fantasticmrfox

I have a 2 12ft banshee feeders and a marker a spod, they're great, especially for the price, I think they were 2 for £60 when I got them. The only problem I had was one of the eyes on one of the quivertips was blocked, I emailed them, and got 2 replacements (one for each rod) the very next day. That was from fishtec all though I ordered from the TFG website. TFG does get a slating at times, but these I cannot fault and the companies I dealt with were awesome

Can you elaborate please on the things that would make you change your rig? Ok I'll try, I tend not to think about why I make the changes I do, I just do it instinctively I guess. If I'm getting bites but no takes, or poor hook holds, I'll change to a bolt rig with a long hooklink, because the extra resistance on the line helps set the hook, which helps when fish aren't feeding very confidently. If I'm struggling to bait up at a distance then I'll shorten the distance between the running lead and the hook, than add a PVA stick, this helps get bait to difficult areas (under overhanging trees etc) and goes a long way to helping eliminate tangles. If I'm fishing over weed or amongst lillypads, then I may use a braided hooklink for the added abrasion resistance, or use a buoyant bait and small blobs of putty rather than a ledger, which will allow the bait to sit on top of the weed rather than bed into it, this only really works short distance. If I want similar effects but at greater distance I tend to use a helicopter set up. Method of bite indication makes a difference to the type of set-up I use, When using my quivertip I like to keep it simple and use my "Default" setup for lack of a better word, then tweak it depending on the strength of the tip I'm using, wind conditions etc, but I mainly only change to a slightly heavier lead or feeder. When using bobbins I like to use a running rig with a fairly heavy lead, because regardless of the way the fish moves off, line will always be pulled so no drop backs, I allow my bobbin to sit on the ground with very slack lines and wait for the fish to lift the bobbin considerably before striking, I also set my bait runner so I can hear line being taken if I get a take when I'm not fully concentrating, but this is only really good to use mid water, as a fish can take line and be snagged up before I've even got to my rod if fishing tight to the margins. That's kind of all I can think of off the top of my head. As you can tell I tend to use the same old methods with slight variations depending on a certain situation, I hope this has helped Keenook.

Yup, I do, 90% of my fishing is mono straight through, with a running ledger (as light as I can get away with) a stop shot between the lead and the hook to stop the lead running right down the rig and a hook tied to the end, If I'm using a hair rig then its nearly identical except I tie my hooklink out of mono 1lb less than the mainline I'm using, tie a bead onto the mainline just below the lead, then loop to loop the hooklink on. Simple, easy and effective. If it aint broke, don't fix it! It's worked for me since I was 7 and is still working so why change it? Occasionally I'll use different or more complicated rigs, but only if I feel the occasion calls for it. sometimes I REALLY like to spice it up a little and use a cage feeder instead of a lead! It's fun taking risks

Seem's like you all ready have your mind made up mate, in which case why ask? Nick gave you a very useful piece of advice and an effective rig for the situation you gave mate yet you seemed to completely disregard it. If you come across with that demeanour when someone answers the question you ask with something other than what it is you want to hear no one will want to help in future. Try taking all the advice and use it constructively, not turn a deaf ear until you hear what you want.

Pop on Youtube and look for fox, nash, ESP and gardner pages, they all have loads of how to tie different rig videos, It'll help you a lot, many of the videos tie the same rigs just slightly different ways using their own products, so you'll get an idea of what type of product you need rather than watching a fox video and thinking "I have to buy this fox product for this to work" sort of thing. I did add links to these videos on another thread a while back, I'll try and dig it out and send you the links mate hope that'll help. Edit. Can't find the post where I listed all the rigs and added a video link to it, it may have been removed but I doubt it, I can't remember which topic it was in either :/ sorry mate, but if you search Youtube for how to tie the "rig name here" rig loads will come up. I always use the simple knotless knot on mono with a line aligner though, simple and VERY effective, you don't need complicated or fancy rigs to catch fish mate.

90% of my fishing I use running rig's, mostly using pendant style leads but occasionally I'll use in line. More often that not though if I'm using an in line lead its a semi-fixed set up, using a tulip bead over the swivel then the lead connected to that with a bit of tubing, pushed on gently to allow the lead to slide off the line if I break off. I always use a hooklink of a lesser breaking strain than my mainline by at lease 1lb, so if I break off, 99% of the time I break the hooklink and not my mainline anyway. I don't see many people using tulip beads any more, it seems all about the lead clips etc. why is that? are the lead clips really that much safer? I've never used them but have never had too, if it aint broke, don't fix it and the tulip beads work well for me.

