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I have done mooseman and seen your comments on this very subject. I still feel location is more fundamental than bait in catching and that's where my focus on my fishing is at the moment. the idea of a chemical change though makes more sense to me than texture or colour as to why fish may be more inclined to take a washed out bait but then it's not about it being washed out it's about it being more attractive. Whether we realise it or not everything we and animals perceive is through frequencies. Light, sound etc are all frequencies. Carp will have the same as well but will be more attuned to frequencies given of by their food. All living things emit a frequency and a change in chemical reaction means a change in the signals a bait is throwing off.

Nick in your last paragraph you mention the bugs and bacteria and breakdown of the bait. It's an interesting point as if that was the case then simply washing out in a pure water may not change the activeness of the bait. So if you were to employ it, would the best water be lake water to stimulate that breakdown? Which may actually make the bait more attractive from the natural breakdown? Is it this that may be mistaken for the effect of washed out baits? If it has the potential to make a bait more attractive with the breakdown then it's certainly worth a consideration to not replace the boilie as often.

Nick like you say washed out baits may only work in certain circumstance. Trying to pinpoint when and where would drive a person insane. I think to often we link a change in bait or rig to a capture and draw the wrong conclusions. For people who can spend the time testing/fishing a water over a prolonged period they may find they can. Only for the theory to blow later. I still think the biggest change anyone can makr is location. Most good anglers I hear will say location is 90% of catching the fish. So any improvement in location is worth more than a tweak to a bait or rig. If you have a bait you know fish eat and a rig that presents ok and you know how to adapt it to what's on the bottom then the biggest single change most can make is where they are fishing.

I would also tend to agree with Liam. Not because it 'could' be a factor but lots of things can affect whether feed fish and trip up. Stephen mentions fishing Monday/Tuesday after a weekend. Bites may dry up over the weekend due to pressure not the bait being used and they feel happier feeding when there is less bank side commotion. It could be big beds put them off for a while. Who really knows there are a lot of factors at play. If it's trying to capitalise on weekend syndrome you might have more success roaming looking for signs of feeding fish and putting a single bait, stringer or stick to them. Walk round on the weekend and see whether you can see where big beds are going out so you know where they may be feeding. Maybe fish a washed out bait against a new one to see whether there is a difference if you really want to test it. There are no wonder rigs or bait and the only thing you can guarantee is that you can't catch what's not in front of you. Maybe even more so if you've washed out a lot of the attractants.

Just the one cat a new addition last November on insistence by the Mrs. She (the cat not the mrs) acts more like a dog and rolls over to have her tummy rubbed at any opportunity. My friends when they visit say she's like the be more dog cat of the advert. She's also quite a good hunter and at least a few times a week we are greeted by dead birds or mice in various states when we go down for breakfast.

There's an area they patrol from out the back of an island. You can't fish behind and the fish spend a fair bit of time behind there. Sometimes I just go and watch them as they often show themselves safe in the knowledge they can't be fished for. They'll then come out along the island margin which is only 10 yards away. What kind of rod and line would you recommend given the carp go to mid twenties maybe more? Pulling in a perch on carp tackle isn't fun but mindful if they get behind the island on a run my line could be rubbing against the island with an inevitable break.

Fingers crossed I will. There's a stunning linear just shy of 20lb when last out. It's added 2lb since last season so they're growing on it's one of my targets. That and a dark scaled common that hasn't been out but I've seen a few times boshing that I and another guy with 60 years carping experience put at close to 30 having seen it. If I get those two I'll be a happy man.

I have but the stocking to size means I can't understand why more people don't catch more, more often. All I can think is their very wary and easily spooked. Even putting baits to showing fish hasn't worked?? The 23 came after two weeks prebaiting a few spots. Doing the 2 hour return journey a few times a week to introduce a few handfuls on some feeding spots I'd identified. Maybe half a kilo on each spot. Just packing up now and about to introduce some baits to those spots ready for a fortnights time. If I can get down in between I will but have a few days in London this week which makes it difficult. I'm gutted this morning, the 12.5 tangled my other rod so I had to bring it and cut around 30 yards of line. I went for a walk this morning and the whole area was fizzing. I've popped a bait back out whilst I had breakfast and started packing up but am near enough certain if I hadn't got tangled there would have been another.

