Rods Pods and Day Tickets…

[newmarket]

Since returning from holiday I’ve taken all sorts of advice re my boilies ranging from longer boiling times , adding oil to the paste , using a dehydrater when drying them out , all sorts of stuff . 
So I’m going to order some more paste from Essential baits and experiment with little batches to see what works best if at all .

Im off for the day tomorrow (Friday) with my boy and his trusty whip to my local hole in the ground to see if his interest has been sustained… he says he wants to catch another beast like last time 😊 so I think it will be .

Oh before I go , does anybody here think one of those Nash ball makers might assist in the production of huge hookbaits at all ? I’m hoping to target the deepest area of the lake on my next visit to determine if the larger girls may be holeing up there 😉

[crusian]

On 01/09/2022 at 11:33, newmarket said:

Morning everybody , sorry I’ve not had time to update this thread , had lots on .

I actually fished the weekend after my last post above , since when I’ve spent a couple of weeks in Egypt doing naff all except a bit of scuba dooba diving which I thoroughly enjoyed even if it played (and still is) playing havoc with my ears .

I was hoping to get a spot of fishing in but it would appear that since the last visit (pre-Black Death) the Egyptians now frown upon fishing and just about every species in the Red Sea is now a protected species. That don’t understand the concept of catch and release so that didn’t happen unfortunately.

Anyway I digress . Yes , weekend of 29th of July I hit my syndicate lake again , the challenge , if you recall , being to avoid constant tiddlers with huge 40mm+ hookbaits … you know the ones that kept cracking 🙄.

Due to the hot weather the water levels were amazingly low . It’s not a deep lake anyway but certain parts , in particular a couple of the swims I had my eye on , were alarmingly shallow . I’m talking 18 inches deep shallow …not the type of depth I could imagine a 20lb+ Carp to be lying up in. 
 

Anyway with the whole lake to choose from I decided on the same swim as my previous visit a month before . They say familiarity breeds contempt , I say I breeds laziness lol.

I had a very good weekend . I broke the habit of a lifetime and actually weighed most of the 20 or so fish I banked …just to compare with my previous session ….lightest this time 12lb . 
The stamp of fish as a whole being bigger this time around . All my hookbaits were 40mm+ B5 and Black snail . The boilies that were cracking stayed intact mostly and those that had split in half stayed on the hair beautifully to get the job done . As most of the fish I caught were obviously having difficulty getting them in their oversized gobs.

The most frustrating thing was having to sit on my hands when the transmitter was going into overdrive . They were moving the baits resulting in 3/4/5 second blasts and obviously then dropping them . Being patient and waiting for fully fledged runs was the name of the game .

This was the largest of the session , a tad over 18lb .

 

Scuba Diving in Egypt  , get you ! ; who would have thought a roughty , tufty , old Iron would rise to such dizzying heights .

😁

[newmarket]

20 hours ago, crusian said:

Scuba Diving in Egypt  , get you ! ; who would have thought a roughty , tufty , old Iron would rise to such dizzying heights .

😁

I’ve been deaf in my right ear ever since 

[crusian]

16 minutes ago, newmarket said:

I’ve been deaf in my right ear ever since 

Have you been to the Doctors  ,because I know it sounds daft , but I'm sure I've heard of someone having a bit of coral growing in their ear ? .

West Ham were robbed ! .

🤬

[newmarket]

1 hour ago, crusian said:

Have you been to the Doctors  ,because I know it sounds daft , but I'm sure I've heard of someone having a bit of coral growing in their ear ? .

West Ham were robbed ! .

🤬

Nah mate it’s earwax that’s just been compounded by the underwater pressure making it worse . It’s been gradually getting worse over the last couple of years but it’s just that they make it nigh on impossible to get a doctors appointment these days . 
The Black Death has a lot to answer for . It’s such hard work getting an appointment I’ve just left it & left it .

Ive a million things wrong with me . 
sorry to be a bore .

 

 

[InteraX]

15 hours ago, newmarket said:

Nah mate it’s earwax that’s just been compounded by the underwater pressure making it worse . It’s been gradually getting worse over the last couple of years but it’s just that they make it nigh on impossible to get a doctors appointment these days . 
The Black Death has a lot to answer for . It’s such hard work getting an appointment I’ve just left it & left it .

Ive a million things wrong with me . 
sorry to be a bore .

 

 

Talking about any health issues is not being a bore.

I've never historically had a problem with getting an in person appointment with my doctor, not that I've really bothered them much in the past. I now need an in-person appointment to discuss a couple of issues and am being told I need to call on a specific day/time to book an in-person appointment, but can book a same day telephone consultation. Why? Why can't I just see someone? What happened to service? What does NHS stand for?

