newmarket

Yes Good luck Finchey 👍🏻

Received today , A pack of Dynamite Betaine pellets (The green ones) some matching ground bait and a box of Sonubaits halibut hookbaits . Hitting my syndicate lake at the weekend for a spot of float and/or Pellet feeder sport . In search of whatever comes along but a nice Crucian or 2 would make a pleasant change . Oh and I’ll probably stick some heavy artillery out while I’m there . Just in case .

I’m sure Nick will do the honours 😉

I don’t . My stove won’t fit in a bucket . Now a small suitcase mind…. 😀

How much is it going to be Elmo ? Any ideas ? 😊

Not at all mate , if I hadn’t seen the stocking photos with my own eyes I’d probably question it myself . But yes , all part of the puzzle . I said to Nick ( I think) only the other week that it’s the challenge that I’m enjoying so it doesn’t matter to me whether a catch a big girl this weekend or if it takes 5 years The important part to me is that whatever the plan , I’ll have the opportunity to implement it as I don’t have to rush to the lake after work in order to get a swim , ANY swim . I can casually turn up when I feel like it and pick & choose location. That fact , I’m delighted to say , is reflected in the title of the thread and is worth every penny of the annual ticket money regardless of the stamp of fish.

Yep I could do with another bucket to carry 🤣

I’ve had takes from 6-8lbers with double 24 millers . They tend to make the bait longer but they still get their gums round em easily enough . last time out I was using the 40mm boilies that had split by pulling them apart and threading them on the hair separately as like one boilie. I had to sit on my hands , the alarms going off in 3/4 sec bursts as they were trying to get the bait in their mouths . Once a proper full on run was forthcoming I could set the hook but they were usually 10-13lbish . which is fine by the way , I’m not a snob , all carp are welcome . Ill be continuing to fish my hookbaits like this as it does stop the endless 3-5lbers which quite frankly do become a nuisance during the hours of darkness but I think I’m going to have to concentrate more on location than bait size . Trouble with that is it’s a small lake and it’s usually a hive of activity everywhere there are so many carp in it so it’s difficult to tell where to fish . Maybe the deeper parts of the lake ? It’s usually 3-4ft deep all over with a few areas going as deep as 5ft but with the very hot weather we had up until recently the water levels have really dropped by up to 50% in places . I can’t imagine the bigger fish laying up in 18 inches of water can you ? can anybody ?

I’ve just checked the baits I made this afternoon. 2 of the 6 have split already . I feel like giving up ….there has to be another way of singling out the bigger fish 🤦🏼‍♂️

I’m visiting the lake for a day session this Saturday and intending to try a different approach entirely . Taking a pal with me as a guest (and chauffeur 😊) a spot of pleasure fishing beckons . Maybe a spot of float fishing , maybe even swim feeder . can’t wait tbh

So I’ve been experimenting with my huge hookbaits . Various tweaks , boiling times , addition of oil and/or liquid food into the mix prior to rolling and cooking etc and so far haven’t cracked it (pardon the pun) I just cannot seem to stop the baits cracking during the drying process. Ive taken advice from various sources and tried lots of different approaches . Today I’ve cooked a few more , and after a couple of hours drying between two tea towels , I’ll be adding a very light glaze of liquid food to each bait , repeating every day and look for a cooler storage place in an attempt at slowing down the drying process as the outer layers of paste are obviously wanting to dry at a lot faster rate than the inner layers . I may be talking a load of old rubbish but I can but try….

On my lake it’s pretty much overstocked with a LOT of Carp in the 10-14lb range . And with only 50 members , 30 of which never fish it (strange I know but hey) it’s very lightly fished , never more than 3 anglers at a time in my limited experience and even fewer overnight. Although it seems to hold a natural larder to an extent, I’ve found bloodworms on hooks & leads in the few times I’ve fished it myself , there’s nowhere near enough bait going in to maintain the fish . Every morning that I’ve been on there so far I’ve seen the manager or his bailiff sidekick walking the lake launching handful after handful of pellet into the margins and at times this summer the water has been boiling with feeding activity . Now I know this will vary from lake to lake but for that reason I always have a bait in the margins… and is the reason , I expect, why it is said to fish well throughout the winter . Ill find out for myself but depending on where you’re intending to fish , especially a runs water , it’s always worth finding this sort of stuff out .

As an aside , I woke up in the ICU yesterday morning, seems I’d fainted and lost consciousness. When my Mrs asked what had happened I said “I dunno love , last thing I remember I was on EBay looking at the price of Snugpak jackets & sleeping bags “….

Nice fish no matter what the size . He doesn’t appear too upset at being caught either 😊

Well , as Nick said above , I’d be changing into em on arrival rather than hiking in ‘em 🤣