ouchthathurt

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.

Merry Christmas all, happy new year!

Nash heli beads into tubing, nice and simple, I use them with tubing with no issues

I use the no trace beads with the Korda leadcore and haven’t had any problems, maybe switch the lead free leader to Korda leadcore (if allowed) as the helisafe beads kits fit snug onto it. I’m assuming the lead free leader is another brand? In my experience, the lead free leader material is a thinner diameter to leadcore. Or look at the nash helicopter bead kits, they may work, they fit snug and have a wide bore that will pass over a spliced loop in a leadfree leader.

I found the cream stimulant powder in the aminos RR base to be a brilliant addition, especially when I conduct the old break and sniff test. I have continued to have success throughout the winter months, I can't fault it.

I use fresh eggs when making bait, I've got chickens in the garden too... I do use egg white powder as it helps harden the hookbaits, but that's about it.

My plans for 2020 are to find a new water, my current tickets aren't fuelling the fire like they should. I have been extremely fortunate to have caught the largest carp in two out of the three tickets, along with many of the resident fish, so on those waters they cease to be a challenge. A fresh water would be lovely. I've got my eye on a new river system so I might give the lakes a miss mostly this season. I am looking for a new job, my current post is under threat from closure so I might be made redundant, when is anyone's guess, I only get my shifts 4 days in advance now and I may well be unemployed tomorrow if it goes truly Pete Tong! I have applied to be a police officer, I have my fingers crossed that I get in, I love being in a job that allows me to serve the public. Army, NHS, ambulance service, now hopefully the police. I would like to relocate to Nottingham to be closer to my children, they live near Chester so it's a 12hr round trip at the moment, my partner and I have family in Nottingham and its only 2hrs from my kids. Oh, and I'm getting married in 2020...

You're Santa yonny?? My child like dreams of st Nick are shattered... Lol! Emmcee... Ref fine lines, I agree, it isn't like obsession or flick of a tale, I found the writing style to be different somehow, it took a few chapters, but I did enjoy it in the end, I didn't want the last few chapters to finish, but I do feel I need to read it again to take it all in if that makes any sense?

Signed copy of fine lines by Dave Lane, love his books!

Merry Christmas and a happy New year to you all.

Sorry, yeah! The no trace beads! Thanks mate. I agree with the above comments about not dropping the lead on a helicopter set up. I want the weight of the lead to assist with separation of the leader and Hooklink in the event of a crack off.

I've been using leadcore since the late 90s and I am 100% confident that I am using it safely. I don't agree with stupid lengths of the stuff, nor do I agree that a leadcore leader with a leadclip is a safe option either. I only ever use leadcore or any leader material as a helicopter set up. I also use the helisafe beads and a ring swivel with a large bore so it will pass off the leader if required. I always want my leader and Hooklinks to be able to separate in the event of a snap off, which is why I don't agree with leadclips, it may discharge the lead, but the Hooklinks and leadcore leaders are still attached. As for barbless hooks, I never use them. A water I fish at the moment has a leadcore ban, the bailiff told me we do not need leadcore as it's "not even snaggy" eh??? Use leadcore only in heavy snags? Hmmm... Perhaps not. I use leaded tubing at this venue here if needed, although I would rather have my leadcore. Another water banned leadcore, but allows lead free leaders... They don't mind the use of a braided leader, but ban the internal lead wire... Can't work that one out myself, they allow you to drop the lead on the take (in a snag free pond) yet don't want the internal lead wire in leadcore entering the water column!

Hot chocolate all the way... Can't drink alcohol anymore, not a coffee fan and I got sick of constant teas in the Army.

