salokcinnodrog

Why not test it and be sure it does melt? I know numbers of anglers who have retrieved rigs after hours in the lake and the PVA still hasn't dissolved.

Feels a bit awkward to start with, but you soon get the hang of it. Don't overload it with line, 100metres is absolute tops For stick float fishing go with 4 or 5lb, and let the float do the work, your right thumb on your rod holding hand is there to slow it down as it trots down in the current. You can even retrieve right handed as well. The big debate is line from the top or bottom of the spool, you'll find what works best for you.

Marco Cortesi if it's still available from Dragon Carp, or TFG Classic centre pin around £54. I do love stick float fishing with a centre pin, so much control.

I don't think that that is mast....... Strange you should say that, one of the gentlemen who works in the tackle shops nearest to Nazeing was caught in the act. The nickname of the tackle shop now rhymes with slang for to throw, Johnson... Cover the joints between your groundsheet and bivvy upper, I use my rod and bivvy bags. The rucksack also goes on the join to keep out draughts. A spare unhooking mat goes under the bedchair, I often take some carpet for the floor. I put some Lino in front of the door for my boots and trainers, and sometimes a car footmat. I got a section of foam packing with my bedchair when I bought it, it lives between the sleeping bag and the mattress. Keep warm inside, hot food and drinks. Hat, in my case, I actually wear a hat in winter, either a woollen Chicago Bears hat, or a Thinsulate hat. Clothing, I still live in combat trousers, but go for a pair of Hoggs Strathmore Shooting trousers over them during the day. Top half is t-shirt, fleece, zip-up fleece, and if it's really cold, lined combat jacket, although I am planning on getting the matching Strathmore jacket to the trousers. As you can guess, I don't do bivvy heaters!

Maplins for mine

Put it this way, I currently only use Kryston Meltdown PVA for string, ESP for bags, and Fox Mesh. Their claims are correct, not all of the others are. In fact sad to say, after an incident with Nash PVA I will never use that brand again. I left a packet of bags in my trouser pocket as they went through the washing machine on a 40 degree wash. The bag at the end had water in, the PVA was still undissolved. I did used to use Mo's co PVA, but sadly he stopped trading, and obviously now I work in a tackle shop I get my PVA at staff price, not rrp, so have no need to go via T'internet.

PVA dissolve time definitely slows down as the temperature drops Which is why all brands need to be tested to check dissolve times in summer and winter. In fact each batch of PVA is different, so a test from each mesh, spool or bag should be tested.

I think I know why the two lakes fished so differently. The larger lake was more heavily fished by more pike anglers, and I think that the pike had been pressured on most deadbaits, with the exception of blueys, so where Colin and I were being different, and casting regularly we simply picked up on a group of fish a big quicker than other anglers, although eventually we had a blank or two as well. The small lake is bowl shaped, with a ledge around it. We got our takes with the Mackeral deadbait landing on the edge of the ledge, basically perfectly positioned for the pike to pick up from underneath. Sadly I can't remember the weather pressure during most of the trips, but it wasn't too cold, until the final trip on the smaller lake we managed when it was only just above freezing and with showers, and my mackeral was picked up by a 20+.

£50, Fox A pod £75, Fox Stalker pod.

As David says, give us a budget and I will come up with something for you

I tend to keep my pike fishing and carp fishing separate Deadbaits on my local Stillwater I leave one out pretty much for a couple of hours, and the other I recast every hour if I haven't had a take. If I haven't had a take I do tend to change deadbaits to try something else, or simply a different area. I have my favourite deads, Mackeral, but have found some waters there are preferences for other baits. One lake I caught more on blueys, in fact every fish except one, a mate and I caught came on blueys, the one exception was a take on a half herring. On the adjacent lake we only got takes on Mackeral. Next strange piece of info is that on the bluey lake, most takes came on float paternostered set ups, and we fished one ledgered and one paternostered every time. The Mackeral lake, every take came on bottom fished, ledgered baits. Considering the two lakes are separated by a spit of land that is weird! Someone in PAC commented that a pike may ignore a bait you have cast right next to it for hours, then just decide to take it, so if you move it you could be knocking your chances, although I think in many cases if you land a bait next to a fish you will get a quick take.

Hoggs of Fife Shooting trousers and jacket. Found them better than almost all fishing clothing. The only name that I think gets decent fishing clothing is Drennan/ESP, but you do pay the price, at around £200 for the Drennan Jacket

Nige says he has seen carp spook from large crayfish, although I have not had that pleasure. I consider smaller crayfish will act as groundbait, I don't think a carp will turn its nose up at munching on a few small ones. I have had carp take cray munched baits, I played a carp in November a few years ago that when I checked the bait, the mesh was cut and the pop-up had chunks out of it.

Gives me an idea! Fill them with boilie paste, and even roll it outside the cage, and boil as per your boilie mix. You then have a crayfish resistant bait. The outer skin may be munched, but the 'liner' is protecting the inner part of the boilie from the little beggars

Brown Daiwa Sensor, very good line, used it for a long time in the past. It is better than most more expensive lines

Same sort of size in Nazeing

Try fishing a lead link. Have the lead attached via a length of line to either a lead clip or a run ring. The same standard rig, but fishing a lead link. The lead will sink into the silt, but the lighter hookbait closer to the surface of the silt.

I'm not sure it does put the carp off, I have had carp takes when I have had a bait half eaten by Crays. As if the carp are being attracted by the feeding Crays, and eat the bait while they are there. The Crays probably disappear if a larger predator is about after them! I do also use wafters or pop-ups as part of the set-up, putting them in a uni knot loop, and check the total buoyancy of the bait, so it is on the bottom. All of these are rock hard. Both meshed bottom baits as the end bait and the Wafter or pop-up have produced fish. The one thing I can never be sure is if I have had the take before or after the end bait has been eaten by the filchers. That wooden ball definitely catches! One thing I have discovered is that doing this, I can get away with a combi-link using a braided final section as per the picture. Basically I can get away with using braid, coated braid or stiffer hooklink materials.

It just wooden go....

The best pod I have ever seen:

I thought that is what brolly spokes were for... You haven't seen some of the swims at Nazeing! This is normal, at least this one has a platform

Think I'm going to have to get some stage stands, means I can dispense with pod on stages, and can also screw then into concrete tough ground that some of the swims are like at Nazeing.

I'm sure I have said on more recent 'Crayfish' threads that the little blighters will cut through Armourmesh to get the goodies within, but here is the proof: The mesh is all that remains, tangled up around the boilie stop and the hair. The remaining hookbait is a wooden ball soaked and drilled, as you can see that is untouched. The large loop knot holds the ball on the hair, so even if the Crays do manage to take the real bait I still have something as bait. The longer you can leave your wooden balls in soak, the more they take on the extent they become critically balanced. Once used, take them off the hair, allow to dry out, and then resoak in glug. Hopefully a never ending circle.

I dislike having to use a pod, I much prefer buzzer bars on banksticks goalpost style. However, I do own and use on, that as I keep saying, I can use as single sticks, goalpost on sticks or as a goalpost pod. Banksticks in soft ground, although I do sometimes use a sacrificial bankstick to dig around to create a hole for the bankstick in harder ground, and pod on stages. Versatility, important! I honestly don't know how old it is, but I bought it for £50 at 5 Lakes around the time I was fishing Earith, and it was made by the joke of the time, Badger. I have replaced the buzzer bars with some JRC stainless bars, and put in some Solar banksticks, but the central frame is the original.

Gone and merged the two threads