salokcinnodrog

I know Rod Hutchinson do Water Snail Naturalz: https://rodhutchinson.co.uk/products/naturalz-16mm

You have loads of water in the Lea Valley. Look up Lea Valley fisheries https://leevalleyfisheries.co.uk/ they have loads of waters. While some are on a waiting list others are still open for tickets. I was fishing Nazeing Meads from 2008-2019 and if travel wasn't such a problem for me from Suffolk I would probably still be there.

Not from land snails unless you eat them, more likely to get parasites from water snails, and I do keep sanitiser handy after picking them out.

I go through stages of trying things out, and some of my favourite stalking baits in rivers are slugs and snails, because they occasionally fall in from bankside vegetation. Chub and carp have taken slugs on the drop, although snails are harder to hook... I did try putting land and water snails in my spod mix a few times, and a mate and I have been known to walk round the lake collecting them. We get water snails as big as your thumb! The best way to use them we found to stop them floating was freeze them. It never seemed to produce any more than standard spod mix. I've used Dynamite hemp and snails and it seems no better than plain hemp, although I do know that when fish get onto snails they are very good for growth and health.

Most definitely I am guilty of number 3 and number 8. I took out loads of pop-ups and the ones left appear to have reproduced in a Heinz 57 babies... As for the rod pod, I must admit to owning a Solar P1 but it has been abused a bit

I'm wary of sugar and salt, but even though glycerine comes from fats being processed, and supposedly needs emulsifying in winter, I found glycerine/glycerol flavours still produced in winter, even compared to the same flavours on ethyl alcohol as the solvent. It has made me convinced that glycerine is an attractor in its own right. I'm not sure if any of the bait or flavour specialists have written about it. I'm going to have to try to find out.

Fish to your own limits and conditions. I think that we have conditioned ourselves for fishing to be plotting up at the lake Friday night, popping the bivvy up, making ourselves super comfortable, then catching or not and packing up Sunday. That's 'carp fishing'. I went through a stage on a particular park lake where I didn't want locals knowing (a) I was there. (b) I was catching. I would sleep on a camping air mattress roll, with a tarpaulin cover after arriving as darkness fell. I could get the rods out more quickly, and in unfished areas. I've posted this pic before, but I could get up close with minimal disturbance and be off very quickly in the morning.

A glycerine and sugar syrup is now frequently used to make 'identical' freezer and shelf life boilies. The base mix is the same, but instead of freezing after drying, the baits are given a run around in the bath and then dried again. Freezer baits tend to have an attraction 2 or 3 days after thawing as the enzymes, salts and sugars migrate to the surface due to moisture, where I personally think shelf life's have the added instant attraction due to the glycerine. They may both be food baits, the same recipe but the glycerine make them more instant. The two can be used together, or separately. Shelf life boilies I have found to be harder, and the longer you leave them, the harder they get to the point of drilling. You can air dry, without freezing the standard bait to rock hard, it will need drilling to go on the hair, but they take on water more quickly and almost explode. Back in the early 2000's I played around with bait soaks and glugs, with ideas from the original Nutrabaits Bait soaks which were Nutramino and Multimino PPC and added my flavour and essential oil combination; the Peach Nutrafruit was on glycerine/glycerol. The hookbaits after a couple of weeks were rock hard and able to withstand the attentions of small silvers and chub in the lakes and rivers. I have played with other glugs, often based around Liquid Yeast Extract I did play with matching of flavour sprays, but they did need watering down to put in an atomiser bottle. One thing I did find was neat flavours could be a repellant or create a feeding area or attention area actually away from the hookbait. I can't remember which Tim Paisley book it is in, probably Carp, but both him and Rod Hutchinson came to the conclusion that the flavour was acceptable a distance away from the bait, and it is there that the carp boiled, rolled or attempted to feed. So use flavours at low level, or avoid them altogether and stick with natural attraction.

I'm Autistic and can remember back years. It's not always a positive!

I'm sad enough to be able to remember the majority of my captures from over 25years ago, albeit some do take a picture reminder.

I'm positive that my average is well over 20lb over the past 18years on the big fish waters. On Nazeing from 2008-2018 I can recall only 4 fish below 20lb; 3 high doubles from Brackens and a 10lb mirror from Central Lagoon. On Alton I did have a couple of doubles, both on snowman baits, a couple of 20's on pop-ups, one on a snowman and the rest of the 20's came on double 18mm bottom baits. I was catching a lot of fish from the syndicate until August and the personal problems. The syndicate has seen 20's and 30's caught on trimmed down 12mm pop-ups, 15mm pop-ups,, snowman baits and 15mm bottom baits, over just boilies and over particles, with only 3 doubles I think. To me the base of the pop-up to the lakebed. Be aware though, that not every pop-up rig sits perfectly upright. The rig shown, I may need to trim down the pop-up, and with that balance weight, you need a buoyant bait to lift it to that angle.

To be honest Mate, I don't think so. I've probably caught far more smaller carp on pop-ups than bigger fish, although obviously big fish are fewer in number than smaller ones. 2x 18mm bottom baits is probably more big fish orientated than a 15mm pop-up, and catching 3 big fish over 25lb out of Alton in a night while the pop-up was ignored. Then catching 2 small 20's on the pop-up on another occasion. It's a case of finding the right method for the fish at the time. Of all the 30's I have had, snowman with an 18mm bottom and 15mm has produced a few, a 15mm pop-up has produced one and the double 18mm bottom bait a few more, and even a single 15mm bottom bait a couple.

