Do you make any modifications to the fishing tackle or gear that you use? (would love to hear your ideas, I’m always up for messing around with stuff)

I got to thinking about this blog post last night when I had been out fishing yesterday and I was using the excellent RBB Surf Supporter II lure bag (review here) which to be honest I hadn’t picked up in a while. My HPA Chest Pack is nearing the end of its life, and as much as I like it, I do think that a few simple changes to the overall design would make it a bit better than it already is. I don’t really need to, but my brain is wired to explore different options, hence me picking up that RBB Surf Supporter II lure bag again.

And as much as I like it, I think the webbing-style, non-stretchy belt which you secure around your waist is a bit of a flaw. I would far prefer a belt which stretches a little bit so you could secure it a bit tighter around your waist for moving around, but even when tighter it isn’t then proving at all uncomfortable. So I had a bit of a think last night and I grabbed the “tightly stretchy” belt which comes with the Kinetic X5 chest waders. It fits perfectly on this RBB Surf Supporter II lure bag and it feels better already, admittedly only in the comfort of my home so far and not bouncing around the rocks yet. But it got me thinking about modifications I am sure a lot of us make to some of the fishing gear we use…………….

The first thing I have always done with that HPA Chest Pack is take the belt and shoulder strap which come with it and bin them. Then I thread a (far more comfortable) Simms neoprene wading belt on as the belt for this side-bag, and I have a knackered old (but far more comfortable) camera strap which keeps on going as the perfect shoulder strap. Now I know how good the Kinetic belt is, I will use this when my old Simms belt fails on me because the Kinetic is so much cheaper. I had a look around and you can buy this belt separately, search for “Kinetic Stretch Wading Belt” (it’s different to the wider, back support style Kinetic Superior Wading Belt).

I love a round EVA-style handle on a spinning reel whenever possible, so if the reel doesn’t come with it - mainly the smaller Shimano reels I know - then I will just buy one of those Gomexus Power Knob EVA handles and fit it to the reel (some details here). I noticed on the Gomexus website that there are cork versions of these round handles which I haven’t tried yet, but I bet they are lovely to grip onto.

I like cheb weights for some of my soft plastics fishing, and even then I know I still have a good bit more I can do with the versatility that this weighting system can give me. I also far prefer those weedless/offset hooks which are designed to work with a corkscrew or hitchhiker. The problem is that a cheb weight is designed to sit right with a conventional weedless hook, and it wasn’t until some kind soul told me to clip a split ring on the front of my (corkscrew) weedless hooks that it all made perfect sense (details in a blog post here). Such a simple modification, but aren’t the simple things often the best?

How about using a corkscrew on conventional weedless/offset hooks (which aren’t designed to be used with them)? I was watching a video ages ago on YouTube and I suddenly noticed something. I rewound, paused, and saw that the angler was doing what I describe in this blog post here. So simple, but such a good way of helping to prolong the life of your soft plastics.

Have the laces on your wading boots failed? Buy some 3mm or 4mm paracord to use as laces and they will basically last forever. I never use a spinning reel out of the box without first doing what I describe in this blog post here. Got a problem with rainwater running down the sleeves of your waterproof jacket? Get a pair of sweatbands and secure the sleeve of the jacket over them. I think the Favorite Black Swan and cheaper Totem rods are some of the most impressive lure rods I have used, but I’d prefer something grippier where the back of my hand sits behind the reel - get some shrink tube and put it on there.

I could go on and on here, but what I am really after is your input, because I am pretty damn sure you are all doing plenty of different modification stuff to me. You all have a good weekend, spring is officially here, and after yesterday where I covered a lot of ground for the sweet sum of sod all, but I got to play with a bunch of different estuary based bottom fishing rigging options and so on, my brain is properly bouncing away…………..

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