Leaderboard

Imo pulling the lead back is the kiss of death. There is a significant chance you'll foul or even blunt the hook, regardless of what substrate you're fishing over. The obvious answer is to go to a heli set-up with the top bead set to cope with any of the substrates out there. You mentioned that everyone is doing this - there is a reason for that. By all means keep your options open in terms of differentiating yourself from others, but make sure you have the very basics (presentation of a bait to a carp) right first. You're over-thinking it imo mate. This water sounds tricky enough without coming up with new problems. Keep it simple. The focus needs to be on presenting a bait to a carp. If you spend the coming weeks trying to do that whilst watching the water like a hawk, the carp will give you the clues you require to fine-tune your approach in terms of location and tactics. I think you're getting ahead of yourself by creating your own problems ("the silt furrows", "the fish don't act right", "the weather doesn't act right", "chods are for sheep", "it's too far/windy", "the water pressure....", etc, etc....). Whack a couple of baits out where you have seen signs of carp, sit down, watch, and use the info that nature will give you if you look hard enough. Keep it simple. Enjoy it. And get rid of the Fish-Spy lol. After all, that is what started this confidence issue you seem to have. No electronic device can ever be as effective as an angler tuned into the natural environment imo.

When I first started reading this I thought you Carpmaster are making it harder than it needs to be, I totally agree these days keeping it simple is the key to everything, I learnt the hard way last year 😁 Find the fish, Feed the fish, present a bait they can eat, and keep refining it until you think you understand what's going on, and stack all the little % in your favour, I bought a fishspy, I sold it after trying to use it once,was a right chore,didn't connect properly and didn't seem to help, I just needed to scratch that itch but it turns out I was better off before just using a lead and or marker float, I might be presenting my bait in what appears a great substrate but the reality is it may be less than perfect,I can't see it so I won't know 100%, but I am happy with that, ignorance is bliss sometimes, if you feel confident you will fish well, seeing too much will make you lose confidence or make it seem impossible. I do remember something you said to me a while back, it is better to do the basics well rather than overcomplicate things and do them less well (or something like that) 😁 But for me the difference has been staggering between this year and last, and all because I've been consistent and kept it simple, learnt from the blanks and learnt from the triumphs, So as someone who has been down this rabbit hole and still peeks occasionally, keep it simple, they are still carp, just slightly different to some others Good luck

I've found that finely crumbed boilie lightly wetted so it gets sticky can work on the method and if you are using a bait that Bream won't take, you could use something like an 18grm method feeder and not plug it into the silt... one thing the match world has taught me, is NEVER move the lead or feeder once it's landed, of course this method's not going to work if you need a long chuck, but 20 -30 yards and it can be a goer....

Thanks elmo

I might try it next time I had already done a few before I spotted this, Personally I think I've done better since I simplified the rigs, the less there is to go wrong the less I worry about them 👍

Do you move the hook bead at all elmo? I try to keep it at the end the shank, before the curve, so the bait screw (I use micro swivel with dental floss) only moves on the shank. Imo meaning more of the hook is in its mouth, always goes centre bottom lip. I use floss on the micro swivel as I think it allows the hook bait to move more naturally.

1st 15lb one looked a lot darker in real life This one was a real scaly one, I had an occurance on my rods 😁 2 hook pulls though need some fine tuning I think this week, especially as I've had a few lately and lost a couple of real good uns 😢