I do try my pop-ups at various heights, says he who used to prefer keeping them as low as possible. I’ve caught fish on pop-ups close to the lakebed, the counterbalance being on the hook eye, to around 10centimetres above the lakebed, which to me seemed like a zig rig. I'm not sure that pop-ups are a big fish only setup, although I suppose that is relative. 23lb is a big fish, but when the lake has fish to 50, 23lb is 'small'. Going back through my captures, I've caught big fish on bottom and snowman baits as well, including 30lb carp.

I watch the videos and I always chuckle to myself. The swim being fished has so many things that can add to the already wary fishes 'stress'. Obviously first one is the camera, and any attachment to the bank, wires or cables, as it is unlikely underwater cameras will be wire free. Then we have feeding situation. The water may or may not be a boilie water, or a water where particles or groundbait are the best feeding stimulant. As for my fishing I tend not to be pedantic about camouflage, but I do try to minimise it being over conspicuous. There are times that I have seen fish spook off bright fluorescent baits, yet at other times they are the best way to catch. My hooklinks I prefer green or green, black and dirty white (Merlin). I think that matches the majority of lake bottoms. My mainline is usually clear in clear waters, and is as much as possible fished slack line and running leads, or rods low so the line is along the lakebed if possible, although I believe that at anything over 40metres, the line is along the lakebed anyway. I stopped using leaders unless I have to, and I still catch on straight through mainline, and with no anti-tangle tubing. Like @elmoputney I don't think that the fish can identify a hook, run ring, bead, lead or swivel, and that green hooklink looks like a strand of weed. Baitwise, I prefer an unobtrusive bait, for a couple of reasons, to try to stop swan life, but also to match my freebies which are normally brown. However, as said, there are times in late autumn, winter and early spring when I think that a fluorescent bait is better or will provoke takes.

My brother has a newer model CRV, and I have been in it on a decent journey when we came back from Tottenham Stadium when the Chicago Bears beat Jacksonville. It's nice, comfortable and on my list of 'possibles', as is the Nissan X-Trail. I've got a collection of books for my Dad, the type of things that interest him, the cracking of Enigma, Orford Island and it's uses in military research, The Channel Island and German Occupation and the development of the Spitfire amongst others. His problem with socialising is he gets an interest in something and doesn't understand that it is not always relevant, or that in the case of the charity work he used to do for Greenways that during school holidays children would be included so he needed a DBS.

Honda and VW are my two preferred manufacturers, and while Skoda is owned by VW, it just doesn't feel as comfortable and is slightly short of power. I've also found it slightly more difficult to balance the clutch and accelerator on starts. There is room for the gear, but not loads more as you would think. I'd happily go back to the new model Golf, although I am not sure on the liftback of the newer Civics. I did see my dad today, he was dressed but in his room as I think he finds daytime television and the lack of conversation in the lounge annoying. He doesn't understand that it's a rehab unit, and they've got various stages of dementia.

Hopefully now things should settle down, my dad has been transferred to a rehabilitation unit in a care home quite local to me. He is still confused and unable to make decisions for himself with his dementia so my brother and I have signed the contract for the free treatment for 2-6weeks. It does mean that Dom and I can do alternative day visits to him, which might mean I can actually get fishing in again on the syndicate. On a negative note I had to scrap my Honda Civic after a failed MOT, but have a hire car even if it is a Skoda Yeti.

Flaked maize itself is sticky when wet and works well in Method Mix, no major need to blitz it up.

yesterday's driving music

I got into discussions with someone about bait companies this year and I gave some figures for various bait companies. Dynamite baits (owned by Rapala), have less than 10 employees, and have a turnover of less than £1million.

I'm sure that I have done that for dumbell shapes, or a too large a sausage, say 14mm for ovaloids. In fact on a 'compatible' nozzle and rolling table, say 12mm, if the gun compresses the base mix, as they are extruded they will expand slightly and be slightly off shape as well. I used to air dry unboiled base mix balls totally, mixed with water and the other liquids, to get a fast breakdown, basically like the ball pellets that were available at the time.

I can remember when Taverham Mills was sold, a 25acre lake, stretch of river, a house and I think another 20acres of land. The Carp Society put in a bid, but were outbid by Anglian Water with a bid for £1,000,000. Anglian Water managed to fence the lake trapping otters inside the fence. What irritated me is I had built the fence around the roadside and the woods at the back when I ran it and had no problems. Anglian Water ripped the fence down to rebuild it leaving it down for weeks, allowing otters to get in. Those same otters were getting the barbel and carp in the river before they got into the lake, so AW would have known otters were in the area.

I know one venue that's up for sale for less than £300,000

As @framey says the only reason for round is they catapult or go out in the stick straight. Boiling the sausages and then cutting does allow a bit of extra attraction as the cut edges aren't 'sealed' skin. I used to use a knife years ago to cut my sausages to roll between my palms, but the Gardner rolling table stopped the need to do that. There is nothing wrong with 'pillows', rolling sausages and using the table to cut the sausages without rolling them, if anything its easy to do.

Our lake has had them on, and in winter coots were the main diet. We rarely lost swans, but did find occasional pike were on the diet. There were a couple of carp with damaged tails. Again the lake is open access, and unable to be fenced.