AFAW 6 & Bait - Penn Fathom 2 casting Special - introduction 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has to fish a matching pair of rods and reels! My brother who I fish often with puts it down to the fact I spent 24 years in the Army!

52 year old lifetime fisherman here. Used to visit john wilson in his small shop in central norwich (still use his Avon quiver tip i bought from him when i was around 16) and your channel reminds me so much of his enthusiasm and knowledge. I am just getting back into sea fishing (norfolk/suffolk) and have started to get a collection on terminal gear together and your rig building clips are great. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and enjoyment. Any tips for this area of coast always appreciated. Beat of luck with the new set up and look forward to more of the same.

Hi Mark when you get sand in the Solo have a bucket of water and dip your trace in it when you reel in. I leave the lead and Solo in the bucket of water while I bait up the hook.

Hi Mark, It's been two years since you post this one on the 6&bait and reel it would be really good to hear how you have been getting along with them. I'm looking at purchasing the same setup and would like to hear about how they cast, bite detection and what species you would be happy to use the rods for. Many thanks I really enjoyed the video.

Really looking forward to the fishing for this year

Ooh,and I can’t wait to see what you catch on the new gear 🎣🐟

I do like your garage rambles. Although I don't shore fish much now, even though I have a beach 10min walk from my front door (can be fun in the autumn on a big tide) it's always good to listen and watch the beach reverence. I am also a bit of a tackle tart. A Penn Fathom 20lw now resides on one of my boat rods. I've always been a fan of Penn reels. I Christian it the other day with a day on the tings topped with a 15lb blonde and 25lb conger. Looking forward to the next video. Tight lines all.

Hi Mark that's what rods I have got lovely rods hope to see you down the beach with Ian and Chris again soon

Another great video, I'm new to sea fishing and have gained alot from you rig tutorials, keep up the good work

As always a great informative video. I’ve used the Bimini for years now,once you get used to it it’s brilliant. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I’ve used the Pulley for years too ! majority of the time with a 24’’ hook length and caught loads of rays, and other fish and never found it puts fish off 🎣🐟

Hi Mark, I bought the same set up 6 months ago but with 7HT Mags, I have now bought a casting special and love this reel, it has a lot more grunt and casts so smoothly. I fish around Selsey, hayling mainly but looking to expand my areas this year as I have never fished places like chesil and want to give it a go 😀, good luck with the new set up

I bought this exact set up a year and a half ago and absolutely love it, brilliant rod, build quality is on point, my favourite reel as well.

Looking forward to seeing some big fish with this setup. 👍

Thanks Mark, good video look forward to seeing you put everything through it’s paces and hopefully a few fish to boot

Great informative video as per normal. I was comparing the 6 and bait 14 foot multiplier with the daiwa saltist 14 foot multiplier which was what I went for in the end as none of the local tackle shops had the 6 and bait (always try to keep my money local if I can). Found the daiwa saltist quite stiff so will be following you with the 6 and bait and if it looks like the better option will be changing. I use a fathom mk2 15 but I use Asso tapered shock leaders 70lb with Asso hardskin which I find is brilliant.

I’m loving my new Penn Fathom 2 CS

Another good video again mark🐟👍

Looking forward to seeing all the gear in action keep up the great videos 👍🎣🐟🐟🐟🇬🇧🇬🇧

Interesting, look forward to see how it works out.👍If you find a casting coach would be good if that can be filmed.

You are right sand at southbourne does cause problem gone over to imps good video again

Great video as always Mark. I started sea fishing properly last year (lifelong coarse angler) and I bought a 6 and bait (after you kindly gave me some rod advice via facebook). I got the FS model but couldn't get on with it and sold it on. I found it stiff and hard to compress. Maybe thats because I was using a fixed spool. I have since moved over to multis and bought 2 Daiwa Kenzaki Surf rods which I find lovely to cast. Know they may not be on your radar as they are only available from Gerrys in Morecambe. A good pointer for me was they are hybrids, so I could use FS or multis on them, but pleased to say I am enjoying using multipliers now and find them easier to cast and generate power.

I use the same set up as yourself,I had Penn mag 4’s on them but changed to the casting special and it’s the best hing I ever done…

Hi Mark, great video. I use the same rods with various reel combos here in Melbourne, Australia, and just love them. Excellent fishing rod!

