ouchthathurt

i used to hate using pop ups, didnt really see the point, my analagy was if you "came across a plate of chips and one was hovering above the rest, you wouldnt eat it would you?" now recently, looking back, i'd say approx 75% of my 20s and 30s have fallen to pop up presentations. usually fished about 3/4" - 1 1/2" off the bottom, usually on their own or with a light scattering of whole boilies about - i'm a fan of the big boilies approach, yet, for years i hated pop ups. these days, when i put a pop up out, i know that there is a good chance that the bait will be presented over the bottom debris, and that the presentation will suffice until i can suss out the best course of action, indeed when i caught a 27 + 31lb common i was fishing red plum double strength pop ups over pva bags of micro pellets over a large - plain silt bed, now i'm sure the micro pellets didnt last long, either dissolved - eaten by silvers or snk into the silt but the bright red stinking pop ups did the biz(za) twice that night, so they do work. ouchthathurt

yes i agree, recently there have been many improvements in fluro technology, i even saw in a magazine to steam your fluro, something a few years ago would've weakened it. i am currently using ultima powercarp fluro as a mainline, its really thin for its strength, reasonable abraision resistance and knot strength, its not too bad, however i do need to contsantly clean the line off. ouchthathurt

if all else fails, go back to the good old trusty amnesia! much cheaper than these modern fluros and seems stronger too, modern fluro is a really delicate material, you need to tie rigs with kids gloves, inturned eyes cause flat spots on the fluro which can really weaken it, as can friction if you tie it too "roughly" or forget to moisten it, and by that i mean "coat it in so much spittle that its dripping off" - i find this keeps the friction down! out turned eyes are brought about as they lessened the acute angle caused by the "no-knot" styles, of which many people were experiencing the same dramas you describe. ouchthathurt

my rigs for this year are the same as last year, and the year before, and before etc - only change rigs if there is a need to - i think they are no longer doing the job. i like to keep things simple, silkworm braid, JRC dave lane hooks, helecopter rigs, leadcore. as for all these wonderrigs out there, well i think they catch anglers more than carp - all these new "spinning-flipper-razor-hooker-30lber rig" well you can keep it, i am always amused how tey are sold as the "only big carp rig" and the rig that will "definiatly catch more big carp" - so if i tie one on it will definiatly catch me a big carp? well only if my location was spot on and my baits are well chosen and there is a big carp feeding in the swim to begin with, it cannot guarantee you will catch a big carp anymore than i can. simple is best, KISS! oucthathurt

from experience, most river carp can fall to really simple tactics, they are as a rule not any near as pressured as their lake cousins. even the "pressured" ones, however there are cases of lake fish "holidaying" in flooded river systems when rivers burst their banks in winter floods, and the carp move into river systems, whilst i have no doubt that this is sometimes the case, i am not convinced this happens as often as we'd like to believe, most fish heading to their established shelters and "safe areas" during times of hardship - i would like to think that a big ole carp would rather hunker down in his favourite snag during the floods, rather than face the raging torrents of a flooded bank,to head into an area that is fast flowing, shallow with no possibility of knowing whats at the end. however smaller carp must have done this journey, willing or otherwise, in order to have ended up in the river system, indeed, it is documented that a Colne valley lake lost approx 1/3rd of its stock during floods into the river, but i hope this is a rare example! there are documented sightings/catches of carp in my local river Stour, in Dorset, we are talking the upper reaches around (and above) Blandford Forum, now we are talking low deep, wide meandering reaches up until you hit the weir in Blandford which is shallow, fast, clear grayling/trout/chub territory. its a very strange set up, above the weir, Crown meadows area is bream/perch/carp/tench territory, water goes over the weir to fast shallow grayling/barbel ground, i've seen carp anglers and fly anglers mere metres apart, one fshing below the weir, one above it! as for the bream, they love fishmeals/pellets, so prebaiting with those will attract them, they seem to ignore tiger nuts, so these can be fairly selective. however, the point is this, why do you want to avoid attracting them? a large shoal of feeding fish will surely get the carp moving in to investigate, if you think to the "baiting pyramid" theory where the larger fish are attracted by the feeding signals of smaller fish and move in over the feed, pushing out the smaller fish in the process. you say you know the area well and can see the carp in residence? then yu can spend some time watching them, work out their resting areas, where they feed, where they go if they feel threatened, etc. learn their habits and things (should!) get easier. once you have established feeding areas, then you can begin to target them using precision baiting and tactics, negating the need to prebait - reconnicaince is never wasted. as for rigs, well they need to be strong and simple, a good decent braid and strong hook is a good start, river carp spend their lives working n and against the flow, so they are often more tuned and lean than their (more flabby(!?)) lake counterparts. so they can fight like tigers, especially if they can use the flow to their advantage. good strong tackle is a must to help you counter this. many rivers have snaggy/rocky/gravelly/zebra mussel infested bottoms, so good strong abraision resistent lines and leaders are important. river carp are a good challenge, i'm currently hunting a particular mirror that haunts the crown meadows... ouchthathurt.

what working along the theory that if the carp can see it, they are able to move around it without spooking? maybe they will, after all, i doubt they dont spook off every stick poking up off the bottom, can they tell the difference from a length of tube and a stick rubbing along their flank? i know they feel different, but how does the carp know that? he dont have fingertips!

i join them together with a length of spaghetti, that does it. also (an idea stolen off lee jackson) you could join up bottom baits and pop ups and use them as freebies?