ouchthathurt

I was just wondering about approaching the local fishing clubs and speaking to them. I’m not registered disabled, but I do carry injuries from afghan, specifically my shoulder. My club issue me a disabled ticket which gives me access to the disabled pegs which are very close to the car park. I only use this privilege when my shoulder is actively playing up, but it’s a godsend when I can’t take the barrow journey to the further pegs. I was wondering if a chat to the bailiffs at your local could work something out, they may be able to come up with some arrangement that could make life easier?

@Sparky1964 just out of interest, are you a member of a club or syndicate? Do they have disabled swims?

I found the Nash bullet was really tough, I had to use it in 20lb strength as it was a minimum line strength rule as it had big cats stocked. It was proper rope, I damn near killed myself when I pulled for a break and the lead came wanging out of the tree like a rocket and hit the tree trunk just beside me. Took some effort to pull the lead out, shook me up a bit!

Watching bird life can be a good aid when working out various waters. On deeper venues, you can use tufties diving to work out the clear areas as well as the depth as each species has a maximum diving depth. Swans only feed to a certain depth, if they can’t reach, that can give you an idea of depth. You can see birds stood or wade on shallow bars and sunken islands. On one water, if I see coots diving on my spot, then I usually know that there are no carp down there, when the coots stop or spook off, then I’ve usually had a take soon after. Geese and swans sometimes suddenly alter course when swimming from point A to B if they come across a carp basking in the upper layers. I’ve seen coots and moorhens become territorial and call out or stamp their feet when carp come near to their nests. There are lots of subtle signs everywhere when you take the time to look, if nothing else, watching the wildlife makes the sport so aesthetically pleasing.

I’ve got 12lb diawa hypersensor on my 12000 reels, it’s thin diameter makes it a great distance and open water or snag free water line and I’ve used it for about 8months with only one cut off, but I’d be wary of using it around snags/bars etc, I’d want proper rope on for snag fishing, running over gravel bars or hit and hold situations. I’ve had this line cut off on a gravel shelf once before, the 15lb big game and shimano technium I used before didn’t have this problem bringing fish over the same gravel shelf.

I can’t comment on the wychwood reels as I’ve not used them, but I have a set of fox EOS12000 reels coupled to 12ft 3lb fox torque rods and I really can’t fault them, the reels feel solid, the drag is smooth and the build quality seem too notch. I can’t fault the rods or reels, they get some fair abuse and have held up extremely well.

I’ve used leadcore almost exclusively for over 20yrs and I’m with Nick on this one, if you’re not sure about it, give it a miss, it can be dangerous if not set up correctly. I only use helicopter rigs as the hooklink can separate from the leadcore completely in the event of a snap off. Besides, modern tubing and other rigs are just as effective nowadays. With modern fluro mainlines, you can achieve very good rig concealment fishing mainline straight through to the lead. Check out the vids posted above, chat to your tackle dealer when they reopen, ask them to explain basic carp rigs to you, any tackle shop employee worth his salt will take the time to educate you, (then you buy what you need from them and everyone’s a winner) do you have any mates that carp fish? Otherwise, buy some basic bits, ready tied rigs, tubing, inline leads, lead clips etc and have a play putting it all together, I learnt through experimentation, you also have the bonus of being able to post your results on here so you can have the confidence that they are safe and right. When a ready tied rig reaches the end of its natural life, don’t bin it, take it apart and work out how it was tied so you can emulate it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, I learnt through asking anglers what they were doing.

Your answer in a nutshell (pardon the pun) all I would add is to ensure they are well prepared correctly or use ready prepared nuts, use sparingly and use simple rigs that you already have confidence in.

In John Wilson’s carp fishing guide, (available on kindle) he describes F1’s as being a cross between crucians and king carp, the end result apparently produces a fully scaled fish with smaller barbules and a deeper body shape. They are also resistant to KHV and feed all year round.

My waders are extremely well hidden... there’s a wading ban on my water!!

We all have our own preferences mate, I love my fox torque rods and EOS 12000 reels, I can’t fault them, yesterday I managed to accidentally stick a 3oz on the far bank at 115yrds - I was looking at putting it at 90yrds but overcooked it somewhat!! Yet I’m not a fan of the fox alarms... except the micron minis, it’s purely a looks thing, I don’t like their shape!! As for the Exocet braid... I really couldn’t comment... I’ve never used it! I tend to buy braid that’s not “carpified” as it’s cheaper! I’ve got some nondescript black braid in 40lb on both spod and marker rod and it is pretty bulletproof, even if the black dye comes out all over my fingers when it’s wet 🙄RM gear I’ve not used, so no comment. Nash stuff, I’ve got one of their pods which is pretty good, their fang hooks are decent, Korda - I love their leadcore, especially the gravel one... I’m not so much a slave to a particular brand, I just buy what I need from whatever stable offers it, then I continue with whatever brand offers the best version of that product that suits my need best. I guess we are all like that really.

Of course they will need spraying them a nice carpy green/black...

I use fox torques and did think about corking the handles, you can buy DIY kits online where you slide the individual cork rings on and then sand them down.

Well the EOS 12000 from your favourite makers of fine quality Exocet braid 😁 are a brilliant reel, I’ve got a set and they are the best reels I’ve ever used. Otherwise I doubt there will be much in the way of differences with the sea model you’ve posted above, is the retrieve rate the same etc? They may be more resistant to salt corrosion and designed to cope with the harsher conditions of beach casting, but so long as the drag etc is still smooth and positive, they should be ok. I used to use Shakespeare and Ryobi “beach reels” for carping as they were generally cheaper! They did the job ok.

