Ginger9991

My only concern with a nice warm bed is that I won't wear much so when I get a run during the night I will be freezing my beans off...

My pop up rigs are 4" soft n-traps ronnies in solid bags or 7" on a boom if im fishing singles. Kurv shanks in a 6 or 8 with a 12mm pop up. My other rig is a blow back rig usually with a whole bottom bait and half a pop up...bait will still sit on the bottom. Thats again N-trap soft 6 to 7" on a size 8 or 6 kurv shank. Use a korda kicker on these. Have 100% faith in both these rigs so see no reason to change them although i will mess about with bigger hooks (4) to see if that makes any difference to what im catching.

I have been fishing since i was 5, Im now 31, I have never had my rod licence checked. I always buy it, because you know that i will be having the session of my life when they turn up and kick me off!

oh yeah your 100% right but you know lego will get used more then once.

£100 isnt cheap if you dont know if your kid will like it, see it from the point of view of a parent that doesnt fish. Another point people have mentioned was council lakes and rivers. I dont know of many free areas for kids to turn up and fish anymore (not in my area anyway), another issue for kids is access to get to the venues. I think its fair to say that a kid can only get into fishing if they know someone who already fishes and are able to take them (some lakes now dont allow kids under a certain age due to insurance).....

Im with Yonny on this. Is fishing in Decline? No i dont think so, More people are just moving over from other forms of angling to carping, Its trendy, You dont see pictures all over social media/mags etc of roach, You see carp, From all corners of the globe. Bait companies pulling out of the UK...Well look at the amount of bait firms now, Look at the amount of knowledge at peoples finger tips enabling them to make thier own mixes with stuff in thier own kitchen, meaning they dont spend £4 on a small amount of groundbait. Obviously britexit plays its part. It terms of angling companies Angling Direct are pumping money into the trade at the moment opening stores and buying small stores out, Theres a huge market abroad for them to move into. Kids fish, I have friends who ask me to take them and show them how to fish, kids see carp being caught, They want a carp....You cant pick up a £10 rod and reel and turn up to a lake anymore. Its an expensive spot. Its a risk to buy all the kit they need and find they dont like it.

The SS4 doesnt have a sleeping bag? Oh my god i need to check these out!

I never do this, Heard to many horror stories of the hook ending up in someones hand/finger whilst the fish is still thrashing about.

most fish will be lifted in the net out of the water then onto the matt, no doubt about it. and i think you will find evidence of most televised anglers doing this. I usually (if a big fish) take the net from the pole and roll the net up to lift the fish. so it isnt dragging or bumping the ground, Can also make sure its fins are down by its sides.

The ronnie has been my go to rig this year, has done me very well, however where most use it as a single or over a bed of boilies, I put mine in a solid bag. When i used a flurocarbon boom i dropped a few, Having better results now on something like Ntrap. I use size 8/6 hooks just because im using 12mm pop ups and on a size 4 its not boyent enough. One thing i have found, And im not sure why yet, but sometimes fish just wont take the ronnie, Its like something is giving the game away but i cant understand what. This recently occured fishing with my dad, Fish either side of a tree, no more then 1 yards apart. I was catching really well, he wasnt getting a sniff, changed his ronnies to 1 of mine......Exactly the same....after a day and a half i had had enough (he had 1 fish on that ronnie so he was adminant not to change) I made him change to a bottom bait and within 3 hours he had 6 fish banked. Same depth of water, Same slightly silty bottom as where i was fishing....they just wasnt having the ronnie on that spot. Guess the lesson for my dad was to change it up, Fish the situation, dont fish "what you like".

Depends on the water really mate. I often fish zigs and treat them as singles, Or putting a zig over an already spodded area (from when i was fishing the bottom). If your going to a lake packed full of carp, spod over the zig, otherwise i dont spod over them. black zigs always do me well at night.

So my bait choice is a bit up in the air at the moment. My fishing for the last year has been all about solid bags of pellet with either a sticky baits pepper and peach orange pop up or the ever faithful mainline tutti fruity pop up. If im using a straight boilie approach, I will still use the pop ups but i will bait with Urban Nutcracker......To be honest im still using them as often stores reduce the price so im picking up 5k for £30. Urban does catch me fish, But because i tend to use it for no more then baiting up i cant sit here and say its great. I never fish a straight bottom bait or straight wafter, I will happily use a bottom bait topped with half a pop up.

