salokcinnodrog

Welcome to carp.com My personal advice, fish for 'other' fish in waters with carp in. The way I started carp (and tench) fishing was fishing one float rod for silver fish with maggots, bread or worm, and then a ledger rod to one side with a bigger bait, sweetcorn, luncheon meat or boilie. I don't know the Surrey area at all but I'm sure that there is a water around that fits the bill.

That is your choice. I didn't intend it to happen, I'd much rather it hadn't happened. I do know that people have spent ages writing posts for their own computer to have a freak out and lose the lot, or as my mate did who designs websites, hit a button and wiped out a whole website because one server is used for a couple of sites who 'piggyback' each others design. It is also some of the same reason that Karlos had so much problem getting his forum back on line, so much data on the server that that could not all be backed up. Normally when I edit a section I can shift it offline and then quietly edit it with no problem, but because Catch Reports is constantly live I didn't. The amusing and annoying thing for me is that as much as I dislike Facebook, it is my back-up for pictures and stories. I have gone through 3 tablets, more phones, pc's and laptops, and once one dies I've lost those pictures, which include 3 20's in a night from the 450acre Alton Water, and many of my slides and prints from my partner and my children. What goes in here on catch reports has gone on the Syndicate Facebook page or my own Timeline since I refuse to pay for a photo host after photobucket started charging. Again, a major annoyance as I do or did slideshows, talks and presentations for work and various PAC regions, I've personally lost pictures related to life, work and fishing.

Hard work this fish, spombed out a bucket of hemp and pigeon conditioner and a pike decided to chase the Spomb and then sat in the margin. I got the rod sorted and the pike got caught up in the line eventually biting through it and fragging around 50metres which I had to take off. Rerigged and had a frap up and crack-off. Got sorted again and took another 3 casts with PVA bags and a Multi-rig to get it right. 20lb 2oz We've also been through the stocking lists of the syndicate and found it was stocked 2 years ago at 15lb 8oz and apparently there are no other capture pics by anyone else.

As @hutch says fishmeals are still viable baits and digestion of any bait slows down, especially baits with high fat levels. Carp also usually eat less in winter than in summer because of that. In summer you might fill in a kilo of boilies, and know in 20minutes, a single fish has eaten them all. In winter 4 or 5 baits might be enough to fill them up. In any situation, nutritionally, the first requirement is for energy. Energy is needed for digestion, for movement, everything. While fats are an energy source, they are not so easily digested and utilised as carbohydrates (basically in simple terms, sugars). Protein is also an energy source (!), but why use protein for that when it is better utilised for growth, tissue repair? The original fishmeal baits were high in fats and oils, which was difficult to digest in winter. Something like 50% or more fishmeal and semolina. Protein, fat and carbohydrate but too heavy in fats. Then came fishmeals and fishmeal baits with lower fat concentrations, more useable energy sources, and a better winter profile. I caught as many fish in winter with the original Trigga as I did in summer, including at the time probably the largest common in the lake in February. I have a funny feeling, in fact without checking I'm pretty positive, Manilla and Live System both contain yeast, and make good baits for all year round use.

That's part of the problem, there is so much of carp.com some had to be deleted as it simply couldn't be backed up anymore. I've been picking up and finding threads from 2005! So as I have deleted an individual page, somehow it has deleted a whole section.

Sadly it looks like it. I know how much effort went in as I had done some full session reports myself. I'm really upset that other people's great efforts, captures and pictures are lost

For some reason the catch reports have disappeared, I honestly have no idea what's happened. It might be a freak out on my tablet although I wasn't in that section beyond page3. If you would like to restart with this month we can try to get it up again

Believe me I rarely fish without dark sunglasses, and can handle setting up around 6am if it's straight after a late shift. Aye, but no day... Been thinking about this in relation to moon phase, wind and weather. Supposedly certain moonphases are best, as is low pressure and unsettled weather, but if the weather or wind is against the moon, perhaps a still high pressure, then the two would cancel each other out. Certain winds are supposedly better, south and west, and east and north the worst. My answer is just to fish whenever I can. When the wind is from the east, the fish bite least. When the wind is in the west, the fish bite best. When the wind is from the south, the bait just falls in the fishes mouth. When the wind is in the north, the fish, they bawg orf...

