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17lb. Despite the grimace, it made me smile, and laugh. I'd only just cast the rod in after getting back with Sky after a walk round the lake when it went off, I was sorting out the next rod, mid PVA bag making. Bait was in the water 2minutes, not sure the PVA on the first rod had even dissolved. First fish on the Shrimp!

Morning Gents . I’m a moderator on a football fans forum and I’ve had exactly this problem . we have set in place a system where all new applicant members have to have their details ratified by a Mod and then have their application activated . The majority of new applications come from Eastern European spammers so their IP addresses give the game away straight away . Those that are not so obvious get sent a related question by email to answer . you’d be surprised how many Romanians think Bobby Charlton used to play for West Ham 🤣. It means I have spend an evening once a month cleaning up the Spammer new account applications but it’s better than spending your whole life deleting and banning , which is what was happening before . Genuine applications usually make themselves heard on the forum pretty much straight away and the obvious spammers can usually be spotted by their ridiculously Eastern European usernames .

Is that not what a forum is for?

Not always like that Ian, A fantastic swim for floater fishing back in the day, before flying rats arrived 👍 Just if anyone is actually interested, back then it was an early fox bed chair, think an Argos sleeping bag and a blanket on top...... did me ok at the time 😟

Just watch any video with terry Hearn in it Most of the time the fish are not on the bottom anyway so most of that can be discounted at times of the day watch for strange movements in weeds look for bubbles. look for bow waves. find one and you will usually find more once you know HOW to look. use the wind and follow it down or across the lake.

A successful angler will always be on the fish and if that means spending more time looking/searching than fishing then so be it. If you're not on the fish then none of the other stuff (dissolved oxygen, rigs, tackle etc) matters.

Your eyes....... they're the most important piece of tackle you have. Pressure, depths, temps etc etc are all good starting points but I'll not fish until I see a carp to fish for. You cannot catch what is not in front of you.

Stop reading articles and watching videos lol makes it worse as most of the time they are made by tackle companies who are trying to sell you a product.

"Not only is the effect the same, the products you mentioned are more or less hydrolysates" Oh dear, you really need to be right if you do want to try to make a point. If you really want to get in an argument I will wear you down with facts, and be correct with my facts, which sadly yours are not. I can get my data from the original research I did years ago, quite frequently back in the early 2000's when I was working with bait manufacturers. (Some of the references and sources are listed) The oat milk research was when I was working in the catering industry as we had to do full allergen test and have full data sheet to hand. Also standard oat milk will not produce a cappuccino with much 'body', you won't get ⅓coffee, ⅓milk and ⅓froth, you'll get a milky coffee, almost identical to a latte. So far I have shown many of your arguments as incorrect, and instead of 'cherry picking' and missing words out like you. (You were close on Nutramino) You missed a bit: Hydrolysates are simply formed by adding water, adding an enzyme, or acid to create a smaller particle. I do mention adding an enzyme or acid, which you ignored. Yes, commercially produced oat milk is a carbohydrate hydrolysate. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10534225/) During manufacturing, oat flour and water are combined and treated with natural food-grade enzymes (like amylases). This enzymatic hydrolysis process breaks down the oats' dense, gritty starches into smaller, sweeter, and highly soluble simple sugars (like maltose and glucose) This controlled hydrolysis serves three critical purposes: Texture & Creaminess: It prevents the oat starch from turning into a thick, gummy paste and ensures a smooth, milky liquid. Natural Sweetness: It breaks down starches to naturally sweeten the beverage without requiring the addition of processed sugars. Ingredient Labelling: Because the starches are broken down intentionally to sweeten and smooth the drink, labels will often list "hydrolyzed oats" in the ingredients. Multimino is a form of pre-digested liquid food. However, instead of being a traditional animal-protein hydrolysate, it functions as an amino-acid-rich syrup based on Phosphorylcolamine (PPC) and natural extracts. How it works: Because the protein chains are already broken down, this highly water-soluble syrup is considered "pre-digested," making it extremely easy for fish to digest and absorb. Ingredients: It is traditionally a blend of PPC, predigested liver extracts, spleen extract, fruit extracts, and natural sweeteners. Difference from Hydrolysates: While pure hydrolysates (like Salmon Hydrolysate) are the direct breakdown products of whole animal flesh, Multimino is a specialized medical-grade nutrient supplement that provides a similar profile of free-form amino acids. Nutrabaits Nutramino is essentially a human-food-grade pre-digested liquid food. While Nutrabaits sometimes uses the term "pre-digested," the process of breaking down complex proteins (like liver, spleen, and gastric mucosa) into highly absorbable, free-form amino acids is exactly what enzymatic hydrolysis entails. Because it mimics a pre-hydrolyzed or pre-broken-down protein source, it gives carp an irresistible and instantly digestible amino-acid profile. Standard corn steep liquor (CSL) is not naturally classified as a hydrolysate. It is instead the raw, concentrated liquid byproduct of the wet-milling process, generated by soaking corn kernels in water and sulfur dioxide. Liquid Yeast is an interesting one, it is actually the soluble liquid left behind after the hydrolysate has been removed. This is used as a flavor enhancer (like Marmite or Vegemite) or as a nutrient for cell cultures. Active Liquid Yeast: This refers to intact, living yeast cells used in baking or brewing. This is not a hydrolysate.

