salokcinnodrog

I'm positive I had fish feeding over my bait this week, in fact this morning, but I felt because it was over birdfood and Vitalin they weren't picking up boilies, so with previous sessions in mind I had ordered some treats for them for hookbaits. The massive flat patch is where one of my baits was, but a snowman hookbait, 15mm pop-up over an 18mm bottom bait, not a bleep. I'm pretty positive it was carp clearing the smaller food items.

Totally agree this warm then cold weather has definitely made catching much harder. After my common I haven't seen another fish in the area, they just seem to be picking up the occasional bait, not feeding properly. A few fish have been out though, one of the 2019 20lb stock fish has made 30lb, and some of the 2021 December stock fish have come out at least 2lb heavier than stocked.

Sorry, I forgot to reply to you after my last post, although it has given me a chance to use and abuse mine over a winter of pike fishing and a couple of months of carp fishing, so I can give a fair appraisal of the Sonik Sk-tec standard chair. It's comfortable and at a sensible height that is easy to get level on sloping ground. Carpfeed did do a review on them, might be worth a Google. Shop around for best prices, and here is Soniks link https://www.soniksports.com/product/sk-tek-folding-chairs/

Yes, and yes. Very similar to the current Beastmaster reel. If you can have a play I would reckon they be a decent buy

Oh definitely, waters change over time. Wind and wave erosion can turn islands into sub surface plateaus. Weed beds move, enlarge or shrink. I agree that neither marker float and lead or deeper tells you everything. If anything, only getting in the water can tell you more, and that can be fraught with risks. Neither an echo sounder nor marker float can tell you that the depression in the silt is or was a feeding spot, nor that the gravel patch has actually got a layer of silt on it and is currently being left alone, or the carp have cleared the gravel by feeding heavily on it. Something with leading around is that certain weed does not clog, drag or hold up the lead, it can actually feel clear during the day. Yet other types of weed as soon as you attempt to drag back you feel them and even pull some in on the lead itself. The Deeper will or may only show weed, not what type. The two may need to be used in conjunction if allowed on the venue, but if Echo Sounders are banned then the marker float and lead is still going to give you very useful information that potentially Deeper can't.

With all the posts on this thread, I'm glad I split it away from the Tackle and Equipment thread it was on. I found the difference in water depth was easy enough from the bank WITHOUT a fish finder, in fact probably easier, as mapping by hand (if anyone ever saw my Earith map @elmoputney ) and with a marker float you have bankside references or aiming points, whereas with the Deeper you would still have to reference it in note form. The high and low water points can be quite off putting. I think Earith lost a metre of water depth, and Alton was 3 or 4metres, and you could gain an extra 10metres of bank as the water dropped, however some features that produced fish in full reservoir times, could also produce in low water times, yet some were totally above water when the water was low. A feature that produced fish when it was 8ft deep, (marker float counting hence in feet) still produced when it was 20ft deep. I mention cross references in note form, on the Deeper can you put in GPS positions or does it have to be additional notes? Obviously reason I ask is that sea going boats do have regular fishing marks that captains use and fish regularly, and they would have to be GPS.

I found these quite interesting, although compared to looking down from a boat or in chesties quite weird. I spend quite a lot of time on the bank and in the water trying to learn my syndicate lake, and sadly Deepers and drones are banned so we have to do it the hard way. Even using the boat is a 'naughty' except to free snagged or weeded fish, and then only if someone else is on the lake. The weed can move, clear patches one week can be covered the next, and a marker float or leading around does miss some.

Argh! I just put a cupful of maize to soak in a bucket before i add pigeon conditioner on Saturday, for boiling Sunday. Blooming weevils started crawling out of the maize so I have had to soak my last 5kilos. Going to have to either put the lot in next week or freeze it. Something I have started doing with particles is save my slightly salted pasta water and soak the particles in it before boiling.

Some of the fish caught the past week have been dripping milt and have all been caught near where they spawned last year. I believe males get ready earlier than 'the ladies'. We know the bigger fish in the lake are female. They aren't up the other end at the moment. Plenty of walking Sky around when I'm there, and I've not seen a fish. Casting at the showing fish and they move away. If you can sneak a bait out quietly you stand more chance of catching.

