Gazlaaar

I have to have my buzz bars level, the handles the same because it irritates the hell out of me. I have an engineering and wood working back ground, and when you've had years of getting everything plumb and true, little things like this bug me. Anyone else's gear is absolutely up to them but mine, no, it has to be right. Does it catch me anymore fish? No, of course it doesn't but I'm not sat there irritated looking at my rods. I have many failings, and this is one of them

Yep, gently let it hit the water on its side, then it shouldn't open

A company called matrix innovations make them I think their called cheeky monkeys. Some people still use them

That might of been Matt Hayes

The mini should be good enough mate, a little trick to bare in mind, and this is only because I'm a right old scrooge, if you make a bad cast, slow the cast down with your fingers and you can almost lay the spomb down onto the surface, this way it won't open and youll save on bait lol

I use a midi spomb on 3.25tc rods to get bait out a good distance, fully loaded with pellets it weighs 4 ounces,

I have an ESP one, it's not that great for range, the elastics feel a little soft, there better for particles up to medium range. I like drennan, better elastics, better cups, just better all round, plus you can get spares

I tried the fox midi version out for a while, I must admit the midi spomb is better.

Drennan do some great catapults for all applications

I've had ideas and then sometime later I've seen it somewhere. Bluetooth Alarms Nets the fold up and are also a weigh sling, just bits and pieces like that. I do remember having to make stuff to suit from various bits and pieces and wished they were available to buy. Isotopes on bivvy zips was one I did that cost a small fortune lol

Sorry Phil, never heard of them although they sound quite, I might watch a few more. I saw these at an Oz Fest years ago, along with Mushroom Head and Cradle Of Filth. I'll always remember standing at the back as cradle of filth came on, two lads were doing poppers at the back of the burger van lol Anyway, American Head Charge, excellent live performance when I saw them

I'd also say some kind of multi tipped barbel rod. I have an Avon rod with multiple tips, it's great for small fish and I've caught carp on the surface to 18lb on it

Just to bump this again, I'm still using this lead set up; especially as I'm casting a long way at the moment. I only own two rods, so they have to perform a multitude of uses, and this presentation provides everything I need.

This has to be listened to at number 11

Vitalin is a great bulker I used to mix mine with the mainline activator and water, make hundreds of golf size balls, leave them in the sun to dry a little and catapult the lot out. I also used to blend it up into a finer powder, it's particularly good for creating new feeding spots.

I've got the 50 Compact MK1 Great piece of kit mate, I honestly wouldn't want any other shelter. I only use the front in bad weather or if the mozzies are going out for lunch. I like the vents in the back in warm weather and I like the two infill panels you get, plus I think you can now buy an over wrap for them. But for the short sessions I do I won't bother. It goes up really quick and packs down really quickly.

Doesn't anyone realise this may well be down to how fish are feeding. A group of fish feed a lot more vigorously than maybe a singular to two fish. Bigger fish tend to either swim alone or with one maybe two other fish. If you watch how they feed they are a lot more cautious. What I'm trying to say, maybe this has nothing to do with the lead set up, maybe it's more to do with the hook end. Try a pop up, an instant grab rig rather than a balanced or bottom bait, it might just be the little tweak that changes everything. It's very rarely lead set ups that cause losses, it's more down to presentation, ie, bottom, balanced or pop up and hook sharpness.

Nige does have a special affinity for Tench though

Just Tench at the minute, to be honest I've written off the first few sessions to try and get myself absorbed, doing little tweas here little tweaks there. Today I finally feel like I'm fishing, got both rods into the out of bounds, difficult cast with the cross wind but I've managed them both

I'd never heard of them until you mentioned them here, I'll take a good look tomorrow when I'm back

Again It's another reason why I use this set up when ever I'm using leaders. I think I mentioned before, it depends which camp your from, either dump the lead or not, I choose not too. The bottom section is a 2 inch loop, the tube is shrunk over the knot forming the loop, then a bead is placed neatly over the tube. The tube has no chance of moving, only the bead. The swivel is an ESP big eye swivel so it will pass easily over any knots. This system also serves a couple of other purposes. I can take off the rig and lead, and attach a lead for leading around, a spomb or spod for getting a little bait in, plus a little break away lead for clearing little spots or seeing which kind of weed your fishing over. I only have two rods, it's all I can afford, so they have to cover a multitude of tasks.

Keeno I'd just like to point out, You'll never exert more than 5lbs of pressure through a rod, unless your pulling for a break. Try it yourself, get a pair of scales and put a full bend in your rod, I'd be very surprised if you got over 3.5lbs of pressure. I like stronger braids, because they are usually thicker in construction, some of the braids these days are so thin they are like cheese wire. Supple hooklinks, I'm still using dacron because it's thicker than most others, it's another reason I always like using kickers or shrink tube, not only does it give your hook the position you want but it keeps a potential cheese wire away from a fishy's mouth.

Phil I would mate but I'm very rusty at the moment, I do have the intention of coming off leaders as soon as I feel comfortable Half of the pit is out of bounds, some of the cast's I need are 130 to 140 yards, as I say I'm a little rusty, it's just a confidence thing, unless im using solid bags

I've just moved to a bigger lake where I feel it necessary to use a leader because I haven't done any distance casting for some years now and I'm a little rusty. Because of this, I've felt better using a 45 to 50lb leader straight through. I'm not a fan of using shockleaders then a leadcore or whatever leader at the end, I just think there's to many knots. However for solid pva bags I feel it's a necessary evil, especially when your trying to reach distances of 80 yards plus.