're casting around rather than fishing vertically, it's paddle tails all the way! However, you can vertically jig with paddle tails and put plenty of action in them, and that does work well too. I just prefer not to and in many circumstances I think it's simply not necessary. And on some days I am sure the extra action is counter-productive. When I'm fishing with Rich it's interesting as I'm usually 'dead sticking' with fork tails and he's usually jigging with paddle tails, and normally throughout the day each method will work best for a while, and then it will switch over. There's more to it than just lure choice and method though, one of you might be positioned better for a drift, especially when drifting around shelves and other structures. To be honest I just love the static method because I'm still not over the novelty that you can hang a lure off the side of a boat and not move it, and it will get hit by zander - so exciting and so wrong!

Note about drogues - despite all the warnings, the boats at Rutland do not have their own drogues, so each boat will need one.

Just got in, what a long day! The weather was much better, a few showers it nothing like yesterday. I found a few more fish too, finished with 33 and most were a decent handful (although none what you'd call big). Now if the room would stop moving I could get some sleep

Rich and I were out there today braving the rain, it was great to be back We did ok, not a big hit day but enough to keep it interesting. I'm out tomorrow too and by the look of the forecast more rain...! The new fishfinder is really good, the only problem now is we can see how many fish we're not catching Two of the batteries were enough for a full day, so that's that sorted. Yes I vote for booking dinner in advance!

Steve, day and night equally on the bits I fish. Doesn't seem to matter. Chris, great to see you again! We really do need to arrange something this winter!

If it's on the slope itself, gripper leads might be an idea, just to stop them sliding down the slope. Ps on flouro, for this type of thing the cheaper the better! The really good stuff is quite nice and soft. I like the drennan fly tippet stuff on the little green spools. Just stiff enough to avoid tangles but not off-putting. Pps a rod with the bait at mid depth at the bottom of the slope could be worth a try?