greekskii

A few of the older anglers I know bang on about the original amorphous rods being a holy grail and that they’d still happily use them if they hadn’t got rid at some point. Something to do with the carbon fibres facing backwards so the material locked up giving it much more strength for the diameter of blank. Not too sure but I can’t understand why if it was so good it’s not readily available still. Or is it down to price?

Thought I would kick this one off as I mentioned in another thread, just a all out discussion on rods (not spod or markers). What you use, favourite rods past or present, rods you are thinking of purchasing, materials, Test curves, whatever! So I have been using Sonik SK3 2.75lb rods for the last 6/7 years now. Personally very impressed with them for a budget rod. I have landed a lot of fish on them from some brutal conditions. Heavy snags, heavy weed, you name it. Personally I prefer the softer test curve, although it must be lower than 2.75lb by now! It's stood up to serious weed and stopped good fish getting in to snags, the only limitation is casting but that may be down to my technique mainly. I have not had a need to fish at any sort of range so have not been worried by this. I'm now saving for a new set of rods, and it seems like there is much more choice out there! but nothing entirely suits my needs and tastes. I love full shrink handles and I am reluctantly stepping up to 3lb test curves so require a good playing rod still, I believe its part of the enjoyment of fishing is the fight, no point reeling in a 20 like its a wet towel! Sadly after lots of research it seems my price range has nothing to satisfy my requirements fully. The Freespirit CTX rods come highly recommended by numerous friends but the lowest TC is 3.25lb. I am assured the action really does make up for this and I have seen them in action and was impressed when I cast them. I've also been assured shrink wrapping the handles yourself is extremely easy, they are either cork or abbreviated off the self. The ideal new rods would be the Sonik Gravity X as I've held and cast them and they are superb, reviews are excellent....sadly a bit out of my price range.

Do you cut it off? Min my youth I tried to melt it off with a blowtorch. Silly idea!

Dougie is great mate. He will do what he can to help you out. Other tackle shops about are angling addiction in earls Barton, Tony is a nice bloke. Or carp superstore in Kettering just off the a14.

Personally I use multi rigs for most of my fishing and have done for a number of years now, apart from I've now got two rods set up on multi chods. I use atomic chodda hooks in 4 or 5 with a similar set up to those above (my version https://carpychrons.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/in-depth-rigs-update/ ) I did at one point, through the summer months last year get a lot of hook pulls, which suddenly stopped at the end of August for some reason. I didn't change anything as I was still landing fish and I knew that it wasn't solely down to the rig, I had been hooking small tench and bream in the bottom lip on my previous venue so the rig was fine. I put it down to exactly what BC says above, the fish are not feeding hard and just grazing, funnily enough looking back the lost fish were daytime bites and the landed were mainly during the night, likely when they are feeding harder as it's cooled off. The one thing to really play with which will affect hook holds though, and is probably overlooked by many, is the amount of weight used (in my case putty), I've found even the slightest difference can make the hook act differently upon takes. The difference between a pop-up heavily weighted and a critically balanced one is vast. I found the heavily weighted got better hook holds, but when it comes to rigs re-setting it is nowhere near as good so you end up with potentially dodgy hook holds due to the rig being a mess on the bottom.

First night on the marina. I found a fish within 30 seconds of parking up. Sadly I had no floater fear with me. But my two spots have been fizzing whilst I’ve been sunbathing this afternoon. Rods are now out and the fizzing continues. 100% getting breamed out tonight!

no worries mate. I should be moving in to my house at the end of the month so will give making one a bash at some point!

Havent fox just released these in black? https://www.foxint.com/home/product/black-label-mini-swinger?c=new-products

I think Croatia or Russia will be a very difficult semi final if we get past Sweden. Not to take away from the England lads but whatever tactics Columbia tried in the first 75mins were ludicrous. If they’d played like they did for the last 15mins of normal time and first 15 of extra time then they could have had the game done and dusted. Very strange management.

They are the candles I use. Cheap from eBay or the pound shop.

I use citronella tealights, but they make my nose run like a tap. Best spray is jungle formula extreme, not too badly prices on ebay. Works for me in the most part. but they do just find the little bit you've missed (i.e your face) I take disposable gloves with me to make sure I spread it on my face without the possibility of tainting end tackle. I also do the same for suntan lotion, but then maybe they'd like a bit of Hawaiian tropic!

Park lake bird life might as well pull a knife out and demand food they way they are! Like you said, it's bird to bird. Sometimes they dont even go for bait 2ft deep!

I'd disagree. They will use their legs to kick up the bait. I once had a family of 5 on me even through darkness trying to get at my bait in about 6ft of water. They really wanted it. I ended up reeling in and getting a good nights sleep. If they want it then they will try for it no matter what. If you think about it an adult swan is around 4.5-5ft in length on average. Upturned the neck is easily 2.5-3ft of that. They may not pick up your bait but they will keep disturbing your baited areas and spooking the fish off.

Too true. But then Sweden are always difficult for England too...no Ibra but still could cause problems! That's if they beat Switzerland!

any updates on this BC? I've hijacked your idea as a solution for a problem at work but on a grand scale. Drain pipe with chain running through it as a floating boom!

Did you send it back with any success?? Need some 18lb for my upcoming fishing and don’t want to waste my money. Be a shame if something has changed in production which has ruined a good line!

Gardner HD in 15lb has done me proud for a few years now. Sinks really well, very abrasion resistant and a nice low viz green colour. I've had plenty of fish on it in snaggy swims and it's always stood up to the job.

Too right. Beating panama 6-1 was a poor result IMO. Even Rio Ferdinand said that the Panama team would struggle in English non-league! Belgium seemingly won’t have a full squad out so the real test for England will be in the next round. Playing for survival. Could be the year though, I’ve got Croatia, Portugal or England as winners with the bookies.

Yes. Putty on the swivel. Otherwise the mono will be lifted by the pop up.

Have you tried the new fox edges drop off heli kit? Great bit of kit.

Lost my first American carp today. Hooked on a worm, all of 1lb or so. On super light tackle it took me round the scaffolding of the jetty we were fishing from. Hook ended up bent out. Fair to say I was gutted! but I did catch a bluegill so I didn’t blank! New species for me too.

I recently took it off and went back to the Fox submerge leadfree leader for my fishing on the reserve due to so many snags. I watched a near 30 suss my set up out whilst stalking on there. I think I’ll be going back to the avid stuff after witnessing how this fish took a good hour circling my spot before doing the off.

Saw the senas one on Facebook. Seemingly it is a fake. Someone pointing out how badly match anglers handle fish. Pic might be fake but the problem is still there.

It’s the avid outline that I’ve used for almost a year now and rate it highly. Seen me through dense lily pads and snags and sinks like a brick. Invisible too.

probably @yonny but from what I've seen it is a good line and highly rated by the lads that use it. I'll give it a go, HD has been a very good line for me, but I've heard some stories of if going downhill. I got the first release, it wasnt available for a while and the newer stuff seems to kink easily and not sink as well. I clipped on a spin doctor to sort out some twist I had a few weeks ago, the line came back more twisted than it was originally!! Not quite sure how, it's a simple thing to do, start short, go longer. Led the lead stop spinning after each cast.