salokcinnodrog

This is what matters ☝️ 
Stuff the high pressure, over subscribed fishing of today, tolerating many annoyances just to chase a number - madness looking back!
The atmosphere and wildlife is my new target!

I'm kind of doing the opposite , Highy , in that I'm renewing my club ticket where there may be some 20lbers .
It's like Nick says " it's my happy place " . Carp Anglers are in the minority at my club water ( it's predominately Match Anglers )  , so I feel I'm not competing with other Carp Anglers while trying to outwit the Carp ; and I enjoy the wildlife .
I can always pay for a day ticket at my local runs water where I stand a much better chance of a 20 , or maybe if I believe the hype , a 30 .
Sometimes I think I enjoy the planning / anticipation of going fishing more than actually sitting lakeside waiting for a bite ? .
😃 

Not quite a view from the bivvy door but from the swim to the next poke hole, gotta be one of the most carpy paths ever? - would love to see others.  😎

The things we do in search of the next nice carp.
The reservoir I fish is full of water atm, we cant launch from the sailing club, so have to barrow several loads through loads of mud to get to the boats. My average time from the load up until being all set up is around 5 hours??? Crazy. Considering it's only 30 minutes away from home.
Enjoy and good luck mate.

I would normally wish you all the best of luck.. but iv sent the lot to Arsenal tonight.. and their in need of it mate  😏
A fishing trip is always better with proper coffee 👍

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Sadly Mate, pretty much not being able to work life is nearly all fishing for me at the moment. I know it sounds strange, but I hate not working. Boogered back, hip and shoulder put that to bed. I hope my body can straighten up after the new hip!
 
My car is only until its MOT in August, hopefully I can get PIP approved and all back pay since September last year before then.

Until Saturday.
Was a horrible experience pushing 2 barrow loads of gear again, but until the track is dry, I'd much rather not get the car stuck. Should have dried out by Saturday so I can load up into the car

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

Not in any hurry to cast in, so set up the bivvy and chilling with a coffee

I suppose my capture of pawprint my target for 4 years deserves to be on this thread so here he is from a different angle. 
Next pic will be of my next target a pb common if I’m ever lucky enough to catch one that is 🤞
 

Well  the phrase " it's my happy place " sums it all up for me .
It's great that that you are managing to still get out despite your health issues , Nick , you tough old git, but perhaps you might have less dramas next time 😁 ? .
😃

@Danny Hearn,
I love reading your posts, even if I do have to merge a few into one, 😂 
 
I have been trying to think about my largest common, think it's 28lb, although I know I've had plenty between 20 and 25lb. I do prefer mirrors, although the 2 biggest commons in my syndicate are probably closer to 45 than 28...
 
Talking of my syndicate, even after the result of last week and the trials and tribulations I want to get back there straight away, it's my 'happy place'.
 
Last weeks trials:
I got to the lake on Tuesday, 1st time in around 5 weeks after car problems, where the ECU failed, meaning I had to write it off. 
 
So Tuesday I took the car round to the track round the back and promptly sunk down to the axles in soft mud.
I hadn't put my barrow in the new car, so it took me some 7trips walking my gear ¼ of a mile to the spot I fancied. It took a mate coming down in his Discovery to pull me out.
On Wednesday another angler came down in his van, absolutely no problems over the mud and set up around 250metres to my left. He packed up Thursday and got straight out again with no problems.
Thursday afternoon, another angler comes down in his van no problems and sets up nearby to my left.
Friday morning I had that wake-up call, a 23.12 mirror, so I stayed put thinking a few more would come along.
On Saturday morning, Jonathon packs up, drives past again no problem.
So after packing up I went to get my car from the boathouse car park, went up the slope to the track and managed to get stuck again.
Another 3 trips with my gear back to the car helped by a mate, and then with 2 more syndicate members, a quad bike and Ranger got my car out.
Stood by the car, just about to load it up, I had either an oxygen or sugar crash and passed out, just went straight over face first. A mug of coke and a few biscuits, 15-20minutes sat down and I was OK. A very careful drive home Saturday.
 
