salokcinnodrog

This is an old study though. I do know of a commercial French water that suffered fish deaths that were likely caused by high levels of preservatives in the predominant bait used, supplied on their own water that the bait company sponsored or owned. However as a water that received high quantities of boilies, quite possibly overstocked the fish could have been bait reliant. However since that study, most bait companies have totally changed the way they make shelf life baits. The sodium and potassium salt based preservatives have mostly been removed. Numbers of shelf life baits now contain exactly the same base as the freezer version. The preservation process is air drying, then giving a glycerol sugar syrup bath, then a dry.

I used to fish Hellesdon Mill in Norfolk. Almost every trip I got my licence checked! I reckon I have probably been checked about half my age over the years, so around 24 times😮😆

I use the same bait all the way through, often a fishmeal. I start the season on a bait and go with it all the way through. Since 2000 it has been a fishmeal bait. The only thing I do is reduce how much I feed. This is on my season ticket water that I do fish all season. I think the theory comes from anglers going onto new waters or day only lakes where a birdfood boilie may be more 'instantly' attractive compared to the fishmeal. Birdfood boilies usually have a higher leakage and flavours leak out quicker providing more instant attraction. Even birdfood boilies can be a long term bait, I used Enervite and Enervite Gold successfully long term, as well as my own home made baits. On day ticket or runs waters I may use a birdfood bait, but even then I have found a good fishmeal will work. A few years ago I fished a water near me for a 5 day trip between Christmas and New Year, for the first two days the attractor pop-ups produced fish, then the carp switched onto the long term fishmeal bait I had been baiting with since the start of the session.

A day ticket water local to me got to the stage of one of the bailiffs being a local dealer, and some anglers who weren't involved being robbed for their tackle. Police were regularly at the lake sorting issues out! I know a lot of anglers on my season ticket lakes like a little puff, and again now the Lea Valley rangers are stamping down on it, along with Eastern Europeans using the venue as a picnic and swimming site, leaving their litter behind. My local park lake, it used to be a place where I could let my kids fish by themselves, then the 'puffers' started turning up and kids had tackle stolen. Now on both the Lea Valley and the park I would not fish without my dog. I would not let my children go on their own. Greekski mentioned bailiffs. In East Anglia, it was one full time bailiff covering Suffolk and Norfolk, then he retired. I have not yet seen his replacement. I say Norfolk, you consider the Western edge of Norfolk is fenland, butting onto Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, then you have the Suffolk and Norfolk Broads many of which are boat access only. I used to get two reminders for my licence, now it is just one, and I saved the cost of two licences with the three rod job. Clubs are also in decline; waters being lost to day tickets or syndicates, lack of membership numbers. That puts children off, not all can afford day ticket money every week. I used to buy my son his club ticket once a year, not a problem, yet paying £10 every week for what was £50 a season... The waters themselves, my local club had specimen roach, tench, bream and perch. Now those fish are few and far between. Another issue is travel to waters. I used to walk or cycle to my waters, 7mile cycle ride at times, a walk of a couple of miles. You can't do that with carp gear, and due to my ex and my estrangement, or even work I could not take my children every weekend. Saying all that, Alton Water has started fishing well again, for roach and other fish, including the occasional carp.

I am so glad that it is not just me who uses that term 'fugly'.

I laugh at these people who say they haven't had their licence checked in years, for 5 years on the trot I was checked at least once a year on various waters. In Suffolk on the Park Lake when I still had Post Office receipt, then in Dobbs Weir and around a month later at Nazeing. Is fishing in decline? I think to some extent carp fishing is, thank goodness, maybe partly due to the older genuine anglers getting fed up of the current bull of the carp record, which I think before long will not exist due to the legal imports, what weight a fish is stocked at, grown on, basically the Big Rig scenario or even a dubious import like Oak Lodge and the catfish record. It was silly for a record to go from 50lb to 108lb, someone was bound to take notice! Is that licence sales or licence money? One carp angler buys a 3 rod licence now, instead of two 2 rod licences, which counters both the decline in licence sales and money. I think other 'disciplines' are on the increase, I for example now do more fishing for other species than I used to. From 1992 to 2010, I pretty much fished only for carp. Yet now I am back chasing roach, pike and other species. However as a whole there are fewer younger anglers coming into fishing. The joys of X-box, PS4 etc, take them away from an outdoor life, as does the fewer male parents (in most cases) taking their sons (and daughters) fishing. In addition to that, there is still a 'push' towards carp fishing, yet a youngster blanks and the kit does a trip into the cupboard never to cone out again. If they were catching fish, like roach and perch then they would want to continue going. Don't forget children under 12 don't have to pay for a rod licence at all. I also bet bet a few 3 rod set-ups include the 'sons rod'...

