greekskii

its because they have no nutritional value at all. Imagine every angler using gallons and no actual boilie or even particles going in, the fish will starve. It's why linear had to shut a lake down the other winter.

The lo pro is on my list. But I use the same shelter through the year, and I don’t think I’m hard enough to not have an overwrap during the winter months!! And this obviously doesn’t have a full overwrap options, just a front.

@yonny but hes currently in the middle of an incredible session so probably too busy playing fish to read this!

Until you catch on it! A carp will eat anything when it's in the right place!

You’re right. And each to their own. He wants 5 minutes of fame, let him have it. I’d be a bit unsure of having 5 minutes of bad fame though. But no one will remember his name in 6 months, same as the guy that caught big rig. Thry should abolish the carp record. Technically it’s classed as a non-native, the exact reason they abolished the weld catfish record. It would stop a lot of the bitterness in carp fishing.

Not a fan of this being a record fish. May have been in the lake almost a decade (sure I read that last time it was caught at a record weight) but it’s one of the Israeli super strains like big rig and the rest of them. In a lake that’s basically run for the ‘must catch huge fish’ brigade. I think most of the carp world doesn’t acknowledge these type of fish, or capture of them as being skilful at all.

I buy dry French maize from a local feed store. £9 something for 20kg. I soak it for 2 days, bring it to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes and then turn off and leave it with the lid on, or in a bucket with the water to steep. By morning it’s fairly soft but not too soft. I try to use it fresh as possible. Don’t rate fermenting it at all.

Anything from Responsive Baits, personal favourites being the Mighty Marine and Monster Crab and Plum. I've used many different boilies over the years and not found anything as effective in my angling. I also swear by my homemade pop ups, got me many a bite when nothing else would. Particle-wise, my current mix is maples, maize and tic beans. Maples are a must for me, they'll always be part of my particle mix, the other items change based on what I am trying to do with the mix. Groats normally get included when there aren't many small fish about.

I will happily bait up through the night if I need to, a bit of late night spombing really helps you get in tune with your casting! Recasting at first light is a nono, unless its a quiet flick down the margin/being dropped in off the rod tip. A few quartered baits to clear the fish off quickly and a quietly dropped rig is no real disturbance IMO. I'd only be doing that if I think I've been done though, or it's unsafe to fish the snag whilst asleep.

So I’ve just sat all night with a rod snagged up on a branch. I had no reason to recast it. It went down nicely, placed in the margins. Sometimes we just have to take the rough with the smooth.

Persobally for me I will recast if I think I should have had a bite or I get paranoid that my ‘perfect’ cast was not perfect after a while. I’m also equally happy to leave a rod out for as long as possible. As you say, less disturbance and all of that! I’ll happily cast out as many times as I need to in order to get it right (it took me 10 casts to get a rod over to the far margin yesterday. Few hours later it was away with one of 10-12 fish in 5 acres!) I think it makes the difference between catching or not. Plenty of times a recast on a rod I wasn’t quite happy with has resulted in a fish in the next few hours. I think our biggest challenge as anglers is overcoming your mind, just sitting and chilling out my brain always tends to end up back on the rigs and my casts. Were they perfect? Or did I I just think they were at the time? Could it have landed an inch to the left and be presented better? Etc, etc.

Not quite sure how that makes sense? Why it is harder to use a fishmeal than a bird food or nut based boilie? All round balls of boiled paste. If anything I’d be using a highly flavoured fishmeal that stinks enough to give you a headache, squid, monster crab, GLM, etc. That will combat the silt and silkweed and make sure the fish find it.

Personally I don’t bother with salt at all or fermentation. Tried both and neither have done me any better than plainly prepared maize used fresh (1-2 days after boiling). For me I found it works better, and all particles I’ve used to be honest, with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar during boiling. Just my way of doing it. Simple, easy and cheap!

I use running rigs most of the time. One question, what alarms do you use? and how sensitive are they set? Small bleeps are likely small fishing hitting the line, you may be getting done but you'd expect a fish to move somewhere if you did, thus tightening the line as it throws the hook. Equally it could just be liners. If you want to stop them, then fish less sensitive and go to lead clips or helicopter set ups. Running rigs are sensitive set ups, so the little bleeps are part of it. I fish them totally slack and have had 1 inch fry hit my line and give me a 2 or 3 bleeps, but I had my delks set super sensitive at the time. Unless you know for sure you're being done and the bleeps are a result of carp not being hooked, I'd look at the numerous other options first. Rule them out and you'll be able to tweak your set up to suit.

Well done him! good luck. never know, he might be buying your a fishery in a few years when he makes it big time!

Simon Scott told me this little nugget of info which I went on to have a deeper look at. I think it’s a case of fishing through the year for them as during the colder months when most fish shut down the leathers will be slightly more active. If you look at some of the big leathers in history and catch dates a lot of them will have been caught in colder weather more regularly than the big mirrors and commons in the same lakes.

Scientifically proven that Leathers use energy a lot quicker than commons and mirrors and therefore need to feed at all times of the year as they wont store as much in reserve. So if you are targeting a leather in your lake, fish through winter for a better chance of catching it. I think its documented from many anglers that fish do have specific tendencies for bait. Basil and a red fishmeal for instance (Nigel Sharp's book as a reference). Commons on sweeter baits is another one you hear a lot but whether there is truth in it I dont know. I would have assumed that due to having more scales, which are made of Keratin, that commons would be more in to baits with higher iron contents; liver, blood and fish meals. This might be a good rotary thread?

I think I missed the first one...that or I've lost it in the house move!

have a look at the chunkon mags. they are only a few quid each. short but compelling stories and some banging pictures in there too. I'm not a massive fan of reading, but put a carp book in front of me and i'll read it front to back before putting it down!

almost wants to make me give in to the missus' demands of moving to america!

Your mistake was the hard cases. Ask any delkim user that has issues post rain and they’ll tell you they put the hard cases on. Cannot see the point in making a case from a material which doesn’t absorb and liquid and causes condensation. My old txi alarms have the soft pouches. They will absorb any residues and dry the alarms out whilst in transit or if I forget. The only issue with the older models is now the parts aren’t available for them. My rx2004 has been condemned by delkim AND dalectronics! Time to be a noddy and have them turnt up real loud whilst I sleep, until I find a replacement that is!

I've seen carp caught on blue pop ups before.

Just saw the opening clip. Thought it was him

Going to go set it to record in case I miss it. This will be interesting. Is it a start up or will we see a known face?

Agreed!