FOX Black Label Dumpy Bobbin

How well is it built?

The Dumpy looks traditional, but there's more to it than a plain lump on a chain. The metalwork is a cut above, with a hockey stick machined from aluminium and an anodised chain, so the parts that take the knocks should stand up to years of use and being packed away wet.

The head has a removable indented cap on top, which lets you fit an isotope and turn the line clip so it lines up with the windows.

The brass insert sits inside the body to add weight when you need it, and the bobbin is made in red, orange, green, blue, purple, white and black, so matching it to your alarms is easy.

To be fair, it's still a moulded head rather than solid metal, and there's nothing high-tech about it. For a bobbin at this level, though, I think the machined fittings, the anodised chain and the thought that's gone into the cap justify the 8.5.

Sensitivity & Visibility

Why does a heavier bobbin matter? At range, especially on tight lines, a light head can sit there doing very little when a fish drops back towards you.

A heavier one holds more tension on the line, so a drop-back should pull the bobbin down clearly and a run should lift it positively.

That's where the 13g head and the 20g option come in, and it's why the Dumpy is aimed at medium to long range.

The flip side is that it isn't the most sensitive choice for short-range, slack-line fishing, where a lighter head like the Trakker Clinga Standard Kit is a better match. That's the main reason it scores 8.0 rather than higher.

Visibility is strong, though, as the opaque coloured body stands out by day and the twin windows mean an isotope's glow is visible side-on as well as head-on, so the bobbin is still easy to pick out at night from an angle. Overall, it's a specialist bobbin that does its job well.

Ease of Use

Setting it up is straightforward, as the hockey stick fits beneath the alarm, the ball chain hangs from it and the line goes into the clip, and the removable cap makes it easy to line the clip up with the isotope windows so the glow faces you rather than the lake.

The brass insert gives you two settings, 13g without it and 20g with it, which is a simple way to switch between medium and long range without carrying a bag of spare weights around. Fitting an isotope goes through the same indented cap, so the head only needs setting up once.

Is there any downside? With only two weight settings, you can't fine tune it to the gram for different conditions, and if you lose a line clip, a spare is an extra. It's a small point, though, and for most anglers I think the 8.5 reflects a bobbin that's easy to set and forget.

Is it good value for money?

So, is it good value? It's a mid-priced bobbin, and for that you get a machined aluminium hockey stick, an anodised ball chain, a brass insert and two isotope windows. That's a lot of proper hardware for the money, and it's built to last rather than be replaced after a season.

Next to the Trakker Clinga Standard Kit, it's heavier and better finished, while the Clinga is the lighter bobbin for short range.

The Fox Black Label Dinky Halo Bobbins add an LED that lights up on a bite, but they're a different kind of indicator with a jack connection to the alarm, whereas the Dumpy keeps things simple with isotopes.

I'd recommend the Dumpy Bobbin to carp anglers who fish medium to long range on tight lines, on big pits and open waters, and who want a solid, traditional bobbin that shows drop-backs clearly. If most of your fishing is in the margins, a lighter head suits you better.