salokcinnodrog

Don't forget you can reuse corkballs. Once the bait has come off, save and dry.

Quite possibly! Cork dust or granules takes in a bit of liquid, and does mess up the rolling, making consistency difficult to achieve. Your description also sounded a bit wet to roll, but I could be wrong. You almost want the mix too dry to roll! You are probably or possibly better going to corkball or a dedicated pop-up mix.

Different things to different people. To me a 'social' in inverted commas, is a group of anglers fishing together on a water, with the barbecue, maybe a couple of drinks and a meeting time to discuss the life, universe and everything. Carp.com years ago had some good socials, Mick1396, Richardf, Chris Payne, Tryzard, Guddler, @welder , @dougmoon and @kevtaylor amongst others fishing some nice lakes where we had a meeting of minds, chat, as well as the chance of a fish or two. A chance to meet other members of the forum, some of which I am lucky enough to call friends as well. I'm not into the glorified continual drinking, I don't drink much alcohol anymore; I can't handle it, I don't like the hangovers, and water and alcohol don't mix... Saying that a nice cider, one maybe two cans or 500ml bottle goes down nicely. My usual session fishing is rarely social, although if Bruce Lait is about we socialise as close mates anyway, but we still aim to fish to catch. On my syndicate we share time, coffee, but it's not really social, it's a walk around looking for fish, or being near other members. Some people do use fishing as a social, glorified alcohol time, just not my thing very often. I'm usually happier in my own space. Strangely I get on well with most people, but often prefer to keep to myself. I think Tim @newmarket, you know me well enough to understand why.

Welcome to carp.com. Firstly what you are doing is working, so don't complicate things, just stick with it. You are catching good fish up to a good size. What you may find is that venues with bigger fish are not compatible with days only, so with family you might have to stick with what you have. However, if the club has lakes with bigger fish take your working methods over there and try them. In terms of fishing tackle you could be spending silly money on gear you don't need, buzzers, new rods, new reels. What you do need is decent sized landing net, unhooking mat etc. You will get so many answers on what is decent gear, Shimano, Daiwa, Wychwood, Sonik, Nash, Fox, Delkim, the list is endless. The best bet is to go into a tackle shop near you, preferably one who knows your venues, and see what he recommends.

If you are happy with it, and it doesn't tangle then stick with it.

My frying pan, plate and spatula all go in the interior pocket at the back of my rucksack, the stove, gas canister and saucepan go in the main body. My ruckbag carries my coffee, sugar, food and electrical bits; tablet, chargers/powerpack, along with a couple of books. Suffered tonight with food, for the first time in years it was bacon, sausages and fried eggs, followed by a 5 pack of Jaffa cake bars.

My syndicate is the same, only 5 regularly fishing. Some get the ticket to hold onto for the future. I think your next 2 paragraphs are the crux of the matter: The smaller fish that you have been catching may well be bait and pellet orientated, whereas the larger fish could well be natural food feeders. The stock fish in our syndicate seem to be bait feeders for a year or two before switching onto naturals. The older originals rarely get caught over bait. It takes an absolute mountain to get the originals feeding on bait, more than I can afford! As the stockies move onto naturals they get harder to catch. I've been wading, through the margins, the silt and weed; within 20minutes you can collect a carrier bag full of snails, I've waded through massive silt holes dug by carp, absolutely full of bloodworm as well as bringing them in on the hook and lead. Mussels from tiny shells to as big as a side plate. Plenty of fish food, difficult to compete with.

I'm fishing quite a bit at the moment; straight from work then load the gear into the car for a 2 night trip. I'm still using the particles, plenty of hemp and birdfood. My usual method at the moment is to put into soak 48 hours minimum before I go, then on the day boil before I go to work. Most of the bucket goes in as I arrive, even in the dark. I'm able to wade out to spread it on my spots, but even if I had to spod or Spomb it I know I could do so accurately.

I would not trust a Coleman petrol stove at all. Too many problems from a Peak1 made me return to gas. It's cheaper to replace a whole worn out gas stove than continually replace dying parts on a Coleman. The rings wear, the burner wears out, the pump needs replacing, washer replacement, all were around £20. You can get a new gas stove for that... Get a Bulin T4😉

I have used tapered leaders for sea fishing, and the leader lasts multiple sessions. I would suggest checking it every time you reel in, habit for me, but mussels, gravel etc, can take chunks out of your line.

Different waters Different results. For some reason some of the waters I've fished have still been night time waters, even in the depths of winter. Yet others the takes do switch to coming during the day, or at any time. Earith Virgina Water was very much a night water, all of my winter fish coming at night between 8pm and 8am. We had some cold wet nights when I was fishing there, and I was still doing 2night sessions. Nazeing Brackens produced fish between midday and 9pm, yet the lagoons could be anytime. Those big Southwesterlies can be very good to fish in, a proper system that seems to get the fish moving again, yet a steady period of high pressure, cold, no rain or snow can have the fish switch off. The carp can really hold tight in one area, so takes can come at anytime if you can find them. Near weed, snags, drop-offs and as @yonny mentioned, not always the deepest water. It's weird seeing 20carp huddled together in the rushes in water only 1metre deep. Again on Earith I had a lot of my fish in winter from a bloodworm bed in silt next to the base of islands. Catching plenty of upper doubles saw me getting noticed, and when another angler started fishing the spot, I moved areas, and found a few bigger fish from a snag at the other end of the island. Even in winter fish will show, at any time, although I've noticed it more from lunchtime until just after dark. Hearing big fish jump in the dark at 6pm, looking for the origin of the ripples... It is that showing that saw me catch some very good fish from the Nazeing Central lagoon, just after a thaw. So much water coming in the inlet that a 3oz lead wouldn't hold bottom near it. I walked around, and 'thought' I saw a roll or show, so set up on it. Over the next 4 days I had 26, 26, 20 and 16lb fish, and all on one rod. The middle rod fished metres away produced nothing, same bait, same rig, but the fish were tight to the end of the gravel bar on Bower bank Long Island swim.

