ouchthathurt

I’m guessing you’re thinking of baiting hamworthy lake? Unless there has been regular angling pressure throughout the winter (which from my experience is doubtful) I would probably hang fire (with the cold wind/rain/snow forecast) for a month or so mate, it was always a slow water to wake up after a cold winter, due to the depths and its location right on the coast. Regardless of the lake (prebaiting rivers can produce the goods all year round in my experience) unless I’ve been feeding baits on a regular basis all year round and the carp are still getting on it and feeding well at this time of year, then I wouldn’t start prebaiting during the winter. I find that you can keep feeding them throughout the winter if you started prebaiting during the warmer months and the carp are still actively searching for it and remain active, but trying to get something going in freezing temperatures when the carp have slowed right down can be very difficult. The carp in hamworthy lake overwinter in the deeper main section 2/3rds of the way across from the point or 1/3rd of the way across from the beach swim. I’d concentrate on using proven winter tactics and nick a few bites until it starts to warm up, then start trickling in the chosen prebait and go from there pal.

Just finished watching them, they’re a good lockdown watch. I skipped the shark fishing bit too to be honest!

My waters are only about 5min drive, in fact I’ve just got back from walking the dog around there. It’s looking pretty bleak at the moment, need to get some bait rolled anyway, so might get that done tomorrow. I just can’t fire up any enthusiasm right now. My club just stocked 15 high single/low double mirrors into my larger water, so I might even get a bite when I get back on there! Lol!

Very true Nick, due to covid, I’ve been on shift a lot more, I’ve lost touch with my water. I walk the dog around most mornings, but when I have got the odd overnighter in, I’ve been fishing more in hope then confidence. The swims I know can throw up consistent catches are usually taken and I’ve not got the recent/current info on the place, nor have I been able to go off shows etc as they are stubbornly reluctant to show when I need them too! my bait has stopped going in, I have no idea when I’ll get on the bank next, I sit in my ambulance and get messages about carp caught at my water...

The beach road car park used to get really busy during the summer, it was a popular spot with beach goers during the day and boy racers at night. The top car park by the holiday camp was more open and felt more secure. The close season was also enforced during my time there.

I used to park up by the haven car park, the beach road car park I used a few times, never had any problems to be honest. I used to keep the seats flat and leave the car totally empty so there was nothing worth stealing. That and my car was worth about £50 all in! (£20 if it didn’t have a full tank of fuel)

I recently brought a nash pocket pod as I was really struggling to get the sticks into one or two of the swims at my local, they concreted a few swims to make them wheelchair friendly, so I won’t complain! When I used the pod for the first time, as both buzzer bars are fixed at equal height, with the alarms added, the rod tips pointed up in the air. Plus the height of the swim above the water and my lines were several feet higher than I’d like. I brought some QR thingies for the rear rod rests that are about 2inches long, supposedly for making your landing/keep nets etc quick release (although they don’t seem strong enough for a specimen landing net) they stood high enough for the rods to sit level on the pod. oh yeah... I also rushed the purchase of the pod and didn’t realise that rods with 12000 fox big pit reels didn’t fit the pod without the QR “butt grip raisers” as they hit the central bar...

Oh don’t worry... I’ll find you! Lol! I did fish hamworthy lake a fair bit when based in Dorset, I always liked the place. The carp could be very hit or miss though. I used to have fish by setting up on the point/peninsula and casting into the main body of the lake towards the rushes on the far bank. They used to move up the rushes a fair bit. Also from the end of the point into the smaller section of the lake there is a bar that runs out from the swim facing the smaller section towards the rushes on the far bank to your left when stood facing straight out of the swim. I used to see carp crossing that bar a lot. The rushes at the back of the smaller section used to lead into the smaller pond behind when water levels are right, but I never saw or caught carp in the smaller pond. on the far side of the lake, furthest from the beach car park and closest to the holiday camp (car park up there too leads to this section of lake) is the wide Sandy expanse of bank that you can access the rushes to the left of the bank with a little bay that used to have lilies growing in there. There are small bars etc in front of this bank and they can produce fish. I have seen people catch carp by fishing from the point and rowing (or lilos!!) their baits over to the rushes, I used to try and hit the rushes religiously, until I watched a young lad catch a few by just lobbing a pva bag into the middle full of boilies. When I tried this, I started catching from the middle area - about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way across, especially at night. baits were just straight bottom baits nothing technical. There’s lovely tench in there too, but I didn’t get too bothered by them. I fished there with a Sgt from the marine camp and he told me of a double decker bus and an old WW2 midget submarine that were lost in the depths somewhere. In years gone by, the bootnecks would practice diving in there so I was told. As well as the usual “monster catfish” look on YouTube as there’s a video by dynamite baits filmed at hamworthy lake https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzjniQmB67Do%26t%3D136s&h=AT35vpvZFlf7rrklRO8LLW9x4YF90qBaVwZsEbavSjetuhV8prRFx4iV_48ntvkE3qhK5P3QBquh5BMW0DPgJHdb15qM6_Anvo0EQ9NkRdEAT7RUvjFzttQTJKbnXeg7j7h3SZKPTfq6sW3y

Do you know what? Until seeing this post I’d never really thought about it! I use curve shank patterns for my rigs, both pop up and bottom baits, and they are straight pointed hooks. Yet I do like the wide gape patterns which are beaked pointed.

