salokcinnodrog

There are 'only' about 30 on the lake this year, from over 100 2 years ago. Bird flu took a big hit on them, more so than the geese. The lake, which is just up the road from Lopham Fen seems to be a spot for young swans to grow before they go get their own territory. The 2 dominant pairs, there were 3, but 1 was killed in a swan fight keep moving them about.

White crumb is a better binder than brown crumb. I've mentioned it in the past, but when Layer Pits banned spodding (hemp), all the anglers just started fishing groundbait and hemp, firing in balls of it by catapult. Strangely enough that was one of the best match tactics on there from years before where they used to use massive floats and groundbait, casters and hemp at range. I know that Tommy Boulton wrote a chapter on Layer Pits match style in Carp, Quest for the Queen by John Bailey and Martyn Page. Some interesting chapters in there on some Norfolk Waters!

I still use it every now and again rather than using PVA bags or mesh. I don't necessarily resort to a Method feeder, but mould groundbait round a flat lead. I don't think Ardleigh ever qualified as a runs water, and that moulded groundbait round the lead produced a lot of fish, and well into the 20's. My favourite groundbait is not quite the same as it was, Vitalin as a dog food company sold the makeup to Gladwells, who now make it as Vitacarp, although I don't think it is as 'sticky' as it was, with less rolled maize in it. I used to pour boiling water over it the night before use, or add in soaked and boiled birdfood, sweetcorn and hemp and allow to stand for about 30minutes before balling it for groundbait and moulding around the lead. Not forgetting some crushed and crumbled boilies in the mix. I wasn't keen on shop bought Method feeders with the elastic through the middle, but there is now a decent choice.

It is believed that carp were introduced into Britain by the Romans, however it was monks who introduced them heavily in around the 1400's, as Catholics were not to eat meat on Fridays, so stew ponds were stocked with fish.

I do love the nostalgia of 'older' anglers. I've already read Hutchy The Golden Years and it seemed from that, other books, and my memories, fishing was so much simpler

Around the year 2000 I would have said Shimano top range reels were the best to go for, but I don't think quite the same any more and the better value Shimano reels are in the lower price bracket. I can't remember exactly when I bought my Beastmaster 7000's, but it was when I was fishing Nazeing on the Central and South Lagoons so around 10years ago, maybe a bit more. They were around £85 each and I bought 4 at the time. 2 years ago on Ebay they were selling for around £80, so I bought another 3. I've got them on my 2.75lb rods and my 3.25's, and they have handled a fair number of fish. The current Beastmaster incarnation is the 14000XC and is around £90. I can give you the link via Johnson Ross: https://johnsonrosstackle.co.uk/shimano-big-pit-reels/27133-shimano-beastmaster-xc14000.html As a tackle shop either mail order or going in personally, Johnson Ross are good people to deal with.

That's only part of it, we are good at occasional wind-ups as well... Not always intentionally!

Welcome to carp.com

I know one of the bailiffs on Brackens used to use solar powered 'rock lights' to light the trip hazards in his swim, and had a Solar panel to charge his powerbank and laptop.

I used to love my Browning 9ft spinning rod for floater fishing and stalking. When it was stolen I was really upset. I honestly don't know how many fish I caught on it, including my first ever 20lb carp floater fishing. As for breaking rods, I went through a stage of doing it. 2 Century NG's trapped in the car door, my Daiwa Pro-specialist 1.5lb caught in the seat belt latch. I really have no idea of the best rod for stalking and floater fishing now, I seem to have different preferences to the media. I was digging around, is this your kind of thing:

The joys of media... I worry about how much salt I put into my bait. This spodding neat salt into the water really worries me, as salt does not 'go away'. Putting it in neat when we don't know the full effects. Salt will kill micro-organisms and various water life. I cannot remember which university, but from research, 1 teaspoon of salt can pollute 5 gallons of water permanently, which can ruin freshwater ecosystems. Even more amusing is that table salt is possibly a repellant. The best level in carp diet of salt is 1.5%. The shelf life versus freezer baits, no matter what I do when I make bait, I nearly always dry it for 24hours and then freeze it. I've tried totally airdrying them until all moisture is evaporated. No matter how good the preservatives, sometimes mould gets in. I've had foods and baits all go mouldy, despite being supposedly dried or preserved. The airdried bait is a strange one that confuses people. It is rock hard, but draws water in faster than baits with moisture as in either frozen and thawed or shelf life. As a result, they go softer quicker. They do not go as far with a throwing stick or catapult, they are lighter. I am sure it was Shaun Harrison who came up with or wrote about 'washing' attraction back into dried boilies, using hemp or particles juice. This is almost the predecessor of our fishing on the posts of this thread.

It's how a lot of boilies are being made shelf life now, a mix of glycerine, sugar and boiling water before drying. The glycerine stops the boilies from drying totally and with the sugar is I think an attractor.

I've not read Kempastini Book of Baits, so can't say it is in there. In Big Carp, Chris Ball chapter, I'll Let you be in My Dreams had a bait recipe for that water that Andy Little came up with. Andy Little has written a number of articles and books, and I have read a fair few, so it could be one of them. I don't know if it has been mentioned but soy sauce is something I add to particles as I soak them. I'm not a fan of salting them, and hemp adding salt in the soak stops it splitting, but soy sauce for some reason on birdfoods gives them an added kick. Then of course we have the old favourite of condensed milk on them.

