Tim Kelly

I'd be tempted to get a new, or nearly new 16ft Jon boat with a 25hp. You can add trolling motors and electronics as you can afford them and make a ply deck for the front if you feel the urge. Old boats with old motors are likely to give you issues, so if no hassle is your goal then as new as you can find will be better. 600 acre lakes don't need much of a boat to be enjoyed, so all the niceties of a proper bass boat are just extras that you have to pay for which means the reliability is likely to be reduced by an older motor, livewell pumps to split and break down etc.

It won't grip them if you just push the trd on, you have to pinch the trd where the barb will go and stretch it over the barb. Once you've lifted the elastech over the barb it won't come off for a long time.

I find the wire keeper on the midwest mold works fine, you just have to pinch a bit of the TRD and stretch it over the wire to get it over the wire. Once it's in place it holds pretty well.

Not much good for towing, putting rods in or putting dogs in either. Epic fail, what were they thinking?

Surely there's a better source for this information than a bass fishing forum? Don't you get any paperwork with your license telling you what it does or doesn't allow you to do? There must be a website for the department that issues the license.

Thanks, have just places an order. Near enough to what I'm after I think.

I would like to get some finesse jigs with a 2/0-3/0 fine wire hook, fibre guard and a reasonably pointed nosed stand up head. 3/16-1/4oz. Any ideas?

Tackle trap sometimes have them

Just think how much less expensive St Croix rods could be if they didn't have to warrantee clumsy entitled people.

This reminds me of a thread about Express wanting to charge extra for the divider in a divided livewell. Whatever the rights and wrongs, it's just daft of the manufacturers to do something so petty and cause the issue and bad feeling in the first place.

http://www.mudhole.com/MHX-Shooter-Pistol-Grip-Casting-Rod-Kits One of these might suit? http://www.mudhole.com/MHX-Popping-Rod-Blank-P783 Might be a contender with 6" off the butt end, and an appropriate handle and guide kit? http://www.mudhole.com/MHX-SJ782-MHX-Spin-Jig-Rod-Blank As above. Have a look on the Mudhole site, you will find all sorts of blanks at all sorts of prices.

Build one yourself on a spinning blank, cut down to your preferred length.

Same line on both reels? Different type line will cast differently. Daiwa magnetic systems cast better with a good smooth technique than a power rip. I expect the zillion is more sensitive to an overpowered cast than the tatula/arachnid due to it's different spool design.

More on than in. Little dogs are always the most ingenious.

If you have the line coming from the rod tip to your mouth and wrap the leader line over and under, the weave is the easy part. I always find the half hitches the most fiddly part by far, especially with fine braid. I really don't think the tool would be that helpful, compared to getting a good technique that you can use when you're out fishing and need a new leader.

Look at the schematics in the box, you will be able to track down the extra bearing.

Other than the handle length, I bet you can't tell the difference between the two when you're fishing. Just buy one or the other and go fishing.

Love those old Land Cruisers. I had a Land Cruiser Colorado/Prado a few years ago. My favorite ever vehicle. Had it until it had well over 200K on it and was getting expensive. Sold it to some African guys who were buying them up and shipping them to Burundi. Wonder how many AK47s are in it at the moment? Poor old truck.

Assuming you had a full spool of fluoro, and no braid under the flouro (which will slip on the spool and give the impression the drag is weak), the only other probable cause is grease contamination of the drag washers. If you are good at taking stuff apart then you can do it yourself, Strip the reel down and take the drag stack apart. Clean off the drag washers with petrol or another solvent, then re-assemble. If you're not confident then send it in to be repaired.

Last Sunday I took my dad to Market Harborough in Leicestershire, where he was evacuated to in the war. He lived in a small flat in a grimey part of London, and during the war lots of children were sent out of London to stay with completely random people, so they wouldn't be killed by the bombings. My dad and his sister got incredibly lucky and were billeted with "Aunt" Gwen. She was an amazing woman. At 22 she took in two kids aged about 5 and 7 and looked after them for 4 years. Her husband was away fighting, and was eventually killed. My dad absolutely loved his time up there and always felt very guilty about how much he didn't want to go home at the end of the war! Having the run of the Leicestershire countryside was a great thing for a young boy. A pokey flat in bombed out London wasn't much to look forward to. He always kept in touch with the family and while Aunt Gwen died about 30 years ago her sisters are still going strong, and dad has always kept in touch. The trip last weekend was the first time they'd actually met up for about 20 years. 90, 87 and Dad's the baby at 83. They had a great day, we all did.

There's a place in County Durham (North East England) called "Pity me" . A jolly little place,

There's a place called "Bad Axe"! Awesome.

How on earth can you come to the decision that a tat CT or a lexa 300 would be interchangeably suitable?

Well I think we've all learnt something there. Thanks for finishing the story.

Very happy with my Tat Ct. I have a couple of the standard ones in 7.3:1 and they're my favorite reels, over my SV105, Tat SV, OG zillion, Curado, Chronarch etc. Not sure I'd bother with the Type R version. I think they look ugly and don't really offer any tangible benefits.