salokcinnodrog

Good to see you back online Mate

I saw Dave Lane doing it years ago on Suffolk Water Park in peg 1. He was casting the bait along the margin to the left, and spodding floaters and milky liquid in front of him. The cloudy mix was colouring the water and he was picking up big fish on the Zig.

Half a slice wrapped around the hook used to work on Bromeswell. The Nash Bolt Machine controller used to be the best controller for that. In fact I do like those floats. Please can somebody bring round paracetamol and ibuprofen, I have developed a headache for recommending a Nash Tackle item...😲😆😱

For years using Sensor I replaced it every 3months or so. It became a habit whether it had been fragged or not. I did have a few fish going through weed, so rather than risk it I changed it. I switched to Gardner Pro, and went back to every year. Then for some reason probably environmental and not seeing or feeling any damage while on Alton, made it 3years with the same line.

A pit and Barham fish: Gary Linear, The Male, Stumpy, Arfur, Turbo, Titanic, The Cow. I know the background to The Cow, she basically had a belly like a cows udders, quite short but gutty. Stumpy the Common, when she was a double figure fish, someone dropped her and her tail and back was damaged, it looked like the bone was broken, but she recovered and made it over 20lb. Arfur tail, pretty obvious. Turbo, fast run, fast fight and like always at full throttle. Gary Linear, a play on a famous footballer. The Male, a known male fish. As for Titanic, I have no idea. Not forgetting Dippy, who was originally named so because she was regularly caught. Brackens had some named fish, Digit, Rocky, Sam's, The Ghost, although the only one I know where the name came from was the Ghost. It was a pale koi looking Common and appeared like a ghost in the area. The syndicate I'm in has a few named fish, although I'm hoping to name the big uncaught common myself. I miss Heather, Bazil, and the waters and names of that era.

You like the Hydrotuff, stick with it. Sounds silly, but it can take a while to get used to a different brand or type of line. Saying that, the Gardner lines, must be the best available. Floater fishing wise, I go old school, still on Daiwa Sensor with a Berkeley XL, Preston Reflo or Drennan Sub Surface fly hooklink.

Believe me I'm forever trying to figure out a way to split a bucket into sections

I honestly don't think that the container would fit in my fishing simply because of my fishing at the moment. A bucket of particles or particle/pellet mix, another bucket of boilies, then the bag mix bucket which covers multiple sessions. I frequently take a sack of pellets and Vitalin/Vitacarp and keep it in the car to top up every day. I also usually have a few tins of sweetcorn in there as well. It might work if I did single overnight trips, in fact it might be an idea for my occasional chub/barbel trips to make bait carrying easier as I frequently end up with multiple ice cream containers containing luncheon meat, hemp, pellets and boilies. I suppose you could use the bucket and innards for the daily bait up?

I have a 5l bucket with pellets and bag mix in, tubs of pop-ups and my pva bags and mesh live on top of them as I need. Another 5litre bucket of boilies for feeding and baiting up at the end of a session.

As much as it is an idea, by the time it alarms, it may be too late! If you are unconscious in a bivvy from carbon monoxide a CO alarm might not wake you up.

When I did occasional rebuilds those were the places you used for guides and whipping thread.

How about just making some harder hookbaits? The quick breakdown for freebies is a big advantage.

That looks good. Tidily packed, makes life easier and reduces freezer burn. Freezers work best when full, fridges work best with least full. As much as I like a freezer full of particles, the ease of preparing means I don't really need a load done upfront, whereas boilies I do.

For years my stalking and floater rod was 9ft. The only place I ever wished for something shorter was in overhanging overgrown swims. I replaced it when it was stolen with an 11ft 6in rod, mostly for floaters and float fishing and in designated swims it was perfect.

I actually looked at the website last night before I replied, so had an idea of the map. My starting points if no fish are showing when I arrived would be looking at water on the bank with any northerly wind coming from behind or across me, so i can face the back of the bivvy into it, and a reasonable depth in front of me, say 5-7ft deep. No fun with a winter northerly wind piling into your face! That would make my first choice of swims as 4, 5, 6, 7, with 10 or 11 as the next two. Basically I would feel confident in anything other than the shallow water in front of 1, 2, and 3.

