salokcinnodrog

I agree exactly. The ability to assess, learn and correct without going round in circles or up your own bottom is good angling. Chopping and changing every trip and then catching but not knowing why is luck. I honestly think that too many angler's are given a false perception of what they can achieve; overstocked waters, or even waters jam packed full of big fish at credit card prices. Like @elmoputney I think I earnt my largest fish, I learnt the water, learnt the fish, and caught plenty on the way. My previous largest was lucky. Turn up on a lake, come up with a unique rig and set-up, find a feature, put some bait to it, and first fish, catch a PB. The next 'PB' was fishing through the year, catching most sessions, and realising where the fish were hiding in December. I don't think that just turning up on a Holme Fen, to catch a new largest fish is the way forward. I want to have earnt my next PB. By the way I don't necessarily think my largest fish is a PB, I still class that as a 28lb carp from the river

I don't think that is luck, more like good angling. If it was only the occasional big fish over small ones then I would say luck, but if you are consistently catching big fish then good angling. The more you understand, the harder you work, then the 'luckier' you get.

This is where I think overstocked waters do more harm than good, giving a false impression. There is a difference between catching a few roach and perch to keep the interest to catching carp and starting with a big fish to beat your 'pb'.

I would disagree with part of that, as there are some very good baits available on retail. The big difference is pressured and unpressured waters. Most waters in America are unpressured, carp will eat anything, it is pressure that can get them to switch. The other thing that many anglers don't understand is 'overstocked'. An overstocked water the fish may need to eat anything and everything to survive. Compare that to waters rich in natural food, you might need to increase the amount you feed, or the quality. (particles vs good food boilie). What is good angling vs luck? A mate of mine walked round the lake last week, saw fish in the margin feeding, carefully and quietly put his rods onto them and had 2 stockie doubles that night. Good angling I say. I'm fishing around more often, trying to learn swims, putting hours in, and at the same time learn the movements of the originals. I haven't had the luck YET. As much as I want to catch I'm learning things for later, although I do feel at times I am chasing my tail

The messy bit is in the top section, but I know it is all in there: Leads, leader and hooklink materials, forceps, Greased Lightning, 2 bottles of Klinik, cutlery, toothbrush and toothpaste, along with packets of beads, shrink tube, silicon and rig tubing and finally PVA bags and string. The current lead total is at 15 3oz and 10 3.5oz. The 2 drawers are actually tidy, each is compartmentalised and everything goes in its place.

I'm still using a Plano 2 drawer tackle box, over 20years old. Handle has been repaired but it still takes everything and doubles as a bivvy table. I tried the Fox/Korda type flat box and it just doesn't work for me

There is 'BUT' to this though. Just because you copy or do what 'Big Name' anglers do, it does not make you a better angler yourself. Following fashion; rigs, tackle even the methods they fish will not necessarily increase your captures. You still need to find fish, and then get your bait and feeding right and your rig in the right place. Sadly some who are in the limelight could well be time bandits, or pulling strokes to get results. That definitely does not make them better anglers. That is the point of 'at any cost'. Something I think is that every angler goes through a period of doldrums, not catching. It is the better anglers who can deal with it and get through to good times again. The 'not so good' will just give in and follow fashion without thinking. They blame the rig, the bait, never themselves or the simple fact the fish aren't interested. I bring this up for a reason. Currently on my water 'the originals' aren't showing or being caught. The only fish being caught are stock fish from the past few years. It looks like after spawning together they have gone their separate ways. The stock fish in fishable areas, where bait is going in, the originals hiding in the thick weedy unfishable areas. The stock fish relying on bait, the originals on natural good.

A very good method I use myself, although different bag supplier. I'll have to check which bags I use, got them on a trip to Gladwell's and they are currently hidden in my car... You could seal a bag or mesh around the lead, either on a run ring/lead clip or helicopter set-up Only problem with hooking onto the outside of the bag is the impact can rip a hook free from it as it hits the lake surface.

