elmoputney

I've now pretty much stopped using my brolly in favour of the bunker it doesn't take any longer to put up or take down it's lighter and it just feels a bit more like home, 😁 Can have the front off, on or pegged open has a back window if it's a bit windy inside 😉, got a 7 quid mozzie front, over wrap and it's rock solid love it

Hi guys Been looking at a new cradle mat or unhooking mat, I've looked at the aqua ones, trakker ones, thinking anglers one and this one seems to have the best of all worlds it's walled so should be nice and safe, padded kneeling area for my ageing knees, a pocket for scales etcbut the middle bit is removable like the thinking anglers one with a fish cover so could be useful as a stalking mat or just so I could leave the cradle set up for photos and just use the inner part for unhooking near the water so i could transfer the fish to the retainer easily whilst setting up for snaps? Anyone else have one or can recommend a good mat or cradle that will last and keep the fish safe, Does anyone use any of the cradles with legs?

this is the stiff part of a hinged stuff rig, it's not the one for a bag will sit far too high I think, if you want to use a pop up in a bag I would still keep it simple and just add some shot to a simple rig and check the presentation and that it doesn't sit too high above, which is why I like a wafter as it looks like a part of the mix not a beacon on top of it, my thoughts on bags are that all Ingredients can be sucked in together at once, then hopefully the hook sticks In the lip as it lifts off, I don't think you need a complicated rig in a bag as the surrounding bait is all part of the appeal, I don't think 2.5oz is a deal breaker tbh just make sure your hooks are sharp,

Something dave Lane said on his latest vlog may help you if it's weedy, the fish will make it easier for you if you can find clear spots as that may be where they like to feed, so mainly just find and concentrate on those and that might be a good starting point and then you can ignore and rule out large chunks of weedy water 👍

Proper jobs are great and the standards are better than a lot of other brands I've tried, you just know it will still be up in the morning, they do some lovely flavours too, you won't look back, I just wish they did wafters too

It does a little but it seems to tangle less and still pushes the hair out the side of the hook, I found I was hooking them in the scissors quite a lot with a normal kd set up so I tried this little kicker and it now turns better

I was having a little play with mouth trap the other night, this is the first rig I've tied using a krank chod type hook where I can see the benefit of the hook, and in my head this rig will work well

With a small bag and a 3oz lead you would be casting about 3.6oz tops I think which shouldn't be asking too much for the rod I don't think, it depends on what rig you are using my bag rig is simple and it works, supple hook link, size 4 curve shank tied kd style and a little kicker, this is mainly for wafters though but I think it's a better bag presentation personally, Bit maybe it wouldn't hurt to go smaller, I tend to sharpen my hooks so that helps prick the fish but I rarely use anything less than 3oz these days

Cheers for the reply, Leadcore is banned but I guess tungsten beads will help add more weight , pin down sinks pretty well tbh anyway, will have a look at what else I can find to chuck at it 😁 I still think I will use the inline set up if I can get away with it, but it may not hurt to try and fine tune a heli set up to as back up for the more extreme situations,

Nice one thanks, I have tried watching the vids and stuff, they aren't the easiest company to find details on, it's hard to find pics of what colour the products actually are, 😢 So talking heli set ups today 😁 What is the best way to attach the lead, lead type for the most direct hooking potential? Bank tackle do qc rings which look neat I'm also thinking 4oz heli leads without a swivel? Obviously using a bead that will detach should it need too, I have grown fond of avid pin down leader it's nice to splice so want to continue using that if possible, So what do you guys use for a neat heli set up,

I guess the hook size and weight of lead will probably make a difference ie bigger hook needs more weight to penetrate the lip and smaller sharper thinner gauge hooks for lighter leads, Just my thoughts not based on solid fact, but it would make sense to scale it all down if you are using light leads, or up if you are using shark hooks 😉

The thinking tackle podcast may be of interest to you Lewis ep15 that was all about a military carp fishing group was a really interesting listen actually, there may be a group you can get in touch with from that also

I did quickly dismiss the chod and roddie rig tbh, these really highlight the things I don't like about using a heli set up, as you probably need to leave the bead further away from the lead and that's what I don't like abiut it so much, and why I prefer an inline or lead clip set up as the rig is directly connected to the lead if you see what I mean, I do agree its probably best for presentation over anything and a last resort but I think if I am getting a Decent drop it should be OK and I would get better indication and more positive takes, I think if the weed was worse on the spots I would probably see it as my only option, when I am finding spots at the moment I am using a grippa lead and also making multiple casts to clear it a bit so I am fairly confident it's not mega weedy on that spot and. Most of the times I have bought my wafter rigs in clean too, it's mainly patches of Canadian and a little silk weed and there are clear spots of you can find them some are just a little harder to find and they are the ones I want to be fishing I think 😁

