salokcinnodrog

Bait Boats are under the Tackle and Equipment section. I can possibly add a 'sticky' in there, but with technology advances a thread is only relevant for a maximum of 3 years and the same on Google, who 'limit' their search finds now to 5years maximum. That is actually one reason I split New Purchases into separate threads as the original was started in 2018. Searching for an original post on that thread doesn't show up.

I'll look into it. We do have the DVD and book reviews, I'll see if I can add a new section in that area of the forum. Big problem with anything is the 'sponsored' video. Fox produced a couple of pike fishing DVD's and the PAC asked for them to be removed as some very fish dangerous practices were shown. Anything that is bad angling practice is a problem if it gets put onto a video and onto YouTube, TikTok etc

I actually use a Marco Cortesi centrepin myself, usually rigged up lift float method for stalking, or for a small fish water, or with a freelined dog biscuit hanging from the rod tip just touching the water surface. Both methods are great fun, especially the freelined dog biscuit where the 'screech' is the indication of a bite as I am sat back with the rod butt under my hand. I've managed carp to just under 20lb, and do think with no gearing you have more feel. The real reel specialist is Chris Yates.

Bad angling? So is it bad angling to tighten down to attempt to keep a fish away from a snag? Or a weed bed? I think not! Now when it comes to line snapping in breakages, it is nearly always at the join closest to the rod tip, hooklink swivel or leader knot, that is the 'pressure point'. If you have 18-20lb 0.38-0.40mm mainline and a decent knot, then the weakest point is the 0.36mm fluorocarbon crimp. A fish does not know how much pressure it is exerting, so at times as in my first paragraph to keep it out of the snags I might really put the pressure on. With braided hooklinks, it is quite possible, even probable, that the hooklink is a higher breaking strain than the mainline! I know my mainline to hooklink swivel join is strong. I have wrapped the mainline around my hand, and pulled extremely hard putting pressure on the knot. I do the same to hooks, using a hook puller, with carp tackle, pike tackle and sea fishing gear. That is on carp fishing hooklinks in any material, any knot, or as I do with some braided, even spliced.

For perfect round loop knots, you can get it very tidy with the Rapala knot. I get the perfect circle tying it round a Solar rig tool, the stainless tool that would stretch and slide beads to push tubing inside them. I've actually used it for coated braids, mono and fluorocarbon. I'm not sure about the visibility of braids against other materials, I think it is more natural, feeling more like weed. My choice for years has been Merlin but I do have some Gardner Camflex and Tricklink. On looking for them in the margins in very clear water, they are invisible.

For perfect round loop knots, you can get it very tidy with the Rapala knot. I get the perfect circle tying it round a Solar rig tool, the stainless tool that would stretch and slide beads to push tubing inside them. I've actually used it for coated braids, mono and fluorocarbon. I'm not sure about the visibility of braids against other materials, I think it is more natural, feeling more like weed. My choice for years has been Merlin but I do have some Gardner Camflex and Tricklink. On looking for them in the margins in very clear water, they are invisible.

You can get away with a Multi-rig! I've used it for pop-ups, snowman and bottom baits. Longer hair to the rig ring for bottom baits, maybe even snowman, but it works.

I had a look at the Sofa chair myself when I needed to replace my previous Sk-tec Recliner, and settled on the Solar Recliner with armrests. I'm 5ft 11in and found the Recliner suited my needs, and was a bit cheaper when I shopped around as I got the older model, (just under £100).

I never used PVA on Ardleigh or on Suffolk water Park. Moulded Vitalin and particle mix around the lead and the hookbait was pushed into the bottom of the ball.

Mentioned them before: https://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/covert-tungsten-kickers/

I used to test and time my PVA bags, string and mesh so I had an idea of breakdown time of various brands in the water winter and summer. The bags I use now are either Rod Hutchinson or Alacarp, run by Dave Goring on my syndicate. I just hand him a £10 note and he fills my hand with packs of PVA bags. Both brands break down within a couple of minutes. I know one thing, 15years ago, Nash PVA bags used to be awful, with a breakdown time of over an hour in the side pocket of a pair of combat trousers that have gone through a 60⁰ wash The outer plastic bag was unsealed, and the bags themselves were still complete despite the bag being full of water. Knots do take longer to break down than the rest of the PVA

Crayfish love putty, they chew tungsten putty and tubing for fun. Like you I try to avoid putty anywhere crayfish are present, so for balancing pop-ups I went back to olivettes, either small inline threaded and fixed on boom sections or 'lock and slide' olivettes with a piece of silicon or shrink tubing fixing them. In terms of putty, I still use Kryston Heavy Metal, once tried never beaten. I bought a tub around 2008 for Brackens on Nazeing, I finally had to buy a new tub this year. Dave Chilton did say that the make-up was lost by Tasker (?), so he had to go and get it redone for them. It is as good as it was, so it's still my goto. I do use a bit of putty moulded around a swivel or knot join on combi-rig pop-ups when no crayfish are about, and you can get away with it on silty areas as they don't usually feed on there.

