salokcinnodrog

Welcome to Carp.com Say 'Hi' to Geoff for me. Got a mate who has a lodge over at Waveney himself. There are some decent fish in the lakes still, carp and Pike.

I just had to go wading to retrieve this after it caught up my Spomb. It was snagged up to a bundle of weed. Leadcore with a Korda heli-safe at the end, a mono or fluoro Ronnie rig caught up a kink. I'll bin it and keep the lead. We have lost 'thinking' anglers. How many times have I ranted at people using leadcore in weed. Any time the weed, even though it will easily pull free like below, leadcore is a NO NO. Even in that weed, I am still likely to have to go out in chest waders or a boat if a fish gets into it. Leadcore just snags up and makes the whole lot immovable.

I just made a pot of my 10mm Garlic Spice pop-ups with Seafood Extract, and some Catfish sized pop-ups to lift pike deadbaits as I'm trying to avoid using foam or plastic poppers. 1 egg, BAF Fluoro pop-up mix, RH Megaspice, Seafood Extract and an hour to roll that lot. They are in the pot with another 3ml of Seafood Extract; I'll let them dry out some more when it's soaked in as I want rock hard hookbaits. The pike poppers I will let dry out normally.

I'll go back to the original post again, hopefully with some more valid input from my last 2 sessions. The first of the 2 saw a very good result. I have a video of carp feeding on the margins, sadly too big to put up on here. I found the carp feeding, definite so set up on them. Rig was a basic short Multi-rig with a whittled down pop-up, to sink but slightly lighter than the hook, essentially critically balanced to the 'n'th' degree, and a proper running lead, slack line. The whole lot was put in a PVA bag, rig, lead, bait, a handful of pellets and chops. It worked and produced a decent, hard earned carp. The second trip was different, in that the conditions made fishing a slack line rather more difficult. A wind and tow pulling silkweed down the lake through my lines meant I had to tighten up, although my rod tips were well under water. When fishing at such short range tight lines can make the carp wary of feeding on the spot. I have seen fish spook or eject baits on semi-fixed leads, which is why I have a preference for running leads and slack lines.

Casting to infinity and beyond is about the only time I will go PVA free. I may use a single bait stringer, but when I am going for maximum distance I rely on knowing my rigs will be tangle free, and I can do that with uncoated braid, or any other hooklink material. I stopped using foam nuggets after watching them in the lake water, and dissolve times in a bowl of water. Putting the hook through the foam, piercing it, when the actual dissolve time can be over 12 hours is fishing a foam pop-up. 'Lick and stick' a squashed nugget around the hook could effectively blank the hookpoint stopping hook penetration. You have to watch to check the foam nugget surfaces!

I use all at various times. Stringers for just boilies when I want a varied presentation; I can push boilies close together, touching, to slow down dissolve time and have 2 baits (or more) away from the hookbait, looking like a hookbait. I do use mesh for just boilies, but I can also add chops, pellets, dry or dampened Vitalin etc. I can tie it off at both ends, one end to the hook, and the other to the line above the lead, or just attach to the hook. I prefer bags around weed, when I'm not 100% sure that it will be right on the lakebed. A solid bag will, unless mega thick weed, get to the bottom and 'push' the weed down giving a presentation. This is where a small pop-up in a bag works.

Oh Mate, I went fishing with Levi down to the local park lake, didn't even think about any scales. He hooked and landed a massive perch, which I gave him an estimate of 2lbs. When I look back at the pics, I reckon I have done him out of a lot of ounces. Well over 2lbs, the fish of a lifetime. I caught a fish out of Bromeswell that made double figures, I was chuffed to bits, yet a week later I had a 10lb carp out of Nazeing and was upset or annoyed. 10lb from Bromeswell is a big fish, yet from Nazeing must have been the smallest in the lake. I too have a couple of weights to fill in in my list, never had a 27, 29 or 31, although the other weights up to my largest fish are in, and of course I'm fishing a lake that can provide a personal best largest fish.

Worked very well for me on Ardleigh reservoir, actually moulding it around the lead like the Method as well, meant I could have the hookbait right in the middle of the feed.

Avid and Jag both do a Net-loc or Lock down Landing net holder as each one calls them. I don't weigh every fish, pike I frequently estimate, unless it is a decent fish over doubles, and I have probably returned a few of them unweighed, even chub, unless I reckon it's 4lb or more straight back, roach I take a pound and a half. Each species has its 'special point', be that 8lb, 10lb etc. The only species that I currently do weigh every fish, ironically, is carp as we are trying to gauge growth rates of every fish in the syndicate lake. On other waters I return most unweighed.

I don't think that it is Mate. I think that used in the right situations, original ideas are brilliant, but we take that original idea, copy it and use it absolutely everywhere, but in many cases where that set-up is not suitable. I'm not extolling it's use, but Terry Hearn and leadcore on Yateley, for a particular purpose, now used in every situation without thought. You can go back further, the Bent Hook rig, invented specifically for very big spooky Longfield fish I think, went everywhere and caused damage and mayhem. The thinking anglers are few and far between. There are very few articles in Carpology or on Carpfeed that are original, no matter whether about a water, a fish or anything. It is as if almost every article could be written by the same person. This non-thinking is a product of today's world, not just angling, but society wide. Let's for example say I fish a 45 acre lake, stock level of 50lb of carp per acre. To catch in that I really have to think. Do I become creative or do I just copy 'bait and wait'? Bait and wait doesn't work, what next? Many anglers fish the same old waters, you could be on the same water in Essex as in Somerset, only the scenery is different. That's club or day ticket, overstocked with carp...

