Recent content by Gavin Burt

Anyone using one of these and have any opinions please? I’m looking for a more portable net that I can use for roving and throw it on my back rather than carrying all the time.

Rod rests received and given the @Richard Isaacs treatment with a bit of spare nylon bar I had hanging around. These look well made and could be the ultimate rod rest with their “swing” feature. Although I might make the swinging bars of brass to improve their sturdiness.

Great idea for these Fladen rod rests, I've just ordered one to see what its like. I have a lathe at home so may look to do your conversion too.

So sorry for your loss. Please remember you have a lot of friends here that you can reach out to if needed.

Fox Duralite if you can find one. They weigh in at 3.2kg and are extremely strong. Shame the stopped making them.

Bought a Wychwood Bivvy Brolly 5years ago and still going strong now. Perfect for quick overnight sessions.

Jack Pyke from Go Outdoors. I got them to price-match and paid about £30 for them. Very hard wearing, stronger material around the knees and they have several pockets on them incl. zipped cargo pockets which fit a phone perfectly...

Drennan Twistlock. Had mine three years and when I did over tighten it Drennan sent me x2 new bushes in the post within 48-hours of me emailing them.

I used Chris at CJS to build me *two baby Ballista rods to my spec. I thought they were well priced too. https://cjscustomrods.co.uk/gallery/ Comes highly recommended and his quality is outstanding. Great communicator too. *I had two made but one of them had an argument with my 2-tonne garage...

That last statement can also sum up a lot of tackle that’s manufactured too !!!

Went to the Severn last week and took two rods, rod bag, tripod, days worth of bait, food, etc… for a days fishing which isn’t really my style. Especially as I like to rove. Was out again Friday evening and back to my regular setup pictured below. How much gear do you typically take when out...

Taste F2 is a great bait and I make my own boilies the day I go fishing. Main reason I don’t use “shop bought” is because I’m pretty confident that no one is using the same bait as me. JB’s flavours are really good too, especially Ala Salar. A small bottle of that will last a couple of years...

Good video - I wonder what bait they actually do use though (as they obviously reference Dynamite).

No problem. There’s also a good Facebook group called Wild River Barbel Bait which predominantly focuses on French / Dutch river fishing. There’s some good stuff on YouTube too - but you can’t really tell where about’s they are fishing unless you recognise the spots. Still worth watching...

Here’s my post from when I went to the Meuse in June 2025. https://barbel.co.uk/forum/threads/just-got-back-from-fishing-in-france.22961/ Am going again this year for a long weekend as I thoroughly enjoyed it.