Choprider

I agree about the sharpening on the Kamakura hooks, when I finish a trip they get taken off and thrown away.. whether I have had a fish or not as they can come back easily damaged ( bent point ) I quite like the pattern of the wide gape version.. and will try and find something similar on the Johnson Ross website as you recommend earlier in the thread.

I normally sharpen my own and check them after each cast, if in any doubt I would then throw them away, I usually put a bit of vaselin on the sharpened points. But recently I have tried Kamakura wide gape hooks, these things are very sharp and I have had carp on them that I could have possibly missed on in sharpened hooks ( I have found these hooks can be damaged very easily ) but after reading this thread I have looked on Johnson Ross tackle website and will probably try their ready sharpened hook.. as it has got to be easier than doing it myself with vice and magnifier... must be getting old 😉

I have had a few on choddies, but wouldn’t have a clue where to start with Zigs ( me and my mate keep saying we are going to try Zigs, then we lose our bottle )

Spot on, blue label you are not wrong there.

They look lovely... optonics ???

Quest for carp is a good read, and I have read it many times over the past 40 years... it’s been sitting on the bench in my workshop for the last few years and I still pick it up now and then and read a chapter or two..

Lovely rods, I have certainly had some fun landing carp on mine.. I have several others and they all get used when needed.. they are never going to be as good as my modern stuff.. but good fun when you do use them..

Sorry I couldn't do anything that looks Blingy 🤣 if you saw the motorcycle that I built during last lockdown you would know why (old school chop)

If i decide to whip the intermediates ( which i probably will ) luckily I can still see where the original intermediate whips were so i should be able to get them back about right.. I don't think I would ever sell any of my vintage stuff, I have 5 built cane rods in all and they all get well used.. hence this one being refurbished.

Now I reckon that would get a few looks.. and go"s along with my way of thinking 😉

My MK IV avon has the intermediates whipped, this is my MKIV carp.. it was done originally, thinking about it now i suppose i should re whip the intermediates.. not sure but do the intermediates add strength to the built cane ( i have had it 25/30 years be a shame to snap it now )

I am in the middle of rebuilding my MK IV cane rod and had really decided in my head to just whip the rings etc on and not whip any intermediates... then my wife was in my workshop whilst I was whipping rings on and I put a couple of intermediates in just to show her what it would look like.... that’s much better she said 😂😂 I must admit I don’t enjoy whipping intermediates ( does anyone ) but now she has me thinking.. do I or don’t I...

Ah.. Dacron that takes me back...

You are spot on about inflows giving oxygen and also stirring the bottom, my last house was a two minute walk from our canal ( which I fished for twenty odd years for carp ) there was one part with a high bank and field on the opposite side, the farmer used to pump water out of the canal in late evenings, the water was pumped up the steep bank into a tanker and when the tanker was full the overflow would come down a return pipe back in the canal causing a powerful wash which stirred up the bottom and at the same time put lots of needed oxygen back into the water... I used to regularly bait and fish areas 25 yards either side of the pump.. superb fishing.. I really miss that canal now I have moved.

in my bag are as follows mouth trap n trap rig marole hydralink.. various mono’s although sometimes I would put more time in to locating fish than trying the latest in fashion hook lengths.

I have had the wide stuff turn up.. it seems like good kit, I reckon you could thread 0.40 through it with your eyes shut and in minus 10 degrees whilst wearing gloves.. it sinks like a brick ( although I have yet to use it in anger.. hopefully we will be allowed out again soon ) I have ordered some of the micro free fall tube as well just to see what it’s like .. cheers.

Both of my syndicates are about 40 min drive, the club water that I like to fish is about 30 mins away and even my local day ticket water is a 10 miles away... and I don’t want to push my luck.... so it getting stuck into unfinished jobs for me...... mind you I can walk to the beach in 4 minutes so if I get real withdrawal symptoms, I will have to get my fork out and dig some lugworm and have a session out with the beach caster... last resort though ...

Cheers for the reply, I will now order the wide stuff.. thanks for the info.

Hello all, a quick question if anyone can help. I am hopefully soon to be fishing a new syndicate that requires that I use 1 metre of rig tubing on my mainline, I already use tubing ( korda tungsten ) and I can manage to get 5 or 600 mm on my line before i lose the will to live. but I have been told " Rigmarole freefall braided tubing " is easy to thread due to the stainless liner.. I am just about to order some and i see that they sell it in micro 0.5 mm and also wide 1.0 mm versions. I will be using line around the 0.33 diameter size and was wanting to know whether the 0.33 line will easily go into the 0.5 Rigmarole freefall braided tubing or do i need to get the wide 1.0 mm version.. Thanks for reading, Steve.

Yep me too, Happy new year to all.. lets hope for a better 2021.

No not at all, fairly good packaging, have you had one delivered damaged ? Mine was delivered by Royal Mail......sadly the wife has stolen it off me and said I can have it back at Christmas... I didn’t argue though as she purchased 3 greys rods and 3 shimano ultrgra 1400’s that were supposed to be for Christmas and I have been using them for the last few weeks ( I think she forgot they were a Xmas pressie 😁

Woo, hoo it’s here in my grubby little hands.... a new edition to my coffee table..

you are right about trying to fish more and definitely right about riding motorbikes more..... I have a couple of dirt bikes in my ever growing collection of motorcycles.. but it just didn't seem right putting myself at risk by riding offload this year with everything else going on.. hopefully 2021 will be a better year all round.

It’s a long all day session for me today, I have just made time to make myself a bacon sarnie and cuppa on the bank side... might not be the best meal, but it will last me until I get home.

Good luck for Sunday, you still have every chance...I will probably only stop when the water is frozen and then fish again when it thaws.. the last two or three weeks have been fantastic fishing for me, even on difficult waters.