crusian

First trip out with the Gripz beak points:
Unfortunately no weed to contend with on this trip so the interesting part wasn't tried, however six takes six landed, no slippage or damage caused, 3 fish on a single hook, before changed.
The successful rig was the KD with a wafter hookbait taking 5 of the fish, the relevance of this I'm not sure of because those 5 came from the left side of the baited spot for whatever reason.
All good so far, the trail continues...

I'll give you another reason for not using spod mixes and multiple ingredients you get covered in spod juice and it gets in your hair all over your clothes, spod rod and everywhere else in your swim, I smell fantastic now though like a walking  bait shop 😁

Hooklink materials, a massive choice which catch many anglers.
 
I have a few hooklink materials from mono, the same as my reel line and Amnesia, coated and plain braids.
 
I try to keep my rigs simple. More anglers are caught up in rig fashion than fish.
My usual starting point is 'old school'; a standard hook either knotless knotted or tied on, with a proper hair made from dental floss or hooklink braid. A line aligned hook, with shrink or silicon tube.
I can use this for bottom baits or snowmen baits, or even pop-ups.
 
Does it catch? Yes!
 
 
 

Confidence, something I have struggled with the probably the past couple of seasons, then last night...
 
I know my rigs work, i've been using the same rigs for over 10 years, with snowman or bottom baits, even double bottom baits. Simple, line aligned, coated braid hooklinks with a proper length hair.
 
My bait, whatever I use, I know it will work, be it boilie over particle or boilies alone. I have probably gone through more chicken corn and hemp this year than for a few years, because I think I can put it in more easily. Boilies, I rarely choose a pup. I tend to know a good bait, although there have been exceptions.
The thing I was losing confidence in was my location, hard to pinpoint carp on 350+ acres, and I wasn't walking enough. Saying that, it could take the carp a couple of days to move onto bait. Setting up on them was not always an option.
If carp were around, I should catch them. I think my biggest fault this year was baiting up every day rather than letting the fish settle onto it after day ones bait.
 
Blanking can do your head in. That to me is the biggest loser of confidence, even if it is not your fault. I try to analyse what I did wrong to put it right, and as with everyone probably go round in circles. Go back to basics, and what you know works, catch again.

people will be swimming out to retrieve downed drones in the middle of the lakes because of their value which has huge H&S implications flying them around too low and crashing them being an idiot with it to annoy others drone wars in the sky between anglers using them to fish out of you swim and unsafe areas as people do with bait boats privacy issues noise its illegal to do without the proper permissions (leaseholders dont cut it I dont think, has to be the landowner) looks like there is a few reasons..

Get on that Highy. 
I've wanted to get one, great way to find the fish on a big water, then using a hook or claw type thing drop the rig!! Excellent use of technology, some may say cheating, but it's an advancement of the Bait boats. 
I've noticed a few fisheries have banned them already, can't say as I can see why? 

Didn't last long...doesn't want it now...says hard to fly.

Dads new toy now me thinks. 😁😁

I never even noticed, I don't know why. 🤣🤣

Surely you should be thinking " wot no unhooking mat ! ." 
😱

Hello Lorez , which bought rig gave you most confidence / best hook holds ? .
Why not take that rig and then buy the components to tie that rig yourself , unless it looks particularly tricky / costly , and you would be better off just buying ready mades ? .
Personally I have never liked tying up rigs , I always seem to be putting it off ! .
😃

Everything in brown it is then , thanks for saving me money , Yonny .
I always have more confidence with my Guru Pear Leads in brown , but now they are a strange greyish colour and a pack of 2 instead of 3  ☹️
 

Probably buddy. Brown is the best all-rounder for blending in imo.

