Leaderboard

That is the fault of the angler, not the method. Heavy baiting in the wrong situation will kill it from the off. Heavy baiting in the correct situation can result in the session of lifetime. There is a time and a place for singles, and a time and a place for little-and-often, but the greatest sessions I've ever had have been over heavy, heavy baiting - you just need to know when to take that approach.

I read with interest the notion of using heavy leads in the margins on running rigs.... As an Old School lad, I often (more often than not) freeline in the margins, or sometimes use a small lump of plasticine, or a couple of swan shot and fish slack lines and just watch the line where it enters the water... (no alarms or bobbins) now, that method may upset a few of the modern lads, (I can hear the cries of anguish even as I type....🤣) but it's accounted for quite a few carp for me... I suppose that everyone has their own method of catching, or different variations on a theme, but I have often found that if the accepted method is 'A' then I'll try 'Z' as (to my mind) if the fish get used to seeing a big lead (running or lead-clipped) and a boilie, they'll take a nice prawn or a trio of cockles or a couple of sultana's... Everyone has their own way of doing things and a lad I often fish with is always laughing at my methods, but the laughing stops when I put one in the net.... and if it gets him thinking then I'm happy... For fishing out of the margins, I use ultra light leads... (just enough to get the rig into place) for me it's a confidence thing I have seen a carp "Do Me" using a heavier lead and Jed Kent (whom I met a couple of years back) advocated ultra light running leads... I have refined that to my own preferences and use 1.5 oz Avid flat in-line leads or Guru 1/3 or 2/3 ounce in lines and short method style hooklinks with small baits... often not on hairs... I suppose it's a case of something I was once told.... The Unorthodox Plus Perseverance Equals Results... Give it a go👍😉😎

Wow, some good feedback on here. Sorry i've been quiet, cursed with work! funny enough, i never used Boilies or anything of that ilk up until 3 years ago. Hated them, maize was my preferred bait. It wasn't so much the boilie, but this ethos that I had to spend 8-15 quid and lob loads out - now I know a lot better (still loads to learn) and tend to favor little and often, using pellets, hemp, corn and crumbed offerings of what I fish. Goes a lot further, call me a skinflint but I don't want to be tipping 2/3 kilos of bait into a lake every session. I rather a couple of handfulls of bait to get fish in the area and get a bite that way. But that's just me.

Both have a place imo. I would always go for the heavy option first though.

My main reason for not prebaiting through winter was this was always the flood times when I fished the rivers , absolute waste of time & money on the rivers I fished . Admittedly winters don't seem so wet these days & the floods seem more spread out across the year but when I was hitting the rivers hard that wasn't the case . Still personally think a good run of flood water in winter & a bit of colour is far more effective especially if the rivers been low & clear & that will turn the big fish on more than any prebait from my experience & definitely somethi g to keep an eye out for if you want a winter banger

I think colour is more important than flavour. This year I ran out of my favoured white pop ups so started using any old white things I had lying around. Results continued.

I'm beginning to favour wafters nowadays......