tucker74

i dont think my sonik's are made on grey's blanks. but to the ques these are good rods. cant say about the shimano's.

i tend to soak this when i use it for a least 48 hrs. it will expand to twice the size. i do that for peace of mind really.

i use a drennan no1 stillwater blue, 2 no1 shot and smallest swanshot 6 inchs from the hook, plumb the depth to the swanshot exactly. Any movement of the swanshot will move the float any pick up float pops up a good inch and half.

At a guess i'd say it prob has something to do with the action of the rod under load playing a fish. As float rods have there set at 90 and my avon rods just lesss than 90 but not quite 45 if you see what i mean.

first thing i do is change my hooks, different pattern or different size. take it from there.

I'll bring this to the top carpsoup pick the bones dude

I guess once the yeast was added to the groundbait, it was seen rising.

i agree with slimy dead and alive for the same reason.

The smell sort of reminds me of sweet coconut.

This might be a longish one. So to turn to a lake blind. I guess this will be a long term campain. I would do the walk round to start with, glasses and the odd climb of a tree if possible. Then as this being the first of many trips, i would set up in a swim on instinct ( which on occasions has backfired), then have a quick lead around and pick my spots. When fishing heavy pressured waters i tend to find that my eyes and ears are key, as well as watching the water watching other anglers, where there fishing and what they catch is all usefull info on a first trip. (i dont care what baits or tactics there using i'll find that out for myself at a later date). Example i fished catch22 for the first time in 13 years a month ago its pick and mix with the swims due to the pressure. i blanked and i had 2 bars in front of me and so did 6 other poeple down that end. But i clocked where all the fish had come out over the 2 days. Once i'd packed up i went for a walk around to have a look ( i hadn't done cause all the swims that end had gone), 20 yards out very thick weed, bumped in to a mate there fished to it, he had 10 fish smallest 25lb to 29lb. So i learnt something about that water even though i blanked. As for baits on a first trip i would use my fav good food bollie with bags and stringers. The other rod will have corn/maize with my hot choc bread crumb ground bait in a bag. For me this will give me a idea of what else might be in the lake. (or to see what else iam up against). With using pva bags or mesh your not restricted with one spot it allows you to move it about a bit, as on some lakes i've experienced bream at 3 rod lengths come in a bit and your on to the carp etc. Oh and if there wern't a baiting ban the corn/maize rod would be on a bed of hemp and corn/maize The second trip is another story

Question then nick are these smaller lakes, fished in matches then?

Alright Ian, I fish the section at offord cluney and buckden, which is not too far away. There i fish for pike, zander, chub, carp, and a rumour of the odd barbel as well, yet to see one though. As for baits meat, bread, maggots and a tub of lob worms. Have a good trip.

I think your problem might lie with the molasses and the length of time your particles were in the bag/mesh before being used allowing the molasses to be absorbed by the pva. Also oil based paritcles seriously affect the melt time sometimes for the pva not to melt at all, unless it states that it is pva friendly. A few years ago i pre tied some in mesh with pellets the night before thinking i'd get ahead of the game, and as always i tested one when i got to the bank, 35 mins later it started to break down, turns out it was the oil in the pellet being absorbed into the pva over time causing the problem. So i had to make them as i needed them and they broke down almost straight away.

maybe wear gloves for mixing.

if its bollie flavs you want, try active 8 as mentioed or cell, but i would use 3 grains of corn if its a match water with little an often hand fulls in. Dont fish to far out or you'll be in to the bream. close in for the carp.