salokcinnodrog

The only place I prebaited on the main open part was the margins on the path between Pingrees, the rushes at the lake junction, and the brambles by the old brick pump station. Most did go in the island section. I did see fish swim between the two sections, so I was sure that in the islands and open water they were finding the bait.

I went through a stage of carrying a whole bag of various pop-ups; Scopex, Monster Crab, Squid and Octopus, Strawberry Jam, Chocolate Malt, Pineapple Nbutyric, Garlic Spice, Tutti-Frutti, Aniseed and Bunspice On almost every water with one exception it was the big three that produced. I got to the stage I found I only needed my own recipe Garlic Spice, Pineapple, Plum.

Those guns do die quickly, especially if the mix is too dry, the caulking guns are the same, I have killed a number with thick mastic or putty. As much as I hated spending the money, https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/gardner-deluxe-sausage-gun When it comes to rolling tables, don't bother with the longbase, just use the standard rolling table. I found it faster than the longbase.

As much as I agree with any prebait is a benefit; at Nazeing baiting up the inlet sluice was a waste of time and effort, we didn't want them to stay in there, and if people prebaited there as well as the daphnia they could stay in a tiny area for months at a time. On Earith I tended to bait up the whole lake, various areas, so the fish got used to bait all over. Prebaiting one spot what do you do if when you get down next time if your swim is taken by someone else? There are some who will go on your work, or it could be a genuine accidental choice.

On my runs water this year bright yellow pineapples and pink plum were the main pop-up baits that produced fish, even though the water is quite murky. Last year on Nazeing, very clear water, even brown baits were found in water as deep as 15ft by tufties. Now I've explained that, for years my favourite pop-up colour has been a brown/red colour , even fading to washed out in the garlic spice flavour of my own. It produced as part of a snowman, (over a food source bottom bait) or as an individual on its own in numbers of waters. Possibly because it does work so well, I have complete faith in it almost everywhere; in fact last year it produced most fish on Bromeswell, although this year I did not use them for some strange reason.

I do use standard shop bought liquid food colourings, and have done for over 20 years. The better ones are those used in sweet and cake making, the taste is palatable. As the food colour is liquid, they tend to be soluble, so gradually wash out, although red and yellow wash out faster than blue or green. You will also find you need more colouring than you think you would, probably about half a 25ml bottle for 4-6 eggs, but play around with a few mixes until you get it right.

I would be looking at Solar buzzer bars, they do three rod bars in fixed or adjustable. The P1 adjustables are really nice looking in stainless. Years ago I had the fixed 3 rod bars, they took some serious abuse, lasted for years, although on the centre I fitted a blank as I was only fishing 2 rods most of the time.

I know that around a few of the mills when FMS had some of the bank rights there were some barbel caught, but FMS members kept their catches very tight lipped.

Around the chub shoals the biggest I have seen is maybe 12ozs, but I reckon in some of the deeper weirpools and bridge flows there are some better fish. I was watching some of the winter match weights last season, the perch weights from the Bramford and Sproughton areas didn't show many big fish.

You can add it to groundbait, or just use it neat. 50/50 is just a cheap carrier mix mainly for attractor baits.

I keep going back to it, but at Nazeing in a winter session I had 4 carp; three were 20's, and one was a 17lb mirror. I thought the mirror was the prettiest and enjoyed catching that the most. At Ardleigh, the first fish I caught was 13lb, a heavily scaled mirror on my second session, that meant more than the second which was a 20.

Every fish is worth a smile, a 5 is worth an ear to ear goofy grin.😉😖😆

Never be in too much of a hurry to catch bigger fish. Learn to enjoy what you have, and learn your waters and fishing. Learn how to handle fish, learn different methods, how to use PVA Mesh, bags and stringers. Experiment with baits, particles, boilies, until no matter what you can catch on any method more than those around you. Learn how to bait up with spod, PVA, catapult or throwing stick. Learn the features that carp like, the snags, weeds, rushes, gravel, or troughs. Learn how to find features, a marker rod and float, or just counting the depth down, so when you do go somewhere harder you can do it quickly with least disturbance. I started carp fishing in 1986, it took until 1992 to catch my first 20. Those years, and the lake I had that 20 from was the only carp of the year. I went back to my 'easier' waters to regularly catch, and strangely enough, I had a 20lb carp out of there in the end. I really don't want to pee on your fireworks, but with bigger fish, be prepared for blanks, it is not as easy as 'just catching'. I have a mate who fishes as much as me, who probably catches more than I do, but his largest fish is only 17lb, he just doesn't want to sit blanking, and wants to catch.

I think the numbers of fish are diminishing, but the ones left seem to be growing well at the moment. I heard of a couple more 5's caught this week on freelined bread, although I'm not sure where they were caught from, and haven't studied the background on the pics my mate posted yet. I'm pretty positive he won't mind if I fish the area as I used to take him along the river.

