adamkitson

Yeah I was looking at the Greys Aircurves. They do the abbreviated handle, which seems basically to be just the visible carbon blank with the reel seat and the standard bit of covered butt section at the end, then they do a shrink wrapped one, which just seems to make the butt section a little thicker and Matt black rather than carbon, then they do the cork version. The cork was tempting. Not been something I've looked at before. I ended up going with the abbreviated. Nice and understated, and they'll look the part on my pod. Went for 3.25lb, 12ft. Fishing a couple of lakes later this year and next that may need a slightly longer chuck, and as I quite like a solid bag now and again the 3.25s seemed a good option. Not too much of a broomstick for my smaller intimate venues either. Still a 90 yard chuck to hotspots from some swims though, even on the 3 acre pool. Distance casting is not my specialty by a long way, but I'm getting a lot better. Something a bit more built to put it out there with accuracy in mind should help in addition to my improved technique. Hopefully!

That's 100% true. I know the "are they worth it" conversation comes up from time to time. I've just sold my set of Fox MR+ alarms and bought delks. They are a luxury, and far from essential! I will say, that the sensitivity adjustment is nice. Used properly you can get a better idea of what's going on sub surface with them, but in real terms they don't get you more bites and if your setup is good you don't need alarms to be that sensitive. If anything they make up for mistakes or failings in your setup but they aren't nessesary. I wouldn't go back, but for me they were something to buy when I was happy with everything else and had a few quid spare. As a first set, or if you're on a budget, a ticket to a good lake or a freezer full of bait would be much better use of the money.

Depending on what you mean by good alarms, and good deals, my local tackle shop are doing a great deal on delks at the moment. £450 for 3 txi+'s with a reciever, set up with batteries. Still a lot but I don't think anywhere's beating that at the moment on those alarms.

I'm having a bash with esp synchro loaded XT next. gor it ready to go on in a couple of weeks. Anyone used this?

Except I use my bite alarms as an alarm clock.

I've made the switch too after a number of lost fish due to slipped hooks. I think I used barbless mainly due to fishing a lot of day ticket waters where there's usually a barbless rule. Didn't see the point in having a bag full of barbed hooks that I don't use. Now I use micro barbs in all my fishing and hook pulls have been eliminated. Definitely agree with the forceps. I have a small pair in the pocket of my cradle with my antiseptic, and use them every time. Getting a good grip on the hook, and treating the hook hold after does as well as using barbless I think without the rotating effect which can be more damaging to a fish's mouth than a barb. Having done a fair bit of pike fishing with barbed trebles in my youth, a micro barbed size 6 isn't much of a problem to deal with.

Meh, OK. Answered my own question with a google image search. Sorry.

Probably a daft question that I know the answer to if not the terminology, but what do Greys mean by "abbreviated handle"? I'm thinking a standard handle as you'd expect popularly on a specimen rod, rather than a cork handle? Anything different about an abbreviated handle?

Haha! I hope you pop down and give each one a pull every 10 mins to make sure they're still working!

I usually have no volume on the alarms at all, just the receiver. That way I can keep the noise down for myself and for others. Each to their own though. Whatever works.

I stand corrected, although I wouldn't bother. A dangling plug in transmitter and receiver. If I thought I might need a receiver in future I'd buy the MXr+ which you just have to buy the receiver for and pair them up. Course if you're not doing nights or leaving your swim, or fishing in Autumn/winter when it's windy, or with a bivvy with a door then I agree, there's no need for a receiver.

