goblin

3 inches you may as well have it all stripped! The carp will be laughing at you! You really aint got a clue have you mate. Why not strip it back 3 inches it will give you a bit more movement at the hookbait which can help the hook turn better. If you are using pop ups you can strip it back 1,2 or 3 inches and have your counterbalance weight on the spot its stripped back to. I use fox cortex alot with 12/15 inch hooklengths stripped back anything up to 4 inches and I catch plenty of good fish. As for the carp laughing at jake I bet they aint laughing as much as I was when yet again on here I read another stupid childish remark. yeah!!!!!! sorry jez, couldnt help it mate spot on in what you say though, too many people have tunnel vision and cant think for themselves,think that the fish are more likely to be laughing at some of the bloody wonder rigs you see in the comics, which i can see a large contingent of this forum using mate

lol, also quite likely to look more like a scabard fish unless it found a way to hack a few inches out of its own length

wherever he swam from I wish him and all his immigrant fishy mates would swim back

have you not been steaming it to tension it up and straighten it up proper mate?? its coated in flouro and needs the heat to hold it straight once out. Yes mate i have, but that does'nt make it any stronger it just straightens it out, yeah I know mate, never said it made it stronger, just that it does without doubt make it a better hooklink

have you not been steaming it to tension it up and straighten it up proper mate?? its coated in flouro and needs the heat to hold it straight once out.

not just you mate, is quite a regular thing with the hybrid which can be a worry. best knot i have found is the rapala knot and forget any swvels, just adjust set up accordingly. got to admit it though mate, once its steamed off proper its a seriously good hookink

all depends on what kind of water you are fishing, uncoated braids still and always will have there place in fishing regardless of some of the opinions on here (lots of two minute wonders and instant terry hearns) wouldnt advise overcomplicating your rigs just for the hell of it. best advice would be to buy a few spools of different types of hooklength and have a play with rigs in a fish tank to work out what suits your needs best on your water

totaly agree mate, if you get them feeding confidently on your bait to start with then the simplest of rigs is sufficient and with far less to go wrong. would not even bother looking at the latest wonder rig wether it be the spaghetti rig ravioli rig or any other italian dish!!! concentrate on bait application first mate

its attenborough reserve you need to have a look at mate, the big ghostie was in there but was moved into river with floodwater a few years ago. 500+ acres and plenty of features. lovely lovely water, and if memory serves me right go on with a good food bait and high doseage of honey in each mix

Fox predator range is where you will find them mate. very good peice of kit, highly reccomend them

fox armapoints, series5s series 1s and ashima in various patterns depending in the swim i put my house up in on our water. some of the other lads use solars and rate them highly, cant comment as i havent needed to give them a go.

Fractures in bend of hooks, pitted shanks, splits in eyes and five in ten look like they have been hit with a hammer under the scope. wont touch them

I have a carping mate that works in a lab and has access to some pretty high powered microscopes and he does check out his hooks, all i will say is that i wouldnt ever use korda hooks

merrington is ok, rammed with noddies usually though. get your os map out and look around "norton in hales". and knock on a couple of doors chap. my old stomping ground. well worth the effort, no charge and i know of six different thirties in estate lakes around there and all close to the local boozer too (i used to own it)!!!!

know just what you mean about "swim pinchers" mate, thats one of a couple of reasons that I have a deep rooted love of the really old estate lakes (as you know). Not too much of a problem on ardingly as its not known for carp, and the fact that all along the estate side (totalling about 145 acres) is not open to anybody. Beauty of it is that Im right in amongst the pheasant pens at the minute too!! (really good with a bottle of red for a very civilised bivvy supper) :D :D weed is not very prolific from what I can make out so far, only a couple of fair sized beds.Its very rich in bloodworm though in a few spots. funny you mentioned swan mussels though Nick as Ive stalked two out on them when we first moved down here. i also have a little secret trick for a glug/soak/bag additive/spod mix liquid that has to be seen to be believed. pm me for details fella

water levels on ardingly have dropped by about 10ft since june mate so you can imagine the problems thats posing at the minute. No gravel at all on the arm Im concentrating on at the second but there are a few hard spots here and there, however these have not been productive in the least. I am seriously lucky in the fact that I have access to the estate side of the res (thanks to family connections etc) which nobody else gets to, and its at least a 400 yd chuck for anybody else to get in on the action Im seeing at the minute. No prizes for guessing where the fish are stacked up in summer!!!! no angling pressure aside from me this year:D :D :D

are you sure matey???? I saw your fizzog in the angling times a few weeks ago with a nice specimen!! very hard going on the bigger waters sometimes mate but lets face it, they dont have to be huge [censored]s to be well worth the hours put in bankside. like I said, my best so far has been a mid twenty ( still a fish Im more than happy with,and a fish of a lifetime when I started my carp fishing) the majority of my takes have been in around twelve feet of water so far on the res, and it has been interesting to say the least with the weather warming up nicely during the day,but the water level is so low at the minute that where there should be a nice shallow marginal shelf to bask on, is now just a frosty bank of silt!!!! :rolleyes:

ay up matey!! long time no speak. Nicks fishing Ardleigh res I think (over in the badlands lol). got a big old patch of water to get stuck into down here mate,and some absolutely cracking estate lakes to myself too!!! Hows sunny shrops these days?? feels like a lifetime since I moved down here

Nick,I agree with you to a certain extent but, in this weather they are more likely to be found in the deeper water anyway (other than with a bit of sun hitting a marginal shelf or a shallow bay etc) Im fishing Ardingly res at the moment and its 200 acres with a small head of not overly big fish (25.3 best to date) this tactic is working on there to a big degree, obviously you have to use watercraft too, cant just chuck and chance on a water that size!!!!!

without stating the obvious, yes fish are more lethargic in colder water........ so why fish a slack line (unless they are ultra wary) and risk the chance of having your bait almost bang on the button but not having a clue. at this time of year more than any, location is the holy grail, use every trick in your book to maximise on it;)

Do yourself a favour, try fishing for liners in the winter months and just work your baits onto the fish !!!!!!!!!