Nige you're right on the chub but none have come out. Believe they went in to try and keep the fry under control. It's proving a difficult water to me. It's small at 2.5 acres with 80 fish and barely anyone has multiple captures. Even more experienced anglers. I went with worms as the fish do seem a little pre-occupied on naturals. I've watched them swim over a baited area with no rig and go suck snails of the tree roots. Hence trying something different. First few sessions I had nothing but now over the last two I've had a 23 a 14.5 and a 12.5. So I'm starting to understand it more and their feeding areas. I've come down to walj round and drop baits in to try to understand where they feed and keep notes of where I see any signs. I'll dig more worms next trip and try them again with some of the advice from the forum members. I like Welders approach and seems much safer than injecting worms with a needle to give them a little lift.

Frogy....I'm still learning but the hair rig was one of the major step forwards in carp fishing due to the seperation it allowed between hook and bait. So from what I understand having a long hair allows better seperation and makes it more difficult to eject as hook and bait are acting more independently. As a carp tried to blow the bait back out having a good degree of seperation will allow the hook to drop into the bottom of the carps mouth as it tried to blow the bait back out. Popups are different and I fish tight to the shank. I tend to use longish hairs with some form of pva to prevent tangling.

Don't think there are any bream in this particular pool. Haven't seen any photos as yet. There are tench though. Wouldn't mind one of those.

Nice one....well I've had to give up with the worms. Was just cooking a burger and saw a fish show twice within a yard or two of the rig. A minute later the alarm starts going and I'm thinking here we go.....reel it in and it's a 3-4 oz perch that's decided to swallow a size 6 hook and 4 worms. Having seen fish show I underarm back into position and 5 minutes later another perch. So I've switched to a few pieces of maize to see what happens.

Gonna need a youtube video to see how to tie that monstrosity. [emoji2]

Cheers guys...stuck with mono but next time will try the combi. Newmarket the reeds are fairly close by but want to have the option of putting it to showing fish. Nothing happened so I fired it down to some lilys. Just had movement again so it's back in the left margin. Got a picture Andy? [emoji6]

It went out on mono....saw a fish crash 20 yards away and thought I'd seen the reeds moving a few mins earlier so couldn't wait. Was thinking mono as there's some stiffness to stop them tangling it which they might with braid. If I get any other ideas may try them later.

All Just about to tie a rig to put out with some worms on. What material would you recommend? I have Coated braid Braid Mono Fluorocarbon Stiff bristle filament Any advice welcome.

This is my main bottom rig, a combi tied with korda iq2 to kryston merlin and a size 6 gardner mugga. Attached via a non slip loop onto a quick change swivel. Sometimes I'll add putty over the knot but in this instance I'm using pva sticks to keep everything tangle free.

It's a korum one oops not korda! As for the blanket it was all I had with me on the bank to lie it against.

This is the lead set up I use for the majority of my fishing. It's using the korda run rig set up.

Hi Daniel of you want to try it give it a go. As Cyborx said you'll probably have to practice. If you're worried about the band slipping which I do at times you could use a hook bead I forget their name but they stop rig rings etc sliding when using pop ups to stop the band from slipping down the shank. Although I've worried about it, it has never prevented hooking.

Do I win a prize for tightest forum member for not wanting to lose boilie stops?

Cyborx I use bait bands for this and find it much easier and the mixer is held closer to the shank. I have two sizes, one that will hold a mixer and one where I use a bait drill to make a hole and pull the smaller bait band through with a baiting needle and secure with a bit of twig. You can use boilie stops but you can lose them after a few casts. I know they don't cost much but in my eyes it's a waste. I've tried using a hair and struggle to get it tight to the shank.

Here's a picture of my cat, Lottie. We got her 6 months a go from a cat rescue place. She's one of the friendliest cats I've ever met. We'll often see her out the window being petted by passers bys and the neighbours without a care in the world. My friends when they visit say she's more like a dog as she rolls over and wants her tummy rubbed all the time.

I'm sure there is resistance and probably more than we would like. I tend to have a quite simple view on it that run rigs don't use the weight of the lead as the primary means of setting the hook. A lead clip set up relies much more on the lead setting the weight and so weight of lead really does play a role with hook holds. A 5oz lead will do a much better job securing a hold and holding it against a carp shaking their head.

My understanding of running rigs is that you're not relying on the lead to do the hooking. So weight is irrelevant except to get the distance, guide the line and provide resistance to the bobbin to give indication. Using a heavier lead can cause more problems getting plugged in silt, light weed or clay and clog the run ring effectively creating a bolt rig. If you re getting takes, I'd probably look at the rig and tweaking it as you're obviously doing something right. You say you've tried longer hairs, how much longer? Have you tried doubling the seperation? Say 5mm at a time? If your catching it's probably minor changes that will make a difference so whether it's hook, hair, line alined do it one at a time so you understand what's been changed and the effect it has.