Pretty sure cm was talking about the £15 alarm the op mentioned by the company with nothing but bad reviews. Pretty different to the fox mx+ alarms. A £35 fox alarm will be basic, no receiver option, but will do the job well, a £15 alarm will be cheaply made with poor components, would manage a trip or two and break. Mate of mine had some of the proper budget alarms. Think he got 3 in a nice box for about £50 online. They were awful! To be fair, they did bleep when he got a run, but there was no volume adjustment and they were offensively loud. Also one of them worked intermittently from the start, so he couldn't trust it at night, and the first time it rained they all filled to the top with water and broke. In contrast I've used a budget set of fox mr+ alarms for a while now. Only just upgraded them. They were solid little alarms. Waterproof, volume adjust. Couldn't adjust tone but who cares. The big kicker for the more expensive alarms is the sensitivity adjustment. Don't care who makes them, what noise they make etc, if you can adjust the sensitivity of your alarm to your fishing situation you will convert more pick ups into bent rods. Pretty much as simple as that if you ask me.

The basic fox ones are the only ones of go for with that budget. The M+ alarms work well and are pretty reliable. I would agree that any £15 alarm is disposable.

Not sure if anyone else was backing it but I remember an episode of something rubbish that Matt Hayes was promoting it as the next big thing due to it vanishing in water due to the colour. I don't know why people fall for it. A line that is coloured red or purple, when put into water the colour isn't visible, meaning the COLOUR vanishes, making it look exactly the same as a clear line. Didn't Nash do a rather popular bait that was raved about for years in a nice purple colour, just saying.

I used to fish with a guy who for a while had a two rod set up, with, wait for it.... DIFFERENT REELS! How he ever got a run with kit like that is beyond me!

I couldn't give two hoots what anyone else thinks. It's purely my own OCD that means my rods have to be level, handles level same height etc. Becomes a real pain when spots require slightly different set ups, and the clip on one rod is forward or back from the others. God forbid I should want flourocarbon on one rod and mono on another! *shudders

You'd be quite happy with a flouro marker braid as a main line then? Of Course colour matters to a point. It's just all this light refracting red/purple line that "vanishes" in water that I'm saying it a gimmick. Still, if the colour isn't visible under water it'll just look like any other line, so won't be any worse or better.

Well I can tell you for a fact that this is not true. Although this lake is the definition of gin clear, so maybe a more coloured lake?? That being said, I'm not of the opinion that any line is invisible under water. Some are harder to spot than others, but no matter the colour, they are still visible. Maybe it doesn't look purple under water, but that doesn't make it invisible. Best way in my opinion to hide line is to break up the outline with different colours, and get it as flat to the deck as possible. If your line is off the bottom, they will see it. Simple as that.

Saw this in use today. It was probably more due to the tight lines than the colour, but in a clear lake I could see the whole length of line under water like a beacon. Compared to a good flourocarbon, I would say it doesn't work. Although I can't see it under water as a fish would.

Beat me!

Ooh me me me!! Tubing is just that. A length of tubing that the main line runs through. Can be a pain to thread in long lengths. At the end of the tubing is tied the lead arrangement and hooklink. A leader is a length of material, various available, which the main line is tied directly to. The lead arrangement is usually part of the leader, or fixed to it, with the hooklink attached to the end. The issue many have with leaders is that in the event of a snap off, the line will usually break at the knot. If using tubing the fish is only left with the hooklink when used correctly. With a leader the fish is left with the leader and hooklink, and depending on the lead setup, the lead too. The tubing option is undoubtably safer in most setups and situations. Arguably it makes no difference/can be safer with a leader when fishing a rotary rig, but I won't bore you with that!

Cheers all. Spot on. There are also a lot of swans on this lake and it's not deep, so pre baiting/naturally clearing a spot on anything other than a cheap bulkier will work out an expensive way to feed the birds! I will give it a shot and report back!

Yeah for sure! Added a handful to my dog's normal raw food diet out of curiosity. They ate it, doesn't mean it's any good mind!

Sounds like it could be useful for what I want it for then! Got a lake that's fully weeded up. Looking to heavily bait an area with something cheap so the bream/tench etc make a start off the weed. Hopefully a carp or two will show up in the process. I'll start baiting it for them once it's a bit clearer.

Heard a bit about this as a carp bait. What's it all about then? Got a bag of it as its so cheap, and the dogs like it. What makes it good as a carp bait? Guess it needs a soak. Is it pretty much used just as a carpet feed/spod mix additive?