salokcinnodrog

They're big and full of crays Blanked today, the water was the colour of milky coffee. Only a couple of bleeps, I left it for a second of two, then decided to strike, but there was nothing there. Certain it wasn't crays on the bait as the bait was popped up well of the bottom, may have been a liner or grebe swimming through the line. Tried plenty of baits, drifted float fished and ledgered, but no luck. Allus next time!

LILO? Probably Klaus, Phil and myself Busted Merlin is not that hard to thread through, there is a sneaky secret; a long needle and bunching up the material. As you push the needle through the Merlin, bunch it up, and as its bunched pull the line through the middle. It does also work with the line, but takes longer. I also discovered before Octosplice, (any one remember that by Kesmark), that Merlin and Silkworm could be spliced securely without using a knot at all. The splice will hold on both hooks and swivels without glueing. Again a whipping thread hair.

This years pike fishing for me started on New Years Day, when I got up at 3am to drive down to Essex so I could set up and fish a couple of hours in the dark. At 8.30 ish the right hand rod baited with a popped up bluey head went off, and after a decent scrap this 12 was netted. 12.00 and the left hand rod baited with a lamprey tail brought this This fish didn't scrap so well, looking like it had had an argument with something, with cuts and scars around the head, but weighed 13lb. As I had set up in the dark, both rods were ledgered dead-baits, one fished popped up, the other on the bottom, and both produced fish. As you can see, the unhooking mat and sling is ready, with forceps to hand. I can unhook the pike, sling the trace and weight out the way (usually back into the water) so there is no risk to me or the fish, then slide the net out the way and straight into the sling to weigh the fish. Then it's already in the sling to carry back to the lake safely to be released. Tomorrow I reckon I can drive down slightly later, but still be there for an early one.

I went through a stage of threading Amnesia or Fluorocarbon through 25lb Merlin to create a semi-stiff hooklink, loop going through a swivel rather than quick link style, the inner helping the loop to hold true Straight shank hook (I think it was actually a Drennan Super Specialist) with the hair made with whipping thread,and whipped down the hook shank. I seem to recall silicon tubing made up the line aligner. It worked, but was fiddly to keep on doing regularly. By the way, like your Zippo, brass looks nicer than chrome Got one the same myself!

The immunised strain of carp can still be carriers of KHV, and so, if stocked into lakes can pass the disease onto fish already present in the water. Carp that have recovered are also still carriers.

Yes Ace have.Shimano own a number of tackle brands as well as their own, and I think bought Max Cottis and Steve out

Yes and No! I work for the company that produces Crafty Catcher Boilies, I know the ingredients; they print them on the packet, I've even used them myself, and caught fish on them. However it's not really for me to big them up as that could be seen as advertising, and it's a bit difficult as I'm sponsored by someone else (before I started working for the company). The Retro baits are as close as possible the original recipes, flavours that made Crafty Catcher famous back in the original Crafty Catcher days. They catch fish as an attractor bait, although I would be happy to use King Prawn as a food bait.

Like that? Line Aligner using fake maggot to disguise the hook To camouflage the hook in this pic I have used a fake maggot and created a line aligner with that. Again, the hook was tied on with a knotless knot and then the fake maggot threaded on with a needle

Yes I guess that is what is now a kicker. The other alternative to the bent hook was invented or credited to Jim Gibbinson (really worth reading his Carpworld articles, and books), the Line Aligner. It also created the same difficult to eject the hook effect that the bent hook did. The inturned eye I think helps with the 'kicker', it sits more naturally. The line aligner I think works better with a straight shank hook. Now I know the barbed and barbless debate has come up many times, but I have also seen and read of barbed hooks being ejected after a fish loss, dependant on certain conditions. Ken Townley also wrote about this in Big Carp. A lost fish, trailing the hooklink and possibly a short length of line (with no added weight, lead or leadcore) can eject a barbed hook. The barbless issue is that hook cuts deeper, and wobbles in the mouth during the fight, creating a bigger hole, and obviously more damage. The barb holds the hook in place, preventing wobbling, therefore less damage. The barbed issue is the hook is harder to remove, and people sometimes rip it out as opposed to seeing it is deep hooked, and cutting the hook rather than trying to force it out.

Strangely enough, I think it's the B175 that was the original bent hook, a quite intentional bend being put in the shank of the hook. It is the mouth damage that bent hooks did that saw them being banned on most lakes. Longer shanked hooks or an additional length created by tube seem to have a better hook up ratio than shorter shanked hooks. I think the first shank extension on hooks was probably on the Savay rig? Just a lengthening of the shank with tube, then a sliding hair, but in many cases it was this shank extension that created more hook ups. You then have the tubing being used to create the bent hook effect, but without the damaging effects of the actual bent hook.

It depends on how you attach the hook to the hooklink. If I use a Kamasan B175, I knot the hook on 'properly' with a very precise shrink tube to form a bent hook effect. A stop bead on the hook shank, and a rig ring running up and down the shank. The alternative way I fish it is with a Uni-knot loop with the pop-up tight to the hook and knotless knotted with a braid hooklink. I do occasionally use a Chod hook, but again, I always have the bait tight to the shank. I have found that inturned eyes on the hook, tend to give (me) better hook holds than out turned eye patterns. Most of my pop-ups are fished close to the lakebed, only just above bottom rubbish.