I’ve always preferred peanuts to tigers, but they been to be used sparingly in my experience. I’ve used Brazil nuts before and found that a simple blow back rig with a longish hair was ideal. Tied up with soft braid or a soft coated braid.

Well you haven’t been banned yet! lol!

Even made the BBC news website! I took a walk around my local club water (3min drive) and 50% of swims were taken! Yet on the second water, (3min walk from first water) there were no anglers on. I’ll be getting the rods out hopefully, work dependant! Whatever you decide to do, the important thing is to not take risks and keep yourself safe.

It doesn’t need to have a function... just so long as it looks carpy... 🙄🙄

I’ve been thinking of getting a baiting pole, as bait boats are banned on my waters so that’s not an option for me. I just can’t justify the cost for all the extra sections for it to be able to reach the spots I need it for! I keep searching online looking for second hand kits. I did look at the chimney sweeping rod kits I have for my chimney (funnily enough) but I don’t know if they float!!!

Well it’s been a while since I last saw one!!

Very true mate, my mother in law has covid, she’s a nurse. My wife works in a care home that has covid cases and I work on an ambulance, dealing with covid cases. It’s difficult times for sure. Stay safe one and all.

Well it’s back into a national lockdown so I guess new year will be sorting out the tackle and rolling lots of bait!

I used to do that... right up to the point that I closed the boot, drove home and on opening the boot at home found 3 Neville buzzers all neatly snapped off at the base... 🙄🙄

I use helicopter rigs for 90%+ of my fishing and very rarely suffer hook pulls. I notice you said you don’t have a history for hook pulls before, so did they start when you started using the hinged stiffy or choddie? Do you use the hinged stiff rig with a “traditional” amnesia/stiff boom, or with the “soft” booms, coated braids etc? I understand their use - to allow the hook link to rest naturally over the choddy substrate, however perhaps the soft boom gives the carp too much rope? With the amnesia boom, the carp usually prick and hook themselves on the weight of the lead immediately. Worth a thought.

Happy new year to you and yours. Here’s to a better 2021!

Did you find that the majority of hook pulls came to the chod rigs? The chod rig can produce hook pulls with the mega short hook length with a heavy lead swinging around so close. Is the chod fixed or free running on the line? There is a school of thought that a free running chod may prick the fish but may not drive the hook home fully. Have you tried lengthening or shortening the boom section on a hinged stiff rig?

I’ve fished waters with large populations of crays in the past and I found them to be a right pest! I make my own baits usually anyway, so added egg albumin and/or hardening mix was an option. When fishing boilies, I always felt a little worried that the bait would be gone. Bottom baits were especially vulnerable but crays will get pop ups quite easily. I usually go for different bait options, such as tigers and my personal favourite, peanuts with sugar and garlic purée. Hemp and corn are another option, which allows the use of plastic baits. I never had much confidence in meshing baits to be honest, but they do have their place.

I’ve got a set of four fox torque rods in 3lb t/c. They were to replace a set of sonic xks blacks that were nice rods but I did snap 2 of them during long range casts so I wanted something I could properly throw a 3 1/2oz lead comfortably. I had a set of 3 fox rods then snapped the tip of one through my own stupidity, (don’t try and force a rod bag past an oak tree, stop and untangle it!!) I ordered a new tip through fox but it had to come from Europe so it didn’t have an arrival date. I found a brand new rod online and got that too. Then the tip arrived... they are excellent rods, nice slim blanks, 50mm butt eyes, good recovery, lovely playing action, they do everything I need. I got a set of fox 1200 reels with them. I would recommend them.

On a popular online auction site there are 8mm cork balls if that helps?

When using cork dust in wafters, the only sure fire way I’ve found is to roll the individual baits adding the dust to baits individually and testing each bait in a jar of water until I get the buoyancy I require. I will have a hook pattern that I use and push it into the paste ball to ensure buoyancy is correct prior to boiling. Making baits in small batches. As they air dry out, they can become more buoyant though. I make the baits smaller than wanted, so as you add the cork dust, they increase in diameter. to be honest, I tend not to bother with cork dust any more and just use cork balls with a thicker paste layer to make wafters, although with a 10mm cork ball, you end up with a 14-16mm bait. Sometimes 8mm cork balls can be sourced online for a 12mm approx bait.