Good job very good job I like what you did thank you😅😅

another great vid looking forward to see how you go with this set up

I will be buying a pair of 14ft afaw 6nbaits this year teamed up with my mk1 penn 525 mags. I always use 4-5ft pulleys at chesil and when hound fishing at hillhead.

Fair enough but I like the element of suprise. Thanks for the reply take care 😎

Good informative video thanks Mark. Stay safe & well!

Superb video again Mark. I make my pulley rigs virtually identical to yours component wise. I have changed from Gemini swivels to Power Swivels, and I use a swivel on my main line then connect the Dynaform straight on. Love the Trident tackle. Looking forward to seeing your results.

Good for you m8 , goodluck this year mark , 6 and bait good all round rod , and casting specials are faultless , be coming down staying in Southampton in the Summer at hedge end , so be great to catch up m8 ... jules 👍

Nice, beautiful fishing equipment

Exhalent video Mark as always, but can I ask you to do one thing. On your wire bite trace for the Tope. Can I ask you, crush the barb on the hook. It's easier to unhook the Tope and it causes less stress on the fish you can use a T bar to remove the hook. I love my Tope fishing and I treat them like a pet dog, after all they are called "The greyhound of the sea" I see people holding a Tope in there arms and there is blood pouring out of there lip were they have struggled to get the hook out because of the barb. I like your hooks as well but I use cox and rawle 8/0 circle hooks with barb crushed, I find you get a better hook hold in the corner of the mouth. I'm not bragging but the Tope I catch are in the 30lb. to 45lb range. I did catch one 2013 weighing 60lb. So you do need strong tackle. I'm not telling you to do this but I think it's best for the fish. After all the ban fish brigade are always watching.

Rings on Fireblade are American Tackle ones. You want something longer wait and see whats coming out! Try Braid for leaders we use 100lb ebay special 4 strand saratoga etc tough as F! small knot less issues with weed and hitting cast is far better as direct feel. on my FS's use Powerpro 100lb. Running Fathom 12's filled right to edge of spool on .30/32 can hit it hard on either mk1 mono magged or mk2's 15's can run sketchy if brimmed

Really well presented as always. The price of upper end quality fishing rods has gone quite silly. A bit like modern mountain bike costs. And well out of kilter with earnings. Hard to understand it. Some marketing team somewhere has added a zero and a few made up scientific sounding words such as nano and graphene and they span the arrow to choose a silly price. Modern technology should make these items cheaper not more expensive. Im convinced the prices are linked to willingness to pay not cost to make. People do have more leisure money.

I'm just starting out with sea fishing and someone recommended the 6 & Bait to me as he said I'd probably not need to by a replacement rod ... Intersting to see how you get on with them.

Great video Mark. Just brought 2 AFAW 14ft fs rods for my surfblaster 3 reels. Gonna purchase 2 AFAW 14ft multis aswell for my penn mag 4s or might get a couple of Daiwa millionaires. Tight lines and thanks

I just bought another fireblade, and then found out that they have brought out a 14' 7oz version, not too worried as I love them, but I would love to be able to have been able to compare the two of them, just to see the difference £50 actually makes,and more importantly is it worth it!.

Great channel mate loved it

Log Burners are the Biz!

Plenty of good sized bass coming off the shore at calshot at the min.

AFAW 6 and bait great rod

Hi Mark look up moglo reflective tape sticks better and is cheaper as you can buy it by the metre plus a good range of colours well worth a try

Hello Mark, have just joined your channel and do like the fact that you spend time discussing equipment and rigs and also how you construct your rigs, not just videos of catching fish:). In relation to the AFAW 6&Bait i have been considering the 14ft multiplier rod, as i already have the equivalent 4+Bait, so it would almost be a matching pair. I fish mainly off the North Kent coast (Whitstable) which is generally a clean stretch of water, hence the 4+Bait, it also allows the use of a small fixed spool reel as well. So the 4+Bait takes max a 5oz lead, I normally use 3-4oz. The 6+Bait says it is a 5-7oz casting rod, but in your opinion/have you tried a 4oz lead on one of your rods yet and how does it perform? My thoughts are using as a pair the 4+ can be used for scratching/smaller baits, whilst the 6+ can be used with a bigger bait cast further out, with a bit of overlap between the 2 rods. (ie both used with a 4oz?) Also having the 6+ would give me a better option on rougher ground, as opposed to getting a second 4+? Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated and feedback on your 6+ performance would be really appreciated. I am a average angler with a overhead 'thump' cast rather than anything flashy! thanks Hugh.

