B.C.

By the sounds of it, they are probably about the same..... The spomb isn't perfect, but then again, what is ?

BTW mate, why the change in spod?...… Is the Fox one a bit dodge?

I use the original Spombs , large and small,and they are "ok"...….. They do have to land nose first to get a good opening, so if you are hitting a clip quite hard they can sometimes land side on, and not open up. But I find that after a couple of casts to a spot, you can time it just right in most cases...… After watching a few vids, learned that you get a slightly better spread of bait with the Spomb,, compared to a spod, as it nose dives into the water and actually through the bait that just came out of it, the turbulence it causes just opens the pile of bait up a bit as it sinks...… The main problem I've had with the Spomb, is loading it. It's all too easy for a grain of hemp to slip in amongst the spring mechanism and jam it up, or leave it not quite locked up. and spill on the cast..... You just gotta make sure to be quite methodic when loading it, check the mechanism is working freely, and best to use a spoon or scoop and not dip it into a bucket of particle.. My other gripe with a Spomb, is that you can only half fill them, so if you are planning to put a bit of bait out, you could be spombing for quite a while. I'd have a spod on stand by if this was the case...…… I do like them though, they are more accurate imo than a spod, for me, at least and because they are never really full up, they are generally easier to handle, less spill, tidier swim, less rat food,that sort of thing....😊 Had my original spombs for 5 yrs plus, so yes , I'd say they are pretty reliable. There are a lot of cheaper versions out there 4 quid on the bay, not sure if they'd stand up to much abuse tbh, so could be a false economy imo.

Very true mate, that is

Needs to be stuck on with some BBQ Sauce bud...

My winter results are pretty dire tbh…… With the silt being quite deep, I'd probably do a mix of both dead and live maggots. Groats are a cheap particle that could be added, they kinda replicate maggots a bit, looks wise and will take on some liquid additives too... Good luck mate.

Wouldn't surprise me if it went again before the year was out. Don't think many people take a lot of notice of the actual record these days...… As anglers, I think the sight of a huge fish is always impressive, no matter what the species or where it came from... But imo, these sort of captures create a somewhat fabricated record. Good publicity for the fishery, who have probably done their bit to encourage a claim...… From a scientific point of view, it does give us an insight into how big these strains can grow in our waters, in certain conditions. But that's exactly how it comes across to me, one big, unfinished experiment...….. Having said that, all records aside, To see a creature of that size on my mat, would blow my mind..... I'm thinking , the sheer width of it, an impressive sight no doubt..... Good luck to the fella. There's no room for animosity imo, Just applaud him or take no notice.. One thing is for sure, we'd all like something of that size tugging our lines. How you go about achieving that is down to the individual...…...

yep... same as any tinned beans or pulses, they would have softened in the juice after being cooked in the can.....

But at the same time I don't want to ignore it in case either corn or pink is part of the key so I was thinking of going with a small pink pop up while he uses pink corn. But not sure how long should persevere before changing as you never know when your on the fish as they are quite shy and don't really show themself to much If you are going to put some time in, just get on a decent food bait and stick with it...… Be patient and it will all come together...… Asking for advice from those that have put the effort in already, might be a blind alley, most times they will say very little and what they tell you might be duff info, that is, until you have done a bit of time and you can exchange info, two way street in this case..... TBH, what I find, is that a lot of anglers come and go, they try a place , and a few blanks later they are off to the local runs water...… If you stick it out and become a regular, the barriers come down a bit, people open up a bit more, plus, just by spending time at the venue, you will learn the place, and a bit about where the fish will be...… No real short cuts imo, time and effort...… But bait wise, I find chopping and changing can just give you a head ache. Just stick to a proven bait..... Knowing where to put it, will come with time spent on the bank, not holed up in a bivvy, but walking and watching for signs, climbing the odd tree etc...... Not a fluke buddy...…… Right place, right time, that's what its all about... Make a note of the spot and the time of day and time of year and that's a tiny piece of the jig saw sorted..... Before you leave, bang a marker float over the spot, see if there's some kind of feature there. Chuck a few baits in on leaving...… All these little bits of effort will add up long term 😊

