salokcinnodrog

That's not a silly point:

A fixed lead is a lead that can't come off the line if there is a breakage. To me a bolt rig, is still the Kevin Maddocks description in Carp Fever, a free running lead, held in place by the tight line. An inline lead should be able to slide off the hooklink swivel, so that is not fixed, you then have run rings, that should slide up and over the broken line, a lead clip should release the lead. I must confess, I don't like lead clips at all, that is me, personal opinion. As for helicopter set-ups, the hooklink comes free, as long as the lead has not been released.

There were decent numbers of carp in many rivers around the country. I know in Norfolk, Suffolk and even over to Cambridgeshire areas of The Wensum, Yare, Gipping, Waveney, Great Ouse that carp were a specific target, and you could expect to catch. A few causes of carp numbers going down, poaching to eat by Eastern Europeans, fish theft for other waters, predation by otters, seals even and pollution must have had an impact. I have walked the Gipping for years, and areas where I guaranteed to see carp, I'm not, and sometimes not even chub. If you are catching, keep it to yourself, or be very careful with backgrounds and areas. And enjoy

That's the thing, a wrap is only relative to the individual angler, it is not universal. Metres (or yards) are pretty much universal, understood worldwide. That's what I have been saying. Even if you do go back to imperial, a yard can be converted to metres. A 'wrap' of 10feet is different to a wrap of 12feet, and is different to a 4metre wrap. My point on slang, a Dutchman, a German who speaks English is not going to understand slang, they do not all understand the concept of using the 'haven't, won't, don't for have not, will not or do not, so slang is definitely 'verboten'. A wrap can be confused even further, so becomes even more meaningless: I use a particular spot on the bank to cast, because I measured/marked the spot I'm fishing weeks or months ago. Purely as an example, If I said I'm fishing at 12 wraps at what point does the angler I'm talking to use? Does he use the edge of the water? Or is it from where I cast? 15months ago, I learnt some of the feeding holes, and I measured from the high water mark. If I gave that spot to another angler in wraps, he could miss it by miles. Give it to him in metres, he can get it. I'm actually casting from the same spot I used last year, yet now I'm 2rod lengths up the bank, so that's at least 2 wraps out to his casting. He might not know how the water level has changed. On a gravel bar that means a miss is as good as a mile. Using a Sky pic as an example, that's 10metres of difference between high and low water. Wraps from high water are totally irrelevant. Even on a 'normal' lake, you can see the level difference. Where Sky is keeping cool in the soft rush, I was standing netting fish April 2022! Give an angler a distance, chances are he'll 'measure' it from the water level. You would automatically say "it is 40metres out".

And the cord length of those that come with a cord, because not all do? After digging through various adverts Some are 4m, some 12feet, some 10feet, so a wrap is not a guaranteed distance. In other words, to be sure you still have to convert to your preferred genuine measurement. It may be slang, but to be honest I rarely use slang in my everyday speech anyway, expletives maybe, usually aimed at swans and tufties. @carpepecheur makes the point, almost every country uses metres as base unit of measurement, USA being an exception, but even then for scientific or aeronautical after an imperial measurement being used on a space shuttle. Mind you, an American gallon is different to a British gallon, and an American pint is different to an English pint.

@framey, I can understand the confusion, because arithmetic is a dying subject, nearly as dead as Latin... I think that possibly most sticks don't come with a cord, so the angler (a) uses his normal rod to set them around 3.66m, 12feet apart, as originally done in the Carp Championship. No matter what length fishing rod used, the number of wraps is the same. Easy figures, 10 'wraps' times 3.66m equals 36.6m distance However, we have another angler who has 10feet rods, puts his distance sticks at 3m or 10feet apart, so the number of wraps he uses is different. 10 wraps times 3.04m equals 30.4m. And this is the whole point of the thread, a wrap is NOT a distance measurement, which to many it has become. It is why I and @Golden Paws use real measurement distances, whether we prefer imperial or metric. And after that explanation and point ban him...

