Tim Kelly

I don't know if any of you watched the recent Facts of Fishing where Mercer was fishing a Neko rig, but the part that really stood out to me was how ridiculously visible his fluorocarbon leader was in the underwater shots. Definitely gives pause for thought about why we use fluorocarbon. Be interested to see the same shots with a mono leader, can't believe it would have been much more visible!

With the greatest respect, that's not really completely accurate. The blank will probably be the same as an OTS blank, the guides may well be the same, though hopefully more thoughtfully placed on a custom. The reel seat, handle design and whipping thread will be to the customers choice. The end result will be better, if the customer knows why he wants what he wants, but with top end blanks, the factory versions already use top of the line components, so the differences are really down to the customer wanting it built differently to the factory version. Mid priced blanks can be made to fish significantly better than factory as you can get better, lighter guides which make the blank perform better than the factory build, but top end, not so much.

A custom rod only allows you to choose the components and have them fitted the way you prefer. The blanks are generally the same as you can get with a factory rod, so unless you've got the experience to know why you might be fussy about some aspect of a rod build, there isn't much point in thinking of getting a custom built one. If you fancy having a go at building one, then fine, but don't expect the rod to be significantly different to the factory version, though it will probably cost you more.

Get an Ultrex.

UK, Holland, France, Canada and USA last year. Canada and the US were the only places I caught anything worth remembering though!

They're the ones you catch.

One of the guys at the pheasant shoot has many skills, he makes fantastic walking sticks, did a beautiful pastel picture of my previous spaniel, which I absolutely treasure, and on Saturday at the shoot he presented me with this. It's his first attempt at acrylics and I couldn't be more chuffed.

Use a microwave. It's not rocket science.

According to you tube, a certain Orange reel with no ball bearings should be your only consideration if distance is your primary concern. Pretty sure I don't believe it, but that's what they say. It might only last a week, but it will be a hell of a week!

We have crucian carp here in the UK and they're quite distinctive. The record is 5lb or so. In recent times fish have been submitted as new records, but been found to be crucian/brown goldfish hybrids and there are now only a very few lakes where potential record fish are considered for scrutiny as it is thought that pure crucian carp no longer exist in the other lakes and rivers. Your fish doesn't look like our crucian carp to me. It looks more like a carp goldfish hybrid.

I have some 50 and some 20 on reels and it's been perfectly fine. It's basically a thinner version of standard power pro. I really don't see why it costs what it does, but it's a good braid other than the price, if you want a 4 strand for good 4 strand reasons (durability, stiffness and weed cutting at the expense of softness and quietness through the guides).

I firmly believe that you can make a blank fish like a factory build the next grade up, just by building it better. Smaller lighter guides, correctly spaced will make a blank come alive, where typical factory oversized guides, especially on spinning rods, can suffocate even a great blank.

Absolutely. There's usually no way you can build a rod for the same price as you can buy it. The price an individual pays for the components is way higher than manufacturers get them for, plus the blanks are obviously more expensive retail than the manufacturing cost is to the maker. I like St Croix rods but to build an SCV blank with torzites and a handle i like (hate the factory handles) is definitely more expensive than just buying one off the shelf, and that's with my labour for nothing. To save money you would need to scrimp hugely on the components and probably end up with something less satisfactory than the factory build.

Very good point. Another great channel with some very entertaining content. He seems to be producing less films though recently.

I enjoy smallmouthcrush and "fish the moment" currently. All three manage to have good content without the massive sell out that most of the other channels have become. Brian Latimer's channel is enjoyable too, he seems like a nice guy, as does Joe holland.

You're correct TDZ, my mistake.

The new steez does have Twing and is apparently more comfortable and palmable than the old TDX reels which everyone holds up as the gold standard form!

Thanks, yes I know the knot. I'm glad it's worked well for you. I found the wire cut the braid whe I used that system, so I use a mono or fluoro leader attached to the braid with an FG knot and then Alberto knot the wire to the mono/fluoro, which I found to be a better connection. I was probably using finer wire and braid though when I was doing it and never tried with 50lb test braid or wire.

Three

I'm intrigued that you go direct from braid to wire. I used to try doing that and found that the wire cut the braid, so I now FG a leader to the braid and alberto the wire to the leader. It's a bit more complicated, but seems much more reliable. What lb test wire and braid are you using?

I expect putting a brush pile in the water would be a more traditional way to attract bass.

Great project. Look forward to seeing your progress. What a good Christmas pressie to get yourself!

If you use a spinnerbait mould you can form a loop in the wire to attach the chatterbait blade easily. Works well and my chatterbaits made that way hunt as well as any I've seen.

Can anyone explain why it might be better to use a drop shot rig for suspended fish, rather than a jig head in the bait? It seems to be really common when you see people video game fishing suspended fish to use a DS rig, but, like at Cherokee last spring when the "Damiki rig" suddenly seemed to do better, a jig head in the plastic seems like a better idea to me. When I try fishing a DS in mid water, for perch rather than bass, the weight gets bit as much as the plastic, hence my question.

Travis Manson, smallmouth crush on You tube tows his 20ft Legend glass boat with a grand cherokee. I don't know what the Altitude edition is, but if you're buying new or nearly new, why not get one that does have the tow package? It's obviously a reasonably capable vehicle with it. Seems a shame to have to restrict your boat choice because you bought a version of a vehicle that isn't really adequate.