salokcinnodrog

What's wrong with an ordinary pair of banksticks? More money being fleeced from carp anglers with carp tax!

I reckon it does if you hook the little tufted blighter! 4am Friday morning a tuftie decided it liked my bait, hooked squarely in the bottom lip, and needed forceps to remove it. At least it was the 'short' cast rod, not one of the long distance ones. Returned the duck on the other side of the causeway, heard it flying away in a hurry, at least they were a bit more circumspect over the bait for the rest of the session.

http://www.totalfishinggear.co.uk/buy.cfm/bags-and-luggage/tf-gear-compact-weigh-sling/39/no/105623 We sell them at work, no problems.

I must admit a lot of my fishing tackle is saved up and worked hard for. My NG's I had a very good month at work, and didn't do too bad the month after buying 3 Shimano DL's. In those two months, I also redecorated and carpeted my ex's house, the hallway, childrens bedrooms and dining room. At the same time, I have also discovered that having loads of money didn't make me any happier.

Oh yes, another pattern that was cutting down the mouth was Drennan Starpoints, although strangely I found that with chub they did not.

Some brands of hook simply are not as sharp as others. The sharpest I have found are Drennan/ESP who also own Kamasan, then Gamakatsu, Owner, Gardner and Solar. I did also find Carp-R-Us Centurions and Nailers sharp enough. These hooks do NOT need to be sharpened, they are already sharp enough. Now of course if you use other brands then I am suggesting swap those brands to one that is already sharp enough as above. Somewhere on the forum is a picture with a 3oz lead being lifted off the desk with the hook point resting on my thumb of finger. That was a Korda hook I think straight out the packet, definitely not a sharp brand! And yes, Owner FLB hooks were actually too sharp, the spade shaped point did actually cut down the mouth where it pr icked in and took hold My point was that the last hooks that I needed to sharpen were the Low Water Salmon Hooks, you cut the shank, put a solder blob on the top as your hooklink stop and tied it to your nylon, this was before the days of chemical sharpening, or maybe Mustad 34021's needed a touch up. A hook does not dig in on the pick-up or as the carp attempts to eject it, no matter how sharp it is. Basically the hook digs in as you play the fish, as you tighten the line and strike. Hook sharpening is a fad of sorts. Someone did it, made articles about it, and it has become as fashion, because JAG, Gardner or whoever can now sell hook sharpening files, lights and magnifying glasses to anglers.

I go old fashioned and use Maxima in around a pound, maybe two lighter than the mainline, or occasionally buy ready tied spade end hooks, hooks to nylon. I simply won't fish without an hook-length, it makes it easier to change hook.

Actually there was a time when hooks needed sharpening! It is since the advent of chemical sharpening that most don't need sharpening, although some brands... The low water Salmon blob hooks were just one example. That sharpest hook possible, I mentioned it in a previous post, can actually cut itself out of the mouth. Another point with that, you have taken off the protective coating, whatever it may be, the Teflon, PTFE, or may be just the 'skin', in areas other than gravel these can blunt off overnight in some waters. You increase the risk of a point turning over, and on one silty lake I fished, swan mussels would burr over almost any point, and even avoiding them you would notice a hook blunting after being in the lake overnight in the silt.

I can remember various climber needles, PTFE coated, steel or even knitting needles... I had a monkey climber mount made up that fitted onto my rod rod, so with the original Gardner pod my needles never got bent. The machined steel needles had a screw thread at the bottom which screwed into the bar along the pod. As for monkey climber bodies, PTFE with a metal loop, the Solar lightflo, PTFE with bases that could be swapped to increase or decrease the weight, think that was Gardner, with or without a slot for isotope or the original that was cut out of a herb container, although I could never get a consistent pair exactly the same.

I actually question sharpening hooks for fishing. If a brand of hook is not sharp enough, don't use them! If you sharpen a hook, then you are actually increasing the chance of the extra sharpened hook cutting or pulling its way free, potentially increasing hookpulls. Add to that, obviously you know that you the finer the point the more chance of it being blunted, or bending over. I don't think that my hooks need sharpening, I use them straight out the packet. A few years ago now, I put a hook on a rig, and cast it out. That hook caught me a 26lb mirror. I then took that same rig back to a local water, where it was used again, and landed a load more fish until I eventually lost or blunted it. In between fish it was rebaited, recast no sharpening. Since then I have landed hundreds of fish from a variety of waters on hooks straight out of the packet. As an aside for you, ask yourself, you know some tackle is sold to make money for tackle manufacturers, there is no need for it; how much do I really need to sharpen hooks so going out and buying a hook sharpening kit...

And when it does you'll be sitting there cursing and asking why you didn't test it. You may not actually know it's (not) happening either. You cast your PVA stringer out, attached to the hook, and it doesn't dissolve very fast, or at all. As you retrieve the end tackle the PVA finally breaks, falling away from the hook. How many times with PVA are you actually fishing a 6bait hookbait rather than a stringer? In summer that may work, but in winter...

Should be fine. One thing I will say, Drennan Supplex is not the best hooklink to use though. I spent a lot of time last week changing hooklinks, it got curly very easily!

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.