yonny

Just type it into YouTube or Google mate, there's literally tons of info on these all over the web and forums. Decent rods.

Yes buddy.... give or take.... I can't say I measure it.

Same here, a nice big mat folded in two and carried on straps makes a lovely receptacle for stalking gear/tackle.

100% Hutch. You just have to go down to any tackle shop regularly to know some of the shelfies have been sitting on that shelf there for months or years in some cases.

Lol..... You know what @smufter, small lakes with big fish tends to mean riggy carp in my experience. Your situation might be one of the few in which I'd be tempted to have a look at bottom baits/wafters (or, more likely, alternative baits i.e. naturals).

Normal unscented dental floss for me.

This can only apply if you're getting regular bites Smufter i.e. if you're not getting frequent takes on a 2" pop up changing to a 3" won't do you any favours at all. With bites so hard to come by on White Cottage I'd be looking to increase the chance of any fish, not just the bigguns. Maybe reduce the size of your hookbait?

If you want to buy in the UK the Colne Valley Tackle stuff is decent too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=colne+valley+tackle+braid&_sop=15

Lol.... I didn't count the tench I caught! Sometimes there's just no stopping them..... .... which just so happened to be a lake record in your first season...... Food for thought eh......

I would add to this thread that while I do not believe in such a thing as a big fish rig, in my opinion you will increase your average size of capture by using pop ups. The higher you fish them off the deck, the higher your average size will climb. If you whack a pop up 3 inches off the deck you'll hook fewer small carp imo as it just looks alien to them. Bigguns wont be be able to tell as they are approaching from above due to their sheer size..... I have a close mate that's fished the same waters as me for the last 5 years. His average, every year, has been significantly smaller than mine, and he catches just as many fish. Only difference is he fishes bottom baits where I use pop ups. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not..... Last year, in an attempt to target that huge mirror I has in October, I increased the height of my pop up rigs significantly to avoid the smaller fish. I landed 16 fish after that modification with an average of 31 lb, and then the biggun at 49. Normal average on this water is about 25 lb, my smallest fish was 25 lb. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not..... You might have to wait longer for bites with big blatant pop ups but when the bite comes I find it's worth the wait. My first piece of advice to anyone looking to target big fish would be to use blatant pop up rigs. Seems to have worked for Vik too looking at his results last year.

I find the normal 15s are a struggle to hold down even with size 4 hinges with 25 lb filament and a ring swivels. I use a tungsten chod bead and still need to use putty. The mega buoyant 15s will hold up a meter of lead core if you don't add weight.

You'd need a brick to hold the 15 mm's down on a multi buddy. Might be better off with the 13 mm's or even the 11's.

Likewise. I have a little tank I use, it sits on top of the bait freezer. There's almost always something in there on test, either new rig components or new pop ups (usually pop ups, testing for prolonged buoyancy). Just this morning I checked in on a new pop up I've been looking at..... 12 hours in and buoyancy is perfect maintained, so far so good. Most off-the-shelf pop ups don't maintain buoyancy for 24 hrs therefore rig efficiency is compromised. Not a lot of people realise that. There's no way I'd rig one up without extensive testing at home first.

I use pop ups for 95% of my fishing. Not really buddy. There are pro's and cons for over-weighting pop ups and likewise for balancing baits. I tend to lean towards a balanced approach although I'll not balance it too well - I think a weightless tethered pop up wafting around feeding carp will look worse than one that's nailed to the deck. To be honest I fish pop ups so frequently because I tend to fish spots which would be difficult to present a bottom bait on. I don't want the bait wafting about in any weed but at the same time I don't want it dragged down into said weed so I'll balance somewhere in the middle.

Agree.

Both Sensor and Big Game are reliable lines but they've both been round for 20+ years. There are lines available now that out-perform them in every way possible. They might cost an extra fiver/tenner but if there's one thing you shouldn't skimp on it's line. Depends what you want it for buddy. Different mono's do different things better than others. - For distance casting go for a pre-stretched line (e.g. Fox Exocet etc.). They cast fantastically but aint so good where abrasion resistance is required. - For general angling without too much weed go for one of the new low stretch/partially pre-stretched lines (e.g. Shimano Technium, Gardner GT-HD etc.) These cast well and have half decent abrasions resistance. - General angling in weedy situations go for an all-rounder (ESP Synchro, Gardner Pro etc.). Cast OK, nice and strong. - Heavy weed go for a heavy line (Gardner hydroTuff, Rig Marole SLS etc.). Not so good for casting but you'd land a bus in a forest. There's no such thing as a line that will do everything perfectly (although the low stretch options are getting there). Think about what's important to you and go for the most suitable.

It's what I use. Awesome stuff fella.

100%

Nah mate.sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, it' against you. Letting it run would just result in a load of line lost with it. We just have to accept that In weedy waters you lose the odd fish. Just got to lose them as safely as possible!!

Yup.... you just had to look at what the fully was passing through to understand why those cut-offs were happening!

In some cases maybe. I use a 0.40 dia. snag mono as I'm not allowed to use braid on my syndi and guys are getting cut off in the weed using even 15 lb line..... and when a forty pounder heads for the weed there's not much stopping it..... It has nowt to do with the size of the lead for me. It relates entirely to the environment and the carps ability to exploit it.

What's up with it Smufter?

I think fishing for carp around lilies and weed with 8lb line is verging on irresponsible Nick, no disrespect you understand buddy. For me the safest rig/set-up is the one that lands the fish - hence I always use a higher BS line. I agree.

I certainly wont say that other firms don't rip customers off buddy - let's face it the whole carp game is one big rip-off!!!!

Cherry Carp are not ex- Solar, they are ex- Solar-Carp (a different entity to Solar). This is the company that used the Solar name to sell cheap bait rolled in Europe and shipped to the UK where it was crumbling to bits when it got to the customer (Martin Locke of Solar hadn't been prepared to do this which is why SolarCarp was created as separate entity as personnel split from Solar). When questioned the various members of the SolarCarp team gave conflicting information as to the content - some said it contained no preservatives, other said it did..... who knows what was in it...... There was also a massive hoo-har about the Directors trying to stitch up Lockey if I remember rightly but all trace of this has been removed from the net for legal reasons I assume..... So it makes me chuckle when they talk other firms about ripping anglers off. I wouldn't buy anything from them.