shakey

I use Supermantis in brown, but it is similar to what you have said about the Stealth skin, that it appears more golden brown than a choclate/dark brown. Have you thought about getting the pens/crayons that you can buy and colouring the rig material to the brown that you want

Spiceychicken, There are a few waters that you can have a go at around your area. I believe the fishery by the Weeley roundabout (next to the bypass) has fish to over 30lb in it and can be fished on a day ticket. I'm afraid that I don't know the name of the fishery as it isn't really my cup of tea. Also, there are a couple of clubs in that area that you could join fairly cheaply. One that springs to mind is Paxmans Angling Club. They have a water in St Osyth that is packed full with pasties and a really nice lake at Arlesford that holds fish up to 28lb. I believe Paxmans is only £35 a year. If you want to travel further, the lake next to A12 in Chelmsford is a day ticket water that apprently has fish to over 20lb. The up shot is, there are loads of water around the Clacton/Colchester area that have twenties in them. Pop into one of the local tackle shops and they will be able to help you as well.

I use the Stick-up putty by Armalead. If found this to be slightly heavier than the stuff from Kryston. What I also do is take a small length of lead stripped from leadcore and wrap it around the spot where I want the putty to be on the rig. I then wrap the putty around the twisted leadcore so that it holds the putty in place. It also means you have to use less putty as the weight of the lead will also help to counter the pop up I must admit that I have never used split shot to counter balance a pop up. I have always worried about squeezing the shot onto the rig material and damaging it, particularly when using braided hook lengths. But again this is a confidence thing, I would much prefer a big lump of putty than worrying that the rig may break because I squeezed the shot on too tightly.

Loads of braided hook length material out there. My personal favourites are Krystons Merlin and Silkworm. I prefer to fish one over clean gravel the other in more weeder conditions. As Pezza mentioned a combi link material such as stripteaze is a good starting point if you want to combine a florocarb with a braid. I personally use Supermantis for 90% of my fishing, but I always have a spool of Merlin & Silkworm in my rucksack incase I think I need to make a change

Tried my new helicopter rig yesterday and they seemed to work well

Thats a Heck of a Range Mate! No easy way from either side to get to them. Sure is. I estimate that they are showing at about 120+ yards from the bank. The carp have definately found a bank of naturals out there, and I think that when I see them roll, it is when they are cleaning themselves after feeding on those naturals in the silt. I'm hoping a single hi-vis pop up, cast as close as I can get to them, might just pick one up as the move off from that feeding ground.

Russell, thanks for the tip about the pva string. I was worried that the top bead might move in the cast. Neil/Nick, i'm not sure that the heli rig will give me any extra distance but I'm going to give it a go. I have observed the carp regularly for the last few weeks from the bank opposite (nick they are on the arm by Noah's car park going towards pine point), and I would put the distance I have seen them at about my maximum casting range. I'm hoping that this may add a yard or two to put me on those fish, i'll have wait till Saturday to find out

Just wondering if you guys could impart some pearls of wisdom with regards to helicopter rigs. I've never really fished with helicopter rigs in the past, but the last few weeks i've notice fish topping at a distance that is at the top end of my casting range. I have brought some fox pre-made leadcore helicopter rigs and I was planning to fish a 6"supermantis hook length, and whack them out as far as I can to the showing fish. Any tips, advice, pitfalls etc would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Shakey

With fairness to Armaled, I spoke to one of their guys at a carp show and he did try and talk me through some knots that would of worked. Unfortunately, the Gremlins had got into my head and it had to go in the bin. I know a couple of guys who love the stuff, it just wasn't for me.

I would also suggest buying some of the tapered leaders if you are inexperienced in tying the knots Nick has shown. A tapered leader is usually 45lb breaking strain at the business end tappering down to 15lb at the end you attach to your main line. I have always found it easier to tie leader knots when the lines are similar in diameter.

I threw my spool of Kik-bak away. Everytime I tried to tie a knot to the swivel and tried to bed it down tight the outer would come away at the knot