salokcinnodrog

Welcome to carp.com.
My plan to enjoy what fishing I can do.

Jealousy:
Those who blank due to their lack of effort, watercraft or skill will sometimes break rules to try to make up for it.
They can also be the first person to complain about someone breaking rules. 
Rules themselves
Some are in place for fish or angler welfare, some are misguided, some for genuine reasons.
No particles, no peanuts and tiger for instance could be to prevent incorrectly or non prepared baits, overuse/ too much going in. It can be to stop inexperienced or ignorant* anglers using unprepared particles, and potentially damaging fish.
*Ignorant in this case is used as someone who does not know how to prepare them, not as someone who simply doesn't care.
 
All fish captures must be recorded or given to the syndicate manager, on the website or Facebook group. This one can be open to interpretation and is one I'm used to, as it is in place on my syndicate. We have to put pics up, but we are given a 'time', of the end of the fortnight. We do tend to stretch it as much as we can as if you have baited and worked a swim up, you don’t want a swim jumper going off your hard work. 
Some people can recognise a particular swim on a lake by background features, if the picture is straight on the site they jump in as soon as the successful angler has left, stopping the successful angler getting back in there.
My own pictures I might put straight on my FB newsfeed, I've got angler friends who might be interested in my catches, but I can hold onto them to put them on the syndicate page. Not everyone in the syndicate is on my friends list, although some are, (the ones I trust). The syndicate manager is also aware of this, so gave us grace as long as he knows about the capture.
 
No plastic or fake baits. The obvious worry of using a bait that does not break down in the event of a break-off. I've seen fish tethered from picking up plastic baits still attached to a length of line. At least a real bait can come off or break down. Plus the pollution from a piece of plastic.
 
I can't claim to be innocent as I am sure, no positive, I have broken fishery rules. For example on Nazeing there was a 'No wading or swimming' rule. I broke that a few times going in to retrieve snagged fish or end tackle. One fish I had to play out from an undercut bank to my right, the only way was to be in the water. The Bailiff actually saw me, but his view was that the fish was not left wrapped around tree roots and possibly tethered. 
 
A syndicate is only as good as its members, one member who is a troublemaker can spoil it for everyone else, or just alienate themselves. My advice, avoid or ignore them. If you have to keep to yourself, be polite, just don't give anything away, or don't tell everything. That may mean cutting out background on your pictures, baiting up when no-one is around, or occasionally passing on a blind lead.
Passing on a blind lead; a funny one. I was pre-baiting a new swim as I left when someone I knew who was a swim jumper was on the lake watching me with binoculars. I swapped buckets and Spombed in a bucket of floating dog biscuits in molehill soil to take them to the bottom. By the time I had gotten back to the car park with my gear he had jumped into the swim. Sadly he blanked and got plagued with ducks...

Welcome to Carp.com, and to winter fishing. I've got the same problem in not catching.
 
You've picked the hardest time of the year to be fishing for carp.
Choose your water, make sure you fish a lake that has fish in it, has winter form, and easy to find fish. On both of those, there is absolutely no point in fishing the wrong place, a lake with no fish in it, or a swim where the carp are not present.
 
Fishing in winter is hard at the best of times, don't overbait; you don't want to be putting much bait in, and most pellets, and some groundbaits are too oily to attract in winter. Boilies are not the best bait, at any time, but in winter you will only need a few to last a whole day, quite literally your hookbait plus 1!
Low oil pellets, Sweetcorn, worms or maggots may be a better bait.
 
The best carp or any fish catcher equipment you have available is your eyes, look for the fish; tiny shows, rolls, fins breaking surface or even bubbles or flat spots in the waves.
Don't think that a 3oz lead cast out on a carp rod is the only method to catch carp. A basic float rod setup feeding a few maggots or pellets every few minutes around the float, or a feeder/ledger rod casting a small feeder or plain lead with maggots or worm on the hook.
 
 
 
 

Believe it or not, 3lb TC rods should be hitting around 150metres, although it is very much technique.
For years I was fishing 2.75lb TC Century SP's at ranges from the margins to 130metres, and now I'm using 3.25lb TC tods from margins to 160metres. One set of rods.
 
Any rod, since the advent of carbon in rods, you want around a lead or total casting weight close to 1/2oz above the Test Curve rating in pounds. So a 2.5lb TC rod, 3oz is about right, 3lb, 3.5oz and so on.
Stiffer rods are strictly for casting, definitely not fish playing.

