salokcinnodrog

The only thing is that in my case, so I presume on other reservoirs, is that most of the weed tends to be marginal. There is a weedline that goes out to about 10metres, the next drop-off or ledge before it gets weed free. On Ardleigh and Alton I found the depth was more important than weed free or not, the takes came between 6 and 12 feet.

I had another walk around today as I'm planning to fish from tomorrow for a few days. I found some pics I took of the culvert area last year, compared to one I took today, hard to believe it is taken from almost the same spot. I said I don't often prebait, I did put a bit in today, although I do know the carp already like KMG, but I have checked the weather and the wind is due to change. That walking around, even if not on the day you fish, gives you an insight into the water. Puts little clues your way.

You need something more buoyant than the one on there at the moment. My homemade 15mm pop-ups will actually take extra putty moulded around the tubing on a size 4 hook on a Ronnie rig, not that I use them very often.

I don't think that a lead clip offers the 'best' self hooking properties anyway, and a running lead with slack line or run ring with a tight line is different to what most anglers fish. Lead clips allow the fish to use the lead to get rid of the rig. If they are used to being hooked on (as an example) 6 inch hooklengths, then I have seen fish move no more than 6 inches and suck and blow until the hook is ejected. With the run ring, the lead slides back up the line not giving the fish anything to use.

That looks like a Solar 101 size 6. Running lead with a tight line is also known as a bolt rig. I think it is page 115 in Kevin Maddocks Carp Fever, a rig between 3-9inches. I don't like lead clips at all, so I prefer to use run rings wherever possible.

I put the point on my finger, with some slack, then lifted as if a fish lifted and ran. To be fair I was working as a plasterer and on building sites so my skin was probably like sandpaper and a bit tough.

Probably the hardest thing to get right is clothing sizes as most of the tackle brands are 'male dominated'. Best thing is get into the tackle shop and try jackets on, although I have a preference for Hoggs of Fife hunting jackets and overtrousers for the winter. Summer wear is usually army surplus combat trousers and t-shirt with a decent fleece for cooler days. I nearly always have one of my old combat jackets in the car just in case.

Welcome to Carp.com. There are absolutely loads of reasons why you might not be hooking fish. 1, the indication may be a line bite. Do not strike until you are certain. Short Up and down movements on your indicator can be liners. Fish swimming through your line, touching it and lifting it up or down. Even small silver fish can give you single bleeps when they touch the line, bream or carp can pull a slack indicator right to the top. You may need to cast closer in, to get where the fish are. No point in casting further out than the fish. 2, you are getting proper takes, but the hair is not long enough. I work on a simple philosophy; if I am hooking fish dead centre of the bottom lip, then my feeding and hair length is right. If I am not hooking, or losing fish to hook pulls the hair is too short. 3, you are not feeding enough to keep the fish interested, they are able to inspect every bait. Your pva bag mix may be just pellet and you could need boilies in there so the fish also pick up boilies on the hook. More feed altogether, so the fish get their heads down and munch. That is just 3 possible answers!

I've spoken to a few, made my point and had to call the EA a couple of times when I got rude replies or threatened. I know in Ipswich the police ejected 14 in one day off the River Gipping. As for prebaiting on rivers, I don't think it is as essential as on lakes as carp do have to eat more than their lake counterparts, so almost everything is tried. However, even on rivers baits can blow over time. I have watched River carp ignore sweetcorn for a few days. Prebait features, overhanging trees, bends, weir pools etc. Be aware that when you arrive carp may not be in the area, they may patrol up and down a stretch, covering a few miles in a day. You may find bait droppers handy to get your bait down to the river bed. No point on putting your hook where you dropped bait in if it has been washed down 20metres.

Firstly could I remind you that the close season on rivers is from 15th March until 16th June, so you should not be fishing rivers until then.

I did a post in Rig Tying this week, actually while I was fishing. The rigs I have been using on the reservoir myself. I know @commonly you have a 'no curved hook' rule, my other straight hook shank is a Solar 101. Both these rigs work with them as well. @pablo7uk, the snowman set-up is what produced a fish this week. Don't think you always have to use a Ronnie rig. I do know I was fishing over a clay bed so the area I was fishing was weed free. Both rigs have worked on the reservoir, and strangely, both seem to keep me bream free, whereas single baits have been taken by bream. I don't mind if they are big, (9lb +), but a night of 5-8lb fish every few minutes can do my head in.

You just reminded me about an incident I had with one of the blue canister Camping Gaz stoves I had years ago. I put a new cylinder on, but must have made the hole too big, or it split as I screwed the stove on. I didn't hear any leak but when I lit it the whole lot went up. I had to kick that into the lake.