I was brought up with metric at primary school, carried on at high school and on signing up cleaned and fired 7.62mm rifles... The confusion arises because we are supposed to be metric, but other than the Falklands, the only battle Margaret Thatcher won was against the European Common Market in keeping Roman Imperial measurements for UK sales, but now the metric has to be the first unit shown. You don't run a 110yard race, nor a 440yard, it's 100 or 400metres. I actually think that the 1000 yards being a mile was from Roman soldiers, 1pace (left and right). The foot came from a king, the size of his, 3 equalling a yard. As for a metre, it's a particular percentage of the total distance totally round the earth from North Pole to North Pole, and being decimal, a 1000millimetres (mm) or 100centimetres (cm) equals a metre. When I use sticks, I simply use a rod length, and I enjoy working out the times round the sticks x 3.66 (actual 3.658) to come up with the actual proper distance. With that though you are talking to the person who enjoys playing with mathematical calculations for fun.

Doorman, and that is exactly why I don't go to less than a number 3, because I used to work the doors earning extra money Friday and Saturday nights when I went back to college as a mature student, Thuggish was not a good look! Cripes, thinking back while I was at college, part time in the tackle shop Thursday and Friday afternoons and all day Saturday, running a social club bar Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings, and then onto the doorwork. In all that I was getting on with my partner, and playing rugby for college and American football for Ipswich Cardinals. Sorry, totally off track, newest purchase was another 6 gas canisters at bargain price, more PVA bags from Dave Goring at Alacarp.co.uk, and some more RH KMG, Infusion and Monster Crab boilies, and not forgetting the naughty Naturalz...

Weird, once I went back to Firefox I was able to get back on, although on Firefox I do know how to get round snertificatez... I dislike Google Chrome myself, and hate adverts, and pop-ups.

You can get Firefox to go on Samsung devices😉 I spent ages going through the CP trying to sort the blooming certificate, had to drop it onto RichardF when my mate who designs webpages went back into hospital.

I know many people have had major problems accessing the site recently, Android and Google Chrome refused to go to the forum after the ssl certificate apparently expired. Those with other browsers, Mozilla Firefox, Duckduckgo were able to continue using it.

As much as the grade 1 would be easier, I look like a thug

Just before Covid lockdowns in 2020, my barber retired from his shop. I had used him for hair cuts for over 25years, and with lockdowns I wasn't comfortable finding a new Barnet trimmer, so bought myself a set of trimmers. I can do my own grade 3 all over. Once it's shorter not so much grey shows up, but when it's long...

I rarely used anything other than straight from the bag boilies on the hair.

The only Frank-N-Furter that springs to mind is The Rocky Horror Picture Show...

Mixed measurements 😂 I use feet for rod lengths and depths, pounds and ounces for fish weights, metres for distances, my weight in kilograms, and when I played American football, pounds, oh and for my passport 1.81m, yet 5ft 11in. All over the place, like my spodding..

Mate, I'm not arguing distance sticks believe me, they really do have a use, whether it's a pair of storm poles, or proper distance sticks, although I can't convince myself that I need to buy specific distance sticks, using my bivvy storm poles. It's the distance element of a 'wrap' that makes me laugh. I've pinpointed a few feeding spots on the lake, and one I found I couldn't reach from the bank when the water is up, I need to be on the margin due to a tree and 12ft rods, or cast from the next swim either side. At the moment that spot is 40metres out, yet in a few weeks, from the margin might be 38. My baited area I've been priming is 32m out from the casting point, which is 9wraps just for the record, yet in terms of from the waters edge is only 28m, or 8wraps.