Did a quick visit to mine today, would you believe it, the one thing I needed , foam nuggets, were out of stock lol...……. But the Alladins cave struck rich again, was looking for mono leader material-, from the darkest recesses after some digging around, out comes a spool of Sundridge Sylcast 40lb pink mono shock leader, who remembers that stuff lol...…? 2 quid, that'll do, only need a couple of rod lengths off a 50yd spool, may need a steam/stretch.. Peeled off the first 10yrds, the spool looks and feels mint, if a bit coiled, should straighten out ok.. 😃

Fare enough...… social media eh.....

Read earlier that the fella isn't going to put a claim in, fair play to him, probably wants to avoid all the drama..... Some nasty stuff last time with that Big Rig...… I think a fish should be born in the lake for a claim to stand, stops all controversy.....

Spicey fish and liver boilies as a mainstay...… But leaning towards squid too, with the next lot...…. I find it difficult to leave out the liver, either in powder or liquid form, awesome bait ingredient..... I bought a load of particle this year, maples, hemp, buckwheat and tares, drew in a lot of tench…… So just using plain old maple peas now. They take on loads of liquid food and are easier to get out than the smaller particles if I'm fishing closer in..... I can launch prepped maples a good 30yrds plus with a baiting spoon on a landing pole, don't want to be spodding at that range (if at all)…. Messed up on the hemp seed, bought the huge hemp, takes ages to soak and sink and prep (up to 4 days)…… Love the buckwheat, cheaper than hemp, considered a whole protein, and replicates tiny snails and mussels really well and is really easy to prep...…… Keeping it all in a cool dry place, hoping it will still be ok for next year, as I'm not getting through it very quickly, been using mainly boilies on a water where you don't need to hold them..😊

Nice to have one if you have the space, mines full of everything, powders, ground bait, particle, boilies...… Bit like sweeping it all under the rug lol 😄

