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I’m convinced the "carpy camo tape" is going to be the missing piece of the jigsaw on my quest for my first uk 40... what you reckon? 🤙🤭

My mate got hold of a roll and done his pod looked really good ... but he could only find it if had a run

First of all Crucian, you have put your finger on the only downside of using this rig and that is you have to tie a new one every time you need to replace the bait. I actually tie the rig the other way round. First I take a length of the most supple braid I can find. I tie on the hook using a half blood knot to a straight eye or spade end knot if it is an offset eye. Then I thread on the pop up and push it towards the hook. I then add a shot between hook and pop up so that it is just enough to turn the pop up to make the hook hang below it but not enough to sink the pop up. I would use putty but it is hard to find in local shops here. Sometimes, just the weight of the hook is sufficient. It depends on how buoyant the pop up is. The hook pattern does not matter too much but I suspect an offset point might help. I used to think that the gap of the hook should be half the width of the boilie to avoid snagging the line hanging down the side of the boilie but in practise an even a bigger gape never snags. I have done a lot of sucking and blowing with that “artificial carp mouth” to test this. The line is then tied to whatever weight you are using. I tend to use 70 grams inline but the type is not critical. The length of line between the boilie and weight needs to be the distance above the bottom you want your pop up to fish. If I am really honest I rarely use pop ups because most of my fishing is over clean ground and I seem to get more takes on a bottom bait. However, I use a very similar rig which is modified to work on the bottom. I rarely miss a take because it is self-hooking. If you have a 20 mm boilie and the bend of the hook is 20mm below this, the hook describes a huge 40mm arc inside the carp’s mouth. It is virtually impossible for it not to find a hook hold. As I say in the video, the sudden movement the carp feels inside its mouth causes it to bolt immediately. There are no tentative bites, they are all one toners. I hope someone finds this useful. In reply to Snowmanstevo, the whole thing has been filmed using the slow motion feature on my 'phone. The hook whips round quite quickly in real time giving the carp no chance to blow it out.

And a bucket or two

Must have done waterbottle

Come on then out with it what else have you taped ??

One of my old mates covered nearly all his gear in cammo tape... he got so much grief he decided to peel it all off... sadly the tape left adhesive residue over everything and he spent ages getting it all off.... the tape rolls went into the bin after that... not a happy bunny

Burn it with fire...

Yes thanks , Carpepecheur . 😃

Living off my old age pension limits my purchasing power but not my imagination. I use a home made barrow which is very easy to pull because of its large wheels, is preloaded at home, fits snugly into a VW Golf without packing/unpacking and makes a handy fishing station at the swim. Larger items simply strap on top. ----- and it has NEVER tipped over.

Ouch, been there done that. Bedchair on the bottom layer helps, with legs open it holds gear in place if you have no side bars. Last season I loaded mine up to go round the reservoir and on lifting the handles, the barrow didn't lift and the handles straightened. I didn't think I had that much weight on it, loads of bait though... I've never really thought about taking a pic of a full barrow load, but I'm positive mine for a week would not be that full.

This was the moment I decided I needed to get better organised 😁

I'd say live bait too but most places ban it and a lot of anglers don't like doing it so I don't really mention it. Plus when using prawns I've had carp to 20 plus and some nice tench so it makes it great fun on the float rod.