salokcinnodrog

I am writing up on Suffolk venues where I have up to date information, and know what is going on. I will be updating and editing this thread as I go along. I may miss out some well known waters for certain reasons, if you do want information on a water I will often be able to give background information. GAPS have three venues of interest to carp anglers: Alderson Lakes, Needham Market. This is a two lake venue with carp in both, the Small lake and the Big lake. The lakes are gated and otter fenced, with the River Gipping running along both sides. It is possible on both lakes in some areas to park behind your swim on both lakes. In the Small lake you have carp to mid double figures, possibly a bit bigger, also present are roach, perch and tench. There is no night fishing on the small lake. The Big Lake contains carp to 30lb, along with a number of other good fish, double figure bream and tench. It can be very weedy in summer. Causeway Lake, Great Blakenham. Causeway is down a long track, again alongside the Gipping, and around 10acres. The largest known carp is around 33, a heavily scaled mirror called Edna I think. Barham B Pit, Barham. Barham B Pit is again with The Gipping alongside, a 20 acre lake. The largest carp I know of is high 20's. The A14 road bank you can park your car close by, but on the river bank you will be a long way from the car. This venue has been returned to individual lakes again, back to the original number of pits. Barham has now gone to a syndicate water from August 2018. Suffolk Water Park. SWP is probably the best known venue in Suffolk, with carp to high 30's, and is divided into a number of lakes: Specimen Lake, the big carp lake has carp that have supposedly reached 40, 2 fish that have apparently made it are Grey Tail, sadly deceased, and 4.3 caught by Jim Shelley at 40lbs and ounces on one occasion, it has not been caught at this weight since. There are probably 10 or more other 30lb fish. Traditional Lake is another proper shaped lake, again with fish to well over 20lb. Then you have a couple of match lakes, which are available on a day ticket, but carp fishing is allowed when no matches are on. I think only Traditional and Specimen lake allow night fishing. It is always worth giving the venue a call to check latest prices. Hintlesham Fisheries. Another day ticket venue, Predator Lake containing carp and cats, Specimen Lake with carp to 30lb, Bottom lake, actually to me a nicer lake than the Specimen, and I would reckon carp to 30lb from my own sightings. Bromeswell Lakes. Bromeswell is one of my favourite little venues, a pair of lakes, Willow and Horseshoe. Horseshoe is around an acre, with an island running down the middle. Plenty of silver fish, and carp to mid doubles. Willow is around 2 acres, a snake shaped lake, with an island. The largest carp has been landed at 25lb, a big common, but recently I have heard of a mirror that has also made 20lb. Day tickets are sold on the bank, but talk nicely to Jon the owner and season tickets are available. West Stow Lake. The syndicate is for established carp anglers that have a number of years of experience and applying to join the waiting list will require a selection process to be gone through before you can be successfully added, details of which are supplied on application, through NS Fisheries. Carp go to over 40lb. Foxearth Fishery, Glemsford Road, Foxearth, Sudbury. This venue is three lakes, Specimen, Traditional and Pleasure Lake, with the Specimen lake of 1.75 acres containing carp to 30lb plus. I have been round in the past and it suffered a problem with crayfish, but from what I can gather they are no longer present. The rules are pretty comprehensive, aimed at fish and venue welfare.

Same for me. From Taverham, Thwaite, Earith, Brackens at Nazeing all have produced best over plenty of bait for me. The plenty of bait approach does not always produce on day one, but over the session it comes on. Saying that, on Taverham, Brackens and even Ardleigh I have had fish within hours or even minutes of the 'fishing' cast going over the top of the bait. I mentioned in the past about having the 'two tone' at 28 from Brackens within 10 minutes of casting a load of BIG stringers in. That session I also had 3 other 20's after it from the same spot, each time casting another few of 'those' things onto the same gravel bar. If I fished a day ticket commercial like Suffolk Water Park, Orchid etc, I would start off by holding back and going stringer or single bait until I knew what the fish wanted. Putting loads of fresh bait in you could be blowing your chances before you start fishing.

