Leonard

Baiting spoon mate? Tacklebox do 12 metre ones reasonable

What happened there? lol hello me, how are you? Oh Hi leonard yes I'm fine thanks, you? Erm, well yes I'm also fine, funnily enough, you? Erm.... hmmmm... yes

Sounds a bit like my venue On some lakes they do move around a LOT which makes all this swim hopping ''getting on them'' nonsense the bigshots force down our throats in the media a complete waste of time mate Can I suggest doing a long session of 72 hours or so, sitting on your hands with minimal bait out, waiting for them to come to you and having rigs out before they arrive? (Good book or two helps)! PS one thing overlooked in silt is, I think, just use a big 18mm boilie, far less chance of it wahsing out quickly, i.e try matching the hatch, I don't go for the flash little pots any more, all I use is minimal 18mm freezer baits and a little tiny tub of groundbait

The Matrix bait soak is special, on some lakes it is genuinely lethal Something to do with all the Vitamin E is what makes it so effective apparently I did well on a tough dayticket using the goo AND the soak, I dried it on between glugs, sort of like 'priming' the baits, the goo first and the oil on top.. magic days ; )

Yeah vitalin mix only, or birdfood content.. you have to be careful with PVA mesh bags of groundbait. I've been there, reeled in in the morning to find the hook still embedded in a ball of groundbait, even the mesh was still intact as I'd put so much oil in the mix (yuk, lol) Frank Warwick goes over this subject, he says you need (if I remember rightly) about minimum 10% birdfood in there such as Red Factor or CLO as it ''explodes'' any mix Same thing with method feeders, if I wanted to use that I would replace the breadcrumb content simply with a Haiths ready mix (Honey Red being a great favourite), or, as you say vitalin (because it is so coarse textured it will always break down, something like that anyway)..

A clever particle mix can be deadly, sure Check out Frank Warwick's every bit of blue, you'd definitely enjoy his bait sections Rod Hutchinson was the king of particles though, pioneered all that, you could do FAR worse than use his famous ''Redmire blend'' of maples, tares and hemp, couldn't tell you the ratio off the top of my head sorry I'm past all that myself, as In I just mean bait doesn't interest me much any more, I only ever made one DIY mix, it was very expensive to build and it was at a time in my fishing life when I had the patience of spoilt baby anyway so I ditched it when it didn't work. I think I made the mistake of trying to be too flash though, it was one of those old ultra high milk protein type, posh mixes. I don't really believe in all that and am more than happy using a succesful mid protein high digest readymade freezer bait or two these days

Yes indeed. Premier, like most bait companies, would never sell something ready for use that wasn't safe to be thrown in by the bucketload if that's what an angler (who had the money) wished to do with it! Obviously they all sell concentrated flavours, but they are very clear about dosages on those. Some people do use very small amounts of neat flavour as a bait ''shine'' for hookbaits and swear by it mind

Yeah, sure, tinkering about with bait is super fun Rather than think of it as a Goo, which whether you are looking at the old Premier stuff or the new stuff has very scret recipes, why not think of it as just a liquid or glug, or soak whatever you want to call it mate, that way you will find no end of ideas and help with it, glug making has I'm sure been well covered on here in the past? Anyway tight lines and good luck

meant to say in that enormous original post which took me ages, lol Groundbait is the perfect carrier for particle, I'd personally much rather use a small bit in a groundbait catty or sling thing than use a noisy spomb (tacklebox still doing groundbait casting slings if anybody's interested, just about, if you're quick) you can send a casting sling thing it MILES further than any spod or spomb, FW talks at length about slinging groundbait in Every Bit Of Blue, He called it a ''cataspod'' lol, I think he sent a ball of groundbait 280 yards (no kidding, measured formally at a show).. Very good book by the way, very imaginative chap indeed, the bait sections are fascinating especially, and the early chapters on Redesmere etc. are magic, a great read get on it

Exactly what I said in a long winded way mate lol Premier's Fish Goo was around for (20)? Years before the neon flash stuff came along