Some brilliant flavours there, I’d forgotten the maplecreme, secret agent and plum royale! 3 flavours I had real confidence in years ago. The zing flavours I’ve read a lot about and heard how good they were but I never had the chance to use them myself. I had to go to richworth then nutrabaits to get a ham flavour I was happy with, the premier one was ace, but All of these ham flavours are discontinued now. I managed to get a bottle from nutrabaits in their discontinued line.

I still have a bottle of richworth blue cheese flavour that dates back to 1997... it’s like old smelly feet! ive made baits without any flavours at all and have had results on it, I think the smells and tastes inherent in the base mixes and oils etc are strong enough for a carps taste or “smell” receptors to detect. Although an addition of flavour made me more confident. I usually cut the dosages of the flavour right down though these days, the recommended dosage of my current flavour is up to 5ml per 6 eggs, I use between 1.5-2ml per 6 eggs (dependant on egg size)

I used to drive my local tackle dealer mad by opening and smelling everything! “Matt! You’ve opened that damn monster crab again!!” god bless you Al! He’s still going strong after 25+yrs

BFM Cranberry richworth blue cheese hutchies monster crab honey Yukatan mulberry florentine nouvelle fizz shellfish B5 Premier aminos/peach melba premier smoked ham richworth boiled ham solar squid and octopus Nash monster pursuit Nash tangee-squid richworth tutti fruitti richworth strawberry jam hutchies mixed herbs bergamot oil pukka salmon Nash whiskey carp company fruit frenzy What baits can you remember from days gone by?

That was a brilliant bait! that’s what I miss about my local tackle shops, back in the day when everyone was making their own baits. Walking in and seeing all the different base mixes, additives, powders and flavours. The smells, opening bottles and trying to find “the one” that would do the job. My tackle shop used to have shelves of different bait ingredients, now there’s nothing. It’s not the same!

Essential baits shellfish B5? Mike Willmot?

Won’t go far wrong with BFM/cranberry - it’s a classic bait that’s stood the test of time

My waders are a good size larger then my shoe size, I tend to wear a pair of thin cotton socks under thick woollen socks and wanted the extra space. I like my waders to be a bit spacious so I can get them on and off quickly and easily.

I suppose it all comes down to what you find more aesthetically pleasing mate, I used to love cork handles, but I’ve swayed towards minimalistic duplon grips.

Very true mate, if we held a poll now about the best bait manufacturers right now, I’m sure that every major bait manufacturer would pop up. It’s all personal confidence, I have used premier base mixes religiously for years as when I was first getting into bait making, premier baits far out fished the mainline basemixes I was using. So I’ve used premier since then and I’ve caught so many on it that I wouldn’t dream of using anything else. This is not to say that mainline baits aren’t as good, their phenomenal success shows just how good a bait they are, my initial failings were probably down to my ineptitude at initial bait making! But regardless, as a result of my own experience, I rate premier over other baits, yet ironically, my pb 42lb common was caught on a mainline red plum pop up after I found myself without my usual homemade baits... go figure! I caught a target 37lb+ common after 4yrs of applying the bait to the water on maggots! (I had left the bait in the freezer at home by mistake.) The important thing is to find a bait that you’re confident in using - see what the going bait is on your water, ask locals, your tackle dealer etc, or as Elmo quite rightly says, talk to the bait manufacturers to see what they suggest. But once you’ve got a bait going, you catch on it, you build your confidence up and that part of the carp fishing jigsaw is solved to an extent. It’s all a learning process mate, but I try to simplify things to 3 main aspects. Bait, rigs/tactics and location. Walking onto a water wondering if your bait will work, will the rigs work, are you fishing in the right place... well if I’m worried about all of that, I can’t fish effectively. But I’m in the fortunate position where I can walk onto a water and I am confident - through years of experience that my bait will work, I know through the same experiences that my rigs will do their intended function, so I can put those aspects to one side and concentrate solely on location and the correct tactic for the given situation. I also look it as a campaign as opposed to lots of individual day sessions/overnighters. One or two blanks, especially at the beginning of the “campaign” doesn’t dent my confidence in baits or rigs as I know they have worked before, I just haven’t unlocked the key to that particular venue. If I need to tweak things then I look at other variables. If I’m blanking repeatedly, yet everyone else around me was hauling, then I would have to take note and take stock, when I fished hamworthy lake in 2002, I found that I was stringing blanks together when others were catching - I had my location all wrong, carp were in my swim, but my tactics were wrong. (I fished the margins a lot when a lot of fish came to pva bags in open water, changing to pva bags in open water and I started catching too) nowadays, if I’m not catching, I am confident that it’s not the bait, it’s probably down to me!

I make all my own bait mate, have done always, I’m still using the same fishmeal/robin red basemix, with shellfish sense appeals, salmon oil, betaine, same flavours and additives (with a few slight tweaks as the availability of ingredients have changed over the years - richworth flavour exchanged for same flavour but from nutrabaits stable as richworth became unavailable etc) I first developed this mix nigh on 20yrs ago and have stuck with it ever since, it’s worked everywhere I’ve taken it, I’ve got such supreme confidence in it, I don’t even think about bait when arriving at a venue, just concentrate fully on location and tactics suitable for the venue/swim choice/prevailing conditions etc knowing the bait, fished properly will do the the business. I have a small collection of fruity or meaty hi-vis pop ups if needed, and I roll my own cork ball pop ups that are identical to the bottom bait basemix, I just add more egg albumin to harden the mix up and air dry them in the airing cupboard for a few days to get them rock solid, then they last for ages. I only make up 30 odd pop ups at a time, enough to last 2-3 months. I’m so confident in my bait it doesn’t cross my mind that it won’t work, if I blank, it’s because I didn’t read the situation correctly or they just weren’t having it, not the bait. Keeps things simple for me.