yonny

If you find them in a swim you're not familiar with you have no choice. The ultimate aim is to get to know the spots so you dont have to in future innit.

I have no "normal" mix as such. It would depend on the given water, the application (pre-bait vs. loose feed), the time of year, the spot itself (substrate), the stock (i.e. other species)..... loads of variables. One thing I will say: Different is good.

Pop ups are probs best used over boilie. The last thing you want is a pop up hovering over bits n pieces sitting on the deck. But ultimately the spot itself should dictate when to use a pop up. They're intended to be used when you want the hook/hookbait suspended over a weedy or choddy bottom. BUT..... I use them for 99.9% of my fishing regardless of the spot or baiting situation. I get proper paranoid about presentation and would rather have a bait that's a little too obvious/blatant than risk the hook point being compromised by a tiny bit of debris/detritus. If you get them feeding I don't think it matters that much under normal circumstances.

He doesn't like members being on there long term. He prefers a nice turnaround of members. You'll get the odd one that manages to stick around for a while (e.g. I think you've been on there a long time) but he usually likes members gone after a few years. He gets even worse if you're doing particularly well. He completely changed with me during my time on the big lake. Started off nice as pie then got funnier and funnier with me as time went on. Same as he has with you and a number of other ex members I know.

Agree, that's not unusual for this time of year. It is very much getting to that time when you're better off with zigs out for a 24 hr period.

My first experience of tigers was of my Dad soaking and eating them as a snack when I was a nipper. He wasn't an angler, in fact it was years later I discovered they made such a good bait. I wouldn't dream of using them if they weren't good enough to eat myself tbh lol.

🤣 I find there is no better test of quality!

The quality is really inconsistent. When it's good it's good but when it's bad you end up with floating hemp and tigers that taste awful. Decent quality but pricey and full of preservatives. Worth checking Carbon Baits, I've heard good things about them. They do shelf life too. https://carbonbaits.co.uk/ No mate, this wont stop particles going off. Imo your best bet is to get a Burco and do them fresh. It'll save you money in the long run and you'll get a MUCH better end result. You can just soak once a week, set the pot going in the garden, and leave it for half an hour until they're ready. Dead easy.

I would strongly recommend you get the polaroids out and make sure it's not bream before you start feeding buddy.

If you want to fish it early doors then March, but I find pre-baiting is much, much more effective after spawning. One word of advice...... regardless of how nice a spot might look, don't pre-bait unless you've seen carp in the area with your own eyes. Otherwise you'll just end up feeding bream. I would certainly be happier baiting one spot where I've seen carp than I would baiting 5 spots on the off chance a carp comes across one of them. Baiting 5 spots with enough to make it worthwhile would cost an absolute fortune too mate. You're better off getting one or 2 spots right then baiting it/them really heavily imo.

The sightings on the water I fish are very, very ziggy already. The place hasn't done a bite off the deck in 3 weeks now. Although it's not done a bite on zigs either like.....🤣

That defo sounds like an otter to me. Imo there's no way a mink will take a double. A single yes, but not a double. A fox would eat the whole thing. Your description of the kill screams otter to me. They tend to go for the really nutritious stuff (e.g. liver, heart, kidneys) which leaves the corpse looking just as you've described. Could go either way. If it's a small water they/it could well stick around for easy pickings. I'd assume it's a dog otter doing the rounds and it could come back and empty the place but not necessarily. All you can do is keep your eyes open and think about a fence.

There is no reason you couldn't use tigers throughout the winter mate.

Completely depend on what you want to do mate. If you'll be baiting lightly at 30 yards you'll get away with a small spomb on your carp rods with mono. If you're filling it in at 100+ it's time for braid/leaders. I personally use 40 or 50 lb braid straight through for anything up to 100 yards. Dead easy. You really don't need to get too fancy unless you're planning on going mega long. I'm with some of the other in that if I can get away with the catty or stick I will. I'll only use the spod if distance requires it, the type of bait requires it, or if the spot is too tight for using a stick. Unfortunately the water I'm on at the moment means that I have to spod every session. Bit of a ball ache tbh.

Agreed.

Likewise. Our own fault too. I saw this addressed on another forum. Due to Brexit we had a supply chain issue of treatment chemicals so the govt were allowing private companies to dump raw sewage into our waterways. The govt just voted to keep it going too.

D Rig aligner is basically an alternative to a hinge or ronnie/spinner. Best for pop ups imo. Blowback/German best with a bottom bait/wafter imo. Similar in terms of mechanics I guess, although you'll need to be more careful with hookbait size with the wafters than a pop up (imbalance can aid a pop up rig but balance is important for baits on the deck). All will catch fish on the right spot. Don't overthink it buddy. Blanking is rarely down to rigs imo (assuming those rigs are presented ok).

That's mint.

Same here, tighten the drag on the other rod and land the one I'm playing. All you can do innit. You're brave lol. That could end up an expensive bite!

Depends largely on your budget and your technique mate. If you want to spend money and are well voiced in big casting then the Harrison Trebuchet is a monster for distance work. If you want to spend money but not the worlds biggest caster the Trebuchet Light is much easier to compress but still capable of massive distances. If you want to save money the Shimano rods (TX2, TX4 and TX7) are supposed to be very capable in the high test curves and available at much lower cost. Ultimately any long stiff rod will get you distance but as with most things budget makes a difference.

a million miles that should read 🙈

There's a few that bring back special memories but if I had to pick one it'd probably be a low 20 mirror I had 20+ years ago. It was from an 80 acre park lake which held very few carp. I was a million out of my depth at the time and fished it for a year with nothing to show for it but I had a take in the autumn and landed this amazing chocolate coloured mirror. Obviously not massive but to this day it's one of the most beautiful carp I've caught. It sticks in my memory because it was that year that taught me the difference between chucking a bait in the water and waiting, and proper angling (observing and acting on what is observed). I learnt that you could easily waste you life away "sitting it out" and that if you want to catch special carp you need to put the effort in. It was significant as that capture gave me the confidence to target harder waters with bigger fish so ultimately it set me on a path to catch all my other favourite carp. I used to have a snap of the fish off an old disposable camera but it got chucked out by my Mum in the late 00's.......😭😂

I had one of those ages ago. I think it was even cheaper back then. Great rod for the money 👍

No, sorry. The Century is quite an old model and the heavier duty Century rods do tend to be quite beefy so I expect that might be heavy but very good quality. The Daiwa is a more modern blank so I'd expect that to be lighter. Also decent quality.

Nah but I have used the Greys GT Extreme Spod which I believe is similar but in 13 ft. Heavy, but puts the spod a long way.