Don't apologise Finchey, it's not a stupid question mate...…… It's a good subject this with a few angles to consider imo…. Here's a few of my views, and they are just opinions based on a bit of reading, a bit of fishing and various comments from different people...… Glad you mentioned digestion. btw. Imo ( I will keep saying "imo", so as not to offend anyone)… The ability of a bait to be easily broken down, not just crushed, but dismantled , a molecule at a time, by natural enzymes, is everything imo. It not only allows the bait ingredients to by utilised by the fish,( As once broken down by enzymes into, amino acids,simple sugars and fatty acids, to name a few, these can be absorbed through the lining of the fishes digestive tract, and on into it's circulatory system and delivered to wherever they are needed, within the body, to promote, muscle growth, tissue repair, plain old energy, etc etc..) but it will also attract naturals onto the baits/baited area too, for the same reasons. Ie, the naturals, snails, bugs etc , will be looking for the same nourishment. So a good bait, imo, will be attracting naturals from the off, onto your baits and providing a veritable banquet for any fish, this, imo gives the added attraction of lots of tiny movement over the spot, which fish will home in on, imo, with their ability to detect such things , through "electro sensory" detection... So these, easily digestible baits, promote a whole cycle of events, a life cycle if you will. And even if you are fishing a vast water and have put some bait in a spot where they are difficult to find by the fish (carp)… They will still attract naturals and in turn silvers etc and be devoured by the lakes inhabitants...Worst scenario, because the enzyme activity produces gas, primarily CO2, if the baits are not completely eaten, they will gas up and float to the surface after about 3 days and be picked off by the bird life or blown into the edge where the birds, rats etc will get them...……… Basically, they will not be sitting on the bottom and rotting for weeks...…. The only time that could happen with a good bait, is when temperatures are at their very lowest, this will slow down the enzyme activity and therefore slow down a whole chain of events. So in cold conditions, it's very important to put any bait in the right place, where a degree or two of warmer temperature can make a huge difference, to the life cycle..... So there you go, a brief description of what a good food source can bring to water, plenty of life in a cycle that benefits everything that lives in it...….. Right, now shelfies, how can I put this?...……. " NONE OF THAT HAPPENS"........ They should be banned imo..... It's most likely some very clever attractor packages used in them, as to why they catch fish.. But the fact that they are stuffed with preservatives to stop the enzymes doing their thing, means they add nothing to the environment they are chucked into, with some reports suggesting that the preservatives leaking out, can actually be quite harmful to small creatures and actually kill off fish eggs...... Add to that, that the preservatives will also hinder the gut flora (enzymes found naturally in the gut) in our fish, so they cannot possibly break these baits down and utilise anything that is in them... You may as well be feeding them cardboard...... Bleached cardboard with a sugar coating imo......... When you catch a fish that is Emptying out loads of a particular bait, imo, it's a stinky winky bait that can't be digested and is just passed through, so please don't think they are thriving on it........ Right, getting back to the OP, soft baits, hard baits etc (again, just my op'). I'm going to dismiss hook baits, as I will always use a hard hook bait to get round the smaller species pecking at it , or coots etc picking up and dropping it......... That just leaves "feed baits", mine are always soft, boiled for about 20 seconds just to form a light skin that stops them sticking together in the bag. The plus side of this , is that very few of the goodies, liquids and soluble ingredients are boiled out of the baits and once they have been in the lake for a couple of hours, they will break apart when the coots try to pick them up, mostly............ And having done a few pint glass tests on them, they will literally disintergrate , after about 10hrs, if you touch one...... Whether the softness of a bit is more attractive to a carp, who knows, they pick up snails, mussels etc which are hard, but they also feed on, bloodworm etc, that are soft..... Being omnivorous scavangers I would think that the hardness/softness issue wouldn't really come into it, as long as the right food signals/attractors are being picked up on... Nuts are hard, worms are soft, they love both.... The problem I have with harder baits (boilies), it just says to me that there are fewer soluble ingredients in them and imo, will be mostly cheap ingredients held together with something like whey gel or egg albumin, and give me the feeling that they are slightly "locked up", which may take longer for any attractors to do their thing, not great if you are on a shorter sesh imo...... If I had some baits like this, I would probably try to boost them and soften them at the same time, by first air drying for 24hrs and then rehydrating them/soaking them, in something with a bit of pulling power, liver hydro, fish hydro, that sort of thing....... Even some plain old liquidised live, a quids worth of liver, liquidised and diluted with some lake water is all you will need for a few kg of bait.......

2 waters I looked at turned out to be a no go today..... Too close to the River Cam with no Otter fencing, bit of a risk imo, especially as water levels were well down too, be like shooting fish in a barrel for Mr Otter, who has visited before, I was told...…… Add to that, the water I'd planned on leaving threw up a mint 38lb Common yesterday...….. Dilema 🙄

Short sessions = less bait imo…….. Even better if you can put some in a day or two before (without encroaching on anyone else) and flick a single or stringer out on the spot when you do your overnighter.... As @Pete Springate's Guns mentioned, the guy piling it in opposite him is going to sit on that for a few days. (bit out of order considering by 4/5pm on a Sunday, most anglers will be packing up, so he could have waited til then)... Over nighters, for me (I don't do that many), consist of about 10-12 baits flicked around my rig, looking for a bite at a time with as least disturbance as possible and a quick set up time, especially as the light is drawing in now and I don't want to be waiting for my swim to settle down after a barrage of baiting as the twilight witching hour approaches...… Nice little trap set. If I get anything, it's an easy re-set, flick it back out with a few more baits over the top...……. I've been baiting a couple of waters this year, but actual fishing has been done over very little bait, just to try and get a quicker pick up and a more covert set up and rods out... Steady results, but feel that I'm doing something right...… Having said that, they have seen a bit of my bait over the last 6-8 months, which definately helps. A mate of mine does the opposite, turns up at midday, sorts his rods out and clips them up, bangs a bit of bait out.... Then says his hello's round the lake, drinking all our tea lol...… Casts out at midnight ready for a morning bite.... He does alright too.. The theory being, let a few fish come in and out of the baited areas with no lines cutting through the swim, before chucking a rig out...….. He jokingly says " get yer camra ready geezer' As he wanders back to his swim at 11pm...…. Proper annoying when you get the wake up call at 3am, I have to wind my rods in, that have been out for 8hrs, to take a pic for someone who's been fishing for a couple of hours...…. Doesn't always go like that, but he does alright...….☺️