[newmarket]

5 hours ago, InteraX said:

Talking about any health issues is not being a bore.

I've never historically had a problem with getting an in person appointment with my doctor, not that I've really bothered them much in the past. I now need an in-person appointment to discuss a couple of issues and am being told I need to call on a specific day/time to book an in-person appointment, but can book a same day telephone consultation. Why? Why can't I just see someone? What happened to service? What does NHS stand for?

As I said above Covid seems to have given them an excuse . 
it’s always been a problem getting an appointment at my quacks … they called it ‘open surgery’ which meant queuing up outside at 9.30 am joining a queue and waiting your turn . Might be an hour might be 5 hours ….

You could get a pre arranged appointment but it would be 2/3 weeks down the line .

Nowdays it’s online consultation , then phone if necessary then queue up on a day specified by them and never ever that day or the following morning ffs . 
 

I want my ears syringing I’d like to see them do that online or over the fone .

 

Nick , sorry bout the subject matter , I don’t particularly want it on this thread but you know how it goes 🤣

[Carpbell3]

15 hours ago, newmarket said:

As I said above Covid seems to have given them an excuse . 
it’s always been a problem getting an appointment at my quacks … they called it ‘open surgery’ which meant queuing up outside at 9.30 am joining a queue and waiting your turn . Might be an hour might be 5 hours ….

You could get a pre arranged appointment but it would be 2/3 weeks down the line .

Nowdays it’s online consultation , then phone if necessary then queue up on a day specified by them and never ever that day or the following morning ffs . 
 

I want my ears syringing I’d like to see them do that online or over the fone .

 

Nick , sorry bout the subject matter , I don’t particularly want it on this thread but you know how it goes 🤣

Hate to break it to you but the NHS don't do ears anymore 350 per ear at the hospital for a syringe job that otex express works or olive oil I didn't  fancey the private option.

[newmarket]

20 hours ago, Carpbell3 said:

Hate to break it to you but the NHS don't do ears anymore 350 per ear at the hospital for a syringe job that otex express works or olive oil I didn't  fancey the private option.

Hating to urinate on your French fries CB but I just managed to arrange an appointment at the Quack’s for Nursey to syringe my lugholes .

and yep , Olive Oil today 😊

[Carpbell3]

3 hours ago, newmarket said:

Hating to urinate on your French fries CB but I just managed to arrange an appointment at the Quack’s for Nursey to syringe my lugholes .

and yep , Olive Oil today 😊

They must be bad expect a telling of for irregular maintenance 

[Carpbell3]

KIR

 

[newmarket]

So I’ve been experimenting with my huge hookbaits .

Various tweaks , boiling times , addition of oil and/or liquid food into the mix prior to rolling and cooking etc and so far haven’t cracked it (pardon the pun) I just cannot seem to stop the baits cracking during the drying process.

Ive taken advice from various sources and tried lots of different approaches .

Today I’ve cooked a few more , and after a couple of hours drying between two tea towels , I’ll be adding a very light glaze of liquid food to each bait , repeating every day and look for a cooler storage place in an attempt at slowing down the drying process as the outer layers of paste are obviously wanting to dry at a lot faster rate than the inner layers .

I may be talking a load of old rubbish but I can but try….

Edited September 19, 2022 by newmarket

[newmarket]

I’m visiting the lake for a day session this Saturday and intending to try a different approach entirely .

Taking a pal with me as a guest (and chauffeur 😊) a spot of pleasure fishing beckons .

Maybe a spot of float fishing , maybe even swim feeder .

can’t wait tbh 

[newmarket]

I’ve just checked the baits I made this afternoon. 
2 of the 6 have split already .

 

I feel like giving up ….there has to be another way of singling out the bigger fish 🤦🏼‍♂️

[commonly]

4 minutes ago, newmarket said:

there has to be another way of singling out the bigger fish

Have you tried 2 x 18-22mm n the hair? 

I've found that reduces takes from the smaller ones. 

[newmarket]

27 minutes ago, commonly said:

Have you tried 2 x 18-22mm n the hair? 

I've found that reduces takes from the smaller ones. 

I’ve had takes from 6-8lbers with double 24 millers . They tend to make the bait longer but they still get their gums round em easily enough . 
last time out I was using the 40mm boilies that had split by pulling them apart and threading them on the hair separately as like one boilie. 
I had to sit on my hands , the alarms going off in 3/4 sec bursts as they were trying to get the bait in their mouths . Once a

proper full on run was forthcoming I could set the hook but they were usually 10-13lbish .

which is fine by the way , I’m not a snob , all carp are welcome .

Ill be continuing to fish my hookbaits like this as it does stop the endless 3-5lbers which quite frankly do become a nuisance during the hours of darkness but I think I’m going to have to concentrate more on location than bait size .

