smufter

Almost as silly as you'd look trying to hammer bank sticks into a stage...

I class "drive and survive" anything without a slate/tiled/thatched/flat roof and a proper bed.

In the history of hijacked threads, this has got to go down in history as one of the greatest hijacked threads ever!!!!

Food package available (which is supposed to be the mutts) and about 10kgs will see me through. And there are bait freezers in the cabin....

There's a decent shower block there and I will change my clothes on a daily basis....... Might go without a shave though..... oh the pleasure in that for a week.

I'll sometimes use a single bankstick, but only if I am having one rod off at an acute angle, such as fishing the near margins. I much prefer the pod. I've never found any ground that's too hard to get a pod into!

Now that's what you call a hi-jacking

Don't get what you mean CM. Care to elaborate a little. Or am I being particularly thick?

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Would you contemplate doing a weeks drive and survive with only a good quality 60" brolly for shelter? Bearing in mind you would be going during the height of Summer, so hopefully not too much rain or wind and the temperatures should be good, even at night. Most I've done under it so far is a 48 hour session which was fine. But 7 nights????? Thoughts.....

I've got a Cygnet Quicklock pod and absolutely love it. Very quick and easy to set up/take down, and is as solid as a rock. Sits nice and low to the ground too, so if it's a bit windy I can easily get my rod tips into the water if needs be. One of the most annoying sounds to me when I'm fishing is somebody hammering their bank sticks into rock hard ground, so I'm not going to inflict that on anybody else.

I tend to think along the same lines. But each to their own and if you can afford it, go ahead. I've got a Cygnet Quicklock which I picked up a good few years ago now for about £50.00 off of the bay. Wouldn't swap it for the world, it's a great pod. I tend to prefer stealth black to chrome.....

I've got one of those Fox ones with the guard on the front to stop me chipping my nail varnish :oops: . Bought a new one just before this years French trip and one of the elastics snapped half way through the week. I had an old one lying in my tackle bag where the riveted base had come away from the pouch, I just swapped the elastics over and had no more problems. I prefer the ones with a hand guard. A recoil of the rubber across your knuckles at 4 in the morning doesn't half wake you up. :shock:

You don't even have to flick the switch, (although I always do)' ...just start reeling in and the baitrunner disengages.

I would imagine if you are fishing a lot then the relative cost is going to come down considerably. I don't fish enough to even contemplate rolling my own. Bit like joining a golf club. My membership costs me £1,100.00 a year. If I play 50 times a year it works out cheaper than paying a green fee. If I only play 20 times a year I'm on to a loser.

Very nice rods as I say. Had a 33lb out in France in July on one. No problems at all.

I don't own the Dwarfs, but recently purchased three of these as "back ups" to my Chub Outkasts.. https://www.tackleuk.co.uk/Shop/RodsCarpRods/Korum-Carp-Rod-250lb-10ft.htm I have owned Korum rods in the past, and enjoyed using them. When I saw these fairly new models introduced, personally preferring a shorter rod, I was drawn to them. They are great value for money, and are well put together. Also, at 2.5lb they have a little more "backbone" than my usual rods.

I can't remember one instance where I've lost a fish and thought "the baitrunner caused that". I use baitrunners, wouldn't have it any other way. I sit on my rods all the time, never leave them. The baitrunner, to me, is one of the best innovations in fishing,

That's why I'm thinking of shifting over to Shelfies. I can get Sticky Baits Krill as a shelf life, and I think they do Freshwater Shrimp in shelfies too.

Some consider that Freezer baits are a better quality than Shelf life due to the preservatives that are put in Shelfies. I have used shelfies in the past that have been like bullets, made of what appears to be chalk!! I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now. But shelf life have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years with many reporting no difference in catch rates between the two if you buy from one of the "better" and more established firms. I tend to use fresh/freezer baits but am seriously looking at taking shelfies to France next year.

I kept being mugged in France by nuisance fish as the two baits I was using (SB Krill and Trents Freshwater Shrimp) were both quite soft. I air dried a few purely to use as hookbaits. It was the only way I felt confident that my bait was still going to be on the hook after an hour or two in the water. And they were.....

I've been using 3 of these for the past 3 or 4 years and never had a problem with them. Completely reliable, have never let me down come rain or shine. Two stage sensitivity, a simple toggle on/off switch (which is great when setting up your bobbins so you don't annoy your neighbours), and the blue warning light is super bright. Blindingly bright!! You could turn your volume right down but won't miss anything cos you can see those lights from 100 yards away. The other good thing about them is that they operate on 2 "cheap as chips buy anywhere" AAA batteries. So no trawling the shops looking for specialist ones. You can add a transmitter to them and buy the receiver to match, but I have never bothered as I never move away from my rods far enough to have needed one. My daughter has been so impressed with mine over the years that she has just bought 3 of her own, passing on her previous Chub ones to her boyfriend. She much preferred the simple toggle on/off switch on mine, her old ones, (like a lot of others), had a push button switch and she was never sure if they were on or off. You can tell when the Micron's are on just by glancing at them. Recommended... highly.