Think I have changed my habits over time. Due to the depth of the lake I'm on, I have hardly been using both spod and marker rod. In many cases I have been putting bait in by hand in chest waders. However, not all swims are shallow enough so I take a Spod/Marker rod combined, and yes it has braid on it😏😂😉 I have the run ring set up on the leader with a lead link and an American snap swivel on the end of the lead link. At the end of the leader I use a swivel with a Breakaway Spinlink clip and tail rubber over it. I attach the spod or Spomb to the Spinlink and clip the snap swivel on the lead link to it as well. That way I can use 1 rod for both marker/leading or baiting up.

I have found that consistency of pop-up mixes is getting worse. Mainline Polaris sometimes is brilliant, other times it is pants. I have since tried the BAF pop-up mix and that is good. Only thing is that I will end up with a couple of years pop-ups as I'm not using many at the moment.

A number of them float. Any insect ingredients from crushed or liquidised insects will need to be 'tested' to see whether you need to add heavier ingredients.

It does still contain molluscs and crustaceans.

That space should reduce condensation! If the overwrap is tight to the bivvy or brolly it is 'just another layer', you do need a gap. Even now with a plain brolly I get condensation on dewy colder summer nights, although I am positive the brolly itself does not leak.

Hmm! As a member of the PAC, Pike Angler's Club, I don't think fishing for pike before September or even October is good for the fish. The water temperature is far too high and playing pike in these temperatures causes stress that can, and will kill them. I have seen it, even on rivers. The Broads system regularly loses fish killed by the holidaymakers 'dabbling with a spot of pike fishing in summer', which is why specialist tackle shops like Steve Burgess of Bass Online in Horning will not sell pike gear to holidaymakers between June and September, no matter what the cost. The exception is the deeper colder waters of Scottish Lochs and the English Lake District where bottom temperature stays around 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. Next problem is any baitrunner system has more resistance than an open bail arm; in carp fishing we use that resistance in our favour, however in pike fishing we want minimal resistance. Baitrunner systems (and playing fish off the clutch or drag) also create line twist, so you actually only ever should want to use it on a take.

Either, even both. Often one on each.

I used to use a darning needle rather than any tackle brand splicing needle. Haven't used lead core for a few years now though. Once I had spliced it I would go through the loop with the mainline and then Uni knot and only tighten and bed the knot down when it was properly formed and in place. The alternative is a needle knot through but I did find that unless the end of the leadcore had been lighter tagged with needle in place it would unfray and pull free. I refuse to use lead core now I don't think it is necessary or safe😉

I prefer to get onto a good food bait, and my hookbaits match the freebies every time.

It is not necessarily chasing fish all the time. Dave Lane is a great angler, yet he does not always chase fish, sometimes it is down to the 'knowledge'. It is learning from what you are doing, success and failure. What makes any angler a 'great angler'? Is a better angler one who simply catches big fish or one who catches from difficult waters? Personally I would class myself as a reasonable angler. Sometimes I do well, other times I struggle. I tend to be able to assess my sessions, and work out how to improve my catches. I watch the water, I try to understand the fish and the water. The times I struggle I tend to set up in a hurry straight after work, no real water searching and then sleep for 2 days. Times I do well, I spend plenty of time looking, then set up either on them, or if they are moving or due to weather I think they will come to. Don't confuse yourself going round in circles, don't keep swapping bait or rigs. Trust in both and know your rig in the right place will score. Understand your baiting and fishing. It is vastly different fishing for carp in 'overstocked' waters to fishing for carp in rich food waters. Some waters it will be catch as many as you can the big one will follow, in some it will be the bigger fish have their own areas, times or foods they prefer (not always boilies!). Do you want to turn up and catch any fish or do you want to catch the biggest fish? That question alone opens more questions! I wanted to catch from Alton Water, from Ardleigh reservoir, from Earith, Brackens, Nazeing, even Taverham Mills. Taverham Mills and Earith catching meant any and plenty of fish, Brackens and Nazeing meant catching fish over 20, even 30. Ardleigh and Alton were any fish, but the waters were pretty untapped, hardly no-one knew or knows the stock. Does an Alton 28 count as a good any fish? Along with a fair few others over 20...