As I said, if you are happy with the pattern then good on you, but I would suggest that you learn to improve the sharpness, or use their (?) Kamakura extra sharpened patterns. I found, personally, Gardner Muggas (a curved shank pattern) and Solar 101's (straight shank) are sharp enough out of the packet.

Almost the same here. I don't know if you saw the pics, but in summer the levels dropped by 4metres on the bridge supports. Where my rods were in summer is now 2metres deep underwater and you are setting up 10-15metres further back up the bank.

I never use a bivvy heater, I would much rather have the clothes and sleeping equipment to keep warm, even in winter. I have seen too many accidents, from a sleeping bag falling on a lit stove, burning a hole in it while my mate sorted a fish, to a complete bivvy burnout and an angler needing hospital treatment for serious burns. I even use my stove outside the bivvy rather than risk fire inside. Even doing that I have melted holes in a groundsheet by taking a pan off the stove when I went to strike a run and putting it just inside the door.

That looks like a nice place, Enjoy

I'll stick an add on that, only change one thing at a time, until you feel you have got it right, the fish will tell you... Personally, I refuse to use Korda hooks as standard. I found they were not sharp enough straight out of the packet, and I missed takes and had a few hook pulls. I even managed to lift a 3oz lnline lead off the work surface with the hook point in my thumb or finger, it was not sharp enough to penetrate. The pics were on the forum somewhere. Yonny, I think does give his hooks an extra touch up with the sharpener, so he cures the problem I had with them. I use brands that are sharp enough straight out of the packet, that I don't have to sharpen

As Yonny says, Vitalin is good for pretty much everything, margins or out in the main lake. Seeds are attractive, but even though I use them, I think that there are more attractive particles; hemp, chickpeas, maize. The seeds are basically a filler to add to the Vitalin. As for Molasses, you can't overdo it, but you do get to the stage of how much you use is dependant on cost, and Vitalin doesn't really need it. For glugging boilies or adding to particles though, definitely.

Some more on the reservoir I'm fishing, that may or may not be relevant to you. While I have fished the main reservoir, I still prefer features; bays, structure, like bridges or the original stream culvert, inflows, even snags. Places where the water flow changes direction. An arm of the ressie may appear straight, but by walking it you can see gentle curves in the bank. Ardleigh is divided into two arms, but my fish didn't come from anywhere near the main dam end. If you can Google a map, I caught from Lodge Lane Ardleigh and Wick Lane dam where the road crosses. Wick Lane shallows up to 3metres deep, has a small inflow stream and an inflow under the road. Lodge Lane has a small bay where the bank takes two 90degree turns. A place where current changes direction. It was also the place where you got hit by strong winds coming down from the main reservoir. On Alton I have caught from a number of the bays as well as around the bridge. Obviously if your reservoir is bowl shaped ignore the above, but most are dammed as water supplies and take the form of the stream valley

Going back to spawning; even though the reservoir was closed until this week, the carp have spawned at the end of May, in at least two areas. One is the nature reserve end of the reservoir, where it shallows up and is fairly weedy, the other is near the deeper dam wall area, a small shallow bay. I was shown spawning footage, so good I was able to identify a particular fish to the ranger who showed me. Sorry, the only gripper leads I have used is the Korda ones. I found a few on the bank at the reservoir or round and about. They do grip, so I do tend to use them mostly for pike fishing to tether baits on rivers.

Just a couple of pretty simple rigs I use. The hair is tied to the rig ring, so I can change the length if I need to. I suppose strictly speaking not basic, but pretty simple. (Dave Chilton) Kryston Snakebite, line aligned and a sliding ring on the shank with a double 20mm KMG bottom bait on the hair. The second rig is a Kryston Merlin to Amnesia combi-link, again line aligned, sliding ring on the shank and a snowman 20mm KMG and a 15mm Garlic spice pop-up. While the leads are on run rings, because of undertow I do tend to fish tight lines

If it floats it is a pop-up, if it sinks it is a bottom bait. If it is neutral density then it is a wafter. At least that is how I look at it. I still say critically balanced though😉 Do check fake plastic baits are allowed. I know a few waters have banned them. My bait soak for wooden balls is Liquid Yeast, glycerine and the garlic oil with 1 or 2ml of Megaspice in there. I don't use much flavour, simply so it is not repellant.

It can be difficult to see a normal marker at long range, even with minimal chop on the surface.

Think you have just saved yourself from carp tax...