ouchthathurt

Is it just me? Or does anyone else feel that these things like hook sizes is driven by an element of fashion? It seems that 10-12yrs ago, size six was a big hook and a size four was for the continent! Or is it just me? I use 4s now for 90%+ of my fishing and have done for several seasons, yet I forget why I changed...

That's not to say small hooks won't work, I think any hook with enough separation between hook and bait will do the job, some anglers believe smaller hooks bury deeper. It's confidence in what you're doing with decent tackle and effective rigs that may be the key. I use what works for me.

I remember to smile sometimes! I don't really put pressure on myself, angling is my escape. I just love being there. If I lose a big fish or blank or have a bad session, I can usually shrug it off and not think about it again. I once fished wraysbury 1 for a whole season every weekend, I had one take after a whole summer and into the colder months (from a carp as opposed to tench) and lost it about 3yards from the net... Bizarrely, I burst out laughing! (I still find it amusing even now... Work that one out, because I cant!!)

It would seem I tend to go for the "monged zombie" look... No alcohol or narcotics were used in the taking of these pictures...(unbelievably!)

I found over the last few seasons that I lose the buzz on and off, usually it was seasonal - as I learnt the water I was on, it became obvious that they had shut down for winter. I was wasting my time. I had another water that I lost enthusiasm for during the summer months as it was so busy. I only had two of the "A team" to catch - a 35lb+ common and a 21lb+ linear. But the lake, which was only about two acres, was always packed out which I didn't enjoy. I brought a cheap club ticket with a new pond on it and that got me going again. I had a new challenge and it fired me up to get the rods out until the winter when the two acre lake was empty of anglers. I returned for a two night session on the two acre lake, had it to myself and caught the common at 37lb 10oz and the linear at 24lb as a brace in a 4hr spell, both on maggot rigs. (I haven't been back) It's easy to get stuck in a rut and if the venue isn't calling you back each time, then maybe it's time to bid farewell and look for a new water to fire you up again? mind you recently, I've not been getting on the bank as much as I could, although I want to be there when I cant, when the opportunity comes up, I can't be bothered! Unfortunately, this is down to working long hours and not having the energy to get going!

I found over the last few seasons that I lose the buzz on and off, usually it was seasonal - as I learnt the water I was on, it became obvious that they had shut down for winter. I was wasting my time. I had another water that I lost enthusiasm for during the summer months as it was so busy. I only had two of the "A team" to catch - a 35lb+ common and a 21lb+ linear. But the lake, which was only about two acres, was always packed out which I didn't enjoy. I brought a cheap club ticket with a new pond on it and that got me going again. I had a new challenge and it fired me up to get the rods out until the winter when the two acre lake was empty of anglers. I returned for a two night session on the two acre lake, had it to myself and caught the common at 37lb 10oz and the linear at 24lb as a brace in a 4hr spell, both on maggot rigs. (I haven't been back) It's easy to get stuck in a rut and if the venue isn't calling you back each time, then maybe it's time to bid farewell and look for a new water to fire you up again? mind you recently, I've not been getting on the bank as much as I could, although I want to be there when I cant, when the opportunity comes up, I can't be bothered! Unfortunately, this is down to working long hours and not having the energy to get going!

I tend to stick to size fours all year round for my fishing, unless using maggots, then I use a magaligned 6 widegape. For ronnies, I use a size 4 curve, same hook for blowback rigs on braided or coated braided rigs with long hairs. Flurocarbon bottom bait rigs and hinged stiff rigs I use fox stiff rigger hooks also size 4. I get good firm hookholds with size 4s although with bottom baits, prefer a decent separation between hook and bait to allow the hook to drop/turn and do it's job. (I use soft braided hairs on bottom bait flurocarbon rigs for this reason.)

No worries mate, it's worth it, personally I always get more of a buzz catching carp from a canal or river than lakes now. It's the element of the unknown, having to work at it, I get a sense of achievement from a canal carp weighing mid doubles that I probably wouldn't even weigh or photograph out of a lake. Very best of luck pal.

I still have the original batteries in my nevs... The [censored]s never go off... When I finally get a take, I probably won't know what the high pitched wailing sound will be...??