And therein lies much of the problem. Big bait companies have had an advantage; if I buy a kilo of semolina it's around £1.80, if a big bait company buys a tonne of semolina it will work out at a lot less per kilo, around £920 per tonne, so £0.90 per kilo. Do the same with every bait ingredient and my homemade bait costs double the price to produce. Billy one man bait company in his garage or shed, won't be buying fishmeal, semolina, liver powder or maize by the tonne! As a result his prices will be more than a big company. The days of Bill Cottam expanding from his (parents) garage to a large industrial unit are long gone. Bait and boilies specifically is a 'busy' market, and it seems anglers don't necessarily understand it, from the bait itself, to using it, and even the difference in cost of buying it from tackle shops or direct. Nutrabaits, Mainline, Nash Baits, CC Moore and others had a recommendation on food baits, and a recommendation on attractor baits (originally shelf lifes). Feed the food bait, continuously, prebait, and the carp will accept it and take it comfortably. Good results will follow. Attractor baits, use as that, don't fire in loads, maybe a few freebies around the hookbait, use the few to attract the carp to try the hookbait. Then along came the published 'Korda' method, (used earlier but Danny Fairbrass did well writing about it), put in plenty of pellets, and spod mix and get the carp feeding on that. At the same time we had the mega high attract hookbait, the single pop-up that got a take, or not. Fishing moves on and backwards, now we are using high attract baits, maybe with added hydrolysates, liquid glugs over spod mix in the hope that the fish pick it up first. The food bait is 'gone' for various reasons, cost of ingredients rising, becoming harder or impossible to get hold of and even big bait companies changing direction or disappearing. Lots of little bait companies pop-up, disappoint or disappear. They are able to charge silly money for baits because fewer anglers have loyalty to a company anymore.

Never heard of them! Not being funny, but 'getting good press'; advertising now is more dissipated as social media takes over. I used to be very up with knowing bait companies, but when even long time companies are falling by the wayside. I keep making this point, if you have a cake of 30centimetres across, with 5 companies taking a piece, each has a decent slice. Now the same cake with 10 companies taking a piece, the slice is smaller. That is what is happening to the tackle and bait trade.

Great combination of products When needed.

Same. The original and best.