I took some persuading with the heat, Big Dave convinced me, so I was back on the chub hunt yesterday evening, my basic favourite method of a freelined dog biscuit. We walked along the river with the dog, one rod between us, taking turns at the fish. In the first swim he had one chub from a brick wall above the river which I had to climb down to net, I reckon around 2lb, just a quick photo in the net. We walked the whole stretch, looking for fish, casting in a few swims and then back to the car. I spotted a few fish, but had to do a bit of jungle stalking, climbing through brambles and nettles, opposite 'nice lady's' house, and as I did Dave realised we had left a baiting needle downstream on a bend and went to get it with Sky, so I rerigged with a Uni-knot holding a big Bakers Meaty chunk on the size 8 hook on 5lb Reflo hooklink tied to 6lb mainline. A cast to work out the current, then another to get the biscuit in the right flow, result was a good chub. As he came back I heard him talking to Sky, telling her I would probably be waiting with a fish in the net, which "knowing Nick is the biggest around". I needed his help to take the rod while I lifted net and fish over the bankside snags. When we weighed the fish it was a healthy 5lb. I've not seen a chub that big from the Gipping for a few years!

Even though I made a fair bit of bait myself I stuck with Gardner Bait guns and rolling table. I also only made 4 egg mixes, but could do 4 in an hour. It was a case of mix a 4 egg mix and gun (or roll) into sausages and cut the unboiled balls, batch them for boiling into around a hundred at a time, (I used a big chip or catering pan ), and while the first lot was boiling (1.30min) would start mixing the next 4 eggs. I would then have plenty of baits to boil and dry on an air drying tray or two. I would bag them into 500 or kilo bags after they had dried, or leave them air drying long term.

That looks like a 'pulled out' bend on the point rather than a bang against the lead bend. Do you have swan mussels in the lake? It may be quite a large branch you caught up on though. I have brands of hooks I trust, Gardner Muggas, Gamakatsu, Solar 101's and Kamasan B175's. Unless I have tested the hooks to destruction I will not use it in a fishing situation, and even then, I tend to test them on a 'small fish' water before using them for big carp. I want to know at what point it will bend or break. I check the point each cast and as said, it doesn't take much to 'ding' a point on gravel or a snag, even a crayfish can blunt the point if you manage to stick the hook in claw or shell, but those ones I mentioned really do hold their own better than others.

You aren't supposed to eat it😉😖😆 My Kryston Putty has lasted for years, it is reuseable, pull it off the rig (hookeye, olivette or stopknot) and put it back in the tub. It is the worry of how much and how good the new stuff is that concerns me. Last time I bought Gardner the pack contained a lump about 5mm thick, 20mm x 15mm. I have used other putties, none matched up to the quality of Gardner or Kryston. Nash and Korda were absolute rubbish. I mentioned about using an olivette, and moulding putty around it, this is my 'crayfish resistant' pop-up rig if they are putty munching.

I used to wander around Taverham targetting fish in numbers of swims with floaters and bottom baits. I could go round the lake two or three times a night until I found fish. I would classify that as stalking.

I think from the start carp will investigate anything that may be food, this includes picking up boilies on their first introduction, however my first choice is mixing them in with other particles. The problems of particles have been posted, tench, bream and roach just love sweetcorn, and the introduction of particles can have pike sat next to the bed of them waiting for their munchies, which can put all fish off, including carp. I've seen it first hand myself and I know Frank Warwick has written about it.

So all of us would like to see a slug extractor for throwing sticks! Had it happen to me on a homemade throwing stick I had made out of 25mm plastic conduit. I was able to remove the conduit stop at the base and with a thin twig push the darn thing out where it did immediately get dropped into the lake as I had pierced it.

I'm tempted to pull some of these posts away and set them up on a separate thread of their own, some 'misconceptions', some differences of opinion, but all are valid posts in their way, even if the final decision is different. Yesterday I spent most of the day floater fishing with bread, but at the same time I was stalking the fish, drawing them away from an overhanging snag tree. I watched every fish take the bait, but I was static in one swim. If it had rained, I might have wished for an umbrella, or more likely been grateful for the cooling effect on a hot muggy day. I also spent some of the time sat on a chair, other times I was sat on the bank holding the rod. This is where my fishing kind of encompasses all scenario's mentioned, disagrees with some, agrees with others, yet in a way is right and wrong. I caught, and actually lost count of the carp I caught from the swim, between 5-8lb a mix of commons and mirrors. I've fished a few swims with two rods where I can watch the carp taking the bait after pinpointing patrol routes. I'm not sure they are stalked as that was static fishing, but I did watch the takes. I've also wandered around prebaiting, going back seeing if fish are present, then (hopefull) quietly put a bait to them with a gentle cast of the float, maybe the water had coloured, or I was sat back out of sight. I've not seen the take, yet those fish were stalked. I have also targetted specific fish with floating baits, which I guess is stalking as it was a particular fish I was after.

Green is so passe, it has to be MTP or Camo now!

To be honest, I would reckon 2.75-3lb Tc rods will do the job nicely, and you are in the 'mid' range price bracket. 3.25 is a long chuck rod, from Korda fashion...😖😉😆 Look at the Wolf X rods, I have used and played with them, they will do the job nicely in 2.75 or 3lb.