I packed up today after a 3 day blank. I felt that last night or this morning I should have had a fish or two, but it was not to be. Monday was boiling and I had to set up in the deepest shade possible, opposite my usual pre-baited swim. It was not until the weather cooled yesterday and we had some cloud and rain I even felt I was near the fish. Oh well, let's hope that everyone manages to get on the carp this month.

I remember reading it somewhere, and it is going to bug me where I read it. I think that the other protein source may have been lactalbumin. I know that there is an Andy Little chapter on Savay in Chris Turnbull's Big Fish From Famous Waters, on how he was putting in massive amounts of bait at range and killing catapults regularly. The maple flavour, one that worked best at high levels.

Right under the trees it's been bearable, except between 4 and 8. Sky has been swimming every day as we walk around to keep cool. I'm up in the shallows, but until this morning I hadn't seen a thing. The deep end is wall to wall with thick weed and is unfishable. The weed is what had drifted, so I was able to net it out. It left me enough room to have the rods over the top.

Ooh, alarm ears! I'd forgotten about them. There were two types that you could add to your Optonics: the fixed ears or the moveable ones. I had the moveable ones so I could put my Optonics in the box at the end of the session. I had painted the fronts white so I could see them. I also remember the multi-pin jack plug sounder box that Efgeeco made. Here is a pinched picture The funny thing is that originally Dellareed recommended Del Romang to convert them as far as I can remember, then changed their minds and took it to court. Catchum, Rod Hutchinson's original bait company! Seafoodblend, probably one of the first fishmeal baits, and very effective.

When I set up on Monday it was absolutely scorching, but was able to get positioned in as much shade as possible. Well back from the water, and positioned so we only get the full sun from 4 until 8pm. I say well back from the water, when the lake is full, this spot is actually underwater.

What amuses me is that roller wheel alarms are all based on the original Optonics if you think about it. A 2 or 4 vane (or more if you had some craft skills) wheel breaking a beam of light. It is effective when used in conjunction with an indicator keeping the line taut and on the wheel. Technology may have advanced, it may now be magnets turning past a detector, but it is still a roller wheel. It was Delkim who launched the vibration sensing ST's, plug out to a wired receiver and then the TXi with wireless receiver, although they and Les Bamford had done conversions to a reed switch wheel on the original Dellareed Optonics. There were other attempts at vibration sensing, Bitech Viper. I think that it was a 'law' change in the 1990's that saw radio channels able to be used for wireless signals, although I may be wrong, but I do remember many radio stations switched or also transmitted from AM, or MW and LW, to FM. As for alarms, as I have mentioned, on a day session I prefer to hear the alarms themselves, whereas at night I need and use the receiver. Now that means that, to me, there is a market for both as not every angler will fish nights, doesn't want or need a sounder or receiver box. A long way away from being bivvied up as close as you could possibly get to the rods on the original alarms that made hardly any noise.

The only putty I will use is still Kryston Heavy Metal. I have not found a good enough replacement. I've checked the new Heavy Metal, it is the same as the original, but as @Golden Paws has said, putty can get misshapen and in the hot weather in the UK at the moment, or Signal crayfish will pinch and eat it, (and tungsten loaded rig and anti-tangle tubing). Your alternatives look good, and as long as they work. I use match or pole anglers olivettes, either with the hole through the middle or fixed with tubing, lock and slide, usually Drennan.

I've got a few new books, I only wanted From The Bivvy, Carp Season and More from the Bivvy 3, but for the price I ended up getting Tim Paisley's Carp Fishing, Carp Amid The Storm and More From the Bivvy. If I put the books I already have back on the site I may end up making something back.

Welcome to carp.com. The simple answer is fish where the fish feed, and that may be in the mud or silt. Something else that may be worthwhile is fishing floating baits, as simple as attaching a piece of bread or floating dog biscuit to a hook, putting a few free offerings in and getting your bait amongst them. Surface or floater fishing is a science in itself, and there are plenty of threads on here that may help. I'm not sure where you are based, so my advice is relevant to the UK, but should work everywhere. I first fished a farm pond I think 40+ years ago, and it was as simple as putting in a few grains of sweetcorn, and fishing the lift float method over it. If you bait up in a few spots with sweetcorn and pellets then you could get a few spots for fishing. It is still a way I fish now, even on some waters that are heavily carp fished with anglers and rods sat on the buzzers. First thing in the morning, or just going into dark. For carp fishing I would use a 15lb mainline in weedy waters. Other people will give other advice, chod rig, helicopter rig, long hooklink, paternoster or lead link, and all are right. It works for them.

I've got 2 carp landing nets: a Fox Warrior net which has had the mesh replaced a few times and a Rod Hutchinson Sceptre net, both in 42inch. I've spent more replacing the meshes over the years than the landing net originally cost. For years I lived with just one, but a few years ago came up with the idea of one on each side of the swim, so I could always reach one without, in theory of stepping around the rods to grab it. The 2 faults, they don't match, not that I really worry, and the second is many runs now seem to come on the middle rod... I can't remember who it was by, but the original Springlock mechanism landing net I do miss. I borrowed one for a while back in the early 2000's when I had a load of gear stolen.

Rats get immune to poison, and learn to avoid traps, and as you say with traps you have to be careful with where they are put in position. I think that that is possibly because of patrol route? I'm not 100% sure, but they use their patrol route as the base as it were, then when finding or sniffing food expand from there.