Fishing is what you make it. I don't like bait boats, despite having owned one long before they were a must have, and then getting rid of it as I felt the ethics of it weren't there. In the UK fishing is very 'mixed'; anglers who do like, do use bait boats and those who don't, fisheries that allow bait boats, fisheries that don't. Some waters allow Deepers, GoPro or WaterWolf cameras, others don't. I know anglers who still reel in at night as they don't believe in fishing while sleeping, others who won't use boilies. The British 'way' is 3 rods on alarms, and that took off. The other adaptations occurred sometimes because mainland European waters are bigger compared to most UK waters. Taking bait out in a boat occurred for years, but on a water that is 10miles long, the use of Sonar and WaterWolf cameras became almost a necessity to find the fish. There is in the UK, a saying or word to describe people who just follow fashion, the media or news without question, without thinking, 'sheep'. Fishing is full of these people, they buy the latest must have item of gear, the best rods, the best reels, fashionable alarms, use the latest published rig and follow slavishly the articles in the magazine, the YouTube or TikTok video. They don't think what they are doing or why. Many get into it, think it is easy, catch to start, want bigger and better, and either learn in a hurry or maybe burnout or quit. There is a lot of secondhand tackle on Ebay! Then there are people who kick back against this fashion chasing, are traditionalists, do things as it was done before the invention of the bite alarm, before the hair rig, only use cane rods, pre-1970 reels or centrepins. Despite not having most modern gear, their watercraft is frequently top notch and they catch or not on their terms. Then there are I suppose a middle ground of people who question their fishing. Who buy gear to suit their fishing, the rods may not be the latest Korda Super Kaisen 3.5lb test curve designed to throw a lead 200metres and some, but instead are around 10years old, well used, possibly from Harrison or Century, maybe ESP, with alarms that are 25years old. The tackle is well used, abused, but still catches fish. They question the articles written by the latest name sponsored by Nash, Korda, Incredible, Fox, Sticky or whichever company gives them the best deal. They watch the water, they try to learn how the fish behave, where the best place to catch what they want. They may also fish a water for years rather than jumping from lake to lake in search of the largest. As with every rule, there are the exceptions to that: Terry Hearn, a lifetime angler, who despite going after some of the hardest carp in the country, catches and continues to catch and fish. Dave Lane who probably 25years ago made his name, or Chris Yates, a traditionalist who despite catching the UK's first 50lb carp, will not use carbon rods, hair rigs as he thinks bait placement on feeding fish is better than the way the bait is attached to the hook. Let me tell you this, people are gullible. They believe adverts, whether the facts are true or not. The advertisers need to sell their product, and when the product life runs out, they need another new product to replace it. Why buy Flash Bathroom and Flash Kitchen when Flash All-purpose will do both? They need you to buy Flash whatever floor wipe on the stick because a mop lasts longer and you don't throw away a mop head for months. A fishing company need you to buy fishing tackle. You buy hooks and swivels, that is two items. You read an article by superstar angler sponsored by tackle company who is telling how his superduper rig is the best thing since the invention of the hair rig, you buy hooks, swivels, rig rings and hook stops that is four items.

Hmm! Your eyes and ears are your biggest advantage. My fishing for years was fishing waters big reservoirs and lakes, for a maximum of 48hours. I'd get home from work, frequently at 11pm at night, load up my gear and go fishing, arriving at the water between midnight and 1am. The picture is just 30acres of a 75acre water I fished for 10years. Even arriving that late I would often sit listening before deciding where to set up. To start with, the only baiting I would do is with PVA stringers or PVA bag of pellets, no other free bait. I don't use a bait boat, everything is by hand, throwing stick or spodding bait in. In fact I put most of my bait in either as I left, or on specific baiting sessions where I was prebaiting for later trips. Getting your lines the right distance is easy with distance sticks or walking it out. I don't worry about water temperature, if it is not iced over it is possible to catch. Fish will be where they want to be, they may follow wind lanes, move from weedbed to weedbed to natural food. As much as you ask, there really is no substitute for being on the water, while carp as a species tend to behave the same, every water is different and they have their own rules. Fish can follow a new wind, especially in summer if it is warm, but not so much in winter. As the wind grows stale they will move back off it. Don't immediately think that long range is the answer, many fish get caught from the margins. It is easier to see them, easier to bait for them, and easier to cast at them (quietly). Does your big baiting attract nuisance species? There is no point in piling bait in if other species eat everything before the carp find it. It is easier to cast in a PVA bag of bait and your hookbait, than stand spodding for 1hour if it is going to get pinched by something else.

