salokcinnodrog

A fair few of my fish came from the second swim out of the nature reserve. The first swim out was a tackle eater, broken hooks, frayed leaders, where they had embedded or rubbed against the edge of the old roadway and the drains and culvert.

Alton there is no fishing from the dam wall, so you are limited to the banks either side. I actually tried to avoid the dam area for carp fishing, sailing club, wind/kite surfers, the remains of the water park buoys where everything was tethered, and fished as far away as possible. A southerly or south westerly wind pushed fish to the other end of the reservoir, where depths and banks were more manageable. I did occasionally have to add long legs, banksticks onto my P1 pod. I also used a lot of chopped or half boilies to stop rolling down slopes, although the deepest I found was the old stream bed(s) at 22feet.

Solar do line biters which slide down from the rod tip, used at Rainbow in France. Talking of which there are a number of homemade contraptions, like swivels fitted into coke bottles to keep the line up. You can also use suspender floats, or predator inline sunk floats, but these do cut down casting distance, but with a boat you can put them the distance. On Alton near concrete blocks I had to use a long snag leader of 30lb Amnesia to stop cutoffs

Most definitely. I've been baiting a swim on Re...... and one spot I have is a cast towards the far bank tree, but it is like a tiny bay. I 'creep and clip up' to get the bait in the spot. By that I mean I aim at the spot, and then work out how short (or on target) I am from it, pull a bit of line off the reel if needed and clip up, although I do know if the wind is right a 3.5oz lead and 3 boilie will fly right in, so I may well bait up the area with a few 'miscast' stringers. I don't often use distance sticks, preferring to walk the line out the distance and marking it on the bank, with a stick. I also seem to be able to get my Spomb close to the marker float first cast and then clip that up easily. Again an easy cast to get right on the fishing rod as I feel that down to be sure it is weed free.

I analyse every trip at the end, even if I caught, to try to work out what I'm doing right, or wrong. It is easy to catch and accept the session as a good one, but could you have done better, caught more? To me it stops me getting stale and doing the same thing every time when things aren't working. It is possibly why on Alton I found a couple of working methods, in various swims. The problem with blanks, especially on harder waters with fewer fish, is you might not be doing anything wrong, just unable to get on fish, especially like on my current syndicate, where you don't want to interfere with other angler's, respecting their space and fishing. I.E we won't fish spots they have been working or prebaiting if we know about it. Saying that, if you blank it could be you got something wrong. Last session, I blanked, but I had an idea that I am using the wrong hookbait over hemp and maize; a 20mm boilie tipped with maize is not the right choice, I think I might need to use a small yellow pop-up to counteract the silkweed when fishing over those particles. Over the 'boilie baited' rods a boilie could be the right choice.

For me even a 45minute drive before or after work can be a bit much with my shifts. My prebaiting for years has been put the last of my bait before I leave at the end of the weekly trip. For that reason it is nearly all just boilies, unless I have saved a bit of spod mix. At the same time we do all want to catch, even more so if the lake has special fish. I love the lake I'm on, some big commons, and still some uncaught fish, I would dearly love to put one or more of them in the landing net.

The other way is the sliding ring on the shank presentation I like.

Must admit I rarely think of carp sucking in pop-ups, I tend to think they mouth it, then close their mouth and the hook pr icks, as the carp either closes its mouth or tries to eject, so 'closing the gape' doesn't really make any difference. I think bottom bait, including snowman rig mechanics, are totally different to most pop-up rig mechanics. Sucking and blowing rather than mouthing baits. I mean a Withy rig has a totally closed off hook, but was very effective.

That is just the sort of post that makes me smile😊 I know we all have different waters and ideas or opinions, but it is definitely easier to catch fish on 'overstocked' or heavily stocked waters where the carp rely on the angler's baits than a sparsely stocked water rich in natural food where they may not see an angler from day to day.

Welcome to Carp.com Don't over think! Fish waters or a water where you will catch. I know that sounds obvious, but if you are going to sit it out for one big fish then you may well be sitting out and blanking for a long time. You may need to lower your expectations, you aren't going to catch 20 after 20, you may be having to fish for single figure fish. Don't 'faff' with rigs, or bait. A knotless knot (possibly line aligned) rig catches most fish over the latest fashionable rig. Fish your bait to catch, get the carp feeding on it. That may be boilies, or boilies over groundbait or particles. The more you pressure yourself, the harder it gets, the more you go round in circles. Fish to your strengths and find the fish. Don't just turn up and fish the last known producing swim, unless you are sure the fish are there. Don't necessarily pile the bait in, forget piling your spod mix in, a single bait or stringer quietly put in often produces more.

I think you will find yeast is the one non-animal protein that contains every essential amino acid. Look up Marmite...

