trayner

Hi Chris and welcome, I think £400 will be more than enough to get you up and running, just reading up about Candover and Bake lakes, Candover has some big old lumps in it, and Bake lakes is a combination of a number of lakes with specimen, tench, and fly etc etc, so a basic carp set up will more than sort you out, I persoanlly only fish with 2 rods, but you will be able to afford to fish 3 rods with your budget, go to you local carp/fishing shop and see the guys in there to set you up, Nash do some cracking carp rods on a budget with reels to match, and good bivvie for your night fishing, and then some bags and terminal tackle should set you up fine for most situations. here is my local tackle dealer in Swindon and some of his prices which will give you an idea how much you will get for your £400: http://www.hinders.co.uk/cat/tackle/rods/carp-rods, and also http://www.fostersofbirmingham.co.uk/carp-and-barbel/rods/carp-rods, both are very very good suppliers of tackle for all budgets. Good luck with it all and see you on the bank really soon

Go to this website http://www.custombuiltrods.co.uk/ and build a rod with the best of everything, they come out at approx £600 odd each!! but they are hand build by the best in the market!!

Sorry guys Im not so sure on this one, snapping turtles don't have that long tail!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_snapping_turtle and neither do terrapin's!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrapin what ever it is has been introduced illegally and should have been put into a bucket and taken to the local RSPCA, just my thoughts for what its worth, I cant believe for a min they do the fish or fishing any good

Yes clutch man here, I used to backwind but some fish take off so fast I couldnt keep up with them!!!

If in doubt, fill the lake in, raise the water level by a few inchs with goundbait, boilies, sweetcorn etc etc, and sit on it......

Never ever take food with me, I prefer to pop down to the local take away or chippy

Another reason is the venue is so full of fish the fish are coming up in the water to grab the bait, try putting some weight on the line and getting the bait down quickly through them on to the bottom

I unfortunatly have to either sit there at my rods all night or bring them in and have a couple of hours sleep before recasting, as Im a big old boy and have arthritis in my knees so a quick get up is near on impossible for me, but on warm nights its not a problem as I sit and nap in my chair next to my rods while Im waiting.

Both

I agree with all the above comments, you can fish a double swim on your own

I've just read your post with interest, and all the replys the guys have sent you, and most of them are correct, I have fished commercial fisheries and had bags of carp in comps over 100lbs, your hook length needs to be no more than 3", shorter if you can get away with it, and you have to learn to sit on your hands while the fish are pecking away at the feeder, its all about getting the groundbait on the feeder hard as a rock which forces the carp to keep pecking at it until is comes across your hookbait then they are so confident they just suck it up and hook themselves, I have had rods ripped off my rod rests with the verosity of the bites on the method, its brilliant in the summer months as well, good luck with it all, Im sure you will sort it out.........

Personally I would love to own one, but they are out of my price range at the moment. do you think they give the angler an unfair advantage over someone that does not own one? and why do some lakes ban them, after all it's only a lump of plastic full of bait, what's the difference from a guy chucking a great big spod out that weighs over 3 - 4 lbs and crashing into the water at 50 mph, surely bait boats are better for the environment as they are electric (which is green) you're not spraying bait all over the lake and more importantly, you're not disturbing your fellow anglers who might have been fishing close by with big bomb splashes disturbing feeding fish?? just my own thoughts for what its worth, Im not trying to start a bun fight or anything, Im just curious as to your thoughts on the subject......

had some blinding results with Sugar Puffs on a local fisherie

Ive just read a very interesting article in this months Total Carp magazine about Maple Peas, I just wondered if anyone has tried them and what sort of results you have had with them? are they an all year round bait? or just summer or winter? and this bit about letting them germinate and sprout for extra interest to the carp, does this work? thanks in advance for any help and advice

Fellow Hammer by the looks of your avatar??