ouchthathurt

B’jesus! How much?? 😳😳

Just remember to soak the braid and have a few casts to bed the line in before going for the animal chuck mate.

You won’t need a leader with 20lb hydrotuff mate, it will be man enough for the job, just keep the cast smooth and unhurried and check the reel/eyes for tangles before you go for the big chuck.

We used to use chick peas soaked in whiskey! The carp went mad for them, the club wasn’t happy about whiskey in baits, then nash released the whiskey boilies which were just as good for a while. So many people used it as an additive that they wised up after a season or two.

Not a problem pal hope it helps 👍👍

I prefer a lower pop up generally mate, I’m not a fan of anything popping up over an inch to an inch and a half at maximum. I only fish the spinner over boilies, if I’m fishing over small particle/seed or spod etc then I prefer to fish a straight bottom bait, or a wafter type presentation. It’s about putting the bait where they are feeding I suppose! With the spinner rig, it presents the pop up nice and low, whilst keeping the hook point clear of the bottom. I don’t want my hook bait to be blatantly obvious, I critically balance my pop ups, so they only just sink. I make all my own baits and pop ups, I find a thin skin of paste over a 10mm cork ball gives me a bait of 11-12mm which matches exactly the 12mm bottom baits I make. My pop up paste is identical in ingredients to my bottom baits, only with added egg albumin (egg white powder) to give it a tough skin. Maybe a slightly higher flavour dosage as I boil the pop ups for longer than bottom baits. I lasso the bait on with floss and with a size four curve, to size 11 spinner swivel balances out nicely.

Did you ever get it sorted mate?

This is an interesting point, when I use spinner/ronnie rigs, I have the opening on the inside of the hook, so the opening of the crook of the swivel faces the hook point. I use shrink tube over the swivel/hook eye enough to cover the eye completely, up to 1mm of the shank and down over the crook and 3/4 of the barrel of the swivel. Ensuring that it doesn’t impede the swivel at the ring side. I don’t trust the cut down “kicker” method and I think it looks bulky and untidy, shrink tube is much less obtrusive. To change the hook involves cutting the shrink tube away and re-steaming after swapping hooks, but as I prepare 10-15 of them at home at a time, so I’ve got lots prepared, this isn’t an issue. I’ve landed cats to 55lb on this set up as described above, after a mammoth 45min fight, where it swam out of the net backwards and I had to fight it all the way back again! On checking, the hook/shrink tube hadn’t shifted a bit. I thought the Ronnie was a bit “blingy” and I chucked one out for the first time as an experiment, on a water where bites were hit and miss, they were very cute and riggy, I hooked 2 in one overnighter, my pop up catch rate on 2 waters that had really riggy carp doubled overnight with the Ronnie rig, I’ve got real confidence in it now.

I’ve used both quick change and spinner swivels pal, without any issues, but nowadays I just use the korda spinner swivels as they’ve been designed for the job, no bending open the QC swivel to get the hook eye in! I use size 11 swivels for all my rigs, the smaller and less obtrusive the better!

I’ve used both hooklinks with the spinner rig without any problem mate, I tend to attach it to the spinner swivel with a figure of eight loop and another loop at the other end of the boom for the quick change swivel. A grinner knot to the spinner swivel will be fine, but I personally prefer loops either end.

The spinner rig is my go to pop up rig, I’ve used ESP cryogen curve shanks and korda kurves in size 6 and 4s with no issues. In fact i prefer the size 4 to be honest. Whilst I use it with a helicopter set up, it can be used with a lead clip arrangement, but I probably wouldn’t use it with an inline lead personally, I find inline leads lend themselves to short soft braided hooklinks and pva bag work, I would be worried that the nose of the lead would dig in taking the hooklink with it. As I use fluro or at least a semi stiff hooklink of between 8-10 inches (to suit the lake bed I’m fishing over - silt) an inline lead would negatively affect the presentation if the lead did plug in nose first. Of course that doesn’t mean an inline lead wouldn’t work over a hard lake bed, but a helicopter or lead clip arrangement would be my choice.

Grass snakes do enjoy the water. I got my club book renewed today, just gotta sort some time on the bank.

I much prefer using a leadcore or unleaded leader as opposed to a naked set up. I’ve used both types extensively, and have found the unleaded to be more supple (obviously!) as well as a bit thinner. My only slight problem with the thinner unleaded material (Nash version in my case) was getting the top bead/silicone sleeve to stay in place. I use the old silicone sleeve method with a bead pushed lightly on it as a top bead. So the silicone sleeve must fit tightly so only the bead can move and pop off easily. With unleaded leaders, I used a dab of rig glue on the leader where I wanted the silicone sleeve to go, then slide the sleeve over the glue before it set. This is down to personal preference as when fishing naked, i have an inherent fear of tangles! Could you fish one set up on each rod side by side and see what suits your needs best? Or are you planning the choddie on one spot only?

I very much doubt that the carp would ingest foam or cork, they often suck into their mouths inedible items to test them to see if they are food or not, plus they take in stones, sticks etc when feeding and are extremely well adapted to filtering out the food and spitting out the inedible stuff. So I think if they took in a bit of foam or cork, they will soon spit it out when they realise it’s not food. Provided you’re using a proper zig set up, and the foam/cork hook bait is secured, it shouldn’t come off anyway. I’ve seen carp suck in Fag butts, they soon spit them back out!!

I use 12lb mainline and pva bags without a shockleader with no problems, I tend not to fish pva bags at range anyway as they can reduce my accuracy. When beachcasting, I would often use leads in the 4-6oz range and the casting style would demand a shockleader as the forces imposed on the mainline by the rods t/c, the actual casting style, (half pendulum, full pendulum, OTC, etc) and the added weight of a baited 2-3 hook trace, or a mackerel fillet or peeler crab etc, the initial air resistance of the baited end tackle, not forgetting the hostile nature of the sea to begin with, all these factors place a far greater strain on a mainline used for beachcasting than the strain placed in a carping environment. most modern carp lines snap at a higher strain than their stated breaking strain, and most modern set ups can, in the right hands, put a 3oz lead a long way with little force or effort. I’ve had a rod fail before the mainline when casting extreme range (twice!) it’s a case of being sensible, I’m happy to blast a 3 1/2oz lead as far as I can chuck it with 15lb line, if I was using a lower b/s line, of 10lb say, I’d use a length of 20lb line as a shockleader, or if it was a common tactic, if fishing a water where extreme range fishing was the norm, I would turn to a tapered mainline. (I would also use these on waters where leaders are banned) but to be honest, I haven't needed a shockleader for years, diawa hypersensor has reduced diameter for its b/s so I can use a line of 15-18lb with a line diameter of 12lb(ish) modern mainlines give us more options these days

Well done mate, keep up the good work!

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.