Thanks for your words of encouragement guys,
the rod is a Daiwa Monster Mesh, 8'3" rated to about 11 or 12 kgs of drag.
Great stick, only got to really bend it on the bigguns that made fools of us.
I prefer a rod with a faster action off the banks when sticking it to a big fish. I have a hastings URS86XH which would be my fav but being a 1 peice it's no good when flying.
Hi Pete, this is about the only place I get called my real name these days!
Your the second person to pull me up on the reel in the puddle, it's not all in, just the handle, experimenting with shots.