Best piece of kit you have bought?

[dant]

An exceedingly hard question for a fisherman to answer!

 

A recent acquisition that has found favour with me is my cheap and cheerful headlamp. I bought two of the things from a motorway service station at I think £3 or 4.99 via an AA promotion. It's not the most robust but the battery last forever and gives me enough light for all I need. I've seen the same lamp with various tackle brand names on it for anything up to £16.99! Makes you wonder if the tackle companies think that us anglers are all a little bit daft.

 

But there's two bits of kit that are vying for my top spot.

 

The first would be a 12ft Daiwa Porky Pig Quiver that I bought around 15 years ago. It's not one of the poker stiff models and has a very true through action. The poor old rod has had to do all sorts of things. I bought it mainly for dinging 3oz+ feeders across the heavy tidal sections of the Rivers Yare and Bure for the big Bream and super charged hybrids. A few years after I discovered it as an almost the perfect Chub rod, a title now held by my Daiwa 'Barbel' rod. I almost feel guilty that I don't use the Porky Pig much these days.

 

The second would be my Shimano Aero Match, worth every penny I spent on it 7 or 8 years ago. It's never missed a beat and has to contend with a gruelling regime.

 

I think the least value for money piece of equipment I own is a Preston Innovations Dream float rod. It cost around £150 a good few years ago it's a beautiful rod with a very light action but only really ever gets used in hour bursts of livebait catching. Shameful.

 

Chris Plumb or anyone else who owns one, what are those Harrison rods like on the bigger fish. Would they handle heavier lines and fish like Tench of around 7 or 8lb's?

[AnnaWerner]

Tough question. For me, it would be a toss-up between my first baitrunner reel and my first set of banksticks and alarms. With the baitrunners, I no longer have to worry about having some monster hauling my rig into the drink or remembering to turn the anti-reverse on and off. With the steel banksticks, I don't have to injure trees , hope there ARE trees to bust up around the spot, or carve up sticks sharp enought o drive into tough ground. Finally, the alarms solve the problem of stiff legs and curiosity drawing me too far from my rods to see the bobbin or rod tip move. It's all relatively basic stuff, but what HUGE steps in the right direction! And what DEALS I got on it all!!!

[Chris Plumb]

Chris Plumb or anyone else who owns one, what are those Harrison rods like on the bigger fish. Would they handle heavier lines and fish like Tench of around 7 or 8lb's?

 

Err yes - which is why I like it so much. Had barbel to 8lb (in fast water), Tench to 7lb 11oz, 6lb+ chub even low double carp. This would be fishing with 8lb/6lb bottoms. And yet I use it for my roach and dace fishing (4lb/3lb bottoms). Harrison do also do a stepped up version (SU) of this rod aimed at bigger fish - which I haven't seen but I find the Gti (get the Hollow Tip not spliced) copes fine.

 

Another review can be read here.

 

 

C.

[Houseplant]

With the baitrunners, I no longer have to worry about having some monster hauling my rig into the drink or remembering to turn the anti-reverse on and off.

 

Good point, when I was a teenager intent on catching monster carp and pike (it never happened btw , well not with any consistency), this was a major pre-occupation of mine. Baitrunners (and later copies) have certainly changed all that and fishing is so much easier now.