crusian

Many thanks all! 3wks in and the sleepless nights are starting to catch up! 
 
well I took the new aforementioned banana baits to a local club water the other day for a quick few hours while my daughter was in nursery, I had 3 out to 21lb so that’s the biggest hurdle crossed when making your own bait, knowing it works! 

Six egg mix ready for the pan, I’ve dusted them with dry base mix to prevent them sticking togetherafter boiling for 1min 45secs, (timed once the waters actually boiling) they are left in the garden to air dry for half hour or so, giving them a shake every few mins baits bagged and ready for the freezer 

the “screw fix sausage” gun with nozzle cut to 12mm (ish - I’m not that accurate!) my eBay rolling table with sausage ready to go rolled 12mm baits 

The base attractors, 20ml salmon oil (free with the basemix) 2.5ml belachan and 2.5ml shellfish sense appeals. Couple of oz robin red and a heaped tablespoon of blood powder added to 6 eggs, then enough supermarinos basemix to mix into a slightly sticky, tacky ball. 
(just the basemix, oil and shellfish SA on their own would keep the cost down and still produce a decent bait, the basemix has robin red in it, so it’s not essential to add more) the flavour shelf in the shed! white basemix is the protein bird food, the reddish sacks are supermarinos 

I feel for you , Kev .
I've  lost my last 4 Carp in the lillies , and although probably only low to mid doubles it still anoys me , and I think " what could I have done different ? " .
One of the loses was when I rushed sideways to hustle the Carp away from the lillies only to kick the water bucket ( that I'd forgot was there ) ; so I look down to see why my sock  was wet , and that 1 second delay in playing the Carp was all it needed to shed the hook .
So next time out you'll just have to catch an absolute monster to help the painfull memory of your loss to fade away . 
😃
 
 

France on 5th so fingers crossed mate and rude not to give the syndi another go at the weekend - oh and just bought a Bluebell winter ticket.  Determined to turn this season around after a poor start through ill health.  👍

I feel for you , Kev .
I've  lost my last 4 Carp in the lillies , and although probably only low to mid doubles it still anoys me , and I think " what could I have done different ? " .
One of the loses was when I rushed sideways to hustle the Carp away from the lillies only to kick the water bucket ( that I'd forgot was there ) ; so I look down to see why my sock  was wet , and that 1 second delay in playing the Carp was all it needed to shed the hook .
So next time out you'll just have to catch an absolute monster to help the painfull memory of your loss to fade away . 
😃
 
 

Well Jack doesn't need to say anything for you to see he is not impressed with your decision to be in your bivvy at bite time ! .

The best line out there imo.

Moody one from the weekend..

WHAT?!?! now that's dedication right there 🙌

It is mate. I actually found the carp this time too... chilling out not 30y out in a weed bed. Unfortunately I only had 4oz leads on me and the carp weren't to fond of them crashing onto their heads. Schoolboy error. Got straight on the phone to order a bunch of 2 and 2.5oz for next time.
I was convinced they'd be back the next day but they didn't show up. To rub it in I found them all in the shallows on my trek back to the car to go home. 

An overnighter sat/sun felt that I was on for a big-un, 9pm a big fish rolled on the right tree line which got me going.  7am a take and I cant get out the bivvy quick enough coz of a dead arm and it manages to take line off a very tight clutch and makes the trees resulting in a cut off - absolutely gutted tbh, should have been up sat by the rod as I knew 7am was bite time!
Oh well next time I guess.

I use the ESP bait screw and haven't noticed damage, but that makes good sense, will keep an eye on that.
Also got the Korda ones which are plastic screws moulded onto a metal swivel - these are buoyant so no affect on the po-up itself 👍 

I almost always do this nowadays, albeit with a micro ring swivel. Even for chods. Dead easy.

A fair few ways to use rig rings on pop-up rigs:
Tie a rig ring onto the end of the hooklink material and then do  basic knotless knot. You have the pop-up close to the shank and bend of the hook.
 
Again, a knotless knot leaving your tag end, but thread the rig ring, tag end through the eye, and you have a basic D-rig.
 
I frequently slide a rig ring onto the shank, hookbead fixed on the shank opposite the barb to point. That can be used on various rigs; Ronnie's and Spinners, Reverse combi-rigs or plain and basic straight on the hooklink and counterbalance.

Yes , I guess I have , Yonny you wise old owl  .
I'll start of with a basic plastic screw , and maybe then upgrade to a small rig ring and attach  the pop up with floss  .
😃

Yes , I guess I have , Yonny you wise old owl  .
I'll start of with a basic plastic screw , and maybe then upgrade to a small rig ring and attach  the pop up with floss  .
😃

If you have seen that with your own eyes, I think you've answered your own question!

I just walked Sky round the lake and to talk to the bailiff who was fishing. 
As we walked round I was keeping Sky calm, she likes James, so bounces, and because I thought he was margin fishing I called out 'hello' well before I got to him so he could come back to the main track past his swim, rather than me walk along the bank and possibly disturb his fishing, especially as I could see fish in front of him.
We did stand talking fishery, syndicate and rules for around 30minutes, and the fish in front of him evading his baits.
He was no more than 5metres from his rods even on the path.
Hopefully it is respect.

Sadly Mate, my local club is 'overfilled', so I had to join a syndicate.
 

Like @InteraX I don't like them.
I would prefer a bit of nylon or bait floss on the D or rig ring as I have found that bait screws can work free and drop the bait, no matter how much a swelled bait is supposed to grip better.
It takes a big plastic one to grip properly!
 
Incidentally, I save cut down used rig materials for that specific reason, to use create a hair or for mounting pop-ups. It doesn't matter whether it is monofilament, coated or uncoated braid. The only thing that doesn't lighter blob nicely is fluorocarbon.

I hate them! A bit of floss on the end of a micro ring swivel gives the bait a bit more movement.

I was out Sunday as soon as my fishery reopened.
Whilst it was still hot, it was overcast. The fish were a lot more active. From about 11 am, I had 8 bites and landed 5, all mid to upper doubles. I lost 3 in what I think was snags that were  unknown to me. My mainline just parted which started to get concerning. Overall I used least thank 1/2 a kilo of boilies and packed up around 5.
I think they're on the feed now. It's good to hear others are able to get out and are having good sport.

I went yesterday to my local  days only park lake and managed 14 with 13 doubles with a 16, 17 and an 18. Kept them coming all day by regularly sending out the bait boat and got through a pressure cooker of spod and about 3kg of pellet split over 2 spots. Probably going again in a few days time and have 2 pressure cookers soaking as it's cheaper then pellet. That said, I have started buying my pellets in 25kg sacks as it brings the cost down a fair bit.
It really is a case of "buying your fish". The more I chuck in, the quicker and more aggressive the bites.