So this year's plans, keep fishing, be careful of my health, stop pushing it with my hip and back problems and enjoy what I can do. I'd like to get into the originals, the new stock are nice, beautiful fish, but the originals are proper quality.
 
 
 
 

I think that this proves one catapult or bait delivery system is not the answer to every problem.
 
I've got a Drennan Boiliepult and a Rod Hutchinson Boilie Catapult, both have had the pouch changed to a smaller one, which I can get 4 15mm or 3 18mm boilies in at a push, or a small handful of floating dog biscuits.
The Boiliepult has been my goto for years, maximum range about 50-60metres, for 3 boilies, a little further for singles. I reckon I tend to use it more for floaters than boilies! Only problem is elastics are getting harder to get.
The RH one I bought around 4months ago I guess (maybe a little longer) has had limited use so far.
 
I do find that I use my throwing stick more for boilies, putting 5 or 6 in at a time to get a decent spread at that 50-60metres, or single 18mm boilies to 100metres.
I've been Spombing boilies out recently when I want to keep them tight. As good as I am with the catty and stick, wind veer, mishapes or splitting baits (with the stick) or seagulls mean baiting can go awry.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Oops!
Got a load of back paid ESA this week, so ended up getting a load more bait, Rod Hutchinson Infusion, Monster Crab and KMG, and although the Fox Warrior landing net is still good, I bought myself the RH Sceptre one piece landing net as I do like the idea of having 2...

I think in weed that 'blowing the hook mid run', is where it hasn't penetrated past the point, and falls out, the hook may be masked by weed. A barbed hook is often worst for this, so a barbless or crimped barb hook can be a better hooker.
A size 6 is the smallest I would go, try Gardner Muggas or Solar 101's, on a Multi-rig.
 
 
I really don't like helicopter setups in weed, bite indication is 'slow', hookholds can be funny, and lost fish can be the result.
I've found that inline or pendant setups far better at hooking fish.
 
Try to 'streamline' your rigs, a counterbalance shot can get caught up in weed,  where a match anglers olivette has no 'edge'. 
I try not to use any balance weight, the hook matched to the bait size, so I frequently trim pop-ups to get it exactly right.

I'm not one for dropping leads, rarely found the need even on very weedy waters.
 
I am as close to my rods as possible, and have my alarms sensitivity very high on my Delkims (other vibration alarms are available). 
Try not to let the fish get into the weed in the first place, stepping back to strike and play fish helps, and can actually pull them 'off balance'.
I had one fish last season that as I struck you could see it turn on its side as I had unbalanced it, and 2minutes later it was in the net, a 23lb common that usually fought much better.
Admittedly I was fishing about 10metres out, so it never really got up any steam.
Hook size, I'm usually on 4 and 6's, and bait in weed tends to be balanced to just lift the hook up, so buoyant, but not mega pop-up.
In the weed short hairs, bait tight to the back of the hook, so a D-rig, ring on the shank or multi-rig.
 
Personal opinion, I found a standard Ronnie rig too heavy. The counterweight could pull the hook and bait down into the weed, reducing hook-ups as the hook is masked.

I've found Raja store in Cavendish Street, Ipswich to be good for semolina, flours and other reasonably priced base mix ingredients. My first hand rolled boilies were ingredients from there (semolina, soy) and some fishmeal from Copdock Mill. I seem to remember catching on them too.
Doesn't have to be carp taxed to work.

I'm not one for dropping leads, rarely found the need even on very weedy waters.
 
