salokcinnodrog

I do use my alarms without the receiver every now and again on day only sessions, so for them to be audible is important to me. At night though I wouldn't be without the receiver next to my head on the storm pole

I loved the Emblem 'baboons' and the gold 5000's they did. I was seriously considering them years ago. They were fetching big money secondhand.

The Nicks Pedant medal for correction and research...🤪🤣

@yonny I did have a problem with a particular brand of hooks (model no longer available) that were opening out enough under pressure to straighten and spring back into shape. Maybe it was a particular batch of the Series 2 being faulty, but I did lose a couple of fish before I tested and changed from them, and have not used the brand since. I have also had a few from other manufacturers that did just snap after snagging, at the point of the bend, or straighten out.

I did used to tie some up in Viscount Tackle back in the 1990's for a few people who had arthritis in the fingers, and struggled to tie their own. Not a big money maker as for 10 rigs we'd just charge for the tubing, hooks and swivels we'd used, but it kept customers coming back in each week for other bits like boilies, pellets and other tackle they needed. I had to laugh when someone commented "you wouldn't use that yourself", then when they saw me on Barham and my rigs were identical and I was catching.

Say you are using metal sizes, in engineering I think called a 'gauge". The higher the number, the finer or thinner the gauge. A size 10 hook may be made with 18 gauge material, but a size 6 or 8 is made from 14 or 16 gauge wire. Now think about the fight of the fish, by putting pressure on the hook, you are 'trying' to straighten or break it. A finer gauge wire or hook is more prone to straightening than a heavier gauge. It may have the elasticity to return to shape after the fish has gotten off, or it may not; if it has sprung back into shape you may not notice the problem. Then think about other issues, a small hook in a big mouth, less weight, or mass, more easily blown out. The bigger hook is more likely to get a point into a piece of flesh. Plus you have as @Carpbell3 has said. Yet with a smaller hook, a size 10 can land a big carp when on say a 1½lb test curve rod. I actually use size 10 hooks for floater fishing, a dog biscuit fixed to the shank of the hook by a loop or tying the hook on with a knotless knot after creating the loop so the dog biscuit is tight to the hook.

I have never bought a ready tied rig, other than hooks to nylon for smaller species, although mates and I have 'pinched' each other's rigs. There is a 'but' in there; at Nazeing I pinched one of Big Daves rigs after I had landed a fish and for some reason hadn't got another tied up. I cast it to where I had caught from, and within minutes started getting a series of bleeps on the buzzer which then stopped. Around 4 in the afternoon every day I would reel in, check hook and bait and recast, so at 4 I reeled in, replaced the rig with one of my own, freshly tied and recast the same bait out. Within minutes I had a take and landed a decent fish. When I got home I did a hook point comparison of my Gardner Muggas, Gamskatsu curve, whatever the number was and the Korda Kurv's Dave was using, by attempting to lift a 3oz inline lead off the desk with the hookpoint on the ball of my thumb. The Gardner and Gamakatsu hooks were sharp enough to draw blood without the full weight of the lead. The Kurv, I could lift the lead off the desk! Not long after Korda released their 'hand sharpened' hooks... I prefer to play around with my rigs, working on thoughts and theories in my head, and the experimentations and experiences in the water. I said years ago I don't think of Rig Mechanics of say the KD rig, Spinner rig or even the Chod rig as a rig that passes the palm or thumb test may still be a blank rig but the basic rig that is put in the right situation will catch.

Definitely nothing worse than cracking off on a big chuck when the bail arm closes, well maybe other than losing the fish or woman of your dreams...

Hmm! There are so many differences of opinion on tackle, rods, reels, line, hooks and alarms. What I use has changed over the years depending on personal choice, some of my tackle deals or 'sponsorship', even water to water, or personal ethical reasons. For years I used Century rods, SP and NG's were the last, but then got a deal on Rod Hutchinson The Ones in 3.25lb TC and Enduro's in 2.75lb TC. What rods I use depends on how far I need to cast, and at the moment 100metres is the limit. Reels I don't think that I have used any other reel manufacturer for freshwater fishing than Shimano since the days of Abu Cardinals, the original Aero GTE Baitrunners, Aerlex's, DL10000's and 7000 XTA Beastmasters. Line, again personal choice there are so many out there, Gardner Pro is the current. As for hooks, currently Gardner Muggas and Incizor's because annoyingly my other favourite hooks became difficult to get hold of. There is no magic answer, because every uses what they find works for them.

