Tim Kelly

Some pictures from my weekend in Holland. The water was between 0.7 and 4c, ice round the edges and the fish were a little sluggish, but we had a great time. No monsters, but some nice ones.

I would try mixing another batch of prokote and putting a thin second coat on the guides. The epoxy might well set the unset stuff underneath, or at least give you a useable rod. Assuming you just have a slightly tacky epoxy coating at the moment. If it doesn't work, you're no worse off, just a bit of epoxy down.

It's hard to understand what the problem is you're trying to solve. Literally taking your hand off the reel is irrelevant as it's no problem to do that, if you want to, as long as you maintain tension and momentum on the fish, so the question is a little odd. What do you imagine would be different if you never took your hand off the reel?

Great start. Good luck with it.

The dogs think they've gone to sleep in London and woken up in Canada!

Just file the mould a bit to make the hooks fit. Really doesn't take long to do. If you go back to using a thinner hook you might have an extra bit of flashing, but really not much.

If it floats, flies or f***s, rent it.

Disengage the gears (press the button of the cast bar, depending on model) put your thumb on the spool and wiggle it side to side. You will feel the spool move and gradually decrease the amount of side to side play as you tighten the knob. Set it so it just stops having any side to side movement, put some line on it and give it a cast.

Copper piece in the cap first, then plastic piece, so the flat part sits against the copper. The little clip bits catch on the groove in the axle as you suggested. The reel will work fine without it though, as suggested above.

I wonder whether they'll bring in a rule to stop people (Ike) from running all the way to the back deck every time they set the hook. Surely it's only a matter of time before they knock a cameraman and camera in the water, which would be expensive. It looks stupid too, but that's secondary. Anyone know what happened to the cameraman who was hit in the eye by a punch weight a year or two back? I see they all have to wear Wiley X sunglasses now as a measure of protection. Hope he made a good recovery as it sounded a horrific incident.

No idea whether it's got some magical properties, but the whole quick stopping concept seems like a daft bit of marketing. I can't think of any lipped jerkbaits that continue gliding after the pull, they all stop. Cigar shaped musky jerkbaits glide, but that's a whole other idea. Looks like a gimmick to me. I'm sure they'll catch fish, but I can't see me rushing to buy any.

I like Daiwa reels. I particularly like their spinning reels and the " air bail" a thicker hollow bail wire is a huge improvement over the thin Shimano bail as it's so much more robust and less prone to getting bent and twisted, which leads to the bail sticking half open half closed when you try to close it. I also prefer the slightly larger diameter spools, though the new LT range seem to have gone away from that a bit. I picked up a 3000 sized Fuego LT and it is about the same size as the previous Daiwa 2500 sized reels. Very light and super smooth so far. Impressed.

If the butt piece isn't glued on yet, and you have the pieces the epoxy will glue the duplon back together. A little light sand once it's dry and you probably won't be able to see the join. If it doesn't work, just cut the duplon off and order another butt piece.

Your call. If it's sat outside It's hard to imagine it's going to be in as good a condition as you might expect a boat of that vintage to be if it were garaged. You might get lucky, but you might get a money pit.

You might get lucky, but if it's been kept outside (look at the jack wheel!) chances are it's going to need some structural work as the plywood will have rotted under the decks, maybe the stringers and maybe the transom. Could be a big project. It would be much easier to find an Aluminium boat, which would be easier to check structurally and more likely to be in your budget, and use that until you can afford to buy a more expensive rig.

This weeks episode was a good'un. I like AMart and he was having a lot of fun.

Why not just buy the Evergreen!

Lots of micro guides bend very easily. The Fuji KR micros are much stronger though due to the way they are designed. I build my own rods and will only use the little Fuji guides now as most others bend too easily.

I got on well with a 7'4" St Croix mojo glass rod before I broke the top 3" off the tip.

I have a Fenwick Methods rod. It comes with 5 sections and you can mix them up to give you a medium or medium heavy with either a fast or moderate action. Nice and versatile, would probably suit you. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/fenwick-methods-spinning-travel-rod

The downside of getting an Ultrex is that if you get a duff one it spot locks you in 76th. Ask KVD!

I believe the TWS steez reels are highly rated as some of the best ever. One of the ones you were asking about was the pre TWS version, so probably not quite as highly rated. The A is supposed to be a more heavy duty reel with a spool more suited to distance casting. The Steez SV TWS is more of a finesse balanced reel.

One's left hand wind, one's right hand wind. I think one is magnesium, so not recommended for salt water, the other's aluminium. Both 8:1 reels, which is quite fast for an all round reel. One has the TWS levelwind, the other doesn't. More research required?

Maybe, but each brand and model has different characteristics, it's not like there are only two braids and it's just different packaging.

Well done, looks good. Is there enough clearance under the fenders for the wheels to travel? Just looks a little tight in the pictures.