Welcome to Carp.com, and to winter fishing. I've got the same problem in not catching.
 
You've picked the hardest time of the year to be fishing for carp.
Choose your water, make sure you fish a lake that has fish in it, has winter form, and easy to find fish. On both of those, there is absolutely no point in fishing the wrong place, a lake with no fish in it, or a swim where the carp are not present.
 
Fishing in winter is hard at the best of times, don't overbait; you don't want to be putting much bait in, and most pellets, and some groundbaits are too oily to attract in winter. Boilies are not the best bait, at any time, but in winter you will only need a few to last a whole day, quite literally your hookbait plus 1!
Low oil pellets, Sweetcorn, worms or maggots may be a better bait.
 
The best carp or any fish catcher equipment you have available is your eyes, look for the fish; tiny shows, rolls, fins breaking surface or even bubbles or flat spots in the waves.
Don't think that a 3oz lead cast out on a carp rod is the only method to catch carp. A basic float rod setup feeding a few maggots or pellets every few minutes around the float, or a feeder/ledger rod casting a small feeder or plain lead with maggots or worm on the hook.
 
 
 
 

Welcome to Carp.com, and to winter fishing. I've got the same problem in not catching.
 
You've picked the hardest time of the year to be fishing for carp.
Choose your water, make sure you fish a lake that has fish in it, has winter form, and easy to find fish. On both of those, there is absolutely no point in fishing the wrong place, a lake with no fish in it, or a swim where the carp are not present.
 
Fishing in winter is hard at the best of times, don't overbait; you don't want to be putting much bait in, and most pellets, and some groundbaits are too oily to attract in winter. Boilies are not the best bait, at any time, but in winter you will only need a few to last a whole day, quite literally your hookbait plus 1!
Low oil pellets, Sweetcorn, worms or maggots may be a better bait.
 
The best carp or any fish catcher equipment you have available is your eyes, look for the fish; tiny shows, rolls, fins breaking surface or even bubbles or flat spots in the waves.
Don't think that a 3oz lead cast out on a carp rod is the only method to catch carp. A basic float rod setup feeding a few maggots or pellets every few minutes around the float, or a feeder/ledger rod casting a small feeder or plain lead with maggots or worm on the hook.
 
 
 
 

Over years then they probably do 
it is so gradual would you even notice unless you picked up an  exact same rod in a brand new u used condition
 
 
 
 

Believe it or not, 3lb TC rods should be hitting around 150metres, although it is very much technique.
For years I was fishing 2.75lb TC Century SP's at ranges from the margins to 130metres, and now I'm using 3.25lb TC tods from margins to 160metres. One set of rods.
 
Any rod, since the advent of carbon in rods, you want around a lead or total casting weight close to 1/2oz above the Test Curve rating in pounds. So a 2.5lb TC rod, 3oz is about right, 3lb, 3.5oz and so on.
Stiffer rods are strictly for casting, definitely not fish playing.

I just tested the https://www.alacarp.co.uk/a-la-carp-shop/Terminal-Tackle-c107009585 mesh in the margins of the lake, no residue, and a breakdown time of 2mins 20seconds when full of dry Vitalin in a squash ball sized lump.

Gardner tripod and Dinmores pole roller rest

Gardner tripod and Dinmores pole roller rest

Gardner tripod and Dinmores pole roller rest

A PVA bag, with everything in, hook, bait, rig and , then filled up with boilie crumb, breadcrumb and ground Vitalin.
I could have packed it a bit tighter, but it's only a 40metre cast, so that's plenty good enough.

Only bought Sunday....from the show.
https://www.carpking.co.uk/collections/pva/products/pva-bag-loader-kit
Try 1 out later 👍

The Alacarp PVA bags I use are melting fine. I know that I can't afford a miscast or I'm just reeling in a ball of sludge where I've licked and sticked.
 
Must confess I've not used the Gardner ones yet as I've got another 3 or 4 packs  from Dave, and I don't want to have to experiment with a different brand.

i love it when my daughter (13) comes with me on a day session as she is now an expert as filling my solid bags with goo and when bored has been known to add some to her maggots when she is pole fishing for silvers
i get her to make up the bags now and then she sits there squeezing away, like you say teenagers can be trained just takes time 🤣

i tie my bags seperately with a bit of PVA tape as although i have the loaders i could never get it right no matter how hard i tried, i find that they stay on fine for the cast and pierce them first so they sink with the hooklength. find it quite relaxing making a few up whilst having a brew and it also helps add a bit of variety around my bait as fish a small water and don't use a spomb or boat but thinking of trying to make a baiting pole this year as a shed project.
but do like solid bags i must admit

The grandson walked past my hook baits on the way to putting the kettle on and gave them a shake who said you can’t train a teenager …
 

I think duckduckgo is actually a better search engine, and have been making it my homepage for years.  I use Google Maps, but otherwise avoid the filthy company as much as possible. Only sign into YouTube when absolutely necessary, and I use Chrome even less often. Likewise Google's twin Satan Microsoft - I'm a Linux man.
 

