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Tbh, I'm generally a summer fisherman. I have avoided going when it gets below 6c at night. My bag is a big snooze+ 3 season jobby. I'm over 50 now and am fed up with being uncomfortably cold without good bl**dy reason. So, a heated blanket for a few hours with the bed cover so I'm not climbing into a freezer seems like a sensible idea and a weight sacrifice I'm willing yo make. It runs off my Ridge Monkey Vault 26000mah powerbank which I take anyway, so its a negligible change for me. I don't get the self flagellation at the altar of discomfort. If your doing something to save weight great you do you, but doing something just because it was done like that 30 years ago seems like madness to me. 20-30 years ago I smoked, mostly used a bike to get around and used to go raving. If I hadn't changed I'm not sure I would still be here, let alone have a decent job, house, be married with kids going to uni. If carp fishing had stayed the same we'd still be using argos sunbeds, optonics and cheap 50" brollies with a tarp over the top. Just look at your phone in your hand. How old is that and how old is the tech? The world changes, moves on and progresses. Embrace it where you want to/can justify it. I would ask, do you use a throwing stick/spomb/bait boat/baiting pole/sonar/gps? None of those were available 30 years ago, at least not in their current form. Back then, were there any carp reels, rods with the specialised ringing we now use?

So do I, but I would admit to two!

The syndicate im in allows you to name a new Thirty ,

I am such a Tackle Tart id charge to view my set up .😂

Not the best advice but worked for me , When i use to smoke ,if ever i got bitten by a Mozzy , i would dab the hot end of the cigarette on the bite briefly , worked every time , no itching just a little burn but no different to the mark youll end up leaving after scratching at it for hours.

Maybe something id consider to be honest ,

I'm thinking maybe Interax doesn't want to end up crippled with arthritis in old age and unable to go fishing / enjoy his retirement ? .

Whatever next..... oh maybe heated bivvie slippers!!! 😂 Probably WiFi controlled from a massive power bank with iPhone and iPad connected too? Really, if you want to get out in winter, which I never do anymore why buy this rubbish?? Just man up! If anyone doubts my winter fishing credentials, i did post a few pics of me at Horseshoe lake with snow on bivvie, a fox bed chair, argos sleeping bag and blanket over the top.Sometimes I do despair about the modern generation of 'Carp Anglers'. Good luck with you Halo heated blanket tho! 😀 Oh and don't forget some heated gloves if you actually get out of the bivvie to land a fish? Sorry to be so cynical but......

I must have met you there! That's when I fished it. PigPen was probably my favourite swim, but I caught from most swims. I missed Sam's, Rocky and Digit, but had some of the other 30's. A lot of big fish from such a small water.

I used to fish Brackens, guessing it was about 2008 to 2011. I really struggled by mate had some real good ones including Rocky and Digit.

I am not a fan of Korda hooks! I found the standard Kranks were blunt compared to a Gardner Mugga. At Brackens Pool I had been using Muggas and an identical shaped Gamakatsu pattern with no problems, landing plenty of fish to over 30lb. One day I ran out of ready tied rigs so pinched one from a mate, identical to mine, but tied with a Krank. I kept on getting bleeps, but no proper runs. I reeled in and put on a freshly tied rig with a Mugga, recast to the same spot and had a proper run within minutes. When I got home I compared the hookpoints, sharpness. I balanced the hookoint on the ball of my thumb, with a 3oz lead I was able to lift the hooklink and lead off the desk. I tried the same with both the Gardner Mugga and the Gamakatsu's and could not even lift the weight of the lead. I did put pics on the site here! It may have been a bad batch, but it was not just one hook in the pack, every one was not as sharp. I have never bought another Korda hook since. Pretty much the only hook brands I trust now are Drennan/ESP, Gardner and my last few Solar 101's and Gamakatsu GP204's which went through a stage of not being available or in case of Gamakatsu no longer made.

Hi guys. Has anyone had any experience with a Fox Halo Heated Blanket? How well do they work in the cold? Thanks.

The hook looks sharp enough, should be if it was done by Jason Hayward. If it was a one off, I shouldn't worry too much as stick to the size 4 although a smaller hook is more likely to penetrate to the bend and stay there.

Korda basics Krank Can't go wrong with those, perfect hookhold every time imo. Ive only ever had bends, or bluntness on the Kamakura versions. Standard ones, with a bit of honing have never let me down. I'm not a fan of the screws tbh, I'm afraid that could cause unnecessary tears in the fishes mouth & just wouldn't want to risk it. I prefer to use floss on a micro swivel, which has a lot more free movement than the screw set up.

Thanks for the info, I had a size 4 standard gauge Korda Krank open up on me on Sunday, gutted because it felt like a good fish. I was using 15mm pop ups. I've got some size 2 wide gapes at home and some 14mm pop ups, these are more buoyant than the 15's I was using. If 2's are ok i'll order some Korda basics Krank X's today as I prefer this patten.

The vast majority of rigs in my wallet are size 8's with a few 6's. As long as the hooks are sharp and penetrate well, I don't remember having a hook open up on me which would be the time to go up a size.

Try attaching the PVA bag to the lead, basically moulding it around it, leaving the hooklink outside and nicking the hookpoint through the corner in and out. It stops or slows the lead sinking deeply into silt as well. I do frequently test my PVA after the issue with the Nash PVA bags that didn't dissolve in the washing machine. Brands change suppliers, or I can't get hold of a brand so at least one bag from every batch I buy is tested. I do the same with mesh for the same reason although Gardner mesh is consistent.

Hello, Has anyone had any success using size 2 Korda wide gapes on a Ronnie/Spinner rig? My 14mm pop ups have no issues holding up. It looks deadly to me, is this a bit over the top? Thanks

After reading all the feedback, I think i'll just fish singles if I got to used barbed hooks. Thanks

For what it's worth, pva bags in colder weather probably not a good idea, also the preping them up with anything with oil in them does stop the breakdown. Just an alternative idea for winter, why not try the old idea of pva stringers? I used to do the 3 bait stringer thing many years ago, it actually did work back then but too old now to get on bank before next spring 😂

I've had this before. Absolute nightmare. I tend to avoid PVA completely as we head towards winter.

My summer bags have been in the bucket with spare mix for a couple of months, they are damp from liquids. Still melting after about 30 seconds to a minute, I know this from poor casts obvs. The winter mix for the November ticket is winter pellet and Live System crumb with corn steep liquor. Prob gonna have to make them fresh just to be sure. I've also had the nuggets still on in the morning so they were a bit old but it was December.

That is the reason I nearly always make mine fresh just before casting. I do use a mix of pellets for bagging and meshing; halibut, CSL, bloodworm, koi/coarse and GLM in various sizes. Note, the Crafty Catcher bloodworm and GLM seem to be oversprayed. I managed to leave some Nash bags in my trouser pocket once, I was quite surprised that they were still undissolved after an hours 40⁰ wash. The plastic bag they were in had allowed water in, but the bags themselves were still almost intact.