Sounds like you @OldBoyare the one who would be more at home on the other forum As yonny said, if you've not got anything constructive to say, then its probably best you dont in future??? Thanks in advance

Sorry, English isn’t my first language, so I try my best to learn your fishing tactics by asking questions, since I can’t express myself freely in English. I often fish at unfamiliar venues hundreds of kilometres away from home, which is why I had to buy a bait boat fitted with sonar. Even so, I frequently draw a blank. Take today’s spot for example: the average depth here is 4 metres, with the deepest points hitting 6–7 metres, while the bank-side water is only 2 metres deep. I chose the transition zone between the 2-metre shallow shelf and the 4-metre channel drop-off.

The guy has given us a paragraph explaining what he's doing and is asking for advice to improve. Give him a break. It's no wonder this place is dead when newbies get jumped on for no reason whatsoever. If you can help him, do so. If you can't, just move on.

Be handy on the pit when the wind is up. You might have to dig them out so I can see what ancient relics look like 😂

I have polarized sunglasses and binoculars. I’ve never tried observing from a tree, but thanks for bringing that up; it’s helped me see just how important this is.

Mine are now feeding 3 times a day on the pellets. They work as a pack and smash them. It's cool to see. I am now dealing with murky water. Brownish. If I had the cash I'd buy a few more plants, chemical treatments and an aerator, but sadly not atm. There was a layer of silt, built up over 6 years, which didn't seem a problem with the goldfish, but the Koi seem to be churning up, along with Canadian weed that was just coming up. After a bit of searching, im trying 20mm shingle just overlaid. I have a small 5in1 submersible Blagdon pump and with cleaning the filters out every couple of days, I appear to be getting slightly clearer water.

Chelsea going down would have been my ideal as well. Sunderland in Europe, that quite a thought, and not being funny, Europa League is a 'better' competition than Champions League. The teams for Champions League are almost nailed in at the start of the season, whereas Europa League can be anyone. Mind you I do wish that we could also go back to European Cup Winners Cup as well, but UEFA and FIFA make too much out of CL. Rugby altogether I love, although it has gotten a bit silly on head to head and targeting, especially in the mens game, and that's players who are going in too high and not wrapping up rather than referee being picky. The Red Roses have definitely brought the game to life for everyone. Women's games sold out, and in some big stadiums. Mind you, I do miss Abby Dow, not as spectacular as Ellie Kildunne, but could she motor.

Well done to Sunderland, Could you imagine how smug arsenal fans would be if that happened though. No one wants that, they are already smug enough.I'm quite happy West Ham went down instead of spurs though 😂 I've not been watching much kickyball lately, I'm all about womens rugby these days, went to Twickenham to watch the Red Roses the other week. They make footballers look like a bunch of Daily Express reading Karen's. 😱

Shh.... You don't want to jinx it!. 😁

I never had a Cypry Dome myself, Bruce had one which we shared a couple of times in the winter on the Meadow swims at Taverham. I did get the Rod Hutchinson Apotheosis, the one after his first dome, when I fished at Earith, very comfy, even in winter, although it did end up smelling of damp. I'd pack up in damp cold weather and not get the chance to dry it until the next session. I always wished that I had gotten a Yateley and Horseshoe ticket, but money and travel was always restrictive until around 2000 when I got my Hotel and Catering Manager HND. I've moved this back to UK Carp Fishing as although it is 'venue based' and referring to Horseshoe I think is history and worthy of general conversation.

