yonny

That happened to me too fella. Nightmare. Don't get the Carp Porter puncture proof wheel though.... it's utter, utter pants. No tread so it slides all over the pace when it's muddy! Costs a fortune too. One of the worst buys I've ever made (shame as my Carp Porter was one of the best!). You're better off just getting a half decent wheelbarrow replacement wheel from the garden center for a tenner.

I've used all sorts of set ups over the years. There's nowt wrong with using 60 or 80 lb braid straight through. People tend not to because they believe it'll affect their casting which, unless they're looking to cast 200 yards, it will not. I went back to mono recently (10 lb mono with a 15-30 lb tapered shock leader). So much easier to work with - no wind knots, don't have to wet it constantly, easier to work with in general IMO.

I just use the small one. IMO the best characteristic of the Ridgmonkey is the space/weight saving over conventional cooking gear. I was able to ditch a frying pan and a saucepan and replace with something smaller and lighter.

Tbh in 15 lb @ 0.38 dia. the Chameleon aint a bad line bud. You'll get away with the 12 if you don't have too much weed in the picture. Unless you've had issues or face an angling situation that requires a change you may as well stick with it. It's a decent reliable line.

You need to figure out what's important to you fella. - 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 a traditional 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. - If you want your line on the deck go for a fluoro. Again, not great casting, but the benefits are obvious. 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. What are you using for piking? It's likely as good an all rounder as the carp lines (but the carp lines will be twice the price....). You could do worse than follow Dovii's advice, that being to use the toughest line you can get away with for your angling situation.

You could use it for whatever you want fella, just make sure you've tested it and tested it again before you leave it out all night. I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

I was just using it for old school straight-up knotless knotted hair rigs fella. It twist and coils so much you wouldn't want to use it for anything other than the simplest of rigs. Even then I just couldn't count on it.

I've used the KK with braid for 20 years and not had issues so I'd take it with a pinch of salt bud.

I've used it. Hate to say it, but IMO it's horrible fella. Off the spool it's like a normal braid but with high diameter. It loves to fray so you need to be really careful tying rigs. It retracts (into it's elastic state) when it's wet. This takes a while. The problem is no matter how well you prepare it (wet it), I found it continues to retract once submerged. As it does so it twists and coils and can end up looking horrible at best and simply not presenting the bait effectively at worst. I'd submerge the rigs for half an hour to achieve full elasticity prior to casting out but would still have problems. I ended up binning it simply as I wasn't happy that I was presenting the hook bait well enough. I could never be 100% sure it was fishing well. Confidence is everything in carp angling and I just had no confidence the bait was presented with this stuff.

Their marketing is done through FB nowadays fella, you probs saw them on there. Don't think the website's been touched in a long time.

It was an awesome trip fella - good friends, great fishing, just brilliant fun from start to finish. Yeah BBR used the pics so you may well have seen them somewhere bud.

After giving myself a headache reading the EU Vote thread I thought I'd lighten the mood by posting a couple of pics from my recent session in France. This was my first time fishing in France, I'd never been particularly drawn to continental angling. Needless to say that soon changed and I have next years trip booked already...... Hope you like.....

I'm keeping one eye on that place too fella. Looks lovely. I hear it's done a 40 now.

I too live in Leics. There are various waters around that I would consider to be OK at best. All busy, not much to get excited about. There are one or two genuinely good syndicates but they're difficult to get on. My advice is to head an hour south to the Nene Valley, there's numerous day ticket, club and syndicate waters offering some of the best carp fishing in the country IMO. Spend a couple of seasons fishing the right waters in the Valley and you'll think a 20 is a small one. A decent starting point for a 20 would be Stanwick Lakes. They have several day ticket waters; Mallard/Swan are great for bagging up with the chance of a 20. Elsons is more challenging but if you get a bite there's a great chance it'll be 20 lb. Some proper nice lookers in there too. Easy journey from Leics as well: M1, A14, A45.

Like any rod, in general you'll get what you pay for. If you spod a lot, and at distance, spend the extra. If you seldom spod, or do so at shorter ranges, go for the cheaper option. Most cheaper rods now are more than fit for the purpose. There's no need to spend mega bucks unless you require serious performance. IMO.

