salokcinnodrog

To stop buckets sticking to next bucket in the stack?

You can ask miwillons of anglers what length rig they use, and the answer is quite possibly between 6-9 inches from most of them, although Chod rigs will drop that average. Ooh err Missus Some of it is watching Dvd's or blogs, and big name angler always uses that length, so 'you' copy. There are absolutely loads of reasons to change rig length, how and what you feed, the amount you feed, the lakebed, how the carp feed, what they are used to dealing with, even the bait you use. A few years ago now I was using a small lake near me as a test lake for various rigs, lead set-ups, baits and indication. At the time most anglers were still using 6-9 inch rigs, so I tied up a few, and cast them into a spot where I could see the reaction. Many of the carp would actually back off (boilies mostly), 6 inches with baits in their mouth, freebies and hookbaits. So suck or pick up, back off 15cms, and then stop before spitting or swallowing. If a bait had a hook on it, you could watch them 'thinking', the eyes would roll, and with a semi-fixed lead, the carp would tighten up to the lead, so either back off, feeling for the lead and then with the weight of the lead, the sucking, blowing and lip movement could eject the hook, on even mega sharp hooks. Now think about this, if the carp back off that distance, how can you confuse the issue? Lengthen or shorten... Obviously not every carp could eject the hook, or you would never get any runs, but many do get away with it. Imagine what happens when you can't see it, and as much as I slate them, the Korda dvd's do show you how easy it is for the fish to get away. My mate Al, on a small fish water we have been on recently has found the best length for hooked fish has been 30cms, or 12inches. Fishing next to each other he has been hooking 3-1 to my shorter rigs, and the carp are not massive either!

Fox do make a standard blue head set

Colour is amusing, but Drennan Red Range feeder reels are very tidy pieces of kit. As much as I love Shimano reels, the Red's are better value than the same price Shimano. Spare spool, line strength markers that click onto the spool

The big question is are there any snags in the lake, branches or roots? It may only be a metre, but I have seen a carp swimming in circles around a branch in the water; over a period of 20minutes the carp swam 3 times around it, in the same direction, each circuit just mouthing the bottom in 2 or 3 places. Not saying it's definitely going to happen, but if that fish had even a short leader attached it may well have tethered. On this lake I have retrieved goodness knows how many leaders with leads still on lead clips, some with bait still attached, and the retrieved tackle came in with tiny twigs, which were all that had 'caught up' on it. There is a pic on here. Onw of the best looking fish was caught with some very ripped and torn scales and flanks.

You might actually find that a barbless hook is stronger than a barbed. The barb was often formed by a cut just below the point and creating the barb with the sliver, although that may have changed.

It's not all bad, it's knowing what is good I also have a pair of their Field Boots, exactly the same as the Jack Pyke boots, but at £60 compared to £160. As said the Mag runner alarms are brilliant. Guess what manufacturer I had most alarms back as faulty when I was in the tackle shop.... Fox! Delkim went through a phase of faulty alarms, yet I have not had any problems with mine, purchased in 2000'ish.

Explained above

That's the whole point of the slit down the side of the spare PVA tube. Maybe I didn't explain it properly, but read it again, should make sense

Get a spare mesh tube, but make a slit down the side so you can thread your hooklink down it, cut off the PVA you need and put it onto spare tube, then first in either a couple of floating dog biscuits or foam nuggets, your hook and bait, couple more nuggets, then your free offerings. Do NOT push down hard with plunger, but gently just to compress. Slide PVA off tube and cut down PVA to create two tags ends to overhand knot around hooklink. Extra work, but if it works it's worthwhile. The alternative is PVA bag filled and with lead inside, then hook into bottom of bag.

Oh yes TFG deserved the bad reputation they had, however since Dave Lane became consultant quality has improved immeasurably. Bivvies that don't leak, brollies that do the job properly and decent alarms. I still wouldn't trust everything until I've seen it in use, but I can vouch for the Power Brolly, Hardcore Brolly, Lok Down leaders and Mag alarms. A mate of mine has the Power Brolly, and I had the Hardcore Brolly, until a few months ago when it was ripped out the ground and turned inside out during a hurricane force wind. My fault probably for setting up facing into the wind, (not the first time). I gave it to a mate, and he has repaired the wire holding the spokes in situ. Even then it was a couple of years old If you go through last years TFG catalogue, Dave Lane gives a short blurb on the alarms. Of those I sold when I was in the tackle shop, none were ever returned!

