salokcinnodrog

I find smaller lakes harder than bigger less pressured waters. The fish tend to be more wary, more rig aware, even more bait aware, so getting ahead of both the fish and other anglers. It is so much harder getting rigs that the fish aren't 'used to', although current fashions can make things a little easier if everyone is on spinner or Ronnie rigs, and you can come up with something different. When I first went onto Brackens Pool I knew it was heavily pressured, and nobody used much bait due to the rules of no catapulting or throwing bait in, everything had to be attached to PVA. I came up with my sliding revolving ring presentation (an adaptation of something I had seen Rob Maylin write about), and used plenty of big stringers, 30 boilies at a time, and would put in as many as 20casts of stringers before my hookbait cast. The first fish I caught was in a swim that was often ignored and was 30lb.

Manufacturers and tackle brands with their own media production. It has gotten to the stage that you can't easily get 'sensible' tackle. I've been arguing the toss about it for years. Practice casting is no more as 'high test curve rods will cure the distance shortage immediately'. Years ago in the 1990's I was hitting over 100metres with 2¼lb TC rods, admittedly with 8lb line and leader, and eventually switched up to 2¾lb rods with 15lb line, line which has become standard, to get the same distance. Nazeing Central and South was a real eye opener, I needed to hit 150metres, so went to 3.25lb rods. Everything was in 12ft, I could get those distances. The shorter rods just didn't seem right, especially as I have been to casting tournaments and seen rods get longer from 12ft, to 12ft6in, 13ft even 14ft. I get a shorter rod for stalking, it makes sense, but not in a massive test curve with a tip action.

Welcome to carp.com. Have fun finding your way around

That's my point, when it comes right it does mean so much. The common went in in 2018 at 18lb, it's now over 30lb, the linear was a 2020 stocking that was double figures. Last season I did have a very good year, although a 6 fish session really made my season

The funny thing is that the lake I'm on gives so many difficulties; 185 carp in 45acres, with loads of natural food, so not overstocked. It is very weedy, and has plenty of birdlife, which the swans can be a right pain as it is not particularly deep. The carp aren't spread equally, the water can be devoid of fish in certain areas, and they don't show regularly. It has a pretty much East to West orientation and the east end is the shallowest, so a westerly wind doesn't push them all the way. Then we have the syndicate, I can be the only person on there for a whole week, and see absolutely nobody. I walk Sky round almost every day I am there, as it's a 2mile circuit, a slow walk so I can watch the water and look for fish. Then we have bait, the fish don't need it, but you might need to bait heavily to compete with naturals, or the hi-viz attractor bait. BUT, don't bait up on them as they are wary and will move away. I should say that this is the hardest lake I have ever fished, but you know when it comes right.

There are plenty of hard baits that don't use eggs as a binder, and there is a very simple basic addition that is used in many pellet manufacturing processes, and has been known for years, gelatine. There is a big point being missed, although @nutty squid and @hutch did mention it. Dry dog foods contain less protein than wet dog foods, typically around 18% compared to 30% +, and animal protein is better able to be utilised for growth than vegetable proteins, due to the amino acids. Not every essential amino acid is available in vegetable protein, leading to a shortfall of growth rate. Have a high protein rate of vegetable ingredients with limited amino acids and the bait may be totally wasted. If you are blitzing an already 'low' protein content to add other ingredients you are lowering the protein content even more. Dry dog foods are already a mix of grain, rice and beet pulp, then processed meat, or fish. That processing takes the protein content from 65% down to 20's, then add the binders and ingredients you are around 18%. Adding extra semolina and other wheat products and it could drop to a couple of percent. If it doesn't give off 'eat me' signals, not enough valid food attraction and is basically just a ball of carbohydrates it may need extra attractors, be that a flavour or the soaking in of hydrolysates. Carbohydrates are of limited use to carp, their natural food contains very little. The main foods are just protein and fat, and the main protein source is animal, presuming snails, bloodworm, flies and mussels are animal, although they will eat some weed. The baits I made using a dash of garlic oil, liquidised mackeral, herring and chapatti flour were rock hard, with no eggs. The chapatti flour was a maize and wheat flour mix. Boiling time 1minute and 30seconds, and a 24hour drying time. The other thing is mixing, mix ingredients together properly, it can take a while for dry ingredients to take on liquids. Gradually add powder to the mix, not add liquid to the powder, keep working it until it is only just too wet to roll and then allow to stand for probably 5minutes, then roll into sausages. Through a bait gun gives a totally different texture to a rolling table!

