salokcinnodrog

Abebooks might be worth a look. Kevin Maddocks Carp Fever, Rod Hutchinson The Carp Strikes Back, Tim Paisley Tales From The Bivvy, More from The Bivvy. There are plenty available, but prices on Abe change up and down

I knew the lake quite well, in fact I'd actually run it for a couple of years. I knew that most anglers had gone to a boilie only approach, and were being quite sparing with freebies, because the carp were taking a couple of days to move onto beds of boilies. I had seen how the carp with small particle beds were picking and ignoring hookbaits, even sweetcorn was being left. If we/I had blanked it would have been recorded. A couple of years later try the same and it did take two or three days for carp to come onto it.

Years ago at Taverham a mate and I absolutely filled it in with 10kilos of hemp, a couple of kilos of pellets and a few kilos of boilies for an overnight session. The lake had been fishing out of sorts, probably the main reason we did it. The anglers opposite were taking the mickey that we had totally killed it. By the morning we were shattered, I think it was 10 double figure carp each, and I was blanking on one rod being fished on hemp boilies (Total Hemp mix), the fishmeal baits were taken in minutes. When they came round in the morning the complaint was we had kept them up all night with the noises of buzzers and camera flashes. The strange thing was my blanking on the Hemp Mix boilies over hemp, yet the fishmeals caught. The fishmeal had a fair dosage of salmon oil in them, which on Taverham was a feeding trigger. Baits without salmon oil could be totally ignored! I do find piling it in is a killer on most occasions, especially on short sessions less than a couple of days, but as above, there are exceptions.

Correction, some of those baits were are or are available in Shelf life version, as DreamLake Specials, available via order at Dream Lake or direct from Mainline. Ted in a Shed, funny comment😖 I used to use a bait company who originally had a good reputation, as a rolling company, then as a bait maker themselves. Their own baits were actually very good, producing a lot of fish for me. Some good 20's out of Ardleigh, then some decent 30's from Nazeing. Unfortunately they then decided to 'destroy' other companies baits by cutting them with cheaper ingredients, in the process destroying their own reputation. Ted in a Shed can produce a very good bait, I know I can; actually a fairly simple mix of Maize Meal, Semolina, Full Fat Soya Flour, Ground rice, Liver Powder, Robin Red. That is probably actually a better bait than Tails Up Protavit Liver. In many cases that is how bait companies are formed, a guy working from his own, or even his parents garage (😉😆), then getting into it 'Big Bill' time, becoming Nutrabaits or somesuch. I think that at times, even though carp eat our baits, even eat everyday, at times they just concentrate on natural foods. The baits will be sat on the lakebed for days. However, I think the four day approach of freezer baits, the release of enzymes is more attractive than the 'instant' attraction of shelf lifes. I would really like to compare a baited area vs others of shelf life mixed with freezers, and freezer against shelf lifes, it might make for interesting comparison as to favourite. Then with any bait we have flavours, is it attractive instantly, or long term? Overdosing flavours in baits can make them instant, but can blow the bait long term. A low level flavour (or flavour/essential oil combination) can keep the bait going long term, and there are some very attractive combinations. Shelf lifes might be more instantly attractive because of slightly higher flavour levels, but I bet those shelf lifes are not long term baits. In a freezer bait, the looser constituency may allow the flavour level to leach out until it becomes attractive, at which point it may be long term acceptable. Washed out baits anyone...

I paired Delkim ST's with the Att dongles and receiver a few years ago. Had no problems with them together although with the length of my sessions I can go through dongle batteries, so it is worth always having spares with you.

I can think of a couple of lakes around Ipswich that fish are still taking floaters, Bromeswell, Melton, possibly the park lake... It can work even in the depths of winter on some lakes, just try it. I have found bread is a better floater bait in autumn and winter than hard dog biscuits, maybe because it is softer and the energy reduced to crunch the baits? Saying that the big Bakers rectangular biscuits in the complete make a good hookbait as they are softer, but the size can be offputting.

It is possible to fish a pop-up very close to the bottom, matching free baits, in fact that was the original D-rig. You don't have to fish a pop-up two or three inchess off the lakebed. Critically balancing the bait makes it behave like a freebie. Putting it in a mesh or bag with a load of chops etc as the fish suck the whole lot goes in in one mouthful. Strangely I have not done at all well on white pop-ups, I have tried them, chocolate cream, coconut creme, and caught zip. I have caught on fluoro orange, flouro pink, yellow, green, brown or red, yet I can't catch on a white one.