Mark could you doa video on how you do the tope rigs and emissions loop.. what wire you use etc.... Love Live channel would be great to meet up in South Wales on a few of the marks when your over this way... plenty of good fish to go for ..big blondes we all like 😉

Interesting to see you've gone to a 5ft pulley rig.... I started experimenting with what I thought were longer ones, going up to about 4ft, but I was finding the bite indication quite poor and I wasn't getting as many hook ups.... I also started running these along side a drop down pulley rig to try and make a comparison..... To my surprise the drop down out performed the longer standard pulley in both terms of bite registration and hook ups.... Be interesting to see how you get on with a 5ft one

Hi Mark. Great vid. Love the Penns, too. I followed @billyfishing advice and loaded with 0.45 plus four-strand braid. No nests to date and casts well. Any smaller diameter and line digs into adjacent strands and birds like ten men. Or maybe that’s my poor line recovery technique.

If you fancy trying something different. Try experimenting with a bait slider. You can fish at a distance and close in at the same time

Hello Mark Dean uses the century T900 with the glass tips but built in T1000 colours which leads to confusion six & baits are good rods

I really enjoyed the video.Believe it or not I have exactly the same set up.As I fish the Bristol Channel on both the English and Welsh side,it’s a savage environment in tidal flow and tackle loss over rough ground the Penn CS works very well.The gear box is nearly as big as my cars,which is where it has the advantage over the 7HT’s in my opinion.What I’d like to say is the spindle on the pens needs to be well greased (LM is fine) as I cleaned mine and the bearings squeal on heavy casting so the grease seems to even the tolerances.I have pulled in double figure thorn backs long lining over 250 yards on my local sand beach with ease compared to fixed spools.The six and bait are super tough,bite detection is compromised but it will sit super still in a 13mtr tide.I took the S&B pro out for a spin last week,great bite detection but you are in T1000 money so not for me.Ultra cast line is fab a lot less stretch over standard mono.In the tip tape department I have gone for might bright black that illuminates white,it looks smart in daylight but does the job at night.The terminal tackle looks great.Im a bit old school in that department as I’d be gutted if I cracked off and lost it all.Wishing you all the best with the new gear and tight lines mate👍

Great video..I went from multi to fixed spool due to birds nests redusing my fishing time. also i went with the South African setup with low spin and braid ..it had change dmy fishing. I started using the pen spinfisher and took the set up for a spin. Nothing went wrong with the reel atn all and I had a great session catching. Caight my foirst tope on it. Thinking I might give this casting special reel a go after what your saying it is easy to set up no birds nests and jthe line just flies out.

another interesting and unbelievable video like the idea of the long pully rig hope it will work in Essex were I fish 🐟

Hi Mate.. A longer drop compress the rod more, so many people use short drops.. When i say long i mean 8ft or longer... The shock leader will knot up different, between clear and coloured and the way they go threw the rings .. they are not as subtle as each our are there is always the stretch.. i always use a min of 80lb rig bodies....i will get down and have a session your way ...tight lines

Hi Initial comment, really enjoy your shore and workshop rambling, informative and enjoyable. Am 5ft7 and find 14ft rods are “the length” for me, an in the process of considering buying a new one, but like the convenience of a 3 piece rod, looking at the new Penn Tidal range, which are not advertised as conti rods, but 3 piece traditional format ! ! ! Ironically I have just reverted to FS, as was spending too much time on beach, sorting overruns, might catch a few more fish now, as more bait time in the water ! ! I love catching smoothhounds and akin to you watch Dean Booker and now make my rigs for SH’s with fixed Pennell circle hook, catch rate now better with SH and dogfish, catch a higher percentage on the fixed Pennell hook Recently tried to send photos in RU-vid, but failed miserably, so now sent to you in messenger. Look forward to your findings with new setups Go steady and stay safe Derek

Hi mark I fish the same set up as you have CSs and 6&B. I pendulum cast and hitting around 250 with a 6oz lead. I am more than happy to meet up with you and see if I can give you a few pointers casting, I fish the bristol channel so if you are local I could meet you near minehead and were go casting..no charge

Great set up Mark and your usual excellent video. One question for you, if I may. How do you calculate the length of shockleader required? Thank you.

Hi Mark, love the new set ups, why do you prefer mono to braid for your main line? Cheers Mike.

Just going to watch now 👍 which is the better all round rod, 6&b or fireblade, going to purchase one or the other this week but undecided on which to get.

