Tim Kelly

300 million + youtube hits. He may not be any good driving against others, but plenty of people watch his every move on you tube and pay good money to go and see him. Bet he doesn't skim his bass in though.

Ken Block is a driving legend, but his tires don't last very long. Should I drive like Ken Block?

I like 4lb stren clear blue on my ultra light rod. Works fine at all practical distances, you can't cast a small lure with a 1/32 head that far no matter what the line is!

Just checked and the guy fishing the FLW shallow all year was John Cox. He finished the year in second place, just 14 points behind Scott Martin.

Is it an SS SV with a new set of clothes?

I think that's his point. Be interesting to see how it works for him.

I know, but a sonar won't hold you on a spot and stop you being blown onto the cover either. There is no right answer, but there is acclear choice. I'd go sonar every time, but I like fishing offshore more than many people.

There's a guy fishing the FLW this year with a tin boat and only very basic sonar. His thinking is that his most consistent success comes fishing shallow, so by limiting himself slightly with boat and electronics he's not tempted to fish offshore and out of his comfort zone. Fishing shallow all the time there's less utility in a sonar and possibly more utility in a power pole. I wouldn't want to limit myself, but it's a logical point of view.

Must be an unusual style of jig. Every swim jig I've seen would hang vertically as the line tie is at the front. Most swim jigs will roll over if they're resting on the bottom as they're not designed to be stable on the bottom like an arkey or football jig would be.

Just one jig or a number of different ones? Might be the jig itself is slightly wonky, maybe the weed guard is not straight? How can you see if it's leaning to one side when it's hanging down from your rod in the water?

Looks about right, you could probably squeeze a bit more on if you wanted to, but it should be easy to control with the line level you have at the moment.

If you fish shallow mostly then the pp may be more useful. If you fish offshore more a good sonar will be an advantage.

A junior hacksaw does the job perfectly well.

You have to amke adjustments to fish properly with any type of line. Going from braid to mono is a big adjustment, but once you've made it they both catch fish and both have advantages.

The matt black Suzuki 115ss would look good with the charcoal......

The new Mercury 115 is supposed to be a bit of a beast and the Suzuki 115 ss is a great motor. Now you've got the Yamaha 115 SHO as well you're in a great position to choose 3 great 4 stroke motors that your dealer can service. I wouldn't even be thinking about the Evinrude. I'm sure it's a fine motor, but the other three are probably even better and your dealer can service them.

They're very similar, though the jika tends to be a finesse presentation and a swing head more of a power presentation. Personally I tend to use "cheburaska" heads with whichever hook is appropriate for either type of presentation.

And not braided!

Cheburashka weights. Some crazy Russian idea that makes it easily possible to make swing head jigs with your favorite hooks. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tungsten-HEADS-Sinkers-Cheburashka-Fishing/dp/B00V9ZFJ9M

Haven't used that particular braid, but a lot of them have a waxy coating on them when they're new. Once you've fished it a few times the coating wears off and the line becomes less stiff and sticky. Could be why it's having trouble with casting a very light weight?

Yes, European perch. The fins aren't really that bright, it's just how the camera recorded them. I think it was trying to match the reel!

I like a rod built on an MHX S842-MHX blank. It's faster than moderate, but not super tippy and bends nicely. Seems to throw half a zinker on a 1/15 shroom very nicely with 6lb mono. So far I can't find anything to dislike about it.

SV 105 looks good to me. SV old style Zillion. What's not to like?

Missed the part about you using casting gear. 10lb is asking for trouble. Lighter than 30lb is risking regular dig ins and braid having very little shock strength will part at the hint of hesitation in the spool.

If you can teach yourself the FG knot it will eliminate the problem of knots catching in the guides almost completely.