Well I thought I'd bring this back up as the blanks and learning from them paid off a couple of weeks ago, but bit back this week. The fish are finally starting to move, and a number of the males have moved into the shallower water. Now to find the bigger females.

Polaris pop-up mix can be a bit inconsistent. Try the BAF, they do some lovely colours😉

Mainline are a decent range but I'm not sure if they are ester based or Nature Identical (chemical based to achieve a natural smell). If they are ester, sugar or essential oil based you can go higher than the recommended, whereas most NI's I would religiously stick to the recommended with a few exceptions. Chocolate, some fruits and Squid and Octopus can be used at 5ml per egg. (RH Chocolate Malt could be used at 5ml per egg for 6 eggs in a bait!) If in doubt, go 1ml maximum.

Have a look at Rod Hutchinson Ballistic B pop-ups. I have a jar of yellow Aniseed and Bunspice that are 4years old, but they are now being used up as a topper over Vitalin and maize with snowman baits. The rest of mine are no more than a year old. My own MegaSpice and Garlic, bright pink, KMG in fluoro red and normal, Monster Crab in purple and some Raspberry and Black Pepper in pink. The last one has not produced a single fish so they are being replaced

I did pick up 2 more Aerlex's off the bay when somebody was silly enough to put a low starting price with the auction finishing at 3am on a Sunday.

That post made me smile, result young Sir

little bit of that

Is it this one? If it is, it is on his Haith's Maize blog

Location is key! Find the fish first. As @emmcee says if you can't find them try to get them to come to you. Baitwise for that keep it simple and cheap, crumb, groundbait, particles maybe Vitalin and a few boilies. Don't keep chopping and changing rigs, the chances are they are not at fault, it is simply the location. I get your point on regular recasting, but it could be that that is keeping them away. Leave one rod in place, all day, but maybe recast and rove with the other. Your bait will work, your boilies sound good, but in my view, just take one boilie out of the bag, any one, and put it on the hook. Don't change it on your recast, leave it, stick with what you are doing. That means stick with the pop-up or the wafter, even bottom bait. Years ago I fished a 2mile section of river between 2 weirs. The carp would move along the section, quite visible, but had places where they preferred to feed. It took 3 months of baiting with just pellets, boilies and sweetcorn to find these spots and to get them used to my boilies. Strangely, sweetcorn was a 'blown' bait, the carp would leave it alone for at least 2 days, although tench and eels would pick it up in certain spots. Quite possibly simply because most people fishing the area used sweetcorn and the carp realised it would result in a hook in the lip, even if they managed to escape. (Not everyone was fishing with gear suitable for carp). The result was a few carp to 28lb.

Wonder if you could fit an isotope to them...

You probably won't get all of the problem line out, whereas walking it all off will cure the problem

Can you walk it off somewhere and reel it back on? If not put onto a spare spool or reel and then back on.

Only thing is my pop-up counterbalance is below the boom to minilink swivel.😉

Carp rigs catch more anglers than carp, and go through fashions. The simple answer is one, maybe two: A knotless knotted rig, with maybe a line aligner. That rig can be used for pop-ups, bottom or snowman baits. It is simple and it works. For pop-ups, if you use coated braid, on the 'strip back' end or braid, a power gum stop knot, attach putty or even a match anglers olivette as your pop-up weight. D-rigs or Ronnie/Spinner rigs cover your specific pop-up rigs. I gave you an answer 'over the road', but here I can give you a link. On a knotless knot rig, with a snowman or bottom bait adjust the hair length dependant on where you are hooking the fish. The perfect length for the hair is when you are hooking the fish dead centre of the bottom lip. This might interest you as well

Personally, I would avoid second hand reels unless you know their provenance and life history. Some may be genuine 'used once only in France', some may be 'I didn't like them'. If the angler didn't like them, then why? Alternatively they could be absolutely battered and abused! If you can pick up original Big Baitrunner LC's or Big Blue's, Aerlex's or Biomasters then do so, they were built to last. (I still use original Aerlex 8000's for bass fishing and have one on one of my spod rods) I worked in a tackle shop for a number of years, and I personally think the newer Shimano reels are not as high quality, nor built to last like the Shimano reels of the 1990-2010 years, with the exception of the cheaper and smaller ST baitrunners, the Beastmasters and the extreme expensive top range. As has been said, have a play and feel.