Tim Kelly

You guys need to get a proper gun. Barrels sitting nicely next to each other and two triggers. ?

More like "Bloke's a proper scuppernong" Sounds pretty bad to me. ?

4" Reins bubbling shaker on a dropshot in scuppernog. Rubbish. Not my confidence bait at all.

I used to be on the committee of a couple of different national fishing clubs and we were often sent bits of gear to review for inclusion in the club magazines. What a pain in the backside! When I get to go fishing, I want to fish. I don't want to be messing about with some bit of tackle I wouldn't have chosen and then having to decide whether it is fit for purpose and better or worse than what's currently available, then do a write up on it. When I was on the second club's committee I made a point of saying I wouldn't do any reviews and left it to those who thought it would be cool to try out new gear. Hats off to the guys that do tackle reviews and testing. It massively compromises your fishing time, so I hope you're being compensated for it!

The half hitches function is to stop the weaves coming undone. In theory you could use one, but in practise one half hitch is going to work loose going through rod guides etc. I do one half hitch, then pull hard to set the weaves, then a couple more half hitches, cut the leader off flush then two hitches to smooth the transition to the know and a risotto finish to keep it all locked up and stop it unravelling. The important things for keeping the knot strong and long lasting are the pull after the first hitch and the risotto finish to stop ot unravelling. I use the other hitches to smooth the transition over the end of the leader as it that sticks up at all and bumps the guides it can disrupt the knot and start unravelling it.

Other than the initial drop, I imagine you need to really stroke it to get the rig to fish differently than an uppegged texas rig. I don't think there would be much separation otherwise.

The Egyptians pre-date the bible, so it goes way back! They also coined "change is the only constant" with a dog headed man and a couple of sheaves of wheat.

I think it's be translated from Egyptian hieroglyphs too. ?

Got you, thanks. That makes sense.

There seems to be a lot of stuff going around about the "free rig" at the moment. I can't see how it's any different from an un-pegged texas rig. What am I not understanding about how it fishes?

I really enjoy Randy's you tube films. He seems like a really nice bloke who's trying his best, but also seems to recognise that the world he used to compete in is getting further behind him. I hope he and his style of fishing can remain relevant, but wonder whether that can be the case. The backreeling thing and the braid to fluoro thing amuse me. Whatever works for you I suppose, but it seems odd to proclaim that you have the correct answer, because you have been doing it for 30 years, yet get all defensive when people call him out. American bass anglers, even the pros, seem to be afraid of spinning gear. Here in Europe it is much more commonly used than casting gear. People play fish efficiently on it with no anxiety. Watching pro bass angler ***** footing around with super slack drags, making 7 or 8 individual movements just to open a bail and make a cast, and not being able to control the flight of the lure just seem to demonstrate a lack of understanding and mastery of spinning tackle. I enjoy baitcasting gear as much as anyone, skipping and pitching are definite skills to master, but using spinning tackle takes a similar level of practise and understanding to use well, it's just that it's obvious when you can't use casting gear, but you can get by with spinning gear.

No. the gearbox was on one side and there was a drive rod that went from one side to the other, the black bar below the red one in the picture, and the handle could be attached to either end of the drive rod.

Had a flipping switch too. Might well have been early 90s. I'm getting old.

Ryobi T1 and T2. I had a T2, late 90s I would guess.

Captain Hooks. Not sure if they're unreliable. The first lot of black nickles were great, but the subsequent ones, which were bronze, were not. I've had the Matzuos before. they don't make a single hook that's worth wasting time on. Utter rubbish.

I've used the Eagle Claw ones for years but they're very variable. Lots of them are either mishappen or very blunt or poorly tempered. The first batch I bought were excellent, but subsequent batches have been poor, hence the search for a better brand. A size 2 is my go to for my Ned heads. Fish don't fall off the hooks.

Thanks guys. I've since found that mustad have a similar hook, so I've got a few of those ordered to see what they're like. If OK they should save me a few bucks over the gamis

Good man. Life's better when there's something in the diary to look forward to.

Does anyone know of a stockist of these hooks? Google is failing me! https://www.gamakatsu.com/product/jig-90-big-river/#product-variations

My hands sometimes cramp with spinning outfits with too small a grip. I put American tackle Aero seats on all my spinning rods. I like the build of that rod in your picture. Palm swell bit and the right sort of lure keeper in the right position. What rod is that?

Just tie the thing properly in the first place. No need for lighters or glue. No partners screaming at you for breaking off the fish you needed either. Just practise it, it's not difficult, but it's by far the most reliable knot once you learn to tie it. Takes 3 or 4 minute to tie on the water on the rare occasions you need to. Not worth getting excited about, just an upgrade like all the other evolutions we make to our game all the time.

If you watch any of those videos on you tube with guys casting for pike or musky with a waterwolf camera clipped on above the lure, to film the fish hitting the lure, you will notice the noise the braid makes going through the guides transmitted down the taught line like a tin can and string telephone! It doesn't matter most of the time I suppose, but I bet it matters sometimes. It's a really loud noise and I bet it matters when punching sometimes too. I remember fishing vertically, damiki style, with a friend a few years ago for zander (walleye). We were fishing in 90ft water and our baits were no more than 8ft apart. I had a fluoro leader and he had a fine wire leader on the end of his fluoro. I was getting 5x as many bites as him. He switched to exactly the same bait as me, made no difference. Finally he took the wire off and immediately got the same number of bites as me. It's not often you get a chance to prove something as clearly as that in fishing, but on that day it made a big difference. It has always made me very cautious of doing things that could put fish off since. Moving lures on 4 strand braid being one of them.

I've had this situation with some combinations of line and leader. Slicker braids and harder leader material of the wrong diameters can make it difficult. Usually making more turns in the weave does enough. If you do 20 wraps normally 26 or 30 will probably do it. If it still won't, try a different brand of leader material. They all have different properties. I'd also say, after you do the weaves do one half hitch then do the pull to set the knot. Once that's done make a couple more hitches, cut the leader, a couple more half hitches then a 3 turn renzetti finish and the knot will be secure for ever.

Try it and see.

Looks like you had a superb trip. Still using up some of those multi piece rods I see. A couple more trips should do it. How many sleeps and a wake up is it now?