I am as close to my rods as possible, and have my alarms sensitivity very high on my Delkims (other vibration alarms are available). 
Try not to let the fish get into the weed in the first place, stepping back to strike and play fish helps, and can actually pull them 'off balance'.
I had one fish last season that as I struck you could see it turn on its side as I had unbalanced it, and 2minutes later it was in the net, a 23lb common that usually fought much better.
Admittedly I was fishing about 10metres out, so it never really got up any steam.
Hook size, I'm usually on 4 and 6's, and bait in weed tends to be balanced to just lift the hook up, so buoyant, but not mega pop-up.
In the weed short hairs, bait tight to the back of the hook, so a D-rig, ring on the shank or multi-rig.
 
Personal opinion, I found a standard Ronnie rig too heavy. The counterweight could pull the hook and bait down into the weed, reducing hook-ups as the hook is masked.

@Danny Hearn,
I love reading your posts, even if I do have to merge a few into one, 😂 
 
I have been trying to think about my largest common, think it's 28lb, although I know I've had plenty between 20 and 25lb. I do prefer mirrors, although the 2 biggest commons in my syndicate are probably closer to 45 than 28...
 
Talking of my syndicate, even after the result of last week and the trials and tribulations I want to get back there straight away, it's my 'happy place'.
 
Last weeks trials:
I got to the lake on Tuesday, 1st time in around 5 weeks after car problems, where the ECU failed, meaning I had to write it off. 
 
So Tuesday I took the car round to the track round the back and promptly sunk down to the axles in soft mud.
I hadn't put my barrow in the new car, so it took me some 7trips walking my gear ¼ of a mile to the spot I fancied. It took a mate coming down in his Discovery to pull me out.
On Wednesday another angler came down in his van, absolutely no problems over the mud and set up around 250metres to my left. He packed up Thursday and got straight out again with no problems.
Thursday afternoon, another angler comes down in his van no problems and sets up nearby to my left.
Friday morning I had that wake-up call, a 23.12 mirror, so I stayed put thinking a few more would come along.
On Saturday morning, Jonathon packs up, drives past again no problem.
So after packing up I went to get my car from the boathouse car park, went up the slope to the track and managed to get stuck again.
Another 3 trips with my gear back to the car helped by a mate, and then with 2 more syndicate members, a quad bike and Ranger got my car out.
Stood by the car, just about to load it up, I had either an oxygen or sugar crash and passed out, just went straight over face first. A mug of coke and a few biscuits, 15-20minutes sat down and I was OK. A very careful drive home Saturday.
 
So this year's plans, keep fishing, be careful of my health, stop pushing it with my hip and back problems and enjoy what I can do. I'd like to get into the originals, the new stock are nice, beautiful fish, but the originals are proper quality.
 
 
 
 

@Danny Hearn,
I love reading your posts, even if I do have to merge a few into one, 😂 
 
I have been trying to think about my largest common, think it's 28lb, although I know I've had plenty between 20 and 25lb. I do prefer mirrors, although the 2 biggest commons in my syndicate are probably closer to 45 than 28...
 
Talking of my syndicate, even after the result of last week and the trials and tribulations I want to get back there straight away, it's my 'happy place'.
 
Last weeks trials:
I got to the lake on Tuesday, 1st time in around 5 weeks after car problems, where the ECU failed, meaning I had to write it off. 
 
So Tuesday I took the car round to the track round the back and promptly sunk down to the axles in soft mud.
I hadn't put my barrow in the new car, so it took me some 7trips walking my gear ¼ of a mile to the spot I fancied. It took a mate coming down in his Discovery to pull me out.
On Wednesday another angler came down in his van, absolutely no problems over the mud and set up around 250metres to my left. He packed up Thursday and got straight out again with no problems.
Thursday afternoon, another angler comes down in his van no problems and sets up nearby to my left.
Friday morning I had that wake-up call, a 23.12 mirror, so I stayed put thinking a few more would come along.
On Saturday morning, Jonathon packs up, drives past again no problem.
So after packing up I went to get my car from the boathouse car park, went up the slope to the track and managed to get stuck again.
Another 3 trips with my gear back to the car helped by a mate, and then with 2 more syndicate members, a quad bike and Ranger got my car out.
Stood by the car, just about to load it up, I had either an oxygen or sugar crash and passed out, just went straight over face first. A mug of coke and a few biscuits, 15-20minutes sat down and I was OK. A very careful drive home Saturday.
 
