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Thanks, the reason I doubted myself was that I had dismissed them as single bleeps and not even bothered checking them for clues tbh, which is something I should have done in hindsight, it's all a learning curve still and good that I am learning, next time I will keep the tips out the water and will be looking for the clues. You might notice the line pick up before the alarm fishing slack too, I've hit into fish before I've even had a bleep before watching the line, it's a good way to spot what's going in the swim. I love short range fishing watching for any little sign, nothing beats it tbh,Good luck .

Nah.... if anything, your hooking potential is amplified on the zigs imo. Your hook length/link is already tight to the lead i.e. there is no slack to take up. If/when Mr Carp takes the hookbait, it's immediately under tension unless he dives down which is extremely unlikely given what we know from the numerous underwater vids in circulation. Ergo, the likelihood is a hooked carp. Zigs can give odd bites - sometimes screamers, sometime massive drop-backs, and sometimes those odd bouncing tips that you describe (which tbf you can visualise if you imagine Mr Carp flapping when he realises he's now attached to a lead system 6 ft below him), but I can almost guarantee you that changing to a 6 magnet roller will do absolutely nothing in terms of telling you if a carp is attached. They are either hooked or they are not.... I certainly wouldn't go hitting single bleeps without a visual indication that you've hooked one. I would certainly change this before I changed the roller on the alarms buddy.

Will do next time thanks for the tips. I think it's been a good learning curve this weekend. I made some mistakes but got the result, will regroup and be ready to go again next time,its a long season just got to kick on now and take the positives, and hopefully we can be there or there abouts at the end of the season 😂

The birds are feeding up, especially the females who will be egg sitting soon with not much food. I did walk the 2miles around the 45acre lake each day, and saw no signs, but did hear a few splashes at dusk just to my right which I think were fish. I'd love Chestnut and I'm trying to come up with a plan for the bigger common which seems to avoid bait. A few members have seen him, and he does look a lot bigger than Chestnut. A working quarry lake not far from Bury St Edmonds had the fish removed and sold to the syndicate, we thought the big common was one of them until the biggie from the stock was caught spawned out. So the big common is an uncaught original! I think that we have around 185 fish, that is known originals and the progressive stockings we have made since 2018.

Years ago with original Optonics you had 2 or 4 vane roller wheels, and some of us created some 12 vane wheels out of milk bottle tops or film canister tops or bases until Dellareed started making them themselves. The honest answer is I went back to 4 vanes, any more really was not worth the effort to break the light beam inside. The benefit was actually for pike fishing where tiny movements were rolling the wheel slightly. When it came to roller wheel alarms, I started playing with lead setups to create runs that took line, as quite simply a semi-fixed set-up could see the carp sit still hooked with no indication or worse move in a perfect arc with no line taken or dropping back. Obviously the slack line and running lead is not suitable for every situation, like Delkims are not suitable for everyone (I still have not had many of the problems described by many), but the vibration sensing feature is handy. With zigs, and I will admit I am not very good with them, you have to have a tight line to the lead. The best indicator I found is a very heavy bobbin, springer or loaded quiverloc, which gives you the dropback or run indication. @yonny explains it far better than I can, and has far more experience I'm sure.

There really is no hard and fast rule with flavours, sweet or fruit flavours work with fishmeal, birdfoods or meat, but to 'our' mind they smell wrong, so squid and octopus, shrimp or monster crab will work. The other thing with flavours is the solvent base, some are on glycerine (glycerol), ethyl alcohol, diacetin or propylene glycol, and each one reacts slightly differently in water. Propylene glycol is a flavour base used normally in cake flavours, so suited for high temperature. Ethyl alcohol is more soluble in water, so 'spreads' through the water. Glycerine is the usual flavour base for cake icing, but I think is an attractor in its own right, and a preservative. Diacetin is actually synthesised from glycerine and quite possibly the most acceptable to fish.

You sounded like your doing an after match football report on match of the day 😉… but what a buzz getting a carp on a zig you almost can’t believe it when it happens. 👍

Bought some more zig stuff today Atomic zig bugs and kickers red and black Thinking anglers barrels brown and black and some more size 8 hooks Some 12lb zig line I think I've caught the zig bug (get it)

If I had a single bleep il be looking at the tips mate a carp could be trying to get rid of the hook maybe been on a while. I try to set the bivvy up as close to the rods as I can if it’s dark just need a flick on the torch to check, and I have the rods at slight angle to the water a bit like quiver tipping. Always near the rods even when I’m in a hot tub 😂

lol, that's why I got the 'posh' brass nuts lol Served my well on Horseshoe Lake.... oh the memories Bitech viper alarms were the pits! As fo new ATTs alarms.... err would you perhaps comprimise the bullet prof appeal by adding a speaker?

then I had optonics but the basic ones took me years to get a pair lol had to save all my money from “caddying “ at the local golf club as a kid. got cheesed off with them tipping to one side so went to bitech viper and that was even worse.

I had some optonics, they always use to end up tilting to one side. I've seen the new atts with speaker they look awesome and sound great too. Come with snag backs as standard they look mint.

25% LT94 20% Acid Casein 40% CLO 5% Liver Powder 10% Semolina Mix them at those ratios. Then once mixed for 6 eggs add 5ml of your flavour, 15ml of hemp oil. Add base mix slowly gradually adding until it is right texture to roll. Boil for 1minute 30 seconds, allow to dry. That mix should work, no need for other ingredients.

Good luck, The swans and ducks seem a lot more active than the fish at the moment, I still think they are chasing warmth.

Good luck on your hunt for Chestnut . 😃

That's how I feel. I've been swanned out. The first 2 nights I kept them off the spot by giving them half a bucket of maize each day. Last night they moved into the swim when they saw me putting in a bucket of crumbed boilie and breadcrumb. My own fault I guess, but Chestnut normally makes her first appearance each year in the shallows around March to April so I was in the area she shows. She also gets caught frequently near the swans!

Moved 4 times today, first spot on the 9 acre lake got done by the birds so moved further down, so I've set up found a clear spot, some guy has set up opposite me so had to move as I was fishing into his water. The 3rd swim I got to didn't last long as I was getting the rods out and started moving my kit I started to find ticks on my rod sleeves and quiver? No idea where they came from but it spun me out so moved down to the 4 acre lake, I'm quite happy with the spot I'm in as it's the one I've been recently fishing. There's a lot of fizzing going on over the spot I baited previously and there's a few fish showing in this bay so I've stuck 3 singles out over the spot, if it doesn't produce tonight I'll put some more bait out but for now I just want to keep the disturbance to a minimum lol. What a day, feels good to have a beer 🤣

And finally I get to join in a catch report. I've been trying to come to terms with zig fishing for the last few sessions, probably a bit late to the party but finally it's paid off, saw a showing fish at range and pinged one at it last ditch attempt, but as the lead hit the water a few seemed to be disturbed, so I chucked another one at them too, finally after a night of fishing like a bit of a noddy, I was in, i had tried fishing on the deck, spodding over zigs, and all I needed to do was put one in the right place, it was too close to hometime to really do much about it but finally I can catch em on zigs. strange fight on the zig as the lead didn't discharge, I was petrified lol but luckily my mates son came along at the right time to help me net it and photo it. But I've done it I've caught one on a zig,and a nice one too buzzing