salokcinnodrog

I tried that last weekend, setting up in the shade of a big elm tree, and blanked. Last year I created a bivvy spot right under the willows and again, the fish seemed to avoid the area. On both occasions the fish caught were in the brightest and sunniest spots. I would say that I should have moved, but with Sky I refused as I would much rather she was comfortable as possible, and unless I tell her will lay in the sun all day and overheat.

Brilliant news. Hope you have a good one or two

Water depth and oxygen levels in relation to stress will be an issue in shallow lakes. The mostly deeper lakes on the main continent are not as likely to cause as much stress. Oxygen is not as big an issue in the depths of lakes as it is in shallow waters. Fish can fight themselves almost to death in warm water, and take ages to recover. In theory, yes. Yet every year adults as well as children die in lakes and rivers. A no swimming lake just outside Norwich, a number of deaths related to swimming in hot weather.

I absolutely hate dropping the lead. Despite the theories of reducing the risk of picking up weed, and empty lead clips catches up weed. An zipp or distance inline lead will actually travel through picking up less weed than a lead clip. Again, littering is an issue, just because you can't see it does not mean it is acceptable. I know, stand on the bank of his lake, just throwing leads in. That is exactly what you are doing dropping the lead on every take.

That's me as well, it is easier to change batteries than recharge them on the bank. I already carry 3 powerbanks as low phone signal kills battery life faster. At the worst I can pop to the local shops and buy a set of square batteries to get me through. Rechargeable batteries have a limited life, heat destroys them, cold they don't work so well, and don't charge either. Hot weather can literally cook them off.

A friend of mine travels to Hungary regularly, where if carp are caught below a certain weight in kilograms are allowed to be despatched for food, above it have to be returned. Cheers, I speak some German enough to get around, but that's my limit.

Welcome to Carp.com. Difficult due to language or due to the questions and competence test itself?

I was very interested in Rod Hutchinson's writings on flavours, and his Ultraspice and Megaspice regularly appeared (along with Chocolate Malt) and someone else mentioned Garlic oil as an attractor so I combined the spice flavours with a Garlic and soya bean oil used in bird feeds as it was supposedly an appetite stimulant. It was not for allicin, but simply because they were good attractors in their own right and work well combined. The additional benefits regarding digestion and health were a beneficial 'side effect'.

Rod Hutchinson and Ken Townley have both made the point, coat a stone in a sweet flavour and it will be picked up, it is down to the rig whether you hook it or not. Carp don't have hands, to inspect an item physically they have to take it into their mouth. An item may taste like food, that can possibly be tested before they eat it, but to physically check hardness, they have to suck it in, or pick it up. A hard food item has to be taken to the back of the mouth to be crushed by the pharyngeal teeth, where smaller or softer items are often passed straight through the mouth, no additional crushing; although how a carp can consume a whole swan mussel and pass it through and out, and the flesh in the shell is eaten I don't know. Constant sucking and blowing, intake and ejection whether the food is attached to hook or not. No end of videos on YouTube or whatever channel you watch on showing that, be it boilies, maggots, sweetcorn or other particles. I have mentioned the 'super' high attract pop-ups, there are some attractors or flavours that almost force the take; N-butyric acid was one, Bromelain, (look up pineapple-n-butyric as a pop-up), but there are other attractors that at higher than standard levels will work in attractor baits, or in low levels in food baits. Incidentally, the high attractor level may cause the low level food bait to fail or blow. The attractor becomes a source of danger, and while carp don't think, continued hooking on the same flavour will get them to avoid it, for a period of time or permanently, or to inspect it carefully, at which point we have to look at the rigs again. Other attractors, may be a mix of enzymes or amino acids, could be flavours, chemical or natural, could even be something as simple as sweeteners like sacharrin. Sacharrin did cause cancers in tests on animals, but in the low levels we use, have not been considered a risk in humans. I have mentioned an attractor blend I love, Garlic Spice. Stinks, but catches.

And therein lies much of the problem. Big bait companies have had an advantage; if I buy a kilo of semolina it's around £1.80, if a big bait company buys a tonne of semolina it will work out at a lot less per kilo, around £920 per tonne, so £0.90 per kilo. Do the same with every bait ingredient and my homemade bait costs double the price to produce. Billy one man bait company in his garage or shed, won't be buying fishmeal, semolina, liver powder or maize by the tonne! As a result his prices will be more than a big company. The days of Bill Cottam expanding from his (parents) garage to a large industrial unit are long gone. Bait and boilies specifically is a 'busy' market, and it seems anglers don't necessarily understand it, from the bait itself, to using it, and even the difference in cost of buying it from tackle shops or direct. Nutrabaits, Mainline, Nash Baits, CC Moore and others had a recommendation on food baits, and a recommendation on attractor baits (originally shelf lifes). Feed the food bait, continuously, prebait, and the carp will accept it and take it comfortably. Good results will follow. Attractor baits, use as that, don't fire in loads, maybe a few freebies around the hookbait, use the few to attract the carp to try the hookbait. Then along came the published 'Korda' method, (used earlier but Danny Fairbrass did well writing about it), put in plenty of pellets, and spod mix and get the carp feeding on that. At the same time we had the mega high attract hookbait, the single pop-up that got a take, or not. Fishing moves on and backwards, now we are using high attract baits, maybe with added hydrolysates, liquid glugs over spod mix in the hope that the fish pick it up first. The food bait is 'gone' for various reasons, cost of ingredients rising, becoming harder or impossible to get hold of and even big bait companies changing direction or disappearing. Lots of little bait companies pop-up, disappoint or disappear. They are able to charge silly money for baits because fewer anglers have loyalty to a company anymore.