I have goodness knows how many rigs tied up in my rig bins, most on a simple knotless knotted hooklink with a line aligner, although there are some with a sliding ring on the hookshank. My pop-up rigs are on Ronnie, D-rigs or occasionally 360 rigs. I do not faff about with rigs, I use what works for me. As much as a knotless knot is good, there are times it needs a line aligner or kicker. What a lot of people don't realise is that by changing the hooklink material you can totally change a rigs behaviour and hooking ability. The other thing is that since the invention of the hair when it was originally tied around an inch long then being extended it has become shorter again, almost being shank mounted. Changing hair and rig length makes a difference! While Ronnie rigs are the current fashion, there will come a time when it stops being so effective, maybe because sucking and blowing by the carp means the bait becomes marked, or is simply unable to be sucked in with hook following.

I have been lifting the fish from the water in the net since the 1980's. Either by sliding the handle back until I can grip and lift the arms, or by popping the net out of the spreader block. Ali Hamidi winds me up with his open mouth before brain is in ignition, and this is another one, although he has gotten part right, and that is the fish must be at the bottom of the net, and the lead clip, hook eye must be clear of the mesh. It is why fine mesh was invented, so tackle and fins don't get caught in it! In fact, watch him on his programmes, The Big Fish etc, and guess what he does, lifts it out of the water in the net. Or even Monster Carp, The German. I am sure that fish was netted, lifted out then unsprung before being put back in the water and towed to the bank. Add to that, if anglers did what he is suggesting, we would find a large number of fish escaping the scales altogether...

Real Spomb for me every time. I won't put any money towards the Nash marketed Dot Spod as I put as little money his way as possible.

The obvious answer is walk and locate, watch and learn. I mentioned last year on a thread how carp didn't show on a water, they do, I just wasn't up early enough! In the end I was having to wake up before first light to see them. If you can get down with a marker rod then have a play and find features. Feature wise, remember it is autumn, coming up to winter. If there are any weedbeds, then they can be good winter spots. Fake pink corn, is extremely unlikely to be the key. It is more likely the carp was being inquisitive! Bait, keep trickling in a few boilies, a decent food bait, but don't forget sweetcorn. Sweetcorn is a particle that often does work all the way through. I would save one out of three rods (if it is a three rod allowed) specifically for trying different baits. If it is two, I would be playing with one rod for various baits, and using the other on my baited area.

I think Nash are a unique thread to themselves. I have swapped Solar and Fox indicator bits around from memory, but wouldn't buy Nash as I couldn't find anything matching thread

I tend to use a bait consistently all the way through. I get on a food source bait and use it straight through the year, no change for winter. That bait also needs to be attractive as I will use it on a runs water on occasional trips as well. In summer I might add in particles, but in winter it is boilies alone, albeit some are crushed, crumbled or just chopped. My summer particle mix is Pigeon conditioner, Pigeon Mix, the two are not the same. Pigeon conditioner is the tiny seeds, Pigeon Mix is the maize, black eyes, maples, etc. The Pigeon Mix needs 24 hour soak and boil, the pigeon conditioner is pour boiling water over and leave overnight. Dependant on water, I might use some particle hookbait, easy that, it is known as sweetcorn. I do always keep some pop-ups in my bait bag, and one stands out head and shoulders above almost everything else, Garlic Oil and Spice flavour pop-ups. I have caught on them when even the bright yellow Pineapple whatever has failed! My runs water, those Garlic Spice pop-ups caught almost every pop-up caught fish this year, and I tried a fair few others.

