yonny

I would add that has nothing to do with free-lining. That is fishing with a lead. I didn't say anything about big leads or bolt rigs.

Exactly buddy. I have free lined many times mate, and have caught a carp or two in my time. But I can tell you now I will not be trying to free-line at 30 yards. I consider myself an angler so will not be trying something so (what I consider to be) ineffective as that.

You seem to have developed a speech impediment buddy. I didn't say you need a heavy lead to get a bite. I said "with no lead to pull the hook home and no tension on the clutch to do the same, 30 yards out, you were lucky to hook it". And how would you know when to strike with no float and no lead to pull the hook home? He wasn't float fishing. He was free-lining. Floats have nothing to do with this. They are legends so I wont hear a bad word said against them. But you have to bear in mind these are the guys that spent 25 years fishing a 3 acre lake with 100 carp in it and struggled to catch 1 fish some years. They were learning as they went along. Pioneering. They used par boiled potatoes too but I wouldn't recommend them either. I can guarantee you that the younger of the guys mentioned (Rod, Yates etc) did not free-line at 30 yards in their later years.

Jesus H....... his heart must have been thumping out of his chest!!!!

I have some for that very reason buddy😅

Tbh @Pete Springate's Guns (I still think that's the best user name ever lol), I'd happily use any of the PJPU's.

There's a few that have done me well mate. Fishy Peach, Condensed Milk, Devils Dung/Cheese, obviously the Pineapple/Butyric, and I use the none flavoured ones for suspending alternative hookbaits too. But the one that's consistently caught me the rare/special fish is the Strawberry Scopex. There was a very rare double row lin I had a couple of years ago on them, it hadn't been out for 3 years. A pal of mine was trying to target it so I put him onto the Strawberry Scopex and guess what - he caught it. I am of the opinion that buoyancy/performance and colour are actually more important in a pop up than flavour, but there is no doubt that Strawberry Scopex has something about it. I've had a few rare'n's on them.

Imo that stuff is no good. The buoyancy is very poor in my experience. Agree, in that situation (with baiting) a cork ball food-bait cannot be beaten. I haven't been able to bait in winter this past couple of years so I have no problem using a decent off-the-shelf hi-viz hookbait. They are effective, no doubt.

Free-lining is great for stalking, when you can physically see the fish take the bait. But, with no lead to pull the hook home and no tension on the clutch to do the same, 30 yards out, you were lucky to hook it imo buddy.

Better than most. Proper Job Pop Ups are better (imo).

Agree.

Yeah, I know what you meant buddy. We only boil to add integrity to the bait and prevent nuisance species from whittling them down. That boiling process does denature that baits so if nuisance species aint a problem then go ahead.

Absolutely, 100%, downright LETHAL in winter.

Worth a go if there's no nuisance species to speak of I reckon.

That's why we use leaders Nick.

A barbel rod should do the trick. They make great floater rods too.

No mate, they have no transmitter. The are compatible with the TXR Micro dongle/receiver jobbies though.

Agree with emmcee, or you can always chuck a chod out and cross your fingers.

100%.

Simple. Always. You need to be on fish to catch them. - If you can see them, you know you're on them. - If you can't see them, you might be on them - but normally are not. Forget about the "what ifs". We can only fish for what we can see. The most effective anglers do not rely on luck buddy. You need to make it happen.👍

I tend to use hinges and ronnies which might explain our different experiences buddy. Never had an issue👍

I find the more weighty the rig is (hookbait+hook+swivel(s)+putty) the less tangle prone it is!

UB Baits are no more.

Proper Job Pop Ups are still going strong.

Yes - although I would test it in a glass to see how long it will keep your particular pattern of hook up for. The 13 mm needs a fair bit of putty to hold it down, I even had to trim the pop ups down. The 11 mm will keep a hinge with a size 5 Chodda up for 48 hrs easily, and that's with putty too. They're be far the most buoyant pop ups on the market buddy.