Hi Linus Could be any number of reasons, blunt hook, hair too long short, not turning, could be line bites, lead not setting the hook correctly I use 3oz minimum If you could post a pic of your rig set up that may help

It does look like good stuff, I can't seem to find many examples of possible rigs using it online though, I looked at the extreme but I was wondering if it is bendable so you could make a nice easy hinge rig? But with a curved stiff part up to the hook much like the one I made above, or whether you need to use an inturned hook to create the curve, if you have any examples of rigs I would like to see them 👍

I just quickly knocked this up it's the mark pitchers style one, a bit like a multi rig set up with a doubled over length of mouth trap, it's certainly stiff😁 will just use a semi stiff coated braid for the boom section Hydrolink is one of the few braids I haven't tried yet, I do keep meaning too just haven't 😳

After Fridays session where I felt I was Constantiy tieing up bags and worrying whether or not they are presented well, which to be fair I think they mainly were, I've decided to look at an alternate method for for the less obvious spots, I thought about chods, Ronnie's, roddie and all sorts then thought I don't want to use helicopter set ups if I don't have too and I've not found the Ronnie a rig I've got confidence in, Ive grown quite fond of the inline tadpole set up the lead ALWAYS comes off the tadpole and the leader if required and I'm convinced it's as safe as it can be , I'm not really a fan of pop ups In bags they always seem to just look blatent or too low to be effective in all situations so I got to thinking, and back to hinge stuff rigs is the answer, I think that will sit on top of most weedy areas I've faced so far and will be fine with a nugget attached to slow it down, its also one I have faith in Does anyone think an inline set up isn't the one for the HSR? I just think it would be nice to know there is a nice pop up waiting for a big girl to slip up on, this will also suit my scattergun baiting approach especially as I have more pop ups than mainline in my garage 😁 I will still use bags on at least one rod but using them on all 3 seems to leave me constantly tieing them up which doesn't leave enough time to just relax 😢

I found an old one I used last year trek sensitive, deet free but I had the front off and I didn't get bitten Friday, will use it again I think

Ngt one mine had mine 2 years still going strong its only 4 rod though but I only have one spod/marker rod, I also use the single ngt sleeves with it

It might be one of the baitmakers diaries l series I think, It made me want to use heavier leads too 😁

It was a bait works video with Mark Bryant I think you mean I found it quite interesting, will try and find it, Stop overthinking, keep it simple best thing I did tbh I spent all last year tying myself in knots, with regards to hooks rigs, find a simple rig that works for the situation and use that, I haven't used a krank hook tbh I didn't like the angled point, but if you are set on using them, find the right rig for the hook, each hook will be best suited to some rigs and not others,

Yeah I know one of the risks, the thing that annoyed me the most was how ill prepared I was with a back up plan, still lesson learnt don't put all your eggs in one basket, and I don't think now is probably the right time to pre bait still too many other anglers fishing, another thing I learnt don't listen to what other people tell you when on the bank, the way one guy was talking last week was that swim never got fished and I pretty much had exclusive use of it, there have been at least 2 others since I was in there last week 😁 I did catch a slimey fat little tench though and lost one I was gutted 🎉🎉🎂😁 When I said a lot of bait I meant a lot of individual items for them to get through especially with the hundreds of micropellets too, 😁 I didn't tell him, as I didn't want to be one of those guys that thinks because they pre bait it they can claim it, I've seen a lot of people sticking to the same swims so far, and I don't want to tell people where they should and shouldn't go, we all pay the same fish where you like as far as I am concerned, I am also trying not to listen to that kind of thing I also don't want to know about what others are doing, because I don't want to feel like I can't fish a swim because nobby has been pre-baiting, if you are going to do it keep it to yourself it's the only fair way

I'm not going to say what happened to my prebaited spot, but someone is fishing over it 😢he didn't know so its just one of those things and I didn't tell him I've started to like the ridge monkey choppa today, you can chop 30 18mm baits at once, I've been making a small bucket for each spot so I know I've just airbombed 180 chops over my 2 rod area + the 240 earlier just feels a bit more scientific 😁 Although when I added it up makes it seem like a lot of bait that could be out there I couldn't find a way to count all the micro pellets easily 😳

I've managed to switch my Sunday for Friday this week I do have to be home by 10am Saturday morning though but I thought it looked too good, with the full moon and the pressure, I've been putting a lot of free food into an area and just feel its rude not to be trying, I am going to top up the spots today on the way home and hope they will primed to drop In on tomorrow,

Looks like it's had a bit of work done on it tbh so that's probably a good thing it's been serviced and has a long mot and stuff , probably worth going to have a look just remember if something doesn't seem right it's not the one,