Dan, When it comes to prebaiting, I would definitely aim for the spots that you have seen carp already, plus spots where you know they have been caught from before. If you've had a few, and you can tap up the local tackle dealers or bailiffs etc for info, then it gives you something definite to start with, as opposed to hitting a "virgin" canal without any sightings or prior info to work on. You hooked two on maggots? Then you're on the way to a decent start mate. You seem to have a good idea where to look and start from, which is the part that puts a lot of prospective canal anglers off when carp hunting. We are all guilty of dropping into swims and venues, blanking a few times then giving it up as a bad job! If you're happy that you've found a few to target, then I'd start there with a view to either building on that area or stretch, always keep an eye out for further opportunities or something to move onto if it doesn't pan out. In reference to baiting a particular area, I like to initially spread it over a reasonable area, maybe if I'm aiming at a far margin, then spreading it 2-4 rod lengths over a potential feature - say a bush, sunken branch, a boat, weedbeds, reeds, lillies, ledge etc etc. If I had a choice, i would always look for a stretch with lots of overhanging trees and shrubs to provide shade, shelter and cover for the carp. With rivers and canals, you can often find a deep central channel for boats etc and a distinct marginal ledge near and far margins. They would be the areas I would aim for as the central channel can often be weedy and choddy, plus with canal traffic and the absence of cover, make these areas a lot less attractive than the margins. Just remember to backlead into the central channel to keep your line pinned down away from boat props and dagger boards! Initially when baiting I want to introduce something that's going to stop a nomadic carp on its travels and want to feed, so I spread it fairly wide to give me a better chance of intercepting them. Adding maggots, bread, hemp, corn, pellet etc is a good tactic initially as small fish activity will attract the carp and also help clear spots in which to present a rig. Once I was happy that I had carp feeding regularly, i would personally want to cut down on the small fish food and wean carp onto boilies and rivers etc, reduce bream and other nuisance species from destroying my hookbaits. It's a personal thing, I know when I've got them feeding on boilies, then fishing a boilie over the top should increase the chances of a bite being from a carp. Fishing maggots or corn etc would see me being breamed out! Once I was happy I had a spot that will do me a bite, i would start fishing it, trying different spots until I located areas that produce more carp than others, the hotspots along the marginal shelf. Then I would narrow my baiting down to those areas, to keep the carp coming there over and again. If you have spots you can visit on your way to work, so you can keep trickling bait in, that's ideal. As always though, it's best to keep several areas ticking over as if angling pressure moves them from one spot, you have others to move onto and try, if you only have one hotspot to go for and that spot goes dead then you're a bit stuck and have to start again from scratch. With a few spots dotted up and down the stretch all getting bait, they will get used to finding your bait and seeing it as a good food source, making them more likely to eat it again when they encounter the spot with a rig on it. Also if spot A blows and fishes badly, you know spot B is primed and you can move on there, then spot C, D etc. I would only bait the featureless sections if that was all I was faced with to be honest. I have a local stretch of river that has a lovely common in it. The river itself is a drain, the bottom is largely silt and featureless. The banks are bare for miles, any decent shrub or tree is blown down by the sea winds or eaten by cattle! As a result, I watched the river and spotted him rolling in the same area several times. A quick lead about with a marker rod found nothing other than miles of flat slit as far as I could check, the only variation was the marginal slope. Which was exactly the same depth and variation all the way along, nothing worth noting as a reason for the carp to visit one spot over another. The carp are extremely nomadic and range up and down the river for miles, so I wanted to bait the spot I had seen the common roll heavily and regularly to make my own feature on the bottom, lots of free food all the time! If they're on the lookout for food and I can give them what they want, there's a bigger chance of getting them to stay in the area. Think of foxes and rats, they purposefully hunt in towns as they know it's easy free food, as humans we have educated a wild animal to come to our kebab shops after closing as we as humans leave lots of free food for them to eat every time we put the bins out! I would love to post a picture of the "rolling common" but... I didn't catch him... best laid plans of mice and men etc... had a few lovely little mirrors though, which no one had seen before, so it worked I suppose! as for rigs etc, yeah strong and simple mate. If you can fish safely with a loose clutch, then it's ok to do so. If you need to fish locked up, then make sure you have strong bank sticks and a rear rod rest that really holds the rod in place, I find when fishing locked up, as you need to be on the rod straight away to prevent the carp reaching the snags, they can't build up a head of steam to yank the rod in anyway - you should be on the rod before that happens. Just keep the rod pointing directly to the rig to minimise the chances of the rod being pulled to the side where it is more likely to jump off the buzzer. Snag ears are a good idea too!

Quick question, when experiencing these drop backs, where you striking immediately, or reeling down until you took up any slack before striking? If it was a take and the fish was moving towards you then immediately striking will just cause you to strike up the slack and not set the hook properly. I always reel down and "catch the lead up" before striking. If it's liners, then depending on severity, depends on whether I reposition it or not, if I feel the lead has in any way moved, I'll redo it. or else braid and a 8oz uptiding grip lead will sort them out... (Or maybe not try that one! Lol!)

