coops_northants

Jesus, thats a monster. Over 1 in 4 fish caught being over 40lb is a massive acheivement the rest averaging well into the 30s, great scenery, mostly great weather, no outside noise and excellent service........ I better start sorting out some cash for april Nice one Keith. What fish was it?

I use a balanced bait quite a bit but not because i wan the bait to shoot up into the fishes mouth but maily because of the bottom i fish over. When fishing over silk wees i think it helps the bait rest and helps stop the hook from becoming snarled up in the silk weed. If this happens then hooking is difficult. However i dont drill baits and plug them, i put the cork on the hair and trim it or the boilie untill it sits how i want it. If i fish a single but balanced its a pop up with a back shot pulled into the bait.

Gutted for him to lose that one but thats fishing i suppose. i saw the report about the half lin breaking 50lb, awsome fish and plenty of room for that one to get bigger.

Keith, how is martin getting on this week? Guess what, i picked up a copy of free spool at horseshoe this week. I got a phone call from a mate on the lake saying he cant believe it, he moved halfaway round horseshoe to get away from me and then im looking at him from the pages of free spool magazine....... Quality.

I saw Robins result on there the other week on the blog, What a fantastic result. I would say that it was suprising but the fact Robin is a class act and the lake was due to throw up a real belter for someone. I night see you out there again next year keith. Any space in september of last week of august?

double strength, power line, berkley vanish(gold) any of those for zigs.

yeah some nice mouth jewlery is always best. only a few days to go an i will be reeling in some nice river warriors...... if they stay where they are at the minute.

i like to use the klips, the movement is cool when fishing the bottoms i do and the extra movement on the cast is often a good thing as it is with a helicoptor rig, you often see it clurl back but if you watch cearfully the bait comes away in flight as the rig slows down, just make sure you use heavy enough baits to make sure. i have been playing with the fox swivels with the clip end and then using half an anti tangle sleave over it for the more direct approach however i have found this needs to be on solid flat bottoms, not good on my usual slightly weedy spots.

mine are ready to go for next week. i use 1.5oz inline leads (flat pear) with 4 inch supernatural hooklinkswith a blob of putty half way, for hooks i swap between size 10 series 5s for corn and size 6 widegapes for boilies, however the new fang twister could be the new hook being slightly longer shank that most wide gapes. As for the fish not being riggy, well some are around here Jez, i watch them pick up the bait then spit it out regularly.

Nice pics lewis, i have a couple but of shots but no really good ones like tony getting a bucket of water over his head for a PB. 31lb common 24lb mirror off the heavy baited spot 5kg pellet 5kg boilies the half linear caught off the heavy baited spot 5kg pellet and 5kg boilies (topped up again) 46lb 10oz i spent the rest of that day drinking lager then the next morning caught this 33lb mirror then i blanked for a couple of days and on the last morning caught this 34lb common untill next time au revoir.

i use mine on a fluro leader, just use the atomic beads that have mini bore holes, these hold tigth enough but move when needed and go over the leader knot, i then use a large swivel, never use it travellig though (just the back bead) as this causes a loop off the bottom. clap it in place with 2 beads and hold the lead down on the tight line and keep it tight while the line settles then just slacke off a couple of feet so it all sits right. Besides chod rig fishing is cheating, its not real fishing in my book and is the easy option that gives every angler the chance of catching with the least work accutally carping.

So is a hinged stiff rig then....... All this talk on rigs makes me laugh, i spend the least part of my fishing time thinking about rigs, i use the same rig for nearly every water i fish with minor changes on a couple. too much time in anglingis wasted trying different rigs. My advise is stick with one hook pattern and then fine tune the rest (hooklink material, shrink tube, length, etc) and stick with it. Understand how it works and you can then make very minor adjustments to make it work anywhere. Basically if you continue to chop and change rigs you will never understand them and how to make them work for you.

For me i rarely use different rigs, just stick to one i have confidence in. As for when, safety clip for weed or when you need the lead to come off, Helicoptor for distance as it is less prone to tangles, running rigs for clean bottoms at short range. Thats my generalisation, other will do different things but the golden rule is use what you are comfortable with and what you have confidence in.

I like the Fox hooks too. the old Nash fangs used to be the best curve shank on the market but now all of them from all companies have too much of an angle put in on the eye for my liking so dont bother any more. I used to like some owner hook as they were ultra durable especially on gravel pits. On barbless waters the gamagatsu g-hards were the dogs nackers but i think the quality has gone down hill in the last few years.

