johnplumb

I have a reaper , can't tell you how long the AA batteries last but can't remember thinking they needed changing to often , I think you can buy 24 Duracell + for around £8 on ebay I would be interested to hear how you get on with it , have you used it yet ?

We got the Nash monster cradle last year along with the matching weigh / retaining sling that sits inside the cradle , had an extremely lively 30 in it and at no point did I feel the fish was going to get over the sides . The sling which has zipped ends on it makes weighing and releasing the fish very easy and safe . Of course it's another thing to carry and 9lb fish looks a bit lost in it but the principle is the same and it certainly does its job . An observation on the ones with raised sides is that the sides collapse over time and are little better than a flat mat

I tried to "rehydrate" some once by soaking and boiling just didn't work for me , but I did like the idea of using them . Hopefully you will have better luck than me

I guess this is another subject where there is no definitive answer . I just feel that a bigger hook has more chance of hooking the fish and staying put in the fishes mouth . I would have a small bet that more fish are lost to hook pulls whilst using smaller hooks that have just " nicked " the fishes mouth and simply rip out . Without question any fish can be landed on any size hook when everything goes right but big hooks for me

I use 4's and 2's for most of my fishing , I'm not sure your hook can be to big but I'm convinced it can be to small

Fantastic session BC well done

Well just back from a 48 hr session armed with 4 gallons of maggots between me and my mate , by 6 o'clock Friday I had a 17 mirror and a 31 common on the bank in the night Pete lost one and landed a 15 lb pike that proceeded to try and eat the landing net and anything else that got near her . Saturday morning produced 15 and 25 lb commons for Pete . From loosing count of how many fish we saw rolling and crashing the lake seemed to switch off Saturday lunchtime and Sadly we caught no more after a cracking start , but very happy with the 31 as it up's my PB by a lb

No one thought of that , just goes to show sometimes if it's cheap there may be a reason

Good point Nige .

Sounds like there is either something wrong with the line or there is something on your reels or the eyes on your rods that is damaging the line . I would check your eyes to make sure they are not damaged

Possibly the hair was a bit long , but I feel that you were being plagued by small stuff just knocking the feeder around . It sounds like larger baits may be the way to go staying clear of small particles

It sounds like there a lot of tiny fish about , some would say 4" is to long for the rig length , What were you using as bait ? How big was the hook ? And how long was the hair ?

Yes , well put Dal . For me the quick link is great , it's very rare that I fish the same bait and rig for a whole session on all rods and it makes it so easy to change over

I've used quick links for years now

The way I see it is carp have survived for I'm guessing 1000's of years without anglers feeding them ,by eating what ever they can , I doubt a fish who never see's bait would look at food and think about what vitamins it contains . It's just going to eat it. Clearly the only way they get big , as fast as they do is by eating good quality bait but I'm not convinced you need HNV to catch them . Wanting to give them a decent balanced bait is a totally different thing and of course can only be a good thing .