I am up to buying a Fireblade. It's a rod that haunts my dreams! 😂😂😂 Rod tip stiffness is not a problem for me. Targeting from striped bream to dentex, amberjacks, rays etc. Would it be a good idea to pair it with fixed spool reel? Or I should pair it exclusively with a multy? Interesting pulley rig version, especially the bite traces with the flemmish loops. The crimps are shrink tubes?

Hi Mark really liked this vid, but I can't understand why you want to fish with two set's of identical rods and reels!!. If you were allowed two wife's would you pick identical ones ??. I've just bought a A/F 6 & bait and a Century fire blade I've only used them once but I'm inpressed. Keep the videos comeing tight lines. 😎

Hi mark. Your opinion on the any fish anywhere. I'm thinking of buying the set before I buy just wondering do you feel like the rod is heavy to cast with. Disabled backside of me I'm looking for a light rod for roughly the same money as the 6 and bait Your opinion would be great

hi Mark and happy new year to you from NZ. Here, I use two AFAW rods and love them - a 6+bait (great) and a GB FS pro (even better!). My rig of choice is the Bagnall bar. Reels are two Penn 850SSM fixed spools with 50lbs Daiwa J braid (80lbs leader). They are indestructible. This set up casts miles. As you've watched Dean Booker, have a look at his hound rig, in particular the fixed circle pennel hook. I've been experimenting with that and, as Dean says, most of my hounds and skate here get hooked on that fixed circle hook and once hooked they don't get away. All the best, Ian

Hi Mark, great video and well presented as usual, I have made pulley rigs useing all these different components and mainly I find they just give the weed more to cling to, so now I try and keep my rig components small and minimalistic as possible. I still dont catch much though 😕 . Do you have this problem with the weed? What am I doing wrong?

Come to a casting event on the field mate Weymouth casting everyone there will help you

great rod for price cast a long way even better if you use braid

Ask Mathew ashbridge for casting coaching, he's part of the rn fishing team too

Hi Mark, I normally fish Portsmouth area Eastney, Hayling, Gosport . I try and fish a few hours up and few hours down. When ever I can get the opportunity ( work , family commitments) you know how it is. I'm new to sea fishing and any advice would be great.

Hi Mark, Any problems with the size of the tip ring and weed on the line getting caught? John

Hey Mark, we moved to Portsmouth just over 2 years ago and I've taken up sea angling, which I'm really enjoying. You mentioned in this video that you'd like to hire a casting coach... Did you find one? I know you're fairly local to me and if you did find someone, would you mind sharing who you used? I think I need one too. I fished a match a few weeks ago and couldn't get half of what the guy next to me was casting, and he said he wasn't trying because of the buoys in front of us!

Casting special is a class reel but I didn't like the afaw rods,settled on a pair of kompressor s and think there the mutts nuts

casting coach try brian pask angling trust coach can been seen on fishing with cj or saltwater angler hope this helps

Gee £500 Rod, that's a lot of rod, hope its a rod for life.

The silver tape does it come in strips .Have you got to cut it in strips

Another great video mark, I cant understand why youve had problems with mighty bright tip tapes, especially with a headtorch as it reflects back to the light source which is just above your eyes, Used it for years and never had any problems, in fact just ordered some more in yellow for my Sandstorms. 🤣😂 Loving the Trident gear and have now changed over to it from gemini. Keep up the videos as they are always a good watch😄👍

dear sir, can you send me to web site or where i can buy tri-pod

Hi Mark you have two rods identical, would it be beneficial to go 6 and bait plus 4 and bait for different uses or are the 6 and bait sensitive enough for lighter use.

Was actually considering getting two of this rod and reel pairing myself, how do you find the bite detection? can't seem to find much about it

Go see Wayne hand on chesil mate the shore hunter he will sort you out

not sure why you talk of the penn reel when you have two 7ht mags

Escuchar en Castellano

Go to a casting club in your area Mark Google

Omg this literally has been the best hands down video i have found in a while. I have the same exact real. I’ve been casting nothing but birds nest. I followed everything you have and I’m finally sending these baits to the moon. 🥲 you’ve earned a sub.

Like the new setup mate look forward to seeing it I use the Gemini solo splash down and have not had a problem with sand but then I do dip the weight into a bucket of water to clean the grooves for the wires as little bits of grit can get into them every now and then but no problem with the solo still using the up and over with about 4 to 5 ft trace tight lines