Tackle shops are finally receiving deliveries at the moment so those who didn't pre-order should be able to get them in their own Fox stocking tackle shop from this week

I have, and had fish on it. The coating is softer than other Kryston coated braids, and I had to be really careful when tightening knots up to prevent breaking and removing it. I had a fish go through a snag, when I got it in, the whole length of Jackal had been stripped. It works out expensive to replace the hooklink every fish, as I usually manage a number of fish on each hook and hooklink. My favourite Kryston coated braids are Mantis and Snakebite

I do believe that Gardner Tackle are now selling ready made Hinged Stiff rigs. Not saying you have to buy them, although I do think Gardner stuff is well made and probably one of the best suppliers of fishing tackle, but they may be worth looking at for 'copying'.

Dog clicker, and a compressed air spray. It's not a spray as such, but you press the trigger, and the escaping gas hisses in such a way that the dog jumps. Plenty of attention, good behavioural treats, positive reinforcement, and not negative reinforcement, but other than the jumping up and barking, ignore much of the negative. Be firm when telling 'sit', 'stay' and the like. If you remember Barnaby, my mum and her husbands Retriever, she and Ian could not get him to behave, stay or sit very easily. I could do it with raising a finger or eye contact. The spray and clicker I mention above, it may be worth diving into a certain Rayleigh shop and see if they have one Also Labradors and Retrievers can pull a bit on leads, so a lead to harness could be better than a lead to collar.

Liverpool looking a lot better team yesterday against Manchester City under Jurgen Klopp, even with the difficult start he had. Chelsea only managing a 1-0 win over Norwich seems to show how far off the pace they are.

When fishing the Method, you want to wait for proper runs. The bait wants to be close to the hook, and normally a short hooklink as the fish are just digging right into it. I use a simple method mix, Vitalin dog food, mixed with breadcrumb, particles and pellets, and often a tin of Sweetcorn so I can use that as a hookbait, maybe some peperami or sliced or crushed luncheon meat, all various hookbaits. Must admit Cyborx recipe does look good though

Loop to loop, exactly as match men do it. Works well, means you can change the rig. Strangely I use that method for chub and other species when using lighter hook links. I do prefer the swivel for carp and tench fishing as two lines pulling against each other, can cut through. Other species don't pull quite so hard, with the exception of barbel, so I would be looking at swivel or rig ring for joining the line and hooklink together.

I use both a ring swivel or a loop knot tied to the swivel, if is simply a case of which I grab when I grab a combi rig out the rig bin. I only use a ring swivel, with the rig tied to the ring, for combi-links. I am happy to tie a loop knot on combi rigs as well. For braid and coated braid, I think that the braid is supple enough to allow enough movement, but with combi-rigs I want a loop or ring for the added movement. If on very rare occasions I use a silt or chod rig, then obviously the ring end of the swivel is on the tubing I use and the rig on the other. I don't often get tangles, and on many occasions I fish without tubing. A run ring sliding up and down the mainline, then two rubber beads protecting the mainline to swivel knot and to stop the run ring sliding over the swivel, or run ring on tubing, and the tubing pushed into a buffer bead. It also helps that I cast out with PVA bags, stringers or mesh every cast, that prevents most tangles, but even without it, I am sure my rigs are tangle free. I always tie a fresh rig onto the mainline, I do not use quick links, I don't like them, I have seen too many lost fish down to them, and I have lost fish myself down to them, and I don't do stick mixes as such. I attach a PVA mesh bag by the simple means of an overhand knot around the mainline or tubing above the run ring, and then the hook point pushed through the mesh.

Brendan Rodgers worked at Swansea because he was able to develop his team, from promotion to the Premier League to competing against the big clubs. He walked into a club with problems wanting instant success, who were sellers rather than buyers, and who had no development in place. Gerrard saved his bacon on occasions, but the loss at the end of last season to Stoke (?) cooked his goose. He should have been gone at the end of the season, not 7 games in, but the club were hoping he would have pulled it right at the start. Jurgen Klopp is a big name manager who made Borussia Dortmund a success again, but he will need to be able to choose his players at Liverpool, who he gets in, which Rodgers wasn't able to do under the NFL American owners. Although Liverpool have won so many championships and are probably the most successful English team in Europe, it is strange to think they have never won the Premier League, which is what needs to be put right.

There were the occasional carp in the non tidal stretches, and a few barbel as well. The upper Wensum was better for carp as a few escaped from the fish farm at Hellesdon.

I saw Def Leppard and Whitesnake at Wembley. Absolutely brilliant gig, but I reckon seeing them at The Don really topped it, hometown band! Sad Don Valley is no more, that was a nice sports ground, played in a couple of American Football national finals there, once as a winner, beating the Devils Norfolk scum, and twice as losing finalists, both times to the Knights.

Tonight is a bit of Def Leppard, one of my favourite albums http://youtu.be/uyhVjEemGK8

I would really like to get myself another Canon Eos, but can't afford it. In the end I bought myself a secondhand Fuji Finepix A330 through Ebay for around £15! It plugs into my iPad, with a Camera Connection kit, that will take the SD cards and a direct link to the camera so I can upload my pics easily. The camera is easy to use, has 3x optical zoom, 3.2 mega pixels, and with an adaptor will fit onto Bankstick or tripod. You may find newer Fuji versions are available, but this one does me. The downside is that I have to use self timer rather than a remote trigger. I put the camera on the bankstick, sort out my background with the mat, and then work out the frame size, so preferably I don't cut off my head on pictures. I then get the fish in the landing net and lift it onto the mat, unhook, weigh etc, get net out the way. The self timer gives me around 10 seconds to get back to fish, lift and pic. It can be a pain if you have a fish that wants to wrestle though. At night it is even more important to make sure that your background and frame size is sorted, and (unlike my last pics) make sure your flash is set to prevent red eye. With a bit of practise you will get it right, but the random is always a wriggling fish.

Unfortunately I don't have Sir Bobby Charlton's, but here is Rooney's list before the other day