salokcinnodrog

'Fraid Not as I don't use Tapatalk. I did just check my PM's on here and I'm all up to date on carp.com PM's for a change

I've not tried 30lb simply as 20 was stiff enough.

Old school! Use Amnesia in 20lb clear. I do however change the hooklink after every fish when I use Amnesia as the hooklink, and check my knots with it every cast when part of a combi rig.

Basically, yes!

The reel seat is basically just a sleeve over the butt section, not many rods have a section join under it. On many rods there is a duplon section above the reel seat, just in front of the reel, as basically the rod manufacturers want you to feel good holding on the rod. If there is nothing below the reel seat, towards the butt, it should be possible to slide it down and reglue it, but use a decent two part glue. However, cheaper or foreign manufactured rods can be a problem, because the reel seat may well be over a sleeve, and the sleeve over the rod blank.

I made the point on another thread recently that every hook, rig, etc needs to be tested as the buoyancy of every pop-up, wafter is different. I very rarely use a purchased Wafter hookbait, if I want a critically balanced hookbait, then it is a pop-up that is carefully weighted with a shot or putty, a snowman bait, bottom bait under pop-up, or a bottom bait drilled out and filled with cork or foam. That so sounds like Korda, and Ali Hamidi, and is one of the main factors on why I try not to use any of their products!

Why do you think I work at Gladwells? Some of those horsey types Especially in the summer...

I often use a baitrunner, simply because I occasionally use the same reel for chub, roach or even tench fishing. ST baitrunner 4000 size, or an Aero Stradic 4000, the Stradic is quite over your budget, but the fighting drag is awesome

I'm not quite 6ft My recorded height while playing American Football was 5ft11in, or 1.81m, although I think as you get older you do shrink in height, so I am probably a fair bit less than that now It may mean you check bedchair lengths carefully, not just total length, but useable laying length! A compact or standard Bedchair may not be long enough

Three years use out of them!

Delkims, 9v, and there is only one... Duracell!

My pike fishing this year has been a blank. I've spent 6 trips on a new lake that has not had much pressure or form, and have not yet received a single take, despite trying various baits, float fishing, paternostering, ledgering on the bottom or popping them up. A guy who comes into the shop drifted a deadbait right across the whole lake a number of times and had no takes! I was going to go this morning (Sunday 22nd January), but heard reports the local lakes are frozen, and the local river is not fishing at all well, and areas have been fished out.

To be honest, for the price of Fox brolly systems, I would expect quality to be a whole lot better. Bivvy wise, and I have owned a couple of Fox EasyDomes I can't complain with their quality. For half the price ( ) I have used and abused my TFG brolly and I think it has stood up better than most others would, and when I trashed it by setting up facing into a gale force wind, was able to repair it myself. I had Fox Warrior Brolly systems returned, Supabrolly systems come back. For Brolly systems I would honestly say a Chub Oval and wrap, or TFG Oval or Power Brolly and wrap is a better option than spending Fox money. In fact having seen the Drennan ESP sample, it may be worth looking at a Lo-Pro, as Drennan rarely release a pup!

My mate Colin loves his Power Brolly I have the Hardcore Brolly myself, and no complaints about that either.

Fair enough: We sold a Fox brolly system, which the customer returned supposedly unused saying it wasn't suitable, and being as it had been bought as a Christmas present for him, we refunded and sold another brand of Oval brolly, the day after Boxing Day, so only a week or so old. Within two days we had sold it again, at a discount, but when this customer got it home discovered the storm poles were muddy and the groundsheet was missing, so we replaced that as it could have been mislaid on our part, and gave him a £20 unhooking mat as a sweetener. When he went to use it, on its first use, on New Years day, the supposed groundsheet had different fixings, clips as opposed to rings, so was not compatible with the brolly system it was supposed to be designed for. As he was pike fishing, this at the time was not a major issue, although he was not too chuffed, but around 11am it started to rain, and according to the written report on the incident on its return, it 'leaked like a sieve'. From what the second customer has said, it is quite possible the original customer used it, discovered its faults, and actually put it back into its original packing as tidily as possible to make it look untouched, as when I sold it second time around I checked the packaging and brolly bag before selling it to him. I now have a Fox brolly system awaiting disposal after it was inspected by the Fox rep as it is unsaleable.

