In reply to Post #3
I've had the 9ft 3lb TC cork handled rods for over a year and I'm really impressed, I use them 2-3 times a week for short sessions and they've stood the test of time well so far.

I've never had to cast far with them, but they're good fish players with plenty of backbone to stop fish. I've had fish to low 30s from fairly weedy lakes and had no problem. I wouldn't want to go any stiffer as I think you'd lose some enjoyment playing smaller fish.

Overall great value for money, can't really fault them to be honest

I've been fishing a relatively big, shallow (3-4ft) silt lake most of this year. It's got an island, some snaggy margins, marginal reeds - and it's a fairly uniform 3-4ft across. There's a couple of very subtle deeper areas where it goes 4 - 4.5ft, but nothing much more than that.

I haven't seen a single fish since it got cold, and I'm wondering... where would you bet the fish are likely to hold up during the Winter? Snaggy island? A bush in the margins? Midwater? Deeper hole?

It hasn't got a huge head of fish, I've done pretty well this year mainly stalking and sight-fishing, but it's just like the fish have disappeared as soon as it got cold, and I'm trying to work out what my best strategy is during Winter - trickle a bit of bait in somewhere, just not sure where would be best to start...