For general angling I've been using the Pro Dark. However, my mate just spooled up with GT-HD and I have to say it's even better. It's more supple than the Pro and has a lovely finish to it that casts brilliantly. It's possibly the best looking line I've seen. I've just bought some of the new Rig Marole SLS to try. If I don't get on with it I'll be moving to the GT-HD without a doubt.

Was on a social this weekend and put my mate on zigs (he'd never used them) and he had one straight away. I could only catch off the deck at night in the warm temps, all my fish in the day came to zigs. They really do transform your angling in certain conditions.

Think you're not setting your alarms effectively bud - you should get zero false indication on a tight line. You get some funny old takes on zigs, if you wait for the rod to tear off you'll miss loads of bites. You really don't need to know exactly how far under the surface it is. As long as you know the depth (which you should do if you're planning on fishing zigs) just guesstimate the length of the hooklink. A couple of inches here and there make no difference IMO. If you're getting indication just glance at the rod tip, it'll bounce (at a minimum) if there's a carp involved.

That's exactly the decision I made a couple of years ago and it's worked wonders for me. p.s. That moment of realisation when I see you're the same fella as on the other forum lol....

That's a good question fella....... Assuming the water was deep enough one would expect it to orientate itself during descent through the water regardless of how it hits the surface. In the shallows it'd probs land on the deck in the same way it hit the surface. If it was me looking to use the rig I'd be testing it first by casting it repeatedly to spots that i can see.

Not convinced fella. For that to fish effectively you'd need a relatively clean bottom, in which case I'd want my hook bait much closer to the deck. That said, it might be handy for single hookbait fishing in winter.

I strongly disagree bud. IMO it is far more precise using your hands. When using forceps the slightest movement of the hand can result in significant movement of the forcep tips, which in turn means significant movement of the embedded hook. I only use them when I'm struggling by hand.

I use a heli set up for everything apart from zigs and adjust the top bead position to suit the substrate. In general, the weedier the deck is, the smaller the lead I'll use (taking distance into account, obviously). Have to say I'm not particularly fussy about lead type unless I'm chucking long (which is rare).

BOOYA!! Well done fella. Happy days.

My take on zigs: I use zigs more and more each year and catch more as a result. Last year there were at least 2 sessions on which I would have blanked if it wasn't for the zigs. I don't always go straight under the surface like most do, in fact I normally start by splitting the depth into thirds and fishing one at the bottom of the middle third and one at the top of the middle third (particularly at night). Only on the brightest days do I pop one under the surface and even then it's only when there's a breeze on the water and I can see carp in the very upper layers. I don't find zigs are the answer when they're milling about on top on the hottest, calmest days. I use the Fox zig alingers with balck foam which are great over a hatch but have also had success on tiny bright 10 mm over-flavoured pop ups. I use lead clips with the smallest lead I can get away with. It pays to drop the lead (I'm not a fan of dropping leads but it's necessary with zigs - it's horrible playing them with a lead attached and I've dropped fish because of it). I avoid the pre-stretched zig lines, they have next to no abrasion resistance so can't deal with the weed in the Nene Valley - I discovered this the hard way. My mate put me onto X Line in 10 lb as a zig line and it's been absolutely brilliant. As said, the hardest bit about zigs is getting your head round it. I used to try it for an hour here and there but would think I was wasting a rod. It wasn't until I'd caught a few I dared keep them out for longer periods. The trick is to use them for a reason rather than for the sake of it - most guys only whack one out when they're struggling on the deck. I'll put them out where I know there should be carp (e.g. when I can see them from the trees, see a hatch, or can see them topping over bait but can't induce a take). I find chucking a zig at a showing fish is at least as effective as chucking a single (e.g. a pop up) at them, probably more so. They are very, very effective fished two thirds depth off the deck a meter or two off the entrance to any shallow areas or bays. Again, I find you need a breeze on the water, regardless of time of day or season, for them to work really effectively. I never put freebies out, just attracts the bird life. I still struggle to get my head round them a little bit - even if I've caught 4 on zigs and none off the deck I still refuse to put all the rods on zigs, I always need one on the deck. Crazy I know.