Leaderboard

I'm of the mind that 'too big' reels are better than 'too small' reels on a rod. When I first got my 2.75lb TC Century SP's I had Shimano 8010's on them, and they didn't feel right, but with Aerlex 8000's all was good. The follow on NG's felt good with DL10000's and 7000XTA Beastmaster reels, from a medium to a large reel. I can go back even further to some Daiwa 1350's I had in the 1980's, they were fine as general reels for float and ledger rods, but stick them on a Specimen rod they just felt too small, yet Abu Ultracast Cardinals were fine. You could equally put the Cardinals on the ledger rod and fish comfortably. It is down to how it feels for you

My rigs have barely changed in 30 years of fishing. For bottom baits a basic simple knotless knotted rig with a line aligner. For pop-ups a sliding ring on the hookshank stopped by a hook bead, and a coated braid hooklink stripped from the hook to the height I want the bait popped up. Either putty or a match anglers olivette is the counter weight. This works with pop-ups and snowman baits. Choose your hooklink material for the bottom you are fishing over. In weed I prefer braid as it lays better than stiffer materials like mono or fluorocarbon. The running lead can be fished with a tight line or a slack line. If there is no undertow, fish it with a slack line and your indicator fished at maximum drop only just providing weight. Whichever way the fish goes you will get a run, any bleep is notification of interest. If you fish a running lead it is a Bolt rig, the fish will run, but can run towards you so you need your indicator tight.