Whiplash is awful stuff! I used it for pike fishing and it is tangle city. It tangles round an anti-tangle boom, and the hook and uptrace would both get caught above the float.

JRC Contact 2 man is worthwhile though

Welcome to Carp.com. You don't need to spend that much money to get good alarms nowadays. TFG Dave Lane Mag runner alarms work out at around £89 for the 3 and receiver. Other alternatives are the Atts system by Gardner, or possibly Delkim EV's. Although I am a committed Delkim user, having owned ST's for 20+ years, if I went new I would be looking at The Mag Runners or Atts

For most fishing, especially rivers I would say 12 or 13 foot is best, but for still waters I think 10 - 12feet is fine. The main reason for a 12 foot rod is the water depth, in as much as you want a rod longer than the depth you are fishing, not easy to fish a float in 10feet of water with a 10foot rod, unless you fish a sliding float. Not many modern commercials are more than 10feet, hence the name of the rod, Shimano Forcemaster Commercial. The shorter rod is perfect for tight tree lined swims, for handling nice sized carp without being too long, and I would use it on most waters around now.

I played around with the Forcemaster rods when I worked in the tackle shop, and they were one of the rods I would recommend to people for children coming into fishing, because they have the power to deal with bigger fish at an affordable cost. The Hyperloop reels I would avoid though, they do feel a bit stiff. For the same sort of money reel wise look at the Drennan Red Range http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/drennan-red-range-reel?gclid=CIu4sLP1qtMCFUkQ0wodutwCbw Even though I am a committed Shimano reel devotee, the Drennan is far better!

Was going to offer this, which I use myself http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/wychwood-morpheus-extreme-4-sleeping-bag

For many, many years I used Daiwa Sensor in 12 or 15lb. 15 in summer, 12 in winter when there is less weed about. I was given some 15lb Gardner Pro to test, just before it came out when it had the name Pro Carp, before Daiwa made the point of Pro Carp was registered to them, so the name was changed to just Pro, but became available in a dark or light version. I did some serious testing with the dark version, knot strength, and what knots worked best, abrasion resistance, and shear resistance, a straight pull over a sharp edge, casting ability and twist. The test results are on here somewhere I can honestly say, these two 'budget' lines which cost around £10 are far better than many more expensive lines. They also contain a true 15lb diameter of 0.35/0.36mm compared to the 'false' breaking strain of a number of 0.40 or 0.38mm lines which are rated as 15lb, but which are actually 18 or 20lb lines. There are times when a more expensive line is needed, for a purpose, casting or particular strength or abrasion resistance like snag fishing.

Reels? Shimano ST range 6000 around £55

A piece of dissolving foam around the hook and 'linklet'. The main boom has a loop knot at both ends.

Tungsten tubing, forget it, tungsten putty, no chance. They don't manage these! I got hold of as many Ace ones as I could when Ace got taken over by Shimano. Slight modification to the rig, to work nicely for my purposes. Pop-ups to be honest can be a pain with Crays, who will rip anything bait wise apart, but I can use a mini soaked wooden ball, just not too long, or use, and dry it out again. The smell or taste of the bait soak then impregnates it.

I like those, although putty on crayfish waters is a big no no. I do have a slight modification to deal with that though, may have to take some pics to put up. Basically a tungsten sliding bead on the 'linklet', below a swivel, and the end knotted and blobbed.

Me no bother with quick link, nearly always a braided hooklink to swivel or 'O' ring. (A large rig or o ring sits right inside a rubber tulip bead better than a swivel). I have a short length of tubing going through the lead, and out if I need to protect the line at all, probably around a couple of inches longer than the hooklink. It's also easier to lick and stick PVA bags around tubing than mainline I rarely use leaders at all.

Why change what works? As the say 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'! The one thing I would say, CM has picked up on, I do NOT like lead clips anyway, and would prefer an inline lead setup. In fact, put everything in the bag, bait, hook, link and lead, works a treat.

Some of This years rods have gotten an American influence in blanks and rod rings, using Pac Bay guides and blanks, which are some of the best in the world. I have used Pac Bay blanks and guides to build rods myself, and despite trying I could not break the guides, which are better even than many of latest Fuji rod rings. (Described as Shimano Hardlite guides, although some in catalogue are quoted as Pac Bay). The Shimano Velocity are a 2015 model/design! The latest models are Tribal XS1 which are available in 2.75, 3 and 3.25lb. For the money you have quoted Free Spirit would be my choice, unless you can find a set of Fox Torque rods which were around that money for the pair, but that is also a 2015 design.