ouchthathurt

Good choice there mate, you shouldn’t have any problems with them.

Especially as he was a London firefighter from the 70s to the 90s! Mind you, he did go over to the London fire boat, so maybe he learnt a lesson!! Lol!

It may be just my personal experience, but in the colder weather, I seem to catch more commons than mirrors. I read that commons, due to a genetic difference have higher levels of haemoglobin in their blood which means they have the highest blood oxygen levels compared to other strains, leathers especially. As oxygen is essential to digestion, this may allow them to feed and digest more effectively in colder water, yet cold water has the highest levels of dissolved oxygen content, which would suggest that oxygen is readily available, so it may make no difference at all!! Could it be that certain carp can feed in colder water? Or does the venue and number of anglers on it have an affect? I.E. more bait and leads going in keeping the carp on the move, thus using more energy which needs replacing more?

Thanks pal, a very important point! Many people don’t! Fortunately I have several bags of sand from knocking up sand/cement mixes to build a wall/repairing masonry work so I’ve been using them to secure the ladder. My dad fell off a ladder while on a roof years ago and badly injured himself plus going to ladder related accidents in my work on ambulances has highlighted the risks so I’ve always been wary of ladders! it’s ironic that he was a firefighter, you would have thought he’d be good on ladders!

I wish it were that simple mate! I’ve got to render the back of the house, the bitumen paint is for the bay window roof and the kitchen roof (an extension) needs to be completely stripped and the felt replaced... then it’s repaint the exterior front and back, then redecorate the entire interior which has just been replastered throughout. I’ve done a new kitchen and bathroom so it’s bringing it all together now. lockdown has a lot to answer for!! 🙄

I’ve just brought a load of one pot render roofing felt and bitumen paint, time to drag out the ladders... 🙄

I would probably start with prepared nuts if you’re new to them mate, saves the faff and associated issues with preparation as poorly prepared or uncooked nuts can be dangerous for carp. With prepared nuts you know they are safe and ready for use. You don’t need to feed loads of tigers and they are usually recognised as a food source pretty quickly.

Cant beat Stilton cheese paste for chub!

Some of the best baits are based on the fruity/fish combo mate, aminos and peach, big fish mix and plum, tangerine and squid... your best bet is to find a reputable high quality nutritional bait, stick with it and build your confidence in it, the more you use it, the more the fish find it and eat it, the better it becomes.

I wouldn’t worry too much about getting 10ft spod/marker rods mate, having the extra leverage the extra 2ft with the spod will make casting easier and it’s always a good idea to be able to cast markers and spods at least to the same range as baited fishing rods, if not further.

With all this expertise and experimentation with the different goo’s, we will have to start calling you Elmo Hamidi...

I don’t zig fish, (I’m proper pants at it, something I need to remedy!) but I always use drennan super specialists in sizes 10-6 for all my floater fishing. Recently I’ve used the super specialist in the wide gape pattern when I can find them, but I’ve never had a problem with these patterns for floater fishing. Used the super specialists for as long as I can remember and the wide gape versions for the last 2 seasons, but I struggle to find them in my local tackle shops.

I know what you mean, my first carp rods were 1 3/4lb t/c and 11ft long, I moved onto 11ft 2lb test rods that bent through to the butt cap. Back then, a 3lb rod was a broomstick! Now, 3lb test is about normal! My rods are fox torque, 12ft 3lb test rods that have a lovely action. If this is a recent problem you’ve been having, (I’m guessing since you fined down for winter?) then that would suggest to me that you may need to adjust your end tackle to filter out the other species if carp are the intended target pal. I'm glad you’re finding the forum helpful mate, don’t be afraid to ask questions on here, there are a lot of very knowledgeable people that will help and we learn through asking questions! We all have areas of angling that we are perhaps “weaker” at, I am probably the worst zig rig angler going! Lol!

Well my leadcore leaders are 40-50lb breaking strain, but my mainline is 12lb, so that’s the overall breaking strain of my set up. I couldn’t apply 50lb of pressure as although the leadcore (correctly spliced) could take it, the mainline would part long before! I wouldn’t worry about the leader breaking strain too much mate, the over all strength of your set up is governed by the weakest component.

Don’t ask me! I don’t know! Lol!

A water not far from me has always had a boilie and floating bait ban, hence the banks aren’t very crowded and you have free reign to be able to move about. The owners wanted a pleasure water where anglers could come and not see swim after swim packed with little green domes. They are only small venues, quite intimate. Pellets or meat in the margins will produce some lovely carp. I actually don’t mind the fact boilies are banned, it gives me a chance to refine other baits and methods which in many cases, I’ve neglected for years. I mean, I have probably fished luncheon meat maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 15yrs? Yet it was my go to bait as a kid.

I don’t have a problem with someone coming to wake me if they have a carp need photographing, one lad woke me to take a pic of a low double then apologised afterwards as it was “only a little one” it happened to be the first carp he’s ever had from the lake, after a fair ole wait, so he was over the moon! That’s no drama as far as I’m concerned, I was happy to congratulate him and share the moment. I blanked... 🙄

Have you seen any evidence of the barbless hook moving during the fight? 15lb mainline and a size 10 seems a bit unbalanced, have you tried upping the hook size? The thicker wire may help spread the load as it were. Are you aiming solely for carp? Or are you just happy with whatever comes along? If that was the case, I’d probably go down the Avon/quivertip route or a float outfit with lighter line and smaller hooks. If I was aiming for solely carp, I’d increase hook size to an 8 or 6 and use baits that smaller species can’t easily take. do you use any form of clinic or carp antiseptic solution on your hook marks before returning them? This is important regardless of size as it can help heal marks like these and prevent infection. Some also harden on contact with water, so will help minimise bleeding.

I just merged the two and popped them in the right forum for you buddy! I’m afraid I can’t comment on the rods, I’ve never used the hutchie rods, but the man is/was a legend.

I literally used to just open the bag and pour it into a ground bait bowl, mix it with water (or condensed milk and water) mix it up so it was stodgy enough to mould around a lead or method feeder and turf it out into the pond. Couldn’t be simpler really. In the lake, it would continue to take on water and soften up and break down. Have a look at vitalin too for a cheap effective ground bait.

Thanks mate, you’re right about the first pic, I used a head torch pointed at the fish to help me see, which did overdo it light wise somewhat! Some comprehensive information on photography there mate, nice one!

I have to agree with Pete on this one, I’m not a fan of sacking, I don’t own any sacks, I’ve a retainer sling that I will place the carp in for a few minutes after the fight so it can get its breath back and I can sort the camera equipment out. I much rather prefer to master self takes rather than retain carp for an extended length of time. Even with smart phones these days, self takes are possible. I use a little phone holder to hold it steady, then take a few practice shots so I can get my markers sorted, I look at the background of the practice shot so I know what to use, if a branch is at the top of the practice shot, then I make sure my head is not above that branch, or it will cut off my head in the photo, if that makes sense!! You can always edit the pics on phones afterward to adjust it to your liking. All these pics below are smart phone self takes, the hardest thing I find is trying not to pull a stupid face!

Happy April fools day everyone! Lol!

Abu 6500 rocket multis, best casting reel ever! Closely followed by Penn 515s, how I miss my beach casting! similarly, I had a set of Ryobi big pit reels that I used for a while, until the roller in the bail arm jammed and I was too lazy to fix it... (lazy teenager!) it grooved and started to damage my mainline, that’ll learn me. don’t here much about Ryobi anymore, remember Silstar??

Porridge oats are banned on one of my waters, they were so effective as a method mix the club banned it. mind you, kilos of the stuff was being introduced every day and the club said it was effecting water quality!