Great spinning/fixed spool reel

• There are so many different reels to use for mullet fishing, and I would guess that most anglers are using fairly small models for the light mainlines that we use. Whilst I reckon that Shimano make the best spinning (fixed spool) reels there are, this little Okuma VS30 (photo above) that I have been using for my mullet fishing for a fair while now is a delight to fish with. It came with a couple of spools, but I use mainly 10-20lb braid on mine for mulleting and it works a treat.

• A friend of mine over in Florida also swears by the larger Okuma VS models for a lot of his heavy fishing, for species such as tarpon, and having used one over there, they do work very well. It is amazing what you can do with spinning reels these days.

• I am actually looking around for some spinning reels at the moment, for various parts of my fishing, and while I know that these Okuma reels will do all that is asked of them, I have to admit that my heart really wants to invest in a few of the most awesome reels in the world - the simply mind-blowing Shimano Stella. If money was no object, I would get the 4000, 5000, 6000 and 8000 size models right now................dream on !! These reels are machines and are a serious pleasure to use. But perhaps I had better get real and start looking through the Shimano catalogue at some slightly cheaper reels.

• Check out the stunning new Greys 2008 Game catalogue - there are plenty of my photographs in there, including a very cool shot of one of their reels inside the front cover that I shot last year on the Exe, with Nick Hart. Thanks Nick for the use of your hand !!

• Below is a photo from mullet fishing the other day - at times we could see fish surfacing not ten yards out from here. I lay down on the ground here and literally rested the camera on the pebbles, using my Canon 16-35mm f2.8L lens to try and accentuate that moody sky, with the sunlight off to the left illuminating the foreshore and Larks fishing away.