salokcinnodrog

And those are the only fish that should matter at the time 
what’s happening on linear, linch hill or even redmire make no difference to where you are fishing 

I am shaking right now, so I sat it out without casting waiting listening and just where I had suspected/hoped they would be and they are here, right on the end of these recent warm winds and far as possible away from the recent angling pressure. 
Im shaking because I’m not actually fishing my all year syndicate I’m on my winter ticket at Holme fen fishery in Cambridge and an absolute cow has just smashed out right in front of my swim.😀Now to make a plan. 

Some fish can be resident in a particular area, almost pushing other fish away.
Big Scale at Waveney nearly always used to get caught from a particular spot on D/E lake. (Big Carp by Tom Paisley).
That one fish may also feed differently, or slightly off the baited spot, and can avoid capture by doing so.

On a hot summers day...
 
A husky water dog.

If anyone is interested 6x Coleman canisters on ebay at £28.45

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325188216652

Layer Pits put a ban on spodding baits, must be around 2000. The response from all the carp anglers was balling in hemp mixed in Vitalin.
The spodded bait ban was lifted a season or two later, although not being a CAPS member I don't know current rules and conditions.
 
@framey
Thanks. 
I was on 'set times' for looking at the forum as I was fishing,  First thing in the morning and last thing at night.
@Danny Hearn if your bait and baiting is working, stick with it, but look for when results start to drop. At this point it may be time to adapt and come up with something different.
 
 

Danny fairbrass lol
spodding the granny out of it

Shelf life baits are now falling into 2 categories; attractor baits and food source baits, where maybe 15-20 years ago most were just attractor baits.
As attractor baits, you don't want many around the hookbait, maybe 5 or so, with limited feed. You are relying on the attractor qualities of the bait for a pick-up. You could fish them (or a food bait boilie) over your background feed, groundbait, particles etc, but you don't want to prebait with them as the nutrition may not be high enough to get continued feeding.
A food source bait, whether shelf life, air-dried or frozen can be pre-baited, conditioning the carp into eating them permanently.
As a spotty youth, a bag of shelfies would last me weeks. I couldn't afford to pile in bait every weekend, so it was an out of the bag hookbait, with a stringer and maybe a few freebies catapulted around the area. Spods weren't invented, so any background feed was impossible!
The advance of shelf life food baits, like Trigga, Solar Seafood Takeaway, Crafty Catcher King Prawn and Crab and Sea Salt, Rod Hutchinsons KMG and Monster Crab  means that now I'm comfortable with shelfies.
 
We then hit our next 'barrier', the type of water. A water where the carp are reliant on bait, of any type, 'overstocked' as it were, where the bait is needed to survive is a different kettle of fish (sic) to a water which is rich in natural food. The overstocked water you can get a take on anything, yet the rich water the carp may have a distinct preference for a good nutritious bait. They may pick up the attractor bait from being inquisitive but it may not last long as a viable bait. The food source will potentially be chosen over other foods; effort equals reward,  or 1 food source boilie provides more nutrition than 2 mouthfuls of bloodworm, and is easier to eat.
We also have the DF spod mix approach. A background feed composed of groundbait, be that Vitalin, particles, pellets, and a boilie over the groundbait. 
The boilie only approach, either food source or shelfie is now very rare.

@Danny Hearn I hope you don't mind an essay in return.
Very few waters have proper thermoclines, they aren't deep enough. You are normally looking at a depth of around 10metres, or 33feet.
The water below a thermocline is of a significantly colder temperature than above. In carp waters, we might get a localised patch of warmer water, the margins or around reeds but not a true thermocline. The water at the base of a lake is always in winter, going to be around 4⁰ Celsius, as water is densest at that temperature. Warmer or colder water will not sink to the bottom, but 'swirls' above it.
It won't be until spring that it warms up, and even in deeper water, in the Lochs and Lakes it may stay that all year!
Wind is weird, especially now in February. In winter it is rare for the fish to be following the wind at all, unless it is a really heavy warm south Westerly.
You are also in the period when carp are hanging around their winter areas, the rushes, snags, gravel, old weed beds or food beds of bloodworm etc. Year after year they may use the same area, staying around the spot from late October/November until February/March. Even for loads of angling pressure they may only move a few metres.
This is NOT always the deepest water in the lake, its weird seeing carp a rod length  away from the bank in 4ft of water at the base of the rushes, when there is 6feet depth water a little further out.
It is only some waters where carp will move up into sun warmed water if the day is bright, that area has to be close to the winter area. If it is half a mile away up the other end of the lake, then it is unlikely they will move. They may however, rise into the warmer water.
Back to the wind, the carp following it is unusual, and I think to some extent that there is some celebrity bravado "I fished into the teeth of a cold North Westerly and caught carp in freezing conditions".
Yep, I believe you, but you know that in the lake where the carp hole up over winter is a shorter 50yard cast rather than with the wind behind you where you will have to cast 200yards +.
A bit of mickey taking, but you get my drift.
I have fished in winter, where the bank facing the wind was the only one I could get a bivvy flat and comfortable without a serious slope down to the rods. Cold, very, uncomfortable at times, but yes I did catch 10 carp over 4days. 
Yet there may be times when the rule book goes out the window.
 
