jules007

View from the new Westlake bivvy day shelter, what an awesome but of kit, nice and cosy, goes up in a jiff packs away small and goes back in its bag without a fight

Yep i had a nice haul today another 3 kg of Crave boilies plus pop ups then some ESP rig tube plus micro ring swivels and some 2.4mm silt colour heat shrink, also got another bulk spool of NGT camo line but in 18lb this will do till i get new reels, got another order for more crave bait coming in a few days.....oh and new leccy kettle for kitchen lol

seems Okuma are good, so might look at this brand

Okay guys my 18 year old reels are looking tatty, maybe even rough in places, they still work like clockwork just some area`s of corrosion/paint loss, so im thinking a pair of new reels, i have mentioned to my daughter i may get her to pay for one as an xmas present and i buy the second. I am only fishing one club book venue which is a 3.5 acre lake, fish to low 30`s, a bit weedy some snags, rods are Diawa 12ft 3lb tc..........so can i have some suggestions please and low price is key here thinking £40-55 per reel i like Freespool but also happy to look at mini pit reels with fast drag, i have sort of looked at Wychwood reels but i did have a set of the early rogue reels and they were not great Thanks in advance guys

Interesting post, have to say last week i wound in to cast to a showing fish, nicked on a mesh bag of pellets and boilies but "old clumsy" here dunked it before lining up the cast, whipped it out double quick expecting my wife to be showered in salmon pellets but it made it on target, no fish though

Im with you on the Kryston heavy putty and i would of bought mine about 2010, still got a bit left

I think i might have a play with this rig, i really like the idea of it and being able to just pop a new fresh hook on an existing rig appeals

one issue i have is spending even more money on more line and looking ahead that i may replace the old reels at xmas

Cheers elmo, the tackle box test is good info, now the lake is pretty weedy but does have a lot of hard bottom snags like bits of concrete and stone, maybe a case of doing some feeling about with a lead to find a good spot to fish with a thinner line and i think your right about the 0.40 being to thick for my spools

Small update from me, so the 42" landing net that cost a whopping £12.70 with stink bag and spreader is spot on, super pleased with this item, now for an interesting development on the NGT line, so at first i re spooled with NGT 0.30 15lb line, it loaded onto reels very nicely, but then at lake was told really should be on 18lb main, so stripped the NGT and loaded ESP basic 0.40 18lb, now this line is just not sitting on the spools so well, i can see me going back to NGT but in the 18lb. Also got an NGT boilie chopper coming will see how that is

Well, i was all set to go with Trent baits but a good deal came up for Dynamite "the Crave" and as i have been using this bait already i did a bulk order, looks like im sticking with this bait, get it established in the lake im on

Guys thanks for the replies i have looked at the Trent baits and could be a good call, a load on the lake swears by them, i did wonder about Kent particles they used to get a good review but i think i need to drop on a half decent bait and get it established in the lake

I am looking for a decent shelf life bait, the plan is to get on a bait that is proven to work and then stick with it on both rods pretty much, i cant do freezer bait, so what would you guys suggest looking at

I get what your saying but im just about done with getting kit now, however my reels are about 20 years old and starting to get corrosion on parts, but they still work perfect but my daughter is asking what to get me for xmas, also i need a one man shelter for wet weather, not a bivvy as im not doing over night stuff

TBH im happy i got the Diawa`s my last 12ft 3lb were same rods and they were right nice to use, i did think the old 11 footers were just to old and under gunned, just cheap glass fibre rods, but will still use one of them on the smaller runs lake as fish only run to 15lb in there

Sorry no pic but my new rods arrived today these are the Diawa D carp 12ft 3lb TC, typical Diawa they look ace, super slim blanks in matt finish and very understated logo just the "Diawa" name in a slightly darker colour, super slim with short Dupron handle paid £29 per rod and have to say they ooze quality

I think i may have to sell of some of my RC cars and rock crawlers to ruddy well fund this return

Hmm, return to carp fishing lots of old gear in loft, no ned to buy new stuff, oh how wrong that last part is.... so new line 15lb not strong enough so new line 18lb use old rods, no to soft so a pair of Diawa 3lb 12ft rods ordered Reels are okay for now, just odd bit of corrosion on them and alarms working okay new landing net, new day shelter, hard to put up so new brolly, not large enough hooks, hooklink material Boillies, pop ups. Next item might be a carp chair, using a folding camping chair for now..............but getting there

My very old Zebco 11ft 2.5tc rods, they are not up to modern carp fishing so about to be replaced with 12ft 3lb rods, reels are old but very good DAM quick 850, super smooth and still capable

So yesterday my hooklink snagged bottom when reeling in, lake has a policy of trying to avoid pulling for a break, so another angler had a try on my rod and politely told me of for having rods that are to soft, he went out in the boat and got it free, so i have now ordered a pair of Diawa 12ft 3lb TC like i used to have

Hmm, might have to send you 4 spools from my reels with return postage ha ha just been trying to take line of by hand, not happening

i did stumble on these after i posted, but gonna wait till early new year and make do with the rods on the go for now

In an ideal world i would like to upgrade my old 11ft 2.5tc to shiny new 11ft 2.75 or even 3lb and get sexy slim blanks but seems nothing about other than some iffy 3 piece rods

cant vote as not caught a carp in 17 years...by eck that was a long blank

general opinion is in favour of 12ft rods so when im ready i will go 12 and keep my old 11ft rods as i do like them