That's been much of my fishing since last October. I hate being ill, so I'd go fishing rather than being sat in the flat. The fresh air seems to brighten you up. I do know though, when you have sepsis any session is hard work and I end up sleeping all day when I get home.

I am also that old, that it was on my stalking and floater rod as well as on my static rods, North Western 12ft 2¼ and Century Armalite 2¼'s. I still end up fishing 5 rod lengths out quite frequently. I used to spend a lot of time fishing at long distances, but now normally fish a lot less, although there are a couple of swims on the syndicate where a long cast is handy at certain times of the year.

I've been using Rod Hutchinson The Nutty Bait in mostly shelf life, a freezer version is also available but I simply don't have the space. There is a new bait coming out soon LT, although I am not sure if it will be in a shelf life version. The Nutty Bait has been doing me well this year.

For years I've used 30lb Amnesia in black or clear or 40lb Drennan Grey Greased Weasel. The clear Amnesia is not as supple as the dyed versions. Like @yonny I'm a dinosaur, if it works stick with it, although I have tried using tapered leaders, for carp and sea fishing and for some reason I kept on cracking off, so went back to the straight leaders. I would say that it might have been my knots, but my mate Allan tied a few up for me, but I had the same issue, while he had no problems with long casting. The other advantage is that I can go longer than the 4 turns on the reel and casting drop, I normally have around 5 or 6. I also use them on my Spod/marker rod to braid. Point to note, as I have mentioned to Yonny in the past, if there are snags or weed I won't use a leader as I don't like the risk of leaving a leader that the lead and rig can't be ejected if you crack-off. With weed caught around the knot even a run ring can't come off over it. Again like Yonny I've gone finer than 12lb; for years we used 8lb line (Sylcast or Maxima) with leaders on 2¼ or 2¾lb test curve rods. It's probably only since the 1990's that lines rated 15lb or more got used for carp fishing.

I can honestly say I've never used it.

Test it on gravel, not Rocky bottoms...

Oh it doesn't take bad angling to leave a rig in the lake, annoying pike can do it for you... I've retrieved mine and other anglers rigs from the syndicate lake this year and before, some with bait and leads still attached on helicopter, lead clip and other pendant set-ups. The only thing I haven't retrieved is a lead on a run ring... Pike biting the line as they swim past it chasing fish and the whole lot is gone. I switch between knotted booms on combi-rigs with and without swivels, both braided on reverse combi's, and coated braid and mono (usually) Amnesia. The swivel is a benefit for changing just the hook 'linklet' compared to the whole rig, although Jackal as a boom does tend to get stripped. My booms also last multiple captures.

Does a fish know not to pull too hard? Fluorocarbon loses 5% strength with any knot, and any kink can cause it to break. Fracturing it with a crimp... I've never had a problem with the blood knot or Clinch knot with fluorocarbon.

It was Rod Hutchinson who said "test a knot by hammering it". I presume he meant give it a good pull, yank it, put it under pressure. Every knot I tie, I test it, every crimp trace, whether for pike or sea fishing I test it. I don't like crimped rigs for carp fishing.

The 2 bottom fish were the same night, 22nd October 2019. I had a few nights with multiple catches, and mostly 20lb plus fish, I think that I only had one fish below 20lb. As I said, I was walking around almost every day before work, picking a section so over 5 days I would pretty much cover the whole way round, including the bays. Definitely Holbrook fish, that common above; the 'owner' of the Holbrook syndicate took out some of the slow growth fish and put them in Alton, you also have some escaped pike live baits, there is or was a big common with a nick front of the dorsal fin from a treble hook I think. There are no originals left from when the reservoir was formed, somewhere at the bottom is a road, some houses, and the farm pond that had Alton Waters original carp and rudd.

I'm sure that none of them are quite as good, and I am positive that you don't need them as the phone camera already has a voice app. I was goggling around when I found this, it's not explained in my Samsung 'destructions', but after a couple of colour differences between Selfie voice app and self timer with flash I started to look further.

Pictures of carp from Alton Water? I can also give a bit of info, but it does involve a lot of walking. I live on the edge of the town, about 10mins away, so before work I would take my dog for a walk around a section. As for syndicates around Holbrook, one person seems to have his finger in every pie.

Hmm! A 'soft' through action rod can put more pressure on than a high test curve rod. As for pulling for a break or retrieving gear on snagged rigs, I frequently wrap a towel around my hand and pull the line, quite often you can pull it out of the weed without breaking. If it's a snag, then not so easy, although I have pulled in many a branch festooned with rigs and leads with the wrapped towel.