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We all have captures that we will always remember, for whatever reason. What’s yours? It may be a PB, or it may stick in your mind for another reason. Which ones are your favourite captures and why? The first carp was a mirror I caught on my first trip in 5yrs after afghan, I’d hung up the rods and was undergoing treatment, my counsellor told me to get back fishing so I replaced all my gear, rolled some bait and hit the bank. First rod out, 5mins in the water and it was away, it weighed mid 30s and I was instantly obsessed again. second carp was a 31lb common I caught on a session at a local pond, the wind switched unexpectedly in the night and picked up in force and it totally destroyed my brolly! The bailiff was telling me that this carp had been stolen the night before … I was able to send this pic to him the next morning the 3rd common was my personal target for years, I’d been baiting with my own boilies and he hadn’t succumbed… one winter session I’d forgotten the bait in the rush to the lake, so picked up a few pints of maggots. Fishing pva bags with a Medusa rig baited with maggots produced him at 37lb+ a week before Christmas. That left only one fish on my “hit list” which was no 4 in the pics! The mid 20 linear was also an elusive target. He also fell to the mighty maggots! My last two targets and I braced them. I walked off the lake a happy man that day.

I can’t trust someone else’s knots .I deffo couldn’t trust someone else’s crimping or fusing if I lose a fish it needs to be my fault hahaha i can probably tie an albrite quicker than I could loop to loop

Exactly that, I've been down the Overthinking road it's not great tbh, A rig that presents itself and resets is all you need for me pop ups are now a ronnie rig, wafters would probably be a combi rig or something but I haven't used many wafters this year, I've got into the gemini tidy booms lately, I just bought a few different ones to mess about with but they do make a nice neat boom section and that's all I worry about now, that it resets, the rest is down to location and bait, Framey gemini do a tidy boom for combi rigs, I haven't really had a play yet but they would be an easy way faff free way to make them just using loops to loop for the soft section 👍

D Rig aligner is basically an alternative to a hinge or ronnie/spinner. Best for pop ups imo. Blowback/German best with a bottom bait/wafter imo. Similar in terms of mechanics I guess, although you'll need to be more careful with hookbait size with the wafters than a pop up (imbalance can aid a pop up rig but balance is important for baits on the deck). All will catch fish on the right spot. Don't overthink it buddy. Blanking is rarely down to rigs imo (assuming those rigs are presented ok).

That's mint.

I have never really bought into the curve of the hook or tubing closing off the hook preventing penetration. That would make some very effective rigs 'not work', like the bent hook rigs, Withy pool rig, even the standard kickers or line aligner as well as curved shank hooks. I can understand the beaked point being used on gravel to try to reduce the chances of the point being burred over. Rigs incorporating line aligners on Gardner Muggas and on straight shank patterns have worked very well for me over years and years of use.

Unless anyone has a better suggestion I think the TX7s will do the job admirably.

Lovely to read all your favourites guys well done 👍 I think I've got 3 or 4 main favourites lol, This was the one and only fish I ever put in carp talk early 00's I think 🙄, I had been really struggling to catch anything from this lake, but then I think probably on the advice of someone on here, I prebaited a swim for 2 weeks almost daily tbh after night shifts and all sorts, this one was the first of 5, my first 20lber at 26lb, I had another scraper 20 but I had learnt prebaiting works, I got 5kg of free pellets for that too 😂 Then from more recent times it was these 2 first trip back on Virginia after losing my dad, I had already had the confidence boosting 10 fish hit on the other lake pretty soon before and I felt in the zone, I had done a little baiting but then in evening I had this one New PB 27lb3oz, that alone would have been enough I was buzzing but in the morning I recast a bag into the hole in the weed and it ripped off And this one was the result proper buzzing and I remember the lucky moorhen, not sure it was coincidence or not but it always seems to appear at significant times was here for this one too, my favourite from this year so far 😉

Not my pb, but a real good looking fish from long ago. I wheeled him in 100 yds, and he took 1 look at me and went straight back out about 90, so I got to do it all over again. I suppose this one was memorable too, because it was just nasty out, cold and windy and we only got 1 bite, but I got the fish.