Tim Kelly

Duo rozante in the deep version is pretty good too.

I finally gave up on my lee pot and put a screw in the pouring hole and took the bar out. Now it is just a melting pot and by using a spoon or ladle to fill the molds they fill much quicker and more reliably. The pouring hole on the lee pot was always needing poking and fiddling with the get a decent flow, and just wasn't worth the bother.

Spectacular news. So pleased for you both.

Fabulous news

I did it years ago on Oneida. Was in a little tin hire boat with a 9.9 and no trolling motor. Drifting over some deep weeds I drifted far too close to another boat who got up and left. Felt a bit guilty about it ever since.

Just miserable news Andy. Send much love from this side of the pond.

This is my absolute favorite. Really easy to rig and the elastec stays put incredibly well. Wish they did a 1/16 size, but I use the 1/8 for just about everything. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Jewel_Baits_Weedless_Ned_Head_5pk/descpage-JWNH.html

Where I fish, on the River Thames in London, it's not exactly possible to be discrete about where you're fishing, so I've given up worrying about it. The fishing gets more difficult with people fishing the area, but I can't control it, so I just enjoy doing what I do. Population density in London is fourteen and a half thousand per square mile. ?‍♂️ I think I need to move to Michigan.

Always enjoy your films, thank you for making them. Maybe come out of retirement for your next Mexico trip?

Undo the non roller side of the bail and see where the bail springs to naturally. Tweak the wire until it naturally sits in about the right spot, put the screw back in and you should be good to go.

Certate. ?

Your picture isn't an FG, as mentioned above it's an alberto style knot, tied incorrectly with the leader being wrapped round the braid. An FG will work fine on any reasonably balanced combination of braid and leader. I go as light as 0.4pe to 3lb fluoro without issues.

Great job John. Life eh?

Probably totally different to your situation, but I've had chronic shoulder pain for about 20 years, saw umpteen physiotherapists who all said they'd have me sorted in a fortnight, but didn't. Went and had MRI and the shoulder looked like a relief map of the Himalayas, surgeon said a new shoulder was the only option, but it would only last 10 or so years if I treated it gently. I'm, a plumber, so not an option. About 6 months ago I worked out how to improve my posture. Years of pilates had failed to get me to understand how to improve it, but I finally worked out how to activate my back muscles to do what they're supposed to do. I have very little pain now and improved movement. Fingers crossed I can keep this option working as it's been so liberating! Personally I'd avoid surgery as long as possible and look for other options. A surgeon is always going to recommend surgery, a physiotherapist physiotherapy etc, so just because they offer you a solution it isn't always the only option. Once surgery has happened it is irreversible.

I've done well with it in the perch over here. The OSP Rudra 11 and the little megabass x80 and pointer 65 are others that have shone in the downsize jerkbait catagory. The Rapala BX minnow 7cm is a floater, but has been very successful shallow.

Here's a very small version of our roach I caught on Boxing day. We were catching various small silver species, micro fishing with size 22 hooks, a size 6 shot and a 10mm soft plastic.

What do you call those fish? They look exactly the same as the roach we have here in the UK.

The dawn bite was brief but fun. A couple of ounces short of 14lb

I'd prefer 5 fish, with the scoretracker, but most of all, stop zeroing the weights! I hate the lack of credit the anglers get for how they qualified, it's just get to the final, then it's a one day shoot out. Doesn't sit well with me.

Ealing, so just down the road from Chiswick.

Ha ha, Thanks John, great excuse to show off! I've had one perch over 5lb at 5lb 4oz, that's a big perch for the UK, I guess like a 7lb smallmouth. They get caught, but are pretty rare. A 4 pounder is a much more common fish, like a 5lb smallmouth here. In Holland there are some proper beasts. I know people who've had big sixes and one 7lb perch, which is mind blowing. They're almost always caught in the spring when full of eggs to achieve the great weights. There's a place in Spain that does some huge ones too, google "perchzilla" I think it's been fished to death now, but for a few years it was producing some ridiculous perch. Because it's a great excuse I've attached a terrible picture of my biggun. Been a while since I looked at it and it's hard to tell just how huge it is from the pic! Funnily enough, my biggest smallmouth was the same weight, so I've got some work to do on both species!

By the way, we had a pretty solid largemouth pattern fishing spinnerbaits, chatterbaits or swimbaits over shallow grass flats. Interestingly the size of the fish altered each day, depending on how difficult the fishing was. On the poorer days the grass flats fish were smaller, on the better days they were larger. No idea whether that's typical, but it was very stark. One of the poorer bass days the bass were small on the flats and the pike were absolutely demented! Most days we'd get a pike or two, but mostly manage to avoid them, but that one day we caught over 40 of the critters! ?

The weather was certainly very up and down with cold front after cold front. We had a good smallmouth day on the best day we were there, went through to the Upper Rideau and caught on jerkbaits and spybaits. The next day we went back but it was colder and darker, we had some on neds, but it was much slower fishing. I fish the Thames at home all the time, do you mean my Thames or is there a Thames in Canada? Camping fishing sounds super cool. I love how you guys have so mach opportunity to do stuff like that. Over here everything is privately owned and very restricted, so very little opportunity to do that kind of thing.

No, it's always a plane ride to fish for them. Spain, America and Canada so far. The nearest thing to bass we have in the UK are perch, which are very similar to yellow perch, but grow bigger. Funnily enough my pb perch and smallmouth are both the same weight at 5lb 4oz, but that perch is a much rarer fish than the smallmouth ? Maybe, if I get invited again, you can give me some hints on how to find the smallmouth there. Those things blow my mind. People talk about how easy they are to catch, but I am clearly missing a vital piece of the puzzle, as I really struggle to find them. ?

I was luck enough to be invited to Canada to fish with my friend Tim from his cottage on the Rideau chain. So very grateful to be invited over. Such an amazing place. After the void that was COVID it has been a spectacular summer. Spring with Tim at his place on Smith Mountain lake and September in Canada. So lucky to have such generous friends. The fishing was very different to how it is when we have been before in July and August. The fish were everywhere and nowhere. Big fish were thin on the ground, but the numbers were good. Spinner baits. Chatterbaits were the mainstay over grass flats, but on Saturday we went through to Upper Rideau and with the best weather of the week, sunshine and lighter winds, we caught smallmouth on jerkbaits, spybaits and Neds. After Saturday the fronts moved through again and the average fish size dropped, with occasional exceptions. One day, the pike were supercharged and while we only managed a dozen or so keeper bass, we caught about 40 pike. All horrible skinny tiny things compared to what I'm used to trying to avoid here in the UK. ? So grateful to Tim and Mary Johnson for their friendship.