neil r

Didn’t get the grayling I was after but missed a few hits and had 3 out of season brownies . The river was up a bit and pushing through and also a bit more coloured than I’d like but I wanted to try my new rod otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered staying

People who hold their phones out in front of them on loudspeaker or just put the bottom thin end of the phone to their ear with the top of the phone pointing away from them but still have it on loudspeaker . The 4 people who live directly down the street from me who for some reason would rather park outside my house rather than their own even when there’s nothing in front of their own houses .

They are the same people who slow to less than walking pace when turning off anywhere and also anchor on every time a car passes on the other side of the road when it’s dark

Harnesses on lurchers, greyhounds and whippets is starting to annoy me the more I see it . It’s getting more and more common round here to the point where it’s more common to see an harness than one with a normal collar .

If I use a braid to braid shockleader it’s normally an Albright but the braid to flouro leaders on my bass and bfs outfits it’s a 4 turn water knot , it’s a smaller knot than the Albright but still strong . Tried the fg but it’s a pain to tie at the best of times and even worse if you need to do it on the beach

It was one with Andy slack on the saa channel . It was one of the better vids on casting I’ve seen . He said pretty much the same thing about slowing it down . He said he counts 1 thousand 2 thousand when it reaches the top and then hits it . When I didn’t think about it was when I made the better casts but as soon as I started thinking about what I was doing and trying to focus on specific parts of the cast the distance dropped

I should keep watching that saa vid before going casting just to make sure I’ve not forgot something . Still coming inside the tip too often also occasionally turning to hit it too soon and losing tension but I’m getting better and starting to understand why the cast went ok or why it didn’t and what was done wrong .

I’m ok with swapping hands to reel in with the reel up the rod , it does take some getting used to when every other fixed spool and multiplier I’ve got is left hand wind but it’s not too bad once you’ve done it a few times . This was pendulum casting with the reel down and using my left hand on the reel and right hand up the rod but still casting from the right side . I’ve never tried it before and only noticed it when watching pendulum casting vids and none of them ever mention it , they describe everything else but not that they are using the left hand on the reel . They’ve probably been do

Just been out for some quick left handed practice casts and didn’t do too bad . When I got the timing right it went a fair way . This was one of the better casts with the mag on 4 because of the head on wind but there’s not much left on the spool . According to the specs the reel takes 200m of .40 and the braid .42 so some of them casts must have been 150ish

I’ll bet it takes some getting used to with a fixed spool , I can see the release being trickier

I’m going to try both ways , tried reel down but I was still using my right hand on the reel and you’re right it feels a bit awkward . The vids I’ve seen I noticed the reel down casters we’re using their left hand on the reel and right hand up the rod which looks easier . None of the vids showing you how to cast have actually mentioned doing it though

Never tried fixed spool down , think I’ll try it when I’m after rays on Friday on the Mersey . The Abu is more of a clean ground reel and I’ve not got a rough ground reel yet so I’ll be back on the 8k’s for rough ground

That reel must be nearly empty when he casts , the lead seems to be in the air for ages . Stopping going inside the tip will probably be the trickiest bit to get right I think . It looks like slower is better with this cast and when you’re used to just whacking it out with a fixed spool it’s going to take some adjusting .

Just watching an saa vid and straight away they’ve mentioned something I’ve been doing with the lead . I’ve been bringing it back inside the tip and also not waiting for the lead to start dropping thinking that you need to keep it moving away from you to compress the rod . It’s a wonder I’ve been able to get as far as I am doing literally everything wrong