It did used to be day ticket years ago when I lived in Norfolk. There is a waiting list for membership, and the website gives you joining instructions, I think starting and fishing usually June to June. http://charitylakes.co.uk/ Wamps on here I think is a member, but I haven't seen him online for a while.

I did have a large carrier bag of foam nuggets as it is often used as packing material. I have checked dissolve time in the past of how it breaks down so I do know how it should be ok. One thing I will say with rig foam, it preferably don't hook it. Fold it around the hook/hair and lick and stick it. That way it should come free of the hook. Hooking it some takes 12 hours to dissolve.

Shelf life baits have moved on from the high preservatives used in most years ago. Most shelf life baits are now preserved with a glycerol sugar syrup rather than 'unnatural' preservatives. It is finding the companies that do use the same bait frozen as shelf life. Freezer baits boiled, dried then frozen, the same base mix as shelf life which are dried, dipped in the glycerol sugar syrup then dried. However not every company does this. I know Crafty Catcher, Rod Hutchinson are treated in this way, and I think Nash does, however I do try to avoid Nash baits, (personally, the less money I put in his pocket the better). Some shelf lifes are even dried totally with no preservatives, but they are lighter and rock hard. Rock hard baits are not all a bad thing!

I have a couple of locals, Birds, Breakaway and Markhams. To be honest, Markhams has the nicest attitude, but is the smallest shop with the least stock, however it is the one I enjoy visiting most. Birds, massive amount of stock, loads of choice, but only one decent member of staff who I enjoy talking to. Breakaway, hmmm, I do dislike ignorant people, one of theirs is very, so I do minimal shopping there, unless I have to! Saying that, the deadbait freezer is probably the best stocked.

Your Dangly bits should most definitely be removed! First thing in the morning is spotting time, not baiting up time😉 I have been out on a lake in a boat first thing in the morning over my baited spots, and if I didn't catch the night before, my bait is usually still there untouched. There are some occasions when I had been sussed, or a tangled rig prevented a take, but very few. Carp and other fish cannot visit every spot in the lake that has food on it every night, and they simply can't eat it all. Add to that night time darkness takes, they cannot see the rig, so it is suck and blow ejection, not visibly avoid. Carp do not always feed at night on every water, I have had numbers of fish during the day. Some are night waters, but some are definitely waters where the carp will feed during the day. If you do catch first thing, the only bait to put in is with a PVA bag or stringer, don't be spodding loads more in. Even cattying baits in can be enough to spook some fish. The splash of a lead and PVA is one splash. Cattied or throwing sticked baits is numbers of splashes, as for the spod/Spomb... If I was turning up for a day session then all my baiting is nearly always done with PVA, a single chuck with a stringer or bag. It is very rare I spod in. It is extremely unfair on other anglers, disrespectful and plain ignorant. If no-one else is on the lake, maybe I will if I know the fish respond to loads of bait, and maybe if I am baiting up for later, but most definitely not around other anglers, Just a few first light fish:

At times I have had to leave a bait in place for 2 days before getting a take. It is rare I get tangled on the cast, using foam and PVA means I can prevent tangles. Crayfish can mess up a rig, especially with soft braided hooklinks. A word on corn foam nuggets, they can take up to 12 hours to dissolve, even with water current. My advice is do not hook them. Wrap them around the hook, and lick and stick the final edge. How often I recast depends on the water. A runs water where I am fishing for a day is a totally different kettle of fish to a larger 'big fish' water that I am on for a few days. Also having a dog that I walk round the lake first thing and take for a walk in the afternoon means I usually recast twice a day. I try not to cast out when the boats are out. I don't like being accused of aiming for them, even if I think it... Weed moves! In summer it can actually grow or rest over your lines and hookbait overnight. On most waters I prefer to recast for the night before other anglers, my disturbance is done, out of the way, and other anglers then do their recasting and move the fish onto other areas, hopefully my bait. Golden Paws point about corkball pop-ups, I had the same problem. For some reason corkball pop-ups tend to take on water, maybe through an imperfection or hole in the skin, the dental floss cutting the skin, or small fish picking at them, and then break free as the boiled paste dissolves. You may be far better using pop-up mix pop-ups, which are harder. Crays can also break them free. If it is the knot going, I create a uni-knot loop, put the pop-up in, and pull tight. If it is a complete tie on job, I then tie it to the rig ring, hair loop whatever with a double overhand and lighter blob the tag ends. If crays are a problem, and ripping pop-ups, I mesh them and tie them on above a bottom bait on the hair. Harpz makes a point about not recasting during bite times. I do sometimes do it on purpose. If you get the feeling things aren't right, your hookbait is being ignored, covered in silt or weed, or even 'sussed', then a recast with an old hookbait and fresh bait stringer, can get you a take. The fresh stringer is the danger, the old hookbait is safe. I have had a number of takes doing that, within minutes of the bait being cast.

I'm always wary of old stock, but it is sunlight that weakens line, along with the stretching and abrading in the water. I used to change line religiously twice a year, my Sensor was being fragged on lilies, weed, (with snails and particles on the fronds), gravel and mussels, even buoy chains. This year I have had to replace line twice when boats caught it, blooming idiots sailing too close to the bank!

I use 15lb mono with a shockleader to get the distance.

I do add a tablespoonful of brown sugar to the water per kilo of maize as I soak it. In terms of catching, I found no improvement using fermented maize over freshly prepared. In fact if anything, going in still warm worked best for me.

Must admit I think The Ronnie rig is more fish and landing net friendly than the 360 rig, although both present the bait very similarly. I know Frank (Levigsp) really rates the 360, although as has been said before by myself and others when netting a fish, make sure the fish goes to the bottom of the landing net, because if the swivel/hook eye catches in the mesh it can make a mess of the fishes mouth. I think the movement on the 360, being able to spin 360 (d'oh😖) is better than the movement of a slowed down covered swivel of The Ronnie rig. The 360, is also easier to tie up. Presentation, both are going to be very close to the lakebed, both can be presented as a hinge/combi style rig with a stiff or supple boom to get over the substrate and reduce tangles. I have caught on both, but the Jingly Jangly rig as I think it was Keith Jenkins named the 360 originally is the better hooker, dependant on hook you use, whereas the Ronnie more hooks are suitable. For the Ronnie, I use Solar 101's and Gardner Muggas, whereas the 360, I think the curve shank patterns are best. Both give 'reset' chances after an aborted take or bird interest, (as many pop-up rigs do) compared to blowback rigs using tubing which may be triggered and fail to hook if birds have played with the bait.

My thoughts, a running lead works best with a totally slack line, and doesn't necessarily need a long hooklink as the line is free running through the run ring. I use 3oz on running leads, not saying that is the only weight to use, but sometimes you may find heavier is needed. If the bottom is a bit mucky, try adding a lead link, that will stop the lead sinking into it and dragging the hook and bait into it. The bleeps could be signs you are getting done, it may be worth playing (increasing) the hair length. I found on a water I used to fish with running leads, I was having silver fish hitting the line between the bottom and where it entered the water, a series of bleeps, then nothing. A carp was quite unmistakeable, bleep, bleep, bleeeeeeeeeeeeeep non stop.

Marcus has a thread in the New to Carp.com section of the forum here so I have moved this into UK Carp fishing. A fresh thread on the joys and hopes of the weekend Sadly I am working a late today, and picked up an agency shift in Cambridge for tomorrow, so that cuts Saturday or Sunday to Tuesday, my usual 3 dayer out. Added with a new girlfriend, I don't think a few days fishing would cut the ice... I may be lucky enough to get out Sunday, maybe Monday but it would be days only, although if Rachel fancied a day out, and came as well, may be an excuse to take her and her son out for the day.

I honestly can't remember, think the repair and p&p was no more than £20 though. It was over 5years ago😖😉