Tim Kelly

AJ would get his head bumped when the tailgate closed. Another video opportunity. ?

I wouldn't cut blanks intentionally, most rods that have become unintentionally abbreviated have fished worse than when they were complete. Easy way to test how a blank would feel if you shortened the butt is to hold the rod in different places up the blank while you're flexing it. The effect of how it will feel will be the same. Moving the effective reel position up the blank and how it feels will tell you what will happen if you put the reel seat there and trim the butt off to the required length behind it.

I have a 4000 size. Very pleased with it. At first I had a little buyers remorse as I didn't immediately see what all the extra money went on, but with time, the smoothness of the retrieve is very good, but the buttery smoothness of the drag has really impressed me. I've caught a good number of fish on it now and it's the drag that really stands out. Definitely not a Randy Blaukat reel! A 34" Zander in heavy winter flood current was the biggest test I've had yet and it was just amazing hearing the drag ticking away. Never had a problem with my other Daiwa or Shimano drags, but the delicious smoothness of the Certate just feels special and at another level.

I would try to isolate it. Run the line round the bail roller and move it backwards and forwards under different tensions, no noise, try winding the line under tension with different drag settings. Try swapping the reel handle to the other side ETC. Anything you can do to make one controlled change at a time to try to isolate the issue. Stickers would be too easy!

Check for stickers on the rotor. I have a Fuego that drove me crackers with clicking that made no sense. Eventually realised it was the sticker which had come loose and was rubbing on the spool.

There's a big bass tournament and a BFL this weekend, so you'll have plenty of company. At least it means the lake will be very quiet for the late afternoon and evening. My spies tell me that docks can be good if it's sunny and clear water, cranks and jigs in lower visibility. Good luck and enjoy your weekend.

I suspect the Vexus glass bass boat needs a bit of water under it. It looks like it would be good in rough water, but not up shallow to me.

If the bearing is beyond just lubricating it will need to be replaced.

Ball bearing in the line roller is probably shot.

Is it a DI transducer or a 2d one? Might need to be a DI transducer to plug in directly?

Yeah, that's them. Turns out I'm an idiot. Again. Still, good news for me!

Hope the Matzuo is the accounts guy and the Mustad guy is production!

Just found some on ebay. Maybe I hadn't searched properly. Couldn't find anything earlier. Odd, but good!

Have SK stopped making the medium running flat side? I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere. Really liked it for fishing this time of year and just lost my last one to an immovable snag that the hound dog couldn't extract it from. ?

I've had a spool of the 0.8pe 131 on a reel for a year now and have nothing bad to say about it, except that I don't think it's significantly better than a good 8 strand.

Talking of rats, our Patterdale had been sniffing round the compost heap a fair bit recently, so we made sure she was on duty when we turned the heap. Talk about keen! I was gradually digging out the bottom of the heap and she kept diving in. Eventually she dived in and came out shaking ratty. Ratty didn't last very long at all, and the terrier was extremely happy. Turning the compost heap has never been so much fun!

Your boat wasn't Ranger fast though John. ?

I bet it was to help with the weight of 4 stroke motors if people are using a jack plate, moves some buoyancy further back.

Glad to hear that. I wondered whether something had happened that made him drop out of the event.

Radius of 60ft would be 120ft diameter. It's going to be 60ft away from you if you set the rings to 60ft.

Pretty sure the beam is 4ft, and the side are pretty much straight down, not tapered like a traditional Jon boat, so I think a 48" bottom isn't too far out.

It's always surprised me that 1248 jon boats aren't common. I think my boat is around that dimension, though with higher sides, and is perfectly stable as long as you're averagely mobile and agile. I fish me (53) and my mate who's in his 30s plus a spaniel and a terrier and stability really isn't an issue.

You'll be fine if you're reasonably agile and not too heavy. I fish 2 out of my boat all the time, with 2 dogs, and we do fine. Not a rough water boat but for a sheltered river it's great.

You're lucky. We get charged tax (20%) and duty(8%) plus a handling fee (£12) for anything over £18 ($25ish) And get done on pretty much everything. Very rare to get something sneak through without attracting the full hit. For some reason things from China (Ali Express) rarely get taxed, but then it's quite difficult to spend £20 on lures from Ali as they're so cheap! LOL

I just built a light power spinning rod (NFCMB662-1 HM) with a 9" G2 carbon handle. I like it to hold and fish with, especially with the carbon Aero reel seat I fitted, but an surprised how heavy it turned out. Too heavy really for the light blank. It would be fine for a medium power rod I expect, but lighter builds really need something more minimal, I have discovered!