So this year's plans, keep fishing, be careful of my health, stop pushing it with my hip and back problems and enjoy what I can do. I'd like to get into the originals, the new stock are nice, beautiful fish, but the originals are proper quality.
 
 
 
 

Hi Newmarket 
thanks for your reply. I too consider myself as someone who rambles on 🤣. And I’m probably going to do that right now. I do try to keep things short but I’m no good at it at all.
Personally I don’t pay too much attention to my rig style I am happy to use the same rig style I been tying up since I first started back at carp fishing coming up 5 years ago and all that is is one I copied from terry Hearn on YouTube. His blowback rig. Not much to it. I do like how there’s no metal bits near the hook like with ronnie rigs and spinner rigs etc but I can’t say there not good as I have never used anything else apart from what I use. Only difference in how I set up this rig compared to how terry sets his up is that I trap the hair with a bit of shrink tube inline with the barb( I think terry says this in that video) as I prefer to use wafters as in recent years I been fishing this silty lake and I don’t like the thought of a bottom bait working its way into the silt especially as fish rip up the bottom and before long I suspect the hook bait is covered, even with my wafter set up I suspect this happens. Also I like to make my hookbait critically balanced and prefer it to sink as slow as possible. I do however pay a lot of attention to how sharp my hooks are and will only use kamacura wide gape x in size 4 and they are scrutinised constantly and I will never just say oh that’s alright! Maybe on a runs water I’m not so fussy.
My hookbaits are always 14 mm barrels,(most people will say that’s a large hook for such a small bait)  flavour and colour matching my prebait feed with a matching flavour and colour piece of pop up on top just to help critically balance it I have about 1 cm gap maximum between my hook and bait closer to half a cm to be honest but again I don’t pay to much attention to it, and that’s about it for my rig choice. I will add a picture below. 
As for the lead arrangement I have fallen in love with the helisafe system that Korda bought out so I buy them and attach them to my leadcore when I have a leadcore splicing session which is rare because they last so long I have actually been using the same 3 for over 2 years now😊. again all tieing up jobs just copied from YouTube.
With the helisafe system and how it works I like to use short hook links, I have never really measured them until right now for this ranting episode and there about 8inches long which is longer than I suspected.
 
I will only use a 3 and half ounce lead minimum now days and my preferred choice is a flat pear. Sometimes if you need to cast distance obv a more distance specific shaped lead is what you have to use so it’s all swings and roundabouts if you don’t get it just ask me. 
In case you didn’t know, but I suspect you do, this is a helicopter setup I’m using, I don’t really use it because of the benefits of using a helicopter set up I only like it because of the efficient drop off of the lead and quite often have both my beeds right down low on the leadcore just above the helisafe so really I’m using it like a lead clip set up but with that added benefit of dropping that lead really efficiently and never loosing leads because of a tail rubber loosening up on me on the cast. I have questioned myself on whether it’s really that necessary to drop the lead all the time I don’t really think it is but when your fishing for a few bites a session I would hate to be thinking after a hook pull (which can still happen obviously when dropping the lead) that what if I had dropped the lead would I have lost it ? So because of this I still use it. I tie my mainline onto the leader with a palomar knot. I hope I have covered everything from leadcore down.
 
