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I never thought sitting in a bush getting bitten by mozzies could be so much fun.

Agree. It's nuts (no pun intended lol).

I've seen carp concentrate on one food item to the exclusion of others; bloodworm, pellets, even hemp. I've put boilies in when they are feeding on a visible patch of bloodworm, the boilies on the bloodworm bed were ignored totally. Hemp was fed as part of a particle mix, they totally cleared that up, ignoring the other particles and boilies. A few years back I fished Vitalin, sweetcorn and maize, with a few boilies in there, them and the boilie hookbait were ignored. I had to change to maize and sweetcorn to get a take.

Nah, they're not that smart. It's because no man made bait can compete with an explosion of their natural food source imo. Naturals can though...... You don't have to worry about that until September when the weed dies down revealing the natural larders. Until then, once spawning is done, boilies and pellets are at their most effective imo - if they find them they will eat them, to help get that weight back on. I adjust my baiting strategies throughout the year and we're just coming into the period that I'd be using very large qtys of boilies.

I think a lot of carp anglers see boilies as the 'only' bait , the same as pleasure anglers used to only use maggots .

I'd say if they are excreting whole food items then no digestion is happening at all, its in with one and out with another. There will be literature around carp digestion out there for sure

Thats enough for me to try it mate. Cheers

Cheers mate, had my joggers tucked into my socks as soon as i got there but didnt make a difference.

Different options work for different people, something to do with blood type I believe. Avon stuff works the best for me.

What do people use to repell the mozzies. Ive heard avon skin soft or whatever its called is good.

CHUBby checker ROACHford inspiral CARPets

This. I very much doubt if people are caught by the EA they are not being prosecuted. They prosecute if you are caught more than 10m from your rods. It could be a case of the underfunding they have in enforcement in every area holding things up or stopping proceedings but that is a case for central government and DEFRA to be lobbied about.

Good points , I'll see if i can find out some more info . It popped up on my faceache from Essexandy? (Andy Halcyon pool Essex)

I can't sign that without seeing more info first. It was started by "Local residents of Old Heath", not by legal anglers (which is who I would expect to raise a concern of this nature). It says "the Environment Agency and Essex police repeatedly refuse to take action as appropriate even when they themselves catch them in action. This has resulted in complete emptying of local ponds from fish stock, as it is continuously poached and cruel killing of waterbirds both of which take place daily for months". I don't buy that - if the EA catch you nicking/killing fish, or bird life, you get done, that's a simple fact. So if we imagine based on the above that nothing is getting killed (I'm not saying that's the case, just that it is a possibility) then how do these local residents know that the fishing is illegal? Are they asking to see licenses? I doubt it. Without more info I'm not convinced the local residents agenda is as heroic as it sounds. This could be something as simple a few genuine anglers guesting some local no-fishing ponds for some special fish - and if that's the case I bet they'll look after the water and surroundings better than anyone. Of course if anyone can provide more info I will be over to sign the petition in an instant. But I just cannot currently see enough info/evidence to sign blindly.

I've tested it! You're right, they don't wriggle away or bury themselves, they stay exactly where they are, but they can stay alive overnight - even when pierced! I know a lot of guys that do this. I don't bother. If a bait they like is introduced in the right place (where they're prepared to feed) they'll eat it with gusto regardless of shape/size and trip up imo.

I wouldn't feed boilies the way people feed maggots though, people seem to think they all dive into the silt or wriggle away to safety as soon as they hit the bottom, which they don't they drown, so they spomb out tonnes which leads to them getting preoccupied on them, and also finding an easy meal as there is an abundance of maggots on the bottom, Personally I always like to have different items available different sizes, shapes, colours,textures and flavours etc so they don't get used to feeding on one sized thing, even if I just fished boilies I would still use 2 sizes and chops and some crushed ones

I've witnessed carp Emptying out full pellets before. They can just eat until it pushes whatever they are eating out the other end. I think it's a very rare thing to have them feeding that hard though

I like to use a good quality food based boilies so that I know the carp are getting some benefit from eating them , but I do think we give them a little to much credit in being able to pick food on its nutritional value .

That doesn't show the full picture Nick. Maggots are almost 90% water. It's the remaining 10-15% that contains 60% protein. So something like 7 or 8 % protein as a foodstuff.

Respect. Head down, stealth mode employed. Waiting game now...…. Ian

Yonny said “No arguments, this is a healthy debate lads” I totally agree with that sentiment. Surely this is what forums are about – sharing ideas and experience. But he also said “I think we're all agreed that unprepared particles are a no-no all the same.” And I can’t agree with that statement. I will say that where there is doubt, err on the side of caution and soak and boil but I would also like to see some evidence of raw maize doing damage to a carp. A farm near me supplies foie gras using a system known as “gavage”. Ducks are force fed maize to make foie gras. To the best of my knowledge no ducks have ever exploded and died due to the maize swelling up. Nevertheless you will read heaps of stuff on the internet with people, who have no actual experience of what it is really like, telling everyone how bad it is for ducks. So much so that foie gras is now banned from restaurants in California. OK ducks and carp are different creatures but I hope you get my point. JH92 said “I left maize soaking for about 2 weeks and it was the best looking maize I’ve seen. about 3 times the size and would squish in between your fingers, I boiled it and completely ruined the batch, it blown basically all the kernels so no good for a rig. I do wonder if you soak it for long enough, do you really need to boil it? “ I have never observed maize expand to three times its size but if that makes it mushy isn’t that the point. All you can be doing is adding water to the maize. So if it expand 3 times then two thirds of it is water and nowhere near as harmful as a raw grain three times its size. There seems to be a mis-conception that a swollen maize is just as harmful as a hard raw maize. But in my opinion the best idea posted on this thread was by Oscsha who said “Maybe we're doing it wrong by using boilies that meet a carps needs , as they may eat less due to their nutritional need being fulfilled , this leading to the fish being on the feed less. Playing devil’s advocate a little” If the carp have to keep eating and re-eating raw maize to get any benefit from it, it keeps them feeding longer and makes them more catchable. That is a VERY interesting and original idea. The big question is – is it safe?

have a look at the Angling Direct rods... there's a nice selection there... I have a Sonik LRF with a Shimano 1000 size fixed spool with 10lb braid the sonik LRF rod will cope with ultra-lite drop-shotting with weights from 2-7g

Get yourself some maggots and do a few pleasure sessions......... will kick start your enthusiasm and remind you why we go fishing in the first place. Even a change of venue can get the old grey matter working mate you may be stuck in a rut in your water atm mate