@yonny and I have had this discussion before over a big bucket of hemp and bits that a mate and I spodded in, with the original Gardner (*) spod, on an overnight session. By morning we had caught a number of decent fish, had very little sleep but amazed the other anglers on the lake who though putting in so much bait would kill it dead. I tried it on subsequent occasions but the tactic rarely worked again immediately. The fish would take a few days to move onto beds of bait. It was right place, right time. At Earith I regularly caught over amounts of spodded in pellets, chops and whole boilies, even in midwinter. Single hookbaits failed big time. On Ardleigh both heavy baiting and sparse baiting worked at various times. I caught carp over a bed of spodded in bait on the first night, yet on other occasions I caught on minimal baiting (Method Ball of groundbait with a few freebies, no stringer). Brackens I found responded to heavy baiting with big stringers or PVA meshes full of groundbait, due to rules the catty, spod and throwing stick were banned. Even during a session fish preferences can change! From single (high attract) hookbaits at the start of a 4 or 5 day winter session they can suddenly switch onto bait. It is not any way an exact science, and strangely as the week wore on the weather got colder, but the carp wanted some of my food bait around the hookbait, stringers with a few loose boilies cattied into the area. A local day ticket water I fished a number of years ago on one day in winter, I caught 4 carp to double figures all on a hookbait with 1 free boilie on a stringer. The next day doing exactly the same, not a touch from the same area. The only carp caught that day came to maggots on a size 14 to my mate. * The not particularly aerodynamic black thing

A couple of things on these quoted posts: Using a throwing stick accurately takes practice, don't expect to be able to be hit distance or one spot accurately first time. The type of throwing stick you use can make a difference. I was awful with a Korda throwing stick, until I discovered I needed 2 hands to use it accurately, an overhead throw, whereas with my Cobra Ace stick (for 20mm baits) I can use 18's and 20's accurately with a 1 handed action, like a dog ball throw stick. I also struggle with accuracy with straight stem sticks, yet a swan neck curve as in the Cobra I am pretty good. Then you have baits needing to be perfectly round. Any misshape flies off at a lovely curve. Splitting baits can also be reduced by wetting the throwing stick, it reduces the spin forces. Some waters do respond to loads of bait, and others best with minimal freebies. On some day ticket lakes or heavily stocked fisheries, there may be no point in piling it in, a single hookbait may be best. I have used the method of single hookbait, but baiting up heavily when I leave. Prebaiting as it were, then when I fish next time with a single or just a stringer.

Try and get an original Drennan Boiliepult, far better than most other catapults, however you do also have to get a smaller pouch to fit as I find the pouch on when purchased is too big.

You'd be surprised by how much spread you do get from a spod or spomb. It doesn't go straight down in one pile. As it drops through the water lighter particles get pushed by current and they spread in quite an area. I don't spod or Spomb on every water, but it definitely speeds baiting up at range. I can put 15-20 14mm boilies and some particles in a large Spomb, which by stick would be a few minutes, and I would still have to Spomb the particles. Add to that smaller boilies don't travel so far by stick, the spod or Spomb is very handy.

Each gives a different spread of bait, and different ways of baiting up. When seagulls are being a pain, then it has to be spod or Spomb. If you want free bait close to your hookbait, then PVA string, bag or mesh. Incidentally I tend to cast out plenty of stringers or meshes full of bait, but rarely loads of PVA bags full of bait, however, it is possible to catapult them out. As for catapult, you can use it for single or multiple baits, or even firing out small PVA bags or meshes as well as groundbait. Throwing stick, a good way to get single baits out long distance, or multiple baits shorter distances, but if seagulls are about when only firing out say 1-4 boilies, may be worth forgetting.

Plasterers hands? After I went through a stage of losing fish on a particular pattern of Fox hooks that opened out and would spring back in most cases, I started testing hooks. The Korda post comment above was an 'aberration' moment, I forgot Dave had started using them. The hook looked like one of my Muggas, even to the braid hooklink, but Dave had taken one of my rigs (and hooklink making gear) and copied it. Bruce and I could go through our tackle boxes and use any of each others gear with no qualms, the only thing we didn't agree on was mainline choice. Our hooks I have a feeling I was buying from work and then selling to him at my staff price.

I hate to say it, but when I was playing with Korda hooks, these were the only hooks I could do as in the pictures, and that is a 3oz lead hanging. ESP, Gardner Mugga's, Kamasan B175's, Gamakatsu GP204, I could not hold the hook on my finger or thumb, yet Korda I could, so I would say they are not nearly as sharp as other makes. An ESP hook, think it was a G4, can't remember, I landed a 26 from Merrington, then until I snagged or put it over a branch, another 9 or so fish. At Brackens I pinched a rig from Big Dave, tied with a Korda hook, with fish showing yet got no indication, despite him seeing a fish pick my bait up. I retied a rig and I changed back to my favoured Gardner Mugga, within minutes I was playing a fish. I still use B175's, Gardner Mugga's and also Solar 101's. I am happy to use any of them out of the pack, and I do keep an eye on the hookpoint, or actually a finger or thumb every cast as well as looking carefully at them. I think Nige Woodcock was very happy with the latest ESP Cryogen hooks until he switched to Nash. Incidentally it was Kevin Nash who recommended his own companies hooks could be sharper and sharpened. Why? They should be sharp enough for anglers to use straight away.