The Carp companies I think were catering to 'chav fashion' with the joggers. I'm not sure on hoodies as I do find a hoodie quite useful though. I much prefer combat or cargo trousers; a few weeks ago one of my pairs of combats died, finally worn through after 20 years, or is that the problem? I do get a fair few years out of combat clothing, it resists rip, tears and brambles. I avoided tackle shops for most clothing to be honest, much preferring outdoor and army surplus stores. There are exceptions, a few decent tackle brand hoodies, (not all are good) and an ESP fleece. Craghoppers use natural repellant. I had to look as your comment got me interested as I'm wary of things like DEET. https://www.craghoppers.com/nosilife/https://www.craghoppers.com/technologies/nosilife/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=10157901071&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7bWx3dGdjQMV66JQBh3CYg6dEAAYASABEgIrl_D_BwE

There is a fair bit of 'insect proof' clothing about already. It is standard for British Army combat trousers and jackets, but there are other sellers including Craghoppers. The standard permethrin impregnated clothing lasts for 70 washes, but you can do your own which lasts about 6 washes.

I'm positive we often overthink what we do, although I really try not to, preferring to spend time watching the fish if possible. At Taverham Mills I used to spend a lot of time up trees watching the fish over baited areas. There were times when the carp definitely avoided pop-ups, and I am positive after going out to my baited areas that the fish have twigged my pop-up, yet a switch to a lower sitting or even bottom or snowman bait later catches on the same spot. It's on hard bottoms, gravel and sand I really don't like using pop-ups, that's where I have seen fish avoiding them like the plague when there is plenty of bait out there.

In Tim Paisley's More From The Bivvy is a short piece on the 360 rig and his preferred pattern. I have a feeling Dave Lane was using JRC Connect hooks when he passed it on to him. I don't like the curved hook with it, as I have the mini swivel eye on the lakebed. The Incizor is a big hook with a fairly wide gape, and is heavy. The hook is equal and balances the the pop-up, so no additional putty needed. I do know it didn't work so well with a Solar 101! I wonder if my version didn't work because it is presenting the bait above the fish feeding on the lakebed. I know it's only a tiny difference in height above the lakebed, but would be above the background maize I caught over.

Now the leaves are grown the tree at the right does look more like Scotty dog. Just to the right out of pic, there are a couple more trees that to my mind and imagination look like cartoon characters, a squirrel, a pig and a 1940's cartoon aborigine.

The bait is on a sliding ring so can slide up and down the shank. It is stopped by a stop opposite the barb so the hook sits up as the pop-up lifts it upright. Don't forget it is sat on my hand, not in the water. The Nutty Bait natural colour pop-up is very buoyant, although I can't use a natural colour Monster Crab pop-up as it is too buoyant. As it 'stands' it sits perfectly. I just pulled the hookbait off the floss at the end of the session, so it makes it look funny with the floss still on. I'm like you, never had any mouth damage, and I think bans occurred because anglers didn't make sure the carp was in the bottom of the net before lifting. (Having seen some ITV4 Korda sponsored shows where the net is lifted by the handle when the carp is only just in the net, anglers copy)... Our rules are self enforced, and the only rules are no tiger nuts, peanuts or fake baits. Almost every fish goes up on the syndicate Facebook page, exception being a couple of anglers who don't do social media. I've tried the Spinner and Ronnie rig, and just have not had the same positive hook-ups as the 360 rig. I don't think that it is fish/rig related as unless every stock fish is super wary already, (they are already putting on a lot of weight on naturals), but the lakebed itself.

I must admit to going back to the 360 rig this week on 1 rod, the middle one, and that was the rod that went off with a fish. It may have been how I was fishing, over maize and the lead and rig in a bag with a few whole boilies and pellets. I do like the Multi-rig and my bog standard pop-up rig with the olivette as the counter or balance weight, and catch fish on them, but at the moment I am fishing mostly pop-ups. Notes with the 360 rig, make sure before you lift the net up that the fish is right at the bottom of the net. I have a micro mesh base in my landing net, so the eye doesn't catch but in a larger mesh the eye of the hook may need covering. My version in the picture is with a size 4 Gardner Incizor, a small sinker on the braid hooklink. The dental floss is where I had attached a 15mm Nutty Bait pop-up. I also use a run ring for the lead, which was a 2½oz dumpy, although the wind meant I had to fish a tight line. I got a couple of bleeps and a couple of minutes later it just went off. The fish was hooked just to the left of centre in the bottom lip.

One of last years stocking, I think went in at 11.12, now 19lb.

Someone on the VE day flyover managed to get this picture, proper aerial view:

Pain au Chocolat, chocolate croissants or chocolate brioche dunked in hot coffee, proper French breakfast. An absolutely wonderful fishing snack!

I keep looking at day session shelters after my TFG brolly with storm sides broke at the wire on a very windy day session. It didn't go inside out, it actually got blown 'shut' with the wind coming onto it. I might be able to repair the TFG, but I have a feeling that a spoke did poke a hole in it.

