Brookesy

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, raking isn't an option and particles are banned, but I will try putting out loads of small pellet to see if that encourages the fish to clear some space. Halibut pop-ups sound like they are worth a try too. I expect the fish will root around and find a bait buried in the reed stems, but fishing fairly stiff rigs, I doubt they are presenting well. I'm going to experiment with various lengths of supple braid and see how that works. I hear what you say about soft braid and helecopter rigs, but I'll try it out before switching to a more traditional rig. Would a PVA mesh bag on the hook sink into the debris (I'm resisting the C word)? I always thought they helped slow down the hook after the lead hits. Thanks, Paul

Hi all I fished a new lake the other week that had reed beds along the margins of the lake and island. I wanted to fish tight to the reeds as this is where I saw fish moving, but I was noticing I was pulling in stems of dead reeds from where the reed beds had been cut back (about 8 inches long). I wasn't getting any takes, presumably due to the rig not presenting well in the dying reeds (fishing bottom baits on a combi rig on one rod and a fluro hooklink on another). The fish are only taking drilled halibut pellet during the day (it's what the lake owner feeds them) so they wouldn't go for pop-ups either. Given that the bait was good and I was placing the bait in a known good area, I am looking for a rig that optimises presentation of a bottom bait in the "mush" at the reed bed line. My current thinking is: Helecopter rig so the lead doesn't pull the rig deep into the reeds Very soft, sinking braid hooklink PVA bag/foam on the hook to slow down and straighten the hooklink on the cast Does this look about right to you? Any suggestions on what braid to go with, as I normally fish over gravel or clay with a fairly stiff combi rig? Any other suggestions on how to present a rig in this sort of bottom? Thanks, Paul

Hi Keith I'm in Bournemouth and you have a few options. In Bournemouth itself you have the stour which holds some big carp, but are very hard to find. There are a few day ticket waters nearby that can give good sport: Hordle lakes near new milton has some nice fish but can be quite chavvy at weekends. Orchard Lakes is also near new milton. The main lake is good, but the fish are on the small side. I've heard good things about Sopley (not fished it myself) but it's members only at weekends. If you're after bigger fish, as Grangemilky mentioned, Ringwood Angling club has a lot of waters to suit most tastes. Northfield White lake and Hightown have great fish but get busy at weekends. There's also Rockford lake which was syndicate until last year. Hard as nails to fish, but the rewards are there. Hope this helps Paul

Nice one. I use a sinker on this rig, but had not considered adding it at this stage. I will from now on though!

I'm confident I've tied the knot correctly: braid tied onto the fluro loop. That's why I'm confused as it should work. I'll try it again with some braid that has never been in a coating. Maybe that has made it extra slippy?

Hi I normally use a stripped braid combi rig and have been quite happy with it. I used twotone braid which was ok but a new rig was needed after each fish as it is prone to fraying. When that ran out I switched to strip tease which I have heard good things about. Tying the hair is no problem, the braid is very supple. I do have an issue with tying the coated end to a rig ring though as the coating strips off as I tighten the knot (palomar knot). This didn't happen with the twotone. Not sure if it weakens the rig but it bothers me and I don't trust it. So this led me to attempting a fluro/braid combi rig. About 7" of fluro to 1" stripped braid to the hook. All went well until I got to tying the 2 together. I used an Albright knot which I normally have faith in. But with a 10 turn knot the braid just slips through. I tried several times, with 15lb soft fluro, then with 20lb stiff rig. Any ideas what is going wrong? I'm not feeling the love for striptease at the moment and am thinking of binning it. Thanks, Paul

I've made some up, but only tried it on one session and I didn't get on with it to be honest. I didn't like how the rig looked under tension with the swivel pulling on the shank of the hook, and found it complicated (not to tie, its just a fussy rig). I like the look of the swivel linked onto the eye of the hook which would solve the issue of strain on the shank of the hook. having said that I'm happier with a simple combi or very short naked chod rig for pop ups. Cheers, Paul