salokcinnodrog

I still use a Cobra stick myself, my Ace is many years old, well used and irreplaceable. If I ever killed it I would really struggle to find a direct replacement. Look after your throwing stick, keep it clean, if you go carbon, keep it safe and protected. Yonny mentions distance, it takes practice, perfectly round, very hard baits that don't split, and a bit more practise. I am good for around 100metres, and I do spend time practising on the reservoir. I have tried a number of sticks, so here are my findings: You will need to find a straight or curved stick that suits you, not all are the same. I struggle with excessive curves, but cannot use a totally straight stick. I could not use a Korda Eazi-stick, they were awful. I needed two hands to use it to be able to come from a directly overhead motion, to keep the baits going straight. I can use a big heavy stick, but I do start to notice it after a kilo or so. 3 kilos is my limit! Since the demise of Cobra and being bought out by Nash Tackle you would think that Nash would make the best sticks, but sadly not, you will be looking at Fox Rangemaster, Cygnet Sniper in plastic, or for lightness, carbon for me it would be the Gardner Pro-pela. The loading port is a fad, it adds weight, slows the stick down in the air. Next point, cheap plastic, Cobra's were or are heavy, but it is decent quality plastic, it was built to last, not all sticks are now. Many while the shape is right, are of poor quality plastic that bends, cracks or even just gets marked and appears as a white line where the plastic has been damaged. Carbon, brilliant, very light, but take very good care of it. It is an expensive item to break. That means keeping it in a good strong tube, not just a plastic case.

In most cases rigs are a complete fad as Elmo has pointed out. For pop-ups I still resort to plain bog standard pop-up rigs, often a D-rig or a sliding ring on the hookshank, weighted down with a match anglers olivette. For the smaller fish on Bromeswell (4-15lb), it put loads on the bank for me earlier in the year. A coated braid, with a short stripped section near the hook. The pop-up either on a bait screw or a rig ring, and tied on. I do use Bromeswell as an experimentation lake, and the maximum hook size in the rules is a 10, so I use the largest size 10 possible. (Different makes have different size standards). This same rig has produced fish on the (big fish) reservoir as well, as has a coated braid line aligned rig with 2x 20mm bottom baits on a braided hair. I also mostly use running or bolt rig lead set-ups, rarely helicopters, I think that there is too much free movement on the end tackle end, with no indicator or buzzer movement on helicopter leads.

They should send them in polystyrene boxes so they don't defrost. However, unlike the others I will never refreeze boilies. Best way to get 'frozen' boilies delivered is before they have been frozen after being dried.

For years Terry Hearn used black Amnesia as his boom on stiff hinge links, because it lay well, even though fluorocarbon was available. I still use clear Amnesia in 15 and 20lb for mono hooklinks. My braids and coated braids are from Kryston before they were sold by Dave Chilton. I bought plenty when I heard the sale was going through, so I have Merlin, Snakebite and Mantis in the 'original' colours (Merlin changed years ago from an olive green and white to a black white and green configuration). Don't convince yourself you need your hooklinks to be totally camouflaged, nylon hooklinks are as good as any on the lakebed, only the abrasion resistance is suspect. The Mantis Gold I use is a charcoal grey almost black colour, and Snakebite is green.

Fish with what you fish best with. On most lakes I have fished I nearly always use particles, especially hemp and corn, not just sweetcorn and maize but pigeon or chicken corn. It can really get the fish grubbing around, even if I fish boilies on the hook. There are times when particles attract bream and tench and they won't let carp feed due to numbers of them but it is rare. On those lakes I will switch to boilies only.

Overnight in the freezer and they could well be still alive next day, just very slow until they warm up. I used to use a lot of maggots, so here is my advice: Buy fresh maggots from the tackle shop. The newer, fresher they are the larger the food spot is. Older maggots have almost no food spot, and will soon turn to casters. When you get back riddle the maggots, take off all the sawdust sold with them. Put them into a maggot tub with fresh clean sawdust or maize meal. If you buy a pint of maggots, put them in a two pint bait tub. Basically for the amount of maggots you buy, double the size of the bait tub. Keep your maggots in the fridge, and riddle them every day. This removes dead skins and casters, and check the sawdust/maize meal. There is a 'but' to fresh maggots, in winter, especially on rivers, older maggots wriggle more on the hook.

Hooklink materials, a massive choice which catch many anglers. I have a few hooklink materials from mono, the same as my reel line and Amnesia, coated and plain braids. I try to keep my rigs simple. More anglers are caught up in rig fashion than fish. My usual starting point is 'old school'; a standard hook either knotless knotted or tied on, with a proper hair made from dental floss or hooklink braid. A line aligned hook, with shrink or silicon tube. I can use this for bottom baits or snowmen baits, or even pop-ups. Does it catch? Yes!

