Ddgx

Morning chaps. Believe it or not that's already a size 6! (korda wide gape). Those korda slow sinking corns are pretty big compared with your average green giant grain! I've been thinking this over, I think I'll give this a go, albeit it with the hair a bit shorter. The buoyancy of the corn is hopefully going to help wizz it into carp mouth and the shot should drop it back down. The hair should pivot where the shot is and claw a hook hold. If it doesn't work in the field I'll be looking for some corn that isn't so buoyant, or as you say chop it down!

I like the idea of, and have some korda fake corn. The issue I have with it is that the supposedly 'slow sinking' nuggets actually make most hooks float. Not what I want necessarily. This evening I'm trying to find a solution by trial and error, what I've arrived at is sort of a kd rig. It passes the palm test (if you subscribe to that), if lifted up by the bait the hook point is facing down which is what I think I want. I also quite like that a bit of buoyancy seems to make the corn less pinned down to the bottom which at least in my mind would have it behaving a bit more like free offerings when wafted ... but, on the other hand this just feels over complicated? Is what I actually need heavier/less buoyant fake corn to negate the need for the shot/putty? Few pics here, point to note; test tied it with some old drennan carp silk which I discovered in the sink floats like a rubber duck! Will eventually tie it (neatly) with coated braid. Your thoughts greatly appreciated. Dan. Sorry about pic quality!

They're definitely for me. Even during my 'ignorant' early fishing life that's what it was about. At least I have that as a foundation. You are all gents, many thanks for the wisdom.

It's amazing but in my younger years, as with many things in life I think you can get swept along like a sheep to participate in a way which matches how you think you should be fishing based on what others or the scene is doing. Not necessarily on what the fish are doing. I frankly didn't realise there was any other way back then. Pure Ignorance. Anyway, now I'd like to think I'm on the path to enlightenment I'm an aspiring catcher.

Absolutely. I've heard it said a million times since I came back to fishing. I was sat there on the day thinking, over there, over there is fish. That's where I ought to be. Then my other silly self denial side of my brain convinced me that, well, what if we're about to move off the path of the fish of the year? Of course, fishing I am learning has so much more self discipline, situational assessment, logical thinking than I think bad fisherman and non-fisherman realise.

I must admit 6" seems unnatural to me in some ways although I believe in the logic of using it that short in certain circumstances. I will say I wasn't having particular trouble with hook placement or losing fish mid-fight with my usual, longer hook length. Why change then you ask? Well, having seen a tonne of underwater video footage, and all of the bait ejections that didn't even registered at people's alarms, I got to thinking; how often have I been an unknowing victim of that? Especially in winter with fish feeding more infrequently and shyly. I think the point about finding what works for you couldn't be truer, just look at the variation in opinion in this thread. As subtle as most of it is! Not moving is still playing on my mind, I will not make that mistake again.

Sorry, should use the appropriate terminology. Am referring to hook length. You're right of course, it can I think be too easy to see tackle tarts turn up to a water, or listen to a bailiff and assume that they know what they're doing. I guess added with not actually hooking anything on sat it added to the feeling of not being confident in the setup. I will persevere!

I did a 7 hour day session on Saturday, and during the day the bailiff happened to catch site of my end tackle and seemed to sneer at the overall length of my hair. His criticism being that it was absurdly short. I had decided to trying no more than 6" overall length for winter after reading and seeing in a few places that it might result in more hookups if the slower moving fish have less room to play with before they hit the weight of the lead. This is the first time I've ever fished this short, everyone has their opinion of course, but it knocked my confidence somewhat. So I'm just interested to learn how long you're fishing, why, and do you adapt the length depending on season. Ps I blanked. It was very quiet all over the lake, but I am kicking myself because I feel like I could have turned the session around if I had have been prepared to move (fish showing and fizzing elsewhere almost all day long).

Could be. I'll try nab a photo of it tomorrow if I'm allowed near my tackle box.

What I've noticed with this korda stuff is at the point where I strip the coating off I get some discoloration. Almost like it's altering or removing some of the colouring from the braid itself. It's only very slight but I end up with a hook length that has a few patches that have gone silvery coloured instead of black. Assuming it's not the coin I'm using rubbing off on the braid, unlikely.

... I buy uncoated braid, I melt down £50 notes, mix it with pva glue and use it to coat the braid myself.

I find I can pull the coating off with a nail once I've made an initial break. It's that initial incision, back of some scissors! Will give it a try, knew there'd be an obvious answer!

This should probably be in the stupid questions thread, but hey, I'd rather shamelessly plod towards a life better educated than sit here all quiet and stupid! So, what's the best way of stripping coated hooklink material, without accidentally chewing through some of the braid itself (which is what I seem to be doing 50% of the time) ? Cheers. Dan.

Some of what I retrieved was real gunk but mostly whole leaves. Unsurprising, that time of the year isn't it. The lead, immediately after being cast (3oz) was pretty well buried in the deeper water, definitely silty. I've got 1 week to think long and hard about this, tie some test rigs. Most importantly, haven't been this excited about fishing a water in ages! The mystery! Well exciting!

Hello everyone. Appreciate all the replies. It does have an inlet and outlet. The 'inlet' is however barely noticeable, it appears from under some thick overhanging trees somewhere lower than bank level. A bit tricky to describe. Adjacent the inlet/trees is a very shallow area where the water hardly moves and I noticed it did indeed smell up that end. The outlet end was deeper water and there was a fair old gush feeding the stream. I am contemplating visiting a couple of times in the week for some pre - baiting... And now, perhaps some raking!

Dear all. I'm hoping to get some help selecting some appropriate end tackle. I'm fishing a new water, after a recky yesterday it is clear that the bottom of the lake is almost exclusively covered in twigs, leaves, leaf goo. Almost every cast with the marker float was returning debris. I should say the fish in this particular water are an unknown to me, I would be quite happy to catch single figure fish which I know are there for sure because I saw them loitering in the summer. There might be larger. Might. I've no real idea how many fish are present. The water is quite small, very well established but not pressured, far from it. Despite that, the person responsible for the lake alledges that the fish are difficult to catch - frankly this might just be because no one really targets them with any conviction so I'm not giving that bit of info much weight. So, in my mind a pop-up of some sort seems logical to make sure bait is visible and hook point not snagged up. Although, I have to say another part of my brain wonders if a pop-up bait is going to seem suspect or unnatural to fish who aren't used to being fished for? Opinions? I plan to fish one rod boilie, one rod real/synthetic corn. I feel like we're still in between warm and bitterly cold weather so the bait selection is meant to cover both bases (as far as water temperature affecting fish desire to eat particular baits is concerned) . I feel like I'm over thinking things, I can't settle on a hair rig that suites all the factors in play. I can't help but feel like simplicity would be beneficial here somehow. Does such a rig exist that is braid for the main part, mono for the 'popped up' length? (bolt rig, safety clip). Braid with some putty to lay flat over the undulating bed, mono for best chance of invisibility and for a bit more stiffness? Sorry, long post I know!