patos1

I reckon that as a virgin you could pick a lot worse places to go than Holland And if you do break your 'duck' make sure you dont catch anything You dont want to go anywhere near a gravelly bottom either, especially a gravelly hairy one Stick to the smooth bottoms, IMHO they are far better

You need to pm elite1. He's been before and for those who dont know, caught an 80

http://www.carp.com/article131.html

Usually none If i'm being really efficient, 1 I knock 'em up as and when I need them usually, night or day it doesnt take a minute

Hows about this then

I use ESP leadcore all the time. I think it does make a difference personally. The ESP stuff takes on silt from the bottom and quickly blends in nicely. Its also nice and thick and is less prone to lifting scales from fish. Plus there is always the 'if it gives you confidence' bit to factor in then it can only be good. I'd just like to point out that if leadcore isnt used correctly then the carp are at risk. Use it wisely and there are no problems IMO.

Just use what you use over here, France is no different to England. The weather is better and the carp on the whole are bigger, thats all. Just make sure they are sharp.

Never got on with these and I lost a few fish before packing them off to the bin. Using Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hooks now and have pulled out of only 1 fish since about May so find them much better. There you go, the kiss of death

http://www.weybreadpits.freeserve.co.uk/hinderclay.htm

You will find the simplest ones are mostly the best

Failing to procure some plasterice you could always try plasticine Just had a look at ebay prices for putty, the most expensive one was Kryston Heavy Metal at £6.19 with free postage so yes, your shop is ripping you off.

Here you go mate

I use a nice long hooklink, as long as I can cast comfortably. For my hooklink I use Drennan Double Strength in 7lb.

Stunning fish there Bob. If thats the sergeant whats the general like:eek:

so where exactly is this place fish4fun?? sounds right up my street as i dont usually go after the big ones and fish of 20-30lbs would suit me:D

lots of bs is talked about fishing in France. after all you're just fishing for carp as you would at home, just hopefully bigger ones. up your line breaking strain to 15lb or so and lets say you use korda longshanks, just upgrade to longshank x's. (thicker gauge therefore stronger) If you are not fishing at mega range your normal home kit will do just the same job as it does here (unless you fish at mega range here) and as for your hooklength, its more than likely 20lb bs or so anyway so why change. just step up your home gear a little (line and hooks) keep the rest the same, why complicate matters. Enjoy it and best of luck.

it aint that bit mick, it went into much more detail than that. now if i hadnt misspent my youth getting my brain pickled........

read something years ago where Kevin was talking about the development of the hair rig. they were testing the rig in a tank at Lennies house with some small carp. it was this article that mentioned the 'long dark hair' and i was certain it was in Carp Fever. after receiving my copy yesterday and looking for said story its not there:confused: anyone any ideas as to where this was written.

Nick just received a copy of 'carp fever' i got from ebay. it cost me £5.20 inc. p+p BARGAIN, and is in almost new condition. i stand corrected, it was Kevs wife who supplied the hair for the first hair rig and not Len Middleton's. great book though and i'm as hooked (no pun intended) as i was when i first read it. have also got a copy of chris balls book 'king carp waters' on its way and am looking for a copy of tel's.

i mostly use mono but when i do use hybrid or IQ its in 20lb and i've never had it snap. having said that i've never had to 'hit and hold' anything to any great degree as where i fish its mostly snag free.

whats this?? no mono. lol ok hybrid it is:)

forgot to say. when i walked on the lake with 'the old brown rod' as its affectionately known most of the lads fishing on there couldnt hide their sniggers. now its 'humble pie' all round:D

WOW and i thought nick was a thinking fisherman, steve (ripslider) you take the biscuit, no, not the biscuit the whole damn tin!!! superb reading:D now for my 2 'peneth now adamxx knows i've been using an old rod and reel to do a bit of float fishing recently, an old (its nearly 30years old) 10ft glass fibre barbel (avon) rod of about 1.25-1.5 tc with a mitchell 410 loaded with 20lb, yes 20lb:eek: mainline. i have been using lobworms for bait with a piece of 5mm dowel for a float and tied directly to the line a size 6 korda longshank x. my local is not a particularly hard water but in the past 2 years or so it has become definetly more difficult to tempt them, that is if you are doing what everyone else is doing and sitting behind a pair of rods cast into the middle or tight to an island and using boilies for bait. recently since the middle of may or so i have noticed a lot of fish tight in the margins in groups of 6 or 7 fish, realy tight, inches from the bank and thought i'd try a bit of the old stalking for them. so with my trusty kit listed above and leaving my buzzers, lc's, 12ft rods at home into battle i went!! needless to say i've caught a few, more than a few in fact, i've had my best season in years and have had more fish than all the other guys on the lake. nearly all doubles as well, and this in a lake with a large head of small fish. all i have been doing is baiting a few spots with a couple of handfulls of hemp and just walking around from spot to spot looking for feeding fish. the point of all this typing is...... on many occasions i have cast beyond a group of carp all tails up on my hemp, pulled it back amongst them and watched (sat on my hands) as they have carried on feeding, pulling the float under whilst catching the line endlessly, its sometimes been quite difficult to distinguish what is a bite and what isnt. i have had to match the floats speed with a particular fish sometimes to be sure it is a bite. very very exciting!!! now until everyone cottoned on and the fish have now moved away from the margins i was expecting to catch a couple of fish at least, and this in sessions of no more than 3hrs morning or evening. my rig, if you can call it that, is 'heath robinson' to say the least yet i have caught many fish. now IMHO if you can see a carp, you stand a very good chance of catching it, providing you can put something it likes to eat on its nose and more importantly, it doesnt see you. the rig is (again MHO) the 3rd thing on the list. location, bait, rig. one more thing, i have enjoyed this fishing much more than sitting static behind a couple of rods on buzzers. now if i can only find out where these fish are hanging out now:) before that i'm off to get some paperclips:D

think you might be right nick, its been years since i read carp fever (my copy has long since vanished) i can remember kevin writing that they used a 'long dark hair' (good job it wasnt curly!!) and seem to remember it was Lennies wife but i'm probably wrong, it wont be the first time. they started side-hooking boilies before the hair instead of having the hook buried and the point obscured. this has the same effect as the hair ie. the hook point is exposed therefore theres more chance of it pricking a fish. love all this history stuff, i'm off to ebay now to look for a copy of said book:)

same rigs as you would use in daylight. you just dont have to worry about camouflage to much.