Red Factor and Prosecto are Haith's products. Think their website might keep you entertained for a while😉

It definitely weakens the swivel bending the ring on it. I also don't think that a running lead clip is a good idea at all. You negate it's use for dropping the lead if it is free running. Any lakebed rubbish is now free to jam the leadclip and stop it running anyway, and with a leadclip that is not fixed to the hook link swivel the lead can't eject. Far better to use a decent run ring that does run on leaders, mainline or tubing; Solar, Fox and Korum all make decent run rings. I have used the 'shocka' run-stop set up, a rubber bead on tubing, even a power gum stop knot on mainline with a running bead, but while it works, and very well, I come back to the safety aspect of the bead preventing the lead and run ring coming off should I get a break-off above it. I am not convinced that it can be totally safe, unless your bead can come past or push the stop knot over the broken end.

Definitely no washers, they are supposed to be a complete ready to go reel. It is only Big Pits that have washers to change the line lay. How you load the line can also change the line lay. If you reel on quickly it tends to bunch up front. Slowly and it goes on more evenly from front to back across the whole of the spool. I have DL10000's myself, and for the cost, a spool of Gardner Pro 0.35mm 15lb line is close to perfect for all 3. Build quality of materials is not perfect😉

Rod Hutchinson used a similar rig with a bottom bait and Rob Maylin used it as above with no shot. Rod Hutchinson found hook holds were coming outside the mouth, but note that was a bottom bait. Rob Maylin's version I did not see results, but it was pictured in the Beekay book Carp that he wrote. The hair is effective, but many angler's are sticking to the same hair every time. They do not change hair length to suit the needs of the bottom, their feeding or hook holds or fish losses. I do believe that the fish get used to the same thing every time and learn to avoid it. That can be how angler's feed, the rig length or the hair length. Too many angler's do the same thing week in week out. Fashion, big name angler's and copying 'lake tactics' or rigs all reduce thinking, and experimentation. I also think that there is an optimum position for the hair leaves on the hook, and that is a point opposite the shank, between the point and the barb. It gives the correct orientation for the hook to penetrate. If you have the hair exiting from the eye, the hook is taken in 'backwards', eye first, on ejection it leaves bend first. If you have the hair on the bend the hook is taken in the right way, but on blowing out (ejection), turns round and leaves bend first, no chance for the point to pr ick. If the hair leaves roughly midway down the shank, then on sucking in, and blowing out the hook is facing the correct way to embed the point. In general terms, I think we are looking for the fish to eject the bait with the hair rig as it stands. We rarely hook them on sucking in. For that we need to look at other presentations, be it D rigs, and bait tight to the shank 'fixed' or sliding rig ring. Fish that pick up the bait rather than suck it in... I am a firm believer in looking at the hair, how I feed and trying to be different, and checking my hookholds

Prosecto insectivorous, Red Factor, casein and Semolina. Prosecto is basically a bird food with insects in its make up, been around for years. Since it does not bind well you do need the Red Factor and semolina if you mix it with casein.

Fluorocarbon and I have a love/hate relationship. It does not cast as well as mono, tending to be stiffer, more wiry and does not seem to have the same abrasion resistance as mono. In water it seems to disappear, but fished extremely tight, can still cast a shadow on the lakebed. It is brilliant for slack line fishing, or where the final lay is over weed. The point about picking up debris is very true, more than mono for some reason, nulling the invisibility.

.. A mate of mine regularly goes to visit family in Hungary. A lake alongside the river that had been drained and emptied specifically to 'harvest' a food source, carp were naturally restocked from the river by the river rising just 1metre. He was amazed that 10kilo fish had reappeared within a year.