Confidence has been a funny one for me this year, spent a long time feeling out my depth,feeling like I need to catch up with the years I missed, spent a while messing about with baits and rigs and all sorts of presentations, before ultimately deciding what I used to do 20 years ago is still as effective really 
Things that have helped me with confidence this year 
Hand sharpening my hooks 
Going back to running rigs for better bite indication 
Finally finding a bait the carp seem to like fairly instantly 
Distance sticks I believe I am now fishing more accurately than ever before 
Not being afraid to fish in weed,silt or pretty much any substrate now 
I now believe I have a great simple rig and a nice balanced snowman presentation,which I know should always be fishing for me and behaves in a suitable manor 
I am going for an overnight session on vermuyden Thursday night, probably going to be setting up on darkness but I shall be more organised and ready this week,my rods are already prepped and my rod bag is packed already,will sort out all my other items this week so i am super organised and only taking what i need, the good times are coming I just want to catch a few more now to prove it wasn't a fluke 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm currently using the rather funky combination of Hydro Tuff in 12 lb with a 20/30 ft leader of the SLS Specimon Tough in 18 lb. The water I'm fishing is really, really weedy and the fish do sometimes hang out a very long range. This set up allows me to get the distance and still deal with the weed. I would happily use the Hydro Tuff in 20 lb as a leader too. 

I've been using the avid outline leader in 20lb for a while now, I am quite happy with that as a leader seems to work nicely with the hydrotuff 

Hello Lorez , which bought rig gave you most confidence / best hook holds ? .
Why not take that rig and then buy the components to tie that rig yourself , unless it looks particularly tricky / costly , and you would be better off just buying ready mades ? .
Personally I have never liked tying up rigs , I always seem to be putting it off ! .
😃

These are 2 of the pages from the Table mentioned by Commonly (wont let me insert PDF)
Ive had it on my phone since was ever posted...

@crusian I've used it in 20 for weed and 12 for casting, both perform really well. It's the green I use but thats because I didn't know you could get it in brown!

Are you fishing snaggy waters Ian? 
There's yonny's write up and table showing stretch vs diameter /breaking strains on a thread from a few years ago,which is very useful. 
From that thread, I started using the GT HD. 15lb, superb line, none of the usual faults, that are common with other mono's.
I used it on my previous syndi that had more Canadian weed than water, never had any issues. 
https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/gardner-gt-hd-mono-line?gclid=Cj0KCQjwt5zsBRD8ARIsAJfI4BhySYV1soidRliRKmfSJM0aaxQzD-t9DuHrCNGp8SzoEYu1Kg6vXCwaAqeYEALw_wcB

I've been using 15lb hydrotuff in green all this year it's brilliant line in my opinion, I've only stripped it back to refresh it a couple of times so far it casts nicely seems to lay nicely and doesn't give me any bother at all ,I can now recommend it with absolute confidence 
I've actually just put fresh leaders on and stripped them a little tonight so they are ready for Thursday night gotta love strictly come dancing gives me a pass to play in the garage 😀

Starting to wonder if my day ticket lake has had it. There were reports of otter kills a few years ago (unfenced) anyway, I've noticed over the last 2 years catch rates have dropped, but also the number of people fishing has dropped.
On a weekend if you wasn't here by 6am you wouldn't get a swim, people would be queuing outside the gates waiting for it to open. In the winter on a weekend the lake would be half full easily.
anyway, I would say the last 5 or so times I've been here this summer it has been practically empty with 2 maybe 3 people fishing.
Theres something going on I reckon 🤔
 

Thanks Commonly I'll take a look.
Framey I noticed it seemed to be variations and wanted to start there. Just confused by the choice of materials
Crusian I've used several and caught on the local pond with them. All from different makers. Mainly pva bag rigs, hair rigs, combi rig and multi rig . I'll check what line they are using

Hello Lorez , which bought rig gave you most confidence / best hook holds ? .
Why not take that rig and then buy the components to tie that rig yourself , unless it looks particularly tricky / costly , and you would be better off just buying ready mades ? .
Personally I have never liked tying up rigs , I always seem to be putting it off ! .
😃

My rigs never stay that organised,I try but somehow they like having an orgy while I am not looking 😮