Good shout that...... TBH mate, I think there is only "so much" you can do, especially with time restraints etc...….. As you know mate, the hardest thing can be finding and getting on some fish that are willing to feed..... We are playing with nature for the most part and even the very best of anglers will blank, even if everything is set perfectly...….. For me, that percentage of unpredictability is what makes it all such a special past- time, in an age where we are normally in complete control of most things with the push of a button. Angling takes me away from that, there's always a little that is left to chance...….. Keeps the Carp Gods in employment 😊

So many variables, size of water, stock numbers, other species.... If there are tench and bream in numbers, I might be thinking my rig wasn't sitting pretty after 24hrs without a sniff..... I'd rather leave it, but once those negs enter your head, it's hard not to re cast..... The birdlife can do that , sometimes without a bleep..... You need rock hard hookers and a rig that resets itself if you are going to leave it out for 24 hrs plus..... I've been done by the coots too many times and found that most shop bought pop ups can soften up quite quickly. OK on runs waters, but prob need checking after 24hrs... By this time , they can sometimes come off on the retrieve, especially with bait screws..

TBH, if I have had a few liners or seen/heard fish on the spot, and not been picked up I'd be inclined to think something was wrong. perhaps a bad lie with the rig and I'd probably reel in just to check.... But I do think we often reel in and re-cast for the sake of it...… I don't mind leaving one out for as long as my hook bait will stand. If there have been no signs to signal that I may have been done, I mean, if you are confident of where and how it landed first time round, no point in making more commotion imo, just to try to replicate your first cast..... In fact, I'd be more inclined to move swims altogether if I was to do anything at all..... (Which basically means , i'm leaving it lol) On busy waters, I've found, letting things quieten right down in my swims water whilst others are doing the obligatory recasts and baiting, I've picked up the odd fish, often well outside the usual bite times, completely out of the blue.... I recon you've said it all in those 2 quotes...… Bloomin hard to sit on your hands sometimes though.. Depends how well you know the water and it's residents imo….. If I think they are likely to pass through and I'm confident in my first chuck, I'm leaving it where it is...

And there's me thinking you were hard core (or just plain nuts)……. As Uncle Albert said in Only Fools, " It was so cold, the flame on my lighter froze"...…. Now that's cold lol...

I think the larger outlets are always trying to push newer products.... I get it from my local little shop, he's usually got a couple of spools in stock. or can get it within a week or so...

I know what you are saying, but I don't think the bad stuff kicked I until Feb and the two previous winters, double figures through the night in December from memory...……. I sat out last Winter, sometimes you just know..😉. (Or claim to)...

You'd be amazed at what they can find a few inches buried in silt or weed. A lot of their natural food is in just such places..... I can see how a buried bait can knock your confidence a bit though. Just depends on what sort of water you fish really. Some waters, a bright, over flavoured pop up just above the muck will get you a bite, some places, it may be a bit blatant and you could struggle for a bite..... TBH, silt can be a head ache in general. I feel more confident if I can find a slightly firmer spot where the silt isn't so deep, or even better, the seam where the silt patch meets gravel or clay...…. That's not to say I catch any more lol... I just feel better about the situation 🙂….

The first batch I had in 15lb maybe about 3 years ago and it just kept coiling up.... I remember there being some mega hot weather for a month or so and the only thing I could put it down to was leaving my spools exposed in the heat and sun... It deffo wasn't line twist as I took it on and off the spool a couple of times to try and sort it...….. Second time round was in 12lb , cast brilliant, but , seemed to just crinkle at the slightest touch of weed etc...…... I like Gardner as a company and their stuff pretty much does what it says on the tin in general imo without the usual marketing gimmiks chucked in by some firms.... I just haven't had great luck with the GTHD...…. Anything else I've had from them, has served me well...