This could be down to the moisture content of the bait, if the boilie mix was firm to begin with, then as they dry prior to freezing, they may crack. Freezing causes ice crystals to form in the bait, (funnily enough!) Ice expands the bait as it takes up more mass than water. This may cause cracking if there's excess moisture - I found this with fishmeals on rare occasions, especially if not allowed to cool before freezing. Conversely, coarse basemixes such as birdfood bases would allow the baits to dry out quicker, freezing would remove moisture from these baits making the bait more brittle and liable to crack. I like to air dry my baits overnight before freezing, that solves the problem. Still can't seem to escape freezer burn though... I use freezer bags with the air squeezed out to store in the freezer, then transfer the bait into an air dry bag when taking them out for use to prevent them sweating in a plastic bag.

Why the 50/50 basemix? Are you looking for a short term bait or something to stick with season after season? go to a large high street supermarket (Tesco and Sainsbury's both sell this stuff), look in the home baking isle and buy egg white powder, it's otherwise known as egg albumin - a good ingredient to add in order to harden up baits. I use it in my baits, it can reduce boiling time and produces a firmer bait with a tougher skin. They come in small sachets for about £1:50 for 6 sachets, then you can experiment with how many sachets needed per a 6egg mix to get the required result.

I always wear crocs once in set up on the bank, get everything sorted and set, then perch on the bedchair and my boots go to the back of the brolly and its time to rock the croc... (That is NOT a metaphor or innuendo!) My crocs are proper carpy too... luminous lime green... Love em...

I had a set of 4 EVs for the last 3 yrs, I noticed that on occasion, the led would stay on for longer than 10secs, never caused an issue though, to be honest, I had to return them as they always packed up in the rain - 3 out of 4 packed up when wet. I don't know if I was unlucky, but I found giving them a damn good soaking in wd40 and letting it dry solved the problem for a few months. I've gone back to nevilles, they're as simple as I am... My son has the delks now, he loves them, which he should really, they're good alarms.

Whilst on the bank once, I forgot I was supposed to be going to work...

I love getting on the canals, always approaching them with the same basic game plan mate. firstly, location is the most obvious thing, however it's surprising how often it is skipped over. Often, canal carp are not as pressured as their lake brethren, so can be easier to see and pin down. You say that one section is relatively featureless? I would hit that with a prebaiting campaign. My start would be with hemp/particle/corn/pellet with a few boilies added. Keep it going in initially to attract all species. As much as I want to stop other species in their tracks, I won't go straight for boilies until I know carp are visiting regularly. Flowing water carp (river/canal) tend to be very nomadic, especially in stretches where there are little in the way of cover or features to hold them, this is where I would attempt to create a reason for them to visit a chosen spot time and again using bait. Once I was happy I knew carp were hitting the spot regularly, I would do away with pellet and corn etc and wean them into boilies to deter the nuisance species and target the carp better. Although flowing water carp are less pressured, they can be spooky - catching one carp off a prebaited spot can spook the others and they often drift away, so I try get as many spots going as possible. Then I can leapfrog the carp on the move and be set up waiting as they reach my next spot. Good thing about most canals is you can follow the carp along the bank. More of my successes come from sections with lots of features and bushes etc, boats and marinas are good places to try. Get a mountain bike and some polaroids and go searching. Carp are always gonna drift from one section to another, unless something holds them. Lock gates, weir pools etc. I find once i am on fish, they're catchable, the trick is to find them first. Find them, feed them, catch them... Rigs wise, I tend not to get too riggy anyway, I believe location and quality bait is key anywhere, especially on a canal or river. Long casting is generally not an issue, so I tend to go for strong and simple gear. My main line is .35mm Shimano technium, (got 20lb b/s on testing it myself) with leadclips or inlines as a lead arrangement. Hooklinks are often just mono or a tough coated braid. Simple knotless knot to a strong size 4 hook. I'm an avid leadcore user, although I'll also use rigtube as happily. I want something tough and abrasion resistant, not all techy and complicated. If bottom debris and crayfish are an issue, then pop ups would be my choice, if I can present a bottom bait without any problems, then I'd go for that first. Backleading to prevent boats/kayakers etc catching my lines is important as well as keeping my gear on the path clear so walkers/cyclists don't run it down! I like to keep light and mobile so I can keep moving onto fish if my present spot isn't producing, before finding a night spot in a quiet stretch to do an overnighter. - this I bait regularly to keep the carp interested. Somewhere a little less snaggy and more open for fish safety reasons after dark. It's ok fishing locked up in the weedy/snaggy bits in the day where you can be on it and in control quickly but at night, I want it a bit more risk free where a run off a clutch won't cause issues. The carp will leave the snags and explore more at night anyway, so you make the best of both worlds. FInally, if you can rake the swims of crud and bait them, then try it - if all you do is clear a load of litter off the canal bed, then it's a good thing! I'd try get as much out as possible, anglers are guardians of our environment, rubbish is an eyesore and anglers tend to get blamed - more flak we could all do without, even if we are blameless. Clear the spots, with the rubbish and the carp gods will smile on you. Canals and rivers are tricky venues, but I love them. They fish through the winter too usually, I've got a little canal lined up this winter... Good luck mate.