I avoid Nash PVA bags after an incident years ago when a pack went through a 40⁰ wash in my combat trousers. The plastic bag they came in was full of water after the wash, the bags were still whole, when they should have been a bundle of mush. Never used them since.
 
I have got a Fox Rapid loader, and to be honest, it really only works with the specific bags from Fox, other brands don't seem to be the quite right size.
I've tried it with the bags from Dave at A la carp, and it's easier to open the bag, blow it totally open, then drop the rig inside.
In the pic earlier in the thread I'm using a Multi rig, but I do also use a short braided line aligner with a sliding rig as well, often with a (wait for it) Infusion Naturalz
 
 

I also now like to tie up my bags fresh, I now use the korda bags, I think they are great tbh, I like the little yellow scoop makes it a nice easy way to do a bag, once I am about half loaded I whack in a load of goo or other liquid then fill it up, tie it off with tape, I tried the easy loader licky licky type ones like fox but I think you get a better bag when tied up neatly, 

I do like the sound of this, using running rigs myself now 90% of the time....
May give this a whirl, just shorten my hooklength. 
 

Let's do a recap of my v quick overnighter, what was learnt 
Arriving at 10 30pm and setting up in the dark wasnt too bad, fished a swim I know like the back of my hand so all 3 rods were clipped up and sent out in the boat fine, got donks on all of them, so was confident they were fishing. 
I thought about using the best rigs for for the situation for boat work , also some pretty good potential uses of pva mesh to be a little different, but keeping it all simple and quick change is key, lots to think about now 🤔
Set up by midnight, asleep by 1ish awake at 5 30, couple of cuppas watching the lake started pack up at 8, Mcdonalds by 9 and home, 
next week I'll be on earlies so can do more investigative work in the daylight, before having to pack up in the dark at 4am 😬
But I've proved I can do the work overnighter yay, something to build on now, 
And modular stuff is brilliant when you need to be quick and organised highly recommend the Wychwood comforter rucksack and cool bag, 
Loads of positives, I was well aware I completely bypassed the main key factor though location, but that will come as I start rebuilding the bigger picture 
I'm pleased today anyway 😂

The search engine can be a right pig, you have to be specific, and even then...
For example 'follow the wind' as your search term, will bring up 7 answers on this thread and 4,400 other possible answers from Catch Reports, to Non Carp Banter.
I'm possibly lucky, (or not) that I can remember specific threads so can go back to it using the actual thread name. 
The other way is just to go back through the pages and pages of threads.
 
I wish it were that simple.
Carp are Carp, they respond in a similar manner, so in theory yes you have an average behaviour.
Then there is a BUT, the follow the wind happens in so many different ways. In some waters fish follow a North wind in summer,  in some it's a southerly, or the south westerly. 
You may have features that slow or stop the wind or water, gravel bars, islands, maybe snags are the natural fish holding spots.
It is not a new book, but the best explanation on the wind and pressure I have ever seen is in Big Water Carp by Jim Gibbinson if you can find a copy.
(Look on abebooks, you can pick up a bargain or two).
My best advice is to get onto the wind, and try it
I'm not sure on pressure and how it affects carp, whether they come up or down the water column, feed more or less. The lakebed is where the majority of food is, every fish needs to survive, so they eat. Fish can feed in groups, or individually. We probably notice group feeding more than individuals, so a single fish cleaning out a patch is possibly just a few bubbles, compared to a massive oily patch of coloured water as groups of fish feed.
It is where that food is, in the margins, or in the middle of the lake. Is there a gravel bar or plateau that holds food, either natural or anglers bait?
Is the middle of the lake too deep to hold much food?
Or is it shallow enough to be a bloodworm fest?

As Framey says, they are the ones that matter.
 
We can give you advice from our experience, but every water is likely to be different, angler pressure, lake shape, size etc, so our advice is right, but wrong, 
 
If they are crashing, they are showing, and glad you learnt something.