salokcinnodrog

Ooh no, you don't need a bivvy heater. A decent sleeping bag for night, and good clothing for day. Too many 'accidents' with bivvy heaters, burnt down bivvies, and deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. Even using a stove in the bivvy is a risk. Years ago a mate I used to fish with had a run while his stove was on to keep him warm, he only burnt a hole in his sleeping bag, but other mates have destroyed their whole bivvies and woken up in A&E.

@yonny Nicely said. One thing I noticed when air drying baits to get them rock hard, is they took on water (or other liquids) and got softer quicker than baits straight out of the freezer. It meant they could actually have a faster breakdown time than frozen or 'normal' boilies, which could be an advantage at times. Ah, the washed out baits concept, supposedly making the carp think they are safe as opposed to freshly introduced. I never noticed an advantage over freshly introduced straight from the freezer, although I did occasionally have a fish that took a bait that had been in the lake for 2 days untouched, unmoved and left in place, fish that I think were wary of new bait, even the disturbance of putting any bait on the spot. One particular example was on a 3 day trip to Brackens Pool where the left hand rod produced 4 or 5 fish to 20lbs, all on stringers fished to the treeline opposite. My right hand rod produced only 1 fish, a 30lb mirror that was previously uncaught at that weight, but I had left it alone for 48hours after lowering it in to the tree line to my right. Now mixing @framey and @yonny's quotes, when bites come hard to get on your food bait boilies, it can help by increasing the amount you prebait, or put in at the end of the session. I think carp can get used to and avoid just a few baits and getting hooked on your hookbait. By increasing the amount of prebait, and potentially the free bait when you fish, you reduce the chance of them inspecting and checking every one. That inspection of baits is why rigs get developed or changed, because the carp can learn to avoid a particular situation. Some is because we simply can't afford to put in more bait every trip, so need to come up with other answers. The more you can afford, the more the fish rely on it, and a basic inefficient rig will still catch.

I'd probably be going to 8lb maybe even Kryston Jackal in 20lb. Sounds heavy but for a coated braid it is very thin.

I have little experience of explicit fishing tackle insurance, but I do know 'cheaper' insurance companies will try everything to prevent payouts in the event of theft; security not good enough, replace with cheaper items etc. Always go for the best insurance possible, and not always the cheapest. Go through the small print (the boring bit) to find out their complete policy and best way to protect yourself. Sadly fishing tackle is both sentimental and personal, so to replace a pair of Century rods with Sonik (for example) does not cover like for like.

For years I have taken baits out of the freezer as I pack my gear into the car. I've rarely gone to the 'faff' of adding extra liquid or defrosting a day before. I'm not saying defrosting before use does not work, but I have caught on baits that have been put on the hair still part frozen, and sometimes within minutes of casting in.

How many times have I said updates and upgrades are not always better? Nor me. That's not a mark 2, it's a mark 2.5 or 3. I hope you get it sorted, you can always use the return of item as not suitable for use described. It is one you could win especially if you got Trading Standards or CAB involved as the description is not clear.

I think the longest cast was around 40metres.

No, cast it, along with about 20 others all with the same amount of baits on. When there is a rule saying 'free bait may only be put in by PVA' I can use stringers to my advantage when everyone else is fishing single baits...

You mean a 'Nick stringer'? Done that on 2.75lb Century NG's and SP's

Possibly also mixed in with Jim Gibbinson when asked the question "do you ever use 3oz leads?" "An ounce on this rod, an ounce on that one and an ounce on that one". Seriously high test curves have become fashionable not always for fish playing, but because the angler does not have the casting ability, and a higher test curve rod will supposedly improve their distance. Then bear in mind in the 1990's with 8lb line (and shockleader) and 2.25lb test curve rods on 4000 Aero Baitrunners I could cast 125metres. In the 2000's with 15lb line and 2.75lb rods and Aerlex's I was hitting the same.

If that's the case then it's down to fish finding or moving onto the bait. Sounds really stupid, but some waters it takes a few days for the carp to move in to an area. You aren't doing anything wrong, you get takes and land fish, so it's working. Sir Pete Springate wrote about fishing taking 4 days to come onto the bait. Maybe they were there, got spooked, and didn't come back round for 4 days. I've fished waters where I had to leave the bait in position for 2days, and an Amnesia rig you can be pretty sure is tangle free, with or without PVA.

I use 25lb for almost everything. If you catch it works. The 'invisibility' has little effect as it's on or close to the lakebed so casting little shadow anyway.

I still use Amnesia for stiff rigs, booms and combi-rigs as well as D's. Personally I found no advantages to fluorocarbon.

