Tim Kelly

I've used power pro for years, had 832, lots of japanese braids and a couple of Polish ones too, but find more and more of my reels wearing spiderwire these days. The stealth is a very good braid. Well priced and robust. I do buy it on diameter though, rather than pound test as all berkley family braids over the years have had very peculiar pound test ratings. Firewire is hugely under rated, whiplash was colossally over rated, so I stick to buying by diameter and have no idea what the test rating on the package is for the lines I'm using at the moment.

My experience of the alberto and double uni knots has been poor, especially if you're casting them through the guides. An FG seems to last for ages, casts through the guides effortlessly and just never (maybe once) breaks. With practice you can tie it fairly quickly, nowhere near as fast as the more popular alberto and uni knots, but fairly fast, and you will almost never need to tie a leader knot again all day. If you start off with a longish leader, 20ft or so, you can keep retying your baits and not need to tie a new leader for a long time. I'm completely sold and a bit of an evangelist for the FG. I was never happy with any of the other options as they broke too often. If you watch you tube and MLF you will notice people breaking off their leaders fairly often. I'm really surprised professional anglers haven't adopted the fg as you just won't need to be re-tying your leader knot as it doesn't break, where they would argue it takes too long. Lost fish and constant retying seem a worse use of time than the 5 minutes it takes to do a single FG, but what do I know.

Would a zman finesse or trick worm fit? They're pretty indestructible as long as they don't share space with any other normal plastisol baits.

When I used to mess about with ABU 6500 reels, I went too far a couple of times and had a totally uncastable reel. I still have a couple of idler gears with bearings that some obscure company in Japan made sitting in their packages as they were just a step too far. Probably OK if you're tuning a 2500 for trout fishing, but not a 6500 for throwing huge jerkbaits for pike and musky!

Last Saturday was the first day of the season and I got the last part for the boat delivered on the Friday, so was ready to fish the first day, just. The boat fished as well, or better than I could have hoped and the first proper fish caught was one of my favorites, a zander. Very happy chap. Took the dogs out with me on Sunday, and they gave it the seal of approval too. They especially like their own platform for watching the action from.

OK. thanks for that. That wasn't the way I understood it, even from wading through the "seminar" you linked. Glad they have finally caught up with the other manufacturers and I wish I had understood this a couple of weeks ago as I would have bought the 7ti I was offered at a great price!

As I said above, to use sonar chart live, you need a permanent internet link to get it to function, so data can be transferred to Navionics while you're on the water. Humminbird and Garmin with just create a map in the unit without any other complications.

Don't fill the hull with water unless you've exhausted every other option. Puts a huge amount of strain on the trailer and the hull adding all that weight!. Firstly, check the drain plug. If it's the screw in type, put a little silicone grease round the O ring and tighten it up really snug. If that doesn't help, then pay close attention to the livewell hose connections and the through hull connections. Do a process of elimination of the fittings. The least likely place for a new boat to be leaking is through the construction of the hull.

Yes, both Humminbird and Garmin offer this, even on their lower and mid priced units. The Lowrance system needs a permanent internet link, via your phone, to create maps as you drive around.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I was researching a new sonar unit, and had a chance to buy a Lowrance Elite TI at a great price, but passed on it as Lowrance's map drawing capability is pathetic. Such an unnecessarily complicated system to achieve what Humminbird and Garmin can do live and immediately on the unit. They really need to improve that part of their game.

I have a my wedge on my little motor. It was too long, so I cut it down to fit.

Getting there. The season opens next Saturday and it looks like I will just about be ready! A couple of bits needed to finish off the electrics box and the plate to mount the rear seat needs to arrive, but otherwise, it's done! Still need to take the plunge and buy a decent sonar for the rear, but I've spent enough for now, Will manage without for the first few weeks.

I think there are 4 pairs of rollers on a swinging cradle at the back. which allows shallow launching and recovery, then another couple of fixed rollers further forward. With all the extra weight I've added to the hull I hope the rollers don't cause a problem, I'm half thinking of changing the rear rollers on the cradle for bunks, just to spread the load a bit.

Got the decks fitted today. Not long now. Quite pleased with it so far, despite the adversities of a lack of appropriate materials!

Sensitivity is a blend of a good blank and a good build. You can have a fantastic blank and ruin it's advantages with too heavy a guide train.

Reels with line on them are usually rejected by the TSA. Hooks, I wouldn't. Bags of soft plastics, no problem.

I have a rod built on the Avid 7'6"ML and really like it for tubes and drop shot. From experience with other avid to SCV comparisons I would guess the SCV version to be significantly crisper, and a little more powerful feeling.

The avid series are a significant step up from the premiers. The Mojo bass rods are built on the same, or very similar blanks to the avid, so there are options if you like the avid blanks. The Avid x use smaller guides, which make the rod feel better than the standard sized guides. If you compared a standard Avid spinning rod with an Avid X of the same spec, the difference in sensitivity would be obvious. The SCV (legend) blanks are a real step up from the Avids, but at a significant price increase. Personally, I think it's worth spending the extra on spinning rods, or rods you use for finesse applications as that's where the extra sensitivity has most benefit, For casting rods that are fishing moving baits or heavier baits I think it's less worthwhile. I'm not a fan of the Loomis rods I've used, but many are, so you'll need to get an overview from them. I dislike the way most factory spinning rods are built, so prefer to make my own, but the casting rod builds are fine in any of the ranges, so choose the built you prefer.

No. But as a note, if you have one of the lighter gauge extension cords you ought not to use it coiled up as the coiling of the cord adds to the resistance.

Great picture.

What a great trip! Makes working the rest of the year seem worthwhile.

I seem to remember a "Have you got the kill switch connected guvnor?" too. ?

Beg your pardon, I didn't notice the thread title. Good luck with the search, that would be my dream rig.

A 16 or 17ft boat with a 150-200 rating isn't going to be easy to find. The nominal 17ft boats with a 150 rating are all closer to 18ft in reality and the boats rated for 200 are going to be 19fters. Colour choice on second hand boats, now you're getting fussy.

When I first read that I thought it said shards of meat. Now that would be a disaster! ?