Try the Premier Fish Goo stuff we've been on about, that would be hard to better IMO It is literally like a bovril paste made from fish extract of some sort (secret naturally) enzymes or proteins, L zero type stuff, I have no idea what is is, and never will as they would never tell me!!!!!!!!!!!1 I wouldn't be worried about matching flavours, I fell into that trap years ago and you simply end up spending too much. I would simply make a liquid for use over any bait, there's a whole World of possibility out there, I used prawn shell stock before, the really sweet proper frozen whole ''Greenland'' ones from a good fishmonger are the ones, not those big horrible steroid eating things The only flavour clash I ever heard of was that one bait buff told me not to combine meat flavours with fruit as he said they will not work in the same bait, but people sell liver and fruit boilies, I think it depends on what type of flavours he himself was using, it gets very complicated but the general consensus is (pretty much) that anything will work with anything as long as the levels are not so high that they will be repellant (very easily done apparently as carp have a massively sensitive food detection ability) I'm not the one to talk to anyway as I am Mr. Boring with bait nowadays. Everything comes from a bait company or four except for some breadcrumbs and sweetcorn from the shops, lol.. I'm happy though and that's all that matters really!

Nah just had a good look, they've gone, probably not selling.

I saw them on ebay not long ago at all mate, will have another look about later

The plastic coating is another story, plastic is a known pollutant which leaks chemicals and doesn't break down.. Maybe, just maybe, that would be banned and not the leads? I'm no expert and might be wrong that it even is plastic in Korda lead coatings (Argon? Something like that, whatever that is)!, besides their new coating seems more like a paint job of some kind, anyway I wouldn't care less about coatings personally and would be happy using bare lead Maybe leads are totally safe in water, I dunno, it is of course used in roofing so it must then be (pretty much) safe in air as well, weathering over decades.. Lead oxide is formed by, basically, very high temperature treatment, so I'm not sure it is possible in nature, might be wrong, that stuff is, as I have spoken about elsewhere, PB02 is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY NOT something you want lying around unprotected anywhere even remotely near you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot seem to re-find those clear fishing leads, they appeared in the mags before with Colin Davidson seen using them in features. Anyone got a link, info? To be honest I will be happy on Stonze if anything kicks off, I fish a small water, dunno what the big casters will do on the big pits etc, maybe they will have to share bait boats between them!?

Lol yes but what happens when they want to eat your lead and not your hookbait? Up all night with fish swimming around with your lead in their gob, lol

It's a topic with a lot of depth I started writing something about it and went off on too many tangents One thing I have always loved and sworn by is a MEGA minimal, MEGA streamlined helicopter setup. It is a thing of beauty, BUT it is very hard to do, in fact it is nearly impossible, for a variety of reasons. If you have a helicopter rig with pure braid, for one reason or another, it just works like You're getting into areas which are complex and interesting, and I keep writing something and deleting it, so I'm going to mull it over tonight mate. I have many opinions on all this, some of which I revealed in a sadly ignored thread about people using tubing for helicopter rigs I'm a bit of a helicopter rig obsessive, though I never use them! I am also very interested in lead alternatives, as my post above says. I did pottery and know that lead is not a fun thing, whatsoever I have some ideas which may interest you and others, to do with fuse-ing More later mate

Somebody will come up with something clever mate, some sort of resin compound that is organic and completely inert, and is dense and heavy and can be moulded using CAD technology It must be perfect looking or anglers will not buy it,, sorry to labour that point again but it is very true another trick which has been proven by far more major commercial enterprises than fishing weights is: don't even tell'em! (For both good and bad over the years), Point is, the race is on! Yes lead is horrible, a nasty material which is (quite possibly) poisoning waters. If you have ever read up on lead oxide powder then you will know it is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY not something you ever want lying around in your sugar bowl, and maybe, just maybe, what with water being very reactive indeed, something may be afoot.. We don't know, somebody might though.. Anyway tungsten is a different material altogether, maybe that can play a part, but maybe we just need to get used to using large leads of either stone, or aforementioned inert resin compounds of some sort..?

