salokcinnodrog

Something like that, the link I put up gives full pics of various ways it can be set up, as well as buying price direct from TFG.

On the note about a zip-in infill panel, may I suggest you look at the TFG Power brolly. https://www.totalfishinggear.co.uk/buy.cfm/tfg-bivvies-and-brollies/tf-gear-power-brolly-shelter/39/no/43620

Don't fish that close, (d'oh) Seriously I know it can't always be helped, it happens. In fact same happened to me a few weeks ago. Because of snags and weed I actually try not to use leaders, I worry about the whole lot being tangled around the snags with no way to eject the rig, tethering the fish. I have gone back to a long length of tubing over a line I know with decent abrasion resistance. Quick question, where did the line go? Chances are in most cases, your mainline/hooklink knit gave way under pressure, the usual sign is a curly wurly where it broke, and your stop knot or insulation tape marker is hardly out of place. If it is the line, go back to a decent length of tubing.

Strangely enough after all the talk of bivvies, brollies and Overwraps, I have gone back to TFG Oval brolly with the Oval Overwrap they do for it. I do like the standard brolly with stormsides as it comes, (with stormpoles) and I have slept under that, but if bad weather is forecast or I am fishing for a few days I do use the overwrap, for which you will need a longer pair of storm sticks

I can remember those days, large sheet of plastic trying to keep you covered I had a 50" brolly, and had the Fox Jekh shelter overwrap, boy was that a bivvy and a half. I seriously wish I hadn't sold it but I upgraded to an original Fox EasyDome.

Long time from the days of one brolly fits all! Your green 45 or 50 inch Steadefast is no more, everything is now specialised, Match fishing or Carp fishing, and then particular brand will only fit said brand. Must admit I still miss my 50brolly with overwrap at times, although that plastic skin meant it was quite heavy. I wonder if it's possible that anyone still has an old brolly overwrap hanging around?

I got a plain basic TFG chair, but if it's tipping it down and I have to stay inside the bivvy I don't fold down the back legs and rest it across my bedchair with the front legs down, so I still have back support. The handy thing is that prevents chair sag.

I bought a Wychwood Morpheus Extreme. Love it to bits, it has top and bottom 'flaps' that attach it to your bedchair, but check how wide wide boy is. Zips on either side so you can get out right or left. My alternative would be the Gardner Beastie I have seen.

Same as the light, no faults, I use both dependant on water clarity

Solar do a stainless steel rig tubing thingymajig that you put the buffer on, then put the tubing on.

Handy! I use Solar Run Rings on tubing, although I am running out. If I can get my pics back from Photobucket I'll put one up of my standard running set-up on tubing

Isn't it only 6 line manufacturer factories in the world?

I got unflavoured dental floss from Sainsbury's, lasts for years. I make line aligners myself, using shrink tube from Maplins, Fox or Solar, or sometimes with plain silicone tubing. You can even use a fake maggot to do it, perfect if you use maggots as bait, or as part of your bag or spod mix

I often do the same but usually with dental floss; the alternative is knot the hooklink material to the hook as normal with a blood or Uni knot, and then tie the hair material to the hook eye. Once that is done I whip it down the hook shank and overhand knot to the hook shank at the point I want the hair to leave the hook. You can then put shrink or silicon tubing over the eye, which I do with a line aligner.

Moved to correct section of forum

I know I have said in the past about different lines taking different knots and the strains required to break them being different. In most cases with mono, a blood knot is ok, but with some you need to use another knot. In most cases now, without even thinking about it I go twice through the hook or swivel eye and then tie an Uni knot, it is habit. I do still lighter blob the ends of my knots though, because as you have said the knot can pull undone. Daiwa Sensor; I just can't fault the stuff, used it in lilies, near chained buoys, near snags and it held up on almost every occasion. The few times it didn't was my fault for fishing too close to snags without my rod pointing at the end tackle on the take. I didn't know about the snags at the time, so it's a lesson learnt big time. Saying that, until I was given some Gardner Pro to test and found it even better abrasion resistance I would not have changed. 15lb Gardner Pro got fish out of here quite easily, the gap under the trees was one of my favourite spots, and others wouldn't fish it as 'they lost too many', quite possibly because they insisted on rods facing out front instead of at the hookbait. Strangely I have just looked at the Tackle box tests, and it looks like a number of major tackle brand line ratings have changed over the last few years; lots of lines rated as 15lb appear to have come down to 0.35mm (quoted) as opposed to the 0.38 they were originally given, and newer lines are all nearer that rating. 0.38mm lines or even 0.40, are actually 18-20lb breaking strains, so sure they are going to break well over 15lb, and abrasion resistance will be increased accordingly. The angler was being 'conned' into using higher strains than needed or could be cast.