Not for pike fishing. You need instant indication, and backleads reduce that. You are better off float paternostering, having a float than ledgering. I fish a tidal river with regular boats going across to and from the island. If I ledger a bait I get the rod tip underwater and under the boats, or ledger almost along the bank.

Not quite my area, but Farlows, or probably better is Orchid Lakes. Contact Marsh Pratley either via their FB page, or I think http://www.orchid-lakes.co.uk/

You can see the rear indicator on the second picture. The first picture is a float paternoster with a bored bullet on the uptrace and the Stonze on the paternoster link.

I nearly always fish one rod on the float, enough weight on an uptrace to sink the bait, (frozen baits and pollan often float), a changeable sinker held on by a short length of rubber tubing over a central slot, basically the same as a sliding backlead, so that the bait, either livebait (rarely) or deadbait can drift, or add a mono paternoster link to hold it in place. On the reservoir in midwinter, fishing for pike will take place midwater where the pike tend to stay close to the roach shoals. Any ledgered bait will be underneath them, and a paternostered float will be needing a long paternoster link. I also normally use a vaned pike float fished bottom end only, although you can use an inline float if you fish both running and still waters. While the vanes don't catch the wind like a proper drifter float 'sail', they do go with the wind, so a deadbait can cover a fair bit of water. If the pike are in shallower water, fairly close to the bank say around 30metres, then the paternoster float is better. The other rod is fished with a ledgered bait, which again I add a paternoster link to, tied on the bottom swivel or quicklink of the uptrace. I personally don't like using heavy leads (or Stonze), preferring to stick to a maximum of 2.5oz. The deadbait will usually take the force of the cast, so can be ripped off the hooks with a big chuck. Essentially the only difference between the two rods is one has a float on the mainline With whole sea deadbaits I usually use a single upper hook in the tail, and the bottom treble in the flank, so it is easy enough to tie the deadbait tail to the trace swivel. If you get a fish take the deadbait, the bait tied on means you often get it back if the pike knocks it off the trace in the fight. With coarse fish and smelt or head end halves of sea deadbaits I usually single hook in the mouth so I am retrieving head first, these do have to be cast a little more carefully. I seem to catch more on the float than I do on the lead, on both running and still water. It is possibly I see indications on the float, so strike earlier, but I rarely get deep hooked pike on the ledgered baits, so that would put that out. Indication wise on the lead, I always use a drop-off rear indicator rather than front indicators as in carp fishing. I mentioned an uptrace, with livebaits this is an essential, a livie tangling up in the mainline as a pike takes will see you bitten off. Even deadbaits can curl back up the line on the cast, so an uptrace will stop you being bitten off and the dead pike that can lead to. Unlike carp fishing, the only excuse for not landing a pike is a hookpull. Tackle MUST be strong enough to land them, and the only tackle ever acceptable to lose is the ledger weight.

I don't like stink nets, for the simple reason that they can keep the net wet while in storage, and water (and other dirt) can accumulate at the bottom. They are ok for transporting gear home at the end of the day, but the net then needs a good clean and dry at home. Putting the cleaned net back into a stink bag then risks taking nasties onto a fishery. A new landing net mesh was around £18 last time I got one, and I got a Tackle Box EZ net mesh http://www.tacklebox.co.uk/landing-equipment/landing-nets/tb-replacement-ez-mesh-42-inch-olive-green.html I actually think a lot of anglers buy a whole new landing net rather than just replace the mesh when small holes join and become a bigger whole that it is no longer possible to repair. (Mine has been 'sewn' back together a few times)

There are some good books by Tim Paisley, some educational like To Catch a Carp and Big Carp, but with some session chapters, as well as his Tales From the Bivvy, and More from the Bivvy.

Landing net I would be looking Fox Warrior 42inch. Weigh slings are cheap, around £7-15, NGT, Korum, even TFG all do decent ones. Unhooking mat, even TFG Banshee or Hardcore Safety Mat which can double up as a carry all. One thing I will say, the big unhooking cradles can be a pain to carry long distance!

