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Just a note on superglue I never go anywhere near hooklinks under 25lb and I’m not using it on loose weave braid, or on any line per se- there’s a tiny bit in hook eye to improve the angle of the hook I.e presentation its not a problem never has been also decent high grade Gorilla super glue is completely inert in water and is used on fish tank ornaments etc I don’t use fluoro* but I read that it’s a myth it weakens fluoro * don’t go near super supple braids either I wasted multiple hundreds mucking about with far too many overpriced little spools of gimmicky, poor hooklinks (and baits) in the past but at least I gave lots away and sold some so it wasn’t all bad…. Plus I learnt precisely what I want and also learnt to see straight through the nonsense and greed of the (mostly in fact noddies) carp tax mafia no fish that swims will trouble my knot and I haven’t left a rig in a fish or the lake since I was a beginner because nothing ever breaks (12lb Maxima sees to that, as do boats and bailiffs) God forbid ever using a lead weight.. completely unnecessary and lack of development of non tox by the greedy tackle baron noddies is another reason to deeply dislike certain influential parties (such as KORDA, NASH, AND FOX etc)! Evolve Tackle sorted it, the weights are superb, I use adapted stones myself and don’t have the wool pulled over your eyes the problem is not just are they or are they not dodgy for lakes ( they are definitely 100% litter).. the problem is encouraging lead production which is hideous, toxic and very damaging to people and the environment The companies are named and shamed because I will be extremely happy to explain in court how they had a responsibility yet chose to pollute instead in favour of copping out for easy money, and actively promote the littering of water courses and benefit from pollution and littering

If you want to soak right into a bait, then it needs to be less viscous than Strawberry goo.

Cork handles always seem to get damaged in my experience. Too easy to take a chunk out of them or they go out of shape after sitting in butt grips or whatever.

found some reviews on google seems very good rods with top customer service but a few tales of the cork handles being a bit poor

If your boilie is breaking off when you withdraw the needle, it sounds more like you are using a baiting needle with too harsh a barb rather the knot causing the problem. Boilie recipes have undergone a change from being hard, which was supposed to put off smaller fish and make them easier to catapult or stick out, to softer which requires less boiling and so they retain more of their nutritional profile and allow water to penetrate them and release their attractants more readily. I use a Korda needle which is fine enough to penetrate boilies without causing any damage to them.

Yeah i'm in the states Texas to be exact, and i get everything shipped from bigcarptackle, i'm using bait masters and nash northern specials, but the bait masters seemed to be more effective in my waters. and its also much softer than the nash ones. This is the 3rd time ordering the bait masters and they have all been a bit on the softer side. the issue i have once i use the pop up needle to insertthe rig the knot would make the hole bigger a chunk would break off the boilie

I have never used them but someone told me they were decent for the money, probably better than all the soniks etc in that price bracket. For £85 you could get some free spirit helicals, which will be decent.

Torture! 🙃

Having had an issue with my wychwood rods i am considering getting the title rods 10ft 3lb , so are these rods worth getting, cant really find any reviews on them

Hi does anyone know if Asylum bait is still going or has it closed down ? And if still open does anyone have a contact number thanks

Couple nice ones on caught on solid bags, always good for a quick bite.

Phwooar nice reels matey 😉

Also gemini booms are good, but I'm like you with your bait, they are a lot more expensive to use, and the length is fixed so if you need to adjust you are stuck.

Krimps can be very useful, it's up to you if you want to use them or not but they do have some great uses. I am sure you have tried them for more than just booms though, they are great for making shorter chods and hinge rigs, because you don't need to knot them you can easily control the height and make them much shorter than knotting. And let's be honest trying to knot 25lb mouth trap nicely can be a right chore. Not with krimps 👍

Oh yes they certainly move a lot. I was in 30/31 one night and had 3 fish by 9am. The wind turned towards "big no dogs" and the fish were rolling towards there within half hour. I packed up and moved to "big no dogs" and had 3 more that day. Knowing the weather and air pressure was a big thing for me and a few others in my time on there. I've only ever seen " petty's" twice, once in Lee's photos and the other was close up in some snags in "spooky bay". It was only a few weeks after Lee had caught the fish so roughly knew the weight and I saw a mirror roll up in the snags with it that absolutely dwarfed it. It's certainly a special lake/complex with special carp.

It’s known as ‘Saddleback’. Petty’s is usually 46-48 when it comes out (rarely!). Interesting what you say about weather conditions-they certainly get around the place fast when they want but they’ve been stacked up in the bay for ages. I was on the edge of them in 17/18. Most were in 16-10/11 and then moved upto 13 when I left. Lost one on my last morning😬.

