ouchthathurt

Nick, did you ever notice a difference in “stiffness” between the 15lb and 25lb amnesia? I didn’t really suffer hookpulls, only had one from memory - although that was the biggest carp in the pond, a 36lb mirror which spat the hook at the net! (Still mourn that loss even now 20yrs later!) the biggest drawback I found in using amnesia as a continuation into a hair was the size of the overhand knot forming the hair loop! It would tear into a bait something awful. I did tie up a fluro rig using ESP soft ghost, to a fox wide gape size 5 with the hair formed by continuing the ghost hooklink, it still looks crude! The hook and bait just didn’t “sit” right, so I would use a supple hair now. Yet years ago, it was my go to rig! Funny how things change.

Nice, I’m in East Sussex and we’ve had a few days when they iced over... the day I planned to fish in fact! 🙄

I’ve still got my JRC STI Rapid Erection... it’s ancient! I got it when they first came out. they could have thought of a name that doesn’t conjure up images of a VD clinic, but still...

Going back to 99/00 I used to use short stiff rigs of about 4-5” made of 15lb clear amnesia, to a size 6 wide gape style hook (I forget what I was using back then - fox series 2 maybe??) fishing bottom baits, the whole rig was made from amnesia, including the hair, it looked (and was) crude, but it worked, it never occurred to me at the time to use a supple hair, I just switched to amnesia from braid (silkworm or merlin at the time) because everyone else was using braid, and my braided rigs would tangle - a hang up I still have today (thoroughly soaking a soft braid hooklink and using larger baits and/or stringers helps tangles though) then I discovered snakeskin! Nowadays, if I use a fluro hooklink, I tie it with a supple braided hair.

She’s all good thanks mate, a taxi ran into the back of her, so the insurance company is sorting it all out. You’ve not had any major freezes, what area are you in?

I had a similar experience with a bailiff on my water, I was using a spod on a water with braided mainline and a tapered mono shockleader, the bailiff came wandering into the swim and asked me to pull my rods in for a rig check, (they were trying to stamp out dodgy rigs after a few had been found up trees etc - fair play in my book) after inspecting my rigs, (before asking me how it all worked - he admitted to not fishing for “silt pigs” (carp) as he loved his pike - begs the question why he’s inspecting carp rigs but still...) he then turned his eye on my spod rod and with a triumphant gleam in his eye pounced on my shockleader as all leaders are banned! I explained that a spod rod isn’t a “fishing” rod as such, so a carp can’t possibly be tethered by a spod, but he wasn’t having it. He took pictures of my spod rod, which I posed with rather fetchingly I felt, and reported me to the head bailiff, I was warned off for an instant lifetime ban... when the head bailiff saw the pics, he burst out laughing and told me I was in the clear, before explaining to the other bailiff exactly why someone would have a shockleader on a spod rod...

I’ve got the bait rolled and the gear all prepped, I’ve done a total of about 10hrs since New Year’s Eve, no fish though. It’s more mild now, so I want to get on the bank ASAP, but my wife was in a minor car accident, she’s fine, but her car is in the repair shop so I’m having to act as chauffeur for the moment, usually when she’s at work and I’m off, then I’ll hit the bank. Fingers crossed though and good luck to all hitting the bank.

That’s what I had in mind from the description. I think you find something similar in Tiger bay by Rob Maylin

Very true mate, for me it’s the confidence factor, I’ve tried both methods yet haven’t got a take. It’s a gap in my skill set that I need to address. Zigs especially, chod wise I don’t hit many scenarios (if at all) where I can’t present my favoured pop up rig. Although this is set to change when I can get on the rivers after lockdown, they are weedy in places and a choddie will probably be the best option. Admittedly, I have missed out on chances where carp are coming to zigs, yet when I try, they are very haphazard and I’m beaten before I’ve started. The confidence factor again.

Admission time... I’ve never caught a carp on a chod rig! 😳😳 or a zig... call myself a carp angler! Lol!

