Leader-Lines (Forum)

“I have now tried these alarms for a few trips and they actually work well.

The first time out at Aldeburgh there was quite a cross wind and the alarms did go off a little on some gusts. I know they will not be to all taste but for me they actually mean more fish and more relaxing fishing. The alarms are very cleverly sensitive and set themselves to the conditions you are fishing. At Aldeburgh they definitely went off for bites that I saw. Whilst at Southwold they actually went off a couple of times and I thought they were false alarms, when it went again and still I had seen nothing at the rod tip I tightened down and there was a schoolie on the line. I think the alarm saw a fine bite that my eyesight did not.

Whilst fishing very few people manage to keep there eyes glued to the rod tip all the time and a couple of times, either when tidying up or baiting a new rig, or chatting to mates etc etc. The alarms made me look up a couple of times and sure enough there was a bite that without them I would have missed.

The second time out at Southwold, they performed perfectly alarming for genuine bites and no odd beeps from wind or tide movement. The only time they do twitter a bit is when baiting up as I tended to keep the line tight and my movements set them off. I soon learned to have a bit more slack and this problem goes away.

I wondered whether the alarms would sound identical and I would not know which rod to go for. I needn’t have worried for two reasons.

1.The light that accompanies the alarm stays on for a while after the beep stops.

2. When you look up whichever rod is bent double or sliding down the beach is probably the one with the bite. OK maybe just the one dancing about a little but you get the idea.

The alarms do actually have very slightly different tones maybe this will help some, I doubt it.

I have also tried the lights to see how far away you can see them when activated. More than far enough is the answer. I set it on a tripod and had my wife set it off whilst I walked away to the side. I got almost 75 yards away and could still see the flashing, I did not go any further as I suspect I wont go that far from my rods anyway.

The plastic they are made of is luminous so whilst you are setting up the new rig they could be charged up and away you go. The glow for quite some time too, a quick “charging” from my LED headlamp had them glowing for over 10 minutes. So they help you see the rods end anyway.

My only oncern is that a push/click fit with a plastic shoe is for me a question mark on the longevity of the fitting as I suppose eventuall they could become loose, Only time will tell. There are very simple solution to this even if it does happen so it shouldn’t be a disaster even if it does.

I think they have been well thought out and do what they say on the tin. I definitely think they will make me aware of more bites and bring me back as my attention wanders. And if the day at Southwold is any indication I think I’ll catch more fish because of using them.

There is always room for improvement in any new technology and there are a couple of things I would like to see:

A spare shoe that can be put on another rod as they only come with one and this is limiting. Being able to own one alarm but fit it to whatever rod you are using would be good.

It would be good if different colours / tones could be ordered, especially the colour option. Maybe a choice of green, blue, red and white LEDs could be used. This way on a dark night the colour of the light would tell you which of your rods is active.

The option to turn the on/off button one way and have alarm and another way and get only the light alarm would be good, I can see where the noise may annoy some others but having a light on the end of the rod that flashed when you get a bite could be useful.

Howard

P.S. I have just been to the Seabite web site and there is now an option to buy a spare shoe. So someone else has also seen this as a good extra. It makes me think that either the guy down there is thinking about how they are used and developing what we need or is listening to customer feedback already either way it bodes well.” Review: Howard Guppy