I actually bent the central spool shaft on one of my DL's. I can't claim it was any fault but my own, it fell off the barrow when pike fishing, however the broken handle of another one just was not. If I had a choice between the basic ST(?) or the DL, I would go ST everytime now. The main reason for switching from the DL10000's was that I needed to cast further than 90metres, which I found the maximum comfortable distance with 0.35mm 15lb line on them. The joys of going to bigger waters from 2acres... Built to last and quality. I think that it was just the extra money per reel that convinced me Aerlex was the best option. I had absolutely no problem with a quick half turn to tighten up the front spool drag and click anti-reverse off.

Why not just use a fused loop fluoro boom Gemini are a nice company booms aren’t my thing but I got some to look at anyway for possible sea rigs they’re good.. they don’t like the loop being mucked around with I can’t remember what I was doing to it Personally I just see crimps as certain influential parties going a bit ott with the sales pitch side of things crimps are for shark (and lake shark) anglers using wires.. and those species get no bother from me anyway

I worked it out it’s nothing new using very good quality dog biscuits as a boilie base, I went for more wallop in the liquids plus an oil which is different, special and hard to find, plus semolina and albumen in dries.. bricks and mortar mix nothing very flash going on (however pet food is far from simple technology/science) I spoke to a bait wizard who may be connected to here I am not going to name them or their workplace I just wanted a mix that serves as good base feed and also serves as special hookbaits which are tough yet absolutely zero issues with safety as loose feed (I don’t rate soft baits and suspect that trend is mainly to do with a very obvious saving to be made)!! soft boilies become roach ground bait rather too fast for my liking!! Hydros are of course used successfully but I went against them in the end, but same old and I suspect often neither here nor there in a mix sometimes anyway mix needs trialling soon as nights warm up properly, I don’t do cold damp fishing anymore, been there done that the T-shirt got tired of ‘hardcore’ a little while ago, back is creaky body is a bit tired and round now anyway I see no harm in potentially showing a nice skint youngster reading here that there is still life in throwing your own mixes together simply, inexpensively maybe I’m lucky but carp fishing can be simple, easy, cheap, straightforward and clutter free

Is that "Petty's comon" or another one? Either way top angling fella. I'll have to pop down one day and meet you, I'm only a 20min cycle ride away. As for them being on the back of a SW, they always used to be on the back of a low pressure SW but would follow a high pressure SW. I used to love a big low pressure SW on there as most would be down the boat club/golf bank and leave winter bay well alone. Congrats once again on a magnificent carp.

I had a Shimano DL 6000 giving to me that was 6 months old used it twice then gave it away I was shocked at the build quality just felt so cheap… A year later my mate said I got a reel you can have it was only the same reel 😳 had been around the house is a bit Got one Elmo, nice reel around £60 here’s a comparison

I've still got my biomaster xta 8000 reels, my dad bought them for me nearly 20 years ago as my first set of big pits, even though the bail arms have dropped slightly, they are still mechanically sound 👍 I retired them last year but got them back out recently for catfish and they're still going strong 💪

I've bought 2 shimano reels since my return to fishing and I've not been happy with either of them. Like you say the quality has dropped. I wouldn't buy another one tbh. I'm okuma all the way now tbh, great reels for the money the 8k is a great big pit reel, smooth, great line lay the drag is perfect and they handle anything I throw at them. They are the epitome of Elmo Proof. I was looking at the new versions of the big bomber spod reel last night the 8000 has a 128cm retrieve, if and when the rooblinos let's me down I will probably upgrade to one of these, then I can clean up the aerlex put the dodgy S clip back in and someone will still pay me loads for it, because it's shimano 😂

Yeast has been in plenty of baits; a very successful all fruit boilie, with added icing sugar, the original Nutrabaits Enervite, and Mainline got it very right with a number of baits. They also found or used the effective enzymes in pineapple to improve digestion of protein.

XTRB are fine, I didn’t like DL at range not enough feel too much flex in reel body but I have all DL for light fishing at close range I prefer DL 4000 for big fish on small venues They are damn robust I tested one to destruction and it was very strong, it’s the flex body which makes them feel not robust while they are in fact more than I think Baitrunners are still number one for a good reason, super reliable, line is hard to get under spool (unlike some copycat fairly expensive ones I had which I won’t name but I expected better) at £100.. it was bad, constant and extremely annoying As I say I just fish light with small weights up to 40 yards out on small lakes I don’t do big pit blasting