tonybranno

Judging by your username you should know alot about the place.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Sorry was i SHOUTING? I will be quiet from now on i promise

IM SORRY, I HAVE NEVER FISHED IN FRANCE BUT DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHAT FLAVOUR BOILIES YOU USE????? ONE FLAVOUR MAY NOT OUTFISH THE OTHER. JUST USE WHAT YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN OVER HERE.

Sometimes the weight of the hook isnt enough to sink the bait especially if you use just a pop up on its own. If you put the weight on the hair and have it balanced such that it only just sinks, then this has the same effect of using a snowman arrangement with a trimmed down pop up on a whole bottom bait.

How you doing missus? Hope you are keeping Kev in check

Oh yes, i have had the same problem with the Big T's.

Ive heard the ESP Stiff Riggers are supposed to be good for pop ups. Personally ive never used them so i cant comment on their effectiveness.

Absolutely spot on Skipp. Thats how mine look except i have a line aligner on the hook eye

Im just sitting here trying to figure out how you can actually sew 10 - 20 odd maggots onto a polyball. I honestly just cant see it. It will be a new one on me when i get shown that, thats for sure

Whats it like living next door to the best carp tackle shop in England?..... Leslies of Luton

I would pay to see you attempt this. Call me stupid but i just cant see how it can be done.

I use the knot that is usually used to tie a length of shockleader to your mainline on your spod. Im sorry though, i havent got a clue what its called

Mix them both. I regulary use a combi rig of IQ with an inch section of braid next to the hook. That way you have the best of both worlds. The invisibility and anti tangle properties of the flouro and the suppleness of the braid when the carp takes the bait.

I have been using home made flouro leaders for a while now, but im not yet sure if it gives me any advantage as yet. Its too early to tell.

Ive got about 15 or 20 made up.

The more things you put on the end of your line, the more obtrusive your end tackle will become. The sooner your end tackle can get onto your mainline, the less it will be likely to be seen by the fish.

I think that was welder I would love to see mine cos you would know instantly what you need to do to make your end tackle 'unseen' without having to guess at it.

I agree with you here. I cant see any reason why anyone should scale down for their winter fishing anyway. Ive always used a hook size that matches the size of my bait so if im using a piece of Peperami, a mini tiger, a grain of maize, a chick pea or a boilie no bigger than 12mm, then i use a size 10 hook. If im using a 15mm boilie a size 8 and a 18mm boilie or bigger then a size 6. I practice this method for 12 months of the year and 65 percent of my fishing this year has been done with a size 10 hook Considering during winter i prefer to use smaller baits it will be generally a size 10 hook i use anyway.

Yes i can see your thinking here so who knows? Lets be honest, the only way any of us are gonna know how our leaders look on the bottom is to don a pair of flippers and air tanks and dive down to actually look at them ourselves. Which has to be said i would love to do.

The mainline will always come off the bottom at some point, its got to. But i feel a mainline is a lot more unobtrusive than a leadcore leader or rig tubing, so the sooner you can get onto it the better. Plus there is nothing wrong with putting on a small flying back lead and dotting down your leader with a few dots of putty. As long as the fish can feed around your bait and not get spooked by your line then its all good IMO. But..... In winter i tend not to fish flying back leads at all, im fishing for liners. As long as i know there are fish in the area then that will help your confidence. I dont mind blanking in winter, TBH we all must expect more blanks than successful sessions but as long as i go home knowing i was fishing an area that the fish where in then thats much better than sitting all day next to motionless indicators thinking 'Was i even on the fish in the first place'?

I prefer to keep my leaders as short as possible Sam. It makes me laugh when you see anglers use 5 foot lengths of leadcore, you know its gonna be so obvious and to keep a leader as long as this on the deck you are going to need a clear, flat 5 foot plus area on the lake bed. Just how many lake beds do you know are completely flat and clear? Not many i would guess.

Beautiful setting.

Ive seen combi rigs made the same way with IQ and braid featured in the mags. Julian Cundiff wrote about them 2 winters back and he was using pop ups for bait. The putty was on the join between the IQ and braid and because of the stiffness of the IQ, it ensured that the hook was at the correct angle to catch the inside of the carps bottom lip every time.

Unbelievable But then again that explains why i dont read Total Carp

I can say hand on heart that i have NEVER caught a fish on a zig rig. I have no confidence with the method at all.