lessthanphil

It's also to do with that fact that when fishing a critically balanced bait, you're taking the weight away from the shank/eye of the hook and making the point the heaviest part - which as you say makes the point naturally point downwards. It's a rig that looks odd out of the water, but when you get how it works, is pretty clever wouldnt just 2-3 turns on kk be the same...im yet to understand what the extra turns after the hair do??? As it's generally done with a soft material, that would quite possibly have the same effect! For some reason having that few turns down the shank would make me feel uneasy!

It's also to do with that fact that when fishing a critically balanced bait, you're taking the weight away from the shank/eye of the hook and making the point the heaviest part - which as you say makes the point naturally point downwards. It's a rig that looks odd out of the water, but when you get how it works, is pretty clever

Know what you mean, but I wouldn't exactly call the KD fancy. It's a very slight variation on a bog standard KK and can be very effective

Rods / playing technique sounds ideal. Any chance you could photo one of your 'standard' rigs and we can take a look at it to suggest anything?

Maybe strongarming the fish a bit too much? Giving them a bit too much stick with a stiff & unforgiving rod? Or the complete opposite (not giving them enough and letting the line slacken a bit, particularly a problem with barbless hooks). Not suggesting you're playing the fish poorly, but definitely worth thinking about before making all kinds of changes to rigs that may be working just fine.

Let me know if you head down there, usually go for a new years day walk to clear the last nights ale from my brain!

Seconding Brooke at Carthagena. I'm a member there, it's gated/locked from public access via the footpath and I doubt many people even notice the car entrance (which is also gated and locked) and it would be a fair walk to Brooke from there without a car anyway. There's also very rarely no other anglers on the syndi lake (though it's also rarely 'busy') Brooke is still on a day ticket, but will be going syndi next year unless Jerry has changed his plans. He's doing a signing at Johnson Ross in Hoddeson on the 17th, so you could go and have a quick chat with him then. As a plus, it's a nice water with some cracking fish in. I've never felt anything but safe there.

I used it as my mainline for everything for years. I've moved on for spooling up my big pit reels, but when I go Barbel/Chub fishing I still use chameleon. I'm sure something better/more advanced is around, but I have so much faith in it, I don't see much need to change.

I've used venue supplied boilies on a few French trips and done just as well as the guys that'd brought their own bait. If you think about it, most people will be bringing 10K of Cell/New Grange on a week long trip, so probably just as much of that goes in as the venues own baits. I always take a couple of kilos of something different and feed that on one spot just in case the 'main' baits are blown. Only trouble is, if that spot is the one that's producing, you've only got 2 Kilos!

Heed this mans advice...Very true

I think it's harder than most people think it is due to the fact that there's probably 60 odd lines in the water 24/7. The fish can be pretty cute, but they can definitely be caught. The problems are mostly just down to how busy it gets over there. If you're not on the fish and decide you need to move, you probably won't be able to as most of the swims will be taken....Have you considered fishing Hardwick/Smiths as it tends to be the least busy lake on the complex...The fish are smaller, but you'll have more opportunity to have a look around / move if you're not on 'em.

3 weeks! That's some session! You on the bank for the whole 21 days?

I've been using coated braid a bit recently. Prior to that I generally used uncoated, supple braid such as merlin and silkworm - old school (well almost). Have to say, I'm liking the coated braids so far. Have more confidence in them with a bit stripped back than using a traditional combi rig as that knot always scares the pants off me. Will stick with them for a while, but can't see a reason to change right now.

Well done fella!

Yep, personally I think there are far better options to disguise the business end - plain old fluro does the job pretty well - it can be extremely difficult to see.

No worries, thanks for the clarification.

Forgive my ignorance (I haven't used leadcore for ages) but wouldn't removing the inner effectively make it's use pointless and make using a tubing, heavy fluro or a pre-fab leader a better option anyway?

Not at all, having that 'kink' in my loops has always annoyed me, but I've never really tried to find a way to avoid it. Guess I've always thought it was 'just part of the deal'. Tied a few this morning for practice and I"m pretty good at it now. Very happy with it! Only thing is, I'm going to have to throw away the 10 I'd already tied the old way as they just look untidy next to the new ones!

Nice one, that's another knot to add to the armory, hadn't seen that particular one tied before and always relied on figure of 8 or overhand's for tying loops.

Maybe take a pack of Mackerel with you in case you can't livebait or can't winkle out a rudd/roach from the venue. Cats will pretty much eat anything to be honest. Bait up with a load of halibut pellet as suggested and they won't be far away.

I had 5 personally mate. 28, 33, 41.06, 40.08 and the 50.07. Two of the lads I was with had over 25 fish each 2 cats of 109lb and 126lb came out as well Here's the 126lb. That's me on the far left looking rather bewildered whilet holding a rather token part of the fish

That's a very sensible post.t Can't hurt to be vigilant when on the bank when you are there, but I don't think we should all worry ourselves sick over the possibility of it happening because the chances are still pretty slim.

i set my bivvy under a weeping willow and all night i had it dripping on my bivvy, frogs croaking, mozzies biteing, it almost pushed me over the top Your trip sounds so identical to mine it's uncanny!

Yep! We had those frogs too, they sounded like Predator from the movies going all night! I also made the mistake of turning a white headlamp on at night the day the mozzies appeared in droves, think my face was covered by the things within about 5 seconds! I'm almost certain we returned with about 30'000 of those ants in our rod bags and kit as well

Yep, just looked at the directions to la fritterie - You can't have been much more than 10 minutes away, if that!