It can obviously depend on your venue as well though, in an ideal world, I’d like to head to a lake, 100% access to the whole lake, carp rolling and bubbling and not a soul to be seen! Yet on the park lake that I’m currently targeting it is anything but! It’s busy with pikers and pleasure anglers (more of these anglers since the start of lockdown 3) there’s a nature reserve that takes up 20% of the bank which is no fishing. One of the swims that allowed you to flick some baits (legally! Lol!) into this area has been permanently shut for health and safety grounds and the other, which allows casting into 80% of the nature reserve water has been declared a days only swim after the club withdrew night fishing as some were snag fishing at night and weren’t reacting in time to takes (snag fishing at night with a loose clutch?? Eh?) the reality is that when I arrive, the top swims will be occupied by other carpers or maggot drowners, and if you wanna dunk a boilie for a few hours, you have to make a choice of the remaining available swims. In this situation, I do feel that I’m fishing more in hope than expectation. Still, my living room is devoid of carp, so I’ve got a better chance at the lakes then on the sofa.

Keeping things simple is the way forward mate, I’m always tinkering with rigs admittedly when at home, but on the bank i revert to simple rigs I know work, coupled with a bait I have complete confidence in means I can rest assured that those two elements are working for me, I can “forget” about them and concentrate on location and tactics. The best rig in the world can’t catch a carp that isn’t there!

There is a back door entry (ooh err missus) that allows you to night it for £15 a night, by joining one of the local clubs that gives access, might need to do some research!

Stop press... the reservoir in the reservoir diaries 1&2 is Weirwood reservoir. There’s a syndicate there that’s currently full. May have to go on the waiting list. It’s an hour from me.

I have to admit, I do like the idea of a bushwhacker pole, I can see where it would have provided an edge on several waters I fish/fished, but the price puts me off a bit. Usually when I’ve needed something like that, I’ve either used the “2 rod trick” or i bodged a similar arrangement using an old baiting spoon and poles from an old tent! I suppose if you can justify its use and can visualise scenarios where it will prove to be an edge then why not? It could help put a few more fish on the bank and it’s probably a lot less fiddly then gaffa taping old tent poles together!

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?? Lol!

