lessthanphil

Etang des deux Pierres in the Champagne region near Vitry le Francois. Was a great venue all 6 of the other guys I was with had a great week too Dont know if it was the same for you (though I think you were in close proximity!) but before we got there it'd been raining solid for about 3/4 weeks. As soon as we got there the sun came out and we had beautiful weather for 90% of the time we were there.

That's awesome fella! I too landed my first fifty (50lb 7oz) on a French trip last week. I know exactly how you felt, it's quite something!

Me too It'll be a sad day when we literally have no choice but to go fishing with a mate and a ten inch blade under your bedchair. As nice as social fishing is, sometimes it's a lot nicer to be alone.

I think this happened in May last year and I don't think it was at Linear - Unless a very similar case has occured there recently? It sounds like this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-13572183 Strange thing about Linear and such places is that because it's so busy, you'd expect there to be less chance of this kind of thing occurring when in actuality the business of the place seems to give these scumbags a cloak to hide under.

It's been a while since I researched anything in that area, but if I remember correctly there's a place near Thurrock called 'The Warren'. I think it may have been 3 lakes with the main one being a members only syndicate. I don't know any more about it than that though (such as whether it was any good or the stock etc). A lot of Essex syndicates seem to be very exclusive and either don't have a waiting list at all (friend get friends in) or they're huge. The Billeracy club have a lot of good waters around there, though not exactly syndicate and I think some of them can get quite busy due to the number of members in the BDAC. Worth looking at though?

Any chance of there being a Kindle / eBook version any time soon? I like to read on the bank, but have a habit of ruining/losing expensive hardbacks!

It does seem like an extortionate price hike just for not pre-booking!

From this particular line: "If you do not have a prepaid permit with you the charge is £60" It looks like if you don't pay the £12 day charge in advance and buy your permit on the bank, you get stung for £60 - So I'd suggest buying a permit in advance

Merlin or Atomic Jelly Wire (refuse to spell it how they do!)

Hello & welcome Likewise, I've heard that there's a bit of a dark Carp fishing society over there!

I'd generally change hook after each fish anyway. I've never had a hook I've sharpened straighten on me. You're literally just brushing it a couple of times with the stone, not aggressively planing it off, so this shouldn't ever happen

You rate them then Jez? I wasn't sure wether they were just another gimmick. Do you think youve picked extra fish up with them? I know that question wasn't for me, and being a relative newbie to the forum my answer won't be as valuable as someone who you know and trust well, but I've found it to be very good. You can get a hook to the point where you don't even feel it enter your skin until its gone a way in (and in my experience started bleeding!) The closest I can explain is that it's like piercing your finger on the high E string of a guitar on the tuning peg! I'm not sure how different the jag ones are to any standard jewellers sharpening stone (which is cheaper) but they look pretty similar.

Have found that ESP and Gardner generally supply the most usable hooks in a packet, usually only have to bin 2 or 3. kordas generally only give about 4 usable hooks per pack! Haven't used fox armos or Nash hooks, but reports are good. Sharpening your own is the way to go, but be prepared to ruin a few packs before you get the hang of it - Ironically it's quite easy to blunt them with the sharpener.

Yep, that would help if you'd rather not use a bag with the lead and hooklink inside. Also making sure you hit the clip on the cast and feeling the lead down will kick the hooklink outwards and help with presentation/avoiding tangles.

This is quite common on a lake I fish regularly - Bream will pick up the bolie in their mouths and run with it, because their mouths are quite small in comparison to a carp, it's not actually big enough to fit the boilie AND the hook as well. Usually they fall off when you pick the rod up, but they've been known to come all the way into the net just holding (or getting their greedy faces stuck) round the boilie. So instead of the hook pulling, could it just be our snotty friends?

My first port of call would probably be to spend a good amount of time looking for a clearer harder area amongst all of the silt, either with a marker or just casting a lead around and feeling for it hitting the bottom. If there really are no clear areas and the silt is quite soft, to fish running rigs, you'll need to make sure that you use a large running ring (have a look at the Solar ones) as a smaller one could quite easily get clogged up with silt and make your running rig effectively a fixed or semi fixed setup. Don't use fluro/stiff hooklinks (unless you're fishing a choddy or stiff hinge rig) as they may end up sticking up out of the silt at a really unusual angle (due to the lead sinking into the silt) and the fish will sus you. Either use a supple braid all the way through, or a coated one with a decent amount stripped back, possibly a bit longer than you would normally fish on gravel too. Feather the lead all the way down through the water to stop it diving deep into the silt on landing too. Use a lighter lead than you may otherwise use as well. The main thing is to make sure your bait isn't burying itself in the silt and is sitting naturally. You may even want to try some 'natural' baits as the fish will predominantly be feeding on bloodworm and such if the entire lakebed is silty. These would be things such as worm/maggot or even prawns. Also, the chod or 'silt' rig is slightly different from a standard heli rig (although the lead setup is similar) and was actually designed to fish in this kind of situation. Perhaps you're not quite setting it up correctly? It's never given me anything but very solid hook holds in the botom lip (and is known for it's potent hooking ability). It's used wrongly a lot of the time, but this sounds like an ideal situation for its use.

Sorry to post in an old thread, but just wanted to say I always keep a big fat glove in my bag for the sad situation of having to pull for a break. I've experienced a pole float stem going right into my hand and cheek(!!!) a couple of times and would dread to think what a size 4 or 6 hook would do! Not so much a problem if the snag up is under water as it shouldn't ping out too rapidly due to the resistance...but if you're snagged in bankside / island vegetation that is relatively close always cover your eyes, a lead or hook travelling at speed could easily blind you.