I regularly fish through the winter, days and nights so here is my take on it. My bait doesn't change, the same bait summer and winter, although 1 rod tends to have a hi-vis high attract pop-up on it. No added bits and pieces, and fished over Vitalin and crushed pellets in a bag or mesh. Baiting up is done when I leave. I don't use particles much in winter except sweetcorn, which will get used sometimes if it feels right on the hook as well. One rod on a bit of bait, one just off and a rover, then when you find the fish with the rover, another one in the same area. A cast 3metres away from the fish may be too much for them to move onto it. My rigs are the same, i dont even drop the line breaking strain. Clothing for me is from Hoggs of Fife, a decent jacket and overtrousers over my combat trousers, and Norgi top. While bib and brace is good, getting it out for a pee is awkward... Boots, I have both combat boots and cold weather boots, shop around because TFG boots are obviously no longer available. Lace ups keep feet warmer than welly type slip ons. Walk to your swim in combats, change your socks and boots when you get there to prevent sweaty damp feet getting cold. A stove bottle sleeve is not brilliant, although if the canister is warm it slows down it cooling down. Use a decent canister, iso-butane, butane propane mix. ( ) Coffee, soup and warm meals!

Welcome

The only thing I can suggest is to call various reel repairers who have dealt with Shimano reel servicing in the past. Felindre, Tackle Box in Kent and Bass Online would be my starting 3

Welcome to Carp.com

I'm of the mind that 'too big' reels are better than 'too small' reels on a rod. When I first got my 2.75lb TC Century SP's I had Shimano 8010's on them, and they didn't feel right, but with Aerlex 8000's all was good. The follow on NG's felt good with DL10000's and 7000XTA Beastmaster reels, from a medium to a large reel. I can go back even further to some Daiwa 1350's I had in the 1980's, they were fine as general reels for float and ledger rods, but stick them on a Specimen rod they just felt too small, yet Abu Ultracast Cardinals were fine. You could equally put the Cardinals on the ledger rod and fish comfortably. It is down to how it feels for you

I did 2nights this week, no bivvy again. Straight from work Wednesday night.

@yonny I would love to agree with you, but sometimes you have to remove the idiot factor, if this means roping off the snags or banning the lead clip and having rig checks... Personally I don't like lead clips, but that is me. They jam up with weed, which itself can stop the tail rubber coming off. Despite having to use helicopter setups at times, I don't like them either, much preferring to use run rings or inline leads. @yonny Here's my point exactly, I've just retrieved this from the lake, the lead clip rubber was jammed on by weed. I can only think birdlife has removed the real bait. Around 450mm of tungsten tubing, 4oz Fox lead, Korda hybrid lead clip, curved shank size 4(?) Ronnie/Spinner rig on coated braid. You (generally not personally) can effectively only use leadclips especially with tubing on weed free lakes, otherwise go back to run rings.

Thing is years ago I was a Carp Society member, and previous to that NASA, National Association of Specialist Anglers. Of the 2 I found NASA was better value for money, not for waters, as NASA never ran any, but in terms of information. When CS bought Horseshoe with the scheme there was no way I could afford it, nor travel across the country to fish, except as a holiday, which other waters catered to with day tickets. I could join clubs in the area for less, in fact at one time I paid £20 for a season ticket on Horcott so I could camp over for Fairford Air Show and fish and have a holiday. Ashmead is the same, and it has become an elitist water because of that. You could argue that any syndicate is the same, but £500 syndicate membership (my lake) is cheaper than £500 in day tickets every week over the year. My £500 goes towards fish stocks, an annual weed cutter boat hire and owners etc. Of course not all syndicate prices are the same, some will be higher.

That's not the PAC. And note, I don't think any UK anglers were involved. The water companies can sadly choose who they want to hire the water out to. The announcement is of particular relevance to shallow Fisheries like the Norfolk Broads, many of which are less than 3metres deep, where fish are dying from stress. Deeper Reservoirs may well have colder water.

Yes Mate, I've done it as well. Drove 70miles to Nazeing, saw the fish in the inlet feeding on massive ball of daphnia and all the sailing bank swims with anglers in, walked around the South and Central didn't see another fish and the weed was thick in front of South Pylons and Helipad so just walked back to the car and came home. Done the same at Suffolk Water Park as well. Thick weed in Heaven and Hell with the fish hiding in it, anglers in any swim that the fish could move into so went home again.

I think your first idea of a little oil might be the right one. I hate rolling bait in hot weather, having to keep the ball of paste in the fridge to keep it cool and rolling as quickly as I can. Roll them when as 'wet' as possible. Other than that I'm struggling for ideas.

Ah yes, I should have replied earlier, but was miles away at my Dad's. How big are the holes through the middle? A normal loop knot on the hair is usually tight on my wooden balls. (Oh er!) I often tie on a meshed pop up to the hair loop end, it holds the ball in place. If bigger, a piece of braid pulled through, knot the two ends together tightly leaving extra as a tag end and you can attach it to the hair loop, or even rig ring on the shank.

See if you can pinch mushroom trays from a local pub or restaurant kitchen, give air drying room.

Particle time, quick energy from vegetable fats and carbohydrates. Tuesday to Wednesday looks a good bet I'm still continuing on the river after last week's chub, will wait to decide when to go back on syndicate.