yonny

I think Nige's makes a good argument I certainly don't think he's showing bias (which I imagine must be quite difficult in a conversation such as this one!).

I can imagine that looked good lol. My mate invented what he called the 'toxic maggot rig'. It was an isotope suspended by a cork ball with a ball of maggots tied on. It looked amazing, glowing green with little wrigglers, the name was very apt. Needless to say he blanked lol.

When they released the black ops it was advertised as "a stripped out ultra light Special Forces edition". They've changed it now so it says what they actually are but I remember thinking how only a 9 yr old could possibly be intrigued by them.

The nasty/evil way - pierced them straight through🤢

I've used live ones, dead ones, dried ones....... I've done lots of experimenting with naturals. My advice to you is don't bother, stick to worms/maggots, infinitely more effective mate.

As long as they're clipped up to the same distance of course you can mate.

Yeah I always do this too. Good tip that.

Google says you're right mate. The Fox site just has 30, 40 and 50 which suggests it's been discontinued. Buy the stock up while you can lol!!!

I don't think Fox do a 60 lb version bud. Or 45 for that matter. They do 30, 40 and 50. I've not tried it but there's a thread on another forum right now in which a few guys have said they prefer the 50lb over the lighter BS's as it sinks better mate.

You mean a splicing needle? I use the ESP ones.

I used to keep them "for emergencies" but now I just reclaim any micro swivels/beads etc and bin them. Never used them anyway.

You have 2 main options for the skin: Citronella - this is a natural product, essential oil from lemon grass, it's the stuff in the Avon Skin-So-Soft. It's friendly to the skin. Deet (diethyltoluamide) - This is the active ingredient in Jungle Formula. It's horrible stuff, melts plastic, dyes clothes, dries your skin out. Last resort imo. Then you have you mozzie coils which use the extract from flowers, nice and natural. There are some newer skin friendly options such as Incognito - I tried this and it didn't work for me but lots of guys swear by it. 100% natural.

Different options work for different people, something to do with blood type I believe. Avon stuff works the best for me.

Agree. It's nuts (no pun intended lol).

Nah, they're not that smart. It's because no man made bait can compete with an explosion of their natural food source imo. Naturals can though...... You don't have to worry about that until September when the weed dies down revealing the natural larders. Until then, once spawning is done, boilies and pellets are at their most effective imo - if they find them they will eat them, to help get that weight back on. I adjust my baiting strategies throughout the year and we're just coming into the period that I'd be using very large qtys of boilies.

I've also seen this!

I can't sign that without seeing more info first. It was started by "Local residents of Old Heath", not by legal anglers (which is who I would expect to raise a concern of this nature). It says "the Environment Agency and Essex police repeatedly refuse to take action as appropriate even when they themselves catch them in action. This has resulted in complete emptying of local ponds from fish stock, as it is continuously poached and cruel killing of waterbirds both of which take place daily for months". I don't buy that - if the EA catch you nicking/killing fish, or bird life, you get done, that's a simple fact. So if we imagine based on the above that nothing is getting killed (I'm not saying that's the case, just that it is a possibility) then how do these local residents know that the fishing is illegal? Are they asking to see licenses? I doubt it. Without more info I'm not convinced the local residents agenda is as heroic as it sounds. This could be something as simple a few genuine anglers guesting some local no-fishing ponds for some special fish - and if that's the case I bet they'll look after the water and surroundings better than anyone. Of course if anyone can provide more info I will be over to sign the petition in an instant. But I just cannot currently see enough info/evidence to sign blindly.

I've tested it! You're right, they don't wriggle away or bury themselves, they stay exactly where they are, but they can stay alive overnight - even when pierced! I know a lot of guys that do this. I don't bother. If a bait they like is introduced in the right place (where they're prepared to feed) they'll eat it with gusto regardless of shape/size and trip up imo.

That doesn't show the full picture Nick. Maggots are almost 90% water. It's the remaining 10-15% that contains 60% protein. So something like 7 or 8 % protein as a foodstuff.

Not sure about that elmo. Look at maggots, they provide hardly anything in terms of nutrition but they'd be taken before boilies every single time. Same with tigers - at times they're more effective than boiled baits but they don't provide much in the way of nutritional requirements.

Good post! However, how anyone could argue that the production of fois gras can be anything other than bad for ducks is beyond me (I'm talking about cruelty as well as health wise).

I was just waiting for someone to say that 😂🤣😂

I'm not convinced it's that simple Nick. Imo atmospheric conditions play a huge part in feeding behaviour too.

Sweetcorn is twice as effective as maize imo. Unless you're mass baiting due to cost i.e. kilos of the stuff, I can't see why maize would be used before corn as anything but a hookbait. Agree, can be difficult to use within the reach of bird life, once they've found it they'll not leave you alone. Have you tried hemp?