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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

Your boilies sound too soft and inappropriate you need some specific hard hookbaits mate Hookbaits are purpose designed, Sticky Baits ones are good and come in generous big pots they are useful if in any doubt Coated braid will produce a thick knot but you can still use it but you need a big hard hook bait, and drill the hook bait as well which helps stop baits fracturing, a small selection of drills are cheap, just get small name branded ones rigging baits is faffy, takes time, you can experiment with different loop sizes use a ruler to measure out the loop and a gate latch needle to help tie them

I have really used and abused my Aerlex's, for fishing, spodding and marker float work. I know that the gearing is lower, reel handle turns compared to bail arm rotation, but I actually feel that may be better in terms of the work they do. I think I got them around 2005, so to be still going with minimal care is some going, just the occasional drop of oil. They get covered in groundbait, occasionally soaked and still do Big Boy work. Not bad for an £89 reel. I preferred them over the £105 Biomaster I think it was then, although it might have been I didn't want to spend the extra £20 each on 5 reels... I've said since that Shimano quality has dropped, reels were built to last, now they are built to be upgraded or fail... I'm still using my 7000 Beastmaster XTA's for fishing, and still getting positive comments from other people on the syndicate. The DL10000's I have just don't feel as robust. Give me the original Seaspin Baitrunners, or the 4000/6010 Aero GTE Baitrunners and I would be happy with them on lighter rods.

I think pet food is full of yeast mate.. it’s used cleverly for years by bait companies and was apparently a high percentage of a big name base mix of the noughties.. I think I know which one it was I ‘caught’ a massive bloodworm on my hook point at a very old silty sand pit, bailiff told me they can bite!? 😅

Ps,update ,now had some nice cyprinus in this now ,its very ,very good ..just make sure you peg it if windy it's very light but good light !