stewpot

I've been following its progress for the last couple of years and they do appear to have made a good job of things .They seem a friendly bunch as well. I like that they're making a real effort to cater for all interests and my 6 year old was VERY interested in the castle they're building. Decent tackle shop as well, carrying some well priced and good quality gear. It will be interesting to see how it develops but it's a good thing for the Island and I'll certainly be down there every chance I get. Hopefully get the lad into it as well.

I pulled all my old carp gear out of the loft yesterday and got to the fishery before realising half my rod pod was missing. So a new rod pod

Well its been a while since I was last here....hello all Today was the first time I dusted off the carp gear for about 4 years. No carp fishing on the Isle of Man you see. Until today that is. Felt good to be sat in the Chub recliner again, staring intently at my alarms, willing them to ping into action. No such luck unfortunately, I blanked but then so did everybody else. What I did find interesting though is that the fishery provides it own nets, unhooking mats and slings. You're not allowed to bring your own. Seems a good idea for disease prevention Is this a common thing in the UK now? PS For sale. 1 new unhooking matt

Family, work, then hobbies - of which fishing is my favourite.

Have to agree, Okuma quality is spot on. When I got back into the sport about 8 years ago I was given a pair of Interceptors. I use these for sea fishing now, casting 4-5oz of lead over rough ground and they are still going strong. I also have a couple of their boat rods. Brilliant bits of kit. If they'd had Daiwa or Shimano written on them they'd have cost twice as much.

A direction that I've often thought Carp fishing might go in, is fisheries that allow people to take fish for the table. ,

Just bought an ABU Soron STX 60 to pair up with a stalker rod.

Been using one of these for a couple of years now. Never had to buy gas, petrol etc since. Bloomin' marvelous http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Product/733-The-Honey-Stove/

Wasn't Jim Shelly was it?

Penn are one of Pure Fishing's 'brands'. Along with Abu Garcia, Mitchell, JRC, Berkley and more recently Greys. Mostly all made in China now but I've had no issues with the quality of any of these makes.( I've Abu multipliers/rods, Penn fixed spool/multipliers/rods, JRC stuff and loads of Berkley braid) I'd pick a Penn multi over it's Shimano/Daiwa equivalent any day.

All my sea reels are Penn and they're bloomin' brilliant! Very good customer service too.

Army surplus stores are your friend

I need a smaller bivvy

You think you lot have it bad? 2 months ago I went boat fishing (sea) for the first time since moving to the Channel Islands. Afterwards I decided I needed my own reel - after all, as I explained to my wife, I'm left handed, and the charter boat's are all right handed. Next came the rod (I might as well get everything rigged up before I go). Then another reel. Then another rod. Then the 'boat rucksack', terminal tackle, leads, knives etc. Then an uptiding rod, which needed an 'uptiding' reel (which is exactly the same as the two new boat reels I already have but you use it for, well you get the picture). New waterproofs. Another rod (for the wrecks)...... and yet another bleedin reel. My last purchase? A boat! :shock:

It must be an idiosyncrasy of carp angling. When I buy sea fishing gear I don't look at brands or colours etc I just buy what is the right tool for the job and often fish with different length rods, fixed spool reels and multis. My tackle box is an old ice cream tub and luggage is a £20 rucksack from Sportsdirect When carping I use three identical rods and reels and everything has to match (greens and browns). Tackle is neatly organised in a green tackle box and luggage is always fishing brand stuff Living where I do now, I go carp fishing much less than sea fishing but would still spend more on a new rod/reel for carping than I would for sea fishing. Help me.