Golden Paws

Yes, poor choice of terminology on my part, fish don't have a stomach but they do have a long digestion tube that is concertinaed in their body. This makes it easier for food to get trapped and especially if it were to swell. Peanuts are banned on many fisheries because of the problem as well as tiger nuts (which aren't technically a nut!) The time it takes for a food item to pass through a carp is dependent on the water temperature and probably it's solubility in the digestion tract juices. Things like maggots and worms are probably easily broken down whereas harder baits will take longer. A well known angler told me once how he watched chub taking sweetcorn like there was no tomorrow, they passed it and swam in a circle to savour it again! Having had 3 kids, I can confirm that if you feed them sweetcorn one day, the next you have a yellow speckled nappy! All I would say if that we have a responsibility towards the fish we are trying to catch and should tempt them on food that is attractive and beneficial to them. Deliberately feeding them food items that could cause discomfort of even death should be avoided at all costs.

Try the nose test. If it reeks and look rancid, bin it, if not should be OK.

Never used it but £5 for 1100 metres is pretty good value. I've been using 12lb Gardner GT-HD which is £18 for virtually the same length and really pleased with it. Shimano has always had a pretty good reputation so at that price, you can't go too far wrong.

Used amber lenses for driving for many years and they are good in sunny conditions and blocking out the worst of the flare at dawn or dusk but never used them at night as they are effectively blocking out light and out of town, I need all the light I can see. I've just bought a pair of the Fortis Amber glasses but with the 2x diopter. They are quite dark and I don't use them when the light starts to dim but with age, my eyes need all the help they can get for tying hooks or attaching boilies.

Tin. Use the spray and you'll lose a lot. I used a rag and really worked in it.

I've used Fabsil (normal) on my brolly and overwrap. I did it and forgot about it until a storm come in one day. The sort of day when you get a belt of rain for a second and then a blast of wind the next. I was outside the brolly in the pouring rain watching the rain bead onto the material and then get flicked off by the wind in fascination! Needless to say, I was pretty impressed. I did buy some Gold for next time but haven't used it yet. I also used a cleaning solution first and let it dry and am sure that definitely helped.

Thanks for sharing! The neck of the bottle looks a bit narrow, did you use a funnel or did you have 'dehli belly'?

Have you tried changing the batteries?

Glad we disagree slightly and not fall out! I do use forceps and grip them as well as the hook but am blooming careful not to get the point too close to my fingers! Rigs are a source of great debate and everyone will have a different viewpoint and just as soon as you are happy with one, another 'expert' will try to convince you theirs is the best thing since sliced bread. The main premise is that by using a sharp hook and a rig that doesn't tangle or will reset if a fish 'does' you will result in more fish. Hitting the clip when casting and using a PVA mesh or stringer will help straighten out the hooklength. There are loads of articles out there or youtube video's, search out the best for your situation and apply it and you should start to pick up more fish.

I'm sorry to disagree with you commonly but pulling with 2 tools until the hook is 'near bending' will weaken the hook and make it more likely to open up during a fight. I grip the hook with a pair of forceps along the shank of the hook and pull it with a tool at the the swivel end so it beds down. Coming back to Sam's last question, they are loads of rigs out there and some are designed to work in certain situations. Chod rigs are designed for slack line fishing over weed beds with a pop up's whereas Hinge Stiff Rigs, Ronnie's or Multi Rigs are designed for pop up's over clearer ground, although nothing is ever clear cut and you could argue you could use any rig in different circumstances. Work out what type of bottom you are fishing over and then decide if you want to fish a pop up/wafter/bottom bait and take it from there. Personally most lakes I fish have cleanish bottoms and I prefer a wafter that is critically balanced (I usually add more cork to make it so or you could use use a pop up and add some putty) and fish Combi rigs (fluorocarbon to make it stiff and reset with a flexible supple braid for the last inch to make the bait behave naturally.) If that wasn't enough, you have to decide on the length of trace. Wisdom says that very large fish need a longer trace and if you fish PVA bags, a very short length is commonly advised. It's a very subjective subject but you have to decide on how best to tackle what is in front of you. I tie all my own traces and get a bit more satisfaction from it rather than just buying one over the counter and you can tweak them to get better results. Good luck.

Almost definitely hook point dulled over. It doesn't matter what brand of hook you use, they all lose their sharpness after catching a fish or even just being in the water. I use http://www.jagproducts.co.uk/product/hook-sharpening-kit and check every hook before casting. Even brand new hooks out of the packet are sharper with a few light strokes with the sharpening stone file. Most blunted hooks can be rescued by using the diamond file and finishing with the stones. The ultra eye is useful for checking that the hook point tapers to a point and a quick nick on the thumb confirms if the hook is 'sticky sharp'.

