yonny

Considering you keep referencing the principles of debate you don't half come up with some strange responses mate. I only use boiled baits for certain times of the year when I believe they're at their most effective. Those are the periods when the carp will choose the aminos they detect with their gustatory and the olfactory senses over other baits such as particles. The best way to offer them that is a top quality fishmeal boilie. Imo. You'd be right to wonder how often I go fishing. I have a full time job and a wonderful young family at home that are the priority in my life. I normally get a day or two on the bank per month which goes about halfway to satisfying my love of angling. Luckily it's just enough to achieve results and if you read through the catch reports on here you'll see I do OK given my limited time. A1 Pits is just round the corner from me. A proper circus I'm sure you'll agree. Unlike you I do still target big fish waters which as you can imagine given the time I have is a very tall order. "Being quiet, watching the water, location, moving onto fish, getting a good drop, and my own water craft" are simple pre-requisites on such waters. Without them you'd blank all year. Each to their own mate. For me the ultimate feeding trigger (in terms of boiled baits) is the key aminos released as the proteins in a well balanced active bait break down. You cannot achieve that with soya and flavouring. But ultimately I think confidence goes a long way to being successful so if you're happy with the bait you use and you're happy with your results then none of the above matters 👍 P.S. The way you babble on about 'debate' when you clearly really struggle to reply to anyone without sounding condescending and patronizing will not win you any friends Dicky.

I find it very surprising that you've been fishing for carp for 50 years and don't believe decent bait makes any difference. Especially given how much thought you clearly put into the subject. For me, bait is second only to location. It is nothing short of critical imo.

Tricky to say. The TC doesn't necessarily mean how stiff it is, the action is more important.

The Captor was not sharpened other than the standard chemical sharpening process. The only difference was they left the coating off the tip. Think they discontinued them because sales dropped after the Kamakuras were released (even though they don't yet do a curve pattern in the Kamakura range).

A float fishing reel is just a fixed spool spinning reel mate. As long as your spinning reels are not multipliers (or baitcasters as they might be known over there) you'll be fine.

I don't think it is. You can get packs with all the components, but not pre-constructed i.e. ready to tie onto the mainline.

At most a few yards mate.

I have a pal that uses the TX4 and he rates them, but tbh I think either are a step sideways for you. If I were you I'd save up few months and get a genuine upgrade.

Anyone that does go for Pot Noodles should try Soba Noodles. I normally have one in the bottom of my bag for emergencies. They're half decent 👍

It's a great water. This time of year it tends to get a bit tricky but the catch reports suggest it's been fishing well. Not many of the bigguns out recently... so they're due. Fish it like you would anywhere mate. Keep your eyes open and try to get on them. There used to be a lot of pretty awful filamentous algae out in the pond (that long horrible lime green candy floss silky type weed) so make sure you're fussy when it comes to finding a spot. I assume it's still there and it renders much of the bottom unpresentable, even with long chods. A lot of fish come from the margins so take some waders and have a good look either side of your swim (be careful as there's some pretty deep holes too). Check the opposite margin if you're in a swim that controls one. Any decent bait will do, crumb it up though. Bits seem to do better than whole boiled baits (the coots destroy beds of boilies anyway). Enjoy.

Not sure mate, the waters I've been fishing have deeper areas but not all over. I've not noticed them moving up or down in the water, rather a total cease in activity 🤷‍♀️

I cook the bacon then pour the fat onto the roll in place of butter. One less thing to take 😆

It's a nightmare as I tend to have to book my time off to fish in advance. The obvious thing I look for when planning a trip is a big low front moving in but I've done miles better when those conditions haven't showed up 😅 Well done on your latest capture btw 👌

Odd innit🤷‍♀️

The one you can see fish in bro 👍

Bacon rolls. The food of Kings. The bread shouldn't be going dry on a day session. Just wrap the rolls up in a bag👍

So rather than start a new thread I thought I could jump on this one. Sticky just bought out a new Penning Vid (Reflections | Volume Four | The Campaign). In this vid he (Adam) mentions that over the last few years he's noticing the waters he's fished are not responding to "carpy" conditions. He'll look forward to those big low pressure systems and the big winds/rain that come with them, and when they arrive the carp shut up shop(!). I have also noticed this. This last few years the carpy conditions seem to be getting less and less special in terms of the carps response. The water I'm fishing this year is doing it big time; it has fished well when it's warm with high pressure, but when a big low pressure system rolls in on a new wind (those conditions you wait weeks for) the carp don't seem to be fussed one bit. In fact they stop showing for 24 hrs or more. Then as the conditions pass and the sun comes back out, whallop, the carp are happy again. Tbh I though it was just the water I'm fishing but after AP mentioned it about a few waters he's fished, it made me realise that it's been happening on the last 3 waters I've fished. So how can this be explained? Could it be the angling pressure (anglers all set up waiting on the end of the new winds)? Or could it be related to climate change and the increase in average temps? I'm struggling to come up with an answer so wondered if anyone else has noticed this or has an idea about an explanation?

This is just content for the sake of content imo. On a nice clean spot a standard lead clip with a boilie on a knotless knot will perform as good as anything but when you have to deal with weed/silt/debris you'll potentially not even be fishing. The rig and set-up should be chosen to suit the swim/spot/substrate. Simplicity is a good thing but a rig shouldn't be chosen solely for simplicity, and certainly shouldn't chosen because Adam Penning said so 🤣 I can think of absolutely no reason why anyone would use a ronnie/spinner on a spot clean enough for a combi (other than possibly to single out bigguns). It is a given that the combi will out-fish the ronnie in clean spot scenario imo. The ronnie is to be used to suspend the hook/bait above any debris👍

There's loads of room in the VASS mate. If you don't fancy them check out the OCEAN ones. Very good. As a third choice check out the PROS WADERS. Not as good imo but some guys rate them.

I tired it on toast once. The rest went to the carp lol.

Defo on them then mate. Silt is a funny one. When carp feed in silt they don't just grub around on top, they bury themselves gill deep to get at the bloodworm it contains. Therefore it shouldn't really matter if you're hook bait is buried in the silt. That said, it can be tricky to feel confident when you know your bait is buried. I'd just start with a slightly longer hooklink than usual and go from there. Pepper some pellets over the top, job done.

Not used them but a close mate got the heavy version (3.5 13 ft I believe). He found them to be overly soft which could mean the lighter version might suit what you're after 👍

Where as mine went back to Delk for repair 3 times in 3 years due to water ingress before I ditched them and got the Fox's🤷‍♀️

None of it matters unless you were on the fish and you haven't mentioned this mate. Were you seeing activity on your spots? Were they defo feeding over you? Your focus should be on getting the swim/spot right. The rig should be chosen to suit the area on which they're feeding👍

It was a crazy fish. You'd find it easily from up the trees, it was like a breeze block. Then one day it just seemed to disappear. Was never found.