Confidence, something I have struggled with the probably the past couple of seasons, then last night... I know my rigs work, i've been using the same rigs for over 10 years, with snowman or bottom baits, even double bottom baits. Simple, line aligned, coated braid hooklinks with a proper length hair. My bait, whatever I use, I know it will work, be it boilie over particle or boilies alone. I have probably gone through more chicken corn and hemp this year than for a few years, because I think I can put it in more easily. Boilies, I rarely choose a pup. I tend to know a good bait, although there have been exceptions. The thing I was losing confidence in was my location, hard to pinpoint carp on 350+ acres, and I wasn't walking enough. Saying that, it could take the carp a couple of days to move onto bait. Setting up on them was not always an option. If carp were around, I should catch them. I think my biggest fault this year was baiting up every day rather than letting the fish settle onto it after day ones bait. Blanking can do your head in. That to me is the biggest loser of confidence, even if it is not your fault. I try to analyse what I did wrong to put it right, and as with everyone probably go round in circles. Go back to basics, and what you know works, catch again.

Stumble out of the bivvy, trip over, knock yourself out and fall into the lake? I can do that when sober, add alcohol and weed and it is curtains.

Another angling death on Sunday: https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/chantry-park-ipswich-suffolk-closure-for-body-found-1-6270782 Anyone who knows me, via here or Facebook knows how often I walk round the park with my dog. The air ambulance was just taking the body away as I was walking my dog round the park lake on Sunday morning. Two police officers inside the police tape on the bank footpath with bivvy inside as well. I had actually walked Sky around the park at 23.30 the night before, doing a 'patrol' against poaching and taking of fish, and I know darn well the 'angler' concerned was drunk and 'smoking'.

Not seen them for years

I hope your lake has good winter form! In winter can get into a depth they find comfortable, or even an area that holds a few features like snags, weeds, natural food, maybe weed stems. You might find the depth thing fun, if it is over the 70feet deep area. If for example, the area they like is 6ft deep you could be fishing 64ft high zig rigs... I would seriously contemplate fishing easier waters with known form. It is very difficult trying to find winter carp on any water, especially larger lakes on your own. In winter I tend to use exactly the same bait as I did in summer, especially if I have been prebaiting and fishing with it. Believe it or not, those hi-attract pop-ups catch me more fish on high stocked waters than they do on the harder waters I fish, despite me always fishing hi-attract baits on one rod every trip. The harder water fishes best to my normal food bait.

I tend to use the 'right' lead size for my rods. So for my 2.75lb TC NG's I use a 3oz lead, for my 3.25lb TC The Ones I use 3.5oz leads. The reason is simple, I know that optimum weight and a 3 bait stringer will cast maximum distance, and whichever rod I pick up, I know I can cast the same. If I need to change casting distance, usually shorten, I can add more baits on a stringer, or remove if I do need to cast slightly further. At the moment, due to undertow I am fishing semi-fixed leads as well. I have found lighter leads, under 3oz can be moved (and if the inflow was pouring in at Nazeing) I could need to go up to 4oz. However, when I can fish running leads and a slack line, I found the 3oz on my NG's was exactly right.

In the pic I have used a braided mainline hair as crayfish will cut dental floss or light mono. The hair is just granny knotted to the hook eye, then shrink tube over the hooklink knot, eye and shank so the hair comes off opposite halfway between the point and barb, the best place I have found for decent hooking.

Quite a few of your King Prawn dishes were crayfish...

Using dental floss loop it through the hook eye to create the hair. With your hooklink material, a knotless knot down the shank holds the dental floss in place. Or tie the hair to the eye of the hook, and cover it with shrink tube to hold it to the hook shank.

I'm another one who prefers a supple hair. I think that stiff hairs can make the hookbait behave unnaturally. It is enough that we have a bait on a hair anyway, but on a stiff hair I think ejection or even not taking the bait in in the first place is increased. I also found stiffer hairs with stiff rigs increased hookpulls for me.

I Think homemade, done yourself line aligners close the gape less than tackle company manufactured ones which seem to have a greater kink or curve built in, especially if you use silicon tubing rather than shrink tube.

