They've drained Island Pool. I presume this is recent work. Always interesting to see. I would say they'd find my top kit in there, as I snapped one on a fish before the days of puller kits as a kid on this pool in the late 90s. But I got the fish in...

Well, you see, the other day I was at the tackle shop, just looking around for some hooks. Then in the pole and whip stands I saw a beautiful white whip. Suddenly I lost my memory and the second I am awake again, I was at home holding it and my account was some dozen Euros emptier. I'm glad I am not yet married otherwise I would sleep on the street that day. Did you guys ever buy tackle because of the aesthetic and not just the handling too?

Very sad news this morning, Mickthechippy passed away in hospital after a short illness.

Mick (Michael Pearson) was a long-standing member of the Maggotdrowning community, a staff member and an incredibly likeable character willing to help anyone out and always on hand to recount tales in his own unforgettable style.

Please join me in extending our deepest condolences to his family and friends, and if there's anything we can do at all, they only need to ask.

RIP Mick

Keeping in line with all things woke it seems only right the minority cf reel has it's own platform.

I still regard myself as something of a novice angler but in my seven years since returning to fishing I have enjoyed revisiting reels from my youth some fifty years plus ago which included the iconic Abu 506 Mk1, having bought a few I then dabbled with the Daiwa 125m, a very different animal and more recently the Ryobi CF100 which has fast become my favourite of the three brands. Not so easy to come by so was pleased to find a near mint one on the bay a couple of years ago.

Would be interesting to read of other members preferences, anybody got a Dave Plowman Abu?