I remember Rod Hutchinson giving a taped interview on I think his Woldview fishery. He said that the smaller carp go for it first, and the big girl would not be among them and actually avoided the warmer water until she was ready which was mid to late June. I've seen on our lake it is the younger stock fish that start the spawning motions long before the original fish, and don't necessarily use the same 'year in-year out' spots of the original fish. This year so far the dam wall was the spot, last year it was halfway along by the rushes, yet the original fish use the shallows by the island. Going back to Hutchy, he caught the big girl in the last chapter of The Carp Strikes Back (reprint) in August from memory and she was shedding spawn in the landing net, so what should have been his first 40 was 39 something. I used to think that it was temperature only, but the number of times I have seen carp start to spawn around a specific date (late May), even if it is cold, and then go again once it is warmer is pretty regular, so I am sure daylight hours has something to do with it. Even pike will go at a specific daylight hours if the water temperature is low and go again when it reaches optimum. I was on my syndicate this year watching them go first week of March, then mid April they were in a mates swim winding him up bumping lines and spawning. Totally, predators before the silvers, and no fish spawn or small silver fish are safe when the predators are eating them. Big pike bursting into a pack of roach or perch to grab a fish, or even grabbing a mouthful of fry. I do and don't on the closed season. I used to hate the Easter holidays as I couldn't fish, but it gave everything time to recover, birds to nest, banks to regrow and fish to spawn, yet proper spring fishing after the cold and wet of winter...

I think media driven is the right description, where even in the early days of printed media, magazines you could see anglers making the decision to fish full time in return for sponsorship or employment. I do think that social media has to some extent stopped it a bit as while Facebook and TikTok, YouTube and whatever are around it does not seem to be getting to every angler anymore like the printed word, it is too dissipated, too broken up. I mean almost every angler bought one or more magazines, yet I am positive that not every angler can be bothered following every YouTube or TikTok of all of those anglers putting stuff up. For myself I am less interested in social media than I ever was in the printed word. I do do Facebook, but more for anti-establishment and comedic posts than anything else, although I do put fishing ones up occasionally, but who would want to follow me?

I would recommend Lemons Hill North car park, cross the bridge and walk towards The Wonder. What was 'grassy bank' has 5 or 6 swims, and then the next swim is around half a mile along the reservoir. Walk back and go along the bank towards White Horse Lane, the top footpath is away from the swims, so take the lower footpath at the bramble bush. It comes back up to the top footpath and then splits again before the swims are right next to the path. There are a few swims on the other side around 200metres from the smaller Lemons Hill car park. Oh, don't forget that AW in their wisdom have put blooming meters in the car park, which is why I frequently park at the bottom of White Horse Lane adjacent to the houses and do that route in reverse, making sure to look around the area at Lemons Hill car park. Anglers do get free parking included in their ticket, but I would be darned if I would pay to walk around the reservoir. Don't park on the bridge, cars do get tickets for that.

Very interesting topic. Is it just media driven, or is it 'carp only'? I grew up fishing, with a close season on rivers and lakes. Summer was tench and bream, and winter was roach on the river and pike. I was a mix between a match and big fish angler. Carp were a bonus on the second rod, although in the late 1980's I did start fishing pretty much for them almost exclusively. I was lucky in that I did actually get my name in the Anglers Mail with 5lb tench and 5lb chub when I was 14, and by the time I was 17 had landed 2 9lb tench, bream to 8lb, a couple of 2lb roach and a 20lb pike. I kind of stayed on the edge of the fishing industry and media, rolling bait for a company, and in my early 20's actually running a water for a couple of years. I was also appearing in CarpTalk a bit, on my own catches and submissions and also with Ian Jones who was writing Cambs Uncovered, publicising catches and waters in the area. I guess carp.com is or was the edge of media, as certain subjects have made it into magazines or online media, either directly or as Carpology has done with a 'sneaky' pinch. I've actually moved away from carp only, probably since about 2014, chasing big roach on a reservoir, more 20lb pike, and the tench again to 12lb. The media driven did get to wind me up...

Since the locking of the car parks that sort of trouble has stopped. The local kids could be a pain down at Lemons Hill big car park, sitting on the nitrous canisters. I was getting out of the car, putting gear into the swim (which about 2 weeks ago was under water), although there is another quite sloped swim in the car park cut since. I also used to park down the lane by the White Horse and go 2 swims to the left, about 200 metres. The first swim was a snag pit, the remains of the old road from Tattingstone to Stutton, I've put up a pic so you can see. You now have another car park, entrance by the layby and houses on Lemons Hill, so that keeps walks short. The longest walk I had was The Wonder Car park and going left to the end of the bay on the far side. Birchwood can be a pain, but although I fished it a few times, never caught carp in the area. I never found it busy on any day of the week, although there might be a few people fishing, you never felt like they were close. The only thing I would say is try to reduce background on any pics you put up, or don't let everyone know you are catching. There were a few problems with lure anglers casting over lines (Eastern European) which put me off, and got me in trouble when I spoke out about it.