Must admit I used 12lb Sensor line near lilies quite regularly with no problems, I can't recall a single break off with it, although around 200mm of tubing up the line may have helped. Saying that if the fish got into the lilies, then 200mm is no length. Not found lilies to be sharp, very thick roots definitely, some as thick as my arm, but not sharp or abrasive.

Well I changed over main lines as I felt the Gardner wasn't quite right in a gin clear lake over weed. Back on the P-line Floroclear, but in the mist green. It takes a Uni knot nicely, casts to over a hundred yards so far, with no leader added, although I haven't really pushed it. First trip with it on this week and had a double figure bream first cast in daylight. Not managed a carp, but don't think I was anywhere near them. http://p-line.com/line/fluorocarbon-coated/floroclear

The looping, or lifting up is something I have seen, you need the middle of the hooklink pinned down, as well as just down from the ends, basically because of the looping up and buoyancy in the braid, and as said some are worse than others, Silkworm especially I found. Pretty much the main reason I switched from Silkworm to Merlin as I found it not so buoyant. Making sure the hooklink was wet also stopped some of the looping up. It doesn't always matter though as I'm sure I caught fish before discovering this looping up.

I honestly can't remember the last time I cast out a braided, either coated or uncoated hooklink that wasn't Kryston. It must have been some time around the 1990's! Silkworm, Merlin, SuperNova, 3 absolutely brilliant hooklink materials, although I did stop using Silkworm as I found it was buoyant and lifted off the lakebed. Saying that, almost every hooklink loops up unless weighted down. I tried using No Tangle, using it to stiffen or even create a concertina extending hooklink, and to be honest, as good as it was or is, I decided against the faffing. To reduce tangles I simply resort to PVA stringers, bags or mesh, even with braided hooklinks. I've given a couple of clues here, the weighted down hooklink and the PVA. I didn't find that the hooklink tangled, even if it was moved a fair distance. The hook itself sits on the lakebed with a bait about 15mm away from the hook on a hair. It actually takes the bait being picked up or rolled a long distance to move the hook, and with a line aligned hook, it takes the hook and bait being rolled over 180 degrees. If the bait is actually picked up, then it should be a fish large enough to get hooked. I found that there is a definite limit to plain uncoated braided hooklinks, and that is crayfish. Those little gits will tangle it, they also manage to take chunks out of coated braid coatings. With crayfish, and me using combi-rig hooklinks, I still use Amnesia in clear 20 or 30lb as my upper section.

Have a look at these https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-beastmaster-xta-reel line capacity is about the same as the other two

Must admit I have moved over to the Beastmaster XTA's, and found no fault with them, playing fish, or retrieving heavy weed, but I do know a number of people have found cheaper Shimmy's are now fitted with cheaper plastic gearing inside, compared to the old brass or decent quality aluminium gearing. I'm also wary of Fox, Nash, Wychwood or Okuma reels from working in a tackle shop and the numbers returned with faults, compared to very few Shimano's. I know a few years ago Shimano went to regional distribution; a big tackle shop was supplying other local smaller shops. Obviously the bigger shop was getting best discount prices, however they seem to have gone back to the older supply system, but biggest shops with pre-orders still get best price and biggest discount, so are able to sell at the best price to the end user. To be perfectly honest I looked at Baby Big Pits and never quite felt comfortable with them, preferring Aerlex's or now the Quick Twist front Drag Beastmasters.

Don't forget that to get to join Layer you have the CAPS rules:

Shimano aaaalllll the way

I put the line spool in a bucket of water and wind it onto the reel. No problems with twist, although I do back wind when playing a fish, and I try not to let too much line go out on a baitrunner or free spool.