After going through some of my old posts I've just remembered one of my favourite groundbait bases. Go into your local animal feed supplier and look for Molassed Rabbit Mix, there are various brands available, some are more Molassed than others. While it is vegetable based, the molasses is an attractor, and it is a good base if you add flake maize and a few pellets.

Google can be your friend, especially if you can find a decent Google Earth picture. I did have a South Lagoon Nazeing picture, complete with every bar and distances marked. The time to put the marker float about is about an hour before you leave. The more you learn the better. When it comes to bait, many current food source baits are frequently on a nut or vegetable protein base, which I don't think are as good as the meat or fish based base mixes of 10years ago. Vegetable and nut proteins are not complete proteins in as much as they miss a couple of essential amino acids, where fishmeal, meat meal, or yeast based are rich in all essentials, and as such I think are better baits.

Don't think of prebaiting as a one swim tactic if you are on a food bait. The bait should be thought of as a food and the carp used to finding it anywhere. On Virginia Lake at Earith I prebaited Trigga putting in around a kilo of boilies as I left in a few spots, and knew that I could catch from any swim I went into next time. On Brackens, despite there being a no catapult or throwing stick rule in place, every boilie had to go in via a PVA stringer or mesh bag, I would cast in probably 100 boilies as I left. Again whichever swim I went into I knew I could catch. Again Taverham I was putting in the same bait, (along with probably 5 other anglers), so wherever I ended up I knew they liked the bait. On my current lake any prebaiting is to keep spots weed free, again, I'm leaving after putting in a kilo of food source boilies, but I have caught from various swims. I don't have any worries about getting back into the same swim every time. If someone is in the swim I will go somewhere else. Knowing the lake helps, I know most of the features, and I had the same on Taverham, Brackens and the South lagoon and Earith, with hand drawn or Google maps of the features.

Your bait approach might need to change depending on your fishing. If you are fishing various waters, then 'attractor' baits might be the best option, but on 'easy' waters where you fish regularly it can be an option. By attractor baits, pellets, groundbaits, spod mix, and the boilies and pop-ups. Not every water responds to the same method. Then you have one water you are fishing as a campaign where you are concentrating on catching regularly, getting the fish to concentrate on one bait. This method is slipping out of favour as real food source baits seem to be becoming fewer. At one point you had Trigga, Activ8, Grange CSL, Monster Squid, Live System, BFM amongst others. My fishing I tend to concentrate on one water, and sort of mix the two approaches of particles/groundbait and food source, and for years I have stuck with this, except on Brackens Pool which was boilie only; mostly because of size, waters ranging from 40 to 500 acres.

It can depend the features in the swim whether you fish more than one rod on the spot. If for example you are fishing a gravel bar or plateau, 3 rods on the spot might be the right method, whereas a silty weedy lake you might have 3 rods in totally different places. I turned up for my last session and fish were showing alongside the rushes either side of the swim. One rod on each side, and one on the baited area in between. Now when it comes to bait on the rods, I have a pop-up on one rod, a snowman bait consisting of a 15mm bottom bait 12mm pop-up on one and the 3rd is usually my experiment rod. Funnily enough it's the experiment rod that produced this week, a Multi-rig with 2 6mm pop-ups on as bait, however I've caught on pop-ups, snowman and bottom baits. However, if I was fishing 3 rods on a spot then its likely that I would be fishing 3 identical baits.

When there is a 'y' in the day. Just not early mornings, I dislike early mornings...

Everything in a PVA bag works for me, even if I do have to recast 3 times after pike decided to get in on the act...

And what do you do if bait boats are banned on that venue? Or even simply impractical? Running a bait boat in between 24 sailing dinghys on a day only water on the day they have their tattoo... Not every feeding spot is going to show up on a fish finder; some feeding depressions fill up with silt again, only knowing it is slightly softer than the surrounding area will tell you it's a carp spot. Holes under the weed, a fish finder is going to be screwed looking through that, yet my eyes can see the froth and bubbles coming up.

That looks like the one. Thanks. I actually popped into Gladwells today and completely forgot to look. I was more concerned with picking up mixed pellets and a sack of hemp.

Big Blues? Shimano Big Blue Baitrunner M Apparently the best carp fishing casting reel ever made for long distance casting as decided in tests by Lee Jackson and Paul Forward. Prices on ebay for them are anything between £140 and £355 at the moment.