If anyone wants to get behind a military charity, can I suggest SSAFA? After the breakdown of my marriage due to PTSD, and having approached a GP for help and being told that I would have to go on a 6-12 month waiting list for initial assessment (a timeframe doubled by the GP then "forgetting" to do the referral - 6 months waiting for an appt that was not gonna arrive) I was found by my parents and brought back to Sussex. They asked H4H for help twice but I was never seen by them. In desperation, (as I was a total mess, been hospitalised twice with pancreatitis due to self medicating with Stella and vodka - been tee total since 2016 - and having had my father find me removing my tow rope form the boot of my car - ideal noose after all) they contacted SSAFA or the soldiers sailors air force association. They spoke to a SSAFA rep who interviewed me the following day, (he was ex parachute regt) he immediately realised I was a danger to myself and referred me to a clinical psychologist privately of which they paid the fees, the day after the referral was sent, (a sunday) the rep collected me from my parents house and drove me to see the psychologist at her own home. I was formally diagnosed with severe untreated PTSD and referred for immediate treatment. I started counselling on the Tuesday. It took a while, but I got there. I even returned to the ambulance service, something I couldn't have done prior to SSAFA's intervention. On the last day of my treatment, the counsellor told me that it was "the first day of the new life" I left, drove to Wales to collect my boys, returned to Sussex and took my boys to a local holiday park 15mins from my house (nothing too taxing - got an awesome carp lake!!) walked into the restaurant and got chatting to a very attractive blonde girl, (terrified she would tell me to get lost - but as a test of confidence it was pretty scary!) After 3yrs and 3 months together the same blonde and I will be getting married next year... There is light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing my son catch his first fish, teaching my other son how to ride a bike, my youngest son catching a PB 28lb+ mirror... A thousand little things that I could have missed had SSAFA not stepped in, along with family friends children and my partner, I thought I was pretty strong, being a blood splattered war fighting medic, but my reluctance to ask for help nearly cost me everything. The fight in getting better was tough, but screw it, don't let the bad uns win! I mean, miss this? No way!

I'm sorry to hear of your losses gents, you have my condolences and best wishes. I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2015 after 13yrs army service and working on the ambulances. I've been on this forum for many years and always like to keep an eye on it, as for posting replies, I get that, I worry about negative reactions to things I post, a hang up of the PTSD I suppose, but I have yet to really see any negative feedback. Yes you may get disagreements, or questions about any points I've raised, but nothing more than healthy debate, respectfully said. No one knows everything, my interpretation of a chosen subject may be totally different to another's interpretation, based on our respective viewpoints and experience, but stimulating debate is good for us all! welcome to the forum mate and get stuck in!

Fair point! Lol! From what I gather, worms are particularly good at releasing free amino acids into the water column, chopped worm especially - although when you cut a worm it's hardly pumping fluid out everywhere is it? While it can be tricky to prove that these additions can be of use, indeed the argument for amino acid use in boiled baits has been going on in bait making circles for ages, some believe that the amino acids help the bait break down protein within the bait making the bait appear more digestible, carp require certain amino acids to aid digestion that they source from their food, so including these in your bait should make it more attractive. Whereas others argue that the boiling process denatures the amino acids, making them worthless. Different amino acids require different temperature ranges to work, so the chances of these conditions being met are slim, it doesn't make it easy to know what to do! I add calcium in my baits pre-spawning as calcium is needed in spawn formation, I use salt for the reasons in regards to osmosis I've already stated. I use a bait I've formulated over 15yrs that I'm convinced gives me an edge over other anglers. Yet on my current water, a lad matched my catch rate one session using readymades. I fished for an upper 30 common for years using my own baits yet caught her at 37+ on maggots. I caught my 42+ pb on a readymade pop up and a fluke cast I chucked into no man's land the first night on the lake. I still make and use my own bait with added nutrients, amino acids, salt etc as I believe they make a difference. I have seen better results in doing so but is it the bait? Or is it the case of confidence breeding success which leads to further success? As I trust my bait 100%, is it the cause of any captures or is it that I can fish better not worrying about the bait and concentrate on location and other variables? I believe that my bait is attractive, they eat it and I hope and think it's providing the carp with a good spread of protein, nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fats etc so it will be hopefully doing them some good. In the way that other animals (and humans) subconsciously crave and seek out foods containing elements the body is missing, carp will instinctively know that a food source has elements it needs and can't find in nature as easily as presented nicely in a little round package. If a carp finds a nice bed of mixed foodstuffs, it will eat it of its hungry enough, these different baits eaten together may even provide a mix of all the different nutrients that it's looking for, but I believe the reason why a good nutritional bait works so well, long term is because it has a good spread of all the required nutrients, whereas something like a readymade is like a sweet - nice smell, lovely taste, could eat a bag or a handful, but you would soon want a nice decent meal with meat veg and spuds. (Protein, vitamins, minerals, fats, carbs and fibre) I concede your point that it's speculation, if grounded in scientific research and theory, the carp won't let on, but it's certainly food for thought (excuse the poor pun) and if it gets people thinking then we all can learn from everyone else.