Tim Kelly

Don't let them jump! If you feel them coming up in the water bury your rod tip under the water and keep reeling. Definitely helps keep them down and often stops them jumping all together.

Sounds as if the spool isn't sitting properly on the shaft. Unscrew the drag knob and take the spool off. Have a look at the locating pin on the shaft to make sure it isn't damaged and have a quick look at the stack of drag washers in the spool. If you can see where the pin on the shaft locates on the spool check the spool isn't damaged there. If all appears OK re-assemble and test. I'm guessing the spool hasn't been put on the reel correctly or there is some damage.

Any bottom contact, slow moving, soft plastic bait will be less attractive to pike than a crank or spinnerbait.

I don't think it makes a lot of difference with moving baits. Probably not good on slow moving bottom baits, but they're not good pike presentations usually anyway.

Not really. Musky guys fish far heavier tackle and they use spook type baits. As long as you don't have massive swivels and a heavy bent up trace you'll be fine.

I think it takes more skill to be good with a spinning reel than it does with a baitcaster. Both will do the job well, but line management is much more of an issue with spinning gear. Distance and accuracy can be great with spinning gear if you learn to feather the line with your finger against the spool when you cast, but it's much more difficult than just jamming your thumb on the spool to stop the cast with a baitcaster! Baitcasters are much more efficient though as you can bring the lure out of the water and go straight into the cast (assuming you use the reel the right way round and aren't one of those who insists on swapping hands LOL). Spinning reels involve grabbing the line, opening the bail, closing the bail etc every time. Baitcasters also go in and out of a rod box easier with less tangles, which may or may not be an issue for you.

If you're trying to use it on spinning gear you'll struggle to use any type of fluoro in 10lb. Try some 6lb and it will be much easier. On baitcasting gear you just have to adapt your technique a bit to accommodate it's properties.

Have fun, and get one like this, on a fly rod sometime. Great fun.

Those jaw spreaders are really bad for the fish. Much better to put your hand under the gill flap, behind the rakers, and hold the pike like that. It's jaws will open automatically and you can dive in with the long nosed pliers to get your lure back. Hook cutters are handy too so that if the hooks are awkwardly placed you can snip the hooks to get the lure back, then remove the cut pieces. If you're going to be eating the fish, none of this applies!

I do a lot of pike fishing in England and don't really trust fluorocarbon leaders. You can land a lot of fish on them, but one will bite you off sooner or later for no obvious reason. There are plenty of types of wire that work well. single strand wire leaders are cheap and easy to make up, but don't last many fish before being too bent up. my favorite is American Fishing Wire 1x19 strand camo coloured plastic coated leader. You need to put a swivel at one end and a snap at the other. I tend to tie it with a 2 or 3 turn clinch knot, which you pull the tag end to tighten the knot (or else it goes curly). Something around 30-40lb breaking strength would be about right. Staylok snaps are the best too. 150- 200lb size are easy to use and super reliable. http://www.afwhiseas.com/product-p/dm19-35-a.htm

Tommy Biffle makes me laugh the most. He's like a bear that's just come out of hibernation. All the guys on the BFL come across really well, though I can't warm to Dean Rojas for some reason and Ish looks like he's trying too hard as he mentions his sponsors every other word.

Wow! That fibreglass doesn't even look like it has much resin in it. Manufacturing fault I'd guess.

Just put the ring on the skinny end and pull the senko through. Works perfectly well, but the tool is nice for keeping you o rings on, saves fumbling around for them in the bottom of a plano!

Good for you. I've taken a couple of American guys out when they've been over here with work and I've been lucky enough to fish with them back in the US as well as fishing with JFrancho and Jim Sr and Jr on Onieda. The internet can be a fantastic thing for putting people in touch around the world and can lead to good friendships. If you ever get the chance to go over to Italy I'm sure you will find plenty of offers to fish.

I tried invisx but found it too stretchy and virtually no different to using mono. Never had the urge to try Tatsu, due to the cost, but everyone says it's amazing. If I could use it in 8lb with the manageability of the 6lb I'm using I might be tempted?

A poor choice compared to you, but ebay is the answer (plus the government gets to rape us with import tax) so I use pretty much the same lines as you. I'm currently using Berkeley 100% XL in 6lb, which I like. P-line halo is another favorite. Both cast considerably less well than a standard 6lb mono in my experience.

I haven't found it makes much difference on casting gear, but with spinning gear fluoro definitely seems harder to cast. 6lb mono is much easier casting than 6lb FC on my dropshot rod, but the advantages of FC make it worth the fight.

I got a happy package in the post yesterday all the way from Japan. Contained an SS SV 103 SHL (and a huge import tax bill ) now just waiting for some line to arrive and might get to give it a test drive over the weekend,.

I use white and lighter coloured tubes a lot for imitating baitfish. Tend to fish them with fairly aggressive hops and not necessarily near or on the bottom.

Up in Canada last year we had great success in lily pads using a weightless senko texas rigged. Cast into the pads and jiggle it until it falls down between them, then drag it out and jiggle it to the next one. Didn't get caught in the pads much and the bass loved it. The pads up there are only in a couple of feet of water, so it was easy and quick to fish a whole cast.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bass-Tracker-Fishing-Boat-Pro-Team-190-TX-with-Mercury-25-Hp-4-stroke-and-Traile-/251543981178?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3a91308c7a&item=251543981178&pt=Fishing_Boats This ones a 2010 but it's only got a 25hp on it and priced at 13K, so if the one you've seen is in good condition it sound like a good price.

If you've been looking around for a while you'll have a feel for what comes up at what prices. If this one feels right to you, at a price you can afford then buy it. With secondhand boats there are so many variables you just have to go with your gut. If the boat seems well maintained, low hours on the motor etc, it will probably be priced higher than the same boat that is tired looking, so it's up to you whether the price reflects this enough for you to buy it. If you haven't been looking at secondhand boat adverts then you are buying blind and whether it's fairly priced or not is a lottery.

Most likely the water pump. It's a diy fix if you're a bit handy, but does involve dropping the lower unit.

You're probably right. Those Recon boats look good, the front deck looks like it's reasonably high, so there's not a massive lip round the deck making bass fishing more difficult.

If you were getting snagged a lot you need to examine your hook point very carefully as the very tip often gets bent over. I lost a couple of fish the other day and on close examination the point was bent. New hook and I was back to 99% success rate!