yonny

Been waiting a very, very long time for this one lads.

The fields were white with frost on my drive to work this morning. Looks like winter is here already!

He's doing great mate. Proper little bruiser lol. These ☝️☝️☝️☝️

Nope, bog standard off the shelf rods mate. It always makes me chuckle when you hear guys judging the capability of a rod based on what Terry can do with them. I agree with you mate that it's largely irrelevant. I'm pretty sure Usain Bolt could do a 100m in 10 seconds wearing walking boots. It doesn't mean walking boots allow you to run faster. My small water rods are X Lites. I can fish effectively with them at an absolute max of 120/130. Terry can cast the same model 180 yards. It's completely irrelevant, he is a freak of nature when it comes to casting ability.

Dip the rod underwater, the carbon will contract slightly which should loosen it enough. Odd time of year to get the rod stuck together. Normally happens in summer when the rod expands due to temps.

Isn't the Black Label stuff notoriously bad quality?

I have no idea buddy but it sounds like a very tall order to me.

Don't get me wrong, they are defo worth a look👍

Decent distance rods but very heavy. Hard work to use at real range, but certainly capable.

Thing is mate there is simply no such thing as a rod that will cast 170 yards which is not a broomstick. You'll probably hear people say there is, but they either don't know what they're talking about or they're lying. Stiff rods = big distance, it really is that simple. I've not used the Fox's but I do have a mate that has them and doesn't complain.

If you cannot stretch to Harrison/Century/Free Spirit then the Shimano's are defo the one I'm told.

After trying loads I ended up building a custom set and the sticks/chains are the ones that come with yours. Great gear👍

Anything stainless. Matrix Innovations do a decent stainless range, worth a look.

The Stows only come in one size so I guess you're looking at the Black 'n Whites? I had them. The hockey sticks, chains and weights are made from plated steel - not stainless steel. The result is they rust, badly. Mine went rusty within a season so I complained to Korda and they sent me another set free of charge. The replacement set rusted in 6 months. If you look back at the last few Korda vids you can actually see this. In the Korda Masterclass vol 7 vid Dan/Pecky go to a lake in Germany. There is a close up of Pecks rods and you can see his bobbins are completely rusted, juts like mine. I saw it on another vid too but can't remember which one. It's a shame as functionally they're decent; a nice, simple, do-everything bobbin. But the fact is they aint up to the job when it comes to longevity, which is completely unacceptable when you're paying 75 quid for a set. Avoid buddy.

This is quite normal imo. If we think about it, it would be unusual (imo) for a carp to travel vertically. It will travel head first and normally reach the surface a short distance away from the spot itself. When it's calm you can see this as they will leave a trail of bubbles as they head back down after showing. There aint much quite as exciting as seeing a show then watching the trail of bubbles lead directly to your spot. Bite time.

There's loads of reason imo. Feeding, clearing gills, ditching parasites, regulating the swim bladder..... and I also believe that sometimes they're just playing (for lack of a better word). Head'n'shouldering is a strong indicator for feeding on the deck. Those flicky, splashy shows indicate feeding up in the water (ziggy shows I call them). But ultimately I'll move on to ANY kind of show if I'm not seeing them in front of me. Active fish are normally catchable fish imo.

Yeah, that's the thing, you need to practise, which I struggle to do with my limited time. Once a week down the playing field and I've no doubt I'd get to grips with real big casting pretty quickly.

Well worth considering a lesson mate. I'd watched all the YouTube vids and was pretty sure I had technique dialled. Turned out I was very wrong lol. It's all about weight transfer and timing. Not at all as easy as some people make it look.

Yes and yes mate. Improved by nearly 30 yards!!

Does this indicate you're after a rod capable of big distances? If so, I had a day with Terry Edmonds (record caster) recently and he highly recommended the Shimmy TX2 (less than 100 a pop) and the TX4 (130ish) to my mate.

Set-up should be selected to suit the spot you're fishing, not the time of year buddy. For me, same as any other time of year, but with much less bait.

The Pro Distance is a better caster, the Gardner Pro is better as an all rounder. I'd prefer the Gardner in any situation other than snag free distance casting.

Fishing is not the issue - it's the none essential travel to get there that is questionable.

It's a bit late to start but maybe not too late. I wouldn't go mental on qty's though mate.

It's a very, very easy water. Just use any half decent rig and bait and you'll catch loads. Makes sure to have one rod in the margin.