Trouble with that is it’s a small lake and it’s usually a hive of activity everywhere there are so many carp in it so it’s difficult to tell where to fish . Maybe the deeper parts of the lake ? It’s usually 3-4ft deep all over with a few areas going as deep as 5ft but with the very hot weather we had up until recently the water levels have really dropped by up to 50% in places . I can’t imagine the bigger fish laying up in 18 inches of water can you ?

can anybody ?

[crusian]

1 hour ago, newmarket said:

I’ve had takes from 6-8lbers with double 24 millers . They tend to make the bait longer but they still get their gums round em easily enough . 
last time out I was using the 40mm boilies that had split by pulling them apart and threading them on the hair separately as like one boilie. 
I had to sit on my hands , the alarms going off in 3/4 sec bursts as they were trying to get the bait in their mouths . Once a

proper full on run was forthcoming I could set the hook but they were usually 10-13lbish .

which is fine by the way , I’m not a snob , all carp are welcome .

Ill be continuing to fish my hookbaits like this as it does stop the endless 3-5lbers which quite frankly do become a nuisance during the hours of darkness but I think I’m going to have to concentrate more on location than bait size .

Trouble with that is it’s a small lake and it’s usually a hive of activity everywhere there are so many carp in it so it’s difficult to tell where to fish . Maybe the deeper parts of the lake ? It’s usually 3-4ft deep all over with a few areas going as deep as 5ft but with the very hot weather we had up until recently the water levels have really dropped by up to 50% in places . I can’t imagine the bigger fish laying up in 18 inches of water can you ?

can anybody ?

It may have been Nick that said something like " fish only need enough water to cover their backs ? " .

 

[commonly]

Only a suggestion, have you tried a completely different bait to target the bigger ones? 

Sometimes a small hook bait can catch the bigger fish

Tigers? 

Corn? 

My old favorite, a matchbox size lump of luncheon meat in armor mesh. (you may get the odd predator take that though, had a decent pike out of yately on that &  a 22lb stocky) 

It's all part of the puzzle you have to get your head round. 

By the way, I presume that there is larger carp in there & your not just catching the average stamp? Sorry if that is a stupid question 

[newmarket]

5 hours ago, commonly said:

Only a suggestion, have you tried a completely different bait to target the bigger ones? 

Sometimes a small hook bait can catch the bigger fish

Tigers? 

Corn? 

My old favorite, a matchbox size lump of luncheon meat in armor mesh. (you may get the odd predator take that though, had a decent pike out of yately on that &  a 22lb stocky) 

It's all part of the puzzle you have to get your head round. 

By the way, I presume that there is larger carp in there & your not just catching the average stamp? Sorry if that is a stupid question 

Not at all mate , if I hadn’t seen the stocking photos with my own eyes I’d probably question it myself .

But yes , all part of the puzzle . I said to Nick ( I think) only the other week that it’s the challenge that I’m enjoying so it doesn’t matter to me whether a catch a big girl this weekend or if it takes 5 years 

The important part to me is that whatever the plan , I’ll have the opportunity to implement it as I don’t have to rush to the lake after work in order to get a swim , ANY swim . I can casually turn up when I feel like it and pick & choose location.

That fact , I’m delighted to say , is reflected in the title of the thread and is worth every penny of the annual ticket money regardless of the stamp of fish.

[salokcinnodrog]

On 19/09/2022 at 19:29, newmarket said:

Maybe the deeper parts of the lake ? It’s usually 3-4ft deep all over with a few areas going as deep as 5ft but with the very hot weather we had up until recently the water levels have really dropped by up to 50% in places . I can’t imagine the bigger fish laying up in 18 inches of water can you ?

can anybody ?

 

On 19/09/2022 at 21:22, crusian said:

It may have been Nick that said something like " fish only need enough water to cover their backs ? " .

 

I've missed this, had my own problems to deal with and health problems are not going to make any difference to this thread, somethings are good to be 'spoken' about. I managed to get an appointment on the day after a telephone consultation with my doctor. I woke up with the most intense fiery pain in my right arm from shoulder to wrist. I had thought for a couple of days I had a pulled muscle in my arm.

Along with the pain and lack of mobility in my right leg, it got too much.

 

After doctors appointment and first hospital visit, I have a severely damaged or trapped nerve in my back and back damage. So much so that the hospital consultant called me back with the next appointment a week later.

 

I've had the joy of having to decide whether I can work or not and claiming ESA and PIP.

Carp will show and feed in as little as 18inches of water. You should see the videos...

It can definitely be a place to fish. One of the big commons on our lake will feed with its dorsal and back out of the water, the Parrot almost lives in the margins.

 

On 19/09/2022 at 18:45, newmarket said:

I’ve just checked the baits I made this afternoon. 
2 of the 6 have split already .

