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I was air drying cell on a garden table, i said keep a eye on them to the Mrs I’m just popping out to get some beer. I was gone 20 mins tops, putting the beer away I noticed a magpie on the fence look at look at the size of that, that’s nothing the good lady says I counted 6 of them earlier. Needless to say the bait was gone and she didn’t get any beer

I was sat with a bloke on dinton black swan once. A dog strolled into his swim , stuck its head in mateys bait bag with his boilies in, sniffed and ran off with out taking a single one. I told him his bait was rubbish as my dog, most dogs scoff bait down. He laughed it off thinking I was winding him up. This happened a couple of months into the season and he hadn't caught by then. A week later he came up to me and asked if I was pulling his leg, I said absolutely not and he needed to change bait. He finally changed bait a while later and started catching. He then started to leave the odd bait on the floor of his swim everytime he fished to see if a dog would eat it, solely for his confidence 😂.

When I was making my own Trigga, my neighbours cat would come round. I'd be taking them out of the pan tipping onto the air drying tray and she would pinch them. As for dogs... I used to have a Shetland Sheepdog, I had made some fishmeal boilies which I had coloured blue. The little git ate about a kilo of the 5k I had made. For the next week he was excreting blue. Sky has been known to pinch baits, a whole tub of red pop-ups turned her poo bright red.

If its pick your own there no deal 🤣

My first test for my baits when making them is the “dog test” will she eat them? If she’s sat begging as I roll them out, then I know they are good! Funny that little things like that gives you confidence, my dog eats fox poo... what that says about my bait I don’t know!

My first batch of 10mm are ready they do smell nice and my dogs luv em they taste nice and sweet and crunchy

Big D himself must of been lurking the the boards he has made us a video.

1 for sorrow 2 for joy 3 for a girl 4 for a boy 5 for silver 6 for gold or for boilies eaten before they got cold...

The marina is definitely worth checking out mate, they are like little havens for carp. The boats, being out of the flow, food, cover, what’s not to like? One thing with marinas though is that they can be no fishing zones, but you can get around that by baiting the entrance and fishing over into the entrance from the opposite bank, provided you can fish from that bank and boating traffic allows. You need to keep the boaties onside in situations like this though, be polite to them, be prepared to reel in if need be, it can be beneficial to recast after a boat passes anyway, they can kick up debris as well as your rig that can muck up the presentation. It will be an adventure, the thrill of the chase, not knowing what you could catch next! I envy you, having that canal so close!

Seems crazy but they don’t make a bag agree think will have to go down the custom road it weighs 18kg thanks for your help

Mind you, then you just got a bigger cat in your garden!

Get your own lion and problem solved

Don’t give me ideas now feline laxative in a boilie or two leave em out and see if the soggy stuff hits the fan 😂😂😂

And he did a special get in that net for us 👍 Pink almond supreme though winning goo, hopefully I will be doing some boshes this year 🤞 Must get some pink dumbells I think 🤔😁 Retrobaits have just brought these ones out they look pretty special I think https://www.retrobaits.net/product-page/snail-dumbbell-wafters

I use and have been for a few years ,Wychwoods DPF in 18LBS @ 0.35 Fluro coated . Does it sink like a stone NO ,but sinks , i consider it to cast well and is defiantly a tough line IMO

I love getting on the canals, always approaching them with the same basic game plan mate. firstly, location is the most obvious thing, however it's surprising how often it is skipped over. Often, canal carp are not as pressured as their lake brethren, so can be easier to see and pin down. I would start with a prebaiting campaign. But with the current weather, I would probably lay off for a few weeks until the milder weather comes around. Although canal carp are more active and feed in colder temperatures than lake carp in my experience, they will still slow down and feed a lot less in the winter. My start would be with hemp/particle/corn/pellet with a few boilies added. Keep it going in initially to attract all species. As much as I want to stop other species in their tracks, I won't go straight for boilies until I know carp are visiting regularly. Flowing water carp (river/canal) tend to be very nomadic, especially in stretches where there are little in the way of cover or features to hold them, this is where I would attempt to create a reason for them to visit a chosen spot time and again using bait. Once I was happy I knew carp were hitting the spot regularly, I would do away with pellet and corn etc and wean them into boilies to deter the nuisance species and target the carp better. Although flowing water carp are less pressured, they can be spooky - catching one carp off a prebaited spot can spook the others and they often drift away, so I try get as many spots going as possible. Then I can leapfrog the carp on the move and be set up waiting as they reach my next spot. Good thing about most canals is you can follow the carp along the bank. More of my successes come from sections with lots of features and bushes etc, boats and marinas are good places to try. Get a mountain bike and some polaroids and go searching. Carp are always gonna drift from one section to another, unless something holds them. Lock gates, weir pools etc. I find once i am on fish, they're catchable, the trick is to find them first. Find them, feed them, catch them... Rigs wise, I tend not to get too riggy anyway, I believe location and quality bait is key anywhere, especially on a canal or river. Long casting is generally not an issue, so I tend to go for strong and simple gear. My main line is .35mm Shimano technium, (got 20lb b/s on testing it myself) with leadclips or inlines as a lead arrangement. Hooklinks are often just mono or a tough coated braid. Simple knotless knot to a strong size 4 hook. I'm an avid leadcore user, (although if I use leadcore, then I use helicopter rigs as I think they’re safer) although I'll also use rigtube as happily. I want something tough and abrasion resistant, not all techy and complicated. If bottom debris and crayfish are an issue, then pop ups would be my choice, if I can present a bottom bait without any problems, then I'd go for that first. Backleading to prevent boats/kayakers etc catching my lines is important as well as keeping my gear on the path clear so walkers/cyclists don't run it down! I like to keep light and mobile so I can keep moving onto fish if my present spot isn't producing, before finding a night spot in a quiet stretch to do an overnighter. - this I bait regularly to keep the carp interested. Somewhere a little less snaggy and more open for fish safety reasons after dark. It's ok fishing locked up in the weedy/snaggy bits in the day where you can be on it and in control quickly but at night, I want it a bit more risk free where a run off a clutch won't cause issues. The carp will leave the snags and explore more at night anyway, so you make the best of both worlds. Finally, if you can rake the swims of crud and bait them, then try it - if all you do is clear a load of litter off the canal bed, then it's a good thing! I'd try get as much out as possible, anglers are guardians of our environment, rubbish is an eyesore and anglers tend to get blamed - more flak we could all do without, even if we are blameless. Clear the spots of the rubbish and hope the carp gods will smile on you. Canals and rivers are tricky venues, but I love them. They fish through the winter too usually, I've got a little canal lined up for the winter months. Just wish I could get there this winter! oh and check out “canal carping” book by rob maylin and friends, i just picked up a copy for under a tenner online. Good luck mate.