coops_northants

I use it loads and to be honest if your using it for hinge booms try it in 12lb. It does discolour as your stretch it and stays like that but I don't have them snap on me. If you need a little more security you can use 15lb but with 20lb you end up with a rig which does not fish as effectively and can often end up with the rig presented poorley due to being too stiff. A little finesse in your rigs goes a long long way.

I was looking to join this syndicate, cracking lake and from what I'm told it is difficult but rewarding. I lad I fish with done a season on there and had an awesome year including 16 fish through the winter from one swim. (2009/10) From what he told me it was simple fishing, bait up regularly and be vigilant of the new clear spots appearing where the fish are ripping up the weed and get on them early. While it was simple fishing he put loads of effort into baiting up regularly and setting up in the dark and leaving in the dark etc he was rewarded for this and had all his target fish in the year.

Hi Phil, Not loads of fish in the lakes, well there are but they are well spread. Well worth the money for fishing but you do need to a bit of work and the rewards are there. There are a few more fish in the 3corner these days and the big lake has a few too. I would say that long lake is worth a look some crackers in there and it'll be empty.

That's the barrage which Alan Taylor runs through Houghton lakes.

There are still fish in there. If anyone has any picture could they pm me as I wouldn't mind seeing which ones are there as some are well over 40 years old.

Hinge stiff rig on the helicopter or multi rig with a lead clip.

This morning he was on 29fish and had a day off watching the tennis....... Forget tennis and give it to Um,

Has he managed any off the top yet? That was his main target for the week, to get them going on top and have some sport.

Hi Kim, Martin rang me on the Sunday really happy with the first 24 hours and landing 8 fish, so 8 a day must be the number. Starting to wish I had the time free to have come over with them. Jamie

My mate is going out on the 29th of June. Should be hot. Think he is in stumps.

Can't wait to see the lump on a big screen. Looked an awesome fish in the text message. Definitely worth waiting until Saturday to catch, you must have floated all the way home on that one. Well done again mate, well happy for you.

Good luck fella, hope you have a similar result to your pal earlier in the year. Them chunks should be massive this time of year.....

To fish it helicopter style with a back bead would I have to use a leader? As I don't no how you would use a back bead on straight mono? If I'm not mistaken you make your own wafters? And own a bait company? An it I remember rightly you supplied courtz and his mate some wafters for sandhurst and they bagged up on there last 24 hours there? Almost spot on. Courtz did use them as did I and also dan and one or two others with, I would say, a decent level of success and PBs. As said about the bead. baiting needle through the side does the job and is fairly safe if your not using a leader. Or a very little blob of putty on the line the bead sits against it tight enough on the cast and pulls off easy and the bead pulls off easier. Over the years I have played with hinge stiff rigs and have now settled on what I think is the best combo. Rigmarole 20lb fluro for the chod section about 1.5 inches to a size 11 swivel. The swivel is on the end of a 10mm loop on the boom section. The boom section being 12lb amnesia also with a size9 big eye swivel looped the other side. This gives loads of movement and means you sit fine even in weed and light silt. The boom section being about 4-6 inches total.

Yeah, good ain't they? they last at least 48hours pierced with a size 6 under them on the 16mm pop ups.

That would be good. Makes sense, neutral colour, very stiff for combi use and ace in shallow water.

If you don't mind piercing the baits, something I do is blob the end of the bristle filament or fluro. Then to the end of the fluro I use a thin braid and whip it on with a blood knot. Then slide it up against the blob and it does not pull over it. Then tie your loop in the braid for the stop. Then just tie a knot less knot and loop knot onto a swivel and your away. Not ideal for leaving baits for a long period of time but if you make up some cork ball pop ups that solves that.

For pop up rigs I use hinge stiff rigs for anti tangle properties. I fish them on a helicopter set up with 6 to 10 inches of movement with the backstop bead. Mainly fished over light silt bottoms. If I'm fishing over harder bottoms I use the multi rig with a clip set up as you can get the pop up section quite short if needed and can create a great hinge effect with coated braid (Jel-e-wire is my preferred hookink for this) If your not having much luck with pop ups or bottom baits then try a wafter, these sort the fish out. They don't see them that often as most companies don't make them and those that do make them very few make them right. But get the right ones and you have a unique hook bait which is fished in it's simplest form.

My favourite is the original Korda hybrid. This stuff made a difference to my fishing when I switched to it, but like has happened with so many other great products, the company discontinue it in favour of a new product. I am down to the last couple of feet of this stuff and over the last 2years I have been trying loads of other links, cortex, Jel-e-wire etc and have noticed that the catch rate with these is reduced. For spot fishing it has to be hybrid links I have in the box, but try to preserve it by using the Jel-e-wire when chucking into the unknown and fishing silt patches.

If you want sharp hooks there are a few people doing sharpened packs. Someone like sticky carp hooks would be worth a try. He Uses drennan and Gardner hooks as the wire is most suitable for sharpening.

You could just fish hard on the deck. Bait up and when you fish have some feed around the hook bait. Create competition by feeding accurately and regularly ( either while fishing or pre baiting) hooking potential is always there with bottom rigs as much as with the chod, infact you will probably notice a better hookng of the fish, with the extra freedom and the greater flexibility to change it up to maximise the runs and numbers of fish caught. The chod rig has its place and works well as its always fishing, not because it hooks better but with 100percent of the time offering a bait as the rig intends not tangled etc as other rigs do. For me I cannot understand why you would go out of your way to make a rig work for something it was not designed for rather than use the obvious, carper make carp fishing difficult, carp are just underwater pigs.

Last time I went to France (September) I got to t he port with my mate, boarding the ferry he looked at me and said, right let's get the post code set in YOUR sat nav..... What sat nav, I don't own one. I thought you brought yours No, I don't own one either...... 4.5 hours across France here we come, without a clue of where we're going or a decent grasp of the language. Fun times.

Why? I don't see what difference it makes. Although I would crimp it on a tight line so you didnt lose diameter under tension from stretch. Me personally, I'm not convinced but I was not convinced by splicing lead core and that worked. I think pop ups are un natural but they work also. As does having the bait on a hair, I didn't like the idea of that much either. I'll buy a set in about 3 years once im sure they are ok

I'm in gavlaa,

Bluebells a nice place, lakes of varying difficulty and the chance of a real fish of a lifetime. If you still fancy France for that week I might be able to help out there and recomend a water for a small group exclusive which is also extremely good value for money, probably cheaper than bluebells too and direct ferries are doing £40.50 return through DFDS seaways if booked before a certain date. If you like the idea of hauling a few carp, what about naseby reservoir, like Drayton but the fish are mostly in top condition. loads of those types of water around the country.

Loads of good spots along the river. Where in Northants are you phil?