Quest Baits Blog

By Jamie Simpson;

I managed to get out for an overnight session at the weekend as I had been invited to a water by a good friend. As we were sat discussing everything from fishing to politics, a subject came up that brought back a few memories and one that I now dont even need to consider.

The subject was the balance between rod and reel, now most people may not see this as important but trust me when you have spent as long and as much money as me being unhappy that my casting is not quite right for one reason or another, then you will see the importance.

For quite some time I had been more than happy with my 2 1/2 lb Armalites coupled with baitrunner 4500gt reels, but I knew they had seen better days and was planning on fishing a few waters where they would probably cost me fish so a new set up was required.

I went out and I purchased a set of Harrison Chimera 12ft 3 1/2lb rods and balanced these with Shimano big pit baitrunners.

Not a bad set up were my thoughts when I got them set up at home, yet on the bank they just weren’t right for me. I stand at 5ft 7in and I just couldn’t get the set up moving how I wanted. Now there wasn’t anything wrong with the gear at all, but it just didn’t suit my style and height. I also found playing the fish awkward and not really enjoyable. continue reading…

By Jamie Simpson;

Over the years I have found on several waters the need to cast that little bit further than I can reach with my normal 12lb big game line. (Check out also the Angling Lines Blog article on “Distance Casting”). I have tried many different materials over the years and spent quite a bit of money on the tactic.

Firstly I would like to state that I won’t use leaders and light line if I believe it will be detrimental to the well-being of the carp in the event of a crack off or lost fish. Therefore I will not use them on extremely weedy waters where the lighter 8lb or so line will part. I see no point hooking fish I cannot land.

If it is safe though and I think it will make a difference then I will feel totally happy using leaders. I started off using amnesia leaders at first and although they did a fair job and the material was fairly cheap, they were a bit stiff and I wasn’t happy with the knot. I would say this was in the early nineties and before the tapered leaders were available. continue reading…