 

I feel like giving up ….there has to be another way of singling out the bigger fish 🤦🏼‍♂️

I'm really not sure how to overcome this problem. I made some Catfish sized pop-ups for lifting deadbaits for pike fishing last week, using BAF pop-up mix, no problems with the big 50mm baits, and they dried a treat, so I think your mix is the problem. 

I might have an answer, just came in to my head as I was writing this; how coarse are the ingredients?

Are they a mix of grades?

Different 'meshes', (I think the correct term), will dry at different rates. It may be worth putting them through a sieve to take out larger lumps, and grinding the whole lot down to a finer powder.

 

[newmarket]

6 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

 

I've missed this, had my own problems to deal with and health problems are not going to make any difference to this thread, somethings are good to be 'spoken' about. I managed to get an appointment on the day after a telephone consultation with my doctor. I woke up with the most intense fiery pain in my right arm from shoulder to wrist. I had thought for a couple of days I had a pulled muscle in my arm.

Along with the pain and lack of mobility in my right leg, it got too much.

 

After doctors appointment and first hospital visit, I have a severely damaged or trapped nerve in my back and back damage. So much so that the hospital consultant called me back with the next appointment a week later.

 

I've had the joy of having to decide whether I can work or not and claiming ESA and PIP.

Carp will show and feed in as little as 18inches of water. You should see the videos...

It can definitely be a place to fish. One of the big commons on our lake will feed with its dorsal and back out of the water, the Parrot almost lives in the margins.

 

I'm really not sure how to overcome this problem. I made some Catfish sized pop-ups for lifting deadbaits for pike fishing last week, using BAF pop-up mix, no problems with the big 50mm baits, and they dried a treat, so I think your mix is the problem. 

I might have an answer, just came in to my head as I was writing this; how coarse are the ingredients?

Are they a mix of grades?

Different 'meshes', (I think the correct term), will dry at different rates. It may be worth putting them through a sieve to take out larger lumps, and grinding the whole lot down to a finer powder.

 

Hello my friend . I’m using the already made up paste direct from Essential.

Mike Wilmott told me it’s exactly the same as the stuff their boilies are made from so , to me , it’s the size relative to the consistency of the paste that is the problem .

I added extra liquid food to the paste and kneaded it in thoroughly before rolling the baits by hand for the latest batch and the end result WAS an improvement albeit not much but what I’ve done with a few is make them using one of those Nash groundbait ball makers in 60mm .

Now because the resulting Boilie was a bit bigger than what is required and because the cracks that appear are random and appeared at no particular place on the baits ( ie not always straight through the middle) I’ve been able to trim them down to the required size , and those that have cracked straight through the centre I’ve sliced straight through with the intention of mounting the 2 halves back to back on my blowback Combi rigs . 
After all who says hookbaits have to be spherical eh ? 

[salokcinnodrog]

59 minutes ago, newmarket said:

After all who says hookbaits have to be spherical eh ? 

I've used various shaped hookbaits, and some like discs, 'halves' or cubes are definitely harder to eject than round baits from what I have seen.

[Carpbell3]

11 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

 

I've missed this, had my own problems to deal with and health problems are not going to make any difference to this thread, somethings are good to be 'spoken' about. I managed to get an appointment on the day after a telephone consultation with my doctor. I woke up with the most intense fiery pain in my right arm from shoulder to wrist. I had thought for a couple of days I had a pulled muscle in my arm.

Along with the pain and lack of mobility in my right leg, it got too much.

 

After doctors appointment and first hospital visit, I have a severely damaged or trapped nerve in my back and back damage. So much so that the hospital consultant called me back with the next appointment a week later.

 

I've had the joy of having to decide whether I can work or not and claiming ESA and PIP.

Carp will show and feed in as little as 18inches of water. You should see the videos...

It can definitely be a place to fish. One of the big commons on our lake will feed with its dorsal and back out of the water, the Parrot almost lives in the margins.

 

I'm really not sure how to overcome this problem. I made some Catfish sized pop-ups for lifting deadbaits for pike fishing last week, using BAF pop-up mix, no problems with the big 50mm baits, and they dried a treat, so I think your mix is the problem. 

I might have an answer, just came in to my head as I was writing this; how coarse are the ingredients?

Are they a mix of grades?

Different 'meshes', (I think the correct term), will dry at different rates. It may be worth putting them through a sieve to take out larger lumps, and grinding the whole lot down to a finer powder.

 

If you want to make that claim you should don't forget it's a payment to keep you with some sort of active lifestyle and not because a person is fully immobile which is what a lot of people think. 

My Mrs gets it and DLA before the swap over she has had lifelong hypermobility gets to be a real problem with the most basic of tasks once you get past 40 or so.