bluelabel

Had this last week.... on a split cane Sharpe's 9' with a Mitchell 400

I paid £50 for my 9' dwarf spod rod tis a nice little rod... oh and it's a 4.5lb rod, it hurls fully loaded large size Spombs very accurately and without fuss... I have a pair of Dwarf 9' 2.75lb and the Spod rod.... it all fits in the boot with the scope ops brolly, chair, tackle bag and bait bucket.... sorted...

So there's nothing really against the notion...! I like the set up that Greekskii shows in his pic... I suppose that the extra stiffness and the overweighted base holds the pop up more rigidly giving a better presentation... I've noticed using the stock multi-rig, that as the bait takes on water it tends to keel over lessening that "cocked and ready" presentation...!

Silly question.... Can the Multi-Rig be tied using a mono instead of a coated braid.... ?

Shimano's.... all day every day... they've been making quality reels almost forever....

I use both.... Daiwa Sensor for Carp fishing and The Hyper Sensor on club matches in the match kit... like it... although the Hyper sensor gets a tad curly if you slide shot or rubber stoppers up and down it... I used to use infinity Duo, Loved it... but I can't seem to find a stockist any more... perhaps it's been discontinued

for starter kit you can't go far wrong... as others have said, as you get more accustomed to using the gear, you will find it's limitations... I concur with the other chaps that for terminal gear, it's just not worth buying cheap... as it's the last three feet of your gear that will catch you the fish... go for a named and trusted brand

Just had the link from Angling Direct for the Aqua stacker boxes.... what an absolute rip off... Aqua....! you ought to be ashamed of yourselves, the prices are not just a rip off they are taking the proverbial... The cheapest is £29.99... you can buy the same boxes from Solent Plastics for half that price http://www.solentplastics.co.uk/stacking-plastic-containers-boxes/hinged-lid-euro-containers/product/APHL64/12/24-litre-lidded-european-standard-plastic-container-stackable-straight-sided-storage-box/ just because it's green and has your name stamped on the lid is no excuse for a blatant rip off... this is exactly the sort of behaviour that makes me avoid your products...!

if you start flogging them I think Delkim might have summat to say about it

they already have a reputation for being very good reels and fairly bulletproof.... a few folks I know have had them for quite a few years and the only bad thing they say against them is the lack of infinite anti-reverse... if that's their only fault, then I could live with that.... more bearings don't necessarily mean a better reel... I've had reels with 5 bearings that were worse than an old Mitchell 400 with none...! (in my opinion of course)

are there any British made reels....? as a case in point one of the threads on the (defunct) Crafty Carper forum was on the Nash Dwarf rods (9' 2.75lb) and matching reels... the Daiwa SS2600 was the reel of choice that suited the rods perfectly... I started off using Shimano 5000 RE's (spools too small) then went to Shimano 10000 XTE's from my 12' setup (too big) settled on the Wychwoods and they suit the rods nicely, but the Quick drag system takes a bit of getting used too... otherwise they are nice reels... great line lay too....

Simple answer.....? Daiwa SS2600 I want a pair of these quite badly..... best stalking reels bar none (IMHO of course) but cost being an option, I ended up with a pair of Wychwood QD5000's I may have to spank the plastic at some point... (hopefully without SWMBO finding out) The SS2600 will cast up to 70 yards with a good punch, so I don't think you need a big pit reel with the rods you mention... it would unbalance the rod for starters and balanced tackle is what you need

The Hamsters, Route 666... one of the best Rock Blues combo's of all time

I got 2 normal bedchairs in mine a wee while ago... head at the back feet at the front side by side... leaves a gap in the middle so both can exit... bought the wideboy cos I'm a big lad... not tried the wideboy plus one... though I think it could be done alongside a std bedchair... might be a bit of a squeeze though

I have an indulgence wideboy that fits in nicely across the back ...

I have the JRC STi 2 man and the extended wrap and you can get 2 bedchairs in... it's tight, but do-able... roll back the flaps to the inner doors and put the beds in longways with the feet to the outer doors.... there's not a bivvy out there that will house two big lads comfortably, with space to move freely and store away luggage unless you are willing to pay £500-700 for one of the monster bivvies

My bottom bait rig is a standard knotless in mono, about 8"-10" long, I've gone over to longer hooklinks as I have done better on them in the past... fashion dictated a shorter link for a while, but I've gone back to the longer links... with a 14mm bottom bait I'm using a size 8 Fang Twister I prefer the 8 over the ubiquitous 6 as the 6 looks a tad clumsy, I've even dropped down to a 10 on occasion.... I fish the bottom baits with the hooklink through the PVA with the hook pulled back into the bag and the bait hanging outside the bag.... I'm using running 2oz leads as some of the waters I fish insist on them. Am I missing bites...? when I get them no....

There's often a lot of discussion on hair rig length and what constitutes the ideal.... for years I've been using approx 5mm separation on bottom baits and I think maybe it's time to have a play around... I'm rather loath to start tinkering with my rigs, but that said, my bite rate has dropped off markedly over the last couple of years, so much so that I'm wondering if I'm doing summat wrong... I'm mainly using small PVA mesh bags of mixed 2 & 4 mm pellet and chops/crumb over a scattering of freebies... have I become too one-dimensional in my approach? or is there summat drastically wrong with this method (I use pop ups a lot and the hookers often contrast the freebies) (DT N-Blend freebies/crumb and Sticky Signature pop-ups) I fish the pop ups fairly tight to the curve of the hook (Ronnies) but on bottom baits I tend to fish a bit more separation, as I have said 5 mm or so... would a longer hair increase my hookups on bottom baits... do you think it matters even....?

both for me.... a pod on hard ground or platform and sticks otherwise

I had a pair of Shimano Hyperloop 2.75lb FA's and they were a cracking pair of rods... I used 'em in France and they were brill... bit dated now though.... I think I still have one up the shed... but their reels are superb... I have 5 Shimmies... a pair of old 5000RE and 3 XTE10000's I won't part with 'em

I wish I could unsee that... somebody pass the brain bleach

I fished it many years ago... blanked, it's an expensive day ticket (well it was back in 2001) I'd say you are better off finding something more prolific offsite...

Fox warrior and a Wychwood riot 65

I've been using the Wychwood QD5500's on my Dwarfs, (nice reels) but I have to say that I prefer the Shimmy Baitrunners... I have some XTE1000 that I loved using, but changed because they didn't fit the reel pouches that I had (yup I'm that much of a tackle tart) I'm thinking of swapping them back again... the only thing I'd miss on the Wychwoods is the cranking power of the bigger handles...! I still have my Riot 65's that I took to Les Quis many years back and I found them to be superb reels with excellent line lay and they cast like a rocket What's a dedicated tart to do....????

Think I'd be on to Daiwa....!