Foxy Ears

I think my favourite year ever was 1988. I was free to do more or less what I wanted, i loved the music (mostly), drove a great car (Alpha Romeo Alpha Sud 1.3Ti) and had a bit of cash in my pocket (usually). As a result I still have my beloved Optonic Super Compact bite alarms, they cost a substantial amount at the time and I had to earn the right to use tackle like that and not just turn up with a credit card and and walk out of the shop with an arm full of gear. To their credit I still think theyre great alarms and if for only 2 drawbacks I'd still be using them a. for overnight sessions a wireless sounder box is needed and as far as I know you cant get them for the aging optonics and b. the V that accomodates the rod is too shallow and violent runs have a habit of dragging the rod off the rest. So there it is, my optonics have been relegated to the back of the draw. At least they were until my old pal Jay introduced me to snag ears, basically 2 vertical bars that fit behind the alarm that the rod slides down between and can't be dragged sideways past. A quick look on Ebay shows that sets of 3 snag ears can be bought for under a tenner however I settled for a set from Fox which came in at £12.99 each. The bottom half of the vertical bars are protected by a rubber sleeve to protect the blank and the vertical posts can be unscrewed from the base when not needed. The whole set is made out of anodised aluminium and look the business. It would be fair to say they're not the cheapest solution on the market but they have brought my aging Optonics back to life....... if only during daylight hours.