Alnath

When you consider a 25KG sack of Ewe Nuts (CSL Pellets) is £4 from any feed merchants the price for a re-branded product anglers pay is laughable. I really like Tevs Tackle though, they do some top offers.

To be fair the test curve has little to do with the action of the rod, a 4lb fish will put a 90 degree bend in a 4lb test curve rod even though most would regard it as a poker. What you are describing is the action of the rod, not its test curve.

Look SW (or find Venus cos thats well bright and the first thing visible as the twilight kicks in and the comet is to the right of it) at around 5PM (i went out at half 4 just to be safe), If the comet is still bright you should get around half an hour to shoot it and it is the rotation of the earth that causes it to dip over the horizon, not its own momentum. (my gallery seems to be working ok to me mate so i dont know whats wrong with it)

Exif More in my gallery http://alnath.fotopic.net/c1181369.html Looking forwards to everyone ones shots on this, it is already miles brighter than Hale-Bopp was.

Just make sure you are happy the lead can come off and your hooklength is a reasonable breaking strain, i tend to fish for carp the same way i did for roach all them years and make sure my hook link in way lower than my main line (or in this case leadcore) a barbless hook with a 10 or 15 pound (or less now its winter) hooklink and a lead that can get off the leadcore one way or another should be safe enough for anywhere, just make sure the rod end of the leadcore is a simple Palomar knot and not a swivel.

Prodigy's every time. Handle owt and feel like an extension of your arm.

Dunno if this is too late but these were taken on my S3 IS when i cant be arsed to cart my 20D http://alnath.fotopic.net/c1047434.html http://alnath.fotopic.net/c1075708.html http://alnath.fotopic.net/c1091335.html It is no 20D but it is very versatile for a compact and the range of the zoom is stunning (the video mode is amazing as well) I do not use RAW even for highly needed shots like weddings BTW, it is a pain in the arse and nothing else, the latest image editing software can alter a JPEG nearly as much as RAW when push comes to shove.

I use leadcore all the time and i have never once lost a fish and it still have the leadcore attached to it. It is fantastic stuff providing you use it safely and you are 100% happy that your rigs are safe. If used right even an inline lead will slip off it on to the main line with ease, in fact it will do it much easier than trying to shed the lead off a saftey clip.

keep it very simple (a basic running ledger will do) and use a quality winter bait like nutrabait pineapple and banana

I have to agree with Rob, i have used a cheap beachcaster for spodding and it is nothing like using a dedicated spod rod, the beachcaster was like using a very heavy broom handle which soon becomes very tiring to use, offered nothing in the way of accuracy and the lack of action in the rod hindered the distance the spod could be chucked. I have happily used a Fox big spod on a 2.75lb prodigy for tentative casts up to 50 yards if i am in a rush but if i am giving it some with a fully loaded 8oz spod for any length of time then its the 5lb spod rod. As for a marker rod, well even i am baffled by that one i am afraid.

FWIW i own a 20D, a couple of reasonable lenses that cost over £300 each and a speedlight flash yet i still take my G6 or S3 IS out with me more as they are much more convenient and much lighter. My 20D as lovely as it is is best left for weddings, sports and special events. These were my first shots using the Canon Powershot S3 IS, http://alnath.fotopic.net/c1047434_1.html i am very happy with it as it is well ballanced and very speedy for a compact.

I tend to crop mine but for a different reason, i do not like the 4:3 ratio that my compacts use so i crop them to the same ratio as my 20D although your crop had given much more attention to the subject it also looks over cropped and has a distinct digital zoom look to it as it approaches 100% crop.

I have gone through bivvys like water it seems of late, The prologic one (the dome one) i had was great value and very very well made, however in a storm there was nothing to tie guy ropes on to the front porch bit, RIP prologic bivvy. Next up was a Daiwa Mission, a great bivvy with a great feature, the porch was held on with a zip! Fully removable in the good weather, hmm along came another storm, dont you like early may cloud bursts. Mid storm i noticed the zip had pegged it and was starting to undo at a great rate of knots. I had to hold the front of the bivvy on while it passed. The damage was done, the end where the zippers lock was knackered and i spent the next hour securing it with braid and a baiting needle. On both occasions my mate sat in a pram hood style bivvy laughing his head off at me.

I bought a 2005 Chub Cypry which must come out of the same factory cos its a spitting image, it was £119 (with overwrap) and its great stuff quick to put up and quick to put away.

But your kit lens seems to be made by Nikon, not Canon maybe that is why it isn’t so bad mate? FWIW i have had photos published using the Sigma 18-125mm which isn’t the best lens in the land, its pot luck as to how good it performs, i am not a raging camera queen or owt, I don’t lust after L lenses, i am just of the opinion the canon kit 18-55mm lens is poor both optically and in build, you need to find its sweet spot to get it anything like, although i can understand if someone has moved up to DSLR from a compact why it could be seen as ok. I am a great believer in it is your eye that takes the photo, the camera merely records it but the lens can help to make a good picture jump off the screen or off the paper at you.

Yeah going from 8mp down to 800 pixels and compessed to 200KB and recompressed by fotopic tends to be a great leveler doesnt it. The lens used was a Canon 70-300mm IS. This is also with the same lens again at only 800 pixels but only compressed once by me, not again by fotopic, much better than the mess fotopic make i am sure you will agree The chester zoo pics were with a Sigma 18-125 on my 350D (both now gone) all the shots required post processing.

The sigma is pretty average but then again most cheap lenses are. The Canon 70-300 will be crap that is for sure, cheap Canon lenses are terrible and the 18-55mm kit lens wants a drop kick. The Sigma should be better but don’t expect miracles, go for the APO version as it is supposed to be better. Some chat about it here mate http://www.photo.net/ezshop/product?product_id=1307 If you could save for a Canon 70-300mm IS (aroun £360) then you are going to be very happy, it is opticaly up with some of the Canon L series lenses, just the build is a bit crapper.

Although it has been answered i would like to add that owning a camera with a field of view crop does have its advantages, the Canon 300D, 350D, 10D 20D, 30D all have a 1.6x mulitplier so a 300mm lens is suddenly a 480mm lens so it isnt all bad not having a full frame sensor.

Set the camera up at its hyperfocal distance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance , no focusing at all then, just the shutter lag to contend with.

Mine is 23lb 1oz from a lake stuffed full of stockies so i was well pleased.

This was out of my kitchen window the other day.

I used a reversed 50mm lens that cost me 2 quid off a boot sale with a reversing ring on my Canon G6 for macro stuff http://alnath.fotopic.net/p26219638.html It gives quite high magnification, this is some sugar http://alnath.fotopic.net/p19781865.html

Lee Jackson proved big pits do not cast any further then a standard baitrunner, its all down to your action not the reel. Will, i love Shimanos to bits but if might not be overly happy with the REs, save the extra 40 quid for GTE-Bs if you want to stick to shimano, if thats too much then go for the Dawias as they will probably be smoother than REs. (your best bet is to play with both before you buy them TBH)

Sorry mate, ill learn to read one day