A very interesting debate here lads, I’ve enjoyed reading it. I can only go from my personal experiences, in my mind, I have to husband my funds carefully, I know I’m not the only person here who has to do that! When I was in the army, I was extremely fortunate, well paid, cheap rent, food covered, taxes etc... all came out of the pay packet before it hit my account. I would usually have weekends free, I was single and able to hit the roads and afford the wraysbury one ticket. It was under Cemex at the time and wasn’t extortionate, a couple of hundred, which i could afford by a bit of saving. So I went for it and fished the place every weekend. My results were pretty rubbish to be fair! But I loved the place. I looked last week at getting a wraysbury ticket again, it’s several grand now (and the waiting list)so it been priced well out of my price range... my wife is very supportive of my carp angling (which I’m very lucky about) but I think if I spent that, divorce would be a very real possibility! Now I work as an ambulance pilot, the wages aren’t brilliant, the hours are long, my days off are sporadic, I might not get consecutive days off and any trip is a quick overnighter, so my fishing is restricted to local waters. I can get a syndicate ticket for £350 which gives me up to 9 lakes so I start saving in the months leading up to the ticket renewal so I could afford it. I didn’t have the time to commit to lots of sessions, so any time I did have needed to be spent wisely, I would keep tabs on the place by keeping in touch with the bailiff, I’d pop in and wander about, I would walk the lake on arrival, see what’s been caught recently and from where, I’d keep my bait trickling in as much as I was able, I may only have 12-24hrs at my disposal, but if I spend 3hrs walking the water, this is time very well spent. It would be very easy to drop into the first swim, but i could wind up wasting a session, I fish light, so I can up sticks and move if need be. I spent 4yrs chasing one particular carp, which I never felt I was close, I could get carp most sessions, the bait was going well, yet I couldn’t close the deal with this one carp. Then one winter, I leave my bait at home by mistake, so pop into the nearest tackle shop, none of the boilies on offer take my fancy, so I buy a few pints of maggots. Quick lap in the pouring rain of the lake didn’t tell me much, so I went on previous experience of the lake and dropped into a swim. Flicked out a couple of magaliners with pva bags of maggots, and caught the target carp. Time on the bank is what i rely on, I can’t afford very expensive syndicate tickets, I can’t justify hitting the banks every free hour I have, I love my fishing, yet I love my wife and family too! The trick is to strike that balance! Nothing is more precious than time, you can’t buy it, you have to sacrifice to make it (quoting Dave Lane) yes, it’s a fact of life that some of the big ticket waters are pricey, they may have been priced out of the range of some anglers, but there are lots of waters “under the radar” that can be tracked down. In my circumstances, money is irrelevant, I can’t justify travelling long distance to fish new waters, I can’t justify the time, the local syndies in my area are closed shops. My fishing is done on club waters, park lakes and rivers. My park lake/river/canal ticket costs £30 a year, plus £2 a night, or £90 for the “gold card” (nights are free) yet they are tricky waters, I have to work for my fish, watercraft and experience puts my fish on the bank, I could go “full time” and fish it hard, but my house, wife, kids etc will all suffer. But it probably wouldn’t improve my catch rate significantly, one full timer is on a run of 44 blank nights... fishing overnighters, I’ve got a higher catch rate per rod hours fished. I’m happy with the balance I had, although covid has screwed up the plans for a lot of us. So long as you can sit on your chosen water and chill out, you come away at the end of the session looking forward to the next session, the stresses of the day melts away and you enjoy what you’re doing, that’s the main thing! Yes if I was to win the lottery, I could fish more, I would even dig my own lake! But millions in the bank wouldn’t change my outlook on fishing, I’d still want to spend time at home, I’d still have a wife, I’d still have children and time with them is priceless. Right now, I sit at home balancing my income and outgoings, I have to be careful, (a £560 bill for car repairs last month made me weep!) but that’s the same for most of us! Millions in the bank wouldn’t make me a better angler, experience of fishing different waters, watercraft learnt through carping for over 24yrs all over the place and using what time I have on the bank wisely, quality bait and location are more important in my eyes.

The lakes are my escape, it did wonders when I was diagnosed with PTSD after afghan

Oh god, don’t start! I’ve got 6 different types of leadcore! Several types of anti tangle tubing! Different lead clips, heli-safe clips, various different split links to quick change leads on helicopter rigs... half a dozen splicing needles, several baiting needles, nut drills, stringer needles! Helicopter rig kits, anti tangle sleeves, several types and sizes of shrink tube, silicone tube, bait screws, two penknives, a leather man tool, mini screwdriver set, batteries, two types of tungsten putty, several pairs of scissors and braid blades, 3 types of marker floats, 3 types of marker elastic, several types of pva string and tape... swivels? Mini bait swivels. Quick change in size 8,10,11... spinner swivels, normal swivels in 8&11. As for hooks??? Wide gapes, curve shanks, long shanks, trig-hammers, cranks, choddies, crank-choddies, fox med curves, Nash fang, Nash twister, drennan super specialist... long shank twisters... I just can’t help myself, I am always buying bits to tinker with my rigs... yet I always revert back to esp striptease with Nash fangs blowback rigs. Or Ronnie rigs for pop ups... all the “wonder rigs” I tie up on dark winter nights usually end up gathering dust in my rig box. on the bright side, I’m paying off my tackle dealers mortgage!!

50?? 5 is a stretch right now! my brolly and bed chair system has its own layout, everything goes exactly in the same place every session. I don’t bother with a bivvy 95% of the time, just chuck a brolly over if need be. I only got a barrow last year! Before then, if I couldn’t carry it on my back, it stayed at home... ... then I thought, hang on I’m not a serving squaddie anymore! My shoulder was telling me that it was time to get a barrow...

I have a barrow for my hooklinks...

I hang my head in shame!

Those days are behind me!!! I’ve fully embraced civvy life!

Yes yes the tackle bag is a right mess!!