Sadly 50mm butt rings are a current fashion that most of us simply don't need, like, to be honest 3.25lb test curve rods. Unless you can really push a rod to its limit and maximum cast, then even with Big Pits, 50mm rings are a waste of time. In fact, in some cases, they can make your casting worse, dependant on how the line comes off the reels. My SP's and NG's both had 40mm butt rings, and with both and Big Pits, I could cast over 100 metres. I used Shimano 10000 size baitrunners on the NG's and due to line capacity and lay, I could only hit 90metres! No need for a 50mm butt ring on that i'm sure. Personally I would go with 40mm butt rings, but as said that is my choice.

A day with the rods and Sky on the river. Hard work today, although a dead roach on the float paternoster produced a nice looking fella. Lip hooked on the top single again.

I usually use 3 rods, dependant on rules obviously. Even on a 2 rod water I have a 3rd rod set up ready. It means I can reel one in, attach a fresh PVA bag to the dry spare rod and cast at showing fish, or to the feature and then sort out the reeled in rod at my leisure. A bulk spool of line is usually about right for 3 reels if they are loaded correctly with backing if needed. As for hooks and materials etc, I buy a spool, buy packets, so have plenty of rigs made up. The licence cost is down to you, but for the cost of it, its worth it.

Once I have made the balls, I take the softest, and add a little more base mix and work it in before rolling into sausages. While you can use a bait gun, I prefer a table as I found with homemade baits, the glossy finish rolls better on the Rolaball, and some gunned baits can float. From the sausages, I then put them onto the Rolaball, roll into balls, and then drop them into some base mix to stop them sticking together while boiling. I boil these baits for 1minute 30seconds, before tipping them onto a tea towel to dry. Once dry they can be bagged and frozen, or totally air dried.

I felt that it was time for a new Stickied basic bait making thread so here it is, although it covers a couple of posts due to picture size. Even though I have most of my bait made for me, I still like to experiment at times, tweaking purchased boilie base mixes, or making baits for specific waters. There are a few simple rules to follow, with a couple of exceptions; add liquids to your eggs, and powders to your base mix. The mix I have made is as follows: 100grams Liver powder 100grams Robin Red 200grams Semolina 100grams Ground Rice 200grams Full Fat Soya Flour 200grams Maize Meal 100grams Calcium Caseinate While it is not the greatest perfect balanced mix, it does work and can be played with. This makes a kilo of base mix, I use these ratios simply for ease First break 4 eggs into a bucket or bowl. Add any flavours, liquid attractors, or essential oils to the eggs and beat well. I also add ground eggshell, Betaine or Green Lipped Mussel powder to the eggs. In this case I have added 2ml RH Megaspice and 1ml of Garlic Oil. To the beaten eggs gradually add your base mix, either your own or a bought proprietary mix, stir and mix with a fork until it becomes stiff, then work it in by hand. I then mix it in until I can make fist size balls, slightly too soft to roll.

Different things on different waters. I used to bailiff a fishery, although I would not want to say I was a good or bad bailiff, although I know I upset some people as I was very strict on dangerous fishing, litter in the swim. To be honest those were the only things I kicked off or banned anglers for. The bailiffs on the Lea Valley waters I fish will if time allows stop and chat, drink your tea, have a chin wag. Of the anglers on the lake, I haven't seen one pulling any sneakies, they mostly clean up etc, so the bailiffs to them are polite, rude and in tune. To the poachers, be they Eastern Europeans or whatever,mthey give short thrift. My local club water, which I no longer fish, I had a run in with a bailiff when there was no-one else on the lake. I was fishing water directly in front of me, but was also accessible from another swim. He didn't like my fishing that feature and got quite rude. If anyone else had turned up, I would quite happily have reeled in. However this particular bailiff didn't care about his mates drinking to excess, being loud or fishing past the end of the island etc, so I complained about him to the club.

£200? Seriously you can get a TFG Oval brolly and overwrap for less than that. It is what I use myself. This year I have used just the brolly for overnighters as it has storm sides, but I also take the overwrap for extra protection if it rains. I have also used it in winter when pike fishing. There is plenty of room in there for bedchair, with space behind it for equipment, and space in front by door to get in and out.

Strangely enough I never got on with the clear Sensor. It doesn't knot as easily as the brown/green version, and it is not as supple.

Sorry I have not fished it, my only knowledge is from Tim Paisley's articles and book chapters on it. It can be hired by anglers or fished on a day ticket, then there is a winter syndicate from memory. The fish can be seen, but can be very cute and almost uncatchable at times. An otter fence has been built around it, protecting the lake and stock ponds, and there is a long term ongoing stocking programme that Mr. Paisley has set up with friends and the owners. The lake is very full of history and memories for him.