chillfactor

The swim in my pic above gets very little sun even in the summer due to its position on the lake & tree cover, so doesn't get a chance to dry out. As Nige pointed out they really protect the ground more than anything.

They were a god send on that session Nige .... hammered it down 2 of the 3 days . The swim would of been in a terrible mess without them ,as would I . Just to add the ones on our syndicate are heavy duty jobs , non slip & also don't hold water & already in the swim. Would I want to carry one.. NO

Wouldn't go anywhere near delkims... everyone I have fished with who uses them always ends up turning the sensitivity right down to combat wind & rain / bird life / small species/ yeah great alarms ! And a privilege Which you have to pay way over the odds for .

Are you the geezer that does live raves from his bivvy I've heard about Welcome to the forum

Hi Richard.... the setup your describing is geared around speed , so lends itself to the match side of carp fishing . If speed isn't an important factor just go for inline & short rig straight through . Also I personally think loop to loop for any leader will definitely be the weakest point & 99 times out 100 the loop on the mono will give. Leaders when used especially longer lengths should be joined with the appropriate knot . Your always get different views on leaders so don't let that bother you ,but unless you really need one then it's safer not to use one . Big fan of tubing personally.

Could do Vic, but I would like it closer ... I pull the micro swivel up into the bait. Also that diameter might actually pass over the bead looking at it .

If you cut the ring off the hook swivel your be looking good fella... micro swivels rather than micro ring swivels. You can play around with the bead position as this will change the angle of the hook sitting below the pop up , mount one on & your see what I mean , personally I like mine back slightly so it's more opposite the point . Just to add depending on your pop ups you might need just a little putty on the shrink tube so it sits right .

I suffer with my back , & the best thing I've found is a bed buddy. I find most chairs start out ok but over time they sag , which plays my back up no end. Obviously no good if your on a day session ( with no bed ) but a day is not normally the issue it's the longer sessions.

If you look at my pic above .... the putty is formed around a figure of 8 knot . I use a semi stiff coated braid ... You don't want anything to rigid , as you say your fishing silt but a semi stiff fluoro will be fine . Silt is pretty forgiving with rig choice .

You can use it with a fluoro rig material, figure of 8 loop knot to create the hinge job done . So your lake bans braid as a hooklink material ...you sure its not just as mainline braid ?

It was size 8 that was mentioned Vic. Hi Banjojohn .... i would just go for inline or pendant running leads . No need for it to be on a length of line , got tangles written all over it & the lead will be working against you when playing the fish & depending on the length of your hooklink quite possibly bashing the fish . If you were to swap the lead & hooklengh positions that would be a helicopter rig . In my picture.... there called hook beads The Ronnie is a pop up rig & very easy to make .

Handy for the Ronnie... Vic

2.4 mm fits over barrels of swivels etc perfectly.

You can still use running leads , obviously there will be more friction so plastic wide bore ring & minimum 3oz lead . Depending on how long a length they are specifying ? you could put a bead at the top of the tubing so your lead will remain on the mainline .

It's only 2000 HH to me that's very much on the low side .... heavy rain can come anytime of the year so would opt for the jrc at 5000 . My two man is 10000 HH

Nightmare.... the only thing i can think of doing if the handle section is long enough to pick up the drive gear from the other side would be to machine out the smaller diameter hole ?

Without knowing anything about either or seing one in the flesh ..... But just looking at the spec on the links you put up , I would definitely head towards the jrc far higher HH rating .

Definitely sound like you were up against snags at some point mate which obviously weakened it . Can't imagine that happening to the 15lb tbh.... haven't used the 12lb so can't comment really.

Me neither Nick... would never discibe Lillie stems as sharp or abrasive. Never had issues with them even if you go back to fishing very light for tench etc on the float.

Very surprised to hear this mate as the 15lb is proving to be bullet proof. Had plenty of upper twenties on it since giving it a go from weedy snaggy lakes . Was it cut when you checked where it snapped or obviously stretched to the point it snapped ? Or did it snap at the knot?

I've got a selection of 6 & 10 thousand xteas & can interchange the spools the bodies are the same . The deeper spool won't make any difference on casting , it just simply holds more line mate .

I use , N trap semi stiff . I find it just right to allow for bottom debris but also stiff enough not to end up in a heap especially with a sinker half way or just over half way down . This will all depend on the weight of your bait your fishing though.

Always found a sinker half way down the hook length on coated braid , will kick the section below out .

Yes Nick it was me that told everyone about that change too , something will definitely be changing again at some point.

That has to depend on what your looking for in a reel . The bearings in the fox reel mentioned on this thread are of a better quality than in the xtds. What shimano have done with this reel is work out a way of offering the line lay of far more expensive versions at a budget price ( no bad thing) but this has hit the overall quality of the rest of the reel .... but like you say for around the 100 £ mark still a good reel . Anyone looking at buying shimano should do so quick as a lot of suppliers are basically going to boycott ordering from them until there prices become stable, when you have 1or 2 outlets selling them at what most others have to buy them at something has to give . This more than likely will mean in & around rrp's stuck to , so these deals you see at the moment might disappear for a while at least .