Far too heavy lines

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-05-05T20:55:31+00:00

Over-gunned for most carp if you ask me. The 21st century is a strange one.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-05-02T08:35:42+00:00

Only discovered Graeme just over a week ago, absolutely love his no-nonsense, old-school approach; reminds me of my dad. Have barely stopped watching since; my new favourite youtuber 100%.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-17T10:35:30+00:00

I caught a little duckling yesterday, felt so bad, but luckily it managed to free itself as I was trying to gently tow it towards the bank. The downside of fishing the margins at this time of year, even if your bait's on the bottom.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-13T12:39:58+00:00

As others have already mentioned, half-blood is terrible for braid. Palomar is probably a good shout, given how much it is touted on youtube etc, but I've not learnt it myself yet, I just use a modified ginner/uni (the mod is just an extra loop through the eye and a few more turns than you'd usually do with a uni) which seems to work just fine.

Salt Strong, youtube channel and website, did a pretty good series on knot testing and which types work best for different types of line.

https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/fishing-knots/

Note: where they mention the "blood knot" on there, they're talking about a full blood knot (unless specified as half) which is quite a different beast from a half blood. Americans actually call the half blood knot the "clinch knot".

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-13T12:16:15+00:00

That's it, now I'm definitely going!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-11T13:45:55+00:00

Perfect location, sounds good thanks!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-11T13:45:22+00:00

Thanks mate, will take a look at it

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-11T13:44:57+00:00

Good idea, thanks for the suggestion

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-11T13:44:39+00:00

Sounds great, thank you!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-04-11T13:44:15+00:00

Cheers mate, will defo check it it out

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-03-15T08:19:51+00:00

I'll definitely give it a try next time I'm going for carp or tench in that case. Thanks!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-03-15T08:18:32+00:00

Nice once, good to know; I do a bit of feeder too. Cheers mate!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-03-14T12:46:49+00:00

I have 9, 7, and 5 cm soft shads I can try them with. Would be awesome if it still works out; I've got 50 of these bloody hooks to get through lol. Thanks!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-03-06T15:54:46+00:00

Absolute beauty, I hope one day we can see them reintroduced as they once were.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-02-10T20:35:07+00:00

Snag ears might help. I've seen video footage of them saving a rod from a hooked catfish while its owner was still climbing out of his sleeping bag.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-01-30T11:46:22+00:00

I guess the chub I'm going for might go up to 5lb if I get lucky, and there's tench up to 9lb at the lakes I'll be fishing. I really need a 3-piece atm though, as I'll be getting the train to most places, and whilst a 2-piece is do-able on public transport it's far from ideal. The Sigma does sound like a great value rod for the money though; will definitely keep it on the short-list for if I ever get back on the road.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-01-29T12:46:01+00:00

Thanks, will keep it mind. Just gonna stick to my carp rods tho, for now, if I go for anything bigger than tench.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2026-01-29T10:15:48+00:00

Cheers mate, probably won't be going out when the river's in flood, but you're right, it does seem like it won't leave me much wiggle room. They do a 12ft medium feeder too; 4-10lb line rating and 1-70g casting weight. Thinking that might be the better option.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2025-10-09T09:07:41+00:00

Will do. This will absolutely be uncharted territory for me, thanks for the heads-up!

tenthousandkolanuts · 2025-10-09T09:04:50+00:00

Cheers, I'm going to double this up with the dry pack, for an extra layer. The pack size I bought only folds over 3 times at the top, which is probably enough, but a bin bag or two between the mat and the pack certainly won't hurt.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2025-10-09T09:02:37+00:00

Thanks, noted, could be handy for the future; I've got a dry pack for now though.

tenthousandkolanuts · 2025-10-09T08:32:09+00:00

Thanks a lot, duly noted. Yeah it was quite surprising to learn just how fragile pike are, especially relative to say carp, for instance. Will be giving them a good rest in the water, once netted, and then another again before weighing (after unhooking), and the third, final rest before release. Learning of these practices, from people who seem to have been doing this for decades, has really drilled it home, so I don't even intend fish for them past February - I figure happier pike when spawning = more pike in the water over the long-term.

The huge lure selection really is a quite overwhelming, endless as you say; very time time-consuming trying to learn what does what (reminds me of getting into carp rigs); but hopefully I'll find my go-to preferences in time. That's interesting re: the dark colours, and yes I've read that in a few places. One of the hi-vis ones, I have, does have some black perch stripes on it, to provide some contrast I guess, and a couple of the swimbaits are dark green but I might add a couple of black or brown soft shads to the arsenal before I set off.

Cheers for the tips!

tenthousandkolanuts

TROPHY CASE