buzzbomb

Lolz

It's a great story - I always wondered if the song Wondering Where the Lions Are is about the old man's dream.

I had a Lab that was an ace hunting dog and we hunted ducks for many years, sorely missed.

Yeah right, welcome to the forum!

There must be 5 miles of barbed vs barbless on here if anyone wanted to print it out! I often pinch the barbs back with my pliers, I suppose that would be like a 'micro baeb'. Anyone who has run a barbed hook into their finger can attest to the ease of removing barbless in contrast, (at least on humans).

If it's that bad maybe carp fishing really isn't for you. It's a lot cheaper than golf though, so give it another shot. Look up Socal Carpers and see where they go - seeing how it's done should give you some confidence. Some anglers luck into a fish the first time out and are hooked for good, some have to plug away at it. Sometimes boilies can be an instant bait on wild carp that have never seen them before (was my experience) but all the factors that cause a fish to bite or not are still in play so it is never a given. I'd be inclined to open the field a bit and try other things. If you fish 2 rods put a piece of sausage, or potato, or half a rubber earplug soaked in clam juice..... and a boilie on the other if you like. If you still want to give your gear away pm me!

Dung, cows‘ blood and bits of cat; mmmmmm. I think Compleat Angler as period literature is important historicaly and commend you for mentioning it Gary.

You mean chapter 9, Queen of the Rivers? That‘s because you‘re just new. We‘ve been discussing that and posting links for hundreds of years.

I tried using 2 or 3 of my soft rubber beads instead of one to get a semi-fixed effect but I don't think it helped my hookup rate at all so I won't bother messing around with it this year. If the hook is sharp as soon as the carp feels that 3 oz's he should catch himself. I agree that slack line will give that first indictor of a pickup (my main reason for going to hi-vis line this year) but sometimes current doesn't really allow it where I fish.

I used a 500ml softdrink bottle, cut the bottom out and carved a piece of styrofoam insulation to fit in the small end. I cut the barbs off a big treble hook and pushed the eye through a hole drilled in the bottlecap and screwed it on tight. Tie your line to that. Coathanger wire makes a good bail and an S-hook tied into your line about 18" up completes the set up. You cast it out, the s-hook falls away from the bail, the insulation floats the small end upwards, the bait falls out and it retrieves with the streamlined end forwards. I only have to bait out 40 yds. max so this is adequate. I'm using a yard sale rod and sea reel with about #30 mono. A broken flashlight (torch to you) would make a smaller, more streamlined spod and probably get better distance. This rig works very well and several times I've had anglers come running to see how I was getting all that particle across the river (spodding nearly nonexistant here in the colonies). The tackleshop owner who's been promoting carping here saw my home built spod and at the next tournament there were a bunch being used.