Golden Paws

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.

mark bryant rig Here is the video that shows the rig. I've used 15lb Korda IQ for years without any mishap but noticed that Mark uses 20lb. The Silicon Tube is 1.5mm and I use some from ESP. It really is a versatile rig and you can also adjust the length of the slip-D at will. Try the IQ again following the tips in the video and you shouldn't have any problems,

I've always been a fan of Combi's and saw the Mark Bryant rig and have been using it as it is so easy to change the hook or use a bait screw/small swivel/ring within seconds. He uses a piece of silicon tube that automatically kicks out when slid over the hook so there is no need to use shrink tube. By doing so, it locks the hook and make it difficult to change things at will.

Yes, that's the idea. A sloppy mix will stay in the upper layers for quite a while. Keep the area topped up every 5 to 10 minutes to let the fish know where to come.

Due to the interest of this subject, I've attached a photo of my dry zig mix. Tesco Porridge Oats cost £2.05 for a 2 kg bag and the ground mix is in the ice cream tub. I mix it with some Mainline Zig Soup which at £13.99 for a 4 kg bag is used more sparingly! I got the grinder off the net a while back and think I paid about £25 for it but should pay for itself reasonably quickly.

It can be a bit messy! I tend to have the bait bucket away from my gear so it doesn't get too splattered. I use a water bucket to wash my hands after every cast and just splash a fair bit over the reel as well.

I use some Mainline Zig Soup but bulk it out with some cheap porridge oats (Tesco) that I put through a grinder to make the particle size smaller and hang in the upper layers. I also use condensed milk with the lake water to make it nice and sloppy. I also normally add a few slices of bread to the mix and squeeze it to form a sloppy paste. The crust will float until it becomes saturated and will stay near the surface for that bit longer. I know some people advocate using sweetcorn and pellets in the mix but I can't understand the logic as they will drop through the water column far too quickly. OK if you are going to fish bottom baits on the spot after dark. You could mince the sweetcorn up with a food blender or Krusher and a yellow zig would probably be a good bet.

I don't use zigs very often but know that I should! If you want to learn, watch this Video that tells you all you need to know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRS_SbTr9Zg&feature=youtu.be

All the time! Probably a bit OCD but like to have the bail at '12 O'Clock' and the line clip is then closest and the line follows the blank to the first eye which makes sense to me.

I got stung recently. A mate had some tackle to sell including a few rods and I put it on e bay for him as he doesn't have an account. Most of it sold and I went to the Post Office and they charged me more than some of them went for! I think it was about £15 an item and some were relatively small sea boat rods. Since they changed things a few years ago by charging more for size than weigh, they are very expensive and can understand which personal collection is more appealing to a seller. I believe there are parcel companies that are cheaper but at the time I didn't realise and when you are in the queue at the counter, you just pay up and seeth later.

I use a back to back grinner. 4 loops for the flouro and 5 for the mono.

Done.

I use the same rod for marker and spod/spombing. https://www.carpfeed.com/fishing-advice/how-to/carp-hack-the-two-loop-trick Tying this knot makes it easy to switch between the two without have to reconfigure every time. I also use some sea fishing size American Clips to attach the spod/spomb as it makes it easier than fiddling around with the smaller diameters of the baiting devices.

I use the Albright Knot for my favoured Combi rigs and they have never let me down. I do prefer the Mahin for Shock Leaders though as it is more streamlined and tapered.

Go for the 50 which is what I use. You only need about 30 foot on so it's not going to hinder casting and you've got that safety margin when 'giving it some welly' with a long chuck or casting heavy spods. Attach it with a Mahin knot ( link ) which is sometimes known as a Carrot Knot as it tapers really well and goes through the rings with barely a whisper.

Agreed Dave. My Xmas present arrived early December and my missus let me have it early (oooh, matron!) and I finished it in a couple of weeks by reading a couple of hours every night. Tremondous book and can't rate it highly enough. Wonderful 'fireside reading' that you can dip in and out of any Chapter as it isn't connected. It isn't all fishing as some of it is part autobiographical but still enjoybale to read. https://calmproductions.com/rolling-in-the-deep Not the cheapest book at £35 but it is a monster read. The formatting of the book is different to any other fishing book I've read before and the diary pieces included add to the feel of it. Virtually every Carp book on the market has the standard 'man and big fish' front cover but this isn't and that emphasises that it doesn't conform to what you might have read before.

I've not used that brand but most have caught hundreds of barbel on various makes of Luncheon Meat over the years. After a while they do wise up to the 'pink cube' and I caught most of mine by cutting into 6 fingers and then smearing with Tandoori paste with some extra garlic granules added for that extra kick, That also changes the colour, making it darker and less conspicuous. Cook in a frying pan on a low heat whilst turning on each side. Allow to cool and then add to a freezer bag and freeze and the flavour really 'sucks in' to the meat. Alternatively, you can cut the meat up and add a powdered flavour (any curry powder) to a polythene bag and allow it to take on the flavour. I've caught some very good barbel and chub on plain meat using a quarter of a tin. You feel pretty stupid casting it out and for the first time you begin to doubt it will work but trust me, it does. Rather than using a boilie stop, I use a piece of grass stalk about an inch long to hold it if using a hair rig as it does go soft, especially in the summer. Most of the time I buried the hook in the bait as I was touch ledgering. If convential Carp Fishing, I would use a running lead, especially if using really large pieces as they do need a bit of time to pick up the bait and gulp it down, almost similar to pike fishing and letting the fish take line and striking a few seconds later.

Unfortunately the baliff on my club water is a miserable old git who likes to chuck his weight around because he's 'got a badge'. Didn't like it though when I reported him to the Committee for breaking the rules he was supposed to uphold! So to put it on head a bit, the baliff's I hate are the one's who think that they are there to impose themselves when most people want want a quiet relaxing day's fishing. He's also pretty rude, "Ticket?" is his standard greeting. To be fair, most of the others I've met have been courteous and polite and engage in a bit of small talk and they are off on their way with minimal fuss. On another day ticket water I fished (once!) they employed 2 young idiots who thought they were in the Sweeny. They used to screech up in the car park and one would go one way and the other the opposite which was pretty comical, I never returned as I just don't need that kind of aggravation.