Sticky's Bloodworm is a banger as well Shame it strangely wasn't popular enough for them to mantain frozen, my results on a busy, special club lake went berserk on it back in the day with bigger and better fish The cloudy is great, and the pellets are super too. Word on the street is a mix of bloodworm and manilla pellets 50 50 for a speckled, mixed up colour, fabulous stick mix

It's great, sort of like a 'fishy bovril'

That's two tubS of Paxo, don't use just one Bloomin took me ages that did, give it a go peeps!

I want to share this recipe with you all as I mucked about with it for YEARS (and I do mean years). It suits carp fishing only, binds amazingly, fishes with any boilie and hookbaits (no flavour clashes possible) and they love it! (If you do catch a giant roach on it, don't sue me)! I love groundbait, I use tiny amounts just to spread a bit of extra attraction on the spots. I really believe it works best in small amounts, I bring 700g (one third of the mix) with me over three days, the idea being just pinging out or (better) throwing a few tiny, large boilie sized balls every now and again, sly, stealthy, sneaky.. People think of groundbait as sloshing in bucketloads, welcome rudd and pike is all I have to say about that! Anyway here it is: Two tub of Paxo breadcrumbs (227g per tub). Ace consistent quality, super binding quality (guten), attraction in its own right; Golden all the way as it has magical paprika and turmeric added and the colour is just ''well carpy''! 500g squashed frozen boilie, flavour of no consequence whatsoever as long as it's a favourite of yours (the salty additives will preserve the mix in the fridge indefinitely, so no need for yukky preserved shelf life boilies) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 300g tinned corn with juice, (be exact, eat the spares, Lidl do 300g gross weight own brand tins) 710g tin Bait Tech Super Seed Parti Mix (legenday superb completely nut free blend, mushy consistency makes the mix perfect and bind beautifully). I use about five tins a year so I don't care about cost effectiveness of it Vs. home cooked or bulk. I can't think of anything more mundane than cooking bait, and besides bringing all 10 ingredients together would cost me a night in the pub, and we can't have that, can we!? 100g 50 50 mix of Premier Baits 'Goo' Liquid* and Sticky Baits Cloudy Bloodworm Liquid * (called that for years before the radioactive stuff came along) Mixes out to exactly 210 grams, split into thirds will fit perfectly in 0.9 litre mini tupperwares (enough for three days)! * 50 50 mix of both because, when you try the Goo for the first time, you will see why it needs mixing with a thinner liquid! (Think holding the bottle upside down for an hour for no emergence, FABULOUS stuff). Tight lines, cheers, go get 'em. Try some on an inline, small sized Pallatrax Stonze weight for the best method feeder EVER. .

Yeah the large ones are fairly horrible things to be perfectly honest. I love the small ones and have a huge collection of them, obviously in order to pick out your favourites at the weights you want, and as I say, IMO there has NEVER been a better method feeder on planet Earth, any groundbait will stick like superglue (Mr. Pomeroy can thank me later)! Casting accuracy is a funny one but often comes down, for me, to a good old Arlesey bomb, hard to find these days but Anchor do great ones with a slightly dodgy green paint on them! That old chestnut about electric current is something I am iffy about. Say you had two swivels, link and hook version, or a bait mounting screw, and some of that Rigmarole steel cored tubing on, PLUS a lead, and (erm, a hook has been deemed essential).. is there not a chance that in fact (when the whole lot works, which is well proven) that you may in fact be ATTRACTING them with it all? Just a thought...!

It will take many years, possibly 10 mate

Pomeroy has a vested interest for obvious reasons, and is a very headstrong character, not everyone's cuppa tea. He makes a lot of money from drilling out stones. The product is ok and has a place in fishing. The inline ones make the best method feeders of all time, if you haven't tried it do so, somehow groundbait grips them really well. But they are just not shaped right and aerodynamic enough to really catch on as pendant or heli leads. Those crystal leads are more interesting in my opinion as the shapes are perfect, but they are hard to pin down It can't be too hard for Pomeroy to maybe shape stones of a softer nature perhaps, or somebody to come up with a dissolvable resin lead which has a neat shape.. people are missing a trick, the market will demand streamlined, LEAD SHAPED leads and until somebody comes up with it they will get no interest I think fisheries themselves will ban leads far quicker than the Govt. will, it may e sooner than we think and I will be happy enough to use my collection of Stonze