The reasoning behind it is as you pierce the pop up, you break the skin allowing it to take on water and become less buoyant over time, also if your using cork ball pop ups then there is a good chance you will push some cork through the pop up, creating a rather big tear in the skin of the pop up, which reduces the integrity of the pop up and makes it more likely to loose buoyancy. It's only really a problem if you have the same pop up out for many hours.

Ok that makes sense, why are they no longer used? I for one could benefit from that, looking at your tip for a while, as the ripples lap past really does your eyes in, having something to focus on behind the tip would certainly make things a lot more comfortable, if not easier.

That's how this thread started, yes, but if it can help others by providing general knowledge then all the better!! Some of you may have seen the catch report, but if not, I'd like to tell everyone that the advice given here gave me all that was needed to have a very productive session with my then new rod As Cob said, I try to use the lightest tip possible for the conditions, that day I used the 2oz tip and had fish from small perch to 16lb carp and didn't miss a singe bite, It was soft enough to register the small bites from the perch, yet stiff enough to not give false bites on what was quite a windy day, so since then, as a rule of thumb, I've used the 2oz tip as a starting point then going heavier or lighter where needed (another advantage is the fact I have 4 2oz tips and only 2 of each other tip) Without meaning to sound sarcastic, (I am genuinely interested) what is a target board and how is it used in fishing? my initial reaction would be to shoot it

Nick, I value your help and advice on here above many others, as from reading through many of your posts you always have valid points to your discussions as well as doing plenty of research and tests to find facts to back them up... recently I have been drawn towards the leadcore leader for its pinning properties,. however for many reasons I'd prefer to keep away from it, one being that I like my hooklink to be the weaker link than the mainline so if in the event of a lost fish, it'll only be trailing maximum of 18" of line and no lead (all though I do use running rigs mostly and semi fixed rigs using tulip beads when method feeding etc so they're safe regardless of where the line breaks.) I would like my hooklink, line and rig to be as inconspicuous as possible and yet pinned to the bottom as well as possible to stop spooking fish, so I'm guessing that a flurocarbon hooklink would be best? would I benefit from using a flurocarbon leader for the duration my line would trail through the baited area to help keep it as hidden as possible, or benifit more from having a flourocarbon mainline all the way through to reduce the number of knots in my line? how would be best to pin this to the bottom whilst remaining safe? as bits of putty up the line at intervals would prevent the lead coming free wouldn't it? the world of leaders is new to me as I tend to fish nylon mainline through to a nylon hook link, and all though I have had results on this, I'm hoping to target bigger fish through the winter and into next spring and want to do everything I can to aid in hooking the more cautious lumps. so my question to someone who is of far greater experience than myself is, do you have any advice on how I can create an inconspicuous, strong rig that will pin nicely to the bottom yet remain safe? are there any mainline and/or hooklink materials you have found better than most for this you could advise me on? I am asking because I have recently been fishing with whatever I've had knocking around in my dads old tackle box, but I am hoping to join a syndicate next season, and will be getting a new tacklebox and filling it all with new tackle, and as I've been out of the loop so to speak for a fair while what is on the market now is quite daunting and confusing and the mags don't really portray anything safe, and are mainly one large, continuous advert!! I'm asking you because I know you value fish safety above all else and have tried and tested many items out there, and the main reason is you are unbiased! Sorry if this is a long post I'm just a bit lost with it all and thought you the best person I know of to ask

Definitely the best. Stood the test of time, so I see no reason to change. I have never had a Kryston braid or coated braid give way on me, and their putty is also the best www.kryston.com Only just started using putty, and got the kryston stuff, it's ace! Seem like a great company, looks like the kryston braid is a winner on this thread I agree, I've got spools of kryston braid in my tackle box that have been there for YEARS! and they're still going strong, however I've not used many other braids, and never coated so I wouldn't know which is best... I do feel however that its a case of better the devil you know... I also use their putty and wouldn't use anything else, had it in my box for a fair few years now, It went all hard, but 30 seconds over the stove sorted that and its just like new! don't know how many other putties would last like that :/

just watched a video on youtube mate, never seen one of those before, looks good in principle, would you then twitch it back like a normal feeder once it has emptied? I've used the rod once at Drayton a bout a week or so ago, using a cage feeder and maggot as a hook bait, and had quite a good session. http://www.carp.com/carp-forum/viewtopic.php?t=51562&highlight= catch report, rod review and pictures on there... I'll have to get a set of those, looks like they'll be good in the winter.. I've only ever used method and cage feeders before, will be good to try something new thanks for the tip mate

awesome! I'll have to try those out next time my hook link ends up twisting all over its self! Thanks

do these to tips also work with mono?

great question, I too would like to hear an answer to this one, as my rig's tend to tangle and all sorts!! as a guess I would say stiff flouro's and coated braids, however I've never used them and don't have the money to experiment with them just yet!!! Really looking forward to hearing the more experienced advise as to how they get around this problem!