It really depends on the water. Yes the fish can shoal up tightly so certain swims may be the best place to be for weeks. On my current water, nothing has been reported for weeks, BUT no-one has been fishing, because it is such a tough winter water, so the circle decreases... Then on other waters I would know that I would catch. The past few years I have slowed down my carp fishing, normally switching to pike (I've been pike fishing since my teens anyway), with only the occasional carp trip. When I was fishing Nazeing Meads both the Brackens Pool (2acres) and the Lagoons (60acres), I had a fair few winter catches, sometimes just after the lake had thawed. On the current syndicate I tend to start carp fishing around March, mostly because I know the areas that Chestnut comes out from on her usual first capture of the year. Her capture seems to be when the carp start moving around the whole lake.

The only thing I can say is keep watching the water. If you see a fish put a bait on it. February can be a very tough month, so any fish is a bonus as many waters often won't produce much through winter until April. Wyreside give you a fairly decent map to start with, so learn as much as you can from their website and if they have a Facebook page.

Paddle or whisk for powders, paddle or hook once liquids are included.

I believed that for years, and based everything on that premise, but sadly Covid messed up the blood flow to my right leg especially, so I now get cold feet. My legs might be warm, I'm not cold, but my feet... The overtrousers come off as I get into the sleeping bag. I struggle getting waders on full stop!

I layer my clothing, usually with an army Norgie over a standard tee-shirt and a fleece over that, with a Hoggs of Fife jacket and overtrousers. As @yonny says, I don't go for fishing brand clothing, preferring shooting clothing, although I do have a Dickies camo smock as well. If it drops to colder than -4⁰ then chances are I will be packing up as it is likely that the lake has frozen over, although I have reeled in a few times as I heard the lake freezing over and just climbed into the sleeping bag for the night and packing up in the morning after coffee and breakfast. Quite spooky hearing the surface 'tinkle' as the lake freezes. The hard part to be honest is footwear and socks. Yuedge socks and a Merino pair of socks over the top keep my feet warm in normal combat boots to around 4⁰ but I do have a pair of Tundra boots if it is colder.

Welcome to Carp.com OK, let's go through this in order, and it will depend entirely on your waters. Would I Spomb or spod on a 1acre lake? Yes if it is the best way to get the particles, groundbait or pellets out to where I'm fishing. How long between a recast? I've left a bait in place for 48hours. I was convinced that after baiting up and casting in, the carp would not come onto it for 2 days. It worked! If there is no sign of showing fish? I'm nearly always binoculars and watching the lake. If I see fish I will move onto them. If I don't see anything then I'll leave the bait where it is until the morning on an overnight or longer session. Yet on a day session fishing I might recast after 15minutes or less if I have had no action. Are plastic or imitation baits effective all year? They may be, but I refuse to use plastic baits, I don't like the thought of me leaving plastic in the environment in the event of a crack-off. A hook will rust away, plastic takes years to break down. I would use wooden balls soaked in glug in a crayfish infested water, but on my current water, all plastic and fake baits are banned. On arrival at the lake, if I don't see fish, I will go on weather, current and predicted, my hunches, or whether I have prebaited swims, or areas that I know that the fish move onto.

I've just lost 2 friends to carbon monoxide poisoning in the bivvy. NEVER, NEVER, use a bivvy heater, gas stove or burner in your bivvy. Proper clothing and sleeping bag. https://forum.carp.com/topic/33876-bivvy-death/

I think that the original ball pellets were hard compressed with no liquids, where trout pellet shaped fast breakdown pellets get extruded through a machine (gun or rolling table) so must have liquids added. Eggs definitely slow the breakdown time compared to water as water totally evaporates and doesn't bind like eggs.

The block method was basically a way to get a particle type boilie. It's easier to block and cook the base mix, then cut rather than roll 8, 10 or 12mm boilies. The floating edge pieces made great critically balanced baits, even pop-ups on stack rigs. The floating bits did also work well for surface fishing like floater cake made with base mix as per Brian Skoyles method. Glugging wasn't really a thing back in the 1990's, it was coming in with a decent food source bait, glugging started early 2000's I guess, maybe a bit before. Fast breakdown nuggets? When the ball pellet was a fashion, I was rolling baits (and additives) mixed with water and airdried. They did go out with a throwing stick as well.

Personal choice would see me avoid Nash, even if it is better, I try not to put money in his pocket. Too many failures on most Nash tackle in the past. Saying that, I have not had a problem with Solar. Big problem is often finding one shop that stocks all brands.