After reading Shaun’s piece about the Spomb I thought I would mention 3 new items (for me) of tackle that I used last year;

Quick Release Adaptors

When  I first saw this product come onto the market I thought they were just another gimmick that would only really be bought by the ‘tackle tarts’ amongst us. Anyway I saw some on special offer last year (3 for £5) and being the curious soul that I am I bought some. They are a very useful little piece of kit. I especially like them attached to my brolly and storm poles in the winter. No more struggling to hold onto the brolly in strong winds whilst trying to undo the threads of the storm poles. These simply ‘unclip’.  I have used them for a variety of things such as attaching alarms and threaded landing nets etc. They just make things easier especially on a dirty river bank in the winter where your kit can get covered in mud causing the threads to stick. I would think they would also make life easier for any anglers who through such things as arthritis have lost a lot of strength in their wrist and hands.

Gold Label Pro Tough Line

With me fishing the rivers through the summer last season (for the first time in a long time), I was faced with more fishing in low clear rivers than I normally have to face in the winter period. With this in mind and the fact that most of the venues I fish only hold a few barbel I wanted to give myself the best chance of a bite that I could. I thought that changing to a clear line would be a benefit and so decided to try the new Pro Tough line from Gold Label. It proved to be excellent, it is almost invisible in the water, is U.V. coated so changes colour in different light conditions, it is extremely supple (so much so that I now use it for hooklengths as well) and has excellent abrasion resistance and I am sure helped me catch more barbel in the low water conditions.

I had thought about using one of the new fluorocarbon lines but personally I just don’t think they are ‘robust’ enough to stand up to the demands of regular casting and retrieving in rocky / snaggy rivers (tried fluorocarbon hooklengths and suffered cut – offs).

Large Drennan Oval Feeders

Has I have mentioned in previous blog pieces I have used the Large Drennan Oval Feeders for many years. Drennan have now modified them and the modification is a distinct improvement. The shape is better for hugging the river bed and with the way the lead is moulded into the feeder (used to be just clipped in), the feeder is now much stronger. You know what its like when you have used a product for years, you are always a bit sceptical when it changes, but in this case the  change was definitely an improvement.

Cheers, Pat

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