bluelabel

errrrmmm... I have chronic osteo arthritis in my knees (6 operations and no better, waiting for a knee replacement) and collapsed discs in my lower back (1 steroid injection and 2 nerve ablations to stop the pain... to no avail) arthritic fingers and wrists, tennis elbow, both ankles damaged ligaments due to motorcycle accidents and blind as a bat.... I can still chuck a lead out and I will till they put me into my pine overcoat

the only tech I'll have on the bank is a bite alarm.... oh and a torch if I'm doing a night and me phone for emergencies.... I can't justify drones, boats, fish spies, deeper.... fishing as I do with antique gear may hamper my chances of getting that magic fish.... but then I'd have more of a sense of achievement if I did catch just using basic gear... if it's you thing then go for it.... I fished a water a couple of years back, with a tree-lined far bank and a lad next door was using a bait boat and was showing it off, and he said to me "how are you going to get a bait tight to the trees".... I had my third rod ready to go and dropped the lead and bait about a foot off the tree line and baited up on the ripples with a catapult... he just walked off.... I think folks who rely exclusively on tech to do their fishing for them are lacking core skills... when that tech breaks down it'd be nice to know that they have the skills to carry on fishing rather than packing up early as I've seen some folks do

my glasses are progressive vari's and they cost an arm and a leg.... I had some made up in Ray-ban frames a few years ago... £382... might give these folks a look next year when my next pair is due

A Korum Aeronium chair from the wife (very light and comfy, the chair and the wife, although she ain't that light these days) and managed to break my scales (don't ask) so a pair of Korum digital ones to replace them

today... yesterday's corned beef and mayo sarnie😥

Blanked me bottom off today.... but here's a gratuitous rod shot anyway

I dunno... ask matron, she'll tell you🤣

wait till yer 60 + for memory loss😥

Yes.... I know me sticks are on the pee....🤣 I blame the stony substrate.... pair o' 9' Dwarf's with 400 Shimmy Aero X's... ATTs alarms and InterLok sticks with JRC bars

summat to put a smile on me boat.... yesterday morning I was driving home from the tackle shop and the front started behaving a bit funny and pulling to the right... I pulled over and the offside disc was red hot.... limped to the garage and left it in their hands.... my planned trip to Laundry lake was fast disappearing up the pictures, but James, my Young Apprentice offered to pick me up and this morning we headed out to Thoby Wood instead..... well apart from 1 large bream (about 5lbs or so ) things were fairly quiet up til about 1 pm, when I got a call from the garage.... the car was fixed, new caliper, front disc and pads.... £304 later inc vat and labour & I'm hyperventilating as we've just lashed out £4.5k on a new-ish car for SWMBO... I calmed down a bit and we were thinking about packing up about 2.30ish when the right hand rod screamed off and thus began a battle of epic proportions... it felt (Gratuitous Rod Shot👍) heavy ish from the outset and started off sloooow and plodding and then as it approached the net it went totally hatstand, heading towards some roots to my left.... then steamed off into the distance with my clutch buzzing merrily and my knee's knocking... James caught a glimpse and said "Mate it's a lump" and after some more tearing up and down he managed to net it first go.... it looked big a large tail and a large frame and I hoped it would be the one I was after.... sadly not to be... onto the scales and minus the sling went 25lbs 3oz e Chuffed to bits is how I'm feeling at the mo and it sweetened the bitter pills of the two huge bills of the last few days

it's not a fashion thing for me... I fish small waters... nothing bigger than 4 acres and on most there's tree canopies, so the shorter rods make sense for me, plus they can live in the boot of my car without dropping the rear seats so the whole kit is out of sight of prying eyes... and the reels are Shimmy Aero X 4000 hardly big pits.. also as a case in point my cane carp rods are 9'3" Sharpe's... circa 1955 and Walkers rods were 10'2" the longer 12' rods were developed by Rod Hutchinson for DISTANCE work...

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave some time ago or I'll move round to where the fish are... except cast where the overhanging tree canopy dictates otherwise😋 one thing I have learned over the years.... there are precious few absolutes in fishing... not being contentious... just a few thoughts

have to disagree partially with that Yonny... Terry Edmonds (I think it was he) got 170 yards with a 9' Dwarf 3lb rod.... and to be honest there's very few anglers who can hit that with a 12 footer, and of course you are right about fashion. (I bought mine because.... A, I fish small waters... & B, they fit in the boot of my car without lowering the back seats... and C, the wife bought me them as a prezzy for looking after her when she broke her pelvis... I think the biggest chuck I've had since I got them is just under 90 yards... more than enough for most folks in response to the original Poster, the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it comes into play"... why change your rods if you are comfortable with them... they'll still land what you hook...👍😎

bad eyes and arthritis don't allow me to make anything other than basic rigs these days, so maybe I'll just buy the bits ready made from now on...

Korda 5.5" booms and Korda size 8/6 Loop hooklinks.... made up some bottom bait rigs for a forthcoming trip to Berners' Meadows lake got some 5.5" swivel booms for my Ronnies too. I'm not normally a fan of Korda's gear as I feel it's massively overpriced/packaged for what you get, but I've not seen the booms anywhere else and my eyes are too poor to see to tie the rigs anymore... so hey ho...