I hope I have explained my rig choice as I didn’t include that it in my first extra long rant, as I said I don’t feel it’s that important to my style of fishing. I’m sure whatever rig you use will trip them up if you do all the other things I do find important and I’m going to try just list them now instead of write it all out again as I’m sure I wrote it out in my first talk about plans for this year but if I didn’t or there’s anything anyone would like me to elaborate on or explain why I do this or that feel free to ask but just expect a long reply😎.
Things I think are important to my success on this lake and others. 
1. Prebaiting. I like to prebait regularly. Doesn’t have to be much I normally chuck them half a kilo of free food 2-3 times per week on a chosen spot. During the first few weeks of prebaiting if you want to try this yourself I would spray a bit more than half a kilo maybe a kilo over a few different spots around the lake. Aiming to get fish to try 1 bait out here or there and slowly think it’s safe and start searching it out. 
2. Prebait preparation. I will never chuck freshly unthawed boilies into the lake. I will always wash them out for at least 24 hours previously or until I think they have soaked up as much water as they possibly can. This is an attempt to try my best to mimic my wafter hookbait in boyancy and also stop the food sucking up any of that dirty silt smell taste and make it as lovely as possible. (I didn’t include this next little twist in my first rant I don’t think) After this I drain all the water there sitting in out put about a quarter of them in a bag and add a dash of matching dip flavour to liven a quarter of them back up a bit, BUT,  it’s important to not overdo this. This is my own little thing I started doing I’m happy to admit where I copy something as I have already said and all I can relate this next little edge to is when we eat a pack of crisps, everyone likes to find that crisp with that extra bit of flavour right! We search them out don’t we? We will still eat the other less flavoursome crisps and because we’re humans we might save them flavour full ones until the end but In my mind I cant imagine animals/fish doing the same, I know my dog eats his meat before his biscuit if I don’t mix it up enough so that’s how I thought of this little twist 😉. Basically number 3 will show you how we then take advantage of this.
3. Extremely flavoured hook baits. If my little plan on getting them wanting the little extra flavoured baits works then this next thing is what gets me extra quick pick ups. See even more importantly in spring and winter they aren’t eating loads but at the same time I want there to be bait about in my chosen area a lot of the time especially when I’m not there, therefore in my circumstance(can’t see the bottom ) you never know how much bait is on your spot when you drop in and it worry’s me that there could be too much there potentially slowing down your chance of a pick up. In my opinion you can really overdo it with flavouring if you glug up your free offerings too much but when it comes to hookbaits in this particular circumstance ( where they are used to the flavour of your bait) I don’t think you can overdo it because they never get to eat your hook-bait (over-flavoured anything ain’t nice) I just imagine that extra flavoured hookbait leaking off reminding them of what they been having recently and maybe that’s a special 1 I hope they think and they home in in it 😉.
4. back leads. I will always use back leads if I feel it could benefit me. If I’m out on a big pit with gravel bars out in front of me and I’m fishing long distance and my lines are going up and down I won’t bother because it’s pointless but when you can use them and it’s worth it just do it don’t be lazy. If I’m using a pod I pretty much always do it to avoid when a fish is fighting under my rod tip picking up my other lines that are cocked and ready for action! You could pull a line back a tiny bit and it was sitting nice and suddenly it’s dragged against a rock and mashed your hook point or been dragged into a bit of debris and now you have ( if your like me) lost confidence in your trap and will have to recast , potentially spook fish in your area and lower your chances of fast success. Times like this is when good quality bite alarms come into play. For me personally I love knowing that my line is travelling upwards from a back lead pinned to the deck toward my leadcore! I have mad confidence when I fish like this.
5. Stealth. Again if you read my first rant about plans for this year I’m sure I talk about stealth and how for me on this particular lake it’s extremely important if you want stuff to happen quick. I’m talking legs aching where you’re using your knees to cushion every step avoiding vibrations into the water I’m talking walking around so slow that every task takes longer. It’s like a mindset that you have to get used to and it’s quite a task but you gotta ask yourself do you want a capture and ok it might not work a few times but when you put the work in and it does work you will be hooked on it and after that it won’t feel like such a task. I didn’t include this bit in my last essay where I told you all I captured my target fish but let me tell you know during setting up on that night I had depressive thoughts, I had some little angel in 1 ear saying it’s worth it your getting drenched but don’t worry keep positive and I also had a little demon in the other ear telling me your wasting your time what are you doing it’s savage weather your kids and missis at home and your gonna be going home drenched and gonna have to dry out your stuff with nothing to show for it. And on another day that demon might have been right but on this day ( and others in the past)  he was wrong and I was rewarded. 
 