I do mix my dry Vitacarp with my pellets beforehand, keeping my PVA pellets separate. I have a lovely collection of catering buckets, which originally held Knorr gravy granules, and a Hutchy bucket for my PVA stuff which also gets my hookbaits put in there. If I need 500grams or so of high attract boilies from the freezer, or some luncheon meat, I do have plenty of 900ml ice cream tubs, (my own indulgence). I've also got a few maggot tubs. Yes I do keep my casters and maggots separate. I don't mix maggots until on the bank as I often find a particular colour works best.

Thing is different dry dog foods, different protein quantities and obviously ingredients. I will only use dog food crumb in groundbait. By law, every bait containing GM ingredients has to declare it. The threshold is if the ingredient is 0.9% or less of the bait. This to do with animal food legislation which bait is now classified under. I know Dynamite Baits have made this a headline within the bait industry.

The only luck will be if the birdlife leave me alone.

Is that Earith? The shoals of rudd on there I used to see. I ended with a couple over 2lb.

You can splice a number of braids, from the original Kesmark Octosplice, Kryston Merlin, SuperNova, even the various ESP braids. It takes no longer to splice than tying a knot, and I can do it on the bank. As I have mentioned, those made with Dyneema are the problem, it is thinner than Spectra. Bit of a contradiction

I went back to the Korda website and looked at the hooklink braids, and may have found the answer, although not described in the particular hooklink is just 'extremely tough fibres', but others in the range definitely contain Dyneema. It means that for the breaking strain they are likely to be extremely thin. Kryston hooklinks are made from Spectra, which although the same chemical composition is formed differently and so thicker for any given breaking strain. Digging around the science I found this: "Technically all braid is made from PE (polyethylene). Both Spectra and Dyneema are made from PE and Spectra filaments are usually thicker and more robust, while Dyneema filaments are thinner. Dyneema is generally cheaper than Spectra per strand so lower end line companies using Dyneema put out inferior braid." With my preference for Kryston products that could explain why I never had such problems as the OP I hope that we can now lay this down to bed...

Lovely morning after a wet night. I call the trees opposite Wile E Coyote and Scotty Dog. I've had a few fish out of this swim in the past, but it is the area where I've seen the big uncaught common.

Is that people in the sea? Nutters! Aside from that hope you had fun and caught dinner or summat.

Sky spent last night in the bivvy as it was raining, but at around 6am was sat outside watching and waiting. She's now totally relaxed and sunbathing.

I rarely have any problems with the Gardner Braided Hair Needle. They will go through most baits except rock hard boilies. https://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/braided-hair-needle/ It may be an eBay job if you can't get them from your American supplier. The other possibility is whipping a softer thinner hair to the hook shank. Rod whipping thread and dental floss are both pretty good. So tie your hook on with a standard hook knot, and then simply tie the dental floss/whipping thread to the eye, whip it down the hookshank and overhand loop the last two turns to create the hair with a decent loop.