Welcome to the carp.com community

There was a very well known big fish water which had fish to over 40lb.

I'm sure we are forgetting something, like a pop-up is a pop-up whether it is on a D rig or a Ronnie rig, a 360, Multi rig or even the dreaded Chod rig, and the height we fish it off the lakebed. A Ronnie or 360 rig is going to present that pop-up very low and close to the lakebed, a Multi rig may be higher up and a D rig can be anywhere in between. What and how you feed may be totally different for each one.

Welcome to carp.com I reckon Interax covers it, although I did notice you will have to wait until the new year when I checked their website.

I thought I'd bring this up again as I'm using solid bags again myself. I'm still using soft braid, Kryston Merlin and that looks like a VMC hook The whole lot is going in the bag, multi-rig, hooklink and running lead. The hook is pushed through the PVA in one corner, the lead into the opposite corner and then the bag is filled with a mix of pellets, chopped boilies and dry Vitalin, and licked and sticked.

Welcome to Carp.com. I've moved this into waters and venues section

Some softer ones need to be tied on, and some do work best haired and lighter tagged. I have tried bait screws and I must admit that I am not convinced... At least with either a swivel or rig ring you can be pretty sure it won't come off. It's the homemade pop-ups, no matter whose pop-up mix that you use that seem softer.

Be aware that that can change the buoyancy. I glugged some pop-ups for 6months, but they were all bottom baits when I used them. Even wooden balls will take on so much glug that they become bottom baits. In fact I used to do this on purpose to beat crayfish.

Welcome to Carp.com. Have fun finding your way around. Don't be in a hurry to get bigger fish, learn from every one, and remember that 23lb is a big fish.

I prefer Vitalin as the background feed if small fish are about as them feeding will attract Carp, however flaked maize is also a good background feed. I think the additional bits in Vitalin will give it more attraction than plain maize, whole or flaked, and being able to fish it as groundbait, method gets the fish digging into it.

You may find that on some lakes if the bars are flat, is that fish will feed on bait on top of them. They may be wary (hence the 'need' to change rigs), but because so much bait goes on top they will eat it. The same lake may also have fish that are caught from the bottom of the bars, as natural food, and short or long fall baits that don't land on the flat will fall into the troughs. Some more food for thought though: How many people think that they are fishing on top, but are actually dropping short with the swing of the lead? Reeling in 'excess' line should tell you if you are hitting the clip and tightening up, by 1 or 2 reel handle turns as opposed to 10...

I don't have one brand of tackle I stick to, with the exception of hooks, which are nearly always Gardner Muggas or Solar 101's on my rigs. Various manufacturers change specifications on their end tackle, so for a while Fox Buffer beads or Run Rings may be the best, then the next batch is different, so I go elsewhere, or a companies bits may suddenly get hold of, so again I go elsewhere. Hooklink materials I bought up so much Kryston when Dave Chilton sold the company so I didn't have to change immediately. I'm still using Merlin, Mantis, Snakeskin and Snakebite. To be honest, there are few ESP or Gardner items that are bad, I can't recall any I've used and disliked, although I rarely use ESP for personal reasons. The honest answer is that there is no one brand that produces everything that is required or is the best, so it's best not to get into the 'Korda only' type mindset.

Rod Hutchinson in The Carp Strikes Back reckoned the carp would use the top of the gravel bar during the day, hanging around and moving along, then would feed at the base of the bar. I've had fish from the top of gravel bars, Brackens Pool especially, where the bars could be 15ft above the lakebed, but on other lakes as well. I've also done well on either side at the base of the bars. Pretty much the only way is to fish both and see which the fish prefer.

I am lucky in that many swims I can unload behind my swim before moving the car to the car park. I get behind the swim, switch the engine off, open the doors and unload. I shut the doors as quietly as possible with the exception of the rear and drivers door which stay open until I take the car to the car park, as I have to take Sky with me, and I can slam the doors shut properly at the car park. However don't forget to shut them properly as the boot inside light left on for a few days can flatten the battery... On our syndicate it is rare for anglers to be close to each other, unless specifically having a social session.

The other thing is cork varies in how much it absorbs, with cork balls you can feel the difference by touch or sight, whereas with cork dust you can't know. It also then dries out, so may actually cause baits to split and crack. I know we all like a gadget, but I still roll my pop-ups by hand or on the rolling table. I can get the paste amount right for the pop-up size i like, either a 16mm or a tiny 10mm (which i hate rolling). Despite making my own pop-ups for alternative hookbaits, I do buy pop-ups myself. I use Rod Hutchinson Monster Crab, KMG and Infusion as my main baits, so I have pop-ups in the MC and KMG. The KMG I have in both main bait colour and as a high visibility pink.