6. Dropping in at right time. This really should be up at number 1 if we was doing it in order of importance! I take a lot of notice of the weather conditions and then apply them to the lake I’m fishing and then make a choice on if I should go set up or should I just prebait and hopefully at the same time watch and learn. In my limited experience I have learned that the absolute best conditions are as follows, low angler pressure, low atmosphere pressure, cloud cover, warmer the water the better to an extent( I have been shocked to see carp shoaled up in shade in extreme heat! I have only ever seen this shoaling up behaviour in winter previously! I see this last year when we hit 40degrees Celsius! I was only out chucking free bait to carp in a lake that I I can’t actually fish for I just use this place to see there reaction to my different little experiments  with bait and I learned what happens when conditions get that harsh be it warm or cold they seem to act the same way and was shoaling up)anyway so back to prime conditions we had water temps, angler pressure, air Pressure cloud cover, moving on , dissolved oxygen in the water (winds influence) time of year- daylight hours etc, natural food activities, syndicates individual feeding schedules, other anglers baiting habits, in my personal opinion moon phases mean a lot, all these things together can make a difference to if you can have the session of a lifetime or not.
7. The quality of your bait. If you read my first essay on my plans for this year I’m sure I talk about the importance of using quality bait. I talk about my experience with my friend who didn’t see how important using quality bait could be and also at that time how I didn’t really know how important it can be. In my opinion now  it really does matter! Especially if your on a campaign and the fish have other options it’s even more important but if I remember right I did talk about how even on a relatively quick session I feel it doesn’t take long for carp to realise how good is the food they are eating.
im pretty sure that’s all I got to say on why I think I was successful.  
if anyone is interested I only talk from my own experiences now. I said I watched terry Hearn videos etc that was the truth that was then but now I watch nothing. I kept my mouth shut for a long time and just listened and learned taking everything in along the way. A few members on this chat room really helped me out in particular salinkodrogg.
I urge everyone to do the same until the time comes that you need to start taking the lead yourself. I am a little bit worried that I sound like an [censored] hole thinking I know it all right now after this little essay but after reading you guys responses to my comment saying it seems nobody is interested I got a little buzz on about it. 1 of you said I had given you the drive to regroup and go hard again and that made my fuc#ing day and that’s better than any capture for me to be honest!
when I wrote out that last essay and showed my capture of pawprint that I clearly said I wanted and spoke about my plan I was kind of ready to stop talking on this chat room and planned to never come on here again and just keep myself to myself but when I came on and read some lovely things written by you guys I now plan to go attack a new water and I will keep you all updated on how it goes and we will see if I deserve to feel good about what I’m doing. I want a new pb  common this year that’s my next target and you lot all gave me drive to do that so thank you all for that. 
 
Danny Hearn signing out 
wish you all the best 👊

 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
I really like how you said reading my stuff made you feel motivated. I swear to you now you saying that was more of a buzz for me than the actual capture mate. Will keep you posted and feel free to message me anytime, not that I’m a pro or anything bacuase I’m not just yet. My pb common is 28lb I plan to beat that this year so that’s my next little mission and yea I will keep you posted 👊
Danny 
 
Hi mate
 
thanks for your support and thoughtfull suggestions. 
no at the moment I dont make my own boilies. 
 
you mentioned essential oils? I would like you to elaborate on this if you can please as I’m not sure what you mean or what they are and I like to learn! 
cheers 
Danny 

 
 
 
 
Sounds like you are in some sort of recovery! Was you ill? Thank you for saying it’s nice to hear people out fishing I hope you can do the same soon 👊