Loyalty or tackle-tart and cleaning gear

[thecrow]

My gear ranges from bottom end NGT to top end Drennan all there because at the time it what I needed. My Carp rods never matched and neither did my indicators. I do have matching pairs of pike rod but the reels don’t match or even have the same make of line on them.
I don’t think the fish really mind.
As far as cleaning goes, what’s cleaning?

How on earth did you ever catch anything

 

[xenon]

not hung up on particular brands, but I do try to get the best I can afford-see no point in using sub standard gear.

 

[S-Kippy]

Another vote for Sensor; what a line!

What is it with this obsession with Sensor ? It is horrible stuff and I would not demean my reels with it.

I can only think it's all some tackle shops stock.

I have tartish tendencies but I'm not obsessive about it and any brand loyalty is normally coincidental. My dislike of Shimano reels is well know but that's more of a personal protest than any reflection on the reels. I buy too much gear but it doesn't have to match....it gets cleaned regularly but not after every trip. If I'm obsessive about anything it's line and hooks. I won't use anything I don't trust 100% or which behaves badly on first trial.

I have some very nice rods but why the hell not ?

 

[Alan Tyler]

I'd be sunk if I wanted to be a tackle-tart, most of my go-to rods are Milbro, nameless or by small and long-forgotten makers; being left-handed I haven't been able to get a new fixed-spool reel since the Abu 664 and its relations back in the (?) eighties, and you can't get decent horse-hair for love or money nowadays.
I'd love to find out who made my ferruleless Spanish reed twelve-footer and buy a complete set of his work, but there's not much chance of that!

This thread has reminded me that there's some varnish lifting on my Devanney, so I'd better thin some down and "finger" it on so thinly it can't gloss, as was the fashion back then...

 

[tigger]

being left-handed I haven't been able to get a new fixed-spool reel since the Abu 664 and its relations back in the (?) eighties, and you can't get decent horse-hair for love or money nowadays.

I think you'll be ok regarding the new fixed spool reels Alan, most reels have an interchangeable handle so you just unscrew it and screw it on the other side .

 

[Alan Tyler]

That leaves me wrestling with a reel with the line going the wrong way, like the Mitchell 300s that I never got the hang of.
If the line doesn't peel off onto the ball of my finger, rather than the nail, I ain't paying for it.
The only truly ambidextrous fixed spools are closed faced ones whose bodies can be rotated, the Dam CTE and suchlike.

 

[tigger]

What is it with this obsession with Sensor ? It is horrible stuff and I would not demean my reels with it.

Sensor has good diameter to strength ratio, it has great abrasion resistance, it floats, or it lays on the surface of the water anyhow , it comes in clear or brown, it has a good amount of stretch and it's great value for money .....what more do you want of a mono line .

Surely if you want reliable line then you'd like the stuff, if you want good reliable hooks there's loads of 'em, but you need look no further than the drennan range for some excellent ones :w.

 

[seth49]

Well apart from my pins, all my reels are Shimano, the ones I use anyway, have a couple of abu's in the drawer and an abu 501.
My luggage and chairs are Korum, rods are all makes, if I pick one up and it feels right I'll usually buy that, let's face it modern rods are so much better than the stuff there was years ago, as rule their were exemptions but most of the early fibreglass rods were heavy and felt clumsy compared to today's rods.

Most modern rods are usable and do there job ok, for me anyway, as for the rest I do like guru hooks, and tackle, like drennan floats as well, but I do like trying new stuff, some ok and some a gimmick, but if you don't try you don't know,
Do like new gadgets though.?

 

[S-Kippy]

Sensor has good diameter to strength ratio, it has great abrasion resistance, it floats, or it lays on the surface of the water anyhow , it comes in clear or brown, it has a good amount of stretch and it's great value for money .....what more do you want of a mono line .

Surely if you want reliable line then you'd like the stuff, if you want good reliable hooks there's loads of 'em, but you need look no further than the drennan range for some excellent ones :w.

Whereas I find the stuff wiry,stiff,prone to terminal coiling and a horrible colour. It is cheap but that's its only redeeming feature so far as I'm concerned and I would never buy a line I didnt like/trust just because its cheap.

I have brands I have 100% confidence in [lines & hooks] so why would I want to change ?

 

[fishing4luckies]

As far as cleaning goes, what’s cleaning?

Cleaning can be defined thus: When you've just filled a bucket or bait box with lake or river water to make groundbait and you trip and stumble, spilling said water over your kit. Your kit is now cleaned.

 

[tigger]

Whereas I find the stuff wiry,stiff,prone to terminal coiling and a horrible colour. It is cheap but that's its only redeeming feature so far as I'm concerned and I would never buy a line I didnt like/trust just because its cheap.

I have brands I have 100% confidence in [lines & hooks] so why would I want to change ?

I used fireline crystal the other day whilst trotting and at first it was visible on the surface, after a while it wasn't, not that it bothered me though. It was ok for casting and even small fish felt bigger than they where because of it's lack of stretch.

