welder

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome. I won this as an attendance prize at Sunday School, aged maybe 12. The lady who selected it for me knew my sense of humour. I'm 60 now and have read it many times and STILL it makes me roar with laughter. Anyone who appreciates the use and choice of words in humour will love this book, even though it was written in Victorian times. I commend it to you. Ian

starts as the best way and by the time youve typed it your not so convinced its the best any more Whoever said that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit ...had recently been on the receiving end!!! Ian

One of the advantages of using a twinskin bivvy with extended overwrap is that I never have to close either of the doors. I'm always a long way from the weather, whatever it's doing Ian

I agree. I also think it takes more then 5 seconds for most of us. Do we really wake on that first beep of the alarm, or just think we do? How can we really be sure? Agree. I guess it depends on how deeply asleep you are, and how quickly the brain signals reach arms and legs. I doubt if I could claim 5 seconds, rather more I guess. Another factor is the bivvy door. Zipped? Just dropped? Fully open and rolled up? Ian

Josh, good points. Have a closer look at what Jaxx said...he actually positions his bait/hook beside the snags. Not much room for manouevre, regardless of the strength of kit being used. Ian

If you frequently fish close to snags, like the post you mention, you need to be fishing pretty well locked up, ie with no free movement of line from your reel, and always stay close to your rods as they can get pulled in! At night, don't even think of zipping the bivvy door up........ And you're right, under those circumstances you need immediate hooking of the fish so a fixed or semi-fixed rig would be my choice, too. Ian

Jaxx, once you've started constructing your own rigs you'll soon realise that it's all rather easy after all. You will very soon be progressing beyond what you originally thought to be the ideal rigs and trying all sorts. Then you'll realise that the KISS system is the way to go. Keep It Simple, Stupid. No insult intended or implied....just trust me on this. Simple rigs have caught some very large fish, worldwide. Remember that all you're trying to do is to tempt a fish into taking your bait and hook. Might I suggest that the bait and hook are the two most important elements? All you've got to do is decide how best to offer both to them carp. I almost always use inline leads, free running, with coated braid hooklinks. The coating can be peeled back to form a hinge effect if using pop-up or balanced baits, or left on if you prefer your bait/hook to be lying on the bottom. A good alternative to coated braid hooklinks is flourocarbon which is translucent and takes on he colour of it's surroundings. You'll need to take extra care over your knots as it's fairly stiff and unforgiving but worth the extra effort. If you take advantage of the search facility at the top of the page you will find lots of information on this topic. Good luck and good fishing. Ian

Jaxx, loads of questions. Great! It's really, really rewarding to see someone who is willing and determined to improve as an angler and is not embarassed to ask for guidance from those who've been at the game for a while. This forum is the font of all knowledge and every day can be a schoolday. I wish I'd had this level of information when I was setting out to be an angler. Enjoy and ask away! Ian

I've just reread, for the umpteenth time, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I won this as a Sunday School Attendance Prize about 45 years ago and still I find certain nuances of Victorian humour that had previously escaped my attention, this is a funny story, trust me! The TV show of the same name is doing it's best to emulate the original tale and are doing very well, so far. I commend this book to anyone with a sense of the ridiculous. Jonezy, get it read! Ian

I use it all the time but twice through the eye. Same as. Ian

By playing fish lightly, I imagine that the fight last longer? IMHO this increases mouth damage and the chance of a braided hook length slicing their mouth. I have seen braid slice a carps mouth quite badly, the slice was right in the scissors, the braid in question was Drennan micro braid. This is one of the reasons I stepped away from braided hook lengths and onto Magic touch mono, although this doesn't suit every situation. Drennan Micro Braid is one of the worst for slicing as it is so thin in diameter, and very "rough" and abrasive to the touch. Now you know why I do my Garage tests so I won't use tackle that may damage fish. There was also another hooklink braid that I found dangerous to use as well from the Nash stable. Anyone who uses a Mainline Braid as a hooklink without checking what it can do deserves to have it wrapped tight around their anatomy and then played like a Carp So "Goodwill to all Men" never quite entered your mindset, Nick? I'm joking, as I'm sure you know I'm a fan of flourocarbon myself, Amnesia in particular. However, some of the coated braids that are meant for use as hooklinks are as safe as we could hope. I have a spool, in black, can't remember the brand and I'm certainly not going out to the garage at this time of night to find out, which I use to make silt rigs and it's benign. Feel free to wrap me up in it and play me like a carp, but could we wait for warmer weather, please? Ian

And a lot of Carp with wind I always wondered why they bubbled so well Just thought, this could solve Del's problem finding fish in his new water. Spod out a few kilos of beans, soon see where the are then Love it! Ian

I started this thread two and a half years ago and have used baked beans in method mix many times since. I can't claim that they've revolutionised my fishing but usually catch well on the method. Might be the beans, might not. Every day's a schoolday Ian

So do I. It's a confidence thing. Ian

You may have noted that, as promised, I refrained from comment. Cut and paste is to be commended. Ian

A bad workman blames his tools, not his lack of skill You are quite right, I do. Ian

That sounds like a damn good idea, I'll try that myself. Ta! Ian

I'd like to think that when Trish reads this they will stay in YOUR hair! LOL!

Stes, fishing the margins has always been my preferred approach. The margin is the only guaranteed feature on otherwise featureless waters. Where else would fish look for natural food? Slugs, worms, berries etc fall into the water only at the margin.

Well well, farting carp! Now there's a thought. I will certainly bung a tin or two into the bait bucket for future use.......wonder how carp feel about toast....

Hi, I was just making myself a snack, beans on toast..like you do..and I wondered if fish might like baked beans as much as I do. Has anyone used them as bait or, maybe, in method mix? Just a thought..................... Ian

Joey, I have to agree with beanz about the method feeder, it's so versatile. You can use it for casting into the distance or fishing the margins. In fact I prefer to use the method in the margins, especially as evening draws in. It has the added advantage that you can load as much or as little bait onto it as you choose, and you can add pretty well what you like to the mix.