gnorty

Shoulda got yourself on a waiting list a few years ago mate

last time I looked in there it was very busy, mostly groups of kids in tracksuits doing overnighters in tents from Asda. I didn't stop to fish but will likely go there for the pike sometime in the next month or so

A group of around 8 lakes spread around a caravan park.

East lake is traditionally easy for carp, but there have been a lot of fish moved around between lakes so I am not so sure now. For pike I usually fish the lake on the opposite side of the causeway from east - I think it is triangle, but not sure! All the lakes contain both species, so wherever has bank space and looks cosy for the day in question

I fish there a lot during the day and have never seen any trouble. I have also spoken many times to lads fishing longer sessions and they have never had problems. Having said that, I have also heard the same rumours, and I wonder who would gain by making it up. The lakes are spread over a large area, so it may well be that staying in the "Hot" areas with a few others around would keep you safe and if you venture of somewhere away from the beaten track you could find yourself in trouble. It could also be possible that people are drunk/noisy at night and upset the locals. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable there on my own at night, so my rare overnighters are spent elsewhere. Partly just from the "heeby jeebies" and partly from things I have seen that hinted towards a base to the rumours. I don't really want to elaborate as it is just a bad vibe more than direct experience, and I don't want to be unfair to people who may well be entirely innocent. I would suggest you take a look around. Perhaps fish a day (the pike are very good sport in winter) and talk to the others there, or just take a look around. Look at the complex on the map and check out the accessible areas of all the lakes, not just the main lakes off the causeway. Perhaps you will see what I saw and know exactly what I mean

Farnham looks like a good club, but I don't have any direct experience. Chichester has some nice lakes, and some river stretches North of petersfield. Portsmouth I have heard is a little patchy atm. The better waters are small and cliquey.

great opportunity to do some feature finding!

At the risk of giving egg-sucking lessons - this can be avoided by looping the line in the direction away from the join. Unless you mean the eye has burrs inside, which really is unforgivable!

weird. fished in the week with some new 20mm pop-ups (not new boilies, but new to me!) I wanted to balance them, and the thing that made it sink just right was a SSG shot. I used it under the boilie on the hair, like an inverted snowman, but still - nice to know I am one of the front runners on the latest trends Seriosly - I haven't read the article but I imagine the theory is that the carp is working so hard to get the bait swallowed, it misses the hook passing it's lips. Seems like an OK idea, but you would need a bait the fish are really going for. can't see an artificial working for example. Otherwise I am going to start hair rigging pebbles.

No reason why it shouldn't work at all Lead in PVA bag full of crumb, pellets chopped and whole boilies with hook nicked into bag used to work a treat for me. I even used stringers attached to the hook with no problems. Are you suggesting putting the lead, and the hook all in the bag, or just the lead? either way I see a problem with the hook bait finishing up some distance from the freebies (depending on where your rig sits on the line. I have never used PVA with a heli/chod rig although I would like to. The reason I haven't is I see either the hookbait being several feet from the freebies or else a weighty PVA bag pulling the rig out of position on the cast. If I could work around these issues then I would love to hear about it in more detail.

got a pass to fish there in the daytime, but having visite it I doubt I will ever use it. I don't like the vibe of the place. too many argos/halfords/asda tents around the water and the guy running it didn't really strike me well. If you want a days fishing, and peppa pig makes it possible, then go for it. Incidentally there is a complex of lakes a little north of broadlands towards Romsey, I forget the name, but they do look much more "nice"

Out of interest, how much were you thinking of spending?

go there and buy a ticket and see how it fishes!!

personally I see the stiff hair as a "feature" of mono hooklinks rather than a problem. The stiffness means that the hook position in relation to the bait is somewhat predictable. I guess it depends on the thickness of the nylon used though - I tend to use quite low BS nylon for hooklinks, so it is not really that stiff.

sorry - my fault for causing confusion! vinnetrow is run by the day ticket complex south of the A27, not by the CDAS

Yes, vinnetrow is on the same complex

That's really strange - I have never felt that on the day ticket side - bailiffs always been more than helpful and other anglers been pleasant. Only thing that I have found somewhat intimidating there is the sheer expanse of water available and deciding which water to fish, but really, that is a good problem IMO

been thinking about joining p for the last couple of seasons - seems like the best club in the area as far as the waters available goes. Fish sometimes on the other side of the A27 on the day ticket waters. If you have fished these it would be interesting to hear how they compare to the CDAS waters

don't go there when it is raining! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Ac28hpxXA

were you casting your line directly into the weed or into a clearing close to the weed? I am guessing the second - maybe try fishing with the baiteunner off and the bait presented directly between you and the weed. That way the fish can pull all he likes and will not reach the weed! just make sure your rod is well secured, or you could find that disappears. butt rests which grip the rod, front rod ring against the alarm etc - anything which stops the rod being pulled in. Also be right beside the rod to react quickly. HTH

There is not really much strain on the hair - you could probably just lay it along the back of the hook alongside a dummy hair of the hooklength. tie knotless knot and cut the dummy hair as appropriate. can't see a carp sucking that off the hook tbh. personally I just use mono for the hair, but I generally use low BS mono hooklinks as there are very few snags. can cause a problem with pellets as the hair has no purchase on the drilled pellet hole, but specialist pellet stoppers do the job a treat.

no leadcore is obviously safer. use a split shot instead of/next to the locking bead on the lead side of the mainlne , to keep the rig on bottom if you need to.

person A finds a free carp water and establishes carp of epic size. Random stranger B asks A on a forum for details, and gets them. B then tells C, D, E and F, who in turn tell letters G through Z and beyond. next time A goes fishing he sees his unknown lake full of old beer cans, bait packaging, disposable BBQs and various other undesirable lakeside features. How many times does this happen? and how many times after B swore "I won't tell another soul"? commercials are the price they are for a reason, fish cost real money, as does labour to wipe the backside of numpties who cannot clean their mess. Syndicates are the price they are for good reason. There are very few free carp waters with specimen sized fish for a reason.

I wouldn't say I use one every time, but most of the time for sure. A major difference in my rig than what is described here is that I use either a rig ring or a small swivel on the end of my hooklink. This eliminates wear on the hooklink loop from the link. Once the whole thing (quicklink, swivel/ring) is covered in a length of silicon tubing this is a pretty much bombproof solution. The only drawback is that sometimes I need to remove the swivel to thread on a PVA mesh, but it is very easy even with cold hands to loop a swivel onto the link. On the same lines - using a quicklink makes it a very simple matter to tie several identical links and prepare a new PVA bag/link in advance so all you need to do is reel in, swap links and cast out, and no wear to the hooklink

Could the ring cut into the hooklink as it tightened? im not sure that the ring could,but the line could damage the knot........only if the was enough pressure on it ....which i think is unlikley as its only the pressure of sucking/blowing and not playing the fish on the ring/loop plus withthe BS of line used for a chod rig, a small reduction is not the end of the world!