You beat me to it. I also found this: https://hammertackle.com/en/blogs/blog/vantastic-lukas-carp-fishing-adventure-in-greece

Back in 2016 (!), I fished Alton Water near The Wonder and caught roach to 2lb 5oz on the cage swimfeeder, size 16hook and either double red maggot or maggot and caster. The first 2 or 3 swims down the slope I found the best at around 30-40metres, regularly recasting. The fish tended to switch on from around 4pm until last light. Birchwood on the other side I found better for bream on the feeder, and for float fishing for silver fish if you go to the right. That is down a small farm lane with a combination lock gate at the end. You get lock number when you buy your ticket. Ardleigh I was fishing back in 2005 for carp, but the bream would come on big beds of groundbait and if you could prebait the day or two before would often be there all day, with the occasional carp. Go into Ardleigh, and down Lodge Lane, near the petrol station. There is another Lodge Lane on the other side of the reservoir. Wick Lane dam area is also easily accessible. I never did very well up near the main fishing lodge.

Alton Water and Ardleigh Reservoir are both within your 30minutes of Colchester just off the A12 towards Ipswich. Day tickets via their website, and should come up on Google fairly easily. I spent a lot of time on both of them in the past, and the swimfeeder and heavy baiting can be the best approach for bream and roach, although carp tend to be late afternoon through the night on carp tactics, but day tickets don't allow night fishing.

Get the small rudd feeding on my water, the tench move in, often followed by the carp. It's why I frequently put in a bucket of mashed bread and birdfood. The small seeds and bread keep the rudd amused, boilies pick up tench and carp.

Best way to use maize is sprouted, or just as it starts to ferment. I prep mine by soaking with a teaspoon of soft brown sugar and salt, then after a 24hour soak, boil it up and leave for another night. I've watched the carp ripping up the bottom to get to it. It's a mix of roasted peanuts, coconut oil, lemon juice, chilli and garlic with added salt and sugar, and depending on supplier, soy sauce. Actually with a natural preservative or two. The worry about preservatives in a bait kind of amuses me, as sugar and salt, lemon juice and smoking were done for that exact reason naturally before we started playing about with chemicals. Another preservative is glycerin or glycerol, and I think is an attractor in its own right, as well as being the base of some very successful flavours. Synthesise it and you can get diacetin and triacetin, which were the original base solvents of Scopex and a number of flavours, Chocolate Malt and some spice flavours. The big problem with triacetin and diacetin is the cost compared to glycerol. I would struggle putting peanut butter in a bait, I love my crunchy peanut butter sandwiches too much to waste it... Saying that peanut oil is a very good additive as the lipid and fat content; 10ml peanut oil and 10ml of olive oil is pretty good.

That liver, squid and semolina mix was very successful on Savay. Don't think that baits that start breaking down quickly are ineffective, they can be better than washed out baits. The instant attraction of the actively working enzymes and the proteins. I don't know if you remember it, but I was using up my old mackeral and herring deadbaits by liquidising them, and adding to chapati flour mix, which is basically maize and wheat flour. Simple, again no eggs, and again they wouldn't keep out of freezing, but they didn't need to.

I had that on my syndicate lake, for almost a whole year. I joined in September 2020, and did not catch a carp until August 2021, just before renewal when I had a double and a 20 in the same night. It was a stressful struggle. I got to the stage of if it could go wrong, it would go wrong. The next few years were gradually learning the lake, a few more carp, and pike in winter or on the occasional pop-up, but getting to understand the place. That learning, just when you think you have it sussed, it turns around and sends you gremlins.

Or look at The Enduro's if you want to look at12ft. I know they are 12ft, but not a bad price: https://rodhutchinson.co.uk/product-category/sale/

Don't forget that hydrolysates can also be solids (!). Certain fish meals, beef meals and other proteins are types of hydrolysate, so can be used in the mix. I have mentioned about eggs being the 'curtain' that stops the soluble proteins being released, although there is a but; in solid ingredient mixes with low protein ingredients, the soaking in a liquid hydrolysate may make the bait attractive even if the solid bait itself is just a ball of carbohydrates. Now make the same semolina base mix, but instead of using eggs mix in liquidised fish, liver, or squid or both. They don't keep well out of freezing, but the attraction is the enzymes that are breaking down the protein for easy digestion. Those three alone are natural hydrolysates!