ouchthathurt

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!

So long as the rig comes apart 100% of the time then it should be ok, I’m wary of shrink tube on tubing as it can slip, another option for you mate would be the Nash heli kits, they are very simple to use and are designed for use with tubing.

I just have a normal pillow I nicked from home with a DPM camou pillow case swiped from an old cover set my son had... it’s thin enough to be left in the bed chair when folded up and just stays there to be honest!

I would like to think that we don’t get worse, but we can become complacent at times. After Monday, we can all dust off the bivvies and get nights in! Hopefully we can get back to normal and start getting some fish on the bank. besides, if I look back, I seem to remember catching a lot more fish than I do now, but there are various factors for this, with rose tinted specs on and the benefit of hindsight, you remember the good times and the blanks don’t seem so bad or numerous. I hark back to my first carp water where the sun was always shining, the reeds were thick and vibrant, the carp were dark mahogany commons and you caught every trip, I still fish this water occasionally, the reeds don’t look as vibrant as they do in my nostalgic minds eye, the carp are pale and it’s usually raining! The water has changed in 20yrs, it’s silted up, the stock is lower and the reeds have been cut back. I fish different waters then back then, my waters now are harder, lower stocked and this affects my catch rate, I may not catch the same numbers, but as the waters are a lot harder, I’m a better angler now then back then as I’ve had to learn and evolve as an angler to be be successful on difficult waters.

Whereas I haven’t used Abu reels since I replaced my (new version) cardinal 55 reels for baitrunners in 1999, I did have a set of 3 Abu 6500 open cage multipliers for beach casting. One bent the spindle trying to land a bass in the tide race in Poole harbour, it was its first outing so I wasn’t too impressed! I went to Afghan a few weeks later for 7 months then didn’t get to sorting it for over a year after getting home from Afghan. I sent it to Abu with a letter explaining the circumstances and asked for a repair, they sent me a brand new reel, free of charge, nearly 2yrs after I broke it! Excellent customer service, the reels were good as gold afterward. My first “proper” carp rods were Abu Delta carp rods, 11ft 2lb tc (loved them!) with Abu cardinal 55 reels, (my tackle dealer was an Abu dealer) but that was back in the mid 90s. They have a good reputation on the sea fishing scene, but for carp fishing, they seem to have slipped from view somewhat.

Totally agree mate, you’re better off getting the best quality bait you can afford and use less of it then fill it in with a bait that’s less expensive but with a lower nutritional profile. If it’s a high quality bait with a good nutritional value, the carp will recognise it as a decent food source with time and application and eat it over other less nutritional baits. It’s the old adage (I think it was Fred Wilton who said it) “carp will take advantage of the best available food source” and I’ve found it to be true, that a high quality nutritional bait will out fish a lesser quality bait over the course of a season. They can be slower to get going at times, but it pays off in the end. I’ve been using the same robin red/fish meal mix with oils, flavourings and additives now for well over a decade with few changes and it still does the job. Bait is so important and it’s essential that you have the upmost confidence in it or you’re beaten before you start!

I second that, I’ve been an avid premier baits user since the mid 90s. It’s brilliant stuff. The randoms as above is a good option, or if you wanted to go all out, buy a basemix off them and make your own bait!

If you want a decent, well priced tough line, then Berkeley big game or diawa sensor are both good ropes.

That’s a proper old school hair there nick! I do prefer longer hairs, but I’m not sure I would have the confidence to use one that long!

Those spots may well fish as the year progresses, I find it uncommon for certain hotspots to produce all year round. Often the hotspots change with the seasons.

The most important thing is being on active fish. Nothing will work if there's nothing catchable in front of you. It is very easy to waste a lot of time trying random methods and baits on "likely looking" spots. Imo your time is better spent walking and watching. One you've found where they like to feed regularly, go back to basics and the rest should slot into place pretty quickly. Very true mate, they are having to feed somewhere! Although it’s easy to chop and change rigs and methods in the hope of finding “the one” you can run the risk of losing sight and losing confidence. Have you caught carp from here before? Do you know of anyone who has? I’d get on my toes and start exploring and mapping the lake, especially at this time of year when they are starting to wake up and move about. Half the battle is trying to find the fish actually feeding and this will do your confidence a world of good, look into past captures, speak to people who have been successful, look over your own past successes and build up a picture of what’s happening. Find their feeding spots, lying up spots, where they go to spawn, learn their routines, so when you walk on the lake, you can base swim choice on an informed decision, if you can’t find them, you can use this other information to help choose a swim, rather than just choosing a likely spot on a wing and a prayer and blanking. When you find their feeding spots, then you can use a bait you have confidence in, rather than chopping and changing. Keep beavering on mate, when it clicks and you catch, the feeling of achievement will make all the blanks and effort worthwhile! I once did a 2yr blank... trying to learn a difficult lake, when that first carp hit the back of the net the release of adrenaline and euphoria was so immense I screamed with joy... at 1am... in a park lake... surrounded by houses... over an 11lb mirror...

Have you got a carp cradle mate? They may be higher off the ground than an unhooking mat?

I’d probably go in with the mag-aligner, I’ve got so much confidence in it after stumbling on it and having a red letter session. I doubt there’s a fish in the UK that won’t be tempted by the humble maggot!

What a stunning swim!

Well I could do with a new right shoulder if there’s one going spare...

Ever looked at billing aquadrome?

I prefer using a rig ring mate, I had a few hook pulls when using silicone tubing which put me off somewhat. I’m happier with using rings.

The blowback rig has been my bottom bait rig of choice for a few years and I’ve always stripped back the last centimetre by the hook to give it that flexibility, combined with shrink tube or a kicker of some sort. I want the hook to be able to drop and take hold quickly and find that it’s best to have the coated braid stripped just before the hook to provide this hinge.