Golden Paws

All fishing video's are advertorials! It's a trade off. You get to watch a fishing expert tackle a water and catch some biggies and he shows you how he did it and the tackle and bait used. The said tackle and bait are exclusively from his employer or sponsor. As long as it's not in your face and false claims made that you'll only catch using the same gear, I'm happy to go along with it. All professional anglers are influencers. God I hate that word but it's true. I remember when I was kid (going to show my age now), when the only fishing program on TV was a very occasional 5 minute segment on Out of Town by Jack Hargreaves.There weren't VCR's or Catch Up and so if you missed it, you'd have to wait months for your next fix. There are reams of stuff on You Tube and it's easy to become an instant carper if you digest enough. I learn't a hell of a lot from watching some of the DVD's when I switched from barbel to carp. I still watch a lot now and although some can get a bit samey, I still pick up some tips and incorporate them in my fishing. For the last six months I've been using Terry's flipper rig using bottom baits on at least one rod after being pretty exclusive on wafters and have caught pretty well on it.

Well I really enjoyed it. Perhaps a few time many "know what I mean?" and "mate" but I can forgive Tel for that. The videography and production are top notch and Tel can certainly tell a story.

The weather forecasters predicted a heatwave this weekend and they weren't wrong! I booked a 48hr session on a pay lake back in November and was in 2 minds whether or not to go. Got there on Friday afternoon and they were all sunbathing, some with their backs out of the water. Chucked out 3 zigs in desperation but wasn't surprised they didn't take them. An hour before dusk I would them in and replaced them with bottom baits and boated them out with the first loose feed. An hour after dark they started spawning and spent virtually all night doing it and I got practically no sleep. I did manage 2 overnight and then another 2 at first light up to 24-5. The day was another grueller but luckily I was sheltered right back amongst the trees and avoided the worst of the sun. I had another 3 during the second night and luckily no more spawning. It died about 2 hours after dawn and I packed up at 10a.m. despite booking on 'til 6p.m. It you would have offered me 7 fish in those conditions I would have had your hand off! I did lie on my camp bed for 10 minutes after dinner and woke up 2 hours later!

https://esp-carpgear.com/product/balance-beads/ I've pretty much given up rig putty. I've lost too much and it doesn't seem to keep it's shape. I've been using ESP tungsten balance beads for quite a few years and can't see myself ever going back. The photo is a Flipper rig (the bottom bit of shrink tube pushes to the bend of the hook) and my bait has been nibbled away by roach or bream but the bead is on a Combi rig and pushes into the knot and pretty much stays there. Its dead easy to reuse it as well, just push it onto a small baiting needle.

A 31lb 12oz mirror from the weekend. Also managed a 25-4 and 18-10. After a windy start on Friday, it got really hot but managed a bite on all 3 rods by boating out about 20 Creamino boiles and a bit of pellet every 3 hours tight to an Island.

On the couple of waters I fish most often, the bailiff's come round most days to check the rat boxes for poison but I think they have learned to avoid them. They are probably better off with traps but you have to be careful where you put them. Shooting is another option as they are getting bolder but obviously comes with risks and has to be on private ground.

Had two 2.5l lockable sandwich boxes delivered yesterday which should keep them at bay. I fish several different waters over the course of the season and I'm sure they're getting bolder on all of them!

An example of what happens when you leave your boilies inside your bivvy, a visit from Rattus Norvegicus! I seen the thing quite a few times during the day and so deliberately brought the bag inside my bivvy as I thought it wouldn't come in. I'll be storing them in some strong tupperware boxes from now on!

Went to my local days only park lake and started at 4:30 and had 5 doubles to 18-8 by 10 O' Clock and packed up in time for tea at home. I boated out a fair bit of spod mix to the far bank trees to keep the bites coming.

I'm always up before first light and give the hooks a quick lick with the polishing stone, a fresh bait attached and a hopper full of fresh bait stealthily boated out to the spot. I'm a bit paranoid that I might have been cleaned out overnight and the amount of times the hooks come back with a blob of weed masking it, makes it a no-brainer for me. I don't fish particularly weedy waters but always check when I'm adding more bait. When I read about people fishing Rainbow Lake who cast out and then leaving it for 4 days, my brain doesn't compute!

They say that humans learn by making mistakes. Unfortunately some of us make the same mistakes over and over again and never learn! It's confession time, what stupid (fishing only!) mistakes have you made that cost you fish and you went home kicking yourself. About a month ago I was staring down the barrel of a 48 hour blank on a water I knew pretty well and had caught fairly consistently in the past. Fish were coming out but mainly at the top end of the lake and I was at the bottom. That said, the blokes either side of me had caught, so I can't use that as an excuse. At 3 a.m. on the final morning I had a bite and a chance to redeem myself. Struck into a good fish and played it for a good 10 seconds and then everything went limp. I did feel the fish rub on a bit of weed but when I inspected the line, I found it was shredded and even worse, I don't think it happened at that point. I used to place the hook into the zip on my haversack and walk off a good 20 yards of line and tighten the clutch and put the rod into it's full fighting curve to check the line but somewhere along the line, I got out of the habit of doing it. I'll certainly be doing it in the future. After that, I also started to put my finger and thumb on the line by the fist eye when reeling in and feel for any nicks or kinks. Line is cheap, don't risk it! Another time I had a pig-tail on my main line of about a rod length, so cut the line at the Korda Safezone leader and reattached it. The next bite I had, I struck and straight away lost the fish and reeled in just the knot. I had almost certainly cut a bit off the leader and seriously weakened it. It's no good writing a letter to Danny Fairbrass, it was 100% my fault. Now when I reattach a leader, I always grip the fused end with my finger and thumb to protect it and cut a few mm above the join and pull the loosened knot off with my teeth. As an aside, I highly rate Safezone leader, in fact I never cast out without one. Rob Hughes has said that when he goes diving and checking out rigs, he follows the line so far then on the bottom looks for the leadcore or tubing, I don't use either! When I watch some of the underwater video's, I can't believe the fish haven't sussed that the one with the hook is 6 inches past the obvious bit! So came on then, when stupid things have you done?

One from last Friday. Goujons and microwave chips (that cook a treat in the Ridgemonkey) and a bottle of Asahi. I don't normally ever take alcohol when fishing but made an exception this time and might make it a feature in the future.

Been doing quite well on tigers nuts recently and this one is the best so far at 33lb 5oz.

If your boilie is breaking off when you withdraw the needle, it sounds more like you are using a baiting needle with too harsh a barb rather the knot causing the problem. Boilie recipes have undergone a change from being hard, which was supposed to put off smaller fish and make them easier to catapult or stick out, to softer which requires less boiling and so they retain more of their nutritional profile and allow water to penetrate them and release their attractants more readily. I use a Korda needle which is fine enough to penetrate boilies without causing any damage to them.

30lb BS may be a bit thick. Just strip off a few inches of the coating so that your hair section is more supple.