 

I have sat watching carp on various waters pick up and eject goodness knows how many rigs.
I have not yet found a single rig that is totally anti-eject, pop-up, bottom bait, or critically balanced. Pop-up rigs can be taken or ignored, if the pop-up is tested that rig is often totally blown, it just won't catch from the fish that tested it, or sometimes any companion fish in that group.
A blow back rig will behave differently from whether it is a bottom bait or a pop-up; a pop-up will usually reset, where a bottom bait is stuffed. 
The strange thing is that bottom bait rigs can be forcibly ejected and blown out, or just 'fall out', where I have seen, personally, pop-up rigs tend to get blown out more. That may be different for others.
 
Also rigs work differently on different fish, waters, lakebeds, even different areas in a lake.
 
I think it was Danny Fairbrass who said (a fair few years ago, so it is possible his views have changed), that curved shank hooks don't need any tubing as the 'Kurve' itself that stopped the rig being ejected, however after watching my own plain straight knotless knotted curve shank rigs being ejected with ease by a couple of fish (not even big fish) I found that a line aligner does help. Extending the shank length on many hook patterns really improves hook-ups and reduces the chances of a rig being ejected, that is straight shank and curved shank hooks.
 
This extending the hook shank lead to things like The Savay Looney rig, the longshank hook patterns, line aligners, even kickers as longshank Bent hook rigs were banned.
 
 
 

I don't do the gloves, but I do check the hookpoints.
I bait the hook/hair with my bait, and leave that bait on the whole trip, or if getting takes, until it is unusable and pulled off the hook. I sometimes even take the bait off at the end of a session and use it next time.
I'm wary of the smell of superglue, never gluing my knots, but if it is a water with blunting properties without burring the hook over on a snag or gravel, a dash of Lipsyl on the hook tends to sort that out.

Professional overthinker?
I worry about my smell affecting hooks and bait!
Now I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I'm not 100% sure you need the hook stuff. I've seen some lakes where a hook goes out sharp at night, when you reel in in the morning you can see that it is blunter. It is on those waters where a dab of Vaseline or this stuff might protect the point.

This week's view from the bivvy, but has also included seeing a barn owl come out from between the trees and across the dam wall, and a video of a kestrel hovering above the tree border, as well as hearing tawny owls through the night

I get in trouble being the old man, heaven knows what I can do as a new man🤣
Problem is I'm early 50's so the waiting list is longer.
 
This was Sky enjoying the time out.
 

Been told I need a hip replacement and have lower back problems. To deal with that and the other life problems I shut myself away from the world.
 
 
A bit chilly this morning. Most of the lake froze over last night, just the area in front of me stayed clear, and it looks like the ice is gradually spreading.
I'm only hanging on from packing up just to let the 🌞 thaw some of the gear. My net got frozen to the rushes and the overwrap is covered in frost.
 
Sky however is enjoying laying in the sun outside.

Sounds like sidecutters time!
A right pain in the rectum, not nice to deal with.
I've snipped a few hooks over the years, the 28lb 2tone from Nazeing was hooked hard, and it was safer to snip the hook, but that is the only big fish I can remember. That was on a curved longshank pattern as well.
I seem to recall snipping a few Patridge Piggybacks.

While it is not carp fishing, BBC have produced a fishing podcast about perch.
The Facebook link is https://www.countryfile.com/podcast/perchandperfection/

Welcome to Carp.com 

Sounds like sidecutters time!
A right pain in the rectum, not nice to deal with.
I've snipped a few hooks over the years, the 28lb 2tone from Nazeing was hooked hard, and it was safer to snip the hook, but that is the only big fish I can remember. That was on a curved longshank pattern as well.
I seem to recall snipping a few Patridge Piggybacks.

Long shank curved hooks causing mouth damage has been a problem on a few waters, even big fish. I think Luke Moffat banned them at Les Graviers, in fact all curved shanks. 
 
It seems that you may be getting 'double hooking', like the Bent hook rigs used to do.
 
 
 
 
 

I get in trouble being the old man, heaven knows what I can do as a new man🤣
Problem is I'm early 50's so the waiting list is longer.
 
This was Sky enjoying the time out.
 

Been told I need a hip replacement and have lower back problems. To deal with that and the other life problems I shut myself away from the world.
 
 
A bit chilly this morning. Most of the lake froze over last night, just the area in front of me stayed clear, and it looks like the ice is gradually spreading.
I'm only hanging on from packing up just to let the 🌞 thaw some of the gear. My net got frozen to the rushes and the overwrap is covered in frost.
 
Sky however is enjoying laying in the sun outside.

I get in trouble being the old man, heaven knows what I can do as a new man🤣
Problem is I'm early 50's so the waiting list is longer.
 
This was Sky enjoying the time out.
 

I get in trouble being the old man, heaven knows what I can do as a new man🤣
Problem is I'm early 50's so the waiting list is longer.
 
This was Sky enjoying the time out.
 

perfect solution to “what to do with that water that is now tepid in the hot water bottle from the night before” lol
chuck it in a pan to warm the gas bottle up