emmcee

id have to go with a pop up on a sliding rig ring. the reason being if ronnie and reggie start messing with it there is a very good possibility that it will reset itself once they have finished messing with it. combine it with a bit of plastic and a hair stop that you pull into the bait and you could be on a winner. if there are that many crays in theit then a mass particle approach would also be my main approach.

for me, if you know the silt is 8-12 inches deep then id use a 14inch hooklink with a critically balanced bait. job done

pm on its way mr newmarket

if you want to wind lewis up just call him "lewis lane the black swan blanker"

surely its no different to the glow in the dark corn you can get, never used it myself but a mate has caught carp on it. oh and a few pike as well

well im a user of the 360 rig and have never seen any mouth damage on the fish ive caught with it, no matter what size the fish are. infact id say 90% of my captures have been over an inch back in the mouth and dead centre, nailed. and i use the long shank nailers. i will admit i have used rigs that have caused mouth damage but its only been the once as i dont use them again.

welcome to the forum mate. just a little pointer,you would of got more answers had you put this in the "uk rig tying" thread. and yes mini rig ring is ok

yeah i do like. im all sorted for lakes though and your miles from me. you can't be short of members though surely

some pukka carp in your top lake mate. proper scaley ones as well

me too, i knotless knot a length of kryston samson hair braid on then just knotless knot the IQ over the top. personally use it in 20lb breaking strain.

there's no right or wrong mate, you take what you can afford and what you feel is enough. im sure your have a good week still though it could be so hot in june . it could go 2 ways and that is its either too hot and the fish arent on the feed so much and 15kg is plenty or they would have spawned not long before you go and could well be up for a right munch and 15kg is not enough

the thing with fishing in france is that the owner/resident bailiff (if the lake has them) will tell you who caught what, who fished where, how much bait they used etc so youve already got part of the picture in your head regarding what your fishing over bait wise etc. the owner/bailiff will help you as much as they can as they want you to catch fish, book up again next year and tell all your mates. the chances of that happening over here are pretty rare id imagine. but for me the fact that most french lakes have lots of big fish and they can eat tonnes of bait is why id take 40-50kg of boilies. my mates have fished on rainbow when the belgium angler alijn d'janau or whatever his name is was on there lol and got chatting with him and he said the biggest mistake alot of the english anglers make is their lack of bait. he said to them " you all bring 20-30kg of 18mm-20mm bolilies,, you all do the same, you need more", ok he is sponsored but he had 100kg of 10mm and my mates said he smashed it for the week they were there. and lets face it, a trip to france is not cheap and i want to make the most of it and not run out of bait half way through especially if the fish are having it big time. most lakes out there have freezers out there to keep bait frozen so what you dont use bring home and put it back in your own freezer( if you have one that is)

i know what you mean by hows it different . my mates go to france alot but if you ask them what their pb is then they only mention their english caught pb . and yet a couple of them have had 70lb plus carp from france and when i mention it to them they just say they dont count there french fish, its just a holiday. i went to france for the first time last year and caught what i class as my pb for the simple reason it is my personnal best, french or not i caught it. you dont hear jessica ennis not counting a pb performance because it wasnt in england do you

very good tip. my mates do well glugging all there baits in salmon oil. used to be the done thing back in day over here and it certainly works for them in france

I cant speak from experience because i've never been but i think the lads might be saying that if cell is what they see all the time it might also be the bait they are suspicious of . As a side note , do people REALLY pile in 30+k of boilies a week over there ? Why is it neccessary ? You wouldnt dream of it in this country so why ? i went on my first trip to france last year and the lake i fished had something like 50x40lbers and when you get a few of them on your bait 5kg is gone in minutes. the bailiff told us that if the fish got on the feed proper then the 6 of us who went didnt have enough bait between us for 1 day let alone the week . and we all had 30kg plus each. i infact took 50kg just incase, i brought 20kg home but if they had been having it then it would of gone in

my mates do quite alot of fishing in france and they do very well on small baits, 10mm,12mm and 14mm size baits. their thinking is that most anglers they meet have 18mm,20mm size baits so being slightly different might just give you an edge

its upto you but i know my mates have been out there with a bait from premier baits which has done some very big catches out of dreamlakes. they have it semi preserved( something premier do for european trips or if you have little storage space, think it gives your bait a 3 month shelf life). will be cheaper than mainline i would think. give premier a call and im sure they will help you out if you decide to go that way. good luck

wpuld that be farnham angling society, nick?. some of their lakes are a circus but there all also some that are left pretty quiet

ive already suggested that but was quite quickly shot down by the original poster . he will probably tell us that hooks are no good next . that said he comes across as quite confident so im wondering why he asked the question in the first place . probably trying to get a bite on here cos he dont get any down his lake

firstly, buying "gimmicky rubbish" as you put it might just buy you a bite when all else fail . how maby fish get caught each year on plastic? shed loads . as for your combi hair why dont you just take a coated braid and strip the part on the hair you want to be supple. . hey presto combi hair

if you want to avoid hair tangle just wrap the hair to the hook shank with p.v.a tape, simples

i use the iq2 but the breaking strain you use should be determined by the lake and its features not so much size of fish in my opinion. if your lake has any serious weed beds, snags, gravel bars then id go 15-20lb breaking strain. if none of the above the 12lb will be spot on.

also people can wear too much clothing in their sleeping bags. the bags rely on your body heat to warm them up but if you get in the bag with plenty of layers on then your body is warming the layers of clothing and not the bag. all i wear is a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a tshirtno matter how cold it is. also wear a wooly hat in bed, makes a massive differnce as well

i use the snugpak range of sleeping bags as do a few of my mates. for winter i use the antartica sleeping bag which is rated down to minus 50 . you will not be cold in that one . one of my mates has got whats called the special forces combo which is two bags combined to make a winter bag. take them apart and you have a spring/autumn bag and a summer bag. he never gets cold either. but also enough of my mates also use the mainstream tackle companies bags with no complaints. youve got plenty of choice. one thing that i was told was that to always fluff your bag up before getting in it. this helps it trap air between the fibres in your bag which stops the bag getting cold. and for someone like me who keeps the sleeping bag inside my bedchair its made a massive difference

not sure the above lake comes in as "quite local" to calais if its 6hrs drive