The Korda Heli-safes are most definitely NOT safe. You need the lead on a helicopter set-up to allow the rig to come off in the event of a crackoff. If the lead is ejected the fish can end up trailing rig and however much line as the line 'folds' on itself. It is the lead catching up, or dragging on the bottom, that allows the rig to come off the broken end. Personally like Smufter I nearly always use Run Rings. They can be fished as a running lead with a slack line, or as a bolt rig with a tight line. If you get a break-off the run ring is able to slide over the broken end. I don't like lead clips, they are too easy to use incorrectly. The original reason for a lead clip was so the lead could be removed at the end of a trip, instead they have become the 'lazy' fashion for lead ejection, in cases when it doesn't need to be, and also in cases the lead ejection does not work as intended. It only takes a bit of lakebed detritus to jam up the tail rubber, preventing the lead being ejected. A standard generic Korda type lead clip MUST be fixed to the hooklink swivel or quick clip so the lead clip cannot come off the swivel. As soon as it starts free, able to run up and down the line, the lead may become fixed onto the line. The tail rubber may be jammed with weed or silt, and it DOES happen. Going back to helicopter rigs, they do not give you best indication. A fish can move a long way with no movement at the buzzer and indicator end. By far the best for indication, from personal experience and experimentation, is a totally running lead.

Personally, running rigs I do not think rig length makes much difference, but they must be truly running, and fished with a slack line, with no 'bolt effect'. If you are using it for bolt effect the rig needs to be longer. The angle on the kicker is too severe, a simple line aligner, straight shrink tubing is enough. Places a short rig on bolt, will work are when you are fishing over massive amounts of particles/groundbait, and you need to provoke a run. Personally, I hate lead clips, I always use a run ring. I fish it slack line as a true running lead, or with a tight line, and with a tight line as a bolt rig as per Kevin Maddocks, (I think page 108) Carp Fever diagram.

Problem is that in many cases Eastern Europeans have taken jobs from UK citizens, which is why in many cases wages have stagnated, or even regressed in many industries since 2000. Building trades, hospitality industry, even factory work has been paid at minimal hourly wage. Employment laws have become towards employers favour, not the employee. Result of the demise of unions. In 1988, I was on an annual contract of £12,000, for a 40 hour week, which is just under £6 an hour. Since then we have only gone up to £8.21. For the same job as I do now, in 2000 I earnt £25,000. I am on around £6000 less per year now. Big employers, national companies as well as local have been taking on economic migrants, from whichever part of the EU. The NHS was actively recruiting doctors and nurses from Bulgaria, Spain, Italy and Greece, and further afield, because they could pay them less, and also because they did not want to pay the training cost bursary for UK doctors and nurses. I have personally lost jobs to economic migrants, I have seen UK citizens, including our youth's, struggle to find even factory jobs. We have farmers saying they cannot get workers to work for them, yet gangmasters have been bussing in economic migrants, taking summer jobs from local residents, including kids. My summer job as a kid was fruit and veg picking, and you got paid by how much you picked, not an hourly rate. The faster you worked, the quicker you got your minimum daily amount done, and got fishing. We'd be on the fruit farm or orchard by 6.30, and fishing or whatever by 1. That last paragraph, first sentence is painful, personally, because my son, because he could not find a job got involved in drug dealing. It paid more, and County Lines is a nasty business. Despite what he was involved in, I honestly think the importation and supply of drugs should not be a criminal offence, but a terrorist offence. It is killing our country. There are too many innocent victims, as well as guilty parties. Drive by shootings, stabbings. Innocent Mothers who have lost a son because he was stabbed in a scuffle, she did not even know he was part of a drugs gang. Open warfare between one side of a town to another, post code fights. Vulnerable people having their homes 'cuckoo'ed', dealers forcing them to deal drugs, or even moving into deal from the address.

I've been mostly clearing up after Eastern Europeans regularly on the reservoir and the park lake. Beer cans, barbeques, toilet roll and excrement. The toilet roll and excrement I leave to the council or rangers. Fish scales found next to barbeques. On the park lake I have been onto the council so often by email they arranged a meeting with me at the lake to discuss the issue. I was able to point out the problems to them at the meeting, it was so bad, so they have put on extra patrols, at all times of the day, not just office hours. At the reservoir I have been litter picking beer cans, and my mate Big Dave had a right go at a load of Romanians who were leaving rubbish while fishing.

I used to lose a number of fish on size 8's with hookpulls being a fairly common occurence at any point during the fight. At Ardleigh when you lost a fish it was not amusing, especially when you had had it on for a while and never saw it, after landing a 24 the same night that did not fight nearly as hard or as deep as whatever I lost. Quite literally from that point on I went up in hook size to a size 6 minimum. I regularly use size 4 and 2's for chub fishing. A large slug or half a slice of bread easily fits on that big a hook, and even that size hook gets lost in a chubs mouth. The Rod Hutchinson joke about tying the tin of luncheon meat to the hook through the key is about right. I have used a quarter of a tin piece of meat on a size 2, and couldn't get through past 3lb chub, even though I could see bigger in the swim.

Purchased around 2001. They really are around 18years old.

Average 3 years on a set of Duracell batteries for me with Delkims. In fact it is the dongle batteries that are my main bugbear, 3months if I am lucky!