OK point taken. In many situations carp gear is fine if you are fishing at close range, from a boat, for species such as Bass- I've had great fun cathcing them this way, on standard gear and size 2 hooks, also using plugs. Ditto for mackerel- on fly tackle, which is great fun. Some of the more enlightened anglers here in North Wales are starting to use fly tackle for surf fishing for Bass, and one of the regulars caught a 4lb mullet this way a couple of weeks ago... As for pollack on floatfished prawn, fantastic- I've caught pollack upto 14lb on 8lb line this way, using normal carp gear, all these species fight infinitely harder than Carp. Lots of us use light tackle you know, and most of my angling friends operate a catch and release policy. The times when you really need to use heavy gear are for 1) wreck fishing 2) beach casting 3) uptiding (to an extent). There simply isn't a sporting option here- either you lose the fish, plus assorted paraphernalia, of suffer abraded lines, crack-offs, bite-offs etc. If any of the Carp anglers need a lift after blanking, then have a go at fihsing off the shore or from a small boat using your existing gear- its fine. But come to the right place- Try fishing my patch- the Menai Straits- after you've blanked at Llyn y Gors.... The Bass are there in huge numbers at this time of year- just put them back alive, OK? Simon