I caught a 39lb 15oz doing exactly that! Lol! I believe the larger fish once over the hookbait cannot distinguish it as being off the deck too well, especially as they can't see it when their mouths are over it and they are relying on their barbules for the final part. This fish was caught on a simple braided pop up rig in a solid PVA bag, however in my experience I find braided pop up rig, especially fished without a PVA bag/stringer can tangle more times than I'm prepared to accept. I good old hinged stiff rig has caught me stacks of carp, i have not had one tangle and the hookholds have been awesome. It's my go to pop up rig regardless of where I am. It fishes well over a clean or slightly weedy bottom but can be a bit problematic in thick weed. I never use the chod. It's a rig I don't like, and I've never had my HSL outfished by a chod anyway.

Knots are a personal thing, so long as you trust them. ive used a blood knot all my fishing life and had no problems. The only knot i dont trust is a simple overhand loop, i find it self strangulates and weakens. a double overhand loop is much stronger. i use grinners for seafishing though, to attach tapered shockleaders on my abu hi speed multis. but blood knots for swivels hooks etc. the thicker the mono, the less turns i find i need. normal mono = 4turns braid =6turns greased weasel (trace bodies) =3turns. experience really helps here.

Using a stiff fluro hook section with a braided boom section is a known rig called a reverse stiff rig. it can be prone to tangling. You can use a braided hook link with a fluro boom to make a combi presentation but in my experience, hinged stiff links are best when made out of stiff materials such as amnesia. you can of course use coated braid and peel back the amount you want the bait to pop up by, however i prefer a traditional hinged stiff link as they seem to tangle less abd kick the hookbait away from the lead on settling, especially if pva nuggets are used. i find the amnesia stiff links more versitile and less prone to tangle and they give better hookholds in my opinion. they are whats on my rods at the moment anyway!

I use the d rig with my stiff links. fish them over a wide variety of bottom makeups with no issues that i am aware of. find a stiff link is a good rig to use on new waters as its pretty versitile.

I use amnesia 15lb for all my pop up rigs, hinged stiff links. i took my first "hard" water using fluro hooklinks in late 90s. again using amnesia 15lb in clear and bottom baits. i think i had the advantage as everyone else was using supple braided hooklinks. so it was a different presentation. so id use it when no one else is.

I recognise those quotes - i wrote them. Damage caused when: Longshank hook peirces lip in smaller carp. Hookpoint passes clean through lip and out the other side. Smaller carp frantically swimming/jerking/headshaking Hookpoint re-hooks lip at another point. Pressure exerted pulls hookpoint home. Carp now double hooked (stitched) Pressure applied to part of mouth there hook dug in a second time - direct pressure from angler on 1st hook point - leteral/sideways pressure on 2nd. Hook tears along the lip, ripping it along until the hook ends up back, single hooked, where it started, or tears free. The bent hook rig used to do the same, as the hook flexed forwards and backwards at the point of bending during the fight making matters worse. Of the two, the 360 rig is much safer, and is a "big fish rig" so if uded correctly in the right situation for big carp (that often fight slower and less frantic then little uns) is less risky. Its not the rigs fault, its the person who choses to use it in the wrong situation. Like my job, i carry a rifle, i went round afghan with it, but my rifle itself isnt dangerous, i could walk past civvies without it bursting into gunfire, but it became dangerous when i chose to use it. I have seen mouth damage with a 360 rig and one carp is enough. I think other rigs work just as well. You would want me as your lawyer, you might not win, but i'd be cheaper!

Well ive repeatedly offered to make a nice pie, but no takers so far! They'll eat the wild rabbits that i shoot, but offer them rosie rabbit? Nooooo! Thats just not right...

You think that dog looks broken? Check out mine... Looks proper knackered! Yes, i gave her easter eggs and told my kids she is the real easter bunny...!