greekskii

Firstly the misshapen baits, you're likely boiling on too fast a boil. It only needs to be on a light simmer. I do 14mm baits for 3 mins on a light simmer and it never damages them. Secondly the smell, it will wash out on cooking, maybe more so if I am correct with the above issue. (Too high and it also knocks out the dye a bit too FYI). 10ml per 1 egg is all I use and I can get it coming through after 24hrs in the lake still. I air dry for a week, put them in a bag, coat them with flavour, air dry again for a week and repeat once more. I'll then pot them up and add a couple sprays of flavour (or mix of flavours) and give them a shake. A few days and it should be absorbed and you'll have very over flavoured and smelly baits. It soon washes out to a good level though. Also remember some flavours will linger more than others, and quality will vary. I have found catchitlabs, AA baits and some of the CCMoore flavours to be good quality. Sometimes it's a bit hit and miss but if you can get samples sent out then it saves on buying a big batch of dud flavour.

In all honesty I don’t think you’re missing out. Plenty of bloodworm additives and baits out there and they aren’t the most popular or effective. Says a lot as you’d think they should be all anyone used if they were that good. Live bloodworm I think you’d fair better than any sort of product of bloodworm. Even then it’s not the same still. if you’re keen to try it though, gloves as above and you’ll be alright just be careful taking them off.

I order 200 press seal bags on eBay for just over a fiver. Big enough to take 2/3kg depending on bait size. I split in to 2kg normally. Handy grab bag in the morning for baiting up or when I go. I add glug from frozen so they defrost and draw it in so I like to have excess room for air so I can shake them. just make sure you squeeze all the air out the bags so you can store them using less space.

As the resident greek here I can safely say I’ve never heard of them being used as a carp bait. No reason not to give them a try but there are plenty of better options for baits available

I think you’re better off shrink wrapping them yourself - it’s what I would do. Just remove the the existing Duplon and buy some shrink wrap for under £20 and shrink it on. as said cork is very expensive to retrofit.

free spirit ctx are meant to be incredible for the price. I know a few people that have a couple of sets and rave about them. Styling is something you have to like though with the X wrap and abbreviated handles.

Only thing I’d mention is the hook youre using on the chod. It isn’t suited to stiff material with its inturned eye. It will close the gape and potentially affect hooking potential and hook holds. You want to be using a hook suited to chods with an outturned eye. Putting a slight curve on the chod will help too instead of fishing it dead straight. Elmo’s rigs show that. id look at dropping the lead if fishing in dense weed or using as light a lead you can get away with. It will help when landing fish. other than that they look perfectly catchable on. It’s just a case of putting them in the right place. Sometimes it takes a while. I was on a social at the weekend. It took 42hrs of fish showing over my friends hookbait before he got a run on it. Between us no-one would have done anything different. Sometimes it’s just the way! don’t be too disheartened. Just make sure your fishing in the right places where the fish are willing to feed and the bites will come. Location is 90% of the puzzle.

I’ve had a run of over 32 nights blanking, all in the space of 3.5 months. I’ve also had runs of 20+ nights without a blank. what is the fishing like on your syndicate? Stock and size? 2.5 days isn’t much fishing at all really. @cromiee what sort of lake are you fishing? The best thing to do is fish somewhere easy and full of singles/doubles so you gain confidence in all aspects of carp fishing. Rigs, fish care, photography, baiting, etc. As Kev said, a photo of your rigs would be handy and we can see if there’s anything glaringly wrong.

Funnily enough there is two of them, one created by Greg Ellis and one created by Burghfield Main Lake. Both with very little information, both asking for different amounts. Like I said, playing on the heritage of the place to get a few quid out of people who will never even be considered to have their name on the waiting list, let alone fish it.

the issue with Burghfield is that it is somewhere the 1% have a chance of getting on, not the 99%. Mad really, asking people to pay for something they'll never be allowed to have access too. It's the general premise, like I said there is no indication if they are asking for crowd funding for the entire lot, with members and owners not inputting anything or much at all, or if it's for the remainder of the costs...however it seems like it's the former sadly. Doesn't offend me either, just think its ridiculous, as do plenty of others.

Personally don't agree, it's like me asking you to fund an extension to my house, that I'll never let you step foot in . I believe they are using the fact the BC is so well known and admired that people don't want to see it go prematurely by way of otter, because if it did how many of the ticket holders would drop them. No planning permissions, landowner consents, etc yet by the sounds of it, and I cant see any indication as to what the owners & members are investing and what proportion needs funding. Maybe I overlooked it but doesn't seem to be there. TBH it seems to have all but disappeared after the general consensus of "you cheeky gits, not a chance" Fair one, owners still stand to gain the most from it though regardless of who's asking.

The owners of the fishing at Burghfield are crowdfunding for an otter fence. Basically asking people that will never have a chance of fishing it to pay to they can fish it forevermore. Prizes on offer are session on blue & gold pools and a walk around the big lake with a 'celebrity' angler.

Don’t think it’s sheep knocking them, just loads of people with the same opinion that it’s completely out of order and ridiculous!

Persistence. River carp aren’t everywhere and move around a lot. Keep plugging away. Prebaiting will help but you need to follow them about. I’ve been on the Nene since the 16th, I found at least 6 carp sticking to a certain area. They’ve now moved upstream and stayed there for a few weeks. Find where they revisit regularly or the area they are staying close to for periods of time and then keep fishing. Start with small Hook baits and get bigger If the bream and chub are an issue.

EA are always identified in EA kit. They have to be. Stab vests as mentioned before. If he wasn’t then he wasn’t EA and was pulling one over on you. I’d report it to both fishery and your local EA office so they know someone is impersonating them. never known EA to act like that...they just ask for your license and not do it sneakily by false pretences. They’d also use a handheld device to check if you’d forgotten it.

Think the north bank has a seal or two on it at the moment doesn’t it?

Good luck mate. Let us know how you get on on here or pm. I spent a few years chasing the carp in there recently. Not an easy one to crack by any means!

Before you do any exposing you need to be certain they are doing it illegally. Otherwise it could well backfire on yourself legally, especially if you implicate there EA are involved in illegal fish moving. they may well have the relevant permits, the canal being owned by the canal and rivers trust. Personally I think you’re better off contacting them to make them aware of the issue and the fish being removed from their water. They will be able to take it up legally with the evidence you can give them if it is being carried out illegally.

Gather some evidence, preferably in the act. EA or police can’t prosecute unless they catch them red handed.

I agree that they will change slightly day to day... Fish dont turn up in the same place at the same time every single day. A lot of variables will effect it; features, weed, sunlight, temperature, food availability, angling pressure, predation, etc. I've found that when fish turn up in areas they tend to have a routine when there, certain areas the stick to. It's not often there is a set route they take all the time however there sometimes is. One lake I fished has a old stream channel in it, full of silt now but about 6-12 inches deeper than the rest of the surrounding lakebed...the fish would follow this on their way from the island to a bi overhanging willow they would hole up in. The reason the followed it will never be known but it's most likely because it was a feature in an otherwise barren lakebed.

😂😂 that’s an April fools waiting to happen. Some form of fake experiment to go with it!

I suppose the shrink tubing stops it clanking about or knocking together. Spins like a normal swivel really doesn’t it. None of it is that loose.

Will do bud

If you want more than one bait in stock then let me know as I know a company that might want to have a chat about you stocking their bait 👍

I am currently using them on snowman and bottom bait mutli rigs, they do look ideal for pop ups too. Havent caught anything yet on them though!