I used sensor today and it was visible on the surface from start to finish, not that it bothered me either way. It felt better than braid on my fingers and cast much better than the braid with the float going further with the same kind of power applied to the cast. The sensor went through the guides much easier and smoother than the braid also, it was even easier to mend it during the trott.
I know I can trust it because i've hit and held so man barbel with 6lb and it's never faulted once.
You should try it again Skippy just to make sure you didn't make a rash conclusion .

 

[S-Kippy]

No thanks, Ian. I tried it once...it failed and that's it so far as I'm concerned. I will not use anything I dont have confidence in.

As I've said many times before I do not mess about with the two most fundamental and important items any angler needs ie reliable lines & hooks. To do so is to miss the point completely.

Lots of people like & use Sensor quite successfully. I'm pleased for them but I wont have it in the house let alone on my reels and I never, ever will.

 

[fishplate42]

...I tried it once...it failed and that's it so far as I'm concerned. I will not use anything I dont have confidence in...

Not having the experience of you guys, I have been using Sensor since I started fishing and I have not really tried anything else, probably because it comes in such big reels it will take me years to use it up! As far as I know, it seems to do the job.

When you say "it failed" what happened to totally put you off off using it?

Ralph.

 

[S-Kippy]

Ralph

It simply would not behave. Far too stiff and wiry. I just did not like the look or feel of it .

As I said I will not mess about with anything I dont have confidence in....and I've no confidence in this stuff at all. It is simply not my sort of line so I wont use it. Since or ever again. Its cheap if you are on a budget...but that is its only possible redeeming feature. Without wishing to sound pompous if I have to pay more to get what I consider to be a much better line then I will....and do.

Skippy

 

[fishplate42]

Ralph

It simply would not behave. Far too stiff and wiry. I just did not like the look or feel of it .

As I said I will not mess about with anything I dont have confidence in....and I've no confidence in this stuff at all. It is simply not my sort of line so I wont use it. Since or ever again. Its cheap if you are on a budget...but that is its only possible redeeming feature. Without wishing to sound pompous if I have to pay more to get what I consider to be a much better line then I will....and do.

Skippy

Thanks for that, it is interesting that you say it is "stiff and wiry" I suppose it is, but I though all monofilament line would be like that... It is just these sort of things that I miss being a more or less lone angler. Although I have met several other anglers over the past couple of years or so, the subject of line has never come up and not knowing any different, I have never asked.

The other thing about line is that I have discovered (and everybody else knows this already) that I am only going to use the first few tens of meters of line off my reel so I don't need to buy hundreds of meters of line. A hundred meters of good line joined to my existing line used as backing will be more than adequate.

I know this a case of personal choice but as a start and to try and see the difference, what line would you recommend and of the many knots used what one would you recommend to join the new line to the backing?

Ralph.

 

[tigger]

Ralph
Without wishing to sound pompous if I have to pay more to get what I consider to be a much better line then I will....and do.

Skippy

Ok, I am genuinely interested, what do you consider to be a much better line than sensor Skippy?

Regarding more expensive lines and how they catch more fish....when I was having a days fishing with Chris (Sam Vines) last week we started catching roach and dace. I was fishing 6lb sensor straight through to a 14's superspade and using a 6 gram bolo float as I was expecting barbel and chub and so I felt a little over-gunned catching these small fish. I decided to put on a low diameter 3lb hooklength and small float to see if it got me better results, maybe a better stamp of fish. Anyhow Chris can verify that the change in set up made no difference to my catch at all so the 6lb sensor didn't put the fish off taking my bait or from pulling under a 6 gram bolo float either. Ok, we know there will be circumstances when low diameter bottoms etc will catch more fish but on a lot of occasions it doesn't matter a jot .

 

[S-Kippy]

Its all terribly subjective. All I can say is there are lines that I have 100% confidence because they behave in a way that I like and they have never let me down. I cannot say they are better lines....only that they suit me better.I've certainly never claimed they catch me more fish.

I dont have one line that I use to the exclusion of all others. There are brands I'm happy with for heavy work but I use different line for finer fishing & different again on my pins.

If youre happy with Sensor then thats fine.

 

[tigger]

Its all terribly subjective. All I can say is there are lines that I have 100% confidence because they behave in a way that I like and they have never let me down. I cannot say they are better lines....only that they suit me better.I've certainly never claimed they catch me more fish.

I dont have one line that I use to the exclusion of all others. There are brands I'm happy with for heavy work but I use different line for finer fishing & different again on my pins.

If youre happy with Sensor then thats fine.

You should be a politician Skippy, you've skippied round the names of those lines nicely there .

 

[thecrow]

I know this a case of personal choice but as a start and to try and see the difference, what line would you recommend and of the many knots used what one would you recommend to join the new line to the backing?

I use a double grinner

 

[mikench]

Morning Graham! The sensor debate will rumble on!