You know that Sam. I did have to replace the receiver batteries funnily enough. I had 28 runs (fish on) in total on my rods. 18 of them off the baited spot. Blooming right shoulder is swollen One fish that Lewis played gave him a dead arm.... one i played gave me pins and needles in my hand. Proper scrappers.

Gazza the pictures were on a cheapy Kodak C875 To be honest it always takes good pictures great value piece of gear. Lewis that picture of some feature finding would be giving the game away.... I didnt know you did that. My rods look like they were set with a spitit level in that pic too. Nige, It was a shame that you were not there mate. If anything could have made the week better it would have been your company. We missed you mate. Anyway if you have any free time early next year then let me know as i want to go back early either april 10th or may 15th. Might even go for my birthday too if i can. I have a couple of mates who fancy it for april/ may time 7 of us makes it £430 for the week and i have room in the van.

I dont know how to edit the vid into 2 halves. its on a quick time player on the pc but i dont have the first idea about editing it other tan trimming it on the camara but that will only do a 10 mins secion in the middle with the space i have. Any ideas??

Dam it that only does 10 mins worth. anyone know a hosting site that will to 20 mins video?

here is the video, i cannot cut the video down so just skip to 8 mins in unless you want to take in the whole experience.

Come on Lewis get them piccies up mate. Nice new avator pic by the way

Cheers guys, "Only 22lb" was meant in a good way as that fish had the lot, best fight of the week and what a scale pattern. the results were good Lewis had 3 doubles, 2 20s 2 30s and a cat i had 3 doubles, 7 20s, 7 30s, 3 40s. the other three had i think (hope they forgive me if its wrong) Colin 6 fish, 2 doubles, 3 20s, 1 40, Trevor had 4 fish 1 double, 1 20, 1 30, 1 40 miles had 5 all 20s to 29lb.

