Tim Kelly

Ealing, so just down the road from Chiswick.

Ha ha, Thanks John, great excuse to show off! I've had one perch over 5lb at 5lb 4oz, that's a big perch for the UK, I guess like a 7lb smallmouth. They get caught, but are pretty rare. A 4 pounder is a much more common fish, like a 5lb smallmouth here. In Holland there are some proper beasts. I know people who've had big sixes and one 7lb perch, which is mind blowing. They're almost always caught in the spring when full of eggs to achieve the great weights. There's a place in Spain that does some huge ones too, google "perchzilla" I think it's been fished to death now, but for a few years it was producing some ridiculous perch. Because it's a great excuse I've attached a terrible picture of my biggun. Been a while since I looked at it and it's hard to tell just how huge it is from the pic! Funnily enough, my biggest smallmouth was the same weight, so I've got some work to do on both species!

By the way, we had a pretty solid largemouth pattern fishing spinnerbaits, chatterbaits or swimbaits over shallow grass flats. Interestingly the size of the fish altered each day, depending on how difficult the fishing was. On the poorer days the grass flats fish were smaller, on the better days they were larger. No idea whether that's typical, but it was very stark. One of the poorer bass days the bass were small on the flats and the pike were absolutely demented! Most days we'd get a pike or two, but mostly manage to avoid them, but that one day we caught over 40 of the critters! ?

The weather was certainly very up and down with cold front after cold front. We had a good smallmouth day on the best day we were there, went through to the Upper Rideau and caught on jerkbaits and spybaits. The next day we went back but it was colder and darker, we had some on neds, but it was much slower fishing. I fish the Thames at home all the time, do you mean my Thames or is there a Thames in Canada? Camping fishing sounds super cool. I love how you guys have so mach opportunity to do stuff like that. Over here everything is privately owned and very restricted, so very little opportunity to do that kind of thing.

No, it's always a plane ride to fish for them. Spain, America and Canada so far. The nearest thing to bass we have in the UK are perch, which are very similar to yellow perch, but grow bigger. Funnily enough my pb perch and smallmouth are both the same weight at 5lb 4oz, but that perch is a much rarer fish than the smallmouth ? Maybe, if I get invited again, you can give me some hints on how to find the smallmouth there. Those things blow my mind. People talk about how easy they are to catch, but I am clearly missing a vital piece of the puzzle, as I really struggle to find them. ?

I was luck enough to be invited to Canada to fish with my friend Tim from his cottage on the Rideau chain. So very grateful to be invited over. Such an amazing place. After the void that was COVID it has been a spectacular summer. Spring with Tim at his place on Smith Mountain lake and September in Canada. So lucky to have such generous friends. The fishing was very different to how it is when we have been before in July and August. The fish were everywhere and nowhere. Big fish were thin on the ground, but the numbers were good. Spinner baits. Chatterbaits were the mainstay over grass flats, but on Saturday we went through to Upper Rideau and with the best weather of the week, sunshine and lighter winds, we caught smallmouth on jerkbaits, spybaits and Neds. After Saturday the fronts moved through again and the average fish size dropped, with occasional exceptions. One day, the pike were supercharged and while we only managed a dozen or so keeper bass, we caught about 40 pike. All horrible skinny tiny things compared to what I'm used to trying to avoid here in the UK. ? So grateful to Tim and Mary Johnson for their friendship.

Likewise, plus tides here at home. Ontario next week, been eyeballing the weather forecast for that at least twice a day! ?

A 200 300 or even 400 would be more suitable for chucking big lures. I have an older 101 and it's a tiny little reel.

Miserable. So sorry you both have to endure this. Cherish every hour.

Brother of the 3am club. ❤️

Can't imagine how you could make a buying decision based on what raw materials the manufacturer says they're using. No way you can compare rods without holding them and using them. I kind of know what you mean though. I've used and built a lot of St Croix rods, so know what they're likely to be like. Never understood the Loomis range and never owned or used a Loomis, so have no idea what I'd be buying if I couldn't put it in my hand.

That is cool. I think Evinrude used to have something like that, you could switch between the foot control and hand control, so could go through idle zones with the hand control, then switch to the foot pedal when you were running, for example. Best of both worlds, like an ultrex.

The idea is that the second, counter rotating prop counters the turbulence the front prop causes, so the water leaving the propellers is moving in a straight line, not swirling. Makes it more efficient. There's an electric hydroplaning boat built in Sweden that uses a twin prop electric outboard and despite a tiny prop diameter it's incredibly efficient. Just don't bang them into rocks! BTW My 20hp Suzuki doesn't need twin props either.

Not on the one in the picture. That twin prop 350 has been out a few years now. I suppose the blacked out cosmetics are impressive, maybe? ?

What, specifically?

If the spool's turning it won't, obviously. Often people see the braid turning and assume the spool's turning, but it isn't, hence the mono backing to stop the line slipping on the spool.

Take the spool out and see if there's anything jammed between the frame and the spool, or the spool axle. Anything further will require some knowledge and mechanical acumen, which your question suggests might be better bought than learnt.

I had a similar issue with Sufix advanced mono in 6lb. Coiled hopelessly when pulled through the tip ring under tension. Others seem to like the line, but it absolutely didn't work for me. I just use a different brand and have no issues now. I don't have the answer why, just the solution.

So glad you're feeling better. Hope you get back to full power again quickly.

Totally agree, great looking series of boats. I would really fancy the 18ft version for the open cockpit, so anyone fishing with me has space for their bag, but the 17 has a lot of storage, way more than the 178. They deserve to be more popular, but they are definitely premium priced.

Miserable for you. Horrible when the day comes. Tank has some big boots to fill.

On my recent trip to Smith Mountain lake I noticed that some of the largemouth, as well as some of the smallmouth had red eyes. I've noticed smallmouth occasionally having them, but never largemouth before. Have I just not noticed before? Is it a spawning thing? Just one of those things?

Finally, after a two year gap due to pesky covid, I finally managed to go bass fishing again! My dear friend Tim invited me over to stay with him at his house on Smith Mountain Lake in VA for a week and we had an absolute blast. We timed it pretty perfectly as the weather warmed through the week and the fish were going from spawn to post spawn depending on where on the lake we fished. We didn't have a bad day, and by the end of the week we had it pretty dialled in. Absolutely fantastic to be whizzing about in a bassboat with Tim again. We also fished a club tournament on Lake Moomaw, which was a fascinating change of pace, somehow I even sneaked a third place finish! I got lucky with the heaviest fish of the week, with largemouth of 4-03, 4-15 and 5-04 plus the biggest striper at over 10lb. We also spent a morning chasing crappie, which were harder to find than they should have been, but I just love a meal of crappie. Caught enough for a lunch for the two of us with a white perch and a yellow perch to bulk out the meat. Can't tell you how much I love our adventures, and after the 2 year winter that has been covid, it was especially sweet.

Check that the cast control (spool tension) knob isn't cranked down stupid tight.