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I am hoping they do another rudd match at the syndicate this year, loved it last time, and we got to stock them in their new home, The pest pond 😂

Thought i should post the pic of the rods prior to breaking the tip of one, BTW had a repky from Wychwood asking me to take broken rod to local dealer for them to send it back and let them see if it was poor workmanship that caused it but i have repaired it so not going back, i have instead ordered a pair of Rod Hutchinson 10ft rods and will sell on the 9ft Wychwoods

We used the same technique on the Carp society’s horseshoe lake when after the big tench, then the carp would take over. Elmo would have been in his element catching them big Rudd 🤔

That's a shame was looking forward to seeing you catch loads of fish on your new mix.

I ditched it in the end mix really annoying texture, hard to form, roll and bind despite being very well blitzed with over 20% semolina and 10% albumen.. pet biscuits are strange formulations, never mind I got tired of making bait and never got on great with it despite being a highly confident experienced cook So I just bought some really nice frozen boilie paste instead which I will custom roll how I want it

I don’t like Merlin OR Super Nova Far too loose weave The best uncoated braid by miles is Armourlink - UNCOATED Dark Matter is also quite good Dishonourable mention for Gardner Trickster which is weak rubbish and let me down badly several times Most others on market are either too thin or have a horrible gnarly surface which cuts fish

Sort of, their buoys. Had a small conger that went back in I fished with the brother-in-law had a laugh 👍 I can see the coyotes but no dog. Best of luck and don’t forget the suntan lotion

I went back to the Korda website and looked at the hooklink braids, and may have found the answer, although not described in the particular hooklink is just 'extremely tough fibres', but others in the range definitely contain Dyneema. It means that for the breaking strain they are likely to be extremely thin. Kryston hooklinks are made from Spectra, which although the same chemical composition is formed differently and so thicker for any given breaking strain. Digging around the science I found this: "Technically all braid is made from PE (polyethylene). Both Spectra and Dyneema are made from PE and Spectra filaments are usually thicker and more robust, while Dyneema filaments are thinner. Dyneema is generally cheaper than Spectra per strand so lower end line companies using Dyneema put out inferior braid." With my preference for Kryston products that could explain why I never had such problems as the OP I hope that we can now lay this down to bed...

Lovely morning after a wet night. I call the trees opposite Wile E Coyote and Scotty Dog. I've had a few fish out of this swim in the past, but it is the area where I've seen the big uncaught common.

Is that people in the sea? Nutters! Aside from that hope you had fun and caught dinner or summat.

Sky spent last night in the bivvy as it was raining, but at around 6am was sat outside watching and waiting. She's now totally relaxed and sunbathing.

Domoda is Gambian peanut stew a bit like Satay the peanuts over there are five times as nice as ours they are absolutely outrageous

You can strip part of the loop in coated braid so the knot is thinner but still one side of loop coated

I rarely have any problems with the Gardner Braided Hair Needle. They will go through most baits except rock hard boilies. https://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/braided-hair-needle/ It may be an eBay job if you can't get them from your American supplier. The other possibility is whipping a softer thinner hair to the hook shank. Rod whipping thread and dental floss are both pretty good. So tie your hook on with a standard hook knot, and then simply tie the dental floss/whipping thread to the eye, whip it down the hookshank and overhand loop the last two turns to create the hair with a decent loop.

You beat me to it. I also found this: https://hammertackle.com/en/blogs/blog/vantastic-lukas-carp-fishing-adventure-in-greece

Nah that roach activity old chestnut doesn’t work on some tough lakes better some places just chance your luck to have intact hookbaits waiting for a long time in the right places the right amount of roach (thousands) will muller everything soft and bitty you give them, and I don’t want to lug their banquet around!

Not sure if northern specials is a specific American bait by Nash as never heard of that one. cc Moore make a northern special which is a hook bait. you could try around a 1mm drill bit or American equivalent. (Around 1/32 give or take) drill slowly and it shouldn’t break the back of the boilie out

Quickest Google search Lake Plastiras: Near Karditsa, known for carp, catfish, and big barbel. Lake Yliki: Near Athens, with carp populations. Other notable lakes: Lake Kastoria, Lake Aliakmonas, Lake Ladonas, and Lake Pinios also offer carp fishing opportunities. Lake Aoos: Near Ioannina, known for carp, sturgeon, and trout. Lake Pamvotis: Also near Ioannina, with grass carp and common carp.

What about A12 fisheries that’s a day ticket I have never fished it but a few have. www.a12lakes.co.uk

Back in 2016 (!), I fished Alton Water near The Wonder and caught roach to 2lb 5oz on the cage swimfeeder, size 16hook and either double red maggot or maggot and caster. The first 2 or 3 swims down the slope I found the best at around 30-40metres, regularly recasting. The fish tended to switch on from around 4pm until last light. Birchwood on the other side I found better for bream on the feeder, and for float fishing for silver fish if you go to the right. That is down a small farm lane with a combination lock gate at the end. You get lock number when you buy your ticket. Ardleigh I was fishing back in 2005 for carp, but the bream would come on big beds of groundbait and if you could prebait the day or two before would often be there all day, with the occasional carp. Go into Ardleigh, and down Lodge Lane, near the petrol station. There is another Lodge Lane on the other side of the reservoir. Wick Lane dam area is also easily accessible. I never did very well up near the main fishing lodge.

just checked it on the old web and it looks perfect, never fished a res before so this will be a nice bit of both fun and a learning curve also i must admit i still love swimfeeding or method from days past.......

Alton Water and Ardleigh Reservoir are both within your 30minutes of Colchester just off the A12 towards Ipswich. Day tickets via their website, and should come up on Google fairly easily. I spent a lot of time on both of them in the past, and the swimfeeder and heavy baiting can be the best approach for bream and roach, although carp tend to be late afternoon through the night on carp tactics, but day tickets don't allow night fishing.

Get the small rudd feeding on my water, the tench move in, often followed by the carp. It's why I frequently put in a bucket of mashed bread and birdfood. The small seeds and bread keep the rudd amused, boilies pick up tench and carp.

Best way to use maize is sprouted, or just as it starts to ferment. I prep mine by soaking with a teaspoon of soft brown sugar and salt, then after a 24hour soak, boil it up and leave for another night. I've watched the carp ripping up the bottom to get to it. It's a mix of roasted peanuts, coconut oil, lemon juice, chilli and garlic with added salt and sugar, and depending on supplier, soy sauce. Actually with a natural preservative or two. The worry about preservatives in a bait kind of amuses me, as sugar and salt, lemon juice and smoking were done for that exact reason naturally before we started playing about with chemicals. Another preservative is glycerin or glycerol, and I think is an attractor in its own right, as well as being the base of some very successful flavours. Synthesise it and you can get diacetin and triacetin, which were the original base solvents of Scopex and a number of flavours, Chocolate Malt and some spice flavours. The big problem with triacetin and diacetin is the cost compared to glycerol. I would struggle putting peanut butter in a bait, I love my crunchy peanut butter sandwiches too much to waste it... Saying that peanut oil is a very good additive as the lipid and fat content; 10ml peanut oil and 10ml of olive oil is pretty good.

Depends on your water though, I've found that feeding rudd can also make the carp feed with gusto, they stay the party as it where.