Just got back from the Magnificent Moorlands fishery in France. I would first like to say a massive thank you for the great hospitality for the week, Thanks to the Girls for the fantastic food and to Keith for being an awesome host. Me and Lewis turned up early to scout the place out on the friday. Leaving my house at 330 on the friday morning we were like 2 very excited kids waking up on christmas day. The drive in france was so easy, for 400 miles the roads were flat and clear and we made it to the fishery in very good time. When we arrived we was not disapointed with what we found, the lake was stunning and so quiet. 2 fish were caught the second we drove through the gates and the sun was blazing. A couple of ice cold beers were offered and the relaxing began. The week started off fairly slowly with heavy rain showers for the first night and a changable wind made the fishing difficult and me and lewis both lost fish on the fist night. Lewis lost another fish first thing in the morning before breakfast. It wasnt long though before we got the rewards and we had runs within seconds of each other. The result was 2 fine Moorlands fish on the mats. The sunday was to be productive for myself and i soon landed my first 30lb carp of the week. After a quick re cast and t shirt change i was into fish number 3 in within an hour, nice. Pretty mirror into the 20s I thought it was going to number 4 when the alarm burst into life again, well it was but not what we was expecting, 15 month old fry.... The future looks good. The nights were prooving busy for lewis who managed a lovely New PB common at 36lb. After seeing this i decided that fishing the nights would be worthwhile and re baited the rigs and turfed them out, good job too as i had a runs shortly after.... Banana fish Then it was away again after a couple more hours, another common. It was then in the morning that the rods went off again, i had pulled the rod back off the spot ion the hope of picking up a better fish and it seemed i had done so but that was one that got away, lewis got a picture of the fight though. Sticking with the tactic and baiting meant i was kept busy and was soon battling my second 30 of the week, cracking fish. even the pasties were getting in on the act by now, all wanting to have their picutres taken with the best looking angler on the lake...... Next up was a middle of the night battler at 330am on the 22nd, a nice upper 20 mirror (28lb) followed at dawn with a common which escaped at the net after a good battle. Then the lake decided enough was enough and went rather difficult. I tried a few different tactics and baiting applications and lewis by now was pulling his hair out as he worked extremely hard but for no reward. Me and Lewis and the other 3 lads on decided we would be better off reeling in and having a few beers and a social. we decided to either not fish the night or fish one or 2 rods to take the pressure off. I opted for the no rods in option and had some much needed sleep having only had a few hours for the first 3 days fishing. I was rewarded first thing in the morning on the 23rd, 30 mins after re casting to the spots and Lewis done the honours with the early morning water shot. It was my 3rd 30 of the week at 33lb. The day was going great, i had a right battle with the next fish lasting over 20 mins but no wonder.... My first ever 40lb carp the Pipe Smoker. Keith Moors showed us all how its done in the afternoon, after only 20 mins fishing he lands a right monster, Great angler showing why he is one of the best. 47lb well done. Inspired by the sight of that awesome fish i went back to my swim to take it all in when my alarm roared off and it was my 4th 30 of the week 2nd of the day. I opted not fish the full night but to get up at 4am bait up and re cast then after some rest, the rod was away instantly, the baiting strategy was definatly working. I waited untill dawn to re cast and glad i did, i found a patch of 8 or 9 sets of bubbles coming up so moved one rod round to them (right in the middle of my 2 spots) i put the other back where i had the last fish from. then the breakfast bell rang..... i couldnt get back fishing quick enough. I re cast to the spots and set my video up, the bubblers were still there and it was only a matter of time. I will post the video up shortly. i had a nice common straight away at 11.30. It was the afternoon of the 24th, the week was flying by. I had been feeding little and often and now was getting signs all the time, the rod was away again at 2pm this time to my 5th 30 of the week what a fish. I quickly re cast and then the other rod went.... What a battle this was, the fish fought for about 35mins maybe longer. I was sure it was a good fish untill it rolled close in.... i was amazed at the power from this fish and is one of the highlights of the week at only 22lb The 2 rods were re baited and re cast, about 100 baits went out of the stick between the 2 spots. at 430 i had a slow pick up, i knew this was a good one straight away, the fish held its ground and i got all jelly legged when i saw the back hit the water in the fight. The fish absolutly blew me away, trully stunning and i was the happiest man on earth, 2nd 40 of the week just shy of 42lb the half linear.... There is more to life at Moorlands than just the great fishing, the food and gathering with Keiths Wit and stories make this a truely memorable holiday. After the fun, we went back to the fishing, i set the alarm for 1am to re bait bu was no need this fish, my 6th 30 of the week had me up at just after 12am, I decided that was it for the night and opted for a late start, at 6 the alarm went off, i re steamed all my rigs and took off the twisted line ready for a last push for the friday. At 7 am i baited the spot with about 200 boilies and re cast the rods. At 8am my coffee was interupted and after a good early morning tussell the 3rd 40 of my week was in the net, The magnificent Clover at 43lb and loads of ounces.... (just shy of 44lb) After breakfast me and lewis decided to double up in the corner fishing one take each. I went stalking as lewis was up first but was running back to the swim after about 15 mins as lewis had hooked a lump. The fight went on for 55mins before the hook popped out just inches from the waiting net, it was quite obvioulsy one of the biggies and lewis was gutted, this week his luck really was out. The rod was away soon after and i said to lewis to have it, he did and landed his first catfish The rods were back out in minutes and next up was this propper linear Lewis then lost another heavy fish after 20 minutes fight and the strain was starting to tell. He decided to fish a swim that one of the lads vacated for the last night. and within an hour of fishing was into a fish, a nice fully scaled was soon on the mat. I went sleep to get ready for the drive in the morning but lewis kept pluggling away and had 2 more mirrors though the night biggest at 26lb. At 5am i woke up to bait up the spots for one last fish in the morning to take me to 20 fish for the week, i that done when i heard lewis' alarm and he was again into a fish just as the light was comming up, this was again a 26lb mirror. Lewis re cast his rod to the spot and about 20 mins later at 7.30 i had a flyer, and what a fight this fish put up. i was over the moon when this one went into the net and capped a great week for myself and at 37lb 8oz was a fine finish to a great weeks fishing. Lewis was not done there and with less than an hour to go his right hand rod roared off, i ran round to see him and got some great pictures, Best of all was the one as the big girl slipped over the net cord. The carp was lewis' 2nd 30 of the week and a great looking fish. We said our goodbyes but not before Keith played some guitar for lewis, i was singing away in the shower at the time and so there started out 12 hour drive home..... Once again, a big thank you to the Moorlands Crew and see you in a few months time for round 2. The memories will stay with me for a lifetime and i know the same can be said for lewis. The best weeks fishing i have ever had!!!!!!

I do a double loop, like the guys say with a larger loop it works the same. Another thingf i think i will try is the korda stops, those extending jobbies as that gives you a few options too.

Hey Ian after you have tried the Beanz get on the Pea's....... them tinned peas are superb. A par boiled bag of the frozen stuff is perfect for the hair too. I know the Roach love em too.....

Ian, that is one of my favourite baits..... Seriously... the carp love em and on a couple lakes near here the tench are barmy for them.... straight out of a tin....... Its funny as i have just highlighted Beans (haricot beans) in a spod mix thread in UK carp stating this fact:D Another good thing is you can see where the fish go after eating them...... look for large bubbles hitting the surface.....Parp