bluelabel

Well... last week I had the unenviable task of clearing my late buddy's tackle room for his widow... now my house is full of his gear... the overriding message I took from the experience, was not to spend too much time accumulating material things.... if you go earlier than your wife, lover, partner, whatever... they'll need to deal with it all and they'll never realise the cost of those things... With this in mind, once I have cleared his gear, I shall be having a good clear out of gear... cutting back to bare minimums, I don't want my lass to go through that which my mates widow has endured... Tight lines

Yes tried that... think mines jammed, the reel still works as it should though, so I'm not too fussed

Nope... it has a spring loaded knurled nut which doesn't turn or come free

Just had to clear my late buddy's tackle room and he has all 6 volumes

I've had my Tideflo Strikeright since I bought it with my first weeks wages in 1974... £4 it cost cracking little pin, (never worked out how to remove the damn drum in 50 years😳)

Never grease a pin, use a light oil such as 3 in 1 and only a drop or two... literally a drop or two... any more and it collects crud and acts like a grinding paste, its worse with grease... all my pins are lubed with a very light oil. You can add a blob to the ratchet mechanism, but never the spindle (pin)

For the 6 footer's I'd suggest a pair of 4000 size Shimmy baitrunners, cracking little reels, I used a pair of Aero 4000 x on My 9' Dwarfs great little reels, not cheap but my lass bought me mine for Chrimbo years back, I think a Stock 4000 will be a lot cheaper

You'd be amazed at what can be recovered, I was given a Narrow drum Speedia that was left in a puddle for years, it was badly damaged on the back plate, hugely corroded, I stripped the paint off with a dremel and had it looking reasonable, I took the drum off and cleaned out the mess inside the pin hole lubed it and adjusted the end float screw to stop the wobble and a junior in a club had it, its still going...👍😎🎣

My Moredex Merlins on my Sharpe 9'3" carp rods

This is a small carp on a Marco Cortesi pin its actually a Matt Hayes version but they are all built by the same firm under licence

Marco Cortesi reels are not too bad, however, the quality control is patchy, you can get good or bad... Strikeright pins are solid, don't drop the Bakelite one, they shatter... A good pin for carpingwould be a Speedia wide drum or a Mordex Merlin, possibly if you wanted modern materials, an Okuma or a Westlake Severn or Trent, all are good pins for carping This is a 22lb 10oz mirror on a Speedia wide drum and an 8' sharpe cane spinning rod

Not my cuppa tea... too many "what if's" about it for me... but good luck to him

A day on the Chelmer, MkIV Avon and Adcock Stanton pin... only a coupla little 'uns though

Been using these 9' 3" Sharpe's Impregnated cane for years now... to be fair it was Rod Hutchinson who first advocated 12' footers to cast further... the fact remains many manufacturers have jumped on the Nash Dwarf/Scope bandwagon, If you wish to go down the 9' route there are plenty out there, Scopes are hideously expensive, and brittle, I have some Dwarf 9' 2.75lb rods and they are very good. Their main limitation is picking up line at distance... other than that they are brill

I used to keep a small lead pouch in the small one along with my carp care kit, just enough room for both