1) check the angle of the tip ring. You want it to be slightly less than
90 degrees. This helps prevent the line tangling round the tip
(especially on fine tipped rods)

2) a feeder reel with a double handle will balance itself and resist
annoying and troublesome free rotation.

3) line tends to bed in on closed faced reels. Minimize this by using as
little line as possible. 30m for stick float, 45m for waggler rod.

4) if bumping fish switching to a smaller hook can sometimes help.

5) to clean maggots run them through a riddle. Then wet your hand, shake
the excess wet off, and run your hands through the maggots. Any
remaining powder etc will stick to your hands.

6) Add regularly spaced marks to a bankstick so you can tell if the
river is rising or falling.

7) Look inside a fishes mouth before putting it into the keepnet. This
can tell you whether it has been eating your free offerings.

8) When feeder fishing always count the number of reel turns it takes to
retrieve the feeder. Your line clip might work loose!

9) Knot strength is generally lower on matt lines and highest on hard
glossy lines.

5) Regularly check for wind knots - a knot in the line will weaken the
line considerably.

10) If line or braid is coming away from the line clip try wrapping a
silicone bait band around the line clip.

11) On a closed face reel, the spool moves forward and backward as you
turn the handle. The line comes off the spool easiest when the spool is
in its furthest back position (furthest away from the rod tip). This
position will always match up to the same reel handle position. So make
sure it is in that position before you cast and when trotting.

12) If your landing net is too deep use a cable-tie or rubber band to tie
off half of it.

13) Fine mesh on the landing net can stop a hair rig from dropping
through a hole in the mesh and getting tangled.

14) In cold weather roll your hookbait maggots between your fingers -
this stuns them and stops them shrivelling up when in the water.

15). Push a section of pipe insulation around the top of your rod rest to
help if float when landing a big fish. Let the net head sink - it will
hang just under the surface, bouyed by the pipe foam.

16). If you break or want to change your elastic while fishing and have no
pole threading kit, take a piece of long line 0.22mm or there abouts and
tie one end to your elastic and attach a string of No 8 or No 6 shot to
the other end. Then feed the line followed by your elastic through your
pole. A quick and inexpensive fix.

17)When you check your maggot check your hooklengths for wind knots too.
A knot in the line weakens it by a massive amount. You can see this for
yourself - take some 0.11 line and try to snap it. Now try to snap it
with a granny knot tied in the middle.

18) To keep the line from unravelling off spare spools simply place a
rubber band over the spool. It is important that the band can be easily
removable without any danger of damaging the line. Simply cut the rubber
band and then knot the two ends together. The tags ends of the band will
be easy to grab with your fingers.

19) Tie knots carefully and with patience. Wet the line then slowly
increase tension on the line to bed the knot, then maintain full tension
on the knot for three seconds, then release the tension slowly. Tied
this way you can cut the tag end as close as you like.

20) If you are getting bites on the feeder and cannot hit them it for
love nor money perhaps the fish are bumping into the line or attacking
the feeder. Test this idea by casting out with nothing on the hook and
see if you still get a "bite".

21) A very good reason to slow the bait down (eg when dragging bottom
when waggler fishing) is simply to ensure the hook is in the water for
longer!

13) The idea of the crystal bend hook style is that it holds the maggot
directly below the hook point and makes it harder for the maggot to
wriggle round and catch on the point.

24). If you are fishing double maggot and the maggot keeps on wrapping
over and covering the hook then try rolling the second maggot between
your fingers to "stun" it before hooking it.

25). If you miss a bite look carefully at the maggot. A limp maggot that
is crushed but not cut generally indicates a smaller fish whereas a
maggot that is cut generally indicates a larger fish.

26)  If a spigot joint is slightly loose, pad it with a blade of grass.

27). Attaching the line to the reel with a good knot is important - if you
drop the reel into deep water and the bale arm is open you will lose the
reel if the knot gives.

28). Stick a piece of electricians tape onto your pole to act as a simple
hook holder.

29). Before fishing discard the top three yards of line (this will be line
used previously and will be where any weaknesses show). Alternatively,
discard it when tackling down.

30) Drop a few maggots onto a hard surface and watch how the crawl. They
always crawl along the same way up. When you have hooked your maggot
drop it onto the hard surface and see if it is still able to crawl in
the same manner. You will find that by hooking the maggot from behind
the two eyes it will behave more naturally.

31) Instead of putting your
locking shot directly on the line there is an alternative which avoids
any potential problem with them damaging the line....What you do is tie
a small loop of thick line onto the eye of the waggler. Then you nip the
locking shot onto this loop so both strands of line are locked inside
the shot. Leave a small loop protruding through the last shot and thread
the mainline through that, locking with small shot.