So for me, Any fish in the first few sessions is a bonus. If your going to really attack this water and do a year or 2 on the lake then you might as well use the first few sessions to lead the lake to death. Know everything you can know about your swim and any other swim thats free. Make notes, Begin to build a picture of the lake (wheres shallow/Deepest, Wheres the bar or the weed etc). Get up before dawn and watch the water, Are they showing? Where are they showing? Are they always showing over the same area? Are they always following the wind? Pick a swim with a large view of the lake and the other swims, Can you see people catching, Does one section seem to get bites in the day whilst another section seems to get night bites? is there a certain time bites seem to happen? Theres 2 of you, so you can have the lake mapped out pretty quickly, Dont worry about your bait yet. Find the fish, Find where they patrol, Where they tend to be at certain times of the day (Night/Dawn) Then start to work on your choosen approach. Its not a bad thing or cheating to watch joe bloggs from across the lake hauling and learning from him. Its all learning. Effort = Reward.

This decision should be based on the water you are fishing, the lake should dictate what you do. I will spod regardless of the hour if i have just landed a fish, be it midnight, Dawn, 9am or whenever. Theres no way that a fish has come into my swim and ate only my hook bait, For me it would be madness not to apply some more bait, After every fish i will add 3 to 4 spods back over the top. If i hadnt had a bite, I will see on my hands until "bite time" is over. I have also fished waters where i have woke up at dawn, Fish have already been high in the water so i have gambled and hit full zig tactics and caught well before half the lake have got out of bet. People may get the ass about it (no one has ever said anything to me), But if i then put another fish on the bank, What can they have the ass about?

Hi, So i used maize a lot earlier this year, about 2 large spoonfuls of sugar per 1KG, And if you have anything sweet smelling like betaine (i use the crafty carper syrups) then add a bit in....smells good enough to eat. Use Maize before winter, Go to a runs water, Get a bite or 2 on it. Theres nothing like slogging through winter on a bait you havent caught with, Its not fun, you will lose confidence and you will end up switching your baits constantly.

Your not wrong mate. It was dark as well. I was so confused. I spent a good few minutes checking for trailing line/hooks as it can only be 1 in a million, fish was completely unmarked not a cut or even a mark.

So i would be starting with a lead 2.5oz and above and going from there. One thing i would say, I fished a lake with slack lines, and i was getting a lot of bleeps through the course of the night, happening most nights i was there, Got annoyed, tightened up the line and it stopped......I put it down to silvers or maybe even carp running though the line close in. At this same lake i have actually landed a carp without hooking it. Somehow it had manged to get the line wraped around its bottom lip, somehow the fishes mouth wasnt damaged but i must have landed it with 60 yards of line to the lead still in the pond.

I should be on the lake around 7 tonight for a quick over night session, Last 3 sessions have been blanks. If i dont post anything tomorrow you can be pretty sure im in a bad mood!

I think it would be mad to think that different fish (common to common, common to mirror) didnt have different preferences in food. I also think it would also be mad to think that this might be the reason your not catching your targets then not acting on it. Are the fish publicised at all? Get posted on FB etc? people often post what they caught them on now...maybe in hope of a bait deal! but yeah do a bit of research if you can, See if you can find a pattern, Maybe fish 2 different baits, A nutty bait and a fishmeal maybe, Record what your catching, see if there are any patterns in what your catching. Theres also an argument to say that certain fish patrol certain areas....Again hit social media see if you can build up a pattern. Its all learning, And it will differ from lake to lake.

Bait world in such a bitchy place! lol Does anyone use ABS at all? would be interested to compare the baits.

Hi Guys, I fancy trying nuts out...... Tigers, Peanuts. Can anyone recommend a supplier? I dont mind cooking them up myself.....just no idea where i can get them from!

i didnt watch the programme but currently use the bait. And i have to say, Whilst the bait is good (because i catch with it) a lot could be improved! I have brought the odd bag where 50% of the boilies have not been round which is a pain if your planning on fishing using a boilie stick. I have also contacted there customer service a few times but never had a reply! I keep using them because once or twice a year i notice shops do a sale and knock out the 5kg for £30 rather then £38 which is a bargin and im all up for that.

Recommend any in particular from ebay mate?

Hi Guys, Stuck in 2 minds. This week im having the rare opportunity to fish Thursday night then again on Monday night.......usually its just solid bags and some boilies over the top but as im getting to go twice in relatively short succession should i look to put a few KG on Thursday night in the hope of getting back on it on Monday? Might even get the same opportunity next week but not sure yet! There are 1 or 2 swims on the lake that dont get fished very often at all so maybe take advantage of that. So potentially i will be doing a night Thursday, Monday and again on Thursday....This is about as close to a pre baiting type scenario i will ever get! lol Thoughts?

lol, i just dont see the benefit of them if you have daylight on your side, Its the extra gratification you get from catching them doing all the hardwork first. Im getting a lot better at feeling the drop in terms of guessing the depth, that will probably stop me using the deeper in the winter as well. The deeper makes a huge amount of noise when it hits the water, a couple casts of that and im sure you will clear your swim, also it drifts like mad due to the size so at night...in winter when it tends to be pretty windy....wasnt great.