Never heard of them! Not being funny, but 'getting good press'; advertising now is more dissipated as social media takes over. I used to be very up with knowing bait companies, but when even long time companies are falling by the wayside. I keep making this point, if you have a cake of 30centimetres across, with 5 companies taking a piece, each has a decent slice. Now the same cake with 10 companies taking a piece, the slice is smaller. That is what is happening to the tackle and bait trade.

Mainline straight through to the lead. I did all the experiments on leadcore years ago and the simple answer is, I don't use a leader at all unless fishing at maximum distance, and it's always with run rings and running leads. The leadcore especially wasn't safe, beads stick, rigs don't eject, and helisafe doesn't work as the leader needs the lead to stay on to eject the rig. In fact I don't even like helicopter setups as bite indication is so bad compared to inline or pendant setups.

About £15 a pop, and Korda 3x 25mm were the cheapest for my Solar heads. I had to buy 3 to fit my old Solar indicators after I broke an IPRO head. Perfect world I now want some clear shrink tube to go over them... Custom Reel King or Matrix might be worthwhile.

The new Bulin T4 is in use. I think that I paid £20 for the original when I was fishing on Alton Water, so that makes it at least 5years ago. Not a bad life for it to wear away with plenty of use. The new one despite shopping around did cost £31 though. Despite having the piezo ignition, the carbon builds up on the burner so it eventually stops sparking, or the button sticks, so I always have a lighter.

Steaming baits are not done in the water itself. The boiling water is below the bait, (food) so strictly speaking the term boilies is a misnomer, they are now 'steamies', which has been used by bait companies. You are using the steam to cook the baits rather than the water itself. A pan of water, a grid above it, and a lid keeps the steam circulating around the items being cooked. Because the steam is essentially just cooking the outside of the items, the middle does not get heat damaged (denatured) to the same extent as boiling. It also means flavours and liquids do not get washed out like they do when boiled.

Welcome to Carp.com I don't know if it is any use, but https://spsfishing.co.uk/coarse-section-info/

I know that a few people on Taverham Mills put it on 'upside down' to try to keep the sun from making the bivvy too hot. I never knew if it actually worked or not. I've had heatstroke a couple of times, even just under a plain brolly when fishing a couple of days. I can guarantee it is not fun, the headache and occasionally being physically sick really knocks you out. I've gotten to making sure that I have some shade to put the bivvy up in or able to sit in if at all possible if the forecast is for hot and dry. Not forgetting plenty of water to drink!

17lb. Despite the grimace, it made me smile, and laugh. I'd only just cast the rod in after getting back with Sky after a walk round the lake when it went off, I was sorting out the next rod, mid PVA bag making. Bait was in the water 2minutes, not sure the PVA on the first rod had even dissolved. First fish on the Shrimp!

Chelsea going down would have been my ideal as well. Sunderland in Europe, that quite a thought, and not being funny, Europa League is a 'better' competition than Champions League. The teams for Champions League are almost nailed in at the start of the season, whereas Europa League can be anyone. Mind you I do wish that we could also go back to European Cup Winners Cup as well, but UEFA and FIFA make too much out of CL. Rugby altogether I love, although it has gotten a bit silly on head to head and targeting, especially in the mens game, and that's players who are going in too high and not wrapping up rather than referee being picky. The Red Roses have definitely brought the game to life for everyone. Women's games sold out, and in some big stadiums. Mind you, I do miss Abby Dow, not as spectacular as Ellie Kildunne, but could she motor.

I set the membership to include a non bot verification. Unfortunately I don't necessarily see new members joining if they go in bulk. I've added loads of Eastern European email and IP addresses and suppliers to the ban filter, but Asian and Indian are as bad. The joy of VPN's is a problem as well, and I think that settings currently restrict access from them.

I wonder if it was originally 'no particles'? A change since then and we might have an explanation.

Did you reverse the top skin in bright sunny weather and did it actually keep it cooler?

I had a look, can't see it on there and screenshot the rules to double check:

I never had a Cypry Dome myself, Bruce had one which we shared a couple of times in the winter on the Meadow swims at Taverham. I did get the Rod Hutchinson Apotheosis, the one after his first dome, when I fished at Earith, very comfy, even in winter, although it did end up smelling of damp. I'd pack up in damp cold weather and not get the chance to dry it until the next session. I always wished that I had gotten a Yateley and Horseshoe ticket, but money and travel was always restrictive until around 2000 when I got my Hotel and Catering Manager HND. I've moved this back to UK Carp Fishing as although it is 'venue based' and referring to Horseshoe I think is history and worthy of general conversation.