I have this http://www.chubfishing.co.uk/chub-furniture---storage-bedchairs/chub-vantage-flatbed-6-leg/1379209-0300.html I sleep more comfortably on it than I do in my double bed at home!

For less money look at the TFG Power Brolly https://www.totalfishinggear.co.uk/buy.cfm/tfg-bivvies-and-brollies/tf-gear-power-brolly-shelter/39/no/43620 An overwrap is also available The TFG brollies have had a few threads on here about them, may be worth a search I would like to offer positive reports on Fox brolly systems, but after this week I shall say nothing...

I was looking at the TFG gear in Phils link: https://www.totalfishinggear.co.uk/buy.cfm/tfg-accessories/tf-gear-night-spark-bivvy-light-and-power-cell/39/no/113885 Worth the money!

Ouch! Carp Porter is still the best!

With pop-ups, and to some extent wafters, the size, gauge, and even brand of hooks all make the bait behave differently. A Gardner Mugga may be the same sort of pattern as a Gamakatsu GP204 in a size 6, but each has a different weight. Even every pop-up is likely to have a different mass and buoyancy, from batch to batch and manufacturer! Basically if you are wanting to critically balance to perfection, you will need to set up every rig every time. As for myself, I tend to over balance, or overweight any pop-up rather than critically balance. On a snowman bait, the pop-up is not often buoyant enough to lift the bottom bait up so that I need to put extra weight on. When I weight my pop-ups I also don't often faff with minuscule amounts of putty to get it right. One reason is crayfish will munch tungsten putty so I tend to use a (pole anglers) olivette NOT carp anglers pop-up weights, which are subject to carp tax. In most cases the angler fishing does not know how his or her pop-up sits in relation to the hook and the angle of 'delivery'. The image of the hook sat bend upwards is not often correct!

Sticky at top of Rig Tying section

Dave Lane TFG Magrunners are around £80 for a set of 3 with receiver. Could be worth a look Other than that I use Delkims myself

You can get 3 TFG Dave Lane Magrunners for around £80. They are an alarm and receiver set and Dave Lane rates them highly

Most of my fishing revolves around keeping it as simple as possible, so a basic knotless knotted rig with decent length hair, with if circumstances dictate, a line aligner. A line aligner can make a difference, it is possible for carp to eject a knotless knotted rig, but for some reason struggle to do so with line aligner. It may simply be the shank extension that causes the problems for the fish. I also use a sliding rig ring on the shank, but I do NOT have it attached to the hair coming from the eye of the hook, but rather use it as the attachment for the hair itself. If you go to http://www.carp.com/topic/17282-carpcom-guide-to-the-knotless-knot-and-rigs/ and look at my sliding pop-up rig, that is what I use for pop-ups, snowman baits, double baits, etc. It means I can tie on a hair to the length I require, and fish with whatever bait I want, be that Wafter or snowman, or balanced double baits. Do not confuse yourself, a post in that thread says most fish are caught in spite of the rig not because of it, and it is true. Years ago, I started a thread called 'Complicated rigs', http://www.carp.com/topic/358-complicated-rigs/?hl=%2Bcomplicated+%2Brigs but there have been many others along the lines of confusion rules, or do we over complicate things, in fact if you put 'complicated rigs' in the search, those two will come up and may be worth a read.

Years ago I made a pod out of stainless centre piece section, and copper end sections, with screw in end legs. Normal (low) banksticks were screwed onto a double threaded adaptor, 3/8 which screwed into the copper end. The central buzz bar stick screwed into a thread in the copper. By changing the banksticks for longer versions I could have raised the front or rear.