yonny

There's a hush, hush water near me which holds approx 50 fish, a handful of which are big old originals (the biggest goes 50 lb), very special fish. It's not fenced and it's parts of a canal system. I know for a fact that otters are present on the canal (I've seen one) and that they hit this water last year, which obviously means this year too. I'll barely get to fish this next couple of years due to the little'n but when I do get the odd morning/evening free it'll be spent on this water. It's basically a race against time (which is less than ideal considering I have no time lol)..... if it's not too late already. I now the biggun was still there last year but who knows what's happened this winter eh? Nightmare situation. Fishing for a fish that might not be there. Normally it hurts me when one of my targets is caught but in this case every capture will be music to my ears.

HSR was my go-to rig for 20 years but last year it was shelved for the ronnie/spinner with size 2's - that's how good I think the ronnie can be. There's no questioning how good the hinge is, it's a proven rig. I'd have no qualms at all using it again in the right situation, caught me loads of big fish that rig has. Bait screws are great but you need to make sure your pop ups are very good i.e. buoyant. Most off-the-shelf pop ups are no good imho.

Spot on. Imo any method, when mastered and done well, is deadly. Nowt more dangerous than an angler that's confident in what they're doing.

I would probs have agreed with you 18-24 months ago. I did have a play when the rig first hit the headlines but ditched it pretty quickly after some dodgy hook holds. Last year I had another play with bigger hooks (2's and 4's) to suit a particular spot I found and I'm now sold. Imo, if it's set up well, the Ronnie is right up there with the hinge for mechanics and consistency in hook holds. A very, very good rig in the right situation. I don't use chods a lot, but they should always have a place in anyone's angling imo. There is nothing else as effective for when you see a fish show in an area you're not familiar with. Fact.

You need to bear in mind that cold water is denser than warmer water so the coldest water is on the deck. Therefore carp, being cold blooded, will only drop to the deck for one reason at this time of year and that is to feed. However, since we're approaching the end of winter, their metabolism is as slow as it gets, and they need less food, hence bite times on the deck can be very, very short (less than an hour a day). For the remaining 23 hours, zigs give you a genuine chance of a bite. It's the main reason most angers blank all winter - their hookbaits, being on the deck, are nowhere near the carp. Zigs should not be ignored, particularly in winter. Of course the info above is a generalisation. This winter has been the warmest in years and some waters are kicking off, even over bait.

Pukka stuff that is, I use it for hinges and chods.

Not tempted to buy some readymades to keep in the freezer for emergencies bud? There's some top quality baits around nowadays. So good that I haven't made any myself in quire some years, not worth the hassle imo and when I price my time into the equation I can't see it's any cheaper tbh. Defo a labour of love is bait making.

@commonly ESP Ghost Soft was the worst for it, I never actually cast it out, just kept failing when I tested it. Simple grinner knot IIRC.

I've also struggled with fluoro hooklinks, always seem weak at the knot, particularly on shorter links. Don't mind using slightly longer links.

I've already bought the sling to carry him round on my carp spotting trips to the local reservoir.

Done!

All good bud. Not been on here in a little while as the little'n has been taking up all my time. Loving it though 😊

Agree. Winds me up when I'm selling something and someone messages to ask a question that's already answered by the advert or could be answered by a 10 second Google!!

Fair play, chap as chips.

You might get lucky. I'd probs take more than 200 for all that dude.

What are you after?

The Embryo lakes are run very well indeed, don't be fooled. Better than a lot of of private syndis I've come across. You could do a lot worse mate.

@Tree123...... you're Shaunyboy150???

Good advice bluelabel. I tend to carry spare leads in the car, also spare bait (bait tends to be the heaviest thing I take fishing, certainly in summer and autumn anyway).

I had the same but the Compac died - the zip went after 1 season. Disappointed.

I pierce them buddy. I've been using them for 3 or 4 years and never had an issue. As long as you use a fine baiting needle and take your time you'll be ok. You now have the crushed cork hookbaits available. I actually prefer them because they're as buoyant as a cork ball, they can be trimmed, you don't have to worry about birdlife, there's more basemix to hold the liquid cure..... really good baits.

No mate that's not necessary at all unless you have birdlife pecking away at them (which will ruin any corkball pop up). As long as they're left alone they'll easily last more than 48 hrs. Spot on, the S1's work on a different concept. You really want that coating active/fizzing up so imo you're better off not wrapping them. They say if you wrap in tights the coating will last for 48 hrs but personally I'd just recast every 12 hours to keep that hookbait as active as possible. For 48 hrs + I'd just use the S2's.

Standard winter mindset innit mate. It's hard work at times. If there is one weekend we need to be fishing this winter, this next one is it. This big south westerly that's just popped up is with us until Sun/Mon and it's bringing with it double figure temps on Fri/Sat. The north east corner of most lakes will already be a degree or two warmer than the rest of the water as it's been off the back of the cold north easterlys. Now you'll have this new wind turning that corner over big time. There'll be a few carp caught across the country this weekend I'm sure. Typical I can't be on the bank.

They've just released a new version dude.

@ less than 3.5 kg a Lo Pro is probs lighter than a tarp and miles quicker to deal with mate.