Yes. You need to simmer particles to soften them and take on water. If you leave them too hard, they can swell in the fishes stoamach and cause death - don't do it!

I've got a couple of old pressure cookers that I use to cook up my particles. I make up a dry mix of pigeon conditioner and hemp (roughly 2:1) and add enough to cover about a quarter of the pan. Fill to about 2/3 with water and leave for 24 hours. It will swell up and if the water level above the particles is less than 3 inches, add some more water. Next the important bit - cook it outside on a gas burner. Do not even attempt to cook it indoors or else your significant other/mum will not be impressed! When the pressure cooker is singing, turn down the gas and give it a 15 minute simmer. I then turn off the gas and leave it in the boiling pan for 24 hours and normally plan to take it out it to co-incide with a trip. When poured into a bucket, you can add salt, don't add it before or else the hemp won't split. I normally then add a kilo of frozen sweetcorn to the bucket and it's done. Maize is a hard bait and I normally pour boiling water into the pan to pre-soak it to give it a kick start. Again, leave 24 hours, boil and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. When it is done, test it by squeezing between your finger and thumb. If it doesn't crush, it's too hard and is liable to swell in a fish's stomach and could kill it. I've added mollasses to corn (available from farm shops or horse supplies) and freezing it really draws in the flavour. I have somtimes added hemp oil to the mix in the summer but don't really think it makes a huge difference.

Reached size limit, adding a few more.

Running water has always had a fascination and wiers are the culmination of fascination. Here are some of my favourite shots.

Here is a shot of a flying fish I caught a few years ago. Didn't notice it when I took the photo, only when I put it on the computer.

Most of my late spring to autumn fishing (unless baking hot) revolves around spodding a lot of particle. Hemp used to be quite cheap years ago but the price has gone up a fair bit so I just bulk it out with pigeon conditioner mixes and frozen sweetcorn which is a lot cheaper (and environmentally friendly!) than tinned corn. If you are using pellet as well, don't add it to the spod mix or else it will turn to a mush, add to the spod just before casting. I make up some groundbait to plug the spod (don't get on with spombs) and use the excess liquid from the mix to bind it which increases the attraction. I was fishing a local lake a few years ago and the liquid level in the bucket was a bit high so I tipped the excess into the margins, a few minutes later several carp were charging around searching for the source of the smell. So I would just soak it all for 24 hours and boil for at least 20 minutes and go for it. I went yesterday and my spot was like a boiling couldren as they were definitely on it and had a 19-10 on plastic corn.

The club lake I fish regularly had a barbless only rule but a lot of the fish had pretty gammy mouths. Barbless undoubtably go in easier but during a fight they do tend to twist and turn a bit and cause problems. Barbed hooks, although harder to penetrate do tend to stay in one place. The Committee finally decided to allow barbed (preferably micro barbed) hooks to alleviate the problem. During the barbless rule, I caught plenty of fish (well stocked) and lost very few and never felt handicapped. If using barbed hooks, you can always crush the bard down with a pair of forceps to keep it as small as possible.

The pet store chain Jollyes have a selection of bins that have loads of interesting bits like pigeon conditioner and other seeds, just grab a bucket on the way in and fill it up. Most of the seed type baits swell up two or three times their dry size and so a little goes a long way. I have also bought some large bags of mixed bird seed at B&M at silly cheap prices. I also sometimes visit a local farm feed store and they also have some interesting seeds, pellets, sacks of vitalin and 5 litre containers of mollases at pretty reasonable prices as the "Carp Tax" isn't included!

Very little I would have though as fish live in the wet stuff. An intense fire would throw the flames high in the air so it would have minimal impact on Oxygen levels in the lake. If any trees fell into the lake, that could create an instant 'snag' swim and could be worth investigating.

Chris said 'no swivels should be attached to the mainline'. It's a little bit ambiguous but I'm pretty sure that what is implied is that you can't have swivels running on the mainline, I can't believe that they have outlawed swivels as a means of attaching a trace to the mainline.

I assume that it means you can't use a chod rig as the swivel can cut into the main line just above the lead if using mono. Lead core is usually OK but is also banned on a lot of fisheries. A standard lead clip set should is probably the way forward but that would depend on the amount of weed present as rigs can bury themselves.

The answer is to cast past the show and reel the rig into position and drop it over the spot. Even if you are using PVA bags, you should get about 30 seconds before they break down.

If you are using PVA bags, make them as tight as possible and use a syringe to piece the bag to fill the voids and then chuck it out.

Some oils are lighter and more suitable for cold water conditions as the thicker stuff conceals. Things like hemp oil are suitable for cold weather and I use a salmon oil in the summer but don't go overboard. On another note, I use a tin of tuna in my ground bait mix I use to plug my spods to give it a really fishy tang, I use the brine version in the winter and oil in the summer.