smufter

Very informative, but my favourites not there! The tried and tested "tucked half blood knot". My go to knot for tying swivels and hooks on. Very rarely have a problem with them Made me laugh in France when my Daughters boyfriend was trying to tie one. He was holding the hook and carefully wrapping the tag end around the mainline. I said to him "just hold the hook and rotate it 5 or 6 times, it has the same effect and it's a lot, lot quicker" He'll learn

I was absolutely devastated in France a few weeks ago. Got to the Gite, unpacked my gear, and found that the insert had broken out of the bottom eye of one of my rods. I had taken some spare rods with me, and had my two 11' Outkasts in positions 1 & 3 on my pod, with my spare Korum 10 footer in the middle position. It looked awful!! It sat up higher due to the slightly thicker handle, and it was a helluva job setting the bobbins perfectly because the eye spacing of it was totally different. Completely ruined my holiday. Well not quite, but you get what I mean....

At the Gite we visit in France, there is no hard and fast rule on barbed or barbless hooks. I have always used barbless hooks for my carping, as most fisheries over here insist that you do and I personally felt that they did less harm to the fish. Whilst over there last year I was using barbless and lost a couple of fish. The bailiff, a really nice guy, suggested I used barbed hooks. I didn't have any in my bag but thought I would use them this year for a change. I felt much more confident using them and only lost one fish, a really big one, right old scrapper that slipped the hook on the way to the net. I was gutted, but feel quite sure had I been using a barbless hook, the fight would have been over long before it actually was. I didn't have any forceps with me, but the bailiff lent me a pair, and these made removing the hooks a doddle, so much so that I purchased a pair of my own as soon as I returned. Trying to remove the hook, even a large size 4, with wet hands can be hard work. Forceps make it so much easier. I am definitely in the barbed camp now, just as long as you have the necessary tools to remove them properly. I have read all the arguments regarding barbed and barbless. I'm a firm believer that all of the damage to a fish's mouth is done by the anglers ham fisted attempts to remove the hook, rather than the actual hook hold during the fight

It's not always easy in daylight either.

There is that of course!!

A lot depends on how you are going to be fishing..... If you were surface fishing, freelining, or using a very light lead, then you are going to notice more of an effect than if you were lobbing a heavy lead, PVA bag etc. some distance. Obviously it's all about friction, and the heavier rig is going to help overcome that to a certain extent. But, not being funny, if it bothers you too much I'd be inclined to buy a bulk spool (1,000m) and re-spool? Daiwa Sensor is one of the cheapest lines around, you can pick up a bulk spool on the bay for under £8.00. For peace of mind I'd buy one and re-spool.

I have mine on maximum volume and love it when I am adjusting my bobbins.

I do all of those things, apart from sleep in a bivvy with a door. I just turn mine up a bit.

You can buy a receiver for the MX+ alarms. You buy the plug in transmitter as an optional accessory and then the receiver. I've thought about buying one in the past but never find myself far enough away from the rods to justify the outlay

Oh just another thing..... sorry to bore you!! It's nice that a manufacturer actually puts the stated amount of line on a bulk spool! I've bought bulk spools before, gone to load up 3 reels and been short of the 3rd one. Loaded all 3 reels up now, stated line capacity of them was well over 300 metres of .35mm and I still have absolutely loads on the main spool. Nice one Wychwood!!

All joking aside.... managed to load one of my reels up last night with it. When you first see it on the spool it looks quite dark, but when you view it as a single strand of line, it lightens up considerably, you can hardly notice the purple colouring. It's definitely not a "hit you in the face" colour and I'm feeling fairly confident that it will do what it says on the tin. I read that it was fairly thin line (for the given breaking strain) so went for 18lb as I usually load my reels up with 12 for "domestic" fishing, 15 for when I go to France. It definitely looks thinner than my 15lb Technium Black. It loaded onto the reel superbly, very little "springiness" as it came off the main spool, which bodes well. Won't get a chance to use it until Sunday, as long as it casts well I'm feeling fairly confident it will work as intended. Will report back once I've given it a try.

Well it was delivered today. Was raining too. The package got wet and I thought for a minute they had just delivered me an empty spool!! This stuffs good.

Old fisherman never die..... they just smell that way

I use Chub Outkast "Small water" rods. 11' and 2.25lb. They are brilliant "all rounders" for most fishing situations, The only thing you couldn't do with them is lob a heavy lead any distance. I have caught carp to 37lb on them, and would be quite happy freelining, surface fishing or even float fishing with them

I've got three of them and they have NEVER let me down, rain or shine. My daughter has just brought 3 of them herself. The blue light is very (very) bright though. Blindingly bright at night. You can see them from miles off! Great alarms for the money, and I love the simple on/off toggle switch.

I really want it to make my new reels look good. They're all black and I reckon the purple line will look the mutts :wink:

Yep they did. And I blanked every time I used it. They may have well been invisible. So surely that must prove the point????

"It's just all this light refracting red/purple line that "vanishes" in water that I'm saying it a gimmick". Red line doesn't vanish in water. But purple might.

My "usual" Technium is Black. I catch well on it. I find it difficult to believe that fish don't spot that in the water being black!!

Well, I took the plunge and ordered some!. At £12.00 for a bulk spool it doesn't break the bank if it doesn't work out. The reels I've bought are already loaded with a line that I don't like the look of, so the DPF will replace that. Also have brand new spare spools so will load those with my usual Technium "just in case". All the actual reviews say that this DPF stuff is invisible in water, so we'll just have to suck it and see. Out for a session on Wednesday, will report back. (It's quite a tough water so I might have nothing to report lol!)

Anybody else using this?? http://www.bobcotackle.co.uk/shop/WYCHWOOD-DPF-Line-1000m I usually use Shimano Technium Black but have just bought 3 "nearly new" reels (Daiwa Emcast 5000BR) which need re-spooling, and I don't like the line that is already on them. Thinking about giving this new DPF line a bash, it reviews well and is half the price of my usual Shimano stuff. Plus it will look quite funky 'cos the reels are all black, especially if I get purple bobbins to match. Me? Tackle tart?????

I went over to Shimano Technium Black a few years ago and will never use anything else. A bit more expensive than others, but it's performance makes it worth it. Spools up well, sinks well, and is as tough as old boots. I have my "everyday" spools loaded with 12lb, and my spare spools loaded with 15 if I'm fishing snaggier waters or fishing in France where theoretically I am going to come into contact with bigger lumps.