well, got back from Drayton after going for an hour and a half, didn't catch anything but it was nice to feel how the rods cast and get a feel for them.. My accuracy was shocking!! took me 35 minutes to get the hang of casting to the same spot, or there about's.. by that time I had gone through half a kilo of ground bait lol! as I was only there for an hour and a half, the bailiff didn't charge me, which was decent of him, and because of that I can afford to go all day tomorrow only problem so far, I didn't encounter until I got to the bank, set up using my middle test curve (2oz) and when I got halfway down the tip section I came across an eyelet that was blocked off, hadn't been drilled out properly, meaning I couldn't use that tip and had to use the heaviest I have! when I got home, i checked the other rod, which I hadn't unpacked yet (they were buy one get one free, so I chose 2 feeder rod's) and that rod's 2oz tip also had one eyelet blocked off, the same eye on the same strength tip, can't see that being coincidence, must me a problem with the manufacturing process.. Anyway, I've emailed TotalFishingGear and explained this to them, and i am awaiting a reply... Shame really, that's the only thing that has let down an otherwise faultless service! The rod's are still great value for money, are EXTREMELY light compared to any other rod's I have used recently, feel beautiful to cast and reel in and otherwise seem great build quality! Lets just hope the after sales team are as good as the rest of the service

good advice mate, but there aint many snags in there, its basically a bowl with sand bottom and a moored boat and a few buoys, so snagging up is highly unlikely, however today I will be fishing 8lb mainline with 7lb hook link with a cage feeder, and the middleweight tip, 2oz. thank's mate, I guess I'd be better off taking one with me when I go and seeing if they match up. thank's for the advice, I'll be going somewhere with nice roach and perch as the weather gets colder, and some carp fishing too, as I've never fished in winter, good to know i have a good all round rod

Rod's arrived today!! only ordered them yesterday and all though I opted for next day delivery, I didn't expect them to come on a Saturday! Don't think I can wait for my new reels and line to arrive, might just grab an old reel and a few bits of tackle and head down to Drayton tonight for a few hours!! Then I'll have an excuse to go again when my reels arrive AWESOME! well happy with them so far, had a look and they look and feel fantastic, seem like great value for money, however they came with 1.5oz 2oz and 2.5oz tip's, instead of the suggested 2 3 and 4oz tips, and they're push in tip's, the ones I all ready have are screw in! Will all push in tip's fit or are they different sizes depending on the rod you have? My spod and marker rod's look like they will handle being used as pike rods also, which is great! saves me buying pike rods when I don't do much pike fishing!! Well happy at the moment! I feel all my Christmases have come at once :D

Brilliant! thank's mate! I'll try all this once my deliveries have arrived!! hopefully it'll all be this week, but I'm not fishing the weekend, OTT busy, so it may be beginning of next week. I'll post back here, or hopefully the catch reports section and let you know how I got on and how well I implemented your advice Feel like a kid at Christmas I'm that Damn excited!! :D

Didn't think of that, I guess it could cause the ground bait to break up on the cast as well, because them moving would crack it and leave pockets of air in it... how would I go about killing them without damaging them if you know what i mean? I'd like to keep the in one piece and drowning would cause them to bloat wouldn't it?

thanks for the advice mate, I'd have turned up and whacked out a boilie to start with! start with the corn and work up is a damn good idea! I weren't going to go too light, to me 8lb mainline is light! I was thinking of starting with 8lb mainline and 7lb hook length and open ended cage feeder, with crushed boilie and ground bait, and boilie on hair to a size 12. but after your input I think I'll start off 10lb mainline with 8lb hook link, fishing method with ground bait, pellet and corn and maybe maggot in the mix on the method, and single corn on the hair, and see how that goes, then I can change to 2 corn if I don't get any bites, then onto maggot and boilie last, changing as I go to see what gets me the best results, but obviously if I'm getting bites on corn, I won't change unless the bites die down, then I'll switch to see if I can get them going again! You've helped me a lot mate, I really appreciate it!! what seem's obvious to most I would have and have previously overlooked! this has helped me understand the tactics I should be using more often, where I have gone out with boilie first and blanked, had I used a simpler bait I would probably have caught. also, starting with corn and working up to boilies allows me to start cheap and work up to the expensive bait's, which could save me boilies and money in the long run!

