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And the anglers name wasn't Marty, unless of course he went back to the future 🤣

Always nice to receive thanks for advice and opinions. Something else that may be relevant is the lake bed, if much of it is silty, the fish that feed regularly over silt may possibly have softer mouths than gravel bottom feeders.

As a general rule of thumb, if the fish only run to doubles, I use stepped up match gear... over 20lb I use proper carp gear... fishing a lighter softer rod will alleviate any damage in smaller fish... plenty of stepped up match rods, float or feeder, that are perfectly capable of landing doubles.... 3000 for float and 4000 size reels for feeder is plenty for carp up to mid doubles

I know what you mean, my first carp rods were 1 3/4lb t/c and 11ft long, I moved onto 11ft 2lb test rods that bent through to the butt cap. Back then, a 3lb rod was a broomstick! Now, 3lb test is about normal! My rods are fox torque, 12ft 3lb test rods that have a lovely action. If this is a recent problem you’ve been having, (I’m guessing since you fined down for winter?) then that would suggest to me that you may need to adjust your end tackle to filter out the other species if carp are the intended target pal. I'm glad you’re finding the forum helpful mate, don’t be afraid to ask questions on here, there are a lot of very knowledgeable people that will help and we learn through asking questions! We all have areas of angling that we are perhaps “weaker” at, I am probably the worst zig rig angler going! Lol!

Yes as you said. Nothing to write home about however I suppose you get what you pay for. However if something breaks there customer service is top notch . I broke the block on my typhoon storm bivvy(totally my fault as i found out after watching the setup vid on youtube) they sent a new block out no questions asked within 2 days. I thought that was pretty good of them to do so to be fair.

A water I fish for carp to double figures, I still concentrate on fishing the float with sweetcorn and lift float. If you put in much groundbait, you get other species more than carp so I use loose fed sweetcorn. On occasion I do use pop-ups I don't put any, or very little, feed around them. In fact I almost fish them zig rig style, well off the bottom.

Thanks all, good to get different suggestions. I am aiming for doubles and up and the fish yesterday in particular were not expected to say the least! I do use a float rod too and yesterday caught an 8lb mirror on a size 18 hook on it 🙄 I think I've picked the other species up and more smaller carp when I downsized the pop ups I used in winter so as mentioned I may increase this and get a spool of lighter line set up. There are bigger fish in the waters I fish I just haven't found any yet. Saying they a few weeks back a smallish orfe took my pop up with the set up above and there was no damage at all. Will have a think, thanks. Edit: yes I have a carp care spray etc so all fish are treated and rested before return to ensure they go strongly

Re read this and seeing the fish you are catching I would go down to a method feeder rod or float rod or like Nick has suggested an Avon style if you can find one nowadays Match style route would be better

Sometimes smaller fish take a a hook too far back in the mouth, on waters with a stock of fish up to the 10lb mark it's a rod in hand job hitting bites before they hook themselves might want to avoid using a hair rig if you are.

I must admit I would only be using Specialist or Avon style rods on a water like this, with 8lb line. Hook size sounds possibly a bit big, for me it would probably be a 14 or 12.

A water not far from me has always had a boilie and floating bait ban, hence the banks aren’t very crowded and you have free reign to be able to move about. The owners wanted a pleasure water where anglers could come and not see swim after swim packed with little green domes. They are only small venues, quite intimate. Pellets or meat in the margins will produce some lovely carp. I actually don’t mind the fact boilies are banned, it gives me a chance to refine other baits and methods which in many cases, I’ve neglected for years. I mean, I have probably fished luncheon meat maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 15yrs? Yet it was my go to bait as a kid.

As GP sad because they can't ban the carp angler as a person sort of thing so they don't allow boilies which removes the sort of carp angler they don't want on the water most of them are day ticket pleasure venues can't blame them if that's the case. they are ok with paste and pellets though and any hook bait so that's an option the same as boilies if someone really wanted to visit a bolie ban venue.

Most lakes that I've seen ban boilies tend to be match orientated and they ban them to discourage carp anglers. Years ago some shelf life boilies didn't break down and there was a problem of mounds of uneaten stuff but most manufacturers have reduced the amount of preservatives in them and the frozen versus shelf life argument seems to be a thing of the past.