yonny

Quick update on the pond/fish. The covers are back on temporarily as the trees are blossoming and there's petals everywhere. On a more positive note, water temps are around 10C now and the koi are eating every day. Water quality is looking good and the fish are looking absolutely fantastic. You'd never guess they've been overwintering. I've been busy this week installing a 3 x 3m square parasol that can be erected to cover half the pond. It sees a lot of sun so my thinking is that A) it should help a little to prohibit algae and blanket weed growth, and B) it'll give the fish some shade at the height of summer. I have some bacteria boosters ready to go in when temps are 12+ and the bulb in the UV filter is being replaced again this month. I have some blanket weed treatment ready to go in case I need it but thus far it's not required. The bio filter is topped up with media. Shed loads of food in the garage. Basically all is ready for growing season.

I had one of them! Back before RM was invented 😅

Whallop. Congrats!

I fished a rather secretive place that the members referred to as Toe-to-the-Brow Lagoon.... because that's how many guys set their zigs 🤣🤣

If it's bright I'd be starting at ~ 25% depth (from the surface). If it's dull I'd be trying mid-water i.e. 50% depth. Colours for bites or black for the biggun.

Excellent book. Increased in value significantly this past couple of years so worth keeping hold of.

Don't go for the FlipFuel gizmo that Jag marketed. You can get the same thing from China for peanuts mate.

This bad boy! Does nearly 60 lb now this one!

Yup! Been using it for 10 years+. I don't use a lot of boiled bait but when I do it's always the Shrimp. I had just dropped a bait deal back in ~2015 and was looking for something new. I'd bought 20kg of Essential B5 and was really struggling. Literally couldn't catch a cold. Given the track-record of the B5 I was reluctant to believe the bait was the problem but a pal of mine put me onto the Shrimp. On my first session with the Shrimp, 4 hours after casting out, I caught the big common I was after. It was like flicking a switch.... just started getting loads of bites. Just yesterday afternoon, with the temps in my koi pond rocketing, I decided to see if the fish would eat boilies. I chopped up a handful of Shrimp and plonked it in each corner of the pond. Given my koi have never seen a boilie I expected they'd take a while clear it up. Wrong. It was gone in about 1 minute! They absolutely love the stuff. I can't help here I'm afraid mate. The Shrimp is that good I'll not try anything else. I have 100% confidence in the stuff.

Great find mate. They look like just like the Drennan Continental Boilie hooks.... except massive😅

Good question. I can't see the size 2 Korda Chod hooks in stock anywhere. I spotted the Avid and Cygnet jobbies - both on sale too. Avid Armorok Chod Hooks Fishing Tackle and Bait Cygnet Choddy Hook Size 2 Barbed | eBay UK

So if cheapo airballs and a tub of glycerine are 17 quid in todays money, 22 quid for a pot of SHBs is starting to sound pretty good imo. Pays your money, takes your choice, innit. Imo that's largely irrelevant on a thread about SHBs. On the right day I'd take a tub of black foam over any proper hookbait, but this thread is about hookbaits.

Hinders pop-ups are 7 quid and a bottle of their pop-up glug is a tenner so you're actually not far off after inflation.

And my biggest common came on a white shrimp cork ball...... ....... so it's settled..... yellow, pink, orange, white, and match the hatch are good for big commons. And mirrors. 🤣

Absolutely fine imo. I regularly use size 4's with 13's and happy to use a size 2 with a 15 or 16's.

It will almost certainly be krill/shrimp meal. I've heard a few cases of this. Very buoyant stuff!

I can't say I pay too much attention to branding. The value of branding is down to one's individual perception based on the product and, I hate to say it, marketing. Most of what I would consider to be 'premium brands' offer their fair share of stuff I'd never use but I'd not want to devalue any brand based on that fact (apart from Nash, obviously 😂). A brand is just a name for a company imo. Do I think SHB make decent/premium hookbaits? Yes, absolutely. I only use them for certain applications, but I've done so for probably 10 years + now. They have caught me some very special fish and that breeds confidence. Confidence is as important as anything in carp angling imo.

I agree Elmo 👍

*In your opinion..... In my opinion, this statement is a mile off. Yes, there are plenty of great hookbaits available, but most 'premium' brands are to this day just a load of pop up mix and flavouring. While imo there is actually a place for such hookbaits, for me they cannot compare to a well crafted buoyant food bait. To add balance to the thread, I've tried the garlics and several versions of the S2. Did well on all of them. Decent hookbaits imo.

As special as they come that is mate. First class.

Totally. I bet if we saw it now it'd look tiny 😅

Now that takes me back..... I fished there probably 30 years ago as a spotty teenager. I remember turning up with all my kit on my back and there's these proper carp anglers with barrows everywhere. I loved it. I recall on my first session I hair rigged a cube of luncheon meat and hoyed it as far as I could (which wasn't far with the absolutely rubbish rods I had back then) and had one within 2 minutes. I got some right dirty looks from the proper anglers 😅

Leney descendants* I'm talking about the real thing.... as in touch by the hands of Donald himself.

Which version of the Warrior? If they're the originals with the Japanese X-Wrap shrink handles, I think I have a couple hidden away. I'd like to keep one but, assuming I can find them, I might have a spare tip section.

Water temps shot up to 7.1C last week after the really cold weather disappeared. Yesterday I popped a handful of food in and the "stockies" i.e. smaller koi ate it all. The temps were so good I went fishing on Friday night. Blanked, obviously(😅), but on Saturday morning the sun came out and I saw carp with their backs out! Chucked zigs at them for an hour but was already late for home. Always next time.