Test curves and tapers. This is a little bit dated as technology and materials have advanced, and higher test curves have sometimes been heralded by certain companies as a replacement for distance casting skill (not all were rod manufacturers) The test curve is roughly how much pressure (weight) it takes to pull the rod to 90⁰. A higher test curve rod is better for casting distances although usually the action is in the tip, whereas a lower test curve tends to be more through the rod. You can put more pressure on a fish with a through action rod than a tip or fast taper rod. If you consider that record carp have been landed on rods with TC's below 2.5lb. I've landed 20lb carp on 1.75lb test curve rods as well as 2.5, 2.75, even 3.25lb rods, and 30's on 2.75lb and 3.25lb rods.

I honestly don't know how fast they grow but I think that the growing age is 12-15years old. Males don't get much above 10lb, and it's the females that get onto bigger weights. Obviously predation reduces the numbers, pike are the biggest predators of pike! I've had big pike attack smaller pike I've been playing. One of the most memorable was a small fish that I hooked and landed 3 times in 3 casts on a spinner on The Broads. I cast out in the next swim, hooked the same fish, and as I was playing it had it hit and taken off the hooks by a big female. I have also got pics of a double figure pike with a lovely scar on its back from a bigger mouth. If the food is right, I know that in the lake I'm fishing that a 3lb growth rate is possible as I did pics for someone last year when he had a 20lb fish, he caught it again this year at 23lb.

The kneeling over pic is a 16lb from a few years ago, so easy to deal with them like that. The other pic is the 23lb PB. I've written a few articles over the years for Pikelines, the PAC magazine.

Oh and not forgetting 25kilos of boilies, in freezer and shelf life, RH The Nutty Bait, and a tub of 15mm matching pop-ups, it has a lovely smell, soft crumbly texture that should breakdown fairly quickly. There are a couple of pics a few pages ago. The bass have started showing in Suffolk, so I'll be chasing them as well. I've got a freezer full of mackeral and herring which are being added to squid on the hooks for whatever seems and likes it. That's cheaper to use up some pike deadbaits than be buying lug and ragworm as I can't dig anymore.

I've been chasing rays, had a few up to 7lb. I do use plenty of Sakuma 503's in 3/0 for them, 50lb Grey Weasel as I also use it for rigs with the rays, although I go clear Amnesia for bass, oh yes, and I got some more Lead link imps and Gemini oval clips.

My biggest is 23lb, and I have had a few 20's. More satisfying than a carp of the same weight. I use a semi barbed treble with a size 6 single up the trace, makes for easy unhooking. I was at a PAC fish-in earlier in the year, one of the other anglers was amazed that I had unhooked a double figure fish within seconds. I look at which side the trace is sticking out, turn the fish upside down on the unhooking mat, kneel over it, left hand through the gill, down to the jaw, lift and unhook with forceps or long nose pliers. Easier to see than explain.

Pike are probably one of my favourite species. The teeth are no problem if you know how to unhook them. I've never had a barbel, and living in Suffolk the chance of finding one is extremely hard. I did spend some time on the Norfolk Wensum after I saw a couple but they have disappeared again, and I don't have the time to chase a tiny shoal up and down a 4mile stretch.

You should be able to delete messages: Check box on left, and delete

To be honest, when I used to use a boat (dinghy) to put rigs out I found that a helicopter rig was not the best option. Helicopters are fine for casting long distances and in silt, but indication on them is much reduced. Even with Delkims I've had minimal buzzes at range (over 100metres) that has caused me to lose fish. At Nazeing Meads I had a spot at around 125metres, that I could reach, and had caught a few that ran away from me. One night I landed a 28lb carp around 2am. Around 4 I had a couple of bleeps, and a couple of twitches on the Quiverlocs, which I (stupidly) ignored. When I reeled in at first light after looking at the line direction which had changed, I discovered that the fish had run around 50yards towards me and arced into a snag. The Delks were set as sensitive as possible in windy weather, in fact I would turn sensitivity to maximum and gradually work down until wind bleeps stopped. I have also read articles on large waters where anglers have put rigs out and in the morning discovered that the rigs have been picked up, moved and ejected yards away from the original spot. As a result I prefer to use other set-ups, my preference is for a run ring as I don't like lead clips.

Such a refreshing attitude, purist even. I've had a few specimens of various species, but the two I really want are barbel and perch. My son when he was 10 or so has probably caught a bigger perch than me, and I gave him 2lb, but I look back at the pics and think I robbed him. I made sure he carried scales in his tackle from then on.

Welcome to carp.com. Enjoy your fishing, but go through life remembering that catching 20lb (or even 30lb) carp is a lot easier than catching specimen fish of other species. Take your fishing as it comes, enjoy it, learn from it.

Sell stuff, never gonna happen again