About 5minutes job, tops. Just unclip the o-ring, slide the old clip out, new one in and replace the o-ring. A small pair of tweezers and a very flat head small screwdriver helps.

I use a Drennan original Boiliepult with a smaller pouch than it comes with. I found a few in the tackle shop and bought them all, but am down to my last one. Think they were Middy pouches. I can get 3 20mm boilies in them. I can push 55metres with a single 20mm, but that is it. If there is any cross or head wind out comes the throwing stick (still got a Cobra Ace). I will use the stick for 4 or 5 baits around 50metres. @yonnymentioned 2 handed use, that is the only way I can use a Korda stick, whereas with the Cobra I can go one handed, and once I have worked/adjusted for the wind, accurately.

Big test curves are for casting, not playing. I've landed numerous carp over 20lb on 1.5lb, even Avon and Barbel rods. Many hooked under my feet on dog biscuits, or sweetcorn. The only reason my main rods are 3.25lb test curve is because I was casting to 150yards. My largest carp was landed on a 2.75 test curve from a venue where I may need to cast further.

I have plastic shark tooth clips on my old Aerlex reels, only broken one and that was when I caught it somehow transporting gear from swim to swim. The line on the rod got tangled up in a bramble and I just yanked it. I have replaced it with a Shimano spare for pennies, it still goes. I just use my thumbnail to put the line under the clip once when I have got the right distance. I actually don't like the round metal clips, the line seems to unclip itself quite easily. Shimano reels for me, although I blanche at the quality of the newer models. My Aerlex's are 15years old and still working

Lovely! Leads on a run ring, can be fished tight or slack line, tight is a bolt rig, totally slack is a running lead. Don't think about using a lead clip running, it will NOT drop the lead. If it is soft clay, find out how far the lead is sinking, and fish longer rigs to cater for it, preferably with a slow sinking hookbait so it doesn't sink in too far. Clay is often quite firm though, although carp can dig holes to get to food, which sometimes get filled in with soft sediment, leaves and silt.

Years ago back in the early 1990's it was known as Lyng Easthaugh pits and had a head of proper big old scaly carp over 30lb, real fish. When it was bought and stocked with the Dutch and Belgian commons I promised never to go back there. There were a number of Norfolk waters with those wary big old scaly's, Booton Clay Pit was another and Geens pit near Shropham. I believe they came from Redmire spawn and fry as in the 1970's some over spawning years saw Redmire fish come all the way over to Norfolk.

I haven't managed a fish out of the syndicate yet, although I'm learning the lake. Last trip I noticed a lovely spot between the trees, although it is only 4ft deep. I had a good check, and although a difficult cast it is manageable, and you have to be on the money not to be in the weed. It might be ignored by other members as the bank is high and precarious. Bream love pellets and groundbait, and I found even using tiger nuts, if you have any groundbait in the swim, they will take them. Just keep working and learning.

I should have mentioned on this, I do use strong braid mainline. Pike fishing you want your gear to be heavy enough to land every fish hooked, with absolutely no break-offs or fish trailing hook traces. Unlike carp, pike can't eject hook traces (but can some lures) if you get snapped off. Where I mention having a permanent sinker on the uptrace, it is because I will land what I hook.

I know you have stipulated Cambridgeshire area but is Norfolk out of the question, even Suffolk? I don't know much about Taverham Mills any more, fish wise, but I did breakdown almost every swim on there in a post on here. You paid your money, chose your swim, no swim booking and could move if need be. The other option I was thinking of is Suffolk Water Park Traditional lake. You may have to book an individual swim, I am not sure, but there are definitely some good fish in there. I hate being stuck in one swim, if the fish aren't there I do want to be able to move onto them

I used to do that on Brackens. The 3rd rod was already baited, with a stringer nearby, so I could quickly recast after a fish. It's one reason I don't always clip up, and go by 'cast memory'. Even so it is rare for me to overcast into a tree or onto the far bank, and I can feather it down if I feel it was too hard.

For a 3.25lb test curve rod, I use either 3 or 3.5 oz leads, and always the same on any trip. Basically I work out which one I need to get the distance I require on my furthest cast. At the moment the longest I can cast due to the weed is 50metres, so I'm using 3's. If I need to cast further, 3.5's cast maximum distance on my rods. If I'm fishing closer-in with my Specialist rods, maximum lead will be 2oz.

1, 2, or 3 One is sometimes enough, two might be water limit, or 3 if allowed and the swim is suitable

Potato salad... 😅 Try using a free running rig ring on the shank instead and tie the (pop-up) bait on. Thats pretty much my choice for snowman or pop up set-ups, and sometimes bottom baits. You get more freedom of movement, and to some extent, even with bottom baits, it resets, or can be taken, after a missed take.

Problem was match angler's don't always go with the same care train of thought as specimen hunters