Golden Paws

I'm a self confessed addict to You Tube these days (have you seen how much drivel is on TV?) but am getting to the stage now where it does all seem a bit "samey" and getting a bit annoying. To be fair, most of the stuff on the ESP Site with Tel or Martin Bowler is usually highly watch able but some of the other stuff can be a bit predictable or you know you are being lied to. Here is some of my observations I don't want to put up with in 2020. 1. "Goodbye my luv" (kiss) as Carp slipped back. 2. "Best bait I've ever used" (hic), "pass me another Diamond White!" 3. People droning on and on about their latest session with Carp in arms gasping for air! For god's sake, take the hook out, quick piccie and then put the thing back ASAP. 4. "I'll put this one back and hopefully catch a bigger one....." 5. "Get in the net, get in the net...... Pukka!" 6. "I've just turned up at the lake and selected this swim........" Liar! The swim has been roped off and the Bailiff has been filling it in for days! 7. "We've been told that there are Carp in this lake but we don't know anything about the stock...." Liars! You've Googled the granny out of it for months and checked the Instagram page every day! I must have missed quite a few, any more offers?

Going off topic slightly, a sign of aging could be sag, i.e. you look down the rod and there is a slight drooping towards the tip. This was more prevalent on the good old split cane rods or rods with more or heavier eyes than the standard rods of today. Easier way to cure that was to take the eyes off and re-whip them at 180 degrees so it counteracted it. The rod was still softer but it didn't play havoc with some anglers OCD!

More often the rod is clamped (or held by a mate!) around the reel seat against a wall, the clutch tightened up and a spring balance tied to the line and pulled until the tip is at 90 degrees and the weight reading taken. I did hear about one manufacturers rods 'softening' with age but don't think it was much and probably not worth worrying about.

Tel on Sheepwalk Enjoy.

Unfortunately when someone else buys an angler a fishing present, it's always wrong! Fishing can be quite personalized and I would recommend broaching the subject and possibly giving him the money the chose what he wants himself.

I don't think either reply was an over reaction. The fact that are researching and sharing your findings indicates that you are in 'pre-buy' mode (and encouraging others in the process). You are playing Russian Roulette and I would urge you not to consider buying any device that has to potential to cause death. If the weather is very cold, I think you would lose more heat using a letterbox setting than you would gain from a heater so some people would simply seal up the bivvy.

Pinned by Edward Shin Edward Shin 1 year ago (edited) As a disclaimer, I cant stress enough how important it is to make sure you have good ventilation where you use this. Found on the gas version. The first one you need to cut a hole in your bivvy to accommodate the chimney! This similar topic was covered a short while ago; I said then that the risk of Carbon Monoxide poisoning made any flame based heating device was too risky. Every year anglers die because of CO exposure and I think some Companies are being irresponsible even to sell them, whatever 'disclaimers' they attach to them. My message is simply 'don't'. Once you go to sleep and continue to breathe in the fumes all night, it 'locks out' your blood so that Oxygen can't latch on in the normal way and the only consolation is that death is relatively painless.

Every time I see it done it makes my toes curl! Even worse is when someone from Korda (you know who) says" Goodbye my Love" after kissing it!

Link How you spool it on make a big difference. Soak the line for at least an hour as mono's will absorb some of the water and become softer. Some people will tell you to have the spool of line in a bucket with the label side up and reel it on but I prefer to put in in an old narrow ice cream tub filled with water so the spool is trapped in sideways and spins as you reel it in. Trap the line just above the reel with a damp cloth so it goes on under constant tension. As it stands, I would take the spools off the reels and soak them and then go to a large (quiet) field and lay it out on the ground and reel it back in again under tension and that should alleviate any twist issue.

That looks pretty horrendous. I was chatting in my local tackle shop one day and they told me a story of a bloke who bought a new reel and brought it back a few days later complaining it was utter rubbish as the line was coming off all wrong. They had a few trial casts in the shop and it was as bad as described and they were all scratching their heads as they hadn't seen anything that bad before. One of them finally inquired how he had spooled up and he sheepish admitted that he had wound it all on by hand........and wrapped it the wrong way!

No. Hinders are a reputable Company with many years of experience and give advice freely to educate the customer so that problems don't occur. If that means they sell more particles, I'm happy to accept that.

The following guidelines will help to ensure that any particles you use are safe to fish. Dry particles and seeds need to be denatured with a combination of soaking and boiling to make them completely safe. MAIZE -Pre-soak for 24 hours then bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Taken from this page; https://hinders.co.uk/pages/particle-preparation-guide Hinders know far more about particles than I do and I'm happy to take their advice. Your assessment may be correct but there is a risk that you could be wrong. Unfortunately fish have died because of problems with swelling, I seem to remember that a large Common called Benson was found dead and the suspicion was that it was caused by swelling and constriction of the digestive tube after an autopsy. I have used maize in the past but always gave it (a highly unscientific) chew after it was cooked to make sure it was softish as it is rock hard when dry.

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.

I personally wouldn't use any flame based device in a bivvy, even if it is ventilated (which would probably let more cold in than the device would generate.) Carbon Monoxide isn't known as the silent killer for nothing. It creeps up on you and you don't really notice anything wrong at first and then you feel a bit groggy and sleepy and if you do fall asleep, it kills you as you sleep. This is because every breathe you take, more Carbon Monoxide is inhaled and it 'clings' onto your blood 400 times stronger than Oxygen and prevents the Oxygen that our bodies need for muscles to work from attaching onto the blood. Why do you think that the classic hosepipe from the exhaust into a car is a popular form of suicide? Catalytic convertors have made this a more long winded affair and it has fallen out of fashion a bit! A far better solution is insulated layers starting with thermal underwear and finishing with a waterproof and breathable outer shell to repel water but allow sweat to pass through. Gloves, hats and scarves as well as hot water bottles are far more effective and safer at keeping cold at bay.

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!