Heya all

Having just taken up fly fishing again I have been reading a lot of articles on the tinterweb, in books and of course on the forums here and i think i have learnt a lot so far. How about starting a sticky called "top tips" where those little nuggets of information that would otherwise be lost or hidden away in the middle of an unrelated thread would be able to live permenantly and be immediatley accessible to all? Apologies if there is one somewhere but i have had a look and can't see one...mind you my second cup of coffee has not kicked in yet....

Here is my top tip to get the ball rolling.....

When i tried my reel on my new rod (diawa wilderness 9' 6" Atfm 7....superb by the way) the reel would not quite tighten up to the rod properly as the reel feet are a bit thinner than standard. What i did was to wrap an elastic band around and along the non threaded part of the rod barrel to bulk it up a little, this extra bit of height standing off the barrel made the reel fit as snug as if it grown there!! I tried adding a layer or two of tape to the barrel instead but it was not as easy to get the right height uniform across the barrel as it was with the elastic band......also the band is easier to remove and store ready for use next time when you use a different reel that doesn't need this modification

hope someone finds this useful......

Use an automatic pencil with a needle in place of the lead (experiment with different sized needles to find one of the correct thickness), can be used as a knot picker or to help form needle knots. many different uses give it a try

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http://www.tradeclick.co.uk

The one thing that has made a huge difference to me this year is my new motto: "ring the changes!"

If you are not catching then change something. Change your retrieve, change your flies, change your leader, change you fly line or change your location.

Don't be afraid to stop and have a coffee while you take stoke. Observe the water, the fish if you can see them and fishermen around you.

Keep a roll of pedle bin liners in the boot of you car so you always have something to take your fish home in.

Dress your floating line regularly.

When all about you are fishing with more finesse than you can muster don't be afraid to strip back a cats whisker.

Cheers


Andy

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Caught it on a Big Green Hairy Thing!