I had a chuckle to myself this week as someone on the lake was referring to distances in wraps, and the gradually lowering water level due to evaporation has kind of put it out of kilter. On the swims I fish, I have a 'casting spot' for the features, all memorised, but at the high water level. This week in all innocence, someone asked how many wraps I was fishing, to which the answer would be 9, but from the top of the bank, not the 7 if I was casting from the current water level. I always cast from the top spot! I was kind enough to mention that the spot I have baited up to was around 36metres, simply because I hate the wrap reference, it means nothing. Put your sticks out, and wrap, yes OK, but I frequently walk my lines out, so I'm not going to get wraps, to me it is a proper distance of metres or yards if you haven't gotten metric yet

If you look at the pic, the long red bits, are actually bloodworm. They came to the surface as I dropped in a dash of cooking oil. I'm continually baiting the same spot where I had the big common from last week. It was baited every day while I was here, and got loaded up again when I arrived today. The Spomb mix for today was plenty of hemp, birdfood, some red maggots, boilies and mollassed rabbit mix, along with the chilli 🌶 flakes to try to deter the swans. Tomorrow's Rabbit mix is already soaking in the bucket with water, chilli flakes and sunflower oil.

A 15kg bag of Mollassed Rabbit mix for groundbait. Gladwell's had no Vitalin in stock on Sunday, so I got my back-up. To this I add some ground complete dry dog food (sorry Sky), and pour boiling water over it in the morning before using it in the afternoon.

Back onto this, and I'm still convinced that at times the carp won't take bigger baits, unless it is over loads of bits. I've been spending (far too much) time on the lake, and sometimes as per my picture earlier in the thread, a flat spot appears. I was talking to another member and he was telling me that he had baited that spot 2 days previously. My baiting loads of bits has started to produce on day two or three of my Tuesday to Saturday sessions. The difference is that I'm putting bait in every night, so when I arrive mid morning its cast out, wait until evening, put in a bucket of hemp and birdfood, Vitalin and boilies. Every day I reel in, walk Sky, recast, wait until evening and Spomb another bucket of bait on the spot, although that bucket is Vitalin, bloodworm, snails and marginal silt. It's produced a few fish, although the syndicate lake is hard work, because it has so much natural food. Stocked carp are growing bigger on natural food, not on bait. In fact some haven't been caught since being stocked! As @kevtaylor says, carp can demolish loads of bits very quickly. Im convinced that 3kilos of crushed bits, flaked maize etc are munched within an hour when 3 or 4 fish are present. I'm lucky in that there are few other anglers present, I'm frequently the only angler on the lake for my whole trip. Most of my fish have come over that baiting, although there are a couple that didn't, one of which took a bright pink pop-up and the other an Infusion Naturalz wafter. Both of them, although caught from different swims came from the same area.

Exactly. Long time ago, back in 2000 I had just finished my degree as a mature student, with Liz and she had a baby who was 6months old, but born 12weeks early and I was working pretty much non-stop. I'd been working most evenings doing hospitality work, sorting the Ipswich Regent Theatre Town Hall and Corn Exchange bars, cellars and stock levels and had a late Thursday night. Instead of fishing as planned Thursday I had to go Friday morning on the river for a 4hour session. That 4hour session produced, what is still one of my favourite captures, a river 28lb mirror carp! I also get occasional chub fishing trips, a few hours here and there, usually with floating baits. The other time I could frequently wangle when Levi was about 4 or 5 years old was after Sunday dinner. I'd cook dinner, we'd eat and Liz would wash-up and I'd take Levi out for a couple of hours on the pole and float to either Akenham or Thwaite.

Mate, I had that for so many years, quite frequently too much work or family or both. In the end I started putting myself first, although I never expected fishing to be all I can do. I know it looks like I fish all the time, but it took a lot of juggling to make it so. I used to work 6 or 7 days a week, so fishing had to be an evening trip or an overnight if I was lucky. Not having my family or partner is not always happy though, even if I do go fishing. I would much rather have grown old disgracefully with Liz...

Last night Spomb mix was the silt with bloodworm and snails, a pint of maggots, a bit of molehill soil, Vitalin and boilies crushed and whole. Reckon that works!

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