There’s a hell of a lot to be said for staying single Nick 😉

And here you have raised very pertinent additional points. Any ingredient in a boilie is denatured, or liquids evaporate as they are boiled, less so if they are steamed. By denature, the food value is reduced, the protein level is lowered, and enzymes 'killed', even vitamins and minerals are reduced, especially those on the outside skin of the boilie. The inside of the bait may still not be 'cooked' on short boiling times*, as the full temperature takes time to get to the middle. So the only part of the boilie that still contains fully effective or as you nicely describe it, beneficial effects is the middle. The best way to get these liquids to continue working effectively is to soak or glug the baits after boiling. You can add these liquids to your spod mix, your particles, your powdered groundbait, your pellets. I don't know if anyone remembers the days of the CarpWorld/Nutrabaits Lac Fishabil trips, but Bill Cottams favourite mix I think was a bucket of birdfood, boilies crushed and whole with added Nutramino, Multimino PPc and condensed milk. This is where you have different effects in water, the solubility of the liquid, how it mixes in the lake. Some liquids will spread out across the lakebed, others will cloud lakebed to surface. The 'hope' is that the carp will follow the reverse track of the water current if any down to the source, and it creates a spot to investigate. *My aim when making my own bait was to have a solid skin, but a paste middle.

Exactly..... I'm a hero really 😁

Another afternoon on my local park lake and 8 fish up to 18-4 chalked up. It's not the most difficult lake in the world but it's nice to have a confidence boost to compensate for a run of blanks on other waters. I was sending the boat out to the far bank tree line with a combination of boilies, pellets and crumb and topping up every hour and the fish certainly responded to the bait. I did chuck a little bit of crumb in the margins to see how it descended through the water column as I was worried it might be spreading out too far. A few hours later I saw a fish over the bait and it dropped down on it with it's tail waggling clear of the water as it mopped it up. Needless to say, my confidence on adding it to my baiting up has gone through the roof!

Quick night on the local day ticket on Friday. Managed to get on them easily enough but a bit disappointed to just catch the one. I put a bucket of bait out about 30 yards in front of me and got continuous liners on it from about 9pm until 3am. Bizarrely, the only rod to go was the one chucked under the bush in the near margin. I can only assume my hinges were not the one..... should have put bottom baits out. Still, better than a blank and a very pretty little patchy common. I'll not get out again until the end of June which is a killer.

I was very interested in Rod Hutchinson's writings on flavours, and his Ultraspice and Megaspice regularly appeared (along with Chocolate Malt) and someone else mentioned Garlic oil as an attractor so I combined the spice flavours with a Garlic and soya bean oil used in bird feeds as it was supposedly an appetite stimulant. It was not for allicin, but simply because they were good attractors in their own right and work well combined. The additional benefits regarding digestion and health were a beneficial 'side effect'.

Mainline straight through to the lead. I did all the experiments on leadcore years ago and the simple answer is, I don't use a leader at all unless fishing at maximum distance, and it's always with run rings and running leads. The leadcore especially wasn't safe, beads stick, rigs don't eject, and helisafe doesn't work as the leader needs the lead to stay on to eject the rig. In fact I don't even like helicopter setups as bite indication is so bad compared to inline or pendant setups.

I guess pre baiting is out of the question (which is a good edge), judging by the distance you travel? Is there nowhere closer to home to hone your tactics? As others have said before, your eyes are the best tool you have to try and locate the fish before you think of putting a rig out. Although its all guess work, if you can't see any signs of them. What makes you fish at such range and depth? Ive caught nearly as many fish in the margins. Benefits such as, easier to bait up and also determine if the fish are taking your freebie bait. Its all part of learning how to unlock the puzzle of the venue. Its called fishing, not catching😉

Like @yonny I do not like using backleads, for the reasons he states. If you add a backlead, you add an extra angle, and angles reduce indication. I will only use them if there are boats on the water I'm fishing, where I need to get the line below the boat hulls or engine. When I do need to use them, it is the Gardner Tackle Captive Back lead for me. The majority of the time I can get the line running along the lakebed by sinking my rod tips below the surface. That is on reservoirs and lakes. Add in any distance above 40metres and the line runs along the lakebed anyway, unless there are features like gravel bars between your rod tips and the end tackle.