Skinners do some dog foods very close to Vitalin. The one to look out for was Skinners Field and Trial in an orange bag, but annoyingly they have changed their packaging. It is very rich in molasses so sticky. Other than that, try a mix of rolled maize, rolled oats, Layers mash and a ground dry dog food.

What do you class as a big carp? A carp is big if it has reached 20lb. The favourite way to target big carp is not always the easiest, but sometimes the most fun, it may not be the most productive, but may be more enjoyable. Simply fish a water with those big carp in it. The majority of carp anglers favourite tactic is turn up, fire in DF's spod mix and a few boilies, cast or 3 rods on the dance floor, hit the chair and wait. My favourite tactic for 20lb carp is walk round with a stalking rod, look for fish, try to get them on surface baits, cast a dog biscuit where they are and have a bit of good luck, and a big cheer when it hits the landing net.

My rigs are the same as I normally use, a D-rig or rig ring on the hookshank for pop-ups, a Multi-rig for snowman baits. I still use run rings, but if the weed is bad over silt I will use the lead on a 150mm lead link of 20lb clear Amnesia. On the syndicate lake I have tried raking swims, the carp avoid the spot, let them clear it by feeding and they are happy to keep coming back to it. As an add I DO NOT like helicopter setups in weed, too many missed or funny takes over 30years of fishing.

What are you looking at budget wise? I got these for a friend's son, the friend himself loves them so Benni rarely gets to go fishing... https://rodhutchinson.co.uk/product/3x-enduro-carp-rod-12ft-2-75lb/ I don't know how many sets are left.

Bear in mind waters are different, and my session length tends to be 4 or 5 days/nights. On my very weedy syndicate lake if we use after spawning as the summer, on arrival I flick out 3 rods with either stringers or bags depending on known clear or feeding spots. Around 4 hours before dark I tend to put in loads of bait, as during the day the carp normally refuse to come out of the weed and only show just before dusk. One rod is normally a boilie rod, fished with a food source pop-up bait over around a kilo of boilies (a long term food source bait, not an attractor bait), one with a snowman bait fished over a 5kg bucket of sweetcorn, hemp, flaked maize and particles and one rod with a food source pop-up off, but near a baited area. There is so much natural food that the carp might need loads of bait to attract their attention, sometimes I will need to top it up every day, other days I leave it. Its down to feel and whether the carp or tench have cleaned up. I carry on doing this through autumn until normally the start of the colder weather usually November. All of the above have worked so confusion reigns! In winter it gets harder, the fish don't need so much food, so I switch to a high attract pop-up on one rod, a single food source pop-up on another and stick with the food source bait fished snowman on the last. The last two are fished with micro-mix pellets and boilie crumb in PVA bags. I still look for fish, although on the syndicate, there is a Winter area where they seem to hold up, so the rods go in there. Spring is probably the hardest time, knowing when the carp move out from the winter area and spreading up the whole lake. The first April captures tend to come from a couple of known swims; fish anywhere else and you are likely to have a blank session, although the autumn/winter stocked** fish might come from anywhere. It's also difficult knowing how much bait to put in, whether the carp or tench are cleaning it up, or tufties, coots and swans are on it, so for me any Spod/Spomb mix is mostly breadcrumb, small micro pellet and powder with crushed boilies, although I do start increasing the amount of loose, throwing sticked boilies in as I leave. I'm still on the high attract pop-up, snowman and the food source pop-up.

I've got a big choice from various sessions: 4 winter carp just after the lake thawed in February on Nazeing, 20, 26, 26 and 17lb 2 Ardleigh carp on the day of the London bombings, a 23.6 and 24.12, both fully scaled mirrors, but the overnight session was not as important as my Mate who was on the tube that day, thank heavens he survived. A 3 hour session on the river that gave me a 28lb pb at the time. Multiple 20lb fish from Brackens Pool a couple of times, from Earith Virginia Lake, and even from the 475acre Alton reservoir.

Take your pick: I'm still catching on the last of my Rod Hutchinson Monster Crab and KMG boilies, other fish are coming out on maize or sweetcorn, one member on my syndicate is catching ON hemp, another on maggot, someone else on worms.