nealjt

Thanks for all your replies, as usual has got me thinking.... I go with what was said about the risk of mainline wrapping around something.... I'd bet if any rig was set up as safe as possible mainline snagging is still quite a hazard.... Now my mind goes off into the whole barbed or barbless debate! Argh! If set up well I do think a helicopter rig will give a much better and immediate chance of the fish loosing lead and mainline

What are you after? Fair few places in Norfolk with decent fish in, Suffolk isn't that great for day tickets with sizable fish. I'm not much of a huge carp hunter though, weybread fishery on Suffolk / Norfolk boarder is lovely you probably get a double maybe bigger, mixed in with single new stokies. Or airfield lakes near by is rumored to be good. Weybread pits is mainly a club but I think do some day tickets.nearer BSE is hawsted lakes, never fished it though and have heard mixed reviews. If you are in Bury pop into Tackle Up fishing shop, great staff that'll point in the right way. All the places I've said can be found easliy on Google, I'd definatley pop in or call the shop though. Oh yes Ipswich way, which is an easy drive from BSE there is Suffolk water park, 25ish acres and very heavily fished but if you catch it'll be 20 plus, there are smaller lakes on the site which have carp as well. Or again in Ipswich there is hintlesham fishery, it has a few small lakes one named the speci lake with low doubles to poss a 30 (if you are lucky) If you get really stuck and need somewhere to fish I have a five swim lake booked for the weekend of the 14th June and there'll be one swim free..... Pm me if you want! Type Suffolk into the search here and a fair few places come up Good luck, let us know how you get on

If the line breaks or a carp picks up a cracked off bait with a helicopter set up be safer as the lead would pull the line free of the rig leaving the fish with just a rig rather than rig and line trailing? What do you think folks? Cheers

Gazmeesh you had an owl as a pet!?! Ok that is very cool

I want a pigmy goat and a giant rabbit..... Just to confuse every one I'd love a staffy but the wife wouldn't be keen, used to live on a small holding when I was a kid, we had a horse, geese, five Labradors and a German Shepard. Loads of chickens and were next door to a dairy farmer, it was great and have very fond memory's of that time When I was a teen I had two tarantulas called boris and begby, they were quite cool, more like an ornament than a pet though..

It depends on what you are looking for really... Have you looked though the sticky on Suffolk venues there are a few suggestions on there... There are a few on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Camelot lake, waveney valley lakes, weybread pits and weybread fishery, airfield lakes, there is a fair few actually, try the search function, or try Google. I live in Suffolk, there isn't that much choice, unless you know people in the know or can afford a fair bit of cash.... I recently fished weybread fishery which is right on the border, and ideal for me don't think it has anything massive in though. I fish Hertsmere lake on the waveney valley lakes complex for a long weekend with my brother's each year and between us have always caught doubles and twenties. It does get hammered though. Keep looking, and I hope you find what you want! There are chaps on here with a lot more info than me and I'm sure they'll point you in the right direction.

thank you all for your replies... i did post back earlier but probably didn't hit the submit button. so i went fishing this Sunday and caught.......... nothing, wonder rig no good, simple rig no good, nothing, not a bleep.... was pretty cold and i only had the day, saw no signs of any fish not even tiddlers! i do agree with what you all say about keeping it simple, i suppose i want to remove the doubt of "is my rig OK" or "is my bait any good" I've been in a rut carp wise this year and not had much success... I definitely don't claim to be an expert but have usually done OK by my standards i think i am going to stick with what i know and as you say find the fish and go from there. my main problem is i live in Suffolk and there isn't that many places to choose from! thanks again for the replies, oh yes Nick i think the problem with the photos may have been as I was using my mobile

Ha Ha, you should try writing it.... I do agree with you, my two best carp were caught on free lined luncheon meat and the other with a float and worm in the margins! I am out this Sunday on an easy water so I think I'll go simple on one rod and crazy complicated on the other and see what happens....

I obviously didn't read the instruction on uploading pictures well enough.... Doh

Hello everyone I have read the picture uploading info where it says many members don't like lots of pictures so be warned there are 4 on here.... These are pictures of an idea for a rig set up, i'm hoping to tap into the wealth of knowledge on this forum,so please let me know what you think, good bad whatever.... Do you think this would be effective ? Is it overkill? Are there any potential dangers? Thanks Hookbait is a snowman type arrangement, bottom bait is microwaved and dipped paste, aka deadly baiting sticky by Keenook, popup is half a dumbbell readymade, this is then wrapped in paste and threaded onto floss then frozen ready for use. The hooklength has two halves, stiff loop to swivel, soft loop to hook made with multi-strand (will loose the boom as think it has no use) The 2 parts will be connected loop to loop but not pulled tight and put in pva mesh, so that I can have a hooklength that is about 3 inches, nice and compact in the bag but will extend to 6 inches with the idea that the hookbait will behave reasonably naturally in the water and give Mr carp the opportunity to move off/turn with minimal resistance at first and then get hooked. Where I really go for it bells and whistles is that the hooklength and bag are attached to a banjo feeder as too me any lead seems to stand out a mile amongst the pile of feed from the bag, my thinking is that the feeder will blend in better and not cause as much suspicion. Also I don't like casting a bag and heavy lead as I'm concerned I'll overload my rod or crack off. So the combination in my mind will give me an area that will be leaking off attractants at different times over a prolonged period via the dipped bait, paste, pva bag mix and stiff groundbait in the feeder. The feeder will give me the casting weight and bolt effect I want without the standard look of a lead and hooklength...... This is all in theory and so I've no idea what will happen when I'm at the lake.... What do you think?