Also think groats, bit of an old skool thing, might also soak this stuff up too, if you can be bothered with it all now

I can see why it's called Winter Bay. Ian.

As some of you know I've inherited a koi pond after the purchase of a new home. It's not your average garden pond... in fact it's pushing 7000 gallons. Quite an installation I tell thee. It holds 16 koi to nearly 30lb, and 1 albino grass carp which is also a biggun. I'm considering doing a diary of sorts on here to document my journey keeping koi. I'd talk about the set up, any changes, and more importantly the kippers and their condition and growth. Obviously I know a thing or 2 about carp but I'm a complete newbie to ponds so it could be interesting to share in the fun of it all, as well as the blood, sweat and tears that are bound to manifest!

Its a blooming nightmare! I treat against blanket weed with Crystalclear. I am now experimenting with a diy bio filter. Mainly gravels, with fabric media and a couple of bog plants at the top. Its been on 24 hrs and the media in the pump shows signs of reduced sludge so im hoping im on the right track now🤞 Im now considering digging a bigger pond alongside and use that one as a bog filter

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

Before the houses were built on the Witney bank..

I used to love my Wavelock with the Fox Jekh Shelter overwrap. I think that I went mark 1 Fox EasyDome next. That is a Taverham Mills swim, and Delkim ST's and Fox Swingers as well.

Cup half full , Yonny . You know that the Carp are going to start spawning soon ( in some places they have already had a go ) , and then they will need a rest to recover . So you are selflessly waiting until the end of June before you fish next . 😁

What a session. Well done to the lad. Yesterday I went for a walk around a water on which I have a ticket starting in June. It's an awesome place, nearly 90 acres of water in a massive nature reserve/SSSI/SPA. A proper big pit with everything that you could hope to see..... bays, islands, snaggy margins, massive sheets of water that go on forever, a really impressive place. I actually fished this water ~25 years ago when I was completely out of my depth. I caught one carp, to this day one of the best I've caught. Would you believe it..... I walked into the swim I caught from all those years ago, and there were loads of gulls diving on a huge hatch. I persuaded the Mrs and kids to stop for 5 mins so I could check it out. Straight away I spotted the carp popping there heads out feeding on this hatch, well within casting distance too. All that water and I found them straight away. Couldn't believe it. Law of the sod dictates I'll not find another chance like that once my ticket starts but it certainly got the blood flowing ready for June!

Not my catches, but my boys! He’s getting to grips with the local park lake 32lb 2oz mirror (new pb) 30lb 1oz mirror - a double take and 2 30s on the bank! one proud (and envious!) father!

Did an afternoon on my local park. After a slow start and by baiting little and often, managed to build up 2 spots and finished with 9 fish with two 18's and a 20-8 Common.

Me bobber... (Shudders...🥴)

My old Thunderbird sport...

Hey 👋🏼, good luck in starting out with the carping. Over here we use relatively light tackle compared to gar fishing or shark fishing ect. There's no need to use things like steel traces. They have really soft mouths so they have to be played a little more carefully. The teeth they do have (pharyngeal teeth) are back in they're throat and more like human molars for crushing food items so no need to worry about steel traces. The aim is to make your rig look as inconspicuous as possible under the water. Rods are generally around 2.5lb - 3.5lb test curve Size 4 - 12 hooks depending on size of carp we are targeting. Most lakes around the UK don't hold many large fish(fish over 30lbs) Wide gape & curve shank being 2 popular hook types. Usually barbless or micro barbed so the fish has as little damage / stress as possible and can be unhooked / put back swiftly and safely after a pic or 2 if it's a nice one lol Hook lengths are usually around 12lb - 25lb and usually braid or fluorocarbon. Might want to go heavier if your fishing for 40lb+ fish. Hope this helps. Would be cool to see a few mexican carp Tight lines & Wet nets