I think I was first using shelf lifes back in the late 1980's, Richworths Tutti-frutti, Honey Yucatan, Salmon Supreme etc. They did produce best with just a stringer or as a single, but they are NOT food source baits at all, basically attractor baits. As kids, we could not afford to pile them in anyway, a bag had to last a few weeks! In the tail end of the 1980's I started making my own, Chappie dog food, Pond Pellets for koi, all ground down or mixed with semolina and Casein. The results of heavy baiting with them produced lots more but those baits would not keep fresh. I mentioned the Brian Skoyles article, 'The Four Day Approach', I can't remember whether it was a Nutrabaits 'Bait' annual, or Carpworld, but he would on longer sessions put a large amount of his food freezer baits in on arrival. On the fourth day the enzymes were kicking out attracting big time. I have used the approach myself, on Taverham when it had switched off and I hadn't been down for a few weeks. Quite literally on my fourth day as I was packing up the fish started coming, I had four in my last 30minutes, catch, recast, catch recast, other rod, catch recast until I did have to go. It was Trigga being sold as a shelf life that I think was the first food source bait, or it may have been Crafty Catcher King Prawn, either way, the instant attraction was better than freezer baits of the same recipe, albeit the shelf life did have a slight different make-up. Now as I said I have seen how shelf life baits are the same as freezer versions, and how they are stabilised, or preserved. The instant attraction is ongoing, the baits are usually hard, and do not break down as fast as freezer baits. The freezer version I still think is a better long term bait, despite using both in the same recipe, but that is most definitely not saying the shelf life won't.

I'm sat here by the lake with a thought or 2 running through my head. Shelf lifes are more instantly attractive than freezer baits, but freezer baits on day three seem to offer more natural attraction as the enzymes kick in or out. Years ago Brian Skoyles wrote an article about it, and Gary Bayes has mentioned the instant attraction of shelf lifes vs freezer. To me shelf lifes are better in small quantities, even food baits, a tiny percentage of the freebies mixed with freezer baits, or as a stringer of baits around the hookbait. The hookbait itself can be a shelfie, but you do not want massive amounts of shelf life freebies.

Just a query on that, you can fish a pop-up with free offerings around it. Put the whole lot in a bag or mesh and your hookbait will be right on top of your freebies. It is slightly more difficult with a stringer or boilie freebies only, but even then it is still possible. Not being difficult, but a pop-up fished close to the lakebed over or with a mesh bag of pellets or chops can be a very effective tactic😉

I honestly no longer have a preference, as I now catch (bog all usually😖😳😆) on most baits. For a while I seriously avoided pop-ups, couldn't catch on them to save my life, yet I had caught the first 20 from one lake on a pop-up. The next lake I fished I could not catch on a pop-up at all, every fish came on a bottom bait, either singles or doubles. On Ardleigh almost every fish came on a Snowman bait, the top bait being a bright pop-up with the bottom bait being my food source bait. I think there were a couple caught on pop-ups. A few sessions on Thwaite almost every fish to start with came on pop-ups, Scopex, Pineapple/N-butyric, Green Zing, Monster Crab and Squid and Octopus being the most productive. I then did a winter session, the first few days was pop-ups, where I started playing with my Garlic Spice recipe, then everything switched to my food source. As I went onto Brackens, it was snowman baits, food source topped with either S&O, MC, or my Garlic Spice, no takes came on individual pop-ups, no matter what I tried. I moved onto the South and Central, it has been Snowman set-ups on those three above, or individual Garlic Spice pop-ups, yet other pop-ups have produced nothing. Basically I will experiment until I find what works, I have no preference.

For The Suffolk/Essex Stour get a copy of Neal Waytes River Carping.

About 60yards on my Century 2.75 NG's. Still prefer those rods to my new ones, but they have now been promoted to pike fishing, slinging out big deadbaits on the reservoir or on the river. I put about 30 stringers in in one hit from Bridge on Brackens, 10minutes later the rod roared off with one of the lakes most wanted, the Two Tone Linear at high 20's.

Pva string is extremely useful, especially if you fish double hookbaits. Put two boilies close together on string can confuse carp as the string between does not dissolve. Put them in mesh and the baits can come apart. On Nazeing I caught loads of fish on blooming great stringers of up to 30 baits at a time, and even better it was tangle free on my Kryston braided hooklinks and combi-links

Think personally you need to learn to respect everyone😉 If it wasn't for anglers like Kevin Maddocks and Rod Hutchinson, Richard Walker you wouldn't have carp fishing as you know it now.

Would you like to take that to Kevin Maddocks? It is after all his picture from Carp Fever, you know, one of the first written books available to carp anglers, published first in 1981. The picture despite being out of focus clearly says 'bolt rig'😉🙄

The quote feature of this site does not malfunction, everyone else seems to know how to use it, and I know at least 2 of us know how to do multiple quotes, with our replies in between. Protonmail? Deanobaggio@protonmail.com, or dezanimeaux@protonmail, strange that😉

What tangles? I don't get them. As for run rings and bolt rigs, look at original Kevin Maddocks bolt rig pictures😉 Not the best image as I just took it straight from Carp Fever, but oh look, a running lead with an eye mounted bait❗️

Four blanks in two years, and two of those were when the lake froze on me, one was when I was having a 'mare and lost fish, and helicopter set-ups were banned, by the rules😉 Pendant or Inline leads only❗️

If I use a semi-fixed set-up, the best for hooking is an inline. I refuse to use a lead clip, they are a dangerous over-rated item of tackle that should not have been invented. I would go back to a John Roberts bead! The bomb on the end of the line is only safe if the lead DOES NOT get ejected in the event of a break-off. It is the weight of the lead that allows any bead to slide off, followed by the rig. As it happens I prefer to use a run ring, as a bolt rig, fished with a tight line. I was experimenting with lead set-ups in the water long before media got to do divers tests on how a lead works, indication etc.

Done tests? Yes! Has it also been published in articles? Yes. Ever heard of a gentleman called Dave Chilton? Check some of his articles or a couple of the Kryston DVD's out. He has most definitely researched it and published his findings.

My Earith syndicate had no rules banning prebaiting, so I did it, basically putting bait across the whole of the lake before I started fishing as a member, (joined, but 2 weeks prebaiting, learning and marker float it), and putting in my left over bait at the end of a session. If somebody fished one of my prebaited swims, good luck to them, I hope they caught. If I turned up and they were where I wanted to be, oh well, my tough luck, I'll have to go elsewhere. I did in fact tell people what swims, even what bait I was using, although I did hold back my slight tweaks😮😉 Somebody else could use Trigga, but I found my home rolled version produced a bit better, I had increased the attraction while keeping the long term food bait working. In terms of getting to the lake, I often arrived around midnight after work and set up in the dark for a two night session. I had to know 'my' spots, the marker float work to produce a map was invaluable.

Superglue weakens mono and also prevents the knot moving at all, increasing the risk of breaking😉 Far better to be 100% on getting knots right and testing them.

No, indication is very much reduced with helicopter set-ups. The fish has a large area to move in with no indication, even more if you have a bead up the line as per 'chod rig'. I have seen fish move as much as 30metres with absolutely no indication happening at the buzzer, and that was at a very short range. The fish moved in a perfect arc. I myself have lost fish when a single bleep in the middle of the night, no indicator rise or fall, yet the lead had been moved.

Nope, sorry, personal experience tells me otherwise. You NEED the lead on a helicopter for the rig to be able to slide off any leader or breakage. A bit of weed can jam any bead in place, and that on a leader can lead to tether rigs. I have seen it with my own eyes, as a bailiff I have had to remove fissh from snags where that happened. Even Keith Moors, who owns a lake in France has totally banned leaders for that reason. Next thing, an inline lead, it won't drop unless you let the pressure off, and playing a fish in and around weed, you must keep the pressure on. Add to that, with a breakage, the inline does not stay on the line, it can pull free off the tubing, and any line trailing is just the hooklink. As an aside, in the event of a break from excessive pressure on the line, it is the knot that gives, be that the hooklink swivel, or the leader knot. You only have 20years experience? Catch up mate😅😉, I'm closer to 40! Hooks definitely do open out on helicopter set-ups, the rig running up the line during the fight also increases the chances of snap-off. The pressure of not having a straight pull is what causes the hooks to open out, and has been written about in books and articles by various anglers, starting with Tim Paisley and the late, great Rod Hutchinson. Basically helicopter rigs are only good as a silt rig, or for extreme distance casting, but it must be remembered that indication is much reduced.