yonny

Imo pulling the lead back is the kiss of death. There is a significant chance you'll foul or even blunt the hook, regardless of what substrate you're fishing over. The obvious answer is to go to a heli set-up with the top bead set to cope with any of the substrates out there. You mentioned that everyone is doing this - there is a reason for that. By all means keep your options open in terms of differentiating yourself from others, but make sure you have the very basics (presentation of a bait to a carp) right first. You're over-thinking it imo mate. This water sounds tricky enough without coming up with new problems. Keep it simple. The focus needs to be on presenting a bait to a carp. If you spend the coming weeks trying to do that whilst watching the water like a hawk, the carp will give you the clues you require to fine-tune your approach in terms of location and tactics. I think you're getting ahead of yourself by creating your own problems ("the silt furrows", "the fish don't act right", "the weather doesn't act right", "chods are for sheep", "it's too far/windy", "the water pressure....", etc, etc....). Whack a couple of baits out where you have seen signs of carp, sit down, watch, and use the info that nature will give you if you look hard enough. Keep it simple. Enjoy it. And get rid of the Fish-Spy lol. After all, that is what started this confidence issue you seem to have. No electronic device can ever be as effective as an angler tuned into the natural environment imo.

Why can't you feel the lead down buddy?

This. I thought that this had been established as best practise 20 years ago lol.

Good advice this. Taking advantage of the situation.

I will use as many as I feel I can get away with up to a maximum of 3. So if I have a load of water in front of me and I feel my chosen spot(s) can accommodate 3 then I'll use 3. If the swim aint so big or the spots are small I might use 2. In a quiet corner I might use 1. All depends on the swim and the angling situation. Depends where the spots are in relation to the swim. Normally they'll be on the bars/sticks so right next to each other.

This is the reason hooks snap as well as open up, in 99% of cases.

Nah, you'll only struggle when the yield strength is exceeded. Then the hook straightens. But that's almost impossible unless you have a dodgy hook hold (so force isn't loaded as intended) or if there is a quality problem with the hook (or more specifically the hardness of the steel). I work in this field (metal forming and treatment), trust me, they're fine mate.

Lads, a hook is essentially a very stiff spring (they're made from high carbon spring steel). They need to flex to absorb the forces loaded during the fight. If they didn't flex, they would snap. Flexing is absolutely critical to any hook. Without it they cannot absorb the load/force.

Yeah, it's happened to me a few times.

Under normal circumstances I'm not that fussy when it comes to bait size. Anything around the 14-18 mm will do me fine. I rarely use chops, and I rarely use crumb. I might use smaller baits on a very, very hard/clean substrate (spotless gravel) but tbh it's been years since I've fished spotless gravel. I might use bigger baits if bream become a major issue. Like I say, not fussy really. I think where you put it is what really counts.

I see. If you were struggling with the weed I'd maybe agree, but since you're not I'm not sure that is the answer.

Lol, the swear filter thought I was being racist 😂

It sounds like a challenge mate and ultimately that's what we're after as carp anglers. Carp are wild creatures and for every water where they behave how we think they should there is another that goes against the grain. I personally prefer those types of waters as they test our skills and our resilience. It is waters such as this that reward those that try the hardest. The carp will tell you exactly how to catch them if you look hard enough mate. There is always a ***** in there armour somewhere.

Stop pulling back mate. The lead will be invisible.

I don't think that will achieve anything. One change at a time bro.

Agree mate, that's a bit strange. You'd expect to lose them on the initial battle against the pads/weed if the hook hold was poor. Let us know if your rig modification works buddy.

I find fishing locked up leads to better hook holds tbh mate. Are you losing them in the weed? Or are they just dropping off? I have honestly never had an issue with hooks blunting on gravel (and I've been using sharpened hooks for many, many years. I would suspect your hooks are being damaged during the fight which is completely normal imo.

Imo silt is the most forgiving substrate you can get. You can chuck most rigs in it and you'll be fine. You should avoid the rocks imo, there is no natural food there (unless there are crays about). Get a rig on/in the silt buddy.

Sometimes they just happen, we can't land them all. That said, you do seem to be having an abnormal ratio of losses. Defo worth a try mate. What is key to you is what the hook holds were like on the fish you landed. they should be able to tell you a great deal. Did you have a look?

Best of luck to you elmo 🤞👍

Heavy duty grip seal bags for me, my work are kind enough to provide me with an endless supply 😉😅

Imo any pop up that wont hold up a size 8 should be going straight in the bin!

They'll be awful mate👎 Take it very, very easy if you use them for fishing and hook one👍

Always mate💪

Mine isn't going as well as I'd hoped. We're still seeing serious issues with algae, the fish aint acting themselves. Despite that the naturals have exploded this year (last week I bought 17 x caddis back on one hook bait 😲). There's too many tench/bream to bait with naturals so that's out of the question. I'm putting hardly any boilie in my mix as I'm not convinced my spot is being visited with any regularity and I don't want the spot going sour. Instead I'm just putting bits in that can be cleared up by anything. Conditions are improving which will help no end but the weeks are ticking by and my campaign will be over before I know it. Such is life. Must try harder.