cal35

good choice going for ringwood- i think a much better run club and much better waters! if you already have a good bait i would try it on one rod to start with as you may be suprised at how quickly they can move in on scummers! but i have managed to crack hightown using my homemade baits so they are always worth a shot! as for big baits at hightown- it is too avoid the many millions of bream and now tench that inhabit the lake- if you do go there make sure that you have no pellet or particle that you may be tempted to use- DONT DO IT!!!! in the winter the lakes can shut down a bit as they will go very quiet during the winter months but in the main lake there is a sufficient stock in there that you will get the occasional run! good luck mate

hi mate- im a member of ringwood. currently targetting hightown quite heavily and have had a bit of success recently! northfield doesnt really appeal to me but the only i really know about it is to get some shellfish baits (known as scummers) either shellfish b5 or nash baits shellfish sense appeal. the fish absoulutely devour it on there ! as for hightown- big baits and location really- they are in there just get the bait in the right place!

there is a thread on it on here- i remember i posted on it!

it can be quite hard on there sometimes. if i were you id avoid spodding- there just the stock of fish in there in my opinion- you are better off just fishing for bites- so small bags or solid bags into the weed. small baits like 12mm red factors- they are the best on there or 12mm barrels work well. i had a 20+ common on just a small bit of flouro pop-up aswell as the water is that strange colour so bright baits stand out well! use backleads aswell- and nice slack lines! good luck

dont know if this is still any use to anyone- but little horseshoe is a lovely lake- still day dream about my time on there! try maize in the top right hand corner towards the snags on the left- plenty of fish in there! just be careful about the weed and make sure you are dumping the lead and using safe rigs. as for other hot swims- swim 1 (the first one on the left) has a lovely little overhang there- had 6 takes in a night i think! and getnoshedup- you dont need to be able to cast more than 60 yards to catch fish or be able to use 3 rods to stand any chance of catching! little horseshoe is a lovely intimate venue- you should be spenfing more time with just a stalking rod in hand than sat behind motionless buzzers!

id go for getting the garlic one out there mate ! it is an awesome bait and i seem to remeber a guy ripping apart the royalty for the barbel with garlic luncheon meat when he got back from france!

yes it gets incredibly packed- but being 110 acres you dont feel it that much! if you are on the fish u shud bag up but as it is such a large water you have the problem you cud be a long long way away from them! was once a proper water but is now full of simmos which ruined it slightly ! if you want rod bending try somewhere like thorpe lea or brasenose 1 and 2 they are more gauranteed !

did you keep them soaked in some flavouring? i keep all mine in some potent pineapple flavouring that probably masks any human flavour that may be on it. i know you use alot of maize kev, so wat wud be the difference that a carp could notice between a peice of plastic bait that looked and smelt the same as a normal peice of maize over a bed of maize?

it will! it may be inert to us- but can we smell and taste water that the plastic has been sitting in aswell as a carp can?

it wasnt working to well? wat did you type in for stjohns tactics? could a profer the suggestion of st johns? (it aint that hard mate )

and samovmarske, try using the search facility mate: http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=40937&highlight=johns

a long shank nailer is a cross breed between a kurv shank and a long shank. they have a long shank that is curved, they can cause alot of damage if used wrongly- expecially on rigs like the 360 rig.

right- this is sad i know ! i tied up a little bag and the rig that i normally use- then put a bit of corn on like i normally do and then put it into a bowl of water, this is what happened: how good does that look? the hook was hidden and the bait just stuck up over the little pile of quick dissolve pellets!

as you may or may not know, i did a tuition session recently and this was the way that i was told to put single fake corn on the hair ! i will go and try it out in a minute- you made me think about it !

my pb's "only" 23lb 6oz, what you complaining about?

i fish my fake corn on a simple knotless knot, with a small kurv shank hook ! if you put a bit of neutral bouyancy corn through from top to bottom then put that on the hair balances the hook really nicely !

i have loads of confidence in the pink alien baits fake sweetcorn, even as singles! little bag of pellets, size 10 hook and a bit of fake corn mounted throught the top to bottom and have had about 20 takes on it during 2 sessions- landing my first, second and thrid 20's!

any decent tackle shop really!!! if you ask them they should have them, if not all the carpy shops on the internet do them! also make sure that you have small, barbed hooks as these cause less damage to the fish (they are also the rules ), and just chuck it as far as you can towards the middle! tight lines !

i had an amazing day there! http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=40177&highlight=smartcarping it can get very busy there, escpecially at the weekends, so try and get there in the week ! if it is busy- get onto a pag with a cast to the middle and whack it as far as you can as they retreat out there ! they also like a bit of spod with a little bag of pellets and a bit of fake sweetcorn on the hook! there are some badly damaged fish in there, but also some that have recovered well- i would say every other fish had mouth damage! just make sure you have some klinik etc to treat it!

are you prepared to go further afield to places like somerley that offer some good fishing?

try witherington farm in downton- they have fish to nearly 30lb in the front lake!

I've never lost any tackle using a commercial brand of marker braid straight through. Adding a leader is more likely to cause losses as you'll then have a weak point i.e. the knot! thats what i do- 30lb whiplash braid straight through and never had a problem with it ! i used to have 20lb braid with a leader and the knot kept catching and snapping the whole set-up off !

ever compared a size 10 korda kurvshank and a size 10 gardner mugga? they are supposedly the same hook but there is a massive difference in sizes!

i havent had a problem with the size 10 kurv shanks that i am using atm. you could try ordering over the internet to save you having to get the tackle shop, and you would have a better choice on the internet as well!

thanks for the advice, unfortunately when i got there all the pegs in the middle were taken ! anyway i got a new pb common on fake sweetcorn over red factor and hemp with maize, so it wanst too bad!