welder

Along with four others I did three days/nights on Churn Pool, Cotswolds, a fortnight ago. The rain was incessant, varying between heavy and deluge. At no time did my ATTs show any sign of distress. Kevin, your post surprises me not one jot. Ian

Todd, I use a set of the underlit ATTs and they are the best alarms I've ever owned and used. If you should decide to buy a set I feel sure that you, too, will be delighted with them. Ian

I'd just like to add.......nothing. Ian

Maplins would have been my first choice, too, but Hutch's offerings may well suit. Ian

Quite right! Ian

Stickmix, I was casting my bait to see what I'd catch....... Some of the best music ever made was by The Travelling Wilburys, of which Mr Orbison was a founder member. As for poor taste....taste is an objective thing. Sweet, savoury or ironic. I'm aware that the gentleman suffered lifetime tragedy, he reminded us frequently. Did he ever get to Tulsa? Ian

Stickmix, I was casting my bait to see what I'd catch....... Some of the best music ever made was by The Travelling Wilburys, of which Mr Orbison was a founder member. As for poor taste....taste is an objective thing. Sweet, savoury or ironic. I'm aware that the gentleman suffered lifetime tragedy, he reminded us frequently. Did he ever get to Tulsa? Ian

Anyone like Roy Orbison? I think the best thing he ever did was to die relatively young, couldn't come soon enough for me. Ian

Rig foam can be useful in situations such as this. Soak it in glug of your choice, something for next to nothing. Ian

Thumbnail works for me, Dan. Ian

Nick, you're learning to relax and have a laugh. It's good to see, mate. Ian

I don't do messing with other people's wives, I'm happily married. For 35 years. As I'm sure you've worked out, the café at Merrington is run be a lady called Clare. I note that you're based in Wolverhampton so Merrington is just up the road from you. Their winter syndicate will have kicked in by now (I think?) so I won't be going there again this year but intend to do a few trips there next year. I'll let you know when, mate. Ian

Same here. I'd add that staying calm helps the operation and that, after a little practice, the "twist of the wrist" becomes second nature. I've never used large barbs, microbarbs have always been sufficient. Ian

Merrington has, in recent years, been transformed from a windswept, god forsaken place to a cracking fishery. I must get back there to ask Luke, the bailiff/bank manager, about the strange happenings at his syndie lake. Oh, and to get the Full English from the café there. Clare, I love you. Ian

That could have been me typing. Cyborx, I agree with all you say, I'd love to be in that situation. Part of me wants to type "I ain't afraid of no goats". But I'm not going to. Ian

Phil, scroll back up and read the last few lines of Cyborx' post. Then Hawkman's post will make more sense. I wholeheartedly agree with both of them, by the way. Ian

I frequently use worms as bait and have no particular favourites when it comes to hooklinks so I tend to assess the water and my swim's accessible features before choosing what to use. I've had good results using black coated braid with the final inch of coating stripped back to give me a hinge effect and a button of black rig foam to lift the lobbies up a little. Ian

You're not alone in loving cork handles. I'm sort of betwixt and between in that, a few years back, I had my Greys Prodigys customised to suit me and my needs rather than having full-on custom built rods. The first thing that I insisted on was full Portugese cork handles which came out just perfect for me, all these years later I'm still loving them. I also had Fuji reel seats fitted, all of the eyes relined with PTFE which has the lowest coefficient of friction in the civilised world (possibly ) and slightly larger diameter tip-eyes. Oh, and rather posh brushed stainless butt caps. These rods are now fully mature (read "old") but I'm very fond of them and ain't looking to change them any time soon. Ian

I just buy mine. ESP make them much better than I ever could. Ian

Blending in. Either use flouro which is close to invisible when submerged, or a dark/black coated braid with the coating stripped back to suit hinge effect or whatever, especially in silty conditions. Ian

I almost always leave tags, too. Sometimes blobbed with a flame, sometimes not. No pun. My reel handles, on the other hand, point wherever they like because I'm just a rough welder who doesn't give a stuff. Ian

Hi, Your rods are more than man enough. They have a habit of wareing through the hook link with there sandpaper like mouth pads. If I was fishing a lake with a few, I would be using long hooklinks made of very strong and super smooth polished braid, there a a few of them about. They love fishy boilies and pellets, but will get hooked on just about anything including sweet corn. Terry, as Frank has stated, your rods will cope just fine and Sensor is known to break well above it's stated breaking strain so as regards tackle you're all good. While I've never caught a cat in the UK, I've had several from Rushes Lake in France. I found wide-gape, large hooks to be the answer with Sufix Black smooth-coated braid as the hooklink. The Rushes cats had a preference for 24mm halibut pellets on a longish hair. Oh. Double check your knots and, if you can, fish in or on the edge of silty areas. Ian

Keith, it was Mick who showed me those Avid Chod Beads. They work very well for me, cleverly designed kit. As is a lot of what Avid have to offer. Unlike you, I never use any form of leader, my silt/chod rigs run on the mainline. Ian

Love it! I have PB,s with Grebe, Coot and Swan. A fish or two would be handy. Ian