WOW Steve, (I'm guessing that's your name as your name on here is snowmanSTEVEo, please correct me if I'm wrong mate ) that's a lot of useful information, thanks! yes it'll be Drayton, I live in Daventry and it's the closest place to me that I'm 99% guaranteed a fish and it'll give me a chance to put my new rod through it's paces in one session, all though I did blank when I went for 2 nights on the last bank holiday weekend, far too many anglers on there, dire wind and the boat's didn't help, well at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it lol! I'll be going mid week this time, only for a day session, hopefully it'll be a bit quieter... I have some pellets, and some chocolate ground bait and white chocolate boilies, I also have some Scopex and crab boilies, but I don't think they'll mix well with the chocolate ground bait, or will they? I'll cut down the chocolate boilies to make them a little smaller (sent my mate who hasn't carp fished before and he picked the big ones, 22mm I think) and to also release some more scent into the water... I'm going to use them for 2 reason's, 1 after buying rods, reels, line and a few other bit's and bob's I'm tight for cash, and 2, I want rid of them before the winter so I can get something spicy instead of sweet, been told sweet in summer, spicy in winter is a general rule of thumb... don't know how well that combination will work, but I'll take some corn, and maybe half a pint of maggots to allow me to change tactics if the boilies don't get me anywhere, that way I can always switch to a open ended feeder or cage feeder as well.. I wasn't going to clip up, as I've never used that method yet, and want to try with light gear first, so I don't risk snapping off etc, but I was going to use a marker float, then mark the line at the tip eye, or the bottom eye if the tip eye is too small for the knot to pass through, so I know I'm roughly at the right distance, and fish towards one of the buoys so I have a visible marker to aim at.. I've not done much fishing of late so my casting is a little rusty, still, I'll get a lot of practice in next session if I'm re-baiting every few minutes! If I need a leak I'll go between cast's! seen a few rod's end up in there as a kid, not having that with my new rod lol!! Thank's for your extremely helpful input mate! much appreciated! hopefully I'll have an avatar by some point next week, or the week after, depending on when all my gear get's delivered!

when you talk about ounces on the quiver tip, that only relates to the tip it's self doesn't it? unlike the test curve on a ledger rod? or will the rod it's self have a set ounce test curve? like I said I'm new to quiver-tip's so don't have a clue! If it only relates to the tip, then it come's with 3, from 2oz to 4oz. I think it's medium to heavy as it states that it can be used for light feeder fishing, up to heavier method feeder's... I think I read somewhere that the lb line goes some way to identifying how heavy the rod is, and this will handle up to 10lb line, so I guess it isn't extremely light! Cobleyn, thank's for that information, will save me a lot of frustration So I assume that the normal semi-fixed and running rig's I use on my ledger rod's will work if I scale it down and make everything lighter? so how would you recommend starting off on my first session? start with a light ledger and search about, then once I have found a spot bait up using a feeder? or would you recommend putting a bed of bait down first, then changing to a light ledger once the fish are feeding? my first session with it will be on a fairly large reservoir, that's a run's water, and can be quite open to wind, so I guess I would be best off starting with the lightest tip, then going heavier if I need too, rather than starting too heavy and working down, yes? Sorry I can't provide you with more information about the rod's at the moment, but until they arrive all the information I have is from the booklet and website :/ Thank's for the information you guy's have all ready given me, I really appreciate it

Hello all, I have been searching on here for a few day's now for information on quiver tip set-up's, what to use where, how best to judge when a change in tactics is required and when to tell what tip to use. so far on here I've found nothing, and all I have found on google is feeder set-ups. I've only just ordered 2 quiver tip "feeder" rod's as they're called, as I broke my dad's old ones and wanted to replace them, but my experience with them is VERY limited to say the least! can you use normal light ledger's with a quiver tip, as the only difference between that and a ledger rod is bite indication, isn't it? how will I know if I'm using a too sensitive or too strong a tip, and when to change tactics from say a cage feeder to a ledger (assuming a ledger can be used) what kind of set-up's do you more experienced "tip" angler's use, and in what situation (river, canal, lake etc) once I have everything delivered and set-up I'll be doing a day session on Drayton to test the action of the rod's, the £10 reel's I have purchased to go with them for the time being and also to try new tactic's I've never put into play before, I'm going to Drayton to hopefully ensure I get one bite, to really test the action of the rod, and also to break my cherry as I've not landed a fish over 1lb in 10 year's, I really want a photo I can put as my avatar lol! if you need the information, on one of my other thread's I have put a run down of the tackle I have ordered today, which is what I'll be using.. I'm hoping someone out there will have some information that will help me make my first quiver tip session a productive one Thank's for taking the time to read this, and I'm sorry if I've asked too many questions over the last week or so, or if I'm asking for information that is all ready on here somewhere, or if this is in the wrong place! I hope you aren't getting too frustrated with me, I'm sounding like a 7 